Trisha jolted out of her thoughts abruptly.The college gate seemed to have loomed up out of nowhere.She hastily dropped a few notes into the auto-driver's hand, and clambered out.

              The weather seemed uncertain;fickle in it's loyalty, to the purple rainclouds, or the sun sulking behind them.It seemed to mirror Trisha's current state of being.They had lost the coveted winners' trophy to the hosts, won some, lost some, at the fest.A mix.Her mind,too, wavered, between surges of ecstasy, and bouts of gloom.A feeling of uncertainty, of doubt, prevailed.Aryan played on her thoughts continually.They had gone out a few times, but it didn't constitute as 'serious about each other'.Both yet free birds.How would he react on her arrival?Ankita would certainly have expected a more than hearty welcome, and would have proclaimed to whoever she could lay her hands on, that she would absolutely die in case the male concerned failed in the execution of this cardinal duty.

But that was Ankita.The universally-hailed drama queen.She hadn't the luxury.The sensible, patient, hard-working, agony aunt Trisha Sharma? Naah!!

She stepped into the quad.The old, familiar, cream and mahogany interiors brought a calming influence instantly.On home turf.

She wished Ankita would appear.All that heavy-duty mind chow at the fest had given her a healthy appetite for some good, nonsense, giggly fun.But all she could spot was Sarang, looking his usual purposeful self.She waved, and he marched up to her."Principal's office," he said, before she could venture a "hi"."All the team's up there, and as usual, you're always the one we have to go looking for."Trisha grinned."Seen Anki yet?", she asked."Nope," he replied, shaking his head."Cell's switched off, too.Now I know why you two are so thick; both think it's fun to run off so no human contact strikes you." Trisha playfully hit him with a file."PJ." Sarang ducked, then pulled a serious face, as he led her into the Principal's office.

Everything in the office looked sombre and set for a funeral, including it's inhabitants.Trisha and Sarang quietly took their seats, and waited out the speech that followed.They were then sent off to class.

The bell for lunch finally rang, and Trisha allowed herself to be swept forwards by the throng, stopping finally at the quad.At long last, she saw what she had been waiting for-Aryan leaned lazily against a platform, his arms crossed.She smiled, and made to hurry towards him, when Ankita approached  from the opposite end."Double whammy," she thought, and took a step forward, only to stop dead in her tracks.

Aryan had risen with expectant pleasure, and Ankita wrapped her arms round his neck, with a half-shriek of "Helllooo baby!!!"Aryan leaned down to look into her face, cupping it with his hands, the same hands which had held Trisha's in a darkened movie theatre and made her pulse race.They seemed to be talking, whispering.

Ankita suddenly caught sight of Trisha.Her eyes seemed to show a hint of fear for a fleeting moment, but then, her face settled into a calm, haughty ex-pression.She nudged Aryan, and they both turned to face her."Hey, Trish", Ankita said."It's good to see you again," in a tone which made it evident that it wasn't.She caught Trisha looking at Aryan, with a shocked, bewildered ex-pression; and drawled, "Hey, didn't tell you, did I?Well, you were gone, and yeah, so was Sarang, and we... well, got lonely, and decided to get together, like, you know, committed."Trisha nodded numbly, her mind a total blank, except for the faint pounding, the pounding of misdirected love, the pain of being cheated by the two people she had relied on the most....."Yeah", she said, still nodding."I... gotta go... library....", and she fled upstairs.

Just a few paces behind, she glimpsed a shell-shocked Sarang.Evidently, he had heard all.She briefly saw the same pain, hurt and sense of betrayal....an exact mirror.But Trisha no more wanted to see any more mirrors of her self.

Numbly, she just sped on.

TBC