Cross-border Merger

Possible Friendship(s) Part II

Calum took me to this nearby cafe which by the looks of it was the perfect hangout spot even for smaller group of friends which made sense since till we got here, which took basically 5 minutes, Calum told me everything I needed to know before meeting them.

I was going to meet about 4 people in there who were, in his words, "honestly, the absolute best". None of them except belonged to the legal fraternity, so, it wasn't possible for them to meet regularly which makes today a special occasion as I get to meet all of them at together.

Calum didn't even take a second to locate his friends and I followed him to their table. There were 2 guys and 2 girls sitting at the table. They stood up to hug him and you could jest feel how close they all were just from this simple gesture.

"Cal you brought company" one of the girls spoke up and without any introduction she walked up to me and hugged me "Hi love! How are you?"

As an Indian, I was not expecting this sort of affection and personally, I haven't hugged anyone whose name I didn't even know. But trust me that hug made me instantly feel welcomed. 

I hugged her back and before I could say anything Calum spoke, "Oh shit! That's so rude of me. Everyone meet Yukta. We are taking a class together at the University. She just moved here for the course. Yukta this is everyone."

"Damn man! You do such a good job at introductions", the girl who had hugged me rolled her eye.

She then turned to me and said, "Yukta, I'm Leslie! Please join us."

I smiled and sat next to Calum and Leslie. Everyone started to introduce themselves then.

One of the other two guys spoke up first, "Hello Yukta, I'm Shawn and this is Sara", he motioned to the girl sitting next to him.

Then the last guy said, "Hi. I'm Ashar."

Ashar then asked me, "So, Yukta, where are you from?"

"I'm from India." This was getting so awkward yet I didn't want to leave.

"No way seriously? My parents are from Pakistan so i'm basically a desi kid brought up here. Dude! Please tell me you're a Bollywood junkie."

I let out a small laugh at his expressions and replied, "Of course, I am! I mean how can you not be? Plus I'm a big Pakistani series and music fan too! I mean Abida Parveen speaks to my soul."

Ashar acted as if he's going to faint at this very second, "Okay then it's settled... You're my best friend now. None of these fuckers are ever going to understand the importance of what you just right now! Calum you go second in the list for bringing Yukta here and the rest of you can find your own place."

I laughed at this again and everyone started arguing with Ashar. I just drank a cup of coffee with them along with a muffin and just got to know some stuff about them. They have been friends pretty much from middle school except Shawn who joined them when Tara was in college with him. 

"Thank you so much for letting me join in! I hope I didn't bother but I had so much fun." I told them as I stood up.

"Oh shut up! We had so much fun too. And now you'll be joining us whenever we're hanging out", Leslie said. 

"Of course. I mean I am not going to lose my best friend just after one meet", Ashar added.

"Thank you guys! This means a lot! I'll see you later then." 

Leslie hugged me again since we've already established she's a hugger.

I go back to the house, on my own this time. It took a lot of efforts to convince Uncle not to trouble himself and Finn and it finally worked. There's a different sense of independence in commuting on your own and not feeling like you are living on someone else's money.

As I stand before the doors of the house, I pray to God to not ruin the remainder of my day by bringing Mr. Arrogant Brat's face in front  of me.

I enter into the house to find that not only did God not accept my prayer but also to find him with another gut in there. That's not it... he was laughing and for the first time ever he seemed like a normal person... a very handsome person.

A/N: Slightly longer chapter to make up for being late with the update. And shoutout to Avani again because God knows she deserves it. Thank you girl for constantly supporting this story with your votes!