Nothing has worked best for Divya than the yummy food that her mother had always prepared for them on occasions like these. With her stomach filled till the brim, Divya took hold of her earphones, cell phone and diary and made her ways up towards the terrace. She knew at this moment no one would be there. Not many ventured around on the terrace during the night, it had always been she, Parth and Dhruv who would time and again hang out there since their childhood.

Divya opened the rustic door to the Terrace and walked towards the corner where the embankments for water tanks were made. One could easily sit or lie down and gaze at the stars during the night...it had always been a blissful feeling. How on many odds days when Divya would just not be ready to be with people she would come here and be by herself.

Just like today. Divya racked her eyes around to make sure that no one was around...at least someone whom she would offend with her presence, once sure about it, she sat down and plugged in her ear phones and played the playlist that she specially prepared for times like these the melody of the old hindi songs filled around her as her eyes went upwards towards the sky. It felt as if the sky was singing those lyrics for her. And as each word began to sooth her tensed muscles she let her head rest by the wall of the embankments and sat there... just breathing the air in and then letting go off it.

The act seemed so easy, something so normal, but it felt as if after a long time she was finally breathing, as if after a long time she had achieved something for which she had been looking for since a long while. The moment when she received that award lingered around her brain again and again, and then just like a gust of wind something else flooded her thoughts.

She was dressed in that white shirt and grey skirt, her uniform perfect, but her bags on her shoulder along with Priya's hand in her as the poor girl kept on looking at her with the most unsure look in her eyes... the memory made her breathless... Divya sat up straight and took a deep breath, shook her head and decided it was best to keep herself occupied than giving into her thoughts.

Divya had just picked up her book the story of Draupadi Yajnesani and was about to open it when she felt her ear phones being pulled out as a tall figure shadowed her small one.

"I thought you would be dancing around by now...Ms. Best student organizer." Parth's sarcastic tone for the first time held a different jab in it, which Divya couldn't properly point out but it was there, and since she already needed a distraction she squatted a bit and tapped the place beside her, choosing to ignore his statement rather than retaliating back.

"Ohh Ignorance it is now?'

"No Parth, I am waiting for you to settle down...sit but don't push on things, I am tired." Divya said, as she once again went back to her book, pulling up that book mark she then pushed it into some of the later chapters and began reading. She might have been just a few Paras down when Parth called her.

"Divya you remember when we were kids we used to be so excited about each and every festival that used to come around, your dadu used to make us sit and narrate each and every story related to that festival..."

"I remember that, but why are you bringing that up right now?' Divya asked, getting quite confused as to where he was leading with this.

"Tomorrow is Makar sankranti, it's 14th Jan...and what I want to ask is are you okay?' Divya looked at Parth and smiled at him. Every year sometime through the two weeks of January Parth always asked her this, irrespective if they are fighting or she is busy or cranky or whatever it is...but he will always hear that.

"It's already been 9 years to dadu's death Parth, I have come in terms with the fact that now my letters wont reach him, that festivals wont be more than enjoying them and doing poojas any more, but it's always difficult, I still feel at times that he would walk out of that room, yell at me being lazy ask, Dadi for tea and then sit on that sofa and tap the empty space beside him and say ' come I will tell you a story.'"

Divya smiled at Parth and continued, " but then I know he is always there watching me, I miss him, but he is there somewhere in a better place."

"He is, and he must be so proud of you... Divya you still think that time and again doing things that he wished to do and did will help you?'

"Parth I do those things because I feel connected with him that way not because it's going to help me somehow... It's like taking a walk  in a park after a tired day... like I walk daily, but then that one day when I am there strolling in the park just like that for the sake of it, talking to myself, or may be reading a book. He did all this for himself not for someone else, I tried it...it always helped me be me, clear my mind of things and whatnot and till the time I don't find my own stress booster I would keep on doing that."

A comfortable silence fell between the two. It had been quite a while that Parth and she had such soothing and civil talks. Divya felt her earphones being lifted up as Parth stuffed the right one in his ear as the song "Yeh Kahan Aa gaye hum" began playing. The two smiled at each other, while Parth rested his head back by the wall, his eyes going up to look at the stars and Divya went off to read her book. She couldn't really focus on it though and let go of it and as well began gazing at the sky.

Not many stars were there, but there were enough on that wintery night to pass by. The lyrics felt so intimate at the moment as Amitabh Bachan began describing the stars, and though one would have expected to think of the conversation that she had with Parth a moment ago, or how he sat there beside him would have considered to be romantic...but Divya found herself shocked as at the mention of those deep meaningful words her thoughts ran back to the time when on the trip last year she had Met Madhav...the way the two of them had squealed at the sight of sky filled with stars...many were asleep but they had somehow woke up, they were on their way to manali in the bus, Divya had sat straight and was about to wake Nandini who had brushed her hands off, but her eyes had went off to Madhav whom she had met and was introduced to not more than 24 hours ago, the two had smiled at each other brightly showing each other the beautiful dark blanket filled with stars that looked so much like little diamonds.

