Agent 024

SURPRISE BIRTHDAY

I yawned as I stretched my arms. The last had been one big blur for me and now that I was back into my senses thanks to the amazing therapy sessions of Doctor Rautela, I realized I had too large a pile of work to catch up on.

"Ohh common , I know this.", I said as I filled out the last of the French assignment sheets I had to submit for this year. All my deadlines were this weekend, and I was done with the week at Tuesday itself.

Priya looked up at me from her book.

"I mean why would an agent ever need to ask - Would you like to have dinner in Gujarati, I mean I'm training to be an Agent not a butler. Besides, what's the need to form proper sentences. I mean couldn't I just say the Gujarati word for dinner and add a question mark at the end. We just have to fit in not fucking live under the Statue of Unity.", I completed my outburst.

I saw Priya wince at the swear word and I apologized. Priya didn't like anyone using swear words around her, she believed they spread negativity. I tried controlling my speech around her but the words just rolled off my tongue. Fuck was not even a swear word for me anymore, it was a slang you could fit in anywhere to describe anything.

She chuckled and buried her head back into the the constitution of India. I got back to my French worksheet. We both had a long night in front of us. The water bottle had now been replaced by milton bottles that were full of coffee. All of us were sleepwalking through classes recently. Coffee was the only thing keeping us going.

"I'm done.", I took a deep breath as I got done with the last of my assignments for this year.

"Great.", Priya smiled, "Now you can start with the preparation for the exams.", she said, dropping a huge pile of notes, in front of me.

"Tell me, those are the notes for all the four years combined.", I pleaded.

"Nope, just this year.", she said.

I grimaced and opened the first notebook.

"Oh, shut out whatever that is.", I groaned lifting my head off the table.

Priya was asleep in a half-sitting position on her bed with her book on top of her. My hands ached as I lifted my head off them. I yawned and looked at my phone.

"Shit.", I said, as I realized we had 10 minutes to reach the training ground.

"Wake up, Priya.", I said throwing off her blanket and walked into the washroom.

I heard Priya wake up as I brushed my teeth. As I got out of the bathroom, Priya rushed in. I washed the two apples we had kept for the morning and tidied up the room a little bit as Priya came out. With the apples in our mouth, we ran to the field and made it 10 seconds before.

"I knew you were going to be bad influence on my girlfriend.", Prakhar smiled as we joined the line next to him.

"These preparations are killing me.", Priya said stretching her arms.  Prakhar hugged her and kissed her hair. She smiled, letting herself into his embrace. I looked away. I didn't want to be jealous of my roommate and the very possibility of that riddled me with guilt.

"Morning cadets. Your field examination will begin from Friday. Start with the drill now.", Agent instructed.

We nodded and began running.

As I finished with the laps, I walked towards the gym. Prakhar had always been my partner in the running laps, and now that he was still jogging with Priya, I didn't want to wait alone on the field. I wrapped my jacket around me and went to the gym.

We had to lift weights today. And while that demanded the least energy, it took all of my strength. Abhay was still volunteering here although he maintained a good distance between us and this time I was happy that he did.

"So, how is it going?", Ananya, the senior who mentored me in the gym came up to me.

"Pretty good.", I said, lifting the 5 kg weights.

"Uh huh.", she nodded.

"Spill it.", I said.

"It's kind of personal.", she said.

"It's never stopped you before."

"Okay, it's about Abhay and you-"

"Okay.", I said shutting her off.

"Hear me out, okay. Abhay is a close friend. And he's not been himself for a while and you've been off lately too. I tried talking sense into him but he won't hear a word but maybe you can sort everything out? I mean is it worth losing your friendship over a trifle?"

"Sometimes it is... worth losing for your mental peace."

"That's what, Tisha. Is it the presence or the absence of the friendship that's bothering you?", she said and left.

I sighed and continued with my weightlifting.

"Hey.", Roger said, catching up as I walked out of the building towards the shooting arena.

"Hey.", I said giving him a high five.

"Aviral's bithday tomorrow.", he said.

"Oh bummer, I totally forgot!", I said, facepalming myself.

"Yeah, we all did, kind of. Only if Aradhya's calendar reminder was set for a bit earlier. So team meeting right now at our usual spot.", he said as we walked towards the field.

"Team meeting - you mean Aradhya, you and I?", I joked.

"Tisha.", he said, looking at me, "I know you miss Irrfan."

I looked at him strangely. Although Aviral was the reckless one and Roger was the understanding one, my relationship with both of them was the complete opposite. Aviral always figured out what was going on me so I had the serious discussions with him. With Roger, it was always cool and breezy and I liked that equation. It granted me moments of happiness in times of crisis.

I nodded as we continued walking. I hadn't seen or heard of Irrfan since the goodbye. Gaurav had healed and returned into training but seeing him every time reminded me of Irrfan.

"How could we forget his birthday?", Aradhya said, keeping down her book as we arrived.

"Because we were buried under our books the whole month?", I offered an explanation.

"Besides, the guy has dated like half the Academy. I'm sure he has a wider friend circle outside us.", Roger shrugged.

"Roger Charles! That is no excuse. We are his team and we are going to make his birthday special!", Aradhya said getting all riled up.

Roger and I exchanged one look and immediately surrendered.

"What do you have in mind?", I asked.

"I'm thinking of a chocolate cake. And a surprise birthday party at midnight. And we'll decorate the garden of course.", Aradhya said, with excitement in her voice.

"Shit.", I mouthed to Roger.

"Help.", he mouthed back.