Running Hearts

Chapter 1

Earlier...

What if we all had wings? How far would I have been able to go? Would I go alone or wait for the others to catch up?

"In whose thoughts are you lost?" My brother, Vivaan, asked, shattering my dreams and bringing me back to reality. "Uh mm, no one. Just thinking about myself," my voice cracked. "Okay, and if you are done thinking about your boyfriend, you can sign the form so that I can just return it to my teacher tomorrow morning," he started annoying me. "Shh!" Completely irritated by him, I answered him back, " Fine, I'm doing it and be patient, but I've no boyfriend." It was true that I had never had a boyfriend before. I found some of the people at school attractive. However, I knew that a relationship was not something that I could fully commit to. So I maintained my distance. I had my share of fun, though. A girl's gotta live.

"Sure," he grinned. "Whatever!" I rolled my eyes and signed the form after analyzing it well, which my fellow brother snatched out of my hands just after I had signed it, but fortunately, it was not torn. He heaved a sigh of relief. I just ignored him until he's out of the room. Which, of course, he did not close the door. I mean, what is up with brothers not closing the doors? Is it really that hard?

I was taking a nap when all of a sudden I heard the opening sound of the door in the hall, and I was wide awake now, sitting on my bed. "Who on earth is this so late?" I mumbled. Then, it clicked. It was my father who came back from work. He had some extra shifts at the office tonight.

I heard some noises. My mother was heating dinner for both of them. She always waited for my father to eat no matter how much we all told her not to starve herself. I did not want to ruin their alone time. I was making my way back when I heard my mom saying something to my dad. "Are we actually going to send her that far?"
I immediately stopped. I know it's not good manners to eavesdrop, but it wouldn't hurt.

"No, you know how tough it is out there. She can stay right here. I mean, she got to the college nearby. What difference is it gonna make?" he said.

"I am not sure about this. You know how stubborn she can get. If we hold the reins too strong, it will break eventually. So, I think we should consider it, " mom replied.
Then the topic shifted. But I was still mentally stuck to the part of dad not wanting me to go.

I made it pretty clear from the beginning that I wanted to go to St Thomas College only. I really wanted to live on my own without anyone holding me back. Since high school, everyone knew how protective my parents were over me. It could be suffocating at times. I got their point, though. It was not easy for us to transition into these lives. However, I was quite adamant about leaving this place.

For the next few days, I tried to speak to them about moving to college. None of them uttered a word. I was getting frustrated. Time was running fast, and I had to get there by next week. Finally, reaching my breaking point, I came to the decision of going on my own. How hard could it be. It's just college. So I started planning everything. I called the campus for a place. I took the cheapest room. I was a broke student. I was offered a scholarship there. Otherwise, there was no way I could have afforded going there.
I had worked so hard for so many years for an opportunity like this. If they thought I was going to let it go, well, they were wrong.

I had packed a suitcase sneakily because my mom would immediately know if something was off. So I had to be really quiet about it. I was to leave on Monday and it was already Saturday. I had a cab to reach there early in the morning. Besides, it was only a 3-hour ride. I had saved enough money to survive one week there. I knew that once I went there, my parents would have had no choice but to accept my decisions. They were softies at heart, and I knew they would send me money for my personal uses.

...................................

Saturday went by. I woke up Sunday morning. My stomach was in knots. I was feeling guilty of having lied to the people who loved me the most. I had to tell someone about it, or I was sure I was gonna lose it. So there was only one safest choice.

"Hi honeyy, how are you on this fine day?" I faked my best British accent. My brother looked up at me from his phone with the most disgusted expression ever. He hated that nickname. That's why I loved using it.
"What do you want?" he asked.
"Ohhh. Straight to the point, aren't we?" I laid down his bed looking at the ceiling, "Yeah so, I have to tell you something, but please don't tell mom or dad."
"What have you come to say? That you are planning to run away from home soon?" he said non chalantly without looking up his phone.
My eyes widened, and I was up within less than one second.
"HOW DO YOU KNOW?!" I whisper- yelled.
"I'm not stupid. Your room is just beside mine. You think I don't hear all that ruckus you've made, moving the suitcase around. You are lucky mom is busy at work. She would have caught you before me." He said, "So why are you telling ME out of everyone?"
"I wanted to get it off my chest. Don't feel special. I also want to ask you to take care of them while I'm not here, and please try to calm the situation while I'm gone. okay?" I genuinely pleaded him.
"I'll see the best I can do. Don't do anything stupid, though. Be responsible, but I'll act like you never told me anything." He looked at me to confirm.
"Yeah, fine. And I also want to say goodbye to my best fave brother ever." I smiled at him.
"Ew. Please get out of my room. You stink." he said.
"How mean." I side hugged him before he pushed me off.
I saw a hint of him smiling before I closed his door and came to my room.

.........................

Later at night, everyone was at home for dinner. It was Sunday night. We always made sure we did something together. A new Bollywood movie came out on Netflix, for which mom was biting our ears off to watch. So we had a quiet dinner. Then we all rushed to our places in the living room to watch the new movie. While watching the movie, I realized that was what I was gonna really miss. The love and comfort of my family. I tried to focus on the movie, but I kept going back to my parents.

"This was the last night, and tomorrow I'm gone." I mumbled to myself.

..............

"Just take a deep breath. You can do this. It's no big deal." I mumbled to myself. It was finally morning. The nerves were finally catching up to me.
I had my suitcase ready. How I was going to carry it up to the car was the real question. With these paper thin walls, it was a disaster.

"Why did I not think that through?" That was my only thought. Mustering courage, I dragged the suitcase slowly while on my tiptoes as I tried to go till the main door.

I was almost thanking God that I made it safely when all of a sudden, I felt a gaze upon me. I gulped and turned slowly to look who was it. And here was my dad with his tea in his hands, looking at me questioningly.

I could feel all the colours draining out my face. "Paa...I was just gonna...uhh" I stumbled across my words. Who was I kidding? There was no excuse for this. I had been caught red-handed.
"What do you think you are doing right now? Sneaking like this?" he said rather calmly, which was unexpected, "I should have listened to your mom when she said you're going to be stubborn. I can't blame you. It's in the genes. "

Meanwhile, I just stood there dumbfounded and clueless what to say next. So I just uttered what came to my mind, "Please let me go, Paa. I swear I'll call every day and won't even get into any trouble. I just wanna take this time to explore everything by myself. Please, Paa. "
He looked at me for at least twenty seconds. It felt like an eternity until he sighed. "Okay."
"What??" I looked at him.
"I said okay. You may go. But I want you to call me or mom every day. And lastly, don't do anything you should not." He said.
"Really? Oh my god, I'm so relieved hearing you say that right now. I have been feeling bad for too long now. Thank you so much. I promise I will not disappoint you and to call."
"Go now or you'll be late," he hugged me and gave me some money for my use. "Don't worry, I'll handle your mom."
I smiled as he helped me put my suitcase in the car. We bid our goodbyes. I took a huge breath and got into the car.