The Firangi Gurukul

She was pregnant

"So...you usually sleep on a terrace? Like...here?" Grayson asked pointing at the mattresses on the floor.

"It's cool and fresh here, you don't even need a fan, but it's impossible to sleep in bedrooms, it gets too hot" Sameeksha replied. Grayson hummed.

"So you live in this private accommodation?" Ethan asked, "yeah, Gurukul permitted us to live here due to the nature of our research" Manjot said.

"What if something comes here?" He asked, "how do you they come here at night?" Bandana asked shocked, "they? Who?" Grayson asked, "bhai tu chup reh na" Sameeksha said to Bandana.

"I was just talking about insects and stuff" Grayson said, "we're used to sleep with them" Manjot chuckled, Grayson and Ethan looked at each other.

"Mujhe neend aa rhi hai" Bandana said and sat on her mattress, "good night" Ethan said, everyone looked at him, "erm...she's sleepy, isn't that what she said?" He asked.

"Dude, you understand hindi?" Manjot asked, "toda toda" Ethan said, "what. Really?" Sameeksha was surprised.

"Yeah, we've been interested in Indian history from the day we started studying history. We then read about Indian culture and started watching Bollywood movies, and that's how we learned some hindi" Grayson explained.

"So you understand what we say?" Manjot asked, the twins nodded. "Lo, ab soch samajhke bolna padega" Bandana said to herself.

Before laying down, Bandana looked at the forest surrounding their accommodation and Gurukul, she closed her eyes, whispered some mantras and went to sleep.

The mattresses were lined and Ethan was laying on the last mattress on the left, next to him was Grayson, then Manjot, Sameeksha, and finally Bandana.

"Mandy" Sameeksha called him, "hmm?" He replied, "Bandana sach kehti hai kya?" She asked, he opened his eyes and looked at her, "tum jaanti ho na kesa nature hai uska? Har waqt mazaak karti rehti hai, yeh bhi mazaak hai bas" He replied.

"Lekin sab kehte hai" She said, "Sameeksha yeh sab bas baate hai, kisi ne kucch dekha nhi hai yaha" He said, "Bandana ne dekha hai" She said, "kucch bhi" He said, "nhi sacchi" She said.

"Sameeksha, so jao. Good night" He said and went to sleep.

*******

It was midnight, Bandana, Manjot, Sameeksha and Grayson were sleeping. Ethan was still on his phone, suddenly, he felt a cool breeze on his left.

"Sahab" He heard a whisper, he immediately turned to his left. "The fuck was that..." He said in a low voice, his heartbeat was racing. He looked around but didn't find anyone, "I think I should go to sleep" He said to himself. He switched off his phone and closed his eyes.

After some moments, his phone buzzed, "did I not switch it off!?" He thought and checked it, he switched it off again and went to sleep.

*******

"Ethan" Grayson tried to wake him up, "wake up" He said taking his blanket off, Ethan opened his eyes and started rubbing them. "What time is it?" He asked, "10" Grayson replied.

Ethan hummed and moved his gaze to his left, "the bathroom's downstairs..." Grayson was saying when he noticed that Ethan was lost somewhere else.

"Bro?" He said, "I felt something weird last night" Ethan said, "I don't have time for your pranks. Get ready, we have to start our projects today" Grayson said. Ethan nodded and went to have a shower.

Grayson went to the kitchen and found Sameeksha there, "hey" He said, "morning" She said smiling.

"What are you making?" He asked, "tea, for Bandana" She said, "is it masala chai? Can you make a cup for me too?" He asked, she cocked her eyebrows, "sure" She smiled.

"What shall I make for Ethan?" She asked, "anything that doesn't have milk in it" He said, she nodded and grabbed the bottle of orange juice from the fridge.

"Can I ask you something if you don't mind?" He asked, she nodded, "Ethan said he felt something weird last night..." He said, Sameeksha stopped pouring juice in the glass, "something weird?" She asked awkwardly.

"I mean...yeah..." He said not so sure, "mene kaha tha na?" They heard Bandana's voice, "yaar tu chup reh na" Sameeksha said annoyed, "kya kaha ta?" Grayson asked, "isko Hindi bolni bhi aati hai?" Bandana asked Sameeksha.

The conversation was about to continue when Grayson's phone started ringing, he looked at the screen and smiled, "excuse me guys" He said and left.

"Tu faltu me shuru mat hua kar, khaas kar un dono ke saamne" Sameeksha said hitting Bandana on her arm, "jo sach hai woh sach hai. Tum log bhi maan lo" She said.

"Morning ladies" Ethan came yawning, "morning" Sameeksha smiled. He looked at Bandana, "good morning" He said smiling, she made a poker face, "what's so good about this morning" She asked.

"Well..." He said and took a pause, "look, such a nice day" He said looking at the window, "it's cloudy" She said, "well yeah, it's good, it's going to rain!!" He said excited, Bandana rolled her eyes and left.

Ethan looked at Sameeksha, "that's how she is" She said helpless, he chuckled.

"Where's Gray?" He asked, "he was here before, he asked me to make tea for him, chatted for a bit, then he received a call, he smiled looking at his phone's screen and then he...left" She said.

He observed the way she talked and then said, "you have a crush on my brother, don't you?". She made a short eye contact with him and then looked away, "no I don't, we just met yesterday..." She tried to say.

"Actually...he has a girlfriend" He said, "girlfriend?" She asked, he nodded, "that's good" She tried to smiled. "I don't want you to feel bad later on, so I thought I'll just..." He said, "no, no, I'm actually happy" She said interrupting him.

"What's her name?" She asked, even though she was not interested, "Priya" He said, "she's from India?" She asked, he nodded. "They really love each other, Grayson was even planning to marry her some months ago, but she wasn't ready" He said, Sameeksha nodded.

"Breakfast is ready by the way, do you want to go and call him?" She asked, he nodded and went to look for Grayson.

He called him a couple of times, and finally found him standing near a window.

"Gray" He said, "who was it?" He asked, "Priya" Grayson said in a low voice. "Why are you looking so depressed?" Ethan asked, Grayson sighed.

"She was pregnant" He replied.