The train arrived and came to stop. Many people began to climb it. Raghav, Shrishti and Arpit stayed back and held Megha back too.
'Why aren't we climbing too?', Megha asked worriedly.
'We still have time. The train won't leave for next fifteen minutes. We could take some photos too now that rain is stopping.', Raghav explained.
And Raghav was right. The rain was stopping. While most people had climbed in and taken the seat, some people were outside, posing with the train for their photos. Raghav led them to the steam engine in the front and they all took photos posing in front of it. The guard even allowed Arpit to climb up and pose from the captain's cabin. Once the photos were taken, they went to their coach and posed outside of it. Megha and Shrishti took turns to pose on the steps of the train. The four of them even stood on the threshold of the train and leaned out and Raghav took a group selfie.
Then it was time to take their seats. The train was about to start. Shrishti pulled out her phone, ready to take selfies. They were in the first class with Shrishti and Megha sitting side by side and facing Arpit and Raghav. Megha and Arpit had taken the window seat. The boys took the back facing seats while the girls chose the front facing ones. But it would not have made much difference as once at Ghum the steam engine would be attached to the back and be led back the same route with which the girls' seats will be the back facing ones.
The train began and Shrishti found herself glued to the window in between Megha and Arpit. The train made the two loops around the War Memorial before chugging along the roads of Darjeeling. All of them watched in awe as the train went through the city, crossing the roads sometimes and sometimes running alongside it. They went through narrow streets and all of them stared outside wide eyed. Shrishti frowned. She was up and close with Megha to look out and both Megha and Arpit in their window seats were also looking out. But where was Raghav? She turned around to see him sitting in his seat and looking outside above Arpit's head. She glared at him.
'What are you doing, so far away? Come close and look properly.', she ordered him.
He smiled at her. 'I can see enough from here.'
She shook her head. 'You are two years older to me, not twenty! Why are you acting like an old man!', she could not help but complain.
Arpit chuckled at her words and turned around too. 'Come on, bade Bhaiyya! Have some fun!'
Saying this, he got up and made his brother move to the window. Arpit took Raghav's seat now and happily crowded Raghav to lean over and watch outside. Shrishti giggled at how uncomfortable Raghav looked at being crowded around in such a manner. He was not a touchy feely guy, she realised and felt bad at telling him off. Just then he glanced at her and she raised her hands and touched her ear lobes before making a wincing expression. She mouthed sorry to him and he shook his head and gave her a soft smile. She smiled back before Megha said something and she went back to focusing on the vista outside.
After a long ride, the train came to stop at the Ghum station. They got down with rest of the travellers and were led to a guide who explained that Ghum station was the highest railway station in India and hence, it was a world heritage site. The station also housed a museum whose ticket fare was added onto their joy ride ticket. They entered the Museum and spent some half hour there following the guide. The museum was fun but the four of them found themselves spending more time taking photos than listening. Although, saying that four of them took photos would be a stretch as it was Raghav taking photos of all three of them around the museum exhibits with either Arpit or Shrishti's phone. But it was fun experience and soon they were back walking towards the train for their ride back.
As they climbed the train and reached their seats, Shrishti grabbed Raghav by his arm and dragged him to sit beside her. She took the window seat and smiled at Arpit. 'I hope you don't mind.'
Arpit shook his head and leaned over to look outside with Megha in the window seat again.
Shrishti felt a tug and realised that she was still holding Raghav's hand. She dropped it and smiled at him sheepishly. She leaned closer to him and whispered, 'Now you can sit without being squished between the window and Arpit.'
'Thank you.', he whispered back and that was when she noticed how close she was to him. She pulled back and looked away only to see Arpit looking at Raghav with amusement. Then his eyes flicked to her and he winked at her. She swallowed and looked away. No! She refused to believe that Arpit knew about her budding feelings. She refused.
The ride began after ten minutes and she eagerly leaned out to watch the passing vista. As the route was the same way, Shrishti was not that mesmerised. So she took out her phone and began to take photos. First she focused on the scenery but after a while, she turned to Megha and Arpit and began to capture their excited expressions. Once Arpit noticed her actions, he began to give comical expressions and Shrishti laughed out loud and captured those expressions too.
'I should send this to Daljeet.', she teased. But Arpit only chuckled. 'Go ahead. She will enjoy it.'
Shrishti shook her head in amusement. As she turned around to comment on Arpit to Raghav, she blinked. The sunlight came from the windows and illuminated half of Raghav's face and casting shadows on another side. Unable to help, she took a photo right away and it was at opportune moment as right after that, the sun began to go behind the clouds and the photogenic moment was gone. She checked her phone and felt her breath taken at how he looked.
'What has got you spooked?', Arpit asked and Shrishti simply showed the phone to him. His eyes widened. 'Perfect timing! That is good!', Arpit looked impressed. She grinned at him before turning to show it to Raghav. Raghav glanced at the photo and his eyes widened slightly before flickering to her.
'Perfect, right? You should make this your profile picture.', she suggested and was surprised when he nodded, his eyes softened. 'I should.'
