His Favourite Book

Chapter 22 - Night Out Pt. 2

It took Aashna some time to process Abeer's words. That book was finally revealed to her, during her favourite time of the day, while she was in her favourite surroundings. She finally replied, "I won't need it."

"Why?"

"I have it by heart. Remember how I told you I used to read a lot during train journeys? I love stories. Panchatantra was the first set of stories that I read after I started learning Sanskrit in school. Then I went on to learn Brahmi. That bookmark you took from my table that day? That was it. All in all, I got to know the name of your comfort book, that's enough for me to have things go my way. Thanks!"

"Damn. That was unexpected. I'm glad." Abeer left a long breath and turned around to look away from Aashna. He kept smiling at the fact that someone else had been carrying a similar set of likes as him. And this 'someone' was sitting right beside him, being his safe space. "Get up now. Time to sleep."

"Time to wake up, Mr Avgeek." They both chuckled and went back to his home to sleep for whatever time was remaining till their alarms. They adjusted themselves in between the spaces left after everyone else was spread out, sleeping like a corpse.

Not long after they had entered the next stage of sleep, they were woken up by a deafening alarm. As the alarm went off, everyone woke up, except Kartik.

"KARTIK!!!" Everyone else screamed his name while trying to find his phone. It was nowhere to be found. Girisha got up with swollen eyes and used all her energy to press a pillow on Kartik's face, hoping to either fully wake him up, or kill him then and there. He finally woke up in haste and received a wake-up punch while still trying to figure out what dimension he was in.

"Turn off your alarm before I-" Girisha tried speaking in her sleepy voice.

"AAAARRGGGGGHHHH" Kartik stood up and checked all over his clothes to find his phone. "We had an assignment submission by 7!!!"

"WHAT?!?!" Muskan, Abhimanyu and Aashna screamed back in unison.

"Check your phone you all!" He cried. "And find mine, too- oh found it!"

After a thorough panic session, all four of them ran towards Aashna's laptop as she switched it on. It was a revision assignment wherein their professor had given them a Clinical case. They had to diagnose and make a treatment plan for it. All of them started working on it separately, in between discussing it as well.

Girisha, still half asleep, left a long sigh and went to fold her blanket when she heard Gauri's door unlocking.

"Good morning!" Gauri saw Girisha and greeted her.

"Hello, Good morning," Girisha replied with a silly smile.

Abeer freshened up and made Coffee and Chai for everyone. After him, Girisha went in to freshen up and then sat beside Gauri.

"Here." Abeer brought in the tray for them. As Girisha picked up her cup, she saw him looking at the others, probably in hopes of them joining in soon.

"It's tough being with them." She said and laughed a little, catching his attention. "They get sudden handwritten assignments that never end. You'll have to build a strong patience to be with them and... her." She whispered the last part to Abeer, hoping he would get the hint.

"With Muskan?" Gauri asked, making them widen their eyes. "What? The one who helped you with that commission... She's the camphor girl, no?"

"Aaa- aaaaa- shush. Enough." Abeer panicked when he saw her almost revealing all of their conversation. He saw Girisha giggling at her words. "Listen, nothing like that- I just-"

"I know," Girisha replied and turned to Gauri to clear the confusion.

Gauri finally realised everything. "I see. So that's that. Anyway, I'm sure you all stay busy all the time. Being a student in today's time isn't easy." She said as Girisha nodded at her words. She then turned to Abeer. "By the way, I'll be picking up Nitya today."

"Yeah. Bring her soon!" Abeer replied.

"Umm... who's Nitya?" Girisha asked.

"My daughter."

Girisha gasped. "You... you're married?"

"Divorced. Long story short, my daughter will be coming home today to live with us hopefully forever. I wonder if I'll be able to take care of her or not. Even if I do, I don't know if that'll be enough or not. Either way, I'll try my best to attend to her. I'm a 'Single-Working mother' after all."

"You are... a Mother."

Gauri looked up at Girisha and with a smile, nodded in agreement.

On the other side, the other four were finally done with their assignment. They logged in one by one on Aashna's laptop, turned in their respective assignments and heaved a sigh of relief, hoping their work was rightly done. They quickly ran for their cups of Chai and Coffee when Girisha slightly slapped their hands. "Y'all. Brush first. Go."

Everyone obeyed her words as if they were used to it. "You've got a strong hold on them. You're dependable." Gauri said and tapped Girisha's shoulder while smiling, and took another sip of her Chai. Girisha was happy receiving so many compliments from a person like Gauri- older, responsible and approachable.

Soon everyone was sitting together in the hall, eating and chatting for one last time before they left. Muskan saw Kartik focused on his phone again and snatched it away. Turning it off, she asked him, "How did you know about the assignment?"

"I... I was checking the notifications at- around... 5 am, then I fell asleep-"

"I KNEW IT! YOU SNEAKED IN YOUR PHONE BACK!"

"NO! I Mean- yes... but listen-"

"Shut up."

While everyone was busy listening to their silly bicker, Abeer saw his chance and slowly leaned towards Aashna, so his voice could only be heard by her. He whispered alarmingly close to her ear, "Aashna. No one in this world comes from a perfectly normal family. Please do not hesitate to get closer to other people just because you're insecure. They don't define your worth." He then quickly sat up straight, and wandered his eyes all over the room, while feeling Aashna's doe-eyed stare on himself. She pressed her lips and changed her sight from his face to her lap.

Before she could think of any reaction, Kartik stood up. "Aaaaaaaaaa!!!! Enough now, change the topic!" He said, making Muskan stop speaking. "Girisha! Let's go to your cafe. I'm tired of this girl now."

Girisha hadn't even opened her mouth to reply when Muskan interrupted, "TIRED?! I'm helping you, you mor-"

Kartik covered her mouth quickly and picked up their bags using the other hand. "Yeah, yeah let's leave now, come on! Bye, Abeer! Bye, Gauri Di!" He started dragging Muskan out of the house when everyone else got up and laughed while beginning to leave, too. They shared their last greetings with Abeer and Gauri.

"Hey! Go home and shower first!" Girisha screamed at Kartik who was already far ahead of them.

Abhimanyu was the last one to leave, and before he did, he came up to Abeer. "Goodbye, thanks for having me on such short notice. Let's meet again sometime!"

"It was fun! Good luck with your presentation today."

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A/N: Check out the Instagram handle (@TheChaiScript) for brief information about the characters.

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