In another life

05

Giving the groceries to her aunt, she managed to sneak the keys out of her Nana's room. She ate the snack and left house saying that she has to get her notes back from Neha. As Kaaya unlocked the gate, she heard the gate next door open unexpectedly. The neighbor, who was about to leave their magnificent adobe, caught both Vihaan and Kaaya's attention.

Myra reveals herself, and she is astonished to see Kaaya with a stranger. She'd forgotten her childhood friend lived next door, and since Vihaan wasn't using his invisibility spell, she was sure Myra could see him.

"Kaaya?, What are you doing here? You never go here on the weekdays." Myra asks. Her gaze then averted to the boy, who stood motionless, unconcerned about the situation. Kaaya, on the other hand, was already in a state of panic as she sought to concoct a credible lie that her buddy would believe. "Um, who is he? Do you go to the same school as her?" She asks again, looking back at her friend.

Kaaya was at a loss for words, but luckily Vihaan was used to making up justifications on the go. "Hi! My name is Shri Vihaan, and yes, we go to the same school." "Oh okay! Hello!, I'm Myra." She smiled adorably at him. "What are you doing with Kaaya? Do you guys know each other?"

"I met her and her parents during her stay at her grandparents' house, and we're acquainted." With a smile on his face, he explained. "Yes, he said he's interested in old stuff so, the elders asked me to show him around this house" Kaaya adds to their justification.

Myra didn't seem to doubt them because she didn't ask any more questions. "Alright! I hope we may become buddies soon." She looked at him before turning to face Kaaya. "I'll be leaving then. Mom asked me to get chai powder. Bye!"

"Bye!" Vihaan waved as he watched Myra move away from them. Before he spoke, the two of them entered the gate first. "She's cute." Kaaya chuckles before unlocking the front door and allowing him to see inside. "Don't get me wrong when I came up with such an excuse to her, since we're still not sure if my parents are up to anything with this house." "No problem. You are right. You should say stuffs only after getting confirmed." It was clear that this was a family home. Vihaan would have to commend her parents on how wonderfully furnished it was.

Since it was an old-fashioned house, it featured a pool-like structure at the back of the house that was not too deep and was encircled by plants hanging from the pillar and kept in clay pots.

It was a classic masterpiece as it even had courtyard in the living room which allowed the sunlight to enter the house as well as nourish the plants which is used for decorating inside the house. Going deep into the house, they entered in one of the rooms, a magnificent veena was set on the soft mattress in front of the wall. A triangular dip on the wall was usually utilized to place lighting. It was clean because it was no longer utilized for that purpose.

Vihaan decided it was the ideal location for a box-like structure that resembled a tesseract with lights only on the edges, with the cube in the center holding the beautiful pyramid-shaped sand glass that had some sort of glowing liquid at the top pyramid, which was slowly dripping to the bottom one.

Kaaya stood there watching him as he generated a bright light with his palm while facing the veena. A bright box-like structure emerged on his hand seconds later. He carefully placed it in the depression before proudly dusting his hands.

"What is that for?" Kaaya asked, eyeing the box he just placed. "That liquid on the top pyramid represents my time here. Once all of the liquid has dripped down to the lower pyramid, it is time for me to leave. It's basically a sand clock." He breaks it down so that she can understand. "Even if you flip the box, it will continue to drip in the same manner. Gravity has no effect on it and it takes about a year for the fluids to drain."