To be with you.

Getting farther.

It's been days since I came to this house but nothing happened as I expected before. To be honest, Aryan seemed to be more distant than before I knew him. I know it's a bit crazy to say it like that. I mean how one could feel closer to someone when you don't even know them but that's how I felt. Before I agreed to dance with him... before all of it, even if it was just mere words we exchanged, I felt like we exchanged more than just words when our eyes collided with each other. It felt like he knew what I was thinking and I felt a connection between us.

But ever since I started going to his house he was keeping his distance from me. The conversation was definitely a lot longer than before, but it was mostly about the performance. Our eyes rarely engaged with each other except the times we danced and his eyes were bare with any emotion when he looked at me.

I learned all of the steps faster than I thought I would. I worked hard to impress Aryan, but he never acclaimed my efforts nor did he show any signs of approval. Those days it was harder for me to even get him to smile at me.

But it was all after I invited him to have coffee with me in front of his class. Just after the first day of our practice, I saw him talking with his friends in front of his class as his classmates kept walking passing them indicating the end of the session. I foolishly thought that we were friends, and I just walked to them and asked him if he wanted to join me for a coffee from the vending machine as I was going there.

All of their faces darkened and darted to the sides. I saw people watching me like I grew horns or something. That's when I realized my mistake. To my embarrassment, all of them walked away from me like they didn't know me... even Ruby. I realized no one at college knew about me being Aryan's dance partner in the competition yet and every one of his classmates standing there looked at me with pity in their eyes like I lost my mind.

I was upset but Ruby apologized and advised me not to take it to my heart. What was the most heartbreaking about it was that she asked me to act indifferently to them at college like I used to... like before I knew them and also it was Aryan's wish. It made me more raged than sad. I thought about quitting since they only wanted to use me but then I knew about it already, didn't I? I knew Aryan wanted nothing to do with me except dance. I knew he wanted to win this competition desperately for some reason and I was just a replacement for Ruby.

I was hurt in more ways than I could admit but I knew that was the reality and I had to admit it. Despite convincing myself of everything, I just couldn't accept the way Aryan was being with me after that incident. I was afraid to talk to him about it, and I didn't know what else to do.

After numerous rehearsals, Aryan agreed to have a ten-minute break. I sighed in relief and threw myself into a corner where my bag was, spreading my body on the floor. My breathing was rapid seeking more oxygen to my lungs and I was drenched in sweat from head to toe. I reached for my bag to retrieve my water bottle and drank it like it was the first time in days I saw water. As the deadline got nearer to the competition, Aryan pushed us harder to practice more. We all went beyond our limit to perfect the steps, but we still couldn't please Aryan.

Once I sated my thirst and my breaths were even, I pushed my body from the floor and moved to sit on the stage that was in front of the room. I saw Aryan talking with someone on the phone just standing outside the room but enough for me to see him. It was probably Ruby on the phone.

Ruby went to the hospital for her checkup, and Jagan accompanied her, more like Mathew forced him to accompany her instead of him. Ever since I started coming to their house, I guess Jagan found me interesting. Just before we started practice and after we end and whenever he got the chance in between the breaks he made it his habit to find me wherever I was. He just would start the conversation slowly and then goes on nonstop. After a couple of times, I couldn't even listen to him even if I wanted to. He just flirted with me all the time even in front of others making me uncomfortable but I just couldn't say anything. Even though I didn't like him being clingy always, it would be a lie if I said I didn't enjoy the attention.