You're Mine, Remember?

11. Friendship?

Next Morning a loud shrill noise of alarm broke Shivam's slumber and he woke up with a start, confused with the surrounding environment.

Indeed he was in his dorm room, but he was lying on the ground and not on his own bed but on the floor with a hand grazing his chest. Opening one eye he decided to see who was the person who had dared to make him fall on the floor like that as a little pain started to arise in his back as well as a**.

He saw a body lying on his bed with hair sprawled all over the face. Estimating from the long hair that this was probably a Girl, he opened both of his eyes in realization. This was indeed that stupid Girl Nidhi who was sleeping soundly on his bed as if it's her own. She was lying on her stomach and her right hand was currently resting on his torso.

He lazily lifted himself and balanced his upper body on his hands and roughly pushed her hand from over his torso and looked over at her in disgust. He pondered over what anyone will do about the Girl? Should he kick her a** and throw her out of his dorm, the idea appeared tempting but he quickly dismissed it because he quickly recollected that she had almost escaped a death call.

So the only wise idea was to drag her out of his dorm and drop her to her own, without anyone actually seeing. But he also recollected that she had a high fever, so he reached out to touch her forehead and sighed in relief when her temperature was normal and that's why she was in deep sleep.

Hesitating for a moment, he bent over and with his right hand, he slowly lifted her head and shifted it over his left arm, and his right arm went under her knees and with great difficulty, he picked her up in his arms, the bridal style.

He quickly made his way out of the boy's dorm room and sneaked into the girl's dorm room. He got hold of the register and quickly searched for Nidhi's name, but not before transferring her over his arm, with her hanging over his shoulder.

He quickly leaped forward towards Nidhi's dorm room as the Warden came into view, quickly managing to dodge her and escaping before he could get caught. He didn't want the whole college to know that he was caught sneaking in the girl's dorm room. That would be a big no-no for him and he would never allow anyone to sabotage his reputation, be it anyone, even this stupid girl hanging on his shoulder.

Thankfully the door to the dorm was open and he kicked open the door and swiftly walked towards her bed and slowly dumped her on the bed and with a final glance, he made his way out of the dorm room, not creating any suspicions nevertheless. He wanted to be out as quickly as possible.

But somehow, he couldn't escape one person's gaze..

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A loud shrill noise of someone screaming broke Nidhi's sleep and she lazily opened her eyes to see what the cause of disturbance in her beauty sleep was.

There stood Kavya, on her bed with a broomstick in her hand, frantically moving around the tiny bed and shrieking within time gaps. Her gaze was fixed on the ground and she looked scared like sh*t.

Nidhi shifted her gaze to the ground and found out a cockroach scurrying around Kavya's bed. She let out an irritated sigh and bending halfway to the back of her bed, lifted her slipper, and perfectly aimed at the cockroach, killing it instantly. She was not the one to be afraid of such petty things. Not anymore.

Funny, this was not the case 2 years back. Because before the ‘terrible 2 years’ she was a normal girl.

She slumped back on her bed, ready to fall asleep, but her sleep was already disturbed and she doubted that she could go back to her sleep. So she sat back and rubbed her eyes sleepily. Upon opening her eyes wide she witnessed a wide-eyed Kavya staring at her as if she had seen a ghost.

Nidhi chuckled and got up, her body paining slightly. She wondered what would be the reason behind her body ache, and suddenly Shivam's face popped in her mind. She groaned a bit as she recollected what idiotic deed she had done yesterday. Now that dumb ass will surely make a big deal out of it and humiliate the next opportunity he gets. She was sure of that.

She wiped the sweat off her forehead and sighed. Guess she had developed herself another fever. She should not have wandered around on the terrace on a chilly night in the first place, or all this would have never happened.

Whatever, she shrugged. Whatever crap he'll do, she could handle, she knew.

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An almost half a day passed, but there was no sign of Shivam. God only knows how he missed out the opportunity to take his revenge when he clearly could use last night as a way to embarrass her.

