18

Chapter 18

Today, Nisha was running behind. With a sleep of 3 hours, she got but near 8 and fortunately today's day became another rare day; got a window seat. She opened the window and let the wind in. That didn't help her with her 'still sleepy' state, so she switched on her phone to catch up with the world.

As she scrolled through notifications, she saw the department notice about the upcoming Diwali holidays, which were about to start in a couple of days. She also scrolled through a classmate's group where everyone was talking about vacations and upcoming semester exams.

"It means, exams are after vacation🤨😣." One said.

"I don't want to spend vacation studying 😣😅," one replied.

She was quite enjoying the chat, but at that very instance, she saw a little 'call notification' pop up. A caller ID named 'DAD'.

The phone was buzzing, but she kept staring at it. The phone buzzed until the call ended, but she didn't pick up the call. She didn't even call back because within a second; she got a call from him. Nisha let it buzz for a while and then received it with,

"Sorry Dad, I was a little busy. I didn't see you called." She explained.

"It's okay." He said with his regular morning voice.

"Run out of money?" He asked.

"Um, I have enough. Don't worry." She replied.

"Okay." He responded. And with that, there was an uncomfortable silence between them until he cut the call from his side. Nisha, who hoped to hear something from him, glanced towards the screen where 'call ended' displayed.

"That's it?."

"Excuse me, is it okay if she uses this seat?" A man in his aged 30 to 40 asked Nisha. He was with her little daughter, fully dressed for school with perfectly combed hair with 2 ponytails.

"Why not?" Nisha said, and that little girl sat beside her. Her little bag was with her dad and she was holding her water bottle tightly close to her. Her dad was looking for a conductor, but he was keeping his eyes on her. Nisha's attention also shifted towards her; she could see her puffy eyes as if she was crying some minutes ago.

After a few minutes, her dad said to her, "Are you scared to go to school?"

She nodded. Still, was holding her bottle tightly.

"It's okay, I told you right, I will meet your teacher. Your classmates won't bully you again on your weight because.... you aren't fat." He said as he wiped little tears from her face, which formed quickly after he asked her.

"But what if...?" she asked.

"You trust papa, right? And besides, you aren't fat. You are healthy." He assured with a smile, and she also nodded happily. And Nisha saw the interaction and smiled a little. She loved how beautifully he was trying to communicate with her. Even the cold wind from outside was uplifting the mood now.

After 15 minutes, she was in front of her college library with some glimpses of that sweet interaction in her mind. Today was mostly the last day of their study session together for this semester and with that, there was going to be a revision lecture today by Professor Ghogare. It seems things are going well.

She headed inside, but at the doorway she saw Nil, looking at the study place while he was leaning on the nearby wall for support.

"Nil? Why you are here?" She asked and looked at their regular spot captured by 'love birds' and all other spots by other students, leaving them with nothing.

"12th students." He 'spill the tea' in a lower voice as he saw 12th-standard books in front of them and looked at her sarcastically.

"Leave it. Let's study in the lecture hall instead."