Mr Rude's Shortcake

Chapter 10

Sanskriti's POV

"Ammulu come fast ... you will miss the train," said Maa.

"Maa the train departs at 7:10 ... it's just 4:30 in the evening now" groaned Dhruv.

"You kids know more about Chennai Traffic than us .. come on get into the car now," said Maa bossily.

We were moving to our college today. Though term starts after 3 days ... we decided to move today to adapt to the new environment. Maa and Nanna would drop us off and then come back here tomorrow.

Akki and Senor were coming to the station to send us off. Their flight to Germany is on tomorrow.

"Buffalo give me an earpod" I demanded. "Be nice and then get it" he insisted. "Please" I added.

"Fine have it" and that made me smile at my success.

We reached the station and I had mixed emotions running in my brain.

I saw Akki and Senor waiting. Maa was correct. The time is 7:00 pm now and we decided to get into the train.

Akki hugged me with tears in her eyes. "Good look Sana. Make us all proud. Take care of yourselves. Enjoy life to the fullest baby. I will miss you. Keep calling us" she said and pecked my cheek. I cried too as I realized she would be leaving India tomorrow. She also kissed Dhruv as the train was about to move in a minute.

We settled in the train and I started reading a book. Just then Bhavya called.

"Hi Bebo," I said.

"Hello, Sansie ... give me your hostel tour when you reach there. And even if you make new best friends which is very much possible I want your life updates - every day, every hour, every minute, and every second." she urged.

We reached Pondicherry and I was still in a call with Bhavya. I ended the call reluctantly. We booked a cab and reached the JIPMER campus.

It was fantastic. We were assigned our hostel rooms. Dhruv moved to his room in the boys hostel and I in the girls hostel. We bid goodbye to our parents as they were going to their guest house.

My roommate is an incredibly mesmerizing girl.

"Hi ! I am Sanskriti Adiraju" I said. "Oh! Arshika Ramanathan" she said timidly.

"When did you shift in here?" I asked hoping to build up a conversation. "Erm today morning" she replied. "Where are you from" I asked and she said "Chennai".

"Oh wow! Even I am from Chennai" I said and she just nodded. That made me feel quite awkward so I started arranging my luggage. She broke the silence and added "Would you like to be friends? It is fine if you dont want to .. Its just you know I dont prefer talking much but I fancy having a friend".

"Oh I would love to" I said. "Tell me about your hobbies" I asked. "I love singing and yours?" she asked.

"I love dancing, reading, listening music, cooking, sleeping and talking. I cant go even for ten minutes without being able to talk" I said. "Hmm" she replied.

"What about your family?" I asked. " My parents are both surgeons. I have a twin brother - Parth Ramanathan" she said. "Oh that's actually a coincidence. Even I have a twin brother. His name is Dhruv. He is gonna study with us. I also have an elder sister. Her name is Prakriti and she's married to Tanmay Valluri. She is a radiologist and is working in Germany for BG hospitals. My Maa is a house wife and Nanna is an engineer" I said.

"Nanna? Are you from Andhra Pradesh?" she asked. "Yes ! From Rajahmundry. Adiraju is our surname" I replied. "Yes I get it" she added. I asked "Who is elder you or your brother?" and she replied " Anna by two minutes". "Anna ??? You call him anna just because he is two minutes older? I call Dhruv buffalo even though he is ten minutes elder" I said to which she laughed. Oh my freaking god. I could not take my eyes off her. She has such a beautiful smile. "Say something. I love to listen but I dont prefer talking" she said. "You ask me and I say" I told.

"Best friends?" she inquired. "I have many friends. Bhavya , she is in IIT MUMBAI now, Rudransh he is Japan studying art and Vinay is in Chennai majoring in law. Mira , Laya and Janaki are my best friends from dance class. Mira and Janaki are in 12th grade while Laya is in 10th. Also, I am close with Dhruv's friends too. I once liked his best friend Rohit but as I grew I lost interest in him. He never paid attention to me. He used to be loaded with his book." I completed.

"If you dont mind I want to say something. I have only one best friend and that is anna. Since childhood we were together, in the same class. We both dont talk much to anyone. We are kind of shy. Maybe this is because of the genes we got from Appa. He has only one friend and his sister got married to them." she said.

"Oh I see. That is damn ass cool. What about aunty?" I inquired.

"Sad story. You remind me of her. She has the same black eyes as you , long hair, interest in dance and talkative in nature. She had many friends ... just like you but now they are all not in touch with her. She made new friends at work and at the neighborhood but she says they dont give this something called feel." she said.

"Why did she lose touch and why is it a sad story Arshika?" I questioned and she replied " Amma's family was against their marriage. Her family already fixed a match before asking amma. When she confessed about being in love with Appa ... she was asked to chose between her parents and Appa. She chose Appa. Being in Tanjore affected her a lot so Appa decided to shift to Chennai. She missed her parents and when she was pregnant, Appa says she used to cry a lot seeking maternal love. Mohit mama's parents took care of amma, so she calls them her parents. To be precise, they adopted her." she said and I was shocked.

"Wtf ? They are so sweet" I commented and she was surprised.

"Do you swear? Well it is fine. I and Anna, we both do swear but occasionally. He hardly ever loses his temper but when he does its uncontrollable. " she explained.

"What is he doing now?" I asked. "Mbbs of course. He is in JIPMER too" she told and she got a call.