In The Middle - Kriyansh FF - Discontinued (P.20) - Page 13

As she sleepily dragged herself back to her room, while her mother switched on the music player, she saw a few unread messages in her phone. One was from a panicked Neha who couldn't get a step correct, and also asking her about her health in the same message. Next one from Swayam reminding her to take some medicines before sleeping. The next one was again Neha telling her that her project file was with her and she finally got the step correct. Kria groaned, that project had been on her head for too long, she wanted to do off with it as quickly as possible. The last message surprised her -

'Kria, this is Vishal. Meet me tomorrow at the CCD opposite to our college at 12 for our date. ;). JK.'

She sighed, she was so used to of getting herself in different kinds of mess, as she let herself fall on her bed face down.

As she entered the caf, she looked around tensed; she wanted to get over with this 'date' as soon as possible. When she asked her mother why had she said yes to Vishal for this date, her mother's reply had irritated her... "Date? Beta jee vo aapse bas milna chahta hai. He's a sweet guy." Yes, he was sweet guy but that doesn't mean he calls her to a caf in their fourth meeting like this, however much she found him nice, HE HAD ASKED HER FOR A DATE, and that sucked!

"Hey Kria!" She heard someone calling from a table right in the center of the crowd. She mentally thanked her stars; at least he hadn't picked up a corner seat.

"Hey." She said as she sat opposite to him.

"What would you like?" Vishal asked as a waiter came to them as he saw Vishal get up with the help of his crutch.

"Iced-tea." Kria said trying to calm herself down.

"Calm down, this not a date." Vishal said seeing the tensed look on her face. "I just need to talk to you about something related to college before you go to college tomorrow." He said looking at her with a reassuring look.

"Related to college?" Kria asked. She was still not satisfied with his explanation.

"Kria tumne Dazzlers ke against team banake bahut badi responsibility li hai." Vishal started to speak and Kria nodded, maybe he had really just wanted to talk about college, she was just thinking of stupidly unnecessary things.

"I know. I'll have to prove ki hum Weaklings bhi unse kuch kam nahi hai." Kria said getting all charged up, she found the spirit she was lacking for the rehearsal that day.

"That's not it Kria..." Vishal said earning a confused look from Kria. "Dance is not the only thing you'll have to beware about." Vishal said leaning in front.

"Matlab?"

"Kria mai jaata hu tum ek honest dancer ho, aur tum unhe sirf dance me hi competition dena chahti ho. But Dazzlers aren't like that." Vishal said. Kria couldn't seriously understand a thing he was saying, dance was the only thing they were competing about, weren't they?

"Mai kuch samjhi nahi."

"Kria you know about my accident right?" Vishal asked andKria nodded as her eyes drifted towards the crutch that leaned next to their table. "Do you really think it was an accident?"

"Ummm..." Kria didn't know what to say.

"Kria at that time I was off to create my own dance team. You've heard it from RDX sir, I was one of the best dancers, and an obvious threat to the dazzlers. Toh unhone ne kya kiya? Simply competition ko eliminate kar diya." Vishal shrugged his shoulders matter-of-factly, but there was glint of disdain in his eyes. Kria tried to reason it out. Sharon - true she was a bit@h and a brat too but she wouldn't hurt anyone this bad; Rey - she knew he was a nice guy even though after RDX's party she had tried her full to ignore him and even he had given up after some time yet he helped her; and the rest, they were just too many obnoxious brats, but harmless to even an animal; they were all words no action. Then something stuck her.

"Par maine bhi to apni dance team banayi hai. And we even competed against them in auditions." Kria said trying not to smile, it was all in his head, and she knew it.

"Cos they didn't consider you a threat. But now they do, that's why I'm warning you." Kria couldn't decipher his expression, was it retaliation or hatred, there was always a thin line between the two. She didn't say anything for some time, there was no harm in listening to him. "Vaise us din tumhe ghar drop kisne kiya tha?" Vishal said changing the topic, he had warned her, and now it was upto her to believe him, and he knew she'd take the bait.