But clearly, the guy had started to surprise her. Nidhi was not able to put a finger on what exactly was he as a person.

She continued to draw random circles in her book, clearly not interested in what was going on in the class. Tired of the lecture, she laid her head down on the desk and closed her eyes. The fact that a random memory was trying to peep out from the darkest corners of her heart and was making its way to her mind was infuriating. She didn't want to relive any memory which she wanted to forget so badly.

But things don't happen as per plan...

One more day passed by and no one turned out to free her. She felt scared as she felt the iron bars had started to come down on her and knew that if she was not freed soon, she'll die for sure. Her fragile and shivering body was quickly starting to show its effect and she felt claustrophobic in the lock-up.

She didn't even know why she was even there in the first place. She felt as if she'll never get to know why she was even there and that thought scared her.

What if she never gets out from here?

What if she never gets to see her mother ever again?

She wanted to scream her heart out at the Injustice she was being led upon, but her voice was somewhere lost in the shackles of fear that it was impossible for even open her mouth. She shivered and buried her head deep in her lap as she felt some relief washing over, temporarily forgetting that she was facing hell right now. She always remembered how her mother used to lay her handle gently on her head whenever she used to get scared of the bad dreams and she used to cocoon herself in her own embrace, just so that she could block out the world and its hell.

She peeled her head from her lap and looked up as the Sweeper in the jail passed the plate of food towards her, rather harshly that the rice splattered out from the plate. "Eat it" she bites down hatefully and though that were the only words that were heard in the large room, she knew they were going to haunt her for the rest of her life. That was the kind of effect that harsh voice had on her.

With shaky hands, she grabbed the bread and butter and hastily took a bite, her hunger suddenly taking over senses. She quickly finished the bread and quickly chewed the food, finally feeling content on having eaten something. She looked at the rice, and very few were left and most of the rice was covered in dust on the floor. She slowly ate the leftover rice, still terribly hungry, but there was no option of asking for more.

This was a Juvenile Home for God's sake! Here children were sent so that they could be served for the crime they had committed and then try to get them to have good thoughts and send them to a good path.

Only no one knew that earlier they made sure these children went through hell so that they can get a better punishment for committing a crime and would never dare to ever try again.

She wanted to get out of the place as soon as she could. She wanted to know where her Mother and what was her Father was doing while she was rotting here.

She just wished she could die right now rather than bear this pain...

She jumped back as someone shook her shoulder a bit. She looked wide-eyed at the person, none other than Shivam staring at her. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths to calm herself down; momentarily forgetting that she was in present and not in her past. Without sparing one single glance at him, she hastily wiped a lone tear that had escaped her left eye and quickly jumped from her seat and walked past him. With a speed of wind, she was out of the door within minutes.

Shivam kept looking in the direction from where that girl just left. What's exactly her problem? He wanted to make sure she didn't say a word about whatever happened last night to a single soul in the college, but here, she was busy daydreaming about God knows what, and had actually turned a blind eye to his worried demeanor.

'Fine! Go climb the wall!' he thought as he shrugged and left.

-*-

Nidhi splashed a handful of water over her face and stared at her own reflection in the mirror. As the water trickled down her face, she felt all her memories drain down the sink. She felt much better as she had a brief moment of tranquility within her own sanity.

She felt her sane mind come back to her and she sighed softly. Wiping her face she came out, only to find Shivam leaning over the door of the washroom, looking at his watch, trying to kill time.

She let out a deep breath and walked over to him, surely he was waiting for her. She would have gladly ignored him had it been any other time, but this time she couldn’t do so. She knew he was up to something and she should not be surprised by him approaching her like that. But it was one thing was surely amusing. Why did he look so impatient?

She stopped in front of him and folded her arms, tapping her feet in front of him, successfully gaining his attention.

He looked up and gave a nervous smile to her. She raised an eyebrow at him, suspicious as his sudden change of behavior. Irrespective of the smile that was offered her way, she continued to look at him blankly.

But what he said next had her eyes popping out.

"Will you be my friend?"