11 The art of making up.

I wondered if my ears were playing tricks because Hrithik-anna seemed to simply despise the very sight of me since my little secret was placed out on the table.

"He's not mine to grant permission for. Just ask him," Rohan said dismissively, shrugging.

Hrithik-anna dramatically rolled his eyes. "I'm just indirectly promising you that he'd be back in one piece," he said in an all-too-obvious fake 'duh' tone.

Rohan shrugged again and turned to me.

"Come back soon. We still have that Trig homework to do."

I smiled reassuringly. "I won't take a second."

Rohan's lips slowly turned into a crooked smile and he snapped his fingers. "Time out."

I laughed as I punched him lightly.

"I didn't mean it literally. It means I'll be back soon, dummy."

Rohan smiled at me and turned back to anna.

"Will you make me search for his dead body?" he asked seriously, causing anna to roll his eyes.

He has been doing that too much recently, to be honest. The eye rolling.

"I'll bring your son back safely after our freaking romantic date, Sir," Hrithik-anna said through gritted teeth, sarcasm dripping from his tongue.

But Rohan was unaffected by the truckload of sarcasm. "You better, Hrithik," was all that came out of his pretty lips.

Pretty lips? Do lips even look pretty? You're beyond weird, Uthra. That, I'm sure of.

"Sure thing," Hrithik-anna muttered as he started walking out of the room. "Later, Rohan."

He didn't glance back as he waved briefly. I nodded at Rohan and followed Hrithik-anna.

We didn't talk at all as we walked. We kept walking till we reached one of the benches in the courtyard. No one was around. He sat on one of the benches and looked at me.

"Why are you still standing? Sit. I'm not rude enough to make a girl stand," he said, all emotions wiped from his face.

Wow, that was a low blow. Even for Hrithik-anna.

"Of course. How did I forget you're such a gentleman?" I said in a sickly sweet tone.

Either Hrithik-anna didn't hear my sarcastic comment or he was really thick skinned, because he didn't reply. Heaving a sigh, I sat on the other end of the bench, as far as possible from him.

I seriously couldn't believe I used to like and respect this guy. It was hard to accept, but I missed the guy who was beyond normal cheerfulness levels and who had an I-don't-give-a-damn attitude. Heck, I missed the real Hrithik-anna.

The atmosphere was eerily silent for a bright sunny afternoon and neither of us made an attempt to break the silence. At last, I heard a sharp intake of breath. "I'm sorry for being a major ass," I heard anna mumble.

I nodded without glancing at him because I didn't know what to say. Here he was, apologizing, when a few minutes back, he’d made a snarky remark about my gender. I was... just scared and confused, okay? And what scared me even more was the relief that filled my heart after his mumbled confession. And what added fuel to the terror was the happiness that came with those words. "I'm sorry," he whispered and I nodded again.

Seriously, what happened to my heart and mind? I had a perfect chance to move out of my deal since Rohan was now... normal. Hrithik-anna found out about my secret and threatened to tell the whole school. Yet I stayed instead of transferring, which was the most sensible action. I got these unexplainable, jittery feelings when I'm around Rohan, which, obviously, I shouldn't get. I felt all these butterflies whenever there were any platonic gestures between us.

Really, what was happening to me?

"Uthra?" I heard him say yet again, his voice a bit louder this time. And all I did was nod. What would l I tell Hrithik-anna if I made the mistake of looking at him? That I get weird yet warm sensations around Rohan?

"Look here, brat," anna said, annoyed.

I turned to meet his irritated face.

"I said I'm sorry."

And I did the dumbest thing ever. I nodded again.

"Can you believe this brat?" Anna scoffed. "If you nod that little head of yours again, I swear I'll break your neck!"

I sighed. "I don't know what to say," I mumbled truthfully, "I lied about my gender and I'm both scared and guilty."

Well, the feelings partly scared me too, but why should he know about that? He was silent and once again the deafening silence dragged on until he, thankfully, broke it once more.

"Everyone has their reasons," he said. "You lied because your family was bankrupt. I got angry because I thought everything you did was a mere act."

"And...?" I pried, because he looked like he had a whole essay to finish.

"And what? I'm just glad that that kid is actually making friends except for Ni—Nithya."

His voice broke at the mention of Nithya's name and I tried to figure if it had any meaning to it. I mean, this boy rarely stutters.

"You know Nithya, right?" he asked and I nodded distantly, the simple crack in his voice bothering me unexplainably.

"Yeah," I whispered.

"And I'd never seen him give that crooked smile he gave when he said 'Time up'," he continued, "not even to Nithya."

This time there was no emotion in his voice and that intrigued me even more. Something was not right and I suddenly realised how little I knew about Rohan, other than what uncle had said and what little Rohan himself had revealed to me.

"That's— that's great," I tried pathetically to sound very happy but it failed miserably. Thankfully, anna didn't bother to question my reply.

Both Hrithik-anna and I had too much in our minds at the moment and concentrating only on this conversation seemed out of the question. A kind of unspoken agreement passed in the air and we both agreed to not mention the weirdness in our minds ruin the pathetic reunion we were trying to establish.

"So that's it!" Anna announced, getting up, looking clearly glad that this awkward situation, which had started quite decently, had ended.

And very confusingly, there was a part of me, a very tiny little part of me, that was sad at the prospect that the short comradeship between anna and me had long ended and now what we had was only awkward pleasantries.

"Guess we cleared the... tension," he said and I nodded, giving him a weak smile. "And I don't want to create any ruckus. I just keep reminding myself that you actually helped my cousin and that your stay here will end once this year ends."

As if the unfixable mess my mind was at the moment wasn't enough, he reminded me of the impending end of my dangerous yet happy time at this schooll.

He looked relieved as he took a step away from the bench but suddenly turned towards me, almost looking guilty. I got up to meet his eyes, which still looked at me with guilt.

"Hey Uthra?" Anna called meekly.

"Yes?" My voice sounded equally weak.

"I like you, you know."

To say I was surprised was an understatement. It was clear that it was platonic and had no romantic meaning behind it, but who knew he would like me after all this mess?

"I know you're surprised, considering my past behaviour," he laughed mildly and there, in that weak laugh I heard the real Hrithik-anna, the guy who once talked to the “new kid” with so much friendliness. And suddenly I felt like crying. I wanted to talk, give him a response but all I could do was try to swallow while my throat felt swollen.

Talk about embarrassing.

He gave me a grin which conveyed that he understood. "It's alright, kid," he said almost gently. "Know that you can always turn up to me when things are a little... off. After all, you helped my cousin and I owe you."

And with that, he left me in the courtyard, with me gawking at his retreating back, trying to figure out all the feelings that I was feeling towards all of these guys. But a very, very, very small part in the back of my mind tried to remind me of Jeremy. And guess what? I felt guilty.

Why would I feel guilty thinking about Jeremy?