"Have you decided if you want to reveal your identity or not?" I asked as I matched my steps with Shreyas.
"Not yet. I am still not confident enough," he replied.
"Is that so? But you are a really good singer, and you even won second prize in 'Rising Stars'. I think you can do it."
"Thanks, but for now I would like to work more on honing my skills and go with the flow."
"Do you want to say 'S'Flow'?" I joked about his alias.
He chuckled and told me that he was writing a few more songs around the romantic theme. I raised my eyebrows at him, and he gave me a knowing look. We didn't say anything and burst out laughing.
"I think Farha really likes you," I teased.
"Don't take her name. She is so annoying," he groaned.
I continued joshing him about her, and he shot me a fake glare. We were strolling in the garden, and it was midnight. The sky was covered with puffy clouds allowing a sneak peek of the shimmery stars and the round moon in between.
In the morning, we had gone for trekking and it was pretty normal except for the incident where I almost threw Farha off the cliff. When I noticed her stuck to my silent friend like a magnet, I had to do something.
Shreyas was on the verge of jumping off the mountain, so I kept him with me all the time through the whole journey up to the top of the mountain and then back down. He had his brother and other guys to look after him, but they could also do as much as they were capable of.
Moreover, they were all guys, so Farha had an upper hand as no one could hit her. I also noticed that Ved and Parth were trying their best to handle the situation without harming her, but the frustration was quite evident.
So, seeing no other option, I had to threaten her once again to keep my friends safe. Fortunately, she kept her distance from my amigos and didn't cause a scene when I warned her that I was serious about breaking her teeth.
"She is your classmate, how are you going to survive? You should better speak up when you are uncomfortable," I advised.
"Yeah, will do. If she troubled me again, I will inform the authorities. They will take care of her "
"Good boy." I patted this back.
"It is pretty late. I think you should go inside, it is freezing now," he suggested and checked his wristwatch. "1:43 am."
"Cool. Thanks for having a chat with me. I just couldn't sleep," I said.
"You still having the same dream?"
"Yeah... I am sure that room is jinxed. I asked Surbhi and my roommate, but none of them shared the same experience." I cringed at the thought of having a ghost in my room.
"Relax. I am sure it will pass soon. We should get going now."
I nodded, and we walked toward the entrance. Shreyas parted ways in the hallway and went to the boys' side of the rooms. "Good night!" I yelled, and he waved his hand over his shoulder. "Good night, Sandhya," he replied and took the stairs.
I waited till his form vanished from my sight; I didn't want to go to my room. I was feeling drowsy, but I was afraid of getting the same dream again. Surbhi brushed it off saying that I was overthinking, and it must be because I watched a lot of horror movies.
She was of no help!
After standing like a statue for a few minutes, I moved my feet. I had to sleep, or I wouldn't be able to enjoy tomorrow; it was our free day. We could do anything we wanted: sleep, eat all day, play, or just roam around.
That thought made me excited as I had brought a lot of indoor games, and I would be able to spend some time with my friends having fun. Maybe I could ask Priyaank to join me too.
Oh damn! I was thinking about him a lot. Get a hold of yourself, Sandhya.
I trudged happily while whistling to myself as I jumped on the stairs. I walked slowly, thinking about how I could ask my crush to play with me and how he would react. I was sure I was smiling like a serial killer with a huge grin plastered on my face.
Suddenly, I felt something moving in my peripheral vision. I halted and turned my head to my right. I saw the empty swimming pool outside the glass wall, but I was a hundred percent sure that I saw someone there.
I waited for some time, and then, a familiar lanky figure appeared on the edge of the pool. A few lights were still on, so I was able to see him clearly. I wondered what was he doing there so late in the night.
Karthik glanced around himself and stretched his limbs. After doing some warm-up exercises, he took out his clothes one by one, and I instantly looked away when he started stripping himself of his shirt and pants.
What the hell was he doing? And why was he alone?
After a few seconds, I heard a loud splash sound, and when I looked back at the spot he was earlier standing on, there was no one there. I saw the waves rippling on the water surface and realised that Karthik took a dive.
Was he fucking insane? Who in their right mind would jump in the freezing water at this time of the night?
