Feeling The Greys (revised version)

𝐇𝐄𝐑 & 𝐇𝐈𝐌

HER.

"I've been constantly praying to the universe for a Gucci handbag and guess what my dad bought last night?! A brand new Gucci handbag!!" Maybe the dad got fed up or he was concerned his only daughter was whispering nonsense to the ceiling at the dining table.

"Jay finally asked me out for a movie! Can you see the power of the universe? They heard me."

"I finally passed my Quantitative Methods class! Thank you, universe."

"Thank you, universe."

"Thank you, universe."

"Thank you, universe."

All her life she'd heard her friends and classmates talk about manifestations and how the universe listens to them. And all her life, she had manipulated herself not to listen to them. 'As if the universe has nothing else to do with its free time,' Was what she thought.

But now as she stared at this thin printed letter in her hands, she does believe that the universe really has nothing else to do but hear humans down here rant about their problems and grant them wishes. Because no way this happened because of her.

She blew her nose from the hem of her t-shirt and blinked back the tears pooling in her eyes. 'Everyone will be so proud,' She thought. She sent a silent prayer 'thank you, universe' and laughed, reading the letter again for the 5th time.

WONDERS UNIVERSITY
Mumbai

Miss. Shivani Arora, we are writing this to inform you that your application for First Year Bachelor of Management Studies has been selected and approved.

Kindly visit the university office to submit the physical copies of your documents along with your accepted application form.

We are looking forward to making you a part of our education society.

Thank you.

"You sure it's not someone's prank?" Her brother said, snatching the letter from her hand and eyeing it. "I think it's customized. Did you print this yourself?"

Shivani whined, "Shut up! Idiot." She stood up, trying to take the letter back.

"I don't think they sent this to you. Who wants your whiny, cry-baby attitude, anyways." He teased.

"Don't call me cry-baby!" She cried. "And—" She grabbed her brother's shirt and pulled him, trying to twist his arm to get hold of her letter. Her eyes widened when she saw her brother crumbling the letter in his fist. "Mumma! NO!!!" She hit her brother on his back.

"Ayy! Stop both of you. Mihir!" Her mother scolded. "Give it back to her. You're a grown up man, a father of one kid and still you act like a kid." She shook her head.

"Even Aayush is better than you." Shivani scoffed. "Look at him, how he's munching that munch. And look at you, munching my head! Why do you—"

Seeing Shivani continuing their banter, her mother turned to stopped her. "Now you don't start." She spread her arms, "Come here." The moment she stood in front of her mother, she was pulled into a tight hug.

Her mother's arms embraced her, her chin resting on her shoulder. "I'm so proud of you, Shivani. We all are so proud of you."

"Don't count me in your 'we' maa. I still think this is fak—"