She looked down and focused on forwarding it to him and also to Arpit. Then she went back to looking out of the window. She did not look away the entire time. Arpit took more photos and shared them with their group and Shrishti shared her collection. She decided to pick the good ones later and post them online before dinner.
Soon they were back at the station they had started from and all of them got down. Arpit had managed to convince them to take more photos and after that, they looked around to search for Pappa. Once Pappa was found, it was time to head back to hotel. Megha rambled the whole way back talking about the trip while Arpit chimed in every now and then. But Shrishti found herself staying silent as her mind recollected that single moment, when sun lit up Raghav's face and he looked like the most beautiful man she had ever seen. She felt breathless and unable to form a coherent thought every time she thought of that one moment.
At the hotel, Arpit complained that he was hungry and they headed to the restaurant and grabbed some snacks before they headed to their rooms. After eating, Megha decided to spend time with her brothers and Shrishti went to their room alone. In their hotel room, Shrishti opened her photo app, saw the first photo on her page which was posted by Arpit and closed the app right away. It was Raghav's photo that she had taken. She opened the app again and felt breathless. Did the man have to look this lovely? She felt her cheeks burn as she stared at the photo for a while before she scrolled down to check the next photo. But she stopped scrolling right away because below the photo was a string of comments and every one of them were praising his looks.
'Wow! He looks so amazing!'
'That is Arpit's bro! Oh wow! He looks so handsome.'
'Does he have a girlfriend?'
'Who took the pic, Arpit?'
'Oh my! Why isn't this guy modelling?'
'Find me someone who takes pics like this of me!'
'Did he have to look this lovely? I cannot look away!'
'Somebody find his deets. I want to follow him!'
'Oh yes, give me the id. I want to follow him.'
'This is my classmate? I cannot believe it.'
'Someone tell me this guy is single please.'
'That's Raghav, my classmate. Here is his id.'
'He looks so stunning!'
'He is hot!'
'How can someone be this good looking!'
'Oh drool!'
'I cannot look away!'
'That jawline is striking!'
'The cheekbones!'
'Wonder how he would look under proper light!'
'I will faint if I see him in real life!'
As Shrishti kept scrolling, first she was amused but as the praises continued, she found that she was getting angry.
'Ha! They all are getting crazy over his looks. No one cares about the personality. What if he was a bad guy? Brainless people!' She huffed. She continued to scroll through the comments and found nothing but comments on either Raghav being cute, hot, wonderful, lovely, handsome, amazing..... and so many adjectives that she felt exhausted just reading them. She shut the phone and kept it aside before falling on the bed.
'He is popular now. But I became his friend months ago! I will always come first before you all. Flutter around him as much as you like, he will be my friend first.'
After few minutes, Shrishti could not keep calm. She pulled the phone close and opened the app again. Now she hesitated before she nodded to herself and checked Raghav's profile. Her eyes widened. So many followers! With a huff, she shut the phone again. She did not want to see it.
During the dinner that night, Shrishti pouted and sulked and nothing anyone said managed to cheer her. She lied when asked that she was upset because vacation was ending and she had to go back to college. That killed Megha's mood too because her school would start too. Even Arpit looked down at the news. Raghav seemed to be the only one calm and carefree. Infact, he explained, he was happy that they were going back to college as he was finally going to study for his dream career.
Raghav's words sent a jolt through Shrishti. College was beginning! And this year, she would not be seeing Raghav in her college because he would be studying in a different college. She bit her lip. For the first time, the realisation had her unhappy. For weeks, she wanted the college to start to increase the distance between her and her crush. But now she realised that it also meant she would not see her friend at all. She did not want that. She wanted Raghav in her life. She looked at the man and wondered if he was thinking the same as her. Would he miss her the way she would miss him?
After dinner, Shrishti could not help but look at her photo app again while lying in the bed. That was when she noticed it. Raghav had changed his profile picture. Till now, there was no photo used as his profile picture. But now, she saw the photo that she had taken of sun shining on Raghav as Raghav's profile picture. Her eyes narrowed and she typed a message for him right away. 'I nag you to post a good photo for your profile for days but you refuse. But today everyone praise your looks and there you are, using that photo as profile right away. Double standards!'
She fumed in anger till she got the reply. 'Should I change it?'
She typed yes but stopped herself from sending. On social media, she and Raghav were building his internet presence as chef. And any kind of attention was good in marketing. No. It was better that Raghav has so much traffic on his page. It was better that he finally had a profile picture that grabbed attention.
'No. But next time, listen to me and not to others.', she typed back.
'As you wish.', came the response and she was mollified. And then came another message. 'I only made it my profile picture because you took it.'
Her eyes widened and she gaped at the message. 'He is flirting with me!', she shouted only for a hand to slap her arm.
'Pari Di. I am trying to sleep!', came Megha's sleepy voice from beside her and Shrishti winced and apologised. After that, she simply kept her phone down and tried to sleep. But Raghav's words kept her awake the whole night.