"HANSHI!"

Hansika turned around and spotted her best friend, Maya, waving at her through a crowd of students. She patiently waited as Maya half-ran-half-jogged towards her. When Maya had come an arms distance from Hansika she caught a hold of Hansika's backpack to stabilise herself.

"I'msogladIcaughtyou!" Maya took a deep breath to catch her breath, "I had something I wanted to ask you about. I know you have a ton a work to do but listen to me for one second, okay?"

Hansika smiled at Maya and playfully asked, "When have I not listened to you?"

Hanshika suddenly pulled Maya towards her to help her avoid bumping into another student.

"Thanks."

"No problem. I was actually walking towards the library, wanna walk with me? Drop me off?"

Maya smiled at Hansika, her dimple as prominent as ever made her look like she was planning something, which she usually was. "Studious as ever, huh? Of course I'll drop you off. Anyways as you know, Saturday is my friend Krishna's birthday and I'm obviously invited, but guess who else is invited?"

"Umm, I don't know, Likith maybe?"

Maya let go of Hansika's bag.

"Nooo, come on Hanshi, would I really be this excited about Likith coming to a party? I see him all the time. Be... More creative."

Hansika rolled her eyes, "Well you have a secret crush on him so don't blame me for-"

"I DO NOT HAVE A CRUSH ON LIKITH!"

Maya's sudden proclamation made the surrounding students turn their heads towards Maya curiously before resuming whatever they were doing before Maya interrupted their thoughts.

"Sure Maya, and shouting your fervent denial is a very believable rejection of your true feelings."

Maya blushed, "Shit, I was too loud wasn't I? Did everyone hear me?"

"You bet they did."

"You're enjoying this way too much... But I just couldn't control myself. Ugh, why do I always have to be so loud!"

Maya touched her reddening ears, a sign of her becoming uneasy. Hansika noticed this and decided to ease her unnecessary worries.

"It's fine Maya, no one cares. They're all busy with their own lives."

"Easy for you to say, you're not the one who shouted." Maya grumbled.

Hanshika chuckled, "That's true. Why don't you forget about this non-existent crush you have on Likith and tell me about this mysterious person coming to the party this Saturday."

Maya finally smiled again as she was reminded of her true purpose of seeking out Hansika.

"Since you're clearly not on the right track, your amazing friend Maya will be kind enough to tell you who this mysterious person is who's coming to the party.... Drumroll," Maya pretended to drum with her fingers for some added flair, "It's Rahul!"

Hansika stopped in her tracks and digested the information Maya had just uttered at a pace that was visible to the naked eye. Once she had processed the information she grabbed Maya's shoulders.

"What?! Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

Maya shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, "I wanted to tell you but instead of guessing you kept on talking about useless things. It's not my fault you're more interested in my flourishing love life rather than your own love life that I constantly have to take care of for you."

Hansika felt offended at her friend's blatant provocation. "Yeah right. If you call your love life flourishing then my love life is on fire. Remind me when was the last time you talked to a guy you were romantically interested in?"

Hansika watched as Maya wracked her brain for an answer but couldn't come up with one. A satisfied grin spread onto her face.

"You could always say Likith." Hansika teased.

"Don't even-"

"Hey girls!"

Two arms came around the girl's shoulders. When they looked up they saw a tall man wearing his football uniform smiling brightly.

"Speak of the devil." Maya murmured.

"What was that Maya? You mean speak of the devilishly handsome? Haha you flatter me Maya." Likith leaned on his shorter friend.

"First off," Maya swatted off Likith's hand, "get your disgusting, sweaty, and smelly body off of me."

"You mean my natural musky man scent?" Likith said as he walked even closer to Maya.

"You know what I mean-"

"Hey Likith, glad you noticed me." Hansika cut off Maya before she would say something she would regret later.

"Oh hey Hanshi! I totally didn't see you." Likith exaggerated as he backed away from Maya.

