"Are you okay?" He asked in a hushed voice so only maya could hear.

She managed to nod and his eyes went to her palm.

Maya subconsciously covered her forearm so that he wouldn't notice her scars. But by doing so it gave him a clear view to them.

But he didnt react. Didnt ask anything. Instead his eyes went to the cut which was bleeding inside her palm.

"Damn that's a deep cut. We have to clean it or it will get infected"

'We' the word boomed in her head

"No its okay I'll manage" she choked out.

"No its not okay. Look, by the look of this cut you must have hit a sharp rock or a piece of glass or something. There might be a splinter...... "

He looked at her in expectance.

"Maya"

"Maya" he repeated with a smile on his lips

His smile made her heart do a summersault in her chest.

It was the first time maya felt something like this. It was exciting she felt like shes gonna faint.

Oh wait she was gonna faint.

Things started getting blurry. Dark spots danced behind her eyes.

"I think im gonna...." she started but her knees buckled.

"Whoa... you okay??" His arms went to her elbows and made her stand straight.

She couldnt manage a nod. Things were too blurry.

"Just sit.. sit here comeon" he led her to a stone bench by a tree.

The cool breeze and the shade from the sun made maya feel a little better. She grabbed for her bag to get the water bottle but adhi beat her to it.

"Here drink some water you'll feel better" he handed her the bottle

"Does blood make you squeemish? Is that why you're feeling ill?"

"No its not that" she started in malayalam her native language. She realised her mistake and began to correct

"Are you malayali?" He also started in malayalam

"You too?" Maya found herself smiling

"Yup im from....."

And then they had the typical malayali conversation every malayali who meet outside kerala had.And surprisingly maya felt better. As if his words were a soothing caress against the ringing in her head. She felt much better.And during that conversation maya understood 5 things about him

1. His name was Adhitya sankar

2. He is her super senior and is in his 3rd year

3. The college just won an intercollegiate football tournanent. Adhi is the caption of the team and the winning scorer.

4. There were quite a few malayalis in this college and in her class. So maya wont have to worry that much.

5th and the most important one

MAYA HAS A CRUSH ON HIM

Adhi cleaned maya's wound with water and bandanged it using his handkerchief. He asked her to properly clean it and bandage it.

"Thank you senior." Maya said color rushing to her cheeks

Adhitya chuckled "You dont need to call me senior. Just call me adhi. Comeon we're from the same native"

"Adhi" maya said shyly.

"Adhi" He repeated mirroring her smile.

The first day of college was eventfull. It went so fast maya could barely keep track of the events. The orientation, meeting her classmates, talking to the students and finding out that one of them is a malayali and is her roommate.

Preethi is also from kerala but brought up in mumbai. She has an aunt nearby but decided to stay in the hostel to experience the complete college package. As they walked through hostel corridoors preethi jumped upto the topic which maya knew she was trying to not bring up in their conversation.

"So how's campus? Do you like it? Met anyone interesting???" She wiggled her eyebrows at maya.

"No. Not really. I really like the campus though. Its so green and open. Nothing like the pictures."

Maya pushed the door to their room open and sat on one of the 3 beds she had chosen for herself this morning when she arrived. Maya started again but preethy beat her to it.

"We know you met Adhitya sankar"

"We?? Wait how do you know about adhi?"

"Adhi???" Preethy exclaimed another voice echoing with her.

A girl older than them walked out from the bathroom in pink shorts and a sleeveless top. Her hair wrapped in a towel and a green face pack on her face. She was tall, fair skinned with long legs.

"You are on nickname basis now?" She asked maya with a strangely surprised look.

Maya was puzzled with the apperance of the new character but preethy helped her through it.

"Sorry. I forgot to introduce you. Maya meet Taniya. Taniya meet maya. Tanya is our senior but she's repeating this year"

Preethy gave her a dont pry any further look. And maya swallowed the question that rose in her tongue.

"Ohh hii nice to meet you"

Taniya winked at her and started wiping of the face pack with a wet cloth. "Answer my question girl. How do you know adhitya?"

Was he such a big shot around here?Maya thought to herself.But seeing taniya's look she started to talk but preethy beat her to it. Again.

"These two were practically having eye sex at todays victory parade" preethy beamed.

"What??" Taniya and maya said unanimously although in different tones.

"That is not true. I fell down and cut my palm and he helped me bandage it."

But the look on their faces clearly showed that they were expecting more.

"What did he say to you?" Taniya asked

Wow!! Snoopy much

"He told me he too was a malayali. And there was plenty of malayalis here and that i didnt need to worry. And he bandaged my hand with his kerchief. Look"

maya lifted her hand " ooh and he told me to call him adhi when i called him senior"

Taniya broke in to a big smile filled with mischief and walked upto mayas bed and sat."He didnt shout at you or became angry at you or something?"

"No. He was cool"

"You lucky bitch"

Maya's eyebrows rose at the cursing.

"Do you know how many girls are trying to get his attention? They would kill to get what you just got" Taniya pointed to her hand.

"And then there is you. Walking through the gate and falling straight into adhi's hand kerchief" preethy sighed.

Maya started chuckling. "What is the big deal? He helped a person from scraping her face on cement. Is that such a big deal here??" Maya gestured to the college building in the distance.

"Im starting to think NLU is not that interesting as i thought" maya crossed her arms and leaned back to her bed.

"Ohh honey. Only if you knew"Taniya continued scrubbing her face with the towel.

Maya and preethy looked upto her like kids waiting for her grandma to tell stories.

"Adhitya doesnt give a shit about the girls here. All he cares about his studies, football and his car"

"He seemed like a nice guy" maya countered.

"Trust me he isnt. He's arrogant and moody and short tempered and ughhhhh!!!!"Taniya growled which earned a confused look from the girls.

Taniya took a deep breath."I once got a dare from my friends to kiss adhitya. And when i approached him he not only didnt kiss me but he almost burned my ear off with scolding" Taniya pouted. "He asked me if it was the other way around and if he had tried to kiss me what would have happened?"

"Hes gotta point you kn..."

"Shuuuush" preethy shushed maya and faced the dagger eyes of taniya.

"So yeah hes not nice"

He's not not nice. He's decent. Maya thought

Preethy cleared her throught and changed the subject

"How's your hand now? Does it hurt"?There was genuine concern in her eyes.

Maya smiled "I'm fine. It doesnt hurt as much now" she squeezed preethys hand reassuringly.

"You do know jeeth pushed you right?"

Jeeth?

"Who's jeeth?"

Taniya and preethy exchanged concerning glances at each other and then at her.

"Jeeth is the devil incarnate. And he's got his eyes on you the day you stepped in here. You have a shit load of bad luck on your head girl" taniya squeezed mayas shoulder

"Why would jeeth push me? What did i do to him? I dont even know the guy"

"Wait." Taniya scrolled through her phone and pulled up a photo from Facebook.

The scary dude from the victory parade. Who's eyes were filled with hate and rage.

"You didnt do anything. Adhitya did"

..............................................