Kchhhh, kccch kchhh, clean, shining note of five hundred rupee came out from the slot of ATM machine. I collected it; checked if the note was real and then pressed the ‘clear’ button for several times (as every Indian do, and we never trust the machine.) I came out of the ATM booth, “Only five hundred rupees bhai?” Darshan asked looking at note in my hand. “A burned child dreads the fire.” I said with a small smile on my Face. We started walking towards the bus stop. “Nishant was telling me that the girl living near your room constantly stares at you.” Darshan started this topic from nowhere. “Accha, sahi hai fir!” I tried to ignore him. “She is beautiful, ha thodi childish hai, pr cute hai.” Darshan was busy explaining me the importance of the girl I don’t even know. “Beautiful!! sometime come to my room in early morning, her horrifying hair and swollen eyes will give you the definition of beautiful aur ye Nishant ko koi aur kaam nahi hai kya?” I said in a frustrating tone. “I was just telling you, no need to get angry. Ok I am going to railway station; you go by bus.” Darshan said. “Why?” I asked. “Arre, my uncle is coming from Kedarnath, and he wants to meet me, so going to pick him up.” he waved me a goodbye, walking in a opposite direction. I waited for the bus while playing with my bag straps.  

 The bus came and I quickly got into it. It was almost full; after searching for a few seconds, I found an empty seat in the front section. I quickly went near the seat and was shocked for a while. I saw that same girl sitting looking out the window, so I decided not to sit near her. I was standing there with the grips above my head when the driver suddenly hit the brakes so hard that I almost swung there like Tarzan making a loud noise. "Aay hero, sit there, the seat is empty na!" yelled the conductor. Devayani was looking at me. "May I?" I asked her. "Yeah, sure," she said. I took a deep breath and sat near her. She again started looking outside the window. The glass keychain on her bag was making a tinkling sound. She was tapping her toes as if she was listening to some music, but there were no earphones in her ears. She was wearing mascara in her eyes, making them look sharper. 

After a few minutes, the conductor came for the ticket. And as soon as I pulled out the five hundred rupees note, he shouted, "20 rupay Chutta de re bhai..." I knew I had the only note of five hundred rupees, even though I tried to find any change in my bag. "Nahi hai kaka!" I replied in a low tone. Devayani was holding her twenty-five rupees for the ticket. "You both look like you are from the same College. Take from her and give her afterwards." I don’t understand how the conductor came up with such a useless idea. (Maybe because we were both wearing the same uniform.) "Ok, no problem, take these 45 rupees." Devayani extended her hand for a ticket.  

I don’t want to take her favour, but I was helpless. "Don't worry. Remember how you helped me in the rickshaw? Consider this my payback. " Maybe for the first time, she spoke such a lengthy sentence with me and that too, with a small smile on her brown face. "However, you repaid me na." I had nothing else to speak of. "Ha, so when you get the change, repay me back, no worries." She looked happy today. "Thanks." I said with a fake smile on my face. She again turned back to look outside the window. Maybe she was enjoying the music of the city. Maybe she is not that arrogant, or maybe I was judging her too quickly. She had no nail polish on her nails, no earrings, or any fancy girlish makeup, yet she had that attractive personality. I can’t say what I felt that time, but I got a soft corner for her. She had that soft, natural smile on her face, though she was just looking at some buildings and busy traffic outside. She reflected a different vibe. And don’t think that I was thinking all this just because she helped me, or I was getting a crush on her. Not at all. Why would I get a crush on a serious, studious, and boring girl like her? I know I was thinking a lot about her, but that’s what an overthinker like me does. We arrived at our college stop.  

We both took a step out of the bus, and I turned to thank her one more time. I looked at her, gathering all my courage to say thanks, when suddenly she spoke up. "I think one of your friends is calling you." She pointed somewhere at my back. First, I was amazed as I had only one dumb friend and that too was at a railway station. I looked back and, to my surprise, a girl was waving at me. She approached me, and when she came near me, I recognised her. She was Ananya (the girl in front of my room, the girl about whom Darshan was talking to me a while ago.) -__ Let me tell you some basics about Ananya. She was a senior to me, a girl with a good fashion sense, always seeking attention. white skin with long straight brown hair, somewhat short, small eyes with big specs on them, a nose ring and dark bubblegum pink lipstick added to her face. I had heard that she was in a very deep (cringy) relationship with a senior, but they broke up, and now she is just crushing every boy’s heart by being their crush. She was from the architectural field (which every student chooses so they can fulfil their enjoyment period of college life)

Returning to her presence How did she get here? We had also never really spoken before. And as Darshan was saying, if she was stalking me, I needed to keep distance from her. You can call me dull or materialistic, but I detest girls that act girly; wearing so much makeup just to attract attention makes me uneasy, so I try to stay away from them. “Hey Rishab, I had a question for you. Actually, I require your assistance.” Ananya spoke while beaming broadly. I turned around. While awaiting to cross the street, Devayani was checking her watch. She pretended not to be seeing us or perhaps not to want to interfere with our chat. I then recalled something. “Actually, Ananya even I wanted small help from you.” I said acting to think something. “Say na!” she almost screamed in an excited manner. “Do you have a change of five hundred rupees?” I asked. “Itni si baat, let me check my purse.” she started checking her purse and I could clearly hear the sound of all nail polish bottles in her purse. “Here you go, I always keep the bundle of 10-rupee notes.” she handed me the change and I gave her the five-hundred-rupee note. I turned back and saw that Devayani was about to leave and I quickly stopped her, “Hey, Devayani!” maybe for the first time I took her name. “Take your change, and thanks for the help.” I said while giving her twenty rupees. “It was not that urgent; you may have given it someday later.” she said in a formal tone. “Thanks once again.” I said, again with a fake smile on my face. The fact that I returned her money so urgently was that I don’t want any kind of favour of her.  

"You are both friends?" Aanya asked, as if she had something to do with it. “Not really; we're simply acquainted.” I smiled awkwardly in response. “That is what friends are, then.” Ananya laughed, perhaps having come up with a pretty clever joke. Perhaps she didn't fully understand what a "friend" was. “Ah, I was just telling you that I needed your assistance.” She brought up the subject again. “I'll see if I can help, so tell me.” I replied in a low tone (as if I had no interest in that). "Actually, on September 25th, there will be a huge celebration in our college on the occasion of the birthday of the founder and chairperson of our college, Mr. Shamkumar Bansal." She said with a weird expression on her face, and my first reaction was, "Who is he?" as I had heard this name for the first time, but then I remembered the huge portrait painting at the entrance of the college gate.  The painting depicted Mr. Shamkumar Bansal, the guy who founded our college, as an elderly man with an odd smile on his face.