SS: A Bend in the Road [Wattpad link-P.126] - Page 77

Neelima woke up to cold sweat that made a patch on the desk.

Damn it. Damn it.

Damn it.

She can't afford to fall asleep right in the middle of preparing for her finals, damn it.

She bolted upright really scared about how many hours had she wasted. 9pm. That's solid 45 minutes down to dogs, she thought smacking her forehead with her book.

Sighing, she made up her mind to move to mess to surround her with as many coffees as possible, if only to keep herself awake.

The mess was barely occupied save a couple of employees that were cleaning up.

She had a piping hot coffee next to her as she was solving a couple of problems in her book.

Differential equations although her favourite when she was a child, had become the bane of her existence in this semester.

Pushing her annoying dupatta up irritably, she continued trying not to sway her concentration, when she heard the oncoming of someone.

She had not looked up ofcourse but felt the person move towards the notice board in her vicinity.

"Vikram Babu" she had heard one of the older cooks call out and snapped her head up as a reflex, only to find him, now looking at her, while the older man was now walking towards him, ignoring the slight tense environment.

Turning towards the older man, Vikram had done something so out of character that it shocked her.

He smiled warmly.

"Yes Chacha?" He said with the same warmth.

"The oil you gave me worked really well. My knee pains had subsided a lot" he said placing a loving had on Vikram's head.

There was a moment of silence, a gap where he probably was thinking of something else. Neelima wondered and for some reason she thought maybe the older man reminded him of someone from the life he left behind.

Savitri Devi.

The answer came to her almost immediately, but she stubbornly tried to pull her eyes away from them and to her books.

They chatted for a couple more moments before the cook retired to his quarters leaving just him and her.

She was pretty sure she will flunk the exam given how much her concentration was on everything else but the book before her.

There were a couple of footsteps hesitant, until she felt a chair being pulled and someone sit before her.

Oh Lord. Let this not be...

"Hello"

She looked up, a couple more tendrils slipping off her loosely braided hair, framing one side of her face. The glasses looking huge on her face yet adorable. The white dress and the dupatta falling over her one shoulder making her look bright against the otherwise dull surroundings.

"Hi" she said, due to a lack of comeback.

"I would need your assistance in something"

He saw her eyebrows raise up, her eyes turn rounder even without her realizing.

Pushing the brochure towards her, he said "Could you put this up in girls' hostel's notice board? It's on short notice and I was hoping to reach out as many as possible"

With sweaty palms she reached out to it and her gaze flitted over the contents of it, studying the call out for volunteers in the orphanage nearby in the summer break which is immediately after their last exam which is due tomorrow.

Most of them have had their plans at place. Reaching out to students at this time seemed like wishful thinking.

He seemed to have read her thoughts.

"Even one turn out counts" he said.

She looked up at him, and their eyes locked for a moment before she looked away.

"Okay"

He stood up, and turned to leave.

But stopped and turned back. "I'm sorry for the other day"

"Which day exactly"

He looked at her seemingly out of words. And then a rare smile crept up.

"Think of it as a one time pass for all offences I would commit"

With that he was gone.

Maybe Vikram Khurana wasn't the larger than life mysterious person that everyone thinks he is. Maybe he is just a regular guy.