However as the song came to an end there was another realization. This phase of her life was over, the possibility of what next surely scared her... and the fact that things that were long gone, solved were yet again getting back to her was scaring her a lot. She knew she had decided to let people in her life, but it scared her... what if she really got used to that luxury? She didn't have it in her to deal with the similar shame, guilt and all those anxieties all over again. Divya took a deep breath, it seemed it was high time she had to make a call to Saakshi now, she needed to talk this out with someone, and the best person for this would be Saakshi.

----------

The next morning was a whole blunder with it being Makar sankranti and as well the death anniversary of Divya's grandfather, things had always been peachy. Her mom would be extra careful with things so as to avoid any kind of mishap. Divya kept this to herself and did all the preparations for the pooja, her grandmother would smile and complete the pooja with all her valor and enthusiasm. Her father would as usual go off to work early in the morning while Dhruv and Priya would as well keep themselves busy in their chores, that is until just like every year Parth would come and call them to go upstairs to fly the kites.

The day would then eventually take a turn, as the gloomy mood would be replaced with festivities. Though Divya never learned to fly a kite she would always watch from her favourite spot at the water tank embarkment the way her brother, sister and parth fought their way all for nothing into the sky that would be filled with kytes. Borivali was filled with Gujaratis and hence Makar sankranti was celebrated with a completely different zest around. She could see almost all the terraces around their building were filled with people. A small smile began to form on her face as she watched the way her brother cut through Parth's Kite and went high up. The two of them screaming and shouting loudly and cursing at the same time.

The group continued to enjoy for a long while as yet again Dhruv cut through Parth's kite and shoved a middle finger right in front of Parth's face. The expression made Divya laugh her ass off as she stood up and walked towards Parth and pulled his cheeks and ruffled his hair and said, "Aweeee Sharmaji's son can as well lack at something?'

"Divya." Parth warned her, however Divya was in no mood to heed to the warning.

"What? Don't worry I wont post this story on instagram", Divya showed him the clip where her brother had wonderfully clipped off Parth's manja as he had that horrid look on his face. It was captioned, 'and there goes the 5th one, if only Sharma ji's beta had it in him to accept his mistakes and learn from them.'

"Divya don't you dare..."

"Ohh noo, don't worry I won't tag you in it." Divya said however she did the opposite as she tagged him the story and the moment Parth took a step ahead she out of nervousness of being caught by mistake clicked the post button. And as much of a glitchy technology was the video was up in seconds.

"Haawww... I swear Parth I didn't mean to..it just ..." Divya said, and tried to delete the post but her phone got hanged.

"Divya I am giving you the lead run before I kill you." Parth seethed through his teeth, he was surely pissed. He didn't like this whole social media drama, it wasn't him...however  he had made quite a good use of it by keeping tabs on how Divya, Priya were doing or what people around him were upto. But he had never been the one to let out information of him being out there...and Divya knew that very well.

"I am sorry parth I will get it off soon."

"Ohh no I am surely going to kill you now." The moment Parth took a step ahead, Divya took off, she ran all around the terrace, as Priya and Dhruv shook their head at their childish banter.

------

In the late evening Divya was sprawled around on the sofa with her knee bandaged, an hour long lecture that she had received from her mom for being so careless. Ultimately Divya had made a huge lunge from the stairs in order to escape Parth however both of them had slipped and fell down, with Parth almost getting his elbow dislocated and Divya's knee scraped. She was surely embarrassed but it felt lively after a long while. She realized being civil with Parth for a long while was not really healthy ...at least earlier that they disturbed each other time and again they would just end up bantering but this fight after such a long time had got them to get a long rest.

Hence here she was seated on the sofa, unable to move her leg as it would hurt like a bitch, scrolling through her instagram as she came across a friend suggesting it was Madhav's account. Her finger lingered around the follow button for a while as she then gave into the temptation and sent a follow request. The moment the request was sent she received a message from Fatema.

Hey, thanks a lot for getting a slot for Milange during the annual day.

 Divya smiled as she typed a reply

Divya : That's okay after all even I am a part of Milange...so when are we starting with the work?

Fatema : Oh I am planning to have a meeting soon after a day or two.

Divya : That would actually be good, I am really tired and badly need a vacation.

Fatema: Ha ha ...can understand well you take rest...and ohh yes Happy makar sankranti.

Divya : Ohh wish you the same...take care.

Divya had just exited the chat box when she received a call from Saakshi. She had texted her right in the morning to give her a call the moment she would be free. Tapping on the screen Divya answered the phone and slowly stood up all the while wincing to move towards her bedroom's balcony away from the prying eyes of her family.

"Hey, done with your lectures?' She asked into the phone the moment it got connected.

"You really think that these people would let us be, I am just done with a meeting today, tomorrow we have a conference, these people are huge business Divya they talk work even during dinners." The