•Author•

"There's a beautiful riverbank over there" Suhana swiftly turned back as she saw Harshad standing behind her following her trails.

"I thought you went to the camp area long back with Rohit" Suhana gazed at him confused, as the work for setting up the medical camp was over long back.

"Nah, I was ambling along the riverbank...and then found out that you were strolling here at this hour. Why didn't you leave with Rohit?" Harshad chuckled.

"I was just...trying to get some air" Suhana cleared her throat .

"Okay, let's move to the camp, it's dark out here...and there are no street lights as well" Harshad said as Suhana nodded.

"Hope the tents are laid out, everyone must be really tired with all that traveling and stuff" Harshad breathed out as Suhana continued.

"Huh, don't worry about that, all the personal tents would have been laid out perfectly hours ago" Suhana .

"Really? How do you know about that?" Harshad looked at her confused, as they were taking steps forward.

"Hmm well...Sometimes you do your work faster when you are hell bent to prove someone wrong" Suhana silently smiled, which went unnoticed in the darkness.

"Huh...okay" Harshad concluded with his mind still processing his level best to decode the meaning behind her words.

In a few minutes they reached the camp, as the darkness swept away. The place was a bit brighter with tent lanterns hanging outside the tent and around the place, making it lively.

"Oh my...." Suhana gasped with her mouth wide open staring at the yellow lanterns which were making the place totally aesthetic.

"Finally! Where were you?" Rohit came towards them and put his hand around her shoulders.

"Nahh, I was just strolling over there!" Suhana shrugged.

"Well, the tents are ready to settle down" Anika walked towards them declaring it proudly.

"Yeah I can see that" Suhana sniggered.

"Who did you even ask to do this?" Harshad asked as his face was still drowned in astonishment.

"Vikram! Vikram did!" Zaara walked towards them with a discourteous tone in her voice.

"Huh--Vikram?" Harshad's eyebrows shoot up, unbelievably.

"You asked...Vikram to do this?" His eyes grew wide as Suhana nodded with a calm face," And he....he agreed to do??" His face turned pale with confusion as he moved his head between Suhana and the beautiful camp lighting in front of him.

"Exactly! What the hell is wrong with you Suhana? First you sleep on his shoulders...ugh I can't even erase that picture of my mind. And now, you go around and order him to do this? Do you really think--"

"Shut up, I am tired. '' Suhana walked forward towards the camp with her eyes still trying to register the beauty of all the yellow lanterns hanging around, though it was solar lanterns, as her eyes were silently searching for someone else.

"Did she just leave while I was talking to her?.." Zaara grit her teeth.

Anika mentally slammed her head and concluding that they are the most pathetic siblings she had ever come across, and moved towards Suhana.

Anika stopped on her trails, as she saw Vikram strolling towards Suhana, while she was still gazing the surroundings.

Chuckling to herself she signalled Rohit to join her for dinner as most of them were already having their dinner a bit away. A few villagers had arranged for dinner as it was their first day.

"Well you do have a mouth...." Suhana turned back and saw Vikram smirking, with his arms folded against his chest.

"What?" Suhana narrowed her eyes on him.

"...so I think you can thank me, considering that this view is breathtaking for you" Vikram completed his sentence.

Personally attacked, Suhana continued to maintain a cool image in front of him. "Really? You wish! There is nothing beautiful in...these....Tents...and Solar lanterns" Suhana scorned and turned her face away from him.

"Huh...you suck at lying," Vikram sighed, offended by her words.

"Ahem...no I did not" Suhana tried to clear her throat and turned back to leave.

••••

"Everyone has picked their respective tents except for us" Rohit spoke as Suhana and Vikram washed their hands after dinner and sat on the grass to continue the conversation.

"Well let's pick a tent, that's all" Anika yawned, as it was late night and it was already getting chilly out there.

"Well that's the problem..." Rohit took a second and continued, "We are 7 of us....but there are only 4 tents left"

"What???" Zaara panicked as the first person, as Suhana glared at her annoyed.

"Okay, then we have to share our tents then" Harshad said politely.

"Why would you even bring less number of tents?" Vikram gave an offensive look at Harshad.

"Because we didn't know that some people would barge into the bus at the last minute" Suhana spoke casually, looking everywhere and everyone but Vikram.

