Conundrum 》ICT AU

-42-

"Gia, who is your ideal boyfriend?" A curious Ritika asked as she sat down with her during her free period. The two girls always had had the same free period since junior school and had always spent it together - whether it was by jamming out to songs in the AV room or eating in the cafeteria or in the rare occasion of studying in the library.

"What's with the hard question?" She raised an eyebrow at her friend. Gia had been peacefully reading her book while snacking on carrots when Ritika had asked the question.

"Tell na. I'm curious." Ritika nudged her. "You've gone out with people but it's only for 3 months maximum. What'll make you stay?"

"My ideal boyfriend, hmm." She spoke, putting a bookmark on the page and closing the book. "He should be taller than me."

"Very easy, as you're 5'5." Ritika snickered. "What else?"

"He should love me the most." She said after a pause. "I don't care about his looks or his work. I don't care if he's the best person or the worst. I should be the priority for him and he'll be the priority for me."

"Oh, well thought out." Ritika pondered. "So you don't care even if he's a criminal."

"I mean, of course. He shouldn't have a criminal record, Ritu. Would you date Rohit if he was a criminal?" She tried to hit her on the head but Ritika ducked in the last minute.

"Yes." She nodded. "I'd date Rohit even if he was a criminal. He's just -" She sighed.

"He is a part of me as I'm a part of him."

-

"Jasprit." Bhuvi met him at the restaurant, hugging him. "Been a while, haven't seen you since the party."

"Yep." Jasprit replied, looking at him. Bhuvi was smiling, dark eye bags prominent. "Long hours?"

"Don't ask." He signalled a waiter and ordered a drink, motioning to Jasprit asking him if he wanted one. "A lemonade, please."

"It's been hectic at school and at home." Bhuvi took a sip of water. "At school, everyone's hell bent on finding who's doing all this and who's next to be targeted. At home, my parents are continuously pestering me to drop Nupur and go for someone else, so hearing and arguing that is peachy."

"So, have you guys found out about this person?" Jasprit came straight to the point, since his Shruti was also involved in this. And God willing, he wasn't going to let her get stuck in this mess.

"Nothing." Bhuvi mentioned. "I can't believe we can't find out who's behind this. But now that Rohit's case has come out, his parents have asked Virat's parents to help. They've got someone who's doing background checks on anyone that looks at the Sharma family the wrong way. Maybe it's for the best."

"What do you think will happen to the person when they get caught?" Jasprit asked, in palpable fear. Bhuvi didn't notice it.

"Oh they'll be finished."

-

Ritika went over to Rohit's house, ringing the bell. As soon as the footman opened the door, she nodded and went upstairs into Rohit's room. She'd been here so many times, it was like a second home for her. As she entered, she saw Rohit sprawled on the bed, looking up at the ceiling. He lifted his head when she opened the door - moving his fingers in a hey and slamming his head back onto the pillow.

She sat on the bed, crawling over to his body and sat down next to him, running her fingers through his stomach.

"How are you?" She whispered, resting her head in his stomach.

"As well as I can be." Rohit said, running his hands through her head. "Stocks are crashing, people are panicking. My dad told me it's going to be another week that I'm going to be on house arrest."

"That's not so bad." Ritika said, hugging him tighter. "You didn't do it."

"I know but I can't let Yukthi take the blame." Rohit said, patting her head. "She's in the US now, hopefully not hearing a word of this bullshit. There's no case against me, as I've done the community service in private."

"That's good then." She sighed out. "What's bothering you then?"

"It's literally everywhere, Ritika." He sighed out. "I'll forever be known as the person who was in a hit and run case."

"Hey, hey." Ritika looked at him. "It's all going to die down. Once we all head off to college, no one's going to give a shit about this. Just focus on your exams and get out of here. It's our last year! Besides, I don't care about this and neither does anyone else who truly knows you."

"I know." Rohit hugged her tighter, pulling her in. He wouldn't know what to do without her, she was the only one keeping him sane right now, with everything else happening.

"Waise, did you get anywhere closer to the truth?" Rohit murmured after a moment, pulling back to look at her.

"No." She said. "I've looked at my share of people I was supposed to look into. They're all clean, moreover they'd have more to lose if they pulled something like this."

"Must be some middle class guy then." Rohit snickered, then stopped as Ritika looked at him with her jaw dropped. "What, babe?"

"Rohit, you're a genius." Ritika immediately got up and kissed him on the lips, bidding him goodbye. He just looked at her walking away and sighed, laying his head back on the pillow.

"Girls, man."

-

"Nupur." Ritika picked up the call as she was about to call the others. "You won't believe what Rohit thought about."

"What? I'm dying for some news." Nupur groaned out. "Bhuvi and I have exhausted ourselves with this information. Please tell me you've got something."

"Dude, no one has the balls to go against us because they've got skeletons in their closet as well." Ritika started. "It has to be someone who hasn't got anything. No bribery, no deceit, no corruption."

"I get what you're saying but I still don't know who." Nupur replied. "Babe, have you got something?" Nupur asked Bhuvi, who was thinking but suddenly took the phone from her hands.

"It had to be someone who doesn't have a record of anything." Bhuvi said, Ritika nodding.

"Someone very normal." Ritika continued. "Like someone who has a normal family background."

"Wait, do you mean someone middle class?" Nupur finally remarked, Bhuvi nodding. "Think about it. They have no record, no corruption, no skeletons in the closet. They're just trying to live day by day." Ritika said, hearing Nupur laugh.

"Well, there's only three of them here at our school." Nupur said. "Shruti, Hardik and Meera."

"Shruti, Hardik and Meera." Ritika echoed. "God, if it's one of these people I swear to God, someone will die by my hands today."

"Oh, stand in the line." Nupur snarled. "I'm going to get there first."

-

Rohit-Ritika are honestly the relationship that scares me the most but truly that is the most beautiful. The couple that will kill for each other :)