The next day was Sunday, and thus I decided to visit Priya at her house after my coaching class.

I took a cab directly from the Coaching Institute to her house.

Priya's house was one of the biggest ones I had seen so far, and I felt really out of place there.

I rang the bell and waited for someone to answer the door.

A woman opened the door, who I guessed was Priya’s mother.

"Hi. I was wondering if I could meet Priya. I'm a friend of her from college.”

"Oh. Nice. Welcome. I'm Priya’s mother. Nice to meet you.”

"Nice to meet you too.”

"Why don't you wait in the sitting room? I'll let Priya know you are here. Sorry, I forgot to ask your name.”

"My name is Jacob.”

"Ok. I'll let her know. She is finishing up with her packing to leave for college. She should be down soon.”

Guess Priya was getting ready to come to college after all. Maybe I shouldn't have come.

I waited for few minutes before Priya came down.

Unlike as usual self, she didn't seem to have much energy. She seemed a bit down.

"What are you doing here?”

"I was in the neighbourhood, and I thought I would drop in for a visit.”

"Really? You don't seem the type to do that. You don't seem like the type to be interested in anything besides studying.”

She was starting to get on my nerves again.

"I guess maybe I should leave. Nice to see you anyways.”

"Wait a minute. Mom is already getting tea and snacks for you. Have them before leaving.”

We both sat in silence. It was getting very awkward.

Finally, her Mom came back with the tea and snacks for us.

"It's nice to see some of Priya s friends coming to check up on her. She has been spending her time in her room all alone since the results came out. You should never sulk about results. It’s the effort that matters and not the results.”

Ok. That was more information than I required. And Priya seemed to agree as she started shouting at her Mom.

"Mom. What are you doing? What are you saying in front of my friends?”

"I'm just saying young people need to know to enjoy their life and not ruin their moods just because of a stupid bet.”

"Ok, Mom. Go inside. You are embarrassing me.”

Her Mom soon left to take care of something, and we returned to our silence.

But this time, I couldn't control my curiosity.

"So, about the results.”

"What about it?”

"Nothing. I just thought you'd be happy about it. That's all. And also, what's this about a bet?”

"Why do you want to know?”

"Just curious. You don't have to reply if you don't want to.”

I could see Priya was considering whether to reply as she kept quiet for some time. Finally, she seemed to have arrived at a decision.

"It's a stupid bet I have with my Dad.”

"Oh. Ok”

"I wanted a car as I'm now 18, but he was not ready to get one for me.”

"Ok. Maybe you just need to ask him more nicely.”

"I'm not going to beg him for it. That's why I proposed he give me a challenge, and he did. One he thinks I have no chance of winning.”

Things were starting to make more sense now.

"So what condition did he put up?”

"To get into top 1000 rankings in the University.”

Wow. Considering her grades, that did seem pretty difficult.

"Oh.”

"So, mister topper. Do you think I stood a chance to win even if we had completed our last month's sessions?”

"Hmm. Anything is possible.”

"I'm not asking about one in a million chance possibility. I'm asking whether I had a good chance of achieving it. And be honest about it.”

"Well. I would say it would have been highly improbable.”

"Ok.”

Even though she expected that answer, she still seemed disappointed to hear it.

After few seconds of silence, Priya continued the conversation.

"Do you think I have any chance of achieving it this year? Any chance if I try things differently.”

I started thinking for a second.

"Like I said, anything is possible. And I mean good chances. I would even put your chances at 50%.”

I could see some colour returning to her face.

"But before you get excited, I want to make some things clear. You stand no chance with how we did last year. It will have to be a completely different approach."

"You'll have put in 100% effort. Which means no trips, no movies, and no fun. We'll have to meet for at least half an hour every day and our regular sessions, and there will be a lot more homework. If you do all of it, I think you might have a decent chance."

"But what I'm more worried about is whether you will be able to stick to this. It won't be easy, and I'm not sure if you can handle it.”

"Don't underestimate my will. If I want something, I'm ready to sacrifice anything for it. It's not just about the car. I want to show my Dad that I will live my life the way I want to. You only get to live once. And I, for one, sure want to live a life of no regrets.”

I left soon after. For some reason, I felt thrilled. I had a new challenge in front of me. It's been a long time since I had a seemingly impossible goal to achieve, and the fighter in me was warming up.

But this time, I wouldn't be able to fight alone. I'll have to fight along with someone else, and victory would depend on my companion’s performance more. I trusted myself to devise a plan to help her achieve her goal. But the results would depend entirely on Priya s performance.

But somehow, I was not too worried. While talking to her, I could sense the same determination in her which I had in me. She was similar to me because she refused to live by someone else's rules and had the will to fight to the end.

I couldn’t stop myself from smiling.

The time ahead seemed a lot more interesting to me.