Ava's pov:
About a decade ago:September 13 2010I woke from the loud voices outside my flat. When I went out into the hallway of our second floor, I saw a woman carrying packed boxes in front of the only other flat on the floor opposite to us talking to my mom. I was watching this pretty woman when my mom called out "Ava come here and meet Tara aunty, our new neighbour. ""Hi aunty, welcome to Ashok Nagar", I waved with a polite smile. "Thank you Ava", She smiled back. "She is so cute", she suddenly said turning towards my mom and before we could say anything, a voice came from behind almost annoyed. "Ma, dad is making me take the stairs with these boxes. It's child labour to do that with a 12-year-old."I turned back and saw a replica of Tara aunty. He is very attractive but 'the boxes' he was complaining about were pea-sized compared to what Tara aunty was carrying before. "Darsh, we'll talk about that later but first meet our neighbours, Savi aunty and her daughter Ava", Said his Mom. He greeted us with a charming smile as if he was not the same boy complaining a few seconds ago. So, his name is Darsh...I need to find my friends to share my discovery with. "Ma I'm going to Priti's", I informed my Mom in a hurry. I ran down and went to the two-story building right beside our apartment and jogged to Priti's room greeting her father who answered the door.I barged into her room to find her in the washroom brushing her teeth. "How many times did I tell you not to leave the washroom door open?". I questioned only to get the same reply as every time. "How many times did I tell you to knock?". I rolled my eyes and was about talk but, She shoved my spare toothbrush into my mouth. 'How did she know that I haven't brushed yet?'. "You have a little drool on the left", she answered as if she read my mind. That's when it hit me. He was not giving a charming smile, he was laughing at my drool?"So, I guess someone moved into the opposite flat?", asked Priti. I forgot Priti is the detective of the street, "Yeah, we have a new boy around our age and he is cool". I shrugged my shoulders like it doesn't matter, putting the toothbrush back in my mouth."Mmhmm", She said giving me a side look. Okay, it is useless to act now. "Alright! 1)we are talking about a future supermodel here. 2)He is a year older than me, same as you 3)I might have liked him because of his cute complaining. 4)Besides you, Kyra should be the only one to know about this!". I finished holding up my four fingers.She had this knowing smile on her face, "Okay, bring Darsh to the game this evening". She said leaving me stunned inside. "How the hell do you know his name?!". I shouted but, she already went out of the room.At the breakfast table, I was glaring at Priti before I asked in a low voice. "I've known you for a decade now and, I'm only eleven. Why haven't I ever heard about this cousin?". I was feeling betrayed right now. I've told her that I might have a crush on her cousin! "It's okay, your secret is safe with me", was all she had to say. ***~~~***Ava's pov:As Every Sunday evening, the kids in the colony gathered near the bamboo trees, for the most awaited game of the week. Everyone is waiting for teams to be made as they ran here and there making slight squishy noises on the wet grass, while I was waiting for Priti who was convincing the new boy to come. It shouldn't take much time as he is her "cousin". I am still processing the new information about Priti and Darsh."Ava will be in my team no matter what and if anybody dares to throw the ball at her I will break their hands", came Abhi's threat that made me roll my eyes. "You have to be kidding me!? throwing the ball at your opposite team members is the main part of 7 stones and don't you dare ruin the game like last week or this will be the last time you play with us," I said quite irritated by his cliche possessiveness. He overreacts so much that no kid here dares to hurt me even unintentionally. He is the reason I have only three friends in this whole colony of kids. Pr
https://static.toiimg.com/thumb/msid-34772520,width-1070,height-580,resizemode-75,imgsize-32412,pt-32,y_pad-40/34772520.jpg👆🏼That's how I imagine Darsh (as young Gurfateh Pirzada), you can imagine him as you wish. The story took a 6-year leap, just so if you didn't see the dates I have mentioned above in every chapter. ***~~~***March 1, 2015 (6 years later)"You know this might be a bad idea to come from this side of the street at night. You guys see those street dogs on the left, they are ready to jump us any second now", I said watching dogs from my peripheral view. "Don't look at them, don't walk fast and most importantly, don't you dare run", commanded Virin in an accusing tone."I am not promising anything", I told him still walking fast, with my full attention on dogs that are trying to follow us. "What is with you and dogs? Even Darsh's dog seems to hate you", said Kyra laughing. "How would I know? Last time I checked I don't speak dog's l
