6) His advice to her

Author's POV :

Today is a quiz. Students' quiz was conducted in different rooms So all the students were being taken from that room to another room with only cardboard and their geometry box and they were being seated on separate benches in one order.

Smaran's duty was engaged in the quiz room, due to which he was busy for the last 1 hour in arranging all the arrangements there and due to this, he could not attend science lecture in class X today.  The Students were being called according to their roll numbers.

Niyati's roll number was 17.  As soon as Charan sir spoke her roll number, she started coming forward saying, present sir.  As her voice went into his ears.  He started looking in that direction and when he saw her coming, he was surprised.

She smiled a little looking at him and then sat in her place.  After setting all the students according to their roll numbers, Charan sir asked him to distribute the quiz paper to all the students, as soon as he reached her, he called him "All the Best" in a little anger, but Niyati thanked him with respect and the quiz started. The class had 3 columns and 17 Rows.  Niyati was sitting on the last seat of the last row in the first column.

Charan sir was sitting at the forefront and he was sitting a little closer to the last. His attention was revolving around her again and again and the only question that was going on in his mind was why she lied to him. 

Thinking the same thing, he was now getting a little angrier at him.  The quiz timed out.  Both Charan sir and he started collecting paper.  One by one, the students were giving them the paper themselves. The ahead students were submitting the paper to Charan Sir and the students behind submitting it to Smaran.  Niyati also proceeded to submit her paper.

"Go and submit it to Charan sir", He said in an angry tone.

She was surprised to hear this, but then she turned to Charan sir without saying anything.  Charan sir gathered the paper and left from there.  He was also starting to go out of anger that he stopped after hearing something.

"Happy birthday Niyati", Mitali said happily and hugged her hard.

"Thanks", She replied with a little smile.

As soon as the matter of her birthday went to his ears, he stopped there and turned to both of them. 

"I have brought a small gift for you.  You walk into the classroom. I pick up my things and come and give you that gift", She said excitedly.

"But there was no need", She said.

"Do not say this, yarr, you refuse to take a gift every time.  This time, I will stay by giving it to you. You go into the classroom.  I just come",  Hearing this, she nodded and left. 

Mitali was about to leave from there, picking up her geometry box and cardboard, that Smaran stopped her by giving her a voice.

"Yes sir", She replied respectfully.

"Is today Niyati's birthday?", He asked this question unknowingly.

"Yes Sir", She replied.

"But yesterday she told me that if she has someone's birthday at her house, she will not come to school today. Why did he lie to me?", He unknowingly spoke in front of Mitali about all the questions he had in mind.

"Sir, he did not lie to you. She was not really going to school today. Today is her birthday as well as her mother's, which is no longer in this world.  Therefore, on this day every year morning worship is held in his house.  But this time due to some problem, that worship will be done in the afternoon. So she came to school today Otherwise, like every year, she would have been on leave on this day. Ever since her mother died, she has stopped celebrating her birthday.  She misses her mother a lot But never tells anyone her sorrow and just smiles", Mitali finished her talk. 

Listening to his words, he could not be able to speak anything, and seeing him answer nothing, Mitali too went quietly from there.

"Recess was going on. Everyone was eating food. While eating food, a little vegetable fell on Mitali's skirt. I come clean it now or else it will stain later",Mitali left by saying this. five minutes later he came back thinking and laughing a little. 

While Controlling his laughter, Mitali said," Smaran Sir is calling you in the staff room. He has some personal work from you", Mitali pressed on the word personal and said.

"Personal work", She said in surprise.

"Yes, some personal work. Go fast now. It is his time to leave the school" Mitali said.

She finished her lunch box and put it in the bag and went towards the staff room and saw him standing outside the staff room looking repeatedly at the clock tied on his wrist. 

"You called me sir?", She asked while standing near him. 

"Yes, this is for you", He said giving her a pen.

"Happy birthday Niyati, God bless you with all the happiness you deserve", He said while giving him the blessings.

"Thank you very much, Sir", She thanked her but didn't get the point that how he got to know about hee birthday.

"Welcome, and I want to tell you one thing. That is, the memories or things in life make us sad, It is not wrong to remember them, but it is not a good thing to live them by associating those memories with your life. So what has passed yesterday, no one can change it. But we can change what is coming tomorrow.  So rise above your troubles and look at life and live it.  Life will start looking beautiful on its own. This is just my advice. The rest is up to you", Saying this, he confused her and left. She came back to class thinking about what she had said.

