"See this." Jyoti chuckled as she passed her phone to Sneha. It was the lecture on Climatology which was also the first lecture of the day. The professor was scolding one of the students while giving the perfect opportunity to others to check their phones for notifications.

"What is it?" Sneha mumbled as she peeped on the screen.

"Seems like the college is getting innovative with their charity program." Jyoti said as she waited for Sneha to read the notification.

"This is niiiceee. It is actually interesting. Students of Fine Arts are lucky this time. I mean, if they get to auction their handicraft to the audience, they will get to collect more money as well as showcase their talent." Sneha said as she scrolled through the notification.

"Exactly. I hope our Geography department gets innovative too. It's boring to go to every house to collect money for charity." Jyoti mumbled.

Sneha chuckled with a nod. It was the tradition of their college to host a charity program every year for the Prime Minister National Relief Fund. And, last year, students of every department had to collect money by visiting as many houses as they can.

"I know! Last year, I could barely collect 2000 rupees." Sneha sighed.

"Oh! Another notification." Jyoti said excitedly. They both hoped it was the Geography department.

"It is the Department of History. Oh, lol! They have the same task as last year." Jyoti said with a chuckle. Sneha laughed too while remembering that it was Ananya's department.

"I wonder what our department would make us do this time." Sneha mumbled as she looked at the professor finally resuming her teaching.

"By the way, how are you going to work with Ananya? I saw the list on the chat group." Jyoti asked, a little with concern.

Sneha sighed before replying.

"I'll have to go to her house to make the model."

"Wow! Her brother has no problem with that?"

"He only insisted I visit their home instead of Ananya coming to my home."

"Really? He is so weird! First, he ruins your phone and cycle, and now, he is inviting you without feeling any remorse!"

"He did apologize for it. He gave me a new phone and a new cycle to compensate for it." Sneha replied as she took out her phone from her handbag to show her.

"Oh! A lot happened in the past two days!" Jyoti mumbled in surprise.

.

.

.

"Sneha!" Ananya called for Sneha's attention when she saw her enter the EVS lecture hall.

Sneha and Jyoti turned around and spotted Ananya fast approaching them.

"Hi, Ananya!" They greeted.

"Hi! I was wondering if I could sit with you two?" Ananya asked.

"Yeah, sure!" They both said in unison despite feeling uncomfortable.

"Jyoti, how were the caves?" Ananya asked excitedly.

"Ah! They were great! We enjoyed those a lot!" Jyoti replied, a little formally.

"Nice. I have not yet gone there." Ananya added.

"You should...someday." Jyoti said politely to which she nodded with a smile.

When they finally took a three-seater bench, Sneha sat in the middle.

"So, Sneha. You will come with me to my house today, right?" Ananya asked.

"Yeah. I didn't bring the cycle today since papa will pick me up from your house at about 7:30 pm. So, I will take the bus to your home." Sneha replied.

"Or we can go together? It will save time." Ananya suggested.

"Your brother wouldn't like it." Sneha said as she recalled once telling Ananya that he wasn't her friends' driver.

"He is not picking me up today. So, he wouldn't really know."

"You sure?" Sneha confirmed.

"Yeah! He doesn't like to drive for others but he has no problem if our driver is driving."

"Oh. Okay, then." Sneha agreed with a small smile.

.

.

.

Sneha stepped inside the huge mansion... again. The memories of the night resurfaced and she remembered how scared she was that day. She had hoped to never come here again, but fate had other intentions.

It is just for a week. She told herself as Ananya guided her the way.

They entered the main hall and were met with utter silence.

"No one is here?" Sneha asked.

"They must be at their respective locations. Bhai is at home, so, no one is asked to guard the hall today." Ananya answered as they walked up the stairs with Sneha trailing behind.

Suddenly a gentle sneeze was heard from the right corridor and both of them turned to look at the source of it.

Sneha noticed the new attire Viraj was in. She had always seen him in formals. But, today he was in his homely comfy clothes...a grey T-shirt and black track pants.

"Bhai, the cold still did not go away?" Ananya asked in concern as she looked at her brother walking in their direction from his room. Viraj looked up and saw the two girls he had been waiting to see since the morning.

"It's better now." He answered in his signature tone.

Sneha remembered him getting wet in rain. But, that was barely for five minutes.

"Did you take your medicine?" Ananya asked when he stood in front of them.

"Yes." He answered. "Ananya, go to the kitchen and ask someone there to make ginger tea for me. Meanwhile, I need to talk to Sneha." He added while looking at Sneha who was looking everywhere except the siblings.

Hearing her name, she looked at him in bewilderment.