"Vo..."

"I know it was Reyansh."

"Huh!"

"Jab mai vahan se nikla to I thought I should have at least stayed back till your mom came, it was wrong to leave a girl alone like that. But by the time I came back you had already sat in Reyansh's car."

"Right after you left Ma ka call aaya and she said she was stuck. I didn't have your number and no one could've come to pick me. I was going to take the bus but he came and said bus would be dangerous and well after much persuasion I thought what harm could it be." Kria said. "And I had my pepper spray with me." She said and both of them laughed. That short car trip had been something...

"So Ms. Dehradun, itni late college me? Studious haan?" Rey said as he started the car. He could see that she was tensed. She had one hand inside her bag, probably holding onto some kinda pepper spray bottle, he mentally chuckled, she was so different from other girls.

"I was completing RDX sir's project." Kria said looking out of the window. Mumbai was so different than Dehradun, it had been the city of her dreams, but now all she dreamt about was her memories of her hometown, a place where she had spent 18 years of a fairytale.

"Missing Dehradun?" Rey asked as he saw her expression. They had stopped at a red light and Kria saw him looking at her with boring eyes as she lightly nodded.

"I miss that place too." He said with a sigh and looked at her questioning expression. "My grandma lives there. I spend my vacations in Dehradun ever year since I was 5." He said and Kria just nodded. He sighed, I was so tough to strike a conversation with at some times and at others, she was the christened 'Baat-Cutter'. "Which is your favorite place there?"

"My home." She said with a distant smile. "The place where we lived, it was beautiful." She looked at him. He took his eyes off the road and nodded at her encouraging her to go on. "It is a quite colony, just a few houses. It was a slope, so my friends and I loved cycling there. Baarish ke time par, chaat par paani bhar jaata tha aur hum log poora time chat par khelte rehte the, aur fir bimaar pad jaate the." Kria let out a soft chuckle.

"Dehradun ki baarish... those are my best memories." Kria looked at Rey. He was staring at the road but she knew the memories that were in the back of his head were reeling in front of him like a movie on a 70 mm screen.

"Turn right from here." Kria said.

"Huh?" Rey looked at her not realizing what she had said. Kria pointed to the road that branched right from there. Rey nodded and took the turn.

"Tumhe Mumbai zyada pasand hai ya Dehradun?" Kria asked.

"Dehradun." Rey said, and that was the truth. At lot of moments, he had wanted to escape the mundane hectic life of Mumbai and retreat into his shell like he tried to do when he was in Dehradun. Just him, Dadi and the small silent town. "Aur tumhe?" He asked her.

"Mera ghar aa gaya." Kria said as the small walled colony came in view. Rey stopped the car outside the colony gates as Kria got out. Rey looked out of the window hoping she say something before she turned to her heels and left, but she didn't. Rey sighed, he was hoping for far too much, just lift home won't clear the air between them and turn them into friends. "Mumbai." He heard a small voice and looked at the passenger seat's window, Kria's head was peeping in as she fitted her elbows in the window frame. "Thanks for the lift. "She said with a smile and left.

"Rey! Earth calling Rey!" Vicky screamed in his ear. He had tried all kinds of antics, waving is hand in front his eyes; pulling his hand from under his chin while he looked away dreamily. But none worked as he shrugged Vicky's hand away and put her chin back on her palm resting her elbow on the table in the college rehearsal hall.

"Huh?" Rey looked at Vicky as if he had committed a felony.

"Rey itna day-dream karna is not good for your health!" Vicky said glaring back.

"Shut up Vicky." Rey said as he got up and splashed some water from his bottle on his face. "Chal practice karte hai." He put up some music.

"Rey tujhe hua kya hai?" Vicky said as he saw his best friend beginning to warm up. "Ek to Sunday ko college bulata hai to practice aur fir jab mai aata hu to you're lost in your paradise."

