18

Chapter 4

"Oh, your classes are starting on 5 July," Arava said while looking at the notice sent by the college and eating dinner at the same time.

"Yeah, we need to visit once before 5 July," Nisha said.

"We will go tomorrow." Arava confirmed.

"Okay," Nisha replied while taking her phone from his hand. There was excitement in her voice. Her focus was not on eating but on planning everything because she was excited to leave the house and start a new life in a new city.

"Eat your food first." Her mom ordered her while serving more cooked vegetables.

"Ahh, I don't want it." Nisha said in a protesting tone.

"Eat it. You will miss the homemade food." Arav started pouring his knowledge as a bachelor living in Mumbai.

"Ahh shut the fu.." Nisha was frustrated because there was not a single day without talking about his life in Mumbai and in the flow a word was about to slip from her mouth but she realized that her parents were there. In this situation, the person who enjoyed it was Arava.

"ummm......I mean shut down the shop of fundamental knowledge. I will surely understand it because practical helps more than theory." She was just trying to come up with something to make the environment family-friendly.

"Well, you will live in Nitu Aunty's house." Her dad declared while Arava was giving Nisha a side-eye. After hearing it, there was a moment of silence.

"You should have stopped her obsession with foreign music." Those exact words repeated in her head and in the exact way, Nitu Aunty said this in family function. Nisha looked at her mother and at the same time, her mother looked at her because the history between her mother and Nitu Aunty was not that great. Nisha tried to send some signals to her mother, suggesting a protest.

"We can also look for a hostel near the college. Her mom shared her opinion because she was clearly against this idea, but Nisha's dad, who was not aware of the dramas of the Sharma family, said," I don't think it's a good idea. Nitu Aunty also loves her. They will have the best time there, and it's a safer and more reliable place."

"Obviously, she loves me a lot," Nisha muttered sarcastically. Arav remained quiet because getting involved in something against his father's opinion was like entering a house on fire with diesel, but her mom was the opposite of him and soon the room turned into the courtroom without a judge.

Arava and Nisha finished eating and slowly disappeared into their bedroom. Their argument continued even after 1 hour in the form of silence and the occasional muttering of her mother from the kitchen.

Nisha got ready for bed and informed today's TMI of Avani and Mira. Nisha knew that in the end, she would end up in Nitu Aunt's house. She took a deep breath as if she was ready to face anything because the only thing she wanted was to leave the house. She knew that whatever happened in the past created a big mark on her soft heart and this chance to leave the house and start a new life in a new city was a step to heal that mark.

She then closed her eyes for a second and then looked at her bookshelf with a smile.

"Time to clean you, my dear."

[Next morning at 7 O'clock]

"Nisha, wake up. Let's have some breakfast." Arava tried to wake up Nisha, who was sleeping in the backseat of their car. Nisha opened her eyes and visually flinched back when she saw Aarav a little close.

"We reached?" Nisha asked while rubbing her sleepy eyes.

"Not yet, idiot," Arava said while tapping on her head. "Let's have breakfast first because we will reach around 11 in Pune. I can't afford to drive without eating, so feed this driver."

"I am broke." Nisha, now completely awake, replied while jumping out of the car. Then they headed toward a small breakfast spot, which was located on the side of the road. They finished their breakfast in 20 minutes and headed towards Pune.

In this journey, Nisha rested like a panda and then spent some time scrolling reels. After some time, her focus shifted toward changing scenery and the occasional appearance of a board displaying the remaining distance between them and Pune. As the clock was approaching 11, she started getting the vibes of Pune. The usual traffic of Pune was there. The intercity buses of red, green, and blue colours carried a mix of students, workers, and others. Some of them were proud of themselves that they got a seat and some of them were somehow standing in that crowd.

Overall, she can feel the Vibe of Pune. After one and a half hours, they managed to arrive at their destination- New College Pune. After parking the car, Nisha followed Arava to the premises. They visited the Physics department for some small enquiry and, after that, they submitted copies of the important documents. Also, they got to know the updated date from the department that classes will start on 3 July, which means just after 3 days.

After doing some work, they both sat in the open cafeteria of the college with tea. While they were chatting, a black car caught Arava's attention.

"Is that Mercedes-Benz S-Class?" He said in awe.

Nisha looked behind and observed that car. She didn't have any knowledge about cars and even though it was impossible to see inside the car; she felt as if someone was there.

"OMG! This is my dream car and you know what this car has..." Arava was so excited to see the car that he wasn't able to hold its information up to him.

But Nisha's mind was somewhere else. There was a sense of ending the old chapter of her life. Her dark brown eyes were observing every single detail of that place because it was now confirmed that this college would be her new home. Her heart was unaware of the future. For her, it was just the same as writing a new chapter of the book every day, where she was unaware of new plots, new emotions, new perspectives and new characters.

The calm music played with the help of a guitar accompanied this new realization. The sound of playing the guitar helped her to return to reality. Someone was playing a guitar somewhere.

"One day I will buy this car," Arava said in a voice filled with hope. He was completely unaware of his little sister's emotions. But it was not a big deal for her. While locking her thoughts behind the safe door, she looked at him and said, "I think we should leave now because we also need to come back soon."