"Oh, okay. I...will be back in a minute." Ananya said slowly and went downstairs.

When Ananya was out of hearing range, Viraj took a step forward and spoke.

"I texted you yesterday." He stated.

Damn! She muttered under her breath as she slowly looked up at him.

"Uhh...The cycle is working fine." She answered in a low tone.

"Why didn't you reply to the text if you saw it?" He asked, as if she did a crime.

She thought of what to say...something appropriate that would not hit his ego.

"I...was tired. So, I slept early." She lied.

"You couldn't type a quick reply...even in the morning?"

Sneha sighed. This time she kept quiet and merely looked at the floor, while not knowing what to say to him.

"I am asking you something?" He added after another sneeze.

She looked at him again...this time in irritation.

Can't he tell the reason himself? She wondered.

"I am sorry. I forgot." She said while looking at his chest.

Viraj would have continued his interrogation but dropped the topic when she apologized in her soft tone. He couldn't retort to that innocent face.

Taking a deep breath, he spoke.

"I hope you won't forget to reply to my texts again or answer the calls."

Sneha looked at him in confusion.

"Why...would you text or call me again?" She asked before she could stop herself.

He raised his brows in surprise.

"Just in case." He replied.

She wanted to contradict but then decided to be quiet. With him, she found silence a better reply.

Almost immediately, she remembered something.

"Oh, I wanted to return this to you." She added as she took out the SIM card wrapped securely in a paper.

He looked at it curiously.

"What is this?" He asked.

"The SIM card that was in the phone that you gave me last night. I have my own SIM card. So..." She extended the card further for him to take.

He took the card hesitantly and kept it in his track's pocket when he sneezed again.

"Bhai, Meena told me that she will bring the tea to your room as soon as it is made for you." Ananya said as she climbed the stairs.

Viraj nodded and turned around to enter his room again.

"Why did he catch a cold?" Sneha asked Ananya as they resumed walking towards Ananya's room.

"He got wet in rain, yesterday, and did not take the antihistamines immediately. He is very sensitive to cold just like our mother. So, if he doesn't take his medicine in time, he becomes a sneeze-machine." Ananya explained amusingly and opened the door of her room.

"Oh!" Sneha mumbled.

"Welcome to my room!" Ananya sang with a smile.

Sneha scanned the room in awe. It was huge. Her entire house was congruent to her room in terms of size. There were three large windows and two double doors about which she could only guess. A large bed was placed near the central window with a work table on its left and a bean bag at its right. Two sofa chairs with a table were kept near the left window with a huge bookshelf near it. On the walls were beautiful paintings. However, she did notice the lack of family photos in the entire room.

"Your room is so beautiful!" Sneha couldn't help but praise.

Ananya's smile widened.

"It is the only thing which is entirely in my control. So, I did my best to put all my efforts into it." Ananya answered.

Sneha looked at her in confusion.

"In your control?" She asked.

"Uhh...My life is a little complicated." She answered with a nervous chuckle.

Sneha didn't stress on the topic when she noticed Ananya getting a little uncomfortable.

"What was bhai talking to you about?" Ananya sat on the bed and motioned Sneha to do so as well.

Sneha struggled with words, wondering how she should explain the situation to her.

"He...actually texted me yesterday..." Sneha began when Ananya interrupted her.

"Bhai texted you?" Ananya couldn't believe it.

"Yeah. He wanted to ask me about the cycle that he gave me for the one he broke."

"Oh!"

"Hmm. But, I didn't know what to tell him when he suddenly called me after the text. So, I had ignored his text and call..."

"Oh my! He must be very angry about it!" Ananya commented dramatically.

"Yeah, he kind of was." Sneha mumbled. She couldn't talk 'bad' about Viraj in front of his sister.

"One rule of thumb, Sneha. Never ignore bhai...in any aspect. He hates it." Ananya explained as if it was a normal thing.

"Well, it was inappropriate of him to text me or call me at night! That too for a trivial matter such as a cycle. What was I supposed to do other than ignore?" Sneha spoke in defence.

Ananya sighed in understanding.

"I know. Bhai can be intimidating sometimes. He is just full of his ego and hates it when he is insulted or challenged. All his life, he has been pampered by our father way too much and always got what he desired. So, he doesn't take things like this easily." Ananya explained.

Sneha clenched her jaw as she held herself from giving a snarky reply.

"So, did you think about the project?" Sneha tried to change the topic.

"Not yet, actually. I just went through the concept of global warming yesterday." She said.

"I have something in my mind. If you agree, we can work it out." Sneha said.

"Oh, that's great!"

