One Day At A Time

Chapter 1 - Upside Down

Khushi opened the front door and stood there, staring at the front door of the apartment opposite to her's. Her heart hammered unexpectedly in her chest, remembering the image of a smiling face waving her goodbye from the half-opened door. She remembered the wink. She remembered the smile. She remembered the twinkle in the eyes. What was she going to do?

She flew down two floors of stairs to escape the anxiety that was threatening to resurface from within her, straight into the vehicle parking of the building where her black Kinetic Honda stood in its majestic glory. She had to pick up her childhood friend Payal on her way, and she was late by a good half hour already. "Jhumri, you need to fly today. Please!!" She pleaded to her bike as she pressed the ignition button firing up the engine to life and rode away towards Payal's house.

***

"You look like someone died." Payal stood staring at her while Khushi waited for her to hop onto the bike. "Sakhi, please. We'll handle this together, we'll think and talk about it, but you need to get a grip, alright?" She smiled and hugged Khushi as she sat behind her on the bike.

"Any news from him?" Payal asked as they made their way to college.

"I heard that he reached safely a week ago! Isn't that good enough?" Khushi questioned her slightly irritated

"Is it?"

"Who cares!" Khushi answered as she yelled at a person on the road.

Life wasn't the same anymore. Everything felt different. Something had changed, and he had changed it.

***

"Your journal work is impeccable, Khushi. I am going to keep it with me after the end of the year as a reference for the future Microbiology students" Professor Jadhav looked at Khushi with a look of pride that any professor would bestow only upon their favourite student.

"Thank you, Sir!" Khushi said with surprise written all over her face. It felt good when a senior professor like Prof J praised her. These compliments didn't come easy.

"Today's dissection was good. I am very pleased. I want you to get serious about this now, Khushi. More concentration in the classes from now on, alright?" Prof J spoke to her with a grim look on his face.

"Yes, Sir. Thank you once again. I'll see you tomorrow" Khushi smiled after what felt like ages and left the lab with a skip in her step.

What was wrong with Prof J today, she wondered. The end of the day was turning out to be better than she had expected!

She walked past the Lab floor with a smile on her face, and had turned towards the Botany Wing of her college when she rammed into someone, her journal flying out of her hands and the contents of her bag now public.

Though there were just one or two students around at this time of the day, she hurriedly got down on her knees to pick up the things lying on the floor, completely ignoring the apology of the person who had helped her in creating the mess.

"I said I am sorry. I wasn't looking, my mistake." Said the gruff voice.

Khushi stilled for a moment and stood up after collecting her things. She spotted her journal and picked it up and checked for damage. Satisfied, she started to walk away towards the exit stairs on the floor.

"Yes. Run away! Because that will help, Khush!" The gruff voice hollered, laced with irritation.

Khushi kept walking towards the exit, her steps slightly hurried than before. Before she reached the exit door, she was dragged by her wrist and pushed against the wall next to her.