FAREWELL ... One last time

15. Secrets are Unveiled

'Already 11:35 AM. Time flew. I think almost every faculty sent us with a valuable take away' Puja expressed her mind.

'Whose speech had all your heart?' Shiva gathered confidence.

'Hard to pick one. The speech by our HOD and Dr.Kalyani' Puja replied

'I don't recollect it well' Aswini was confused.

'Oh! She is referring to the speeches on Giving Up and Celebrating small things. Am I right?' Ankit was prompt.

'You are too sharp man' Pritam appreciated.

'Even I personally liked those two so could relate better with Puja' Ankit clarified.

'What was your preference?' Puja asked Shiva in return.

'Even my favourite were those two speeches' he responded.

The friends’ gang smiled hearing his response as they understood Shiva would go with Puja's choice.

'She will never fall for you if try such lame tricks dude' Pritam went too blunt another time.

Puja's eyebrows went high on hearing a spontaneous stimulus from Pritam and similar response came from the rest in the group.

'Hey director, what colour will go well with Orange?' Pritam immediately turned at Rakesh changing the topic.

'Dark grey shirt will go well with Tanya's orange kurti' Rakesh responded understanding his question.

This evoked a thunder of laughter amongst friends thereby changing the mood.

'Even I did the same thing but you guys gave me a wierd look' Pritam was not convinced.

'You are noway going to talk with girls. Come let's go to hostel' he pulled Chandru for company.

'Yeah will leave. Need to return a book at the library. Today is the last day else have to pay fine. Already a lot of late dues are left to be paid' Chandru told Ankit as he left with Pritam.

'Wait. Let me also come with you as Pritam will leave you midway' Ankit left the gang.

Akshay and Govind joined the gang with smiles all over their faces.

'Always on smiles' Rakesh commented on Govind.

'He must be following Tanya's advice' Kirti mocked.

'Ofcourse she is my favorite. Tanya equally means to me as you guys' Govind justified.

'See his change of attitude upon having a photo with Tanya' Aswini commented.

'Actually those three are buddies. They even hanged out for a movie last week' Namita added more insights.

'When did this happen?' Rakesh jumped on his place.

'To which movie did you guys opt for?' Puja enquired out of curiosity.

'Batman vs Superman' came his reply.

'How was the film? Even I wanted to watch it' she continued.

'Yeah it worked for me and Tanya but Ganesh Sir did not like it much being a fan of Marvel. You can try it if you like DC' Govind completed.

'Did you click any photos?' Kirti couldn't control her excitement.

'Yeah we did' he opened his whatsapp chat and showed it to them.

'You three even maintain a whatsapp group. Govind says nothing to us' Aswini complained to the girls.

'He didnot even tell us properly. After the movie, Govind said that three of them went together' Ankit expressed his grief.

'Actually Tanya didnot want it to be known to any of our mates so had to hide it' Govind explained though most were not convinced.

Akshay stood quite without reacting much to he statements made by Govind signalling for his awareness.

'You knew it all before?' Kirti couldn't digest.

'Actually even I was offered to accompany but unable to make it as left to my native that week' Akshay threw another shocker.

'By the way how did you come to know on their outing Namita?' Aswini turned to her.

'He showed me the photos the next day itself' she confessed

'Looks like none can be trusted' Puja was shocked.

'Photo booth is ready. You can go and click pictures' the juniors came with an update.

'Let us wait till Pritam arrives' Shiva suggested.

'Where did he go?' Akshay asked.

'He went to hostel to change his shirt' Shiva responded to Akshay.

'Must have been the director's idea' Govind figured.

Rakesh nodded in agreement.

Meanwhile, Pritam was dropped at his hostel to change his shirt while Chandru and Ankit were waiting at the library.

'How are you brother?' the librarian asked Chandru.

'I am doing good Vaishnavee. Want to return this book and close the pending dues' Chandru had a friendly conversation with her.

'Like you both know each other well' Ankit was confused.

'Yes he's my good friend since first year' Vaishnavee responded.

'When did all of this happen?' Ankit tried to understand.

'Actually my roll was not registered in the library logs during the first semester. She used to help me getting the books using her id card. The journey started from there' Chandru spoke.

'She is the only girl I have spoken to in this campus. I get a feel of having a sister upon looking at her' he expressed.

'He doesn't talk to me well at first. One time, I complained to his mother when she had once visited for some cultural event. Only after then did he became comfortable talking to me' Vaishnavee explained.

Vaishnavee worked as a librarian at a very young age and had been working there for a decade making her comfortable with all the books in the library though she had passed only eighth grade schooling post which she had joined in this post. Ankit witnessed another side of Chandru as he had never accompanied him to library in all their four years of engineering.

'Officially, today is our last day so won't be coming again to the library. Thank you for helping me with the books over these four years. You played a major role in helping me secure second rank in my department till date though the final semester results are yet to be out. Anytime, any book I ask she will make it a point to get me though the book count crossed more than the allowed limit' Chandru expressed his gratitude.

'I no longer have to protect books to give you. The books can belong to their original racks' she replied with a smile.

Ankit waited till Chandru cleared his past dues and patiently admired their bond from a distance.

'Try to visit library if you ever come to college again' Vaishnavee kept a request.

'Surely will come and meet you the next time I visit college' Chandru and Ankit slowly walked away from the library. Ankit turned back to see Vaishnavee who till then kept tracing their departure from a distance waving her hand with a warm smile.