"Maya here was just telling me how it's Krishna's birthday this Saturday and about the people invited."

Hansika had a knack for ignoring Likith's antics, unlike Maya.

"Oh my God Likith, you know that guy that I keep telling you Hanshi has a huge crush on? He attending!" Maya chattered on happily completely forgetting about their little spat before.

"Listen, I actually believe that the credit of bringing him to the party should be given to me and I'll tell you why."

Likith and Hansika made eye contact and a familiar expression was on both their faces. They both knew what was coming.

"I knew that Krishna would be hosting a party soon since his birthday was coming up. Do know how I keep a track of his birthday?"

Maya waited for a response.

"How?" Likith asked.

"It's actually on the same day as one of my cousins! Can you believe that?"

Again, Maya waited for a response. Although usually Hansika would always respond in between Maya's pauses since Likith was there she taught it was better to keep quiet.

"Is his birthday on the same day as Kavya?"

"Yep that's the one!" Maya said excitedly. "You've always been great at remembering things like that!" She patted Likith on the back.

'More like he's great at remembering everything related to you,' thought Hansika but she kept her face straight in the midst of Maya and Likith's blatant flirting.


"Anyways, I also knew that he has the biggest parties ever right? And as long as you know him he'll invite you so I just had to introduce Ra-"

"MAYA!"

Maya was confused at Hansika's suddenly interruption before she realised what she was about to do.

"Omg, Hanshi I'm so sorry. I-"

"So his name starts with R huh." Likith smiled mischievously.

"Shut up Likith." Maya glanced at Hansika, "After giving it some thought I won't actually be telling you any story about how anything happened but just know that Hanshi's crush is gonna be there."

Maya kept glancing at Hansika and Hansika knew that until she told Maya that everything was fine she would feel bad, but what she did was a little too much for Hansika.

Lucky for both of the girls right at that time Likith was called away by his teammates. They both released a relieved sigh. With Likith gone they could finally talk freely to each other.

"Maya! How could you almost reveal Rahul's name like that? You know how long it took for me to recover from Likith finding out that I even had a crush on someone." Hansika ran her fingers through her hair.

Maya knew that Hansika was serious by her tone of voice and rushed to apologise to her.

"Hashi I'm so sorry I really didn't mean to say Rahul's name. It's all me and my big mouth's fault."

They both walked in silence. Maya was waiting for an answer and Hansika wanted some time to calm down.

They were reaching the library and no one had spoken yet. Maya finally couldn't stand the silence anymore and stood in front of Hansika.

"Hanshi I know your angry at me but I promise I won't do it again. Please forgive me."

Forced to look into Maya's pleading eyes Hanshi finally forgave Maya. She wasn't the type to hold grudges against her best friend for too long.

"Fine. But in return give me all the details of this party on Saturday." Hansika cracked a smile at Maya.

Maya's mood did a 180, she tended to do that a lot, as she started to tease Hansika again seeing that Hansika had forgiven her.

"Why should I give you the details? I never told you that you were invited..." Maya observed Hansika's face and when she felt that she had built enough tension she continued, "But as a part of my apology I'll extend an invitation to you. It's in the evening. I think around 7pm but I'll wahtsapp you the details."

"Oh thank you for you kindness dear Maya." Hansika put her hands together in a classic Namaste pose.

"Ha I know. My kindness knows no bounds. I'm giving you such a great opportunity. You should be thanking me since It'll be one of the few times Rahul will be able to see you in casual clothes." Maya said with an air of arrogance.

At this time they had finally reached the library. A big three-floored building right in the middle of the campus.

Hansika prepared to say goodbye. "Sure Maya. I'll go now, okay? I'll text you later."

Maya waved at Hansika, "Bye bye."

"Bye."

Hansika waited until Maya had gone out of sight before entering the building. Before checking in she decided to look at her phone.

Shit! Looks like she wouldn't be going to the library just yet.