Sneha smiled and removed her notebook and pencil from her bag to draw a sketch of her proposal.

"We will try to show the working model of how global warming is affecting the sea level. It's not a novel idea, but who cares! We just need to get an 'A'." Sneha said with a chuckle.

"Okay?" Ananya urged her to explain more.

"So, we will need a glass box, ice, POP, a little amount of acid and some metal carbonate to produce carbon dioxide, some old boxes and other craft items for decoration. We will allow carbon dioxide to be produced in the box which will increase the temperature of the box and eventually melt the ice to increase the water level in the box. We can use scale markings at one corner to calculate the rise. Oh, and we will need to fix a bulb inside to raise the temperature of the box to imitate the sun. There will be another box with the same setup but without the metal carbonate...for comparison purposes. I hope this will work. What do you think?" Sneha explained diagrammatically.

"Uhh...I didn't get it much but if you are confident this will work then let's do it." Ananya chuckled.

"I think it should work. So, let's make a list of all the items that we need to buy and then we can start the modelling from tomorrow." Sneha suggested.

"Yeah, sure." Ananya agreed.

While they began making their list, a soft knock was heard on the room's door.

"Come in." Ananya said and two maids with four trays of snacks entered.

"Oh, this was not required, Ananya!" Sneha said as the maids placed the snacks and tea in front of them.

"Thank you!" Sneha told the two young girls who smiled in return.

"You are coming here for the first time...I mean the second time...but, the first time in my room. You are a guest now." Ananya smiled.

"I guess, thank you!" Sneha smiled as she accepted the tea and had a biscuit with it.

After five minutes of scribbling down and discussion, Sneha spoke.

"Okay. Here it is. Everything we need." Sneha tore the page from her book.

"This is a huge list!" Ananya chuckled making Sneha laugh too.

"I estimate, it will cost us at most 1000 rupees. So, it will be like 500 rupees on each of us." Sneha said and looked at the wall clock.

"Great!" Ananya said.

"And, since it is not even 5 pm now, we can go to the market to shop for these items." She said.

"Right now?" Ananya asked, a little taken aback.

"If you don't want to, then I will go get them. I know the market where we can get these things at a cheap rate."

"Oh no. This is a team project and we should do everything together. I'll go and ask for bhai's permission to go out." Ananya said and stood up. Sneha stood as well.

"Okay."

"Oh, and how much did you say it will cost? 500 right? Because I will have to ask bhai for the cash." Ananya spoke as she reached the door.

"Uhh...yeah!" Sneha said to which Ananya nodded and left.

Why does she have to ask for even 500 rupees from her brother? She doesn't have her own savings? Sneha wondered but then ignored it. Everyone has their own lives and she had no right to judge them.

With that thought, she sat on the bed again and continued examining the various things in the room.

Few minutes later, Ananya returned and Sneha picked up her bag so that they can go together.

"Come, let's go." Ananya called for her and she followed her out of the room.

Coming near the stairs, she got surprised to see Viraj standing at the centre of the hall, playing with his car keys on his fingers.

"What is he doing?" Sneha asked as doubt crept into her mind.

"Oh, bhai said that he will accompany us to the market." Ananya answered as they walked down the stairs.

"But, he has a cold!" Sneha almost whispered in her ear.

"I asked him the same thing. He said he is feeling well now." Ananya answered.

Exactly at that moment, he sneezed again.

"He is not." Sneha mumbled.

"I know! I just can't question his decision." Ananya said with a sigh.

"We are ready, bhai." Ananya informed Viraj when they reached the hall. Viraj looked at them briefly and then nodded.

"Come." He told both of them and started walking out towards the lawn where his car was parked.

As soon as Viraj pressed the button on his keys to unlock the doors of the car, he sneezed again. Sneha just couldn't stop herself from speaking.

"I think you should rest. We both can go by ourselves to buy the things." She said while startling both Ananya and Viraj.

He looked at her with raised brows before replying.

"I don't want you both losing your way in the markets of Mumbai." He answered, wording his concern for their safety.

"In that case, I will go alone and get the things from the market. Ananya can stay at home." She suggested while Ananya shifted her gaze between the duo.

"I don't want you to lose your way in Mumbai as well." He replied.

Sneha couldn't help but snicker at the comment. It did intrigue him because his gaze turned cold in a flash.

She quickly realized her mistake. Viraj hated being insulted, she recalled.

"I mean...I won't lose my way. I have been travelling alone in Mumbai since childhood." She explained herself.

"Get inside the car." He said in a strict tone to which she sighed.

Opening the door of the backseat slowly, she slid inside while being aware of his heated gaze on her.

I made him angry again! She scolded herself.