"Oh come on guys, let's just share the tents! That's not a big deal" Megha spoke up, while Rohit was glancing nowhere but only Megha.

"Yeah no worries, I hope Vikram doesn't mind sharing his tent with me for the next 10 days" Zaara grinned from ear to ear.

Hearing upon Zaara, Suhana suddenly spilt the water which she was drinking and started coughing vigorously.

"What's wrong with you" Zaara gave an annoyed look at her, Harshad tapped her head a few times to help her recover from her sudden chronic coughs.

Vikram's eyes started to pierce deep into Harshad's hand, which was tending to Suhana as he continued, "Yeah she is fine now!" He looked away as Suhana placed the water bottle away.

"So Vikram you are okay with it right? I mean me....and you....sharing one tent" Zaara grinned widely waiting for him to reply.

"You said we have 4 tents right?" Suhana interrupted, as she diverted the question to Rohit.

"Yeah!" Rohit nodded as Suhana continued, "Give her one tent separately!"

"What? Why? I completely disagree with you--" Zaara stood up from the ground as Suhana continued.

"We are here for a cause, if you don't want to cooperate with us, you can go back to your home" Suhana's words were casually cruel.

"Ugh" Zaara stomped her leg on the ground and sat on the ground along with them a few minutes later.

"Well come on guys, I know how to allot the tents. It's very simple. Zaara and Harshad take one, Megha and Rohit in another tent. Vikram and Suha in another. I will take the fourth tent. That's all, Simple!" Anika grinned like a Cheshire cat and leaned back, as everyone grew wider ready to roll down anytime.

Rohit slowly leaned towards Anika and whispered, "Are you drunk?", as realization hit Anika.

"Megha and Rohit....they are lovers I understand. But why would you even ask Suhana to share the tent with....Vikram?" Harshad glared at Anika, utterly confused.

"Huh well don't get your hopes high just because Anika told that" Zaara stared at Suhana.

"Well let me tell you all, Meghu...ahem Megha and Suhana in the first tent, Me and Vikram in another, Anika and Zaara in the third one while Harshad in the remaining one." Rohit declared.

"Sounds good to me" Suhana and Harshad agreed.

"I didn't come all the way here to share my tent with you!" Vikram narrowed his eyes on Rohit.

"Wait..Did you just pair me up with that bit--I mean, Zaara?" Anika's mouth dropped down.

"Yes I did, come on why can't you guys just adjust, it's just for...10 days." Rohit shrugged.

"Well fine, whatever"

"And as for Vikram, I will share my tent with Harshad, so you can have the entire tent for yourself. Is it okay for you, Harshad?" Rohit questioned.

"Yeah, anything is fine on me" Harshad agreed.

••••

Suhana grabbed the deflated air pillow from her luggage which she had dumped inside her bag at the last minute, before leaving the house.

The tent was sufficient for 3 people to fit in, she thought to herself.

Suhana slowly moved to the end, and unzipped the tent and turned back and stole a glance of Megha was deep asleep.

Yeah who would be awake at 2am at night in the middle of a village which is more like a forest.

Slowly Suhana stepped out with the pillow, as she had to inflate inorder to sleep. She didn't want to make noise and blow it inside as Megha was already lost in her dreams.

Suhana unzipped the tent back and walked a bit away as she started to search for the valve in the air pillow to blow in.

Seconds turned into Minutes and minutes turned into no less than hours, but still she couldn't inflate half the pillow.

"Need some help?" A voice behind was trying hard to control their laughters.

Already knowing who it was, Suhana turned behind swiftly with a counter reply to his upcoming insult on 'You-can't-even-inflate-a-pillow'.

"Yeah you better--" Suhana stopped halfway as her face dropped down on seeing Harshad standing over there instead of who she had assumed it to be.

"Ohh...you" Suhana grimaced, considering the awkwardness and the timing under the bright white moon.

"Yeah, it is me! Why haven't you slept yet?" Harshad enquired as he collected the half inflated air pillow from her hand.

"Huh nothing...was just thinking about something " Suhana mumbled.

"Something or someone?" Harshad chuckled as Suhana froze.

"Huh.." Suhana swallowed all the words which she had intended to reply, as Harshad placed his lips over the valve and started to blow air inside it.

