"Can Mayur stay here for a while?" I asked Grandma in her office.
She looked up at me, took off her glasses and seized me up.
"Are you two dating?"
"What? NO! We met recently. Actually..." I was flustered by this sudden question. I knew I'll have to go through this if I asked Grandma. But I can't step back now. I remembered the story Mayur told Chester at school and decided to carry on with it.
"Actually, his parents just transferred here and they are still trying to settle in. You know our exams are going to start and Mayur doesn't want this to affect his grades." I lied.
She thought about it and asked a few occasional questions.
"Okay, he may live here, but not for long. Ask his parents to finish whatever they are busy with."
I jumped with excitement and hugged her.
"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." I said.
"Are you sure you two have nothing going on?" She asked again.
Grandma if I were to tell you what exactly is going on between us, you wouldn't believe me. Even I'm having a hard time believing it.
"He can stay in your Dad's room. It's been vacant for ages. I'd love to see it come alive again." she said
I could sense longing in her voice. She must miss her son. I sometimes wonder- Would someone be missing me too? I didn't know the answer to this question because I can't even remember where I was before all this happened.
With that in mind, I walked out of the office to the dining table where an army of kids and a certain someone was busy filling their stomach.
"Grandma agreed that you can stay here for sometime." I sat beside Mayur and told him about my conversation with Grandma.
"In the meantime, I'll be searching for a place for you to live in."
He nodded and shifted his focus back to the food. He must have been really hungry. After the lunch, I showed Mayur where he'll be staying and he made himself at home quite easily. He took out his novel and started reading it. It'll be three hours at most until he finishes it.
"You see that shelf there?" I pointed towards a small wooden bookcase and he followed my direction.
"Yes."
"There are books inside. Once you finish the current one, feel free to dig into them." I told him and his eyes lit up.
"I'm going out for some fresh air. I'll be back by evening." I said and left him in the company of Shakespeare. Why is he suddenly so interested in it anyway?
...
I saw Arya leave and dug right back into the book. I could understand its language pretty fast. Why? I don't know. It's a bit weird, but learning and perceiving comes naturally to me. The first time I started speaking, I was pausing after every word and now, after just a single day, I can speak as fluently as anyone else.
I could finally understand what I heard in my dream. But there was something bothering me even more than my dream.
Back when we were coming back home, I heard a voice. I don't know where it came from, it just rang in my ears and was warning me incessantly.
'Run. It's coming. You must run.' It said to me.
And when we reached in front of that garage, the voice died down. I couldn't tell Arya about this, but she knew I was lying.
"I will tell her about everything-my dream and that voice- once she comes back."
A few hours passed and I finished reading the book. I had nothing else to do and was feeling bored. That's when I remembered that Arya had told me to read the books in the bookcase.
I got up and walked towards it. I was looking around, trying to decide which one to read, when I heard a commotion.
I walked out of my room and looked for the source of the noise. I went inside the huge living room and saw all of the thirty-three children swarm around a guy. His back was towards me, hiding his face. He wore a huge black overcoat and from it's pockets he was taking out sweets that he gave the children. I saw Grandma smiling at the corner.
The guy turned and I saw his face. He had golden brown hair and sea green eyes. His face looked like he pays a lot of attention on his looks. He didn't look scary, but something told me there's more than meets the eye. He looked straight at me, there was a playful smile on his face.
"Hi, Mayur. I finally got to see you."