CHAPTER 2

The day flew by faster and soon it was time to pack up. There was a routine for us. After our classes we split up to go to our different extra curricular activities. Aria had kick-boxing, Diya had archery and I had kendo. I had been doing kendo since I was 10 years old. Weird right?. Well frankly, I had an obligation since my grand father insisted. But it turned out that I had some kind of natural talent(what?) in it so I started learning it with interest. I had kendo five days a week and other two days(week ends) I worked in a library as an assistant librarian for experience.

After my kendo I was to meet the other two at the 'grand stands' where the announcements were going to be held at 7.30 pm. I walked slowly to the nearest bus stop to catch a direct bus to the venue. The area near my kendo class was deserted and I walked to the bus stop after getting special permission from my instructor. I always preferred to walk the entire way from my university to kendo and kendo to home as helped me maintain stamina. But unfortunately, the venue was in the opposite direction that I was totally unfamiliar with and I grudgingly made my way towards the bus stop.

The bus came ten minutes later and I slumped in my seat. The venue had no bus stop and so I had to locate the venue from the nearest stop.

After a few minutes of pointless walking, I stretched my legs and glanced around the unfamiliar area. It was quiet. Not a soul was there .

Frustrated, I pulled out my phone to dial aria. But no one picked it up. So with only other option, I started walking. i didn't know how long I had walked until I came near a bus stop. Confused, I scanned the area and let out a relieved sigh when I saw a shop. It was located in front of a farm house that seem to stand within a large fenced area. The shop was a hardware store, selling machineries and repair products. I entered and knocked on the wide door, but no one answered, so I continued to proceed inside.

I jumped when I felt a presence and whirled around, my instincts kicking in. I shifted my posture into a defensive stance and narrowed my eyes at the person standing in front of me.

the person laughed at me and raised his two hands in surrender showing me that he is harmless. I relaxed from my stance after a few seconds and exhaled the breath that I was holding.

"my, my you are quite alert Young lady. Your stance was steady and professional as if you had waged many wars."

The man who was probably in his late forties with sturdy body and black hair with beard chuckled.

"you just crept up to me from nowhere. I might have even clocked you." I sighed exasperated.

I tensed up when I saw him scrutinizing me with his black eyes. He emitted an friendly aura and his eyes twinkled with excitement and amusement.

"ah! Welcome to my shop. I'm jenkin and how may I help you young lady?" he chuckled noticing my tensed body.

"sorry . I'm kind of lost. I wanted directions" I bowed and straightened when I heard him chuckling.

"it's my pleasure to help a kind and pretty lady such as yours. Now, where are you going?"

"grand stands"

"ah! You are quite near but in the opposite direction. Did you see that bus stop? There will be a bus in twenty minutes that will take you directly to the venue."

"thank you so much for your help. I will be going now."

"ah well, there is twenty minutes spare for you, why don't you look around here?"

Frankly, I wanted to explore this shop.

"thank you if that's okay with you."

"nonsense. Even if you are not going to buy anything, you are still my customer. Feel free to explore the shop."

And so I started my exploration. I was astonished when I saw that it was not only an hardware shop, but did transportation of goods too. There were several boxes some opened and some unopened. I looked through the different goods and bought a set of pen-drives.

I turned around to leave only to dash face first on a stack of dusty boxes and due to the force of the hit, they tumbled down.

"ow" I muttered rubbing the sore spot on my forehead.

I panicked when I saw the boxes scattered around me.

"I'm sorry. So sorry. Did I break anything?" I flushed due to embarrassment.

But jenkin just laughed and helped me up.

"those are not very important. Come on. Are you hurt?"

"no. I'm fine. Are you sure?"

I stopped short when I saw the nearest box that had opened when it collided onto the floor.

It was a laptop with a sleek built and silver surface. It was cute looking and had an weird logo. It was wrapped in a plastic sheet and wedged within foam blocks to prevent breaking.

Jenkin followed my line of slight and picked up the box.

"you can have it if you want it. But I don't know if it works properly."

"it looks expensive. I don't know if I can afford it now." I replied sheepishly.

"I'm giving it for free."

I gaped at him for a whole minute before regaining my composure.

"no. you can't possibly-"

"there is no use for me with it. There is no gain in it to consider a loss. So just take it. And it will be only fair for its beauty when another beauty uses it." He winked at me as I blushed.

"you are generous. It makes me feel bad."

"don't be. I'm giving it to you only if you promise me that you will drop by another time for tea with my wife."

I beamed and accepted the now packed laptop from him.

"thank you and I will promise to visit you and your wife." I bowed.

He nodded and I had only enough time to run across the shop to the stop to the approaching bus.

if she had turned around she would have noticed the shop keeper's smile turning into a frown.

"man, you are late. They started the announcement already." aria whined as the three of us made our way pushing the crowd of professors and bespectacled students.

I was still on cloud nine from the incident before and I had tucked the laptop into my bag discarding the box and foam.

"hey you have a weird expression on your face." Diya shook me from my day dreaming.

"no. the crowd's suffocating. That's all"

To be frank, I had mixed emotions running through me. I was excited, that's true but also had second thoughts on accepting that laptop. Guilt maybe?.

My instincts were warning me and I could feel my legs starting to turn jelly. Due to excitement?. Maybe?

After a few minutes of unwanted hassle we reached the booth that had our university logo.

A flat screen displayed the selected persons in each category and aria searched through the long list that was scrolling in the screen. The feeling came again as we waited. Suddenly a scream alerted me to my senses and saw aria pointing something at the screen. And clearly, in the historical fan-fiction category was only one name. a familiar name. my name.

I gaped at the screen as aria shook me congratulating my success. I gulped the lump that had formed in my throat. This was not the reaction I was expecting.

Everything went by a blur after that, I received a cash prize and the instructions for the next round.

I must be happy, excited or thrilled. But strangely I felt foreboding that somehow everything was going to go downhill from now.

The laptop. The selection. It was too much to be dismissed as a coincidence.

Then, what? How much ever I tried to dismissed it, there was something nagging inside me.

Whatever it was I was going to find out soon and settle it. Everything was going to be fine.

Or was it?