====Maze===

Chapter 3

"Aaj class ayi keun nahi?" As soon as she opened her facebook in the evening, she saw the messenger window popping up displaying this message from Abhijeet. Her eyes became a bit wider in surprise as her disappearence in class for one day was not something to bother Abhijeet as they are not that close, to be specific, they are not even friends. Her eyebrows knitted. "Wait is he..." She raised both her eyebrows at the thought and chuckled. She was not going to reply but she doesn't know what made her feel an urge to reply.

"Ajeeb hai yaar! main keun reply dun? Ye banda clearly flirt karneke koshish karaha hai, main samajhke bhi na samajhneki dhang karu keya? Agar reply de diya toh isey toh mouka mil jayega, khush ho jayega. Aur ajeeb baat, main yesab soch keun rahi hun? Messege kiya hai toh reply keun dena hai? I'm not bound!" Tarika thought to herself and she was surprised that she was thinking about whether she should reply or not when this is clearly not normal for a boy to ask a girl out of blue why she was absent. Specially when they don't even talk that much! And he even noticed her absence. Man his politeness! The way he is different than any other boys in the class! The way he seems like shining!

" Kuch nahi! Bas thodi sick thi aj, isliye." She discovered herself replying to him to her surprise. What was she doing? Why was she doing this? Does she have to lose her sense every time someone is good to her? No matter whomever that be?! Sometimes she is surprised at herself.

A: Oh! How are you feeling now?

Seeing his reply, she closed her eyes. She was not intending to talk to him but she ended up giving him space. She opened her eyes and didn't see any other message. Now that she has already replied, she thought it would be too much to not reply to this message.

T: Han, aab thik hun. Thanks.

A: Nahi koi baat nahi.

Clearly, it was obvious that he was making a move. No matter how much polite one is, it is obvious when someone is trying to impress! She didn't want to make him feel that she was completely clueless. So she asked,

T: Main aaj class nahi geyi ye tumne notice ki? Accha Perdyuman sir ne danta keya mujhe? Main nahi geyi aaj class, isliye I meant..

A: Arey nahi! aisa kuch nahi hai! Wo bas tum normally Perdyuman sir k class miss nahi dete ho na, toh maine soch liya tha ki tum sick hogey. Isliye baas sure honeke liye..

She smirked and then again she became confused. Was she thinking right or what he said is the truth! She closed her eyes and thought to herself " Main bewakuf hun keya? Usne boldiya aur uske baato pe yaakin karlun keya? Ye jo bolraha hai wo clearly mujhe impress karneke liye hee bolaraha hai. Ismai toh koi confusion nahi hai. Jo bhi ho, mujhe keya." She thought to herself and closed the chat window. Somewhere, deep inside, she felt good. She felt good that whatever the reason is. Be it to impress her, or be it the truth, somepone did notice her absence.

She felt an urge that she wanted to talk to him more. Without thinking twice she just opened the chat window again and typed,

"Aajj class mai keya padhaya?"

…

…

The next day, Tarika was already in the campus and was walking through the corridor Thinking what happened to her that she ignored the fact that a random boy was trying to impress her and talked. Just because he seemed different, she ignored the fact! She was in her own world and right then she saw him entering the academy walking towards her. And there he goes again, waving and flashing his bright and charming smile making her smile and wave back too. She felt stupid and couldn't figure out what the hell she was doing! Ignoring all the logics she remembered Perdyuman sir asking her to take his answer and before he could pass her she called him,

"Umm Abhijeet!

"Han bolo."Abhijeet replied smiling.

"Wo eek baat batana hee nahi hua. Perdyuman sir k ghar k class mai usdin jo answer karwaya tha, sir ne mujhe kaha tumhare answer leneke liye. Aab hai keya tumharte paas?"

"Umm aab toh nahi hai mere paas, main ghar jake photo khichke tumhe de dunga, don't worry."Abhijeet said with a smiling face.

"Okay no hurry. You can do it when you're free. Bye." Tarika said and smiled.

"Okay." Saying he flashed that bright smile again making her wonder whether he fitted 100 Walt bulbs behind his teeth!

…

Later that day after class, she went to the canteen in between the gap with before another class starts. Everyone was playing either table tennis or Carrom. She could only play carom so she silently went to the carom board and started playing on her own. She has always been on her own and that's how she is comfortable. Tasha with others was playing table tennis. Suddenly all of them finished one round and came to the carom board where Tarika was playing on her own. Obviously among others there were also Abhijeet and Daya.

"Chal saab team karte hai. Tarika aur Abhijeet eek team. Main aur Dya eek team." Tasha said while arranging the coins.

"Arey likin mujhe toh khelna ata hee nahi hai, itne rules fulse ke sath. Tarika said nervously as when it comes playing or talking with a group of people she has never felt comfortable. Because the though is always lingering in her mind that if she makes a single mistake everyone is going to laugh about her. This one thought makes her scared of being with more than one person. She has tried many times to change, but she couldn't. This fear has always dominated her mind. Moreover today there was Abhijeet today, she didn't know why exactly, but he was making her feel more nervous. He is polite, he never said anything embarrassing to her, but how long will it take for a person to change their colour? All person are polite or good at first.

