Back And Forth

~fourteen~

A/N:

The subjects in IPCC are divided into Group 1 and Group 2. In each attempt, a student can write the exams to either only one Group or both.

If a student clears both Groups, naturally he passes.

If a student clears only Group 1, they can still start with their Articleship.

With the introduction of GST, there are a lot of changes brought into Chartered Accountancy. But I finished writing these parts long before so I'm not going to change them. :)

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"So did you hear from any of the firms?"

Vedant was having a tough time letting things sink in. He couldn't believe that this really was the result day, that he'd really ran away from home, that he really was sitting next to Meera and she was actually, really opening up to him.

A month ago, scratch that, even a day ago he would've laughed if somebody would've told him this would happen.

Life and its unexpected turns.

"Yeah. I got into JKS. And you?" He replied.

She cracked up a grin at him, replying, "Same here."

Is this really happening?

Are Meera and I really going to article in the same firm?

"Wow." He laughed and she joined.

Vedant noted this time, her fidgeting had stopped. And then, her phone beeped. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and gazed at the phone screen. From the grin, her features contorted to a weird sort of tension.

"All okay Meera?" he queried gently.

"Results are out."

F**k.

His mind would have blanked out on a normal circumstance but then he noticed her almost assaulting her phone with repeated stabs with her thumb.

"What are you doing?" He asked with surprise.

"Checking my result. This stupid site just doesn't load!"

Vedant surprised himself when he let out a soft laugh.

Did I just LAUGH after the results have been declared?

"Don't kill your phone, let's use my laptop." He offered, as he unzipped his bag to retrieve it.

"Okay."

They had to wait for over fifteen minutes before the site finally opened.

"Do you want to go first?" Meera asked, now leaning in to get a view of the laptop screen. And Vedant could feel his heart hammering in his rib cage at her proximity.

Urgh screw the hormones!

It's result day! Do my hormones not UNDERSTAND?

"No. Forgot the saying? Ladies go first?"

He actually had the honour of watching her roll her eyes at him and of course, once again he felt the splurge of adrenaline that he was feeling all morning, thanks to Meera. Or is this because of results?

Yeah. Maybe it's because of results.

He had had every intention of passing her the laptop, but she decided to lean in and type the required information before he could react. He could only gulp in response.

The circle on the tab rotated slowly, as if enjoying all the suspense it was creating.

At last, after ages, the web page opened.

Vedant closed his eyes and passed the laptop to Meera instantly. "What's wrong?" she asked with surprise, and fear of course.

"I've intruded your privacy once. Don't want to do it again."

Her heart was beating crazily because of the tension for results, and she could feel the sweat trickling down her forehead and despite that, she smiled at his gesture, pulling the laptop towards herself and placing it on her lap. Meera let out a deep sigh and then, gazed into the screen. Accounts, Tax , IT, SM, blah blah blah....

Group 1 PASS

Group 2 PASS

For the first few seconds she couldn't believe her eyes. So she reloaded the page and looked over the details again.

"Meera?" Vedant called gently, when she didn't react for quite a long time.

"Meera is everything okay?"

"Mee-" "-Vedant I..." she cut, turning towards him.

He gasped, noting her eyes glisten.

Oh Goodness.

"It's okay Meera. I mean, you worked really hard right? And don't worry I'm pretty sure even I wouldn't hav-"

"-shut up Vedant."

"Huh?"

"I passed."

Vedant blinked, looking at the lone tear that slipped down her eye. And just as quickly, she rubbed at it with the back of her hand.

"Urgh. Why am I crying?" she mumbled to herself as more tears followed. "Stop it. Stop it." She snorted, her nose already red and filled up.

Vedant laughed, and pulled her into a hug.

It took a total of one second for her arms to wrap around his torso as she cried, "I...I can't believe I..."

"Shhh. You did it." He whispered, quite surprisingly feeling proud of her.

He didn't recall the last time he'd felt this happy at someone else's success. Maybe when Vidisha topped school, but she was his own sister.

Meera was practically a stranger, and yet, he could feel his chest swell up with pride.

"I'm sorry your shirt's going to be soiled." She mumbled near his chest, and Vedant could only shake his head with mirth. "That's what's on your mind right now? Unbelievable."

He let his arms loosen around her when he realized just what he'd done, and what he'd said. She too let go of him, and pulled back with restrain.

Vedant looked into her eyes for a reaction. This time, instead of guarding them, she smiled at him. And though she didn't say anything, he knew a lot of things had changed.