Somewhere in Dehradun
Advik sat by a small lake, throwing in it a pebble one by one. When he saw Kshitij touching Sama the way he did, he wanted to dig his fangs in his neck as deep as he could. How dare that human behave like that with Sama in front of his eyes!
No matter how much he tried to stop, he could not stop thinking about Sama. He let out a small chuckle when he thought about the fashionista side of Sama. He was at utmost peace and felt a different kind of warmth as he closed his eyes and pictured her beautiful smiling face. Her innocence, her naivety, her kindness, he was thinking about it all. He was scared to even ask that question to himself. Was he falling for her? Suddenly he opened his eyes and shrugged. No, he was not supposed' to feel this way. He couldn't. He was the living dead, a vampire. He did not have a heartbeat. He could not think this way. As hard as it felt to him, Advik kept on trying to make himself believe that Sama was just a mere human whom he was using for his own reasons and needs. But no matter what, he knew that there was no denying that Sama was a girl with a good soul and a tender heart!
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Sama lay on her bed playing with a lock of her hair. Turmoil of her heart was no different. She hated Kshitij behaving like that with her! All that while she was thinking only about Advik. The moment he touched her, she wanted the touch to be replaced by Advik's. Yes, she did have a crush on Advik when she saw him first time. But now some thing felt different and changed. She didn't know exactly what, but it was something much stronger. An uncertain yet intense feeling arose inside her heart even by a mere thought of Advik. She let out a long sigh. Her mind was more than full by thoughts. She needed to relax. She hugged her pillow and unintentionally imagined it to be Advik - It just made her hug the pillow tighter and she had the sense of calmness all over her. It took her no time to doze off into a deep sleep.
Next day at Mount College
Random thoughts occupied Pia's mind while she was sitting on her bench in the oil painting class, waiting for her professor to come to the class. Her attention was deviated to the girl who was about to sit next to her but was stopped by Abhay. "This is my seat," he told the girl with a smirk and sat next to Pia. A slight smile curled on her lips. Inside, she was happy with Abhay sitting with her but she was not going to let go of a chance to tease him. "You can not stay away from me for long, can you?" Pia asked him. "Oh please, Pia. These humans, I tell you. Tch tch. You guys give too much importance to yourselves!" Pia rolled her eyes, trying to look disinterested. "Anyhow, I chose this seat because I don't trust any other girl here. But well, if you wanted a girl to sit next to you, it's just alright, you know. I completely understand that some people are attracted to the same sex as their and all that.. Look, Pia. Nothing abnormal in it.. you can tell me about it, I promise to guard your secret" he held her hand and made an innocent face to mock her. "Huh?" she said, sounding highly irritated and shocked as the meaning of Abhay's words struck her. "You, you mad man! I shouldn't have let you sit with me at first place. I should have known that you can never let me breathe a sigh of peace. You know what, Mr. Raichand? Enjoy the company of this bench!!" Pia angrily carried her canvas, paints and brushes and shifted to the seat in front of her. "Idiotic creature" she murmured under her breath.
After the class got over, Pia bumped into Abhay in the corridor. "Oh Pia, I am glad you are here. Will not have to go and search for you. I painted something. I am sure you will love it?" Abhay spread his mini canvas and showed Pia his work. "What the f*ck is this? You moron! Abhay you are such a.. erghhh I don't even know the apt word for you!! You are the limit, Abhay!" Her anger was justified. Abhay had painted Pia French kissing a girl while their bare bodies were pressed against each other. "I know why you did it! Because you fantasize such things, right? You know what!! It is below my standard to even stand with a perv like you!!" Highly pissed, she walked away leaving behind an Abhay who was laughing into hysterics, something he had not done for a really long time or never as far his memories went.
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Liana and Alina found Pia sitting alone in the canteen. They were concerned. Even a kid could tell from Pia's face that she wasn't in the best of mood. Although Pia did not have anything significant to do, she was fussily fiddling with her ultra smart. She was trying her best to divert her attention from Abhay who never seemed to leave her mind even for a second. "Hey Pia," Liana waved and both of them sat on Pia's table. "Look, I am not going to ask you whether you are fine or no cause its more than evident that you are not. So don't waste time and let us know what happened," Alina said to Pia. "No, Alina. No such thing. It's just that college has been hectic since a few days," she managed to bring a faint smile on her face and told her. "You don't tell your problems to anyone, do you?" Liana spoke while shaking her head. Alina thought to herself - She doesn't. Neither did Pia Dobriyal!
