"Nishant, I want to speak to you about something", this was the first thing Sheela spoke the next day morning. And Nishant clearly knew what was coming. So he just stared at his mother, while she prepared for a long speech.
"Mom, I know what you are going to say. But Shradha is not a bad girl and she is definitely not a distraction. She is just a friend who needs my help and also I need her help with lit club assignments. Please don't overthink and make things complicated. " Attack was always better than defense and Nishant used the same strategy, in this situation.
"I am not overthinking. I am just worried about you. Your dreams are extremely important and I hope you know how much we are sacrificing for that." Sheela played her trump card without any delay.
"I know mom. I am not going to do anything that will affect my dream. I am actually trying to improve my profile for the sake of masters and believe it not not, Shradha is intelligent and she is helping me on this. So can you please trust me on this ?" How could Nishant shy away from using his best move. This was indeed the winning move as Sheela was silent for a moment and when she spoke again, one could easily see defeat in her eyes.
" Fine. If you really think this friendship is not going to cost you problems, then I guess we will trust you in that. But please be careful."
"Sure, ma. Stop worrying about me and think about all other things that needs your attention. Look how sad dad is, maybe he feels you are neglecting him" Nishant winked at his father and left the room quickly when his mother started teasing his father.
Nishant thought "Well, that was quick. I never thought I could escape so easily!". He started reading the new book that they had got from library. He was thinking of telling Shradha about today's scene when she sent him a message. Smiling at their timing, he looked at her message.
"Hey, how are things at home? I believe your mother would have told you to stop hanging out with me. "
"LOL, do you have any hidden cameras at my house or what? I was about to text you and say let's not be friends anymore. "
"Oh, please. Stop trying to play prank on me. M sure you would have predicted this already and that was the reason you never invited me home !"
It was more than a month after Nishant Shradha officially became friends. Their communication had improved rather drastically. They met almost every day or every alternate day and spent a lot of time together at the events or at the college library. Even though Nishant spoke with little formality initially, by looking at Shradha's carefree attitude he felt comfortable around her. So now, he could joke around with her or even scold her for her immature behaviour. Onlooker would not believe that they have been friends for such short time; such was their chemistry.
"Fine, if you have guessed its already, there is no point in delaying the information. She did speak to me about you and I have convinced her that you are a good person. So no need to worry. But yea, let's just keep you away from her. Precaution is always better than cure."
"We have go to do something about these 'wise words' you keep throwing at me once in a while! But yea, m not keen on meeting her again. So let's just avoid your home completely from now on. "
"Sure madam. How can I say no to you!"
"How are you ?What have you done to the scared little bunny, who was afraid to talk to me !"
" I was never afraid of you! Don't keep false hopes. I will never be afraid of you"
"HA HA HA , very funny! You should be afraid of me pretty boy! M very dangerous" Shradha sent a vampire emoji with teeth sticking out.
"Oh Please, go show your fake fangs to someone else." Nishant sent a tongue sticking out emoji.
They started sending just emoji's after that and soon it turned into a war of emojis. Shradha was sitting in her room and laughing after reading their chat. "I never thought behind a scared little bunny, there is a fun guy." Shradha to thought to herself while she replied to the messages. She was really having good time with Nishant lately. After he declared that he had no ulterior notion behind this friendship, Shradha thought of giving him a chance. Neeta also always told her to make some friends of her age and this seemed like a good opportunity.
After spending time with Nishant, she felt that his was a genuine person. He was always true to his feelings and morals and would speak up openly if what she did was wrong. He would never hold back and give her lectures on good behaviour and morals, if he felt she was wrong. Once, in one of the corporate events Shradha was in charge of the handing out takeaways. It was a nice pen-drive that the company was gifting to their employees and shradha was the one handing out. Towards the end of the event they realized that there were extra gifts. When no one was around, shradha told nishant that she will keep 2 pen drives - one for her and one for him. She had never seen Nishant that angry before. He gave her a lecture for an hour about how she was wrong. And one should earn thing on their ability and not like this. He even mentioned that she was proud girl who insisted on finding part time job to buy her laptop. She should keep her pride intact and never take shortcuts like this in life. Shradha was stunned for a moment, and then she kept the gift back. This incident strengthened their friendship.
Nishant had also started to relax around her and maybe trust her. Shradha being herself, always found it hard to trust people around her. But with Nishant, it was not that difficult. She felt that eventually she could open her heart to him and tell her innermost fears and he would never judge her. They would chat for hours sometimes and it would be some random topics. But once in a while the discussions would turn into serious ones.