Rob replied logically, "I know I'm not your real teacher but you can at least 'pretend' decent!"
Sweety looked at him like she couldn't understand a word he was instructing.
Running his hand through his hair he asked her, "Why do you want to get intoxicated?"
She shrugged, "To relieve stress."
Wow. What a convincing answer!
"No."
"No to what? Being drunk or being stressed."
"To both!"
Sweety has this tired face, "You can only choose one." She began going away.
"Where you going?"
"To get drunk." She said turning her neck right. Rob could care less to whatever she ate or drank but he himself was almost caught last week for smelling fishy. He had to come up with an excuse of beer cologne which Samuel has arranged for him.
But this girl. She was another topic altogether. How will she protect herself when there is no 'Samuel' for her?
Speeding up his walk he went to get her in time but was encountered with her and her friend together.
Rob didn't waste time to listen them.
"You'll do it or not?"
Meer nervously scratched the back of his neck. "Sweety-"
"Please," her desperation was difficult to ignore for Rob who was standing a pavement away, who knows how Meer was taking it then.
Meer held her sad shoulders, "Getting drunk is not the solution to every problem. If you begin to own yourself you will feel lighter and stronger. Don't let anyone else own you."
"Drinks are one of them." He added.
His values would work the opposite on a stubborn individual and Rob doubted it helped Sweety.
He exited the admin building to help her but they went together inside school. Unwilling to accept it but it was clear Meer convinced Sweety in thinking sane.
If only anyone could see the teacher fuming silently. Not that he himself would agree with.
Both teacher and student resumed the experiment job for their own selfish reasons. Rob wanted to make her suffer the two hours by working her up in arranging papers of all teachers he made pact with. While Sweety wanted to divert her mind in anyplace possible. Even cleaning the school would do. What they both didn't know that in the process of thinking about themselves, the two were inadvertently coming close.
"Is a clever mind always necessary?" Sweety asked while fixing the test papers attended by students.
"Maybe." Rob poured. Looking up he asked what she wanted him to. "Your father said that?"
"He reminds that every time."
He understandably gave a nod. "He is a unique man."
"You don't want to know him. Trust me."
"But he looks after you for your own benefit."
She gave a sad smile, "That's where you are wrong. He only thinks about his work and image in society. Looking after his kids is a part of that."
Rob stopped writing and focused on her, "Do you not think clever mind is helpful?"
"If everyone began thinking a similar way, there won't be any revolution. Which is impossible." She provided an example, "If a husband and wife stay together and they both are equally clever, they won't be compatible. Each one will always suspect the other and that would create chaos than a family."
He smiled at her, "You will do a good psychiatrist."
"I'm not sure if I'll pursue that."
His smile dropped, "Why?"
She merely shrugged. They dropped the topic and shifted to easier ones.
It was another big holiday for the students and teachers all. First year was close to being over and they had officially become seniors.
For some it was a once-upon-a-time in life experience or some didn't care, knowing they were eventually going to be seniors.
Sweety was accompanied by Aunt Maliah towards the front gates. Since many of them were leaving for vacation the pavement joining front gates were filled with students and their parents or guardians. She waved bye's to her known mates until her eyes stopped on him.
Until now her heart skipped seeing him and when he returned her gaze with a smile she would forget his mistakes and lies.
Just as she thought of her feelings, he turned to her when she came in his view, distracting him from speaking with a parent.
Immediately, Sweety averted her eyes towards the gate. Even if her focus was on the front, she could sense him walking close to her. The girl became panicked, she was all ears to him when they were alone or in classes and experiments but when it came to her family, Sweety never willed to introduce him.
Falling back with her pace, Sweety eyes him shaking her head negatively. Pleading him to understand.
Rob only wanted to bid her bye to enjoy just like he did with other kids but her insistence on not going near her led him to remain.
The both were very good friends yet to this day he found it knackering when she returned complex gestures.
He saw her move out of the gates with her aunt and into a cab. Not once did she turn back.
Was she ashamed of him meeting her family?
It was the first thing he couldn't help but ponder deep.
Given his background info he shared with her, was that why she didn't want him to get closer?
He needed a definite answer.
The next day while boarding the flight, Sweety's eyes lurked on the snack centres making her hungry.
Diligently she plucked two pieces of dark chocolate which she asked Ethan to bring. Ethan knee how problematic Aunt could be thus he bought it discreetly for her.
She showed her back to the snack room and searched through YouTube to pass time in order to not be reminded how mouthwatering those sandwiches seemed!
A box meal was presented in front of her phone which led her to notice the person offering it.
"You!"
"Hi." Rob grinned like a fool, enjoying her surprised mouth. "Eat it while hot."
He opened another copy of the same meal for himself, digging in with expressive sounds.
"What're you doing here?"
He finished his mouthful then answered knowingly, "Are we gonna repeat the process? We stay in the same city, remember?"
"I do remember. But I didn't know that fact was supposed to bring us in the same flight every time." Sweety was baffled with the incident.
"Coincidence-"
"Don't even try doing that excuse with me!" Her stern tone caused few eyes on them.
"People are looking. Just eat and they'll ignore." He suggested.
Sweety places the box on other side of her seat, she wanted to discuss this intentional encounters he arranged for them but he was so concentrated on his meal, he seemed hungrier than her.
"You didn't have breakfast?" Instead she asked.
"Nope. Got up fifteen minutes ago."
"Where do you stay here?"
"Hotel near airport." He took another bite.
Meanwhile he nudged her to eat her share, Sweety offered him to take hers as well but he insisted she ate first.
"That's it. I can't have more!" She pushed the box on his lap fixedly. And carried her backpack on her lap such that Rob couldn't return the meal box to her.
"It's only one box! You couldn't finish a single one!"
"You shouldn't have bought one for me." She reasoned.
"Then you shouldn't have stared at those people like you were dying to eat!" As soon as he said that, Sweety faced him.
"How long had you been staring at me?"
Rob was caught yet he truthfully replied, "Long enough to know your Aunt didn't give you enough money for buying the cheapest meal on airport."
Her mood instantly turned into self-pity which she hated. She hated her current stance as if she was a fish living in limited water.
"I wasn't that hungry." She adamantly tried convincing.
"That's why you ate dark chocolate.." She wanted to burst out at him for being honest about everything surrounding her but what would that do? How will that change reality? "I'm a physique trainer Sweety. Also I became a part time psychologist thanks to you." He referred with a shoulder push.
Sweety bloomed a little until she commented. "You must be seeing me a fool."
"It's not your fault."
"How is it not? I.. I am not stable."
Rob held her interlinked hands which thrusted strings of warm waves in her veins. He must have felt that and he didn't pull his hand back. "If you had wanted, you would have argued with your Aunt for treating you this way. Your control shows how you own yourself."
Sweety watched him like a whole different person. "Meer said the same thing once." His hold loosened on hers.
Mentally cursing himself for copying the words, Rob was searching for a reason how to explain that.
"You both seemed to be interested in same point of view." She concluded with a smile to which Rob mirrored.
Leaning back in his seat, he was once again reminded of the locket he adorned on her neck. Sweety did not know of the locket's spying abilities and now he had to be more careful since Tyler would be there in Mumbai too.