March 1, 2015I hugged myself as the gush of cool air passed me in the corridor, waiting for Darsh to open the door. "I will get the clothes, feed your dog", I said and went to another side of the house, and opened the sliding door to the balcony only to get sprinkled by the rain. Why is it raining in the middle of March again? I got the clothes inside drenching myself in the process. "Darsh?" I called for him when I didn't see him anywhere. "In here", he replied from his room.With a little hesitation, I went in. He gave me a disapproving gaze and said I should have left them out there instead of getting soaked and went to get a towel from his cupboard. I rolled my eyes and stood there looking around his room. When something on his table caught my eye. Seriously? A diary? I smirked checking if he was out of his little closet. I grabbed the book and tried to open it, but suddenly I was caught by my waist and got lifted into the air, my back to his chest. "It's off-limits", he said, i
March 2, 2015"Why keep an alarm when you never GET UP?!" I shouted at Priti who is still sleeping, she didn't even budge a little same goes with Kyra who slept on the left and Virin crashed on the makeshift bed on the floor. I never hate my friends except for these times when I am the only one to get up to the alarm. "OY! Are you going to get up or not, it's already the 4th ring now!" I pushed Priti on the shoulder. "Yeah, wait for the 6th ring, then I'll go to the gym", she mumbled still dozing away. It was the 10th ring when they all got up and went home. As soon as they left I got up to look in the journal I kept safe yesterday, I never got the chance to read since then. Let's do this. I sat at the table and opened it.As I tried to unfold his secrets all I was left with an EMPTY JOURNAL?!!. Is he kidding me? Why fight for this when there is nothing?! I even got my reading glasses bitch! There has to be something, give me something!I tried to go through every page and then I fo
March 2, 2015My face burned with embarrassment and I tried to get out as the lift doors opened to save myself but he caught my arm and asked to follow him and dragged me to the terrace. I found myself trapped between him and the all familiar wall again. "I thought we are never to like each other again?" He asked, reminding me of what I said two weeks ago."It's your mistake to choose a college so far from me. Baby, I can't just stay away from you for 2 weeks and you are going away for god knows how long", I said frustrated to even fight! He looked at me for a good few seconds and all of a sudden caught my lips with his and the space between us exploded. My heart kept skipping beats as his hands wandered over the bare skin under my shirt. I will never get enough of him. I don't know if it was a minute or an hour when I pulled away as my lungs demanded to breathe, he went on kissing me from my jaw to the neck."You better not ignore me like that again", I panted out left breathless as
March 3rd, 2015Darsh's pov:"You have to believe me! She rolled her eyes at me when I kissed you", she said glaring at my dog. I am trying so hard not to snort at her silly complaining, as she sat on my lap hugging me.I never thought I would be this eager and patient, listening to everything that she talks about. Because I hated listening to people blabbering. I still do except for her. I look uninterested when she says anything but, I listen to every word that comes out of her. I still remember the first time I saw her, eyes twinkling with a little drool on the left which made me laugh. She tries to be the best actor but fails miserably and gets caught for every silly prank she played on girls that neared my shadow.This crazy girlfriend of mine stalked me from the day I met her. She used to have my whole schedule for the week. From the shirt, I am going to wear to what I am craving to eat she knew everything. It never freaked me out, instead made me feel like the luckiest ass in
March 6th, 2015Ava's pov:"Ava, we are concerned too but, Kyra is alright now and they are investigating the case. Just eat, It's been a day since you ate anything.", Abhi tried to make me eat for the hundredth time now. It's not like I am on a hunger strike. It's just that it all happened in just a blink of an eye. From being immature teenagers to victims and suspects. They took Darsh for investigation. It's all too much to digest and whenever I tried taking a bite it comes out.I have been sitting outside the hospital room for more than an hour staring at the wall since they took him. Darsh's parents went to talk to their lawyer. Virin and his family sat here with us. My mom is comforting twin's mom."I am sorry to bother you further. But, we need to ask some questions regarding the case", a police officer approached Kyra's father. He said that's not a problem."If you don't mind I need to talk with Darsh and Kyra's friends", they asked further. For which my mom said there is an
Darsh's pov:I sat in a wooden chair in front of a wooden desk and a man is sitting on the other side of the table drinking his evening tea with the saucer on his potbelly. According to them, I tried to kill my friend and the evidence is the 'keychain'. Fu*k my life."Sir, I have been sitting here, for more than an hour. First of all, this is a waste of time to investigate me when someone who stabbed her is still out there", I said causing his moustache to twitch a little for disturbing his time with the teacup."Hmm, we will be the judge of whether or not this is a waste of time", he said taking pen and paper out. And started asking the same questions all over again for which I replied, "The keychain is mine, I am not denying it. But, it was with me in the car when I took Kyra to the hospital. She must have grabbed something else from the criminal. This keychain is just a distraction." I further continued saying, "My girlfriend can confirm that I was home when Kyra got kidnapped and