Almost Love (ON HOLD)

CHAPTER 1

PART - 1 GIRL LOSES BOY

(YEAR 1996)

It was a sunny morning as Meera's father drove her and Aman to school. At eighteen, Aman was a smart and good looking boy, while of course Meera didn't think so. She only ever thought of him as her brother, and never a good looking boy.

She was never extremely close to her brother even though he was just two years older. She never felt she could ever share anything with him, and she had never felt the need to. She knew he was always there and would help her out at home or even at school, but any such circumstances leading to that never really occurred.

She was always a disciplined and obedient child and never got in any trouble, thanking her genes for that. Her grandfather was in the army long time ago when he was young, and thus everyone in the family led a very disciplined life.

Since everyone at school knew Aman, thanks to his famous boy gang, most of the children knew her as well and thus being scared of her big brother, no boy actually had the courage to ask her out.

The car came to a screeching halt, breaking Meera's train of thought.

"Have a good day at school," their father said.

Meera and Aman went to their separate classrooms, both instantly surrounded by their friends.

Meera's best friend had pulled her towards her table and questioned her about the science project home work they had got. "Have you completed it? The submission's today!" she whined.

Meera nodded in the affirmative. "Here," she took out her project file from her bag and handed it over to her best friend, Alia.

"Thank you Meera, i love you," Alia said causing Meera to smile and sit down beside her. "So, you're coming home today, right?" She asked.

"Mmm hmm," mumbled Alia.

"Good, because Aman bhaiya's friends are also coming over today and if you didn't come i would have been bored to death."

"What? All of them are coming?" Alia had stopped her work and looked at Meera, suddenly very interested.

"Yep, and don't worry, Kabir is also coming," Meera smirked, leading Alia to blush.

Alia had always thought Kabir was really cute, but him being a senior, she never had the guts to talk to him. Since Kabir and Aman were best of friends, Alia always hoped that some day she would get to talk to Kabir at Meera's home.

***

The bell rang indicating the end of school and everyone pulled on their bags, rushing to get home. The lively chatter filled the corridors and Alia chatted amiably with Meera.

They took the bus and when they reached home, Meera's mother welcomed them.

"Hello Alia beta, how are you?" she asked as the girls dropped their bags in the room.

"Hello aunty, i am fine," Alia's cheery voice rang out. She was a chubby little girl and Meera's mother had really liked her. After all, she was her daughter's best friend.

Meera pulled her into her room proposing to play Ludo with her.

After an hour or so, the bell rang. Meera's mother called out to her to open the door.

"It must be Aman's friends," Alia seemed excited. Both of them rushed out in the hall and Alia excitedly jumped up and down. Meera opened the door and smiled at her brother.

"Hello Aman bhaiya, ma said the lunch is ready on the table so you guys can eat it. We both already had ours," Meera informed him.

He just nodded and went into his room while his friends followed him and then they closed the door.