I shook my head to myself wondering how he could be so weird. He didn't even have anyone to accompany him. I thought he would have at least brought his best friend Nikhil along with him.
When I was thinking about that, Karthik's head popped out of the water, and he looked fine. I was surprised because it looked like he was totally unaffected by the temperature of the H2O he was swimming in.
After shaking his head like a dog, he started doing butterfly strokes and swam like a professional; I was impressed. I was a swimmer too, but I didn't want to freeze myself to death.
I stood at my spot, observing him doing multiple strokes and moves earning a few 'Wow', 'Awesome', and 'Cool' from me. He didn't know he had an audience, and I wasn't going to tell him either. He was so unpredictable, I was sure he would say that I was checking him out like a creep.
I didn't want to be labelled as a pervert.
After Karthik did a few more tricks, he dived back into the water, and I continued on my way. My pace was slow, a knot forming in my stomach. I felt like something bad was going to happen; exactly what, I didn't know.
I looked over my shoulder and noticed that Karthik hadn't come out of the swimming pool yet. He might be a good swimmer, but staying underwater for a longer period of time was not good, that too in such a cold weather.
I thought he would pop out any second, but he didn't. The bad feeling I was having increased by a hundred folds, and I dashed downstairs. I was afraid that Karthik had drowned himself.
I took off my jacket on the way and threw it aside. Without wasting any more time, I took a dive into the chill water, wincing as the fluid rippled across my skin, seeping through the clothes.
After searching for him, I spotted a small brown blob in a corner of the pool far below the safe level and swam towards it. It was really difficult to reach him as I felt my muscles cramping up due to the lack of practice.
After a few moments of struggle, I got a hold of Karthik's arm and started pulling him up along with me. He was unconscious, making the situation even worse. I wished I could tell him to put some effort without worrying about losing my breath myself.
I didn't know how much time passed, but finally, I managed to drag Karthik out of the pool and dumped his senseless body on the floor. I slumped down beside him, trying to not faint from the exhaustion.
When I noticed that his face had paled and his skin was turning blue, I jumped up and put my palms on his chest. I used up every bit of strength left in me and applied pressure.
But nothing helped. He was turning more blue by each passing second, and I feared him dying in front of me. I seriously wanted to hit him for pulling that stunt, but he needed to be alive for that.
I felt my arms going numb, so I did the next best thing that came to my mind. I yelled, on the top of my lungs.
"Help! Anyone here? Karthik is dying!"
I kept shouting as I continued trying everything to make him open his eyes. He spurt out some water in between, but it looked like he had given up completely.
Was he committing suicide? But why? And why would he do that when he was looking so happy while swimming?
"Sandhya! What happened?" I heard Parth's panicked voice and snapped my head in his direction.
He was running towards me with Ved and Nikhil in tow, sharing the same expression as him. Parth came beside me and pulled me in a side hug. Ved quickly got in action after analysing what happened in a second.
He sat down beside Karthik and did the same procedure like I did. He applied a lot of pressure on Karthik's chest, enough to pump out the water from his lungs without hurting him. After Ved had done it a few times, Karthik opened his eyes slowly and his skin started to turn back to normal.
Nikhil was looking over everything like a lost lamb, and as soon as Karthik was able to sit up, Nikhil wrapped his arms around him and crushed him in a hug.
"What the hell happened...?" Karthik slurred.
"You almost died, Asshole!" Nikhil yelled, his eyes becoming glazed.
"I did?" Karthik widened his eyes and began laughing.
"Do you think it is funny?" Nikhil hit him on the head.
Karthik didn't complain about it and treated the situation like nothing. He didn't seem concerned that he almost died and was smiling like nothing serious happened.
"Were you trying to commit suicide?" I asked, my voice hoarse.
"What are you doing here?" Karthik questioned back, earning a dead look from me.
"She is the one who saved your ass, idiot." Ved smacked him on the back, making Karthik cough.
Karthik glanced at everyone like he couldn't believe his eyes, and when Parth repeated the same thing as Ved, Karthik launched himself at me. I was taken aback by his sudden reaction.
"My Angel!" he squealed like a small girl.
But before he could hug me, Ved pulled him back by grabbing his neck and shot a look to Parth. Parth got up instantly and returned with two towels in a flash. He wrapped one around my shoulders and gave the other one to Karthik.