"Why haven't you slept yet?" Suhana tried to divert the topic as Harshad sealed the small valve.

"Hmm...just wanted to have a look at this place...ahh well here it is" Harshad handed over the pillow to Suhana after sealing it perfectly.

"Ahh what, I was trying to inflate this for almost an hour" Suhana laughed out as she pressed the pillow to check if it was fully filled .

"It's perfect! Thank you" Suhana thanked,"Not an issue, have a good night sleep" Harshad smiled as they moved towards their respective tents, though they were opposite to each other.

Suhana unzipped the tent and stepped forward as she turned back and waved a hand at him and zipped it back.

She slowly walked forward, not able to believe anything.

It was too much for her to digest." Vikram in a village camp? Sleeping in a tent? Ugh the most unexpected thing ever." She thought to herself.

"But he said he didn't want to join me....then why did he come today?" Suhana sat down as she placed the pillow behind, mumbling to herself.

"Is it because I asked him???" Suhana wondered.

"Or is it because.....he felt bad that he yelled at me?" She murmured to herself.

"What? He yelled at you?" Megha sat upright facing Suhana.

"Ahhh what? Haven't you slept yet?" Suhana was startled.

"Huh of course not, how do you even expect me to sleep peacefully with my nemesis out there planning to make me fall into his trap" Megha rolled her eyes as Suhana mentally hit her forehead.

"Now forget that, did you say Vikram yelled at you?" Megha leaned forward curiously.

"Yeah" Suhana nodded absent mindedly.

"What?? How dare he? Why did he do that--?"

"Huh....he....I...hmm...Ahh yes...He yelled at me because...He said I should have made sure Rohit wasn't accompanying us, if I had already planned to call you here" Suhana lied flawlessly with a puppy face.

"Huh...Did he really say that..?" Megha's eyes grew wide.

Suhana knew she lied, but yet she also knew that deep inside Vikram has always sided with Megha rather than Rohit.

"Okay, it's late already, now go to sleep" Suhana dimmed the small yellow light in the corner and covered herself with several blankets.

It was really cold. More colder than she had expected it to be. Definitely 10°C less than what Google had predicted.

She had barely, a few blankets and a warm red woolen scarf with her.She just hoped that the climate during the day time is warm enough and not colder.

"Ughh...Instead of fighting with that Narcissist, I should have just packed a winter jacket or at least my damn hoodie! Gosh! It's freezing!"

Pulling up the warm blanket up to her neck, Suhana turned towards her right facing Megha, as slept took over her.

••••

"Enough of sleeping, get up!!!" Megha rolled Suhana to the right.

"Tch...let me sleep for some more time" Suhana grabbed the pillow against her chest with her eyes still sealed in.

"Yeah yeah carry on, we are here to party and to have fun right?" Megha rolled her eyes and picked up her trench coat and wore them.

The climate was freezing inside, it was no way compared to what it was yesterday. Suhana stirred from her sleep as she slowly sat upright with her eyes refusing to open.

"Last call! Everyone would be waiting for you in another 10 minutes. You haven't bathed yet as well. So hurry up" Megha glared at Suha and left the tent.

Sighing to herself, Suhana composed herself and rubbed her palms together. The blanket was of no use, she concluded.

Grabbing her red scarf, she wore it around her neck. Walking towards the corner, she unzipped the tent and stepped out.

"Huh...What the-- Why is it freezing here?" Suhana rubbed her palms furiously to bring in some warmth.

"I would rather stay inside the tent, than freeze to death" She breathed out, watching her own breath in the cold weather.

Vikram walked out of his tent in his long coat, with his hands buried inside his coat pockets. Everyone had already arrived for breakfast. Except for one person.

After not being able to spot her over there, he decided to do the deed.

And as his tent was a bit away from Suhana's, he walked towards the last tent, apparently where she stays.

And as he reached the end, he saw her rubbing her hands furiously, and her palms rubbing her arms continuously, while standing right next to her tent entrance.

Vikram's eyes froze as he slowly moved his head towards the nearby tent. Harshad was standing opposite to her from a distance watching her, and smiling to himself.

Vikram fisted his fingers, as he saw Harshad's lips slowly curl into a smile, stealing glances of Suhana's cute antics.

Gritting his teeth, Vikram took a step forward.

••••