"Arey yaar team pe hai na. Abhijeet toh hai tere team pe. Nakhre maat kar. Khel na."Tasha said pushing her.

"Arey likin…Tarika was aying something still nervous.

"Arey koi baat nahi, main hun na. Agar tumhe zyada problem hua toh main toh hun manage karneke liye. Aur ye toh refreshment k liye khelrahe hai hum. Tumhare waja se koi har bhi geya toh wo serious kuch nahi hoga. It's okay. You can relax." Abhijeet told her in a soft voice making her heart flutter andshe couldn't help but looked at him amazed.

"Acch..accha thik hai. Main khelti hun." Tarika said with a little smile but didn't see Tasha and Daya suppressing their smile as they already knew Abhijeet.

This boy has been confusing her from the first day whether he is really that polite or is he just trying to impress. Is there any polite person like him today who is sincerely polite? Or all are players?

The game begun and as she expected she was already nervous and she was not able to hit the coins in the pockets. All her aims were missing out. She was getting more nervous because along with Purvi there were also Abhijeet and Daya. She is not normal like others. Right at that moment she needed someone to comfort her. She didn't want to escape the place because that would put her into a more embarrassing place. She was taking aim again and this time she failed again and gave Abhijeet a nervous smile. In this types of situations the reaction that was normal for her was all Abhijeet, Tasha and Daya would laugh at her for not being able to play. But to her surprise, when she gave Abhijeet that smile, he blinked his eye to assure her bowing his head showing his palm telling her in sign that it's okay. I'm here." Daya was silent and Tasha was asking her how to play. Their reaction surprised her as she always had to hear laughter in school when she failed at anything she tried to do. She smiled at Abhijeet again and now both Abhijeet and Tasha were teaching her to play. She was silently following what they were saying.

…

…

" Keya?! Wo joyi?" Tarika said surprised making Tasha look at her. They were both at Tarika's home to study. Tasha just told Tarika that Abhijeet now is dating their junior called Joyi.

"Han. Likin tune aise keun react kiya?" Tasha said narrowing her eyes.

"Areey nahi aisi baat nahi hai. Baas Abhijeet jaise ladka joyi ke sath..Tarika was saying and Tasha asked cutting her "Han, joyi. Likin usmai keya problem hai?" Tasha asked confused.

" Nahi, waisa kuch nahi. Baas usey dekhke jaisa lagti hai..Abhijeet ke liye tujh jaise ladki thik hogi." Tarika told Tasharaising both her eyebrows.

"Heh..Mera bf hai pata hee hai maat kar aur chal padh jaldi. ye khatam karke wo bhi toh shhuru karna hai." Tasha said in a teacher voice.

"Han han madam, pata hai. padh rahi hun." Tarika said and smiled. She didn't feel bothered at all that Abhijeet was dating someone. But, she felt bothered with the girl he was dating. She found herself weird.

"Aur pata hai? Ye Abhijeet baas sabke dawat pe khane jata hai! Likin aj taak kisiko treat diya nahi khud! aur toh aur,usdin Sonali di ke treat pe uske wo gf ko bula liya." Tasha said in a disappoint voice.

"Aise nahi bolte Tasha. Wo treat nahi deta koi waja zarur hoga. Warna zarur treat deta wo bhi sabko. Kisike baremai sabkuch na janke aise bolte nahi."Tarika said in a soft voice.

" Han han, hogeye.; Socrates maat ban. Ye padhai khatam kar. Main answer banati hun. Tasha said and started writing answer and Tarika started reading giving a smile.

…

…

"Haters will say fake, only photographer is real" Under this caption he posted a candid photo of him where he is touching a leaf of a plant in a pot. She smiled and started to think something unique to post as a comment. By today she has become at least a bit comfortable with him because of the way he is.

She typed a monkey emoji and wrote beside it, " *moneky emoji* ko toh pedh ki pattey hee pasand hoga. Ismai fake keun hoga?" she smiled at the comment and posted it.

After a while he replied to her comment with a GIF saying, "Should I block you?"

She knew he was not serious and that was a joke. But somehow she felt something. She was not sure whether to call it nervousness or fear or sorry or just something. She didn't know what she was doing and she ended up deleting her comment and commented again, " Okay sorry. Delte kar diya. Please bura maat manna."

Seeing her comment he was surprised. No one has ever done something like this till today. Doesn't she understand a joke? Or has no one ever joked with her? Does she have no friends? She seems sensitive.

"I think ye dusro se kuch toh alag hai. Aur lagta hai sach mai dargeyi. Ajeeb ladki hai baba!" He thought to himself and thought he should better text her.

After few minutes the chat window popped up showing his message, " Hey! Arey tum toh serious hoegyi! Main mazak karraha tha. Mujhe bura nahi laga." She smiled lightly reading the message and replied,

"Han pata hai mazak tha."

He smirked and asked,

A: Toh phir?