"Kuch nahi Vicky." Rey rolled his eyes.

"Tu us Weaklings ki captain ke bare me soch raha tha na?!" Vicky looked at him boring his eyes.

"Haan." Rey let out a sigh as he leaned on the bars and looked at Vicky. Whom was he kidding; Vicky was his best friend who knew him inside out.

"Use bhool ja Bhai. Vo ek weakling hai, out of your league!" Vicky kept a hand on his shoulder.

"Dude, you know na I don't believe in all this Dazzler-Weakling nonsense!" Rey looked at his best friend, however much he loved Vicky more than he loved his own brother; he was irritated by his 'third-grader' behavior wondering if he'd ever grow up.

"Fine! I know one way to cheer up your mood!" Vicky said his eyes glistening.

"Alright. But you're paying!" Rey slapped his friend's back as he groaned. He smiled and picked up his stuff leaving the hall with Vicky.

"Vishal I wanted to ask you about something else too..." Kria began to ask. The last half an hour had been spent in cracking silly jokes and sharing their St. Louis stories. But suddenly her phone rang. "Excuse me." She said and went outside to take the call as the caf was too loud.

"Hey Swayam." Kria said as she picked the call pressing her hand on her other ear so that she heard just the phone and not the traffic.

"Hey, Kria. Ab tum kaisi ho?"

"Mai bilkul theek hu. Tum log Bharat ke garage pahunch gaye?" She asked as she saw her watch, it was already 1.30 and they were supposed to meet by 2.

"Haan, bas Amar aur Neha ka aana baaki hai. I actually called to ask tum aa rahi ho na?"

"Obviously aa rahi hu Swayam."

"Nahi you weren't so well yesterday."

"Bas thodi weakness thi. I'm okay now." Kria said reassuringly as she rolled her eyes; Swayam acted over-caring sometimes, but she loved it, he was the brother she always wanted.

"Oh... alright. See you."

"Mai aadhe ghante me pahunchti hu." Kria said framing in her head how she was going to reach the garage. Ever since they had shifted the venue she had, fortunately, taken bus rides from college to his place a lot when no one was there to accompany her.

"Okay, bye." Swayam said and cut the call. Kria turned around to go inside to say bye to Vishal when she saw him coming out of the caf.

"I have to go." She said to him with a smile.

"Practice?" He asked her and she nodded with a smile. "See you later." He said not pressing her to ride with him.

"Thanks for everything." She said giving him a light air-hug and turned to leave. But something stuck her and she stopped. "Do you wanna come with me?" She asked.

"Or better, you come with me." Vishal said gesturing towards the car that just stopped in front of them. Kria chuckled and climbed into the car as Vishal held the door open.

Rey was waiting for Vicky and his car outside college gates when he saw her - talking on the phone outside the CCD opposite the college. He smiled, it was a good time to go chat with her but as soon as he moved two steps, he saw him come out. He stopped dead in his tracks as he saw them converse and Kria give him a hug. She was leaving. He hoped she was taking the bus, it would mean she'd have to cross the road and come towards him, as the bus stop was right outside the college gates. He rehearsing in his head how he would greet her and strike the topic he had missed to mention in the car ride. But to his dismay she stopped and turned around to say something to him. He replied and she chuckled, he knew she was laughing, the way her body moved and her head jerked back a little. Even from across the road he could see her every moment like all he could see was her; no, he could even see him. Both of them got into the car and the driver drove off. He should have talked about Vishal and his fight with her when he had a chance, now he didn't know what all he might have told her.

"Rey vahi khada rahega kya?" Vicky said leaning towards the passenger seat window to talk to him. Rey looked at his best friend lost in thoughts, for once even thinking about telling him to follow the car. But it was of no use he knew, and the message he received confirmed it...

'You'll still be standing across the road, watching... as I shatter your world to pieces. -Vishal.'

...He knew it, the damage had been done.

...To be continued. ❤️