" What did he say?", Mitali asked anxiously.

"He gave this pen and was telling me to forget my worries and move forward. Can't understand why he said this and how does he come to know about my birthday?", He asked Mitali while being confused.

"But I know", Mitali replied. 

"What do you mean?", She asked being confused.

"This means that Sir called me before coming back to the class. Mitali then tells her about the entire conversation between them, which she is surprised to hear. See, I do not know what Sir said to you exactly, but I can say so much that whatever he may have told you, must have asked for your good", On hearing Mitali's talk, Niyati nodded yes, agreeing with her opinion without being in a condition of thinking anything.

The next day, the result of the quiz was to be announced in the first lecture, which was 10 minutes left to start. 

"I will win this time. Every time no one's luck is with her", Divya told Ridhi whose aim was Niyati.

"Luck also supports the same person who works hard. It is good not to give luck to those who call themselves great by degrading others",Mitali quickly said.

"Oh! What you mean is that I let you down?", Divya asked angrily. 

"What I mean to say is that you try to degrade Niyati because you can only do this and can never let her down", Mitali replied angrily. 

"Mitali, you are saying too much", Divya said angrily.

"I have not said anything yet and it would be better for you not to open my mouth",Mithali replied. 

" And what will you do?", Divya asked angrily in a high voice. Mitali was also about to say something angrily that Niyati stopped her.

"Let's go from here, Mitali.  Leave all this", Niyati tried to make her understand.

"But.. ", she said while cutting Mitali in between," No buts, you just let's go",Saying this she took him away from Divya and Ridhi took Divya away from Mitali. 

"What is your problem, Mitali? Why do you start fighting her again and again", Niyati angrily asked.

"I fight with her again and again because you do not answer her words. Why do you listen to hee words quietly?  She always taunts you with something?", Mitali asked her angrily.

" I do not answer her words because firstly she was my very best friend and secondly it would not be fruitful to do so. I know what her nature is and she will make wrong sense of me every right thing somewhere so there is no use to say or explain anything to her but you understand my point. So please do not quarrel with her for me", She explains to Mitali and then both sit quietly in their seats. 

The winner is announced in the first lecture in which Niyati's name is announced.  Mitali hugs her congratulating her and smirks towards Divya who is already looking at her angrily. Smaran also congratulates her on her victory.

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2 months passed like this. Both of them had a very good bonding now.  She came to know that he is not as tough as he looks from outside. He is a soft and clean heart from the inside. She also understood that he uses strictness only while teaching in class Otherwise, there is a smile on his face and he is always ready to help the students. So whenever she faced any problem in her studies, she would go to him.  She even went to him first to solve the problem of Math and why she used to do so, she did not even know the answer.  How many times did Mitali tease her with his name?  She used to pretend to be irritated in front of Mitali from above but smiled in her heart. She did not know the reason for these changes happening in herself and her life, but she felt good about these changes.

On the other hand, some similar changes were happening in Smaran. Whenever he comes to school every day, his eyes would first find her here and there.  If she could see him, he would have a smile on his face all day, and if not, he would sometimes ask someone about her, but in her class, he would first look at her. 

A few days passed and so on. For celebrating the Diwali festival in school tomorrow, all the students of different classes started decorating their class after their school time was over. All the students were carrying goods for decoration. 

Every year, the class whose decoration was the most beautiful, class was given a treat by all the teachers and an award was given to one student whose whole class was selected together.

"This time like last time, we should not leave any slight shortage of any kind", Mitali told her.

"But even last time we had left no shortage. Don't know how we lost then?", Samar asked. 

"We were not lost but we had learned something and we had learned that we had to do better decoration than the last time at this time", Niyati replied by diverting her from the main issue because she knew the reason for her defeat last time. After finishing the decoration work, all of them went to their respective homes.

The next day both teachers had come a little early in the morning as they had to go to all the classes by 9:00 am and give the Marks according to their decorations and Diwali theme. Two slots were built to move around the classrooms.

Charan sir was responsible for the 1st and 5th standard and Smaran's responsibility to go from 6th to 12th grade. 

Smaran started going to the classes sequentially and started looking at the decorations according to their decorations and themes. By the ninth grade, he did not like the decoration of the classes much because it was different according to the Diwali theme. Now he was moving towards the tenth grade. 

Upon reaching the classroom, he started hearing some strange sounds from inside the classroom. He went inside and seeing the view there, a big smile automatically came on his face.