I was completely drenched; my clothes sticking to me like a second skin. I knew my innerwear was partially visible, but I was too worried about Karthik's condition to give a care about it.
Maybe Ved noticed it and asked Parth to bring in the towels quickly because none of the other guys seemed to notice the same.
"Thank you for saving my life, Sandhya. But it would have been better if you hadn't done so," Karthik said in a sad tone.
"What? So you wanted to die?" I looked at him in accusation.
"This is not the right time for this. I think we should all return to our rooms. Parth, you take her with you, I will take care of this moron," Ved announced, but I caught on his try to change the topic.
I glanced at Nikhil, and he looked like he was lost in his own world, his arms still around Karthik. Parth helped me get up and told me that everything was fine; I didn't need to worry.
I wanted to ask a lot of questions which had built up in my mind in just a short span of time but decided to leave the matter.
I looked at the other guys in front of me, and they were all quiet: Karthik was being his silly self, smiling like a kid at me, Nikhil had a sad expression on his face, and Ved was staring at Karthik like he wanted to murder him any minute.
"Good night, My Angel! Sweet dreams, and thank you once again" Karthik said, and I cringed at the nickname.
"You don't have to thank me, Karthik. Anyone would have done the same. Just think about the ones who care for you before taking such a drastic step," I scolded. "And don't call me that!"
"Call you what?"
"Angel. It is cringy." I made a weird face.
"Then I will definitely call you that. Angel." He smirked when I made a puking face, and he started laughing like a maniac.
All this time, Ved was staring holes in his head. He snapped his eyes at me and raised his eyebrows. "Why haven't you left yet?" he asked, his face void of any emotion, but not his chocolate orbs which looked a shade of black-he sounded a bit angry.
"You all should leave too," I retorted.
Ved rolled his eyes and pulled up Karthik by his arm. Nikhil helped his friend and supported him. "Go already," Ved said, and I narrowed my eyes at him.
Parth stopped me before I could comment back on his rude behaviour and dragged me along with him inside the resort. He picked up my jacket on the way and took me to my room.
"What the hell is his problem? Couldn't he at least say a few kind words to me for saving his friend's life?" I grunted.
"He didn't mean it like that, Sandhya," Parth replied.
"Then what did he mean? He is so confusing, you know-has always been. Why is he like that?"
"I think you should be knowing that better than anyone else." Parth shot me a grin.
I kicked him on the calf. "Always taking his side."
Parth chuckled and dropped me to my room. "Have a good sleep, buddy. You must be tired."
"Good night to you too, Parth." I gave him a smile and closed my room's door after he left.
I switched on my side of the lights and rubbed myself with the towel given to me by Parth. I still wondered how he got these things in a snap. He should be named 'Magician Towel man'.
But what the hell was up with Ved though? He could have kept quiet like Nikhil instead of acting like a jerk if he didn't want to show his gratitude.
It wasn't like I saved Karthik's life and was waiting for the opportunity to arrive so that I could brag about it. It was fortunate that I was there, but I knew that if there was someone else in my place, he or she would have also acted the same way.
Then, would Ved have treated them like he did with me? I knew he wouldn't have. He was always nice to others-a few times being an exception for me.
But he did show his concern, Sandhya. If he hadn't been observative, he wouldn't have asked Parth to cover you up. He told you to leave because it was freezing outside and you were already soaked.
There is no need to make him a villain for your satisfaction. He might not be good at showing his emotions, but his actions speak better than words. His way of taking care of matters is different than you, but it doesn't mean that he is always wrong. If it was like that, he wouldn't have so many people who trust him.
You know it better than anyone else. So, stop complaining about him and sleep. You need to rest for tomorrow if you want to play all day.
I got changed into a fresh set of Pyjamas, silently thanking mom for packing extra clothes. After I was done drying myself, I got under the covers and closed my eyes.
Today, I saved a life. I couldn't stop thinking about it, but Karthik's words kept echoing in my ears. He was grateful that I saved him, but it didn't look like he wanted that to happen.
Thank you for saving me, Sandhya. But it would have been better if you hadn't done so.
Did he really want to die? But why? What could be the reason for him to leave his wonderful life and quit?