Abhirath felt his ears turning red. There was something about the words which she spoke that he had a warm liquid spreading inside his chest. The rational side of him knew that she had chosen him since they shared the best understanding as a working pair after Vandit and her. But in terms of abilities, he was far superior to Vandit and hence she took his name.
Unfortunately, his heart couldn't care less about his cold reasoning and kept thumping uncomfortably inside.
"Sure. I will do my best. Now, if we have to report early in the morning, we better go and eat now before going to bed. Tonight, you will only eat what I ask you to. Understood?" he told Mriga brusquely.
While they were walking out of the Admin building, Nirbhay whispered to Vandit, "Looking at this behaviour of his, I can guarantee that she will never date him. Did you look at his face when he accepted her invite to be her partner? He looked constipated. Honestly, what is wrong with him? He should have at least smiled if nothing else. Instead, his asking her to eat dinner with him came out as a threat."
Vandit smiled mildly and said, "I think he was trying to hide his embarrassment. Don't be too harsh on him. Not everyone can express their emotions in an eloquent manner."
Chiranjeev snorted loudly as he went past the two of them. As per him, Mriga had made the right choice for her partner. Their abilities complimented each other perfectly. But his mind was still stuck on Nirbhay's earlier question. He had a feeling that the competition was not going to be straight forward.
Meanwhile, at the foodhall, Abhirath was making Mriga's life miserable.
"Why can't I eat roti or rice? I don't like eating dal or veggies without some accompaniment," she whined.
But Abhirath was not ready to concede at all and instead, put a boiled egg in her plate. As of now, she had a bowl of dal, a portion of steamed fish and now an egg in her plate.
"If you eat rice or roti, it would only fill your stomach up. I need you to eat a high energy diet tonight. As for tomorrow, we will be eating nuts and bananas before we leave," he instructed and went to look for a place to sit.
Muttering foul expletives under her breath, Mriga followed him.
Outskirts of Chandragarh's capital
"Maa, my apologies. I couldn't come and see you during the day. Mriga was the last contestant and I was caught up backstage with her," Yash bent down to touch his mother's feet.
She, along with the other zilla heads, was staying at the inn on the outskirts of the capital. It was now a preferred inn for all the visiting dignitaries.
Ujjwala teased him and asked, "Per chance, are you here to ask me to garner a favourable impression for her amongst the officials?"
Yash grinned at his mother's words and replied with a naughty shrug, "After today's performance, I don't think that she needs a recommendation. It was obvious that the judges were fairly impressed by her performance. They even asked her to stay back and talk more about her weapon."
"He sounds so proud. Foolish child", his mother thought indulgently.
She had come with a neutral outlook towards the girl her son liked. But the girl did manage to catch her by surprise. Someone who was able to develop a weapon at this age, was not to be taken lightly.
Next morning
Mriga and Abhirath had just bid farewell to the rest of the team. A part of Yash's head was messed up. He regretted going away the previous night before Mriga chose her partner for today's event. But then if he was to be honest, Abhirath was definitely the better choice amongst the two.
They boarded one the many carriages which had lined up to transport the participants to the venue. Even though there were six of them inside, there was an uneasy silence. Maybe it was the early hour or the foggy cold outside or the nervousness about the upcoming contest, but no one really said anything to each other. Apart from Mriga and Abhirath, there were two more pairs in there. Mriga recognized one of the girls.
Her name was Yuvati. She had been one of the few contestants who had received a thunderous applause from the crowd yesterday. Her entry into the arena itself had been dramatic. She had sprung up from amidst the crowd, by jumping off someone's head, swinging by one of the poles and finally landing at the judges table, only to show a double flip from there to arrive at the arena. People had stood up on their feet to look at her.
Mriga didn't know much about her background except that she was in the same grade as her and her major was science.
But the other girl showed no signs of recognizing her, so Mriga closed her eyes and put her head against the carriage's wall.
Half hour later, Abhirath shook her gently.
"We are here. Let's go," he said in her ear.
Once the carriages had dropped them and gone, Abhirath turned to look at Mriga, "You are really something else. Not only did you manage to sleep just before an important contest, you even dared to snore. The poor people travelling with us were traumatized."
At his teasing tone, she made a face at him and replied primly, "I don't snore normally. But it was such a long day yesterday and we were made to wake up so early this morning, so don't scold me. Anyways, who stopped them from sleeping or snoring as well?"
Before he could respond, Prithvi had come there along with Saraswati.