18

Chapter 8

Gold in INPho and Silver in INChO were placed beside the Book Shelf with many prizes. All medals and prizes were placed perfectly with a beautiful family picture of 3. A small boy holding his first gold medal in his hand while his parents were smiling while looking at him.

Those dark brown eyes were looking at those small dark brown eyes in that picture. Those eyes looked at that big shelf filled with medals and prizes and then landed on a big-sized mirror. Nil took a thorough glance at himself. He was ready to go to college, but all those prizes he won in some years ago caught his attention.

"Car is waiting for you Nil."

[In college before exam]

"What is the formula of gravitational force? Tell quickly..." Aarush started asking questions to Nisha before their exam as a rapid revision.

"Seriously? It's simple. Force is equal to G into a mass of two products divided by distance square.... and G is equal to..."

"6.67 into 10 to the power minus 11...this is so a simple question Aarush." Nil came forward with his notes. He was wearing his usual formal wear, with perfectly combed hair and a black mask.

"Cold?" Nisha asked

"Yes," Nil replied while reading his notes again.

"Stop overreading it again Nil, we are perfectly ready for this course." Aarush took Nil's notes and put them in his bag.

[Exam hall]

The exam was about to start. Today, Professor Ghogare was the supervisor. Papers were being distributed and with every second passing, Nisha's heartbeat started increasing. She was not showing, but she was nervous. Finally, she got a question paper. As she read each question, she was sure that her hard work would pay off. There was only one question. She was not sure about the answer, but she started writing her paper.

On the other side, Aarush was writing his paper, but Nil was staring at his question paper. He knew the answers to all questions, but he was blank for some time. He was reading the same question again and again. Professor Ghogare, who was observing every student noticed that something was off with Nil today. She knows that she has no authority to disturb anyone just because she feels something out of the path. Professor Ghogare shifted her focus from Nil to Nisha.

Nisha was so much focused on her paper. She did all theoretical as well as numerical-based questions and was internally happy, but suddenly she remembered that slap. 

She closed her eyes for a second and all the memories flooded into her mind. Staying up at night for question practice, skipping meals and sleep, and having a breakdown.

"Time's up. Stop writing." Professor Ghogare announced and started collecting papers. Nisha also returned to reality and submitted her paper. She felt a little relaxed and then looked towards Aarush and Nil. Aarush was also relaxed, but Nil wasn't. She approached both and asked, "How was the paper?"

"It was best. I completed it 5 minutes before time." Aarush said while packing his bag.

"It was nice for me as well. But I didn't write 1 question of 2 marks." Nil said while grabbing his bag, "I am going home earlier today. I need to rest. So, I will revise alone." Nisha and Aarush nodded at his decision. They saw Nil Going outside the Exam Hall. Now Aarush and Nisha were alone in the exam hall.

Nisha looked at Aarush and said, "So, shall we start our next revision or coffee break?"

Aarush smiled and said, "When you know my answer, why do you always ask questions? You know that without coffee, I AM NOTHING."

"Ohh, don't start now." Nisha stopped him because she knew that he wouldn't waste a chance to irritate her once his dramatic side peaked out. They both headed toward their favourite coffee shop for a little break and spent 1 hour there chatting about fresh stuff from science to art and then they spent the whole day revising materials for tomorrow's mathematics exam. They didn't realize how time flew so fast that it was almost 6 in the evening.

Nisha was tired at this time and wanted to take a rest as soon as she reached her place. Nisha and Aarav were waiting for their buses.

"So, confident about tomorrow's paper?" Aarush asked Nisha.

"Yes..." Nisha said in a lower voice.

"Well Aarush, I am ready to participate in SciStart-Up." Nisha declared and proceeded, "Do you have any idea?"

Aarush, who didn't expect this topic, went silent for seconds and then he said, "Wait, does it mean we will work as a team? Let me clear to you that I want to win the competition. Don't run away from it at the last minute."

"Absolutely not Aarush. We will work as a team until we win it." Nisha said while smiling because she found it funny yet cute about how Aarush confirmed everything.

"Great then, then we should start working on that idea as soon as we are done with internals. Come up with some ideas as well." Arush said and gave her a high five.

"I will..." Nisha assured him. They chatted about it for some time, but they had to stop the discussion because the bus had arrived. Still, Aarush has to wait for his particular bus. Nisha stepped onto the bus and waved back at Aarush. He also responds with a smile. He saw the bus disappearing into the evening traffic.

Buzz*buzz* buzz*buzz*

Caller ID: BRO

[At Nisha's stay]

Nisha was heading towards home. Still thinking about today and especially about the SciStart Up competition. She was excited to work on it with Aarush. She didn't want to disappoint him. With all those thoughts about competition and Aarush, she arrived home. She tried to open the door, but it was closed and remembered that Antu and her uncle had gone to some work in Mumbai for a week and Riya also told her that today she would be a little late.

Nisha opened the door with a spare key and landed on Sofa. She was so tired that she closed her eyes within a minute and opened them near 9 at night. Riya was also at home by now and was busy in the kitchen. Nisha was still sleepy, but she somehow stepped out from the sofa. She looked at the time and...

"ohh shi....ahh Sis, why you didn't wake me up?" And she ran towards the bedroom. She heard Riya's voice from downstair but she ignored it, changed into comfy clothes and opened her mathematics notebook to revise. She flipped pages and ...

"Wait...I did the revision." She faced palmed as soon as she realized it. She took a deep breath because some minutes ago she was near to having a minor heart attack, thinking that she hadn't revised.

[Notification from Aarush]

Aarush: Reached safely?

Aarush: Resting 🤔?

Aarush: Will you just help me with the Epsilon- delta definition of limit tomorrow?

She smiled softly. There were other messages from Avni and Mira as well. Even her mom sent her some YouTube videos. She replied to everyone quickly and then replied to Aarush and she stared at the message 'Reached Safely?' for a while and then switched off the phone.

"Nil?"

She grabbed her phone again. Scrolled through chats, but he sent no messages.

Nisha: Nil?

Nisha: Feeling okay?

Nisha: Done with revision?

Within a second...

Nil: Yes, I am feeling better now and revising better.

Nisha replied: Good to hear that😀.

[At Nil's house]

He was looking at messages sent by Nisha. Surrounded by past year question papers and notes. He switched off the phone and looked at his reflection on the screen, and then he looked into the mirror. The bruise near his lips, still hurting and still hidden from the world.