Conundrum 》ICT AU

-37-

"I win!" Nupur smirks at Gia who just pouts at her. The two ten year olds were both at the local arcade, playing video games with each other. Nupur had challenged Gia to a car racing game and she had won, much to nobody's surprise.

"Yeah yeah." Gia mocked. "You win!"

"Anyhoo." Nupur smirked. "Wanna try the claw machine?"

"Yes!" Gia's eyes brightened. If there was one game she was good at, it was the claw machines. She would pick that over the racing games any-day. "Chalo, let's go!" She jogged towards the machine, Nupur following her.

Following the couple were their own nannies and two bodyguards, all wearing normal clothing so as to not spook the other people. They quickly followed the two girls, reaching the claw machines.

Gia's nanny quickly handed her a quarter, to which she smiled and replied a soft thank you. She put the coin in the machine and watched as the claw went to the centre. She quickly pulled the handle and manoeuvred the handle, pulling one small stuffed bear out of the machine.

"Here you go!" Gia smirked as she handed the toy to Nupur, the girl grinning widely as she received it.

"Thank you Gia!" She smiled, looking at the toy. "I'm going to name her Gigi."

Years later, Gigi is still on Nupur's bed, being hugged to death by Nupur every night without fail.

-

"How's everything going on, Simran?" Shruti asked, just able to keep her voice stable. She didn't want to talk to Simran, scared that she would figure everything out about her involvement about this whole fiasco. She didn't want to do this in the first place but Jasprit was right.

She had to figure out what the gang had figured out. The only way to do that was to build the friendship back with Simran, build the trust back.

Simran had to know what was going on, she was back in with her group. There was nothing else that would keep them in the loop and keep them from ruining her life.

"Everything is hectic." Simran sighed. "I'm sure you know about the whole Gia fiasco. Everyone's trying to figure out who's the rat."

"So there's no clue yet?" She smiled, a bit relieved.

"Nope." She said, stirring her coffee. "How are you doing?"

"Everything is good." She nodded, ready to get out of there. "You know, just living life, haha."

"Don't I know it." Simran grinned, at peace. She had been waiting for months trying to have a normal conversation with Shruti after the fallout but Shruti would just walk the other way when she saw her coming. She had blocked her on all sites, so contacting her had been impossible, until today.

"Why have you come and speak to me?" Simran asked, curious. "I thought you couldn't be friends with me or spoken to me, out of respect for Jasprit?"

"I realised I was too harsh, really." Shruti said, keeping her hands on the table. "You did tell me everything you did, so you didn't -" Shruti trailed off, seeing who entered into the store.

"Isn't that Meera and Hardik?" Simran asked, narrowing her eyes. "Are they dating?"

"I don't know." She slowly strung together a comprehensive sentence, dread seeping through her body at the sight of Meera.

"They make a cute couple." Simran nodded and turned back to Shruti. "I'm sorry, what were you talking about?"

"Nothing much. Hey, I'm going to just pop into the restroom real quick."

"Sure, take your time."

-

Meera walked into the washroom to find Shruti at the sink, washing her hands. She turned around and tried to move out but was stopped by her.

"Avoiding me?" She snickered, moving closer to her making her take a step back. "Gotten back together with Simran?"

"No." She muttered. "Just trying to dig myself out of the hole you've put me in."

"Hey, you willingly brought yourself into this hole." Meera said and moved towards the sink, washing her hands as well. "What were you talking to her about?"

"How much do they know about what's happening." Shruti sighed. "Look, we're both stuck in this situation - let us help each other out. You stop doing whatever it is you're planning to do, let all this die down. Let us graduate peacefully."

"And what do they know?" She hummed, ignoring the latter part of the conversation.

"Nothing." She nodded. "Whatever you're doing, you're covering your tracks up pretty well. Please think about it."

"I thought about it." Meera turned towards Shruti. "And I've decided you need to continue keeping your mouth shut and let me do whatever I'm doing. Don't advise me like I'm your friend. You are nothing but a means to an end."

"Fine." Shruti huffed and moved towards the door, opening it. "If they find out anything, I'm putting it all on you."

"If they find out something." Meera said as Shruti walked off, joining Simran at their table. Meera looked at herself in the mirror and took out her lip balm, reapplying it perfectly. She kept the lip balm back in her uniform pocket and fluffed her hair, leaving the washroom.

-

Hardik joined Jai and Bhuvi at their Bhuvi's house later that evening, on the pretext of group studies. As soon as he walked in the house, he quickly greeted Bhuvi's parents and moved upstairs, dashing into the room.

"Bro, you got grounded too?" Hardik snickered as he sat down on the free chair, looking at Bhuvi while Jai started laughing at him too.

"They didn't like me dating Nupur anyways." Bhuvi groaned. "Nupur's parents are in the bars and nightclubs scene - even though it makes a lucrative amount of money, my parents don't see it as a respectable job, you know."

"Yeah, I mean why would they? It's not like her family is worth a cool $500 million right?" Jai sarcastically said. "Let her just work as a labourer then."

"You know what I mean, you idiot." Bhuvi said. "After this scandal, my parents are hell bent on keeping us apart. I'm not allowed to meet her, at all."

"Wow." Hardik muttered. "Sucks dude."

"We need to figure out who's behind this." Bhuvi said and looked at the two of them, who were looking back at him with disbelief. "Okay my bad, I need to figure out and you need to help me, come on guys. I have a feeling this person is going through all of them one by one."

"It could be us next, you know?" Jai suddenly said, growing serious. "All of the people studying at school have something to lose if any of their private lives come out. Well, except Hardik of course."

"Wait why?" Hardik spoke up, offended. "My parents would kill me."

"No I mean, no offence but the worst thing to happen to you would be your parents grounding you or scolding you. The worst thing to happen to any of the others would be their family's reputation and money, all going down the drain." Jai explained, Bhuvi nodding.

"It's why they're not allowing me to meet Nupur." Bhuvi remarked. "My family owns some holiday resorts of which some are known for being meditation reserves."

"Quite opposite to Nupur's family business." Jai grinned.

"I understand why my parents are doing this but I also want to meet Nupur as well." Bhuvi groaned. "The only way I can do that is to find out which idiot is going after the gang."

"More importantly, who's next." Hardik said, frowning. "Is it really someone from our school?"

"Someone from the party, definitely." Jai chimed in. "Has to be, they're only leaking stuff from the party."

"I really hope this gets over soon." He moaned. "I want Nupur beside me again."

"And you will." Hardik joined in. "You will."