T: Nahi bas, phir bhi. bachpan se baas saab mere sathe naraz hee hotey hai, isliye aab agar koi fun karke bhi gussa hota hai toh mujhe accha nahi lagta, isliye, delte kar di."

Seeing her message, his eyebrows raised. First of all she deleted a comments just at a joke and now she is talking like this. Is she normally serious like this or is she being like this just with him? Man this girl is interesting. He said and bended his head a little and couldn't find what he should reply to this.

The message has been seen. She doesn't understand what she is doing? Why did she bring up her past? Who is he? He is not even her friend! She never even had any intense conversation with him that she would tell him this. But somehow, she was comfortable to talk about that with him. Without any hesitation, without any second thought she just told him that. Was she trying to show her weak side to him? No! Why the hell would she?

"Ye ho keya raha hai mujhe? Main aisi ajeeb behave keun karrahi hun? Ye toh main nahi hun! Ldko ke sath kaab se comfortable hone lagi main?!

She was thinking all this to herself and his message popped up saying, "Okay chill. And a smiley face with closed eyes smiling ear to ear.

She smiled at the message and stopped smiling thinking "Main keun has rahi hun?!"

…

…

As they are law students, the academy arranges for a mock trial every year and the students had to participate in it every year. Tarika didn't have any friends yet, but she had a good realtion with some students. One of them were Zara she was thinking with whom they could form a team as they needed four people. A student was sitting beside them looking gloomy. Her name was Purvi. Zara and Tarika knew her and they asked her if she could attend. She agreed and they Zara was noting down the names.

"Waise Purvi, tum itne udas keun lag rahe ho?" Tarika asked.

"Nahi kuch nahi. Baas aise hee.

"Break up karke aye ho keya?" Zara asked trying to enlighten the environment and Tarika joined her thinking she should try to cope with the environment around her.

"Han." Purvi gavce a short reply and Tarika felt bad.

"Keya sachmai?"Tarika asked concerned.

"Hmm."She said and got up from her seat and started walking towards the door.

Tarika looked at her walking. This girl was strange. On Facebook she only posts her eyes and lips pictures that too after too much editing. She has seen lot of people saying lot of things but she doesn't never posts a full picture of herself. And also like Tarika, she is alone and doesn't have much friends. She was out of her sight now and she got busy with Zara again in making the list.

…

…

The Academy holds a cake festive every year. There was no difference this year too. All the students including the teacher held up different stalls. Some were selling cloths, some were selling foods, and some were selling different types of items. Tarika was new and neither had she had any friends. As a result she couldn't team up with anyone and also, since school she was never used to these things. All her classmates used to do all they could, she has always been the silent one, and the only reason was that she didn't have any friends. She wore a brown saree and her kohli black eyes really looked magical. They could enchant anyone, but she stays with a guard. No one finds the courage to talk to her or even the courage to impress her, except Abhijeet. She was walking slowly and the first stall she went into belonged to the group of Kajal. Others in that group were Abhijeet, Daya, Pankaj, Sachin, Kajal,Sonali, Shreya and few more persons. Sachin and Kajal had been together since their school. Sonali is older than all of them and is married with two kids.

As soon as she entered the room where they set up their stall a girl from their class name Faija came running to her asking her to seat. Abhijeet was also there and was saying Aao ao baitho" and he hold the chair for her. She sensed she is trapped and can't escape without getting robbed by these pure devils! Fajia made her seat and Abhijeet was still holding the chair for her. As she made her seat with force her bare back touched the back of the chair with a jerk. But she didn't feel the chair against her back and instead felt something soft and immediately felt that something quickly slipping away with a jerk. As soon as she looked back she realised it was the back of Abhijeet's hand as he was holding the chair and she immediately looked back at the front without fully looking behind. A sudden shiver went through her body but she didn't realise why! She controlled the shiver and got busy into selecting the food she wanted to have trying to forget what just happened.

She spent the whole program alone. During the cultural program, to her surprise Abhijeet performed a song. She couldn't help but was amazed at his voice! He could sing too! In the end, she alone came out. On her way to home, she could still feel the warmth on her back. A smile appeared on her lips without her realising.

A/N: This is it for today. I guess today's chapter covered up for the boredom you guys felt at the last chapter. Let me know in the review how you guy felt. And next festive is going to be more spicy ;) ;D For that, stay tuned, and keep reading Maze :D ;D

kanizrini907: Hey dear. Thank you so much. Hope I was not too much late and also, hope you liked this chapter. Are you liking the way their relation is progressing?

evil Teen: I understand how you felt and how you feel now when thinking about change. I really do. I really hope now that you love this story. How was today's chapter?

Kamikaze knight: Sorry that you felt that way. But that was necessary to show how Tarika is and why. Hope you are liking this story. Your support means a lot apu. Love you.

Dieheartabhirika: Thank you so much dear. Hope I was not late.

HIDEnSEEK 06: Yes! Hope you are liking this story. Thank you so much for your support.

ABHIRIKA JAI: Thank you so much dear.