Iᴍᴀɢɪɴᴇᴅ Tᴀʟᴇs ᴏғ RIANSH

A Breach of Pact!

The only exception was Kabir's elder brother, Vansh Raisinghania. Being the bright student of the college, he had always been the one to stay in lime lights as "the star kid". Though Kabir loved him with his whole-heart, he always had an inferiority complex built up due to the comparisons between "The Star- Vansh" and "The mediocre- Kabir". Likewise, Riddhima too was a mediocre child and being alike, Riddhima and Kabir had become good friends with a beautiful bond over time.

While, for some unknown reasons, Vansh never left a stone upturned to hurt or taunt Riddhima when she came home, and no one knew the reason for the same. His hurtful words made Riddhima feel pained and she had resolved to fight back and mask her hurt with attitude and anger.

"Oh!! So you're back home." Vansh told when they both returned home after the morning walk. Riddhima and Kabir halted in their steps, their smiles vanishing and mood saddening at Vansh's unusual behavior. "Vansh, see I am having a great day and now, though I don't know what's up your mind, but please, let me go for today. Though I doubt it." Riddhima retorted, with a tired voice and her voice a mere whisper at the end, sighing.

"And you think, I would listen to you?" Vansh questioned her with disbelief all over his face. "Okay, you won't listen to me, right? Then do one thing, I say that you should completely irritate me whatever you can. Then do otherwise, and let me go!" With folded hands and over-dramatic expressions, she answered, while Kabir coughed to hide his laugh and Vansh furrowed his brows and scrunched his nose in frustration. Vansh huffed and left after informing his Mom.

And this was how fights ended in between Vansh and Riddhima, lately.

*******

"This is how you solve this question students, is that clear?" Barely suppressing a yawn and her eyes drooping, Riddhima sitting beside Kabir, kept her chin in her hand and her elbow on the desk. "Bro, when is the lecture ending? I'm sleepy." Riddhima asked Kabir, eyeing the professor in front of her. "And, there you go..." Stretching the 'an' sound Kabir grinned as soon as the bell rang, while Riddhima and Kabir rushed outside, with packed bags in hands.

Running in corridors, shouting and laughing, they came to a sudden halt as Riddhima ran into a hard chest and bounced back. She shut her eyes as she fell backwards, ready to be hit down. When the hard fall never came, she opened her eyes to find two arms snaked around her waist, protectively holding her. Snapping her eyes to the face of the person, her eyes bulged out of the sockets to witness Vansh, staring her; his black orbs shining with amusement and... adoration? Masking it in a flicker, he put up a mask of anger and disgust. jerking her straight, he yelled, "Don't your eyes work? You are in a college corridor, not your personal garden that you keep running, shouting and breaking discipline," he stopped abruptly, breathing deeply with wide eyes, to see Riddhima's moist eyes flashing hurt and pain. "Now don't start crying, Momma's doll, oops! My bad, you don't have Mom, right?" He feigned a sad look at her.

But this time, Riddhima didn't cry. She didn't feel hurt and pained to listen to Vansh. This time, she noticed him. She noticed his eyes which held only deep pain, anger and disgust while saying it all. She noticed his voice that trembled in the end, not due to anger but due to pain. As everyone around laughed or teased her, her sole focus were him, his eyes and the confusing plethora of emotions she observed and felt. Eyeing him confused, she observed him masking his feelings before breaking their eye-lock. When he looked back, duh! His eyes held no emotions.

He walked away, moving past her, along with his friends and their seniors, Angre, Ishani and Sara. She turned around as she glared his retreating back confused, with him moving away. Kabir rushed to her side the moment they left. "Ridzzy, you are okay, right? Please don't take his words to heart. You know how Bhai is, ever ready to taunt you..." He paused as his nose flared in anger and irritation, "Today, he will answer me about why he's doing this. He always changes the topic and makes everything go haywire. It won't work today." She came out of her trance the moment he mentioned about Vansh dismissing all the questions her Cabs put in front of him. He was pulled back by a tug at his elbow even before he could move ahead.