"She does! The only thing is, she doesn't tell them to people who don't hold much importance." It was Abhay who intervened. Liana snapped back at Abhay, "Oh really, Mr. Raichand. Then who are the so- called important people? You? Oh pardon my poor mind. How can someone share their problems with the person who only creates problems for others? Did you try to trouble her also, Raichand?"
"That's none of your business and why should Pia tell her problems to those who might just use her for their own selfish reasons? Stop pestering Pia you two and stay as far as you can from her. I don't want to see even your shadows near Pia, Got that!" Abhay muttered while clenching his teeth. It was Liana's turn to give it back to him, "Hang on, what do you mean? And who the hell are you to tell us that? Pia is our friend and who are you to her? Troubling stock?" Abhay chuckled, "Ha. Friend? Woah! Friend or FRIENEMY? Tell me how much does Pia know about you too anyway for her to confide in you both?" "And does she know about you?" Liana looked away and muttered under her breath without bothering to understand the hidden meaning behind Abhay's words.
Alina had not spoken a word ever since Abhay came into the picture. Abhay's attitude towards Liana was making her angry. She was fuming and she was losing control over her anger which was a part of her werewolf trait! She felt extremely uneasy. Her finger nails started growing and her eyes turned golden yellow. She clenched her fist and started looking on the ground in order to stop herself from being exposed. A human catching her was the last thing she wanted. Unaware she was that Kshitij who was standing at one corner had already seen it. He had come down seeing Abhay having a verbal duel with Liana. This was his chance of gaining Alina's trust, he thought. He would just have to go there, take Alina's side and give Abhay a piece of his mind and that ought to impress Alina. But he stopped a few feet away in utter shock when he saw Alina's nails suddenly growing very long and even her eyes had changed their hue from black to yellow. "How was that possible? Did someone do anything to her? He was worried for a moment, but then observed Alina lowering her eyes and trying to hide her hands in her pockets. What did that mean? It could only mean one thing. Alina knew what exactly was happening with her and she was trying to hide it lest someone sees it. But why, what was wrong with Alina? Was it some illness or something else? Was she not what she seemed to be, but then what was she?" Kshitij wondered in shock.
Meanwhile Pia silently and bemusedly kept watching the verbal duel between Abhay and Liana. It amused her how protective Abhay was for her, but at the same time, she was confused why he was so much against Alina and Liana. They were her friends, for God's sake. But she knew by now, that arguing with Abhay was useless and going by his recent ideas of torturing her, he might go ahead and paint her in compromising positions with Alina and Liana and post it on the university web-portal. She shivered at the mere thought of such blasphemy. But she knew Abhay could very well do that and so she decided to let them continue their verbal duel and she herself walked away missing the last part of their verbal duel which might have raised her suspicions about her friends. She moved towards her next class which she had in common with Sama. It was a pity that Sama had skipped the oil painting class today as her parents had scheduled their family web chat during that time. She hoped that Sama would be in time for the class and more than that, she sincerely hoped that Abhay would not have any problems with Sama sitting with her. She was her best friend and the sweetest person she knew of. She won't stand Abhay hurting her too.
"Hey, where do you think, you are going?" Abhay's voice made her stop in her tracks in irritation. "Not Again!" she thought and turned to reply, "To my Maths Class. It's about to start in a few minutes."
"Wait, I am coming too." Abhay said. "What, but you are not a regular student of this college. How can you attend the Maths Class? You are only a hobby class student." Pia said in exasperation. Abhay was really going overboard with his protection now.
"So what, I can't let you be alone." Abhay replied casually. Pia's heart did a somersault at his concern, but she still masked it with her fake anger and shouted at him, "Oh Please Abhay. I am not going to be the only student in the class and please at least me attend this class with Sama. She cannot harm me you know, or are you going to tell me that you don't trust her either?" For once, Abhay could not come up with an answer. Pia was right. He really was behaving like a love sick puppy. What was wrong with him? "No, nothing is wrong with me. I am just protecting Pia from whoever had kidnapped her. My assistants have still not found about the creature who had dared to touch her." Abhay thought to himself, but let Pia go to the class. Somehow he trusted Sama. At least she was an innocent human. She could not possibly harm her, besides he needs to find out why his assistants still have not found about Pia's kidnapper. They seem to be getting too lax in their duties of late and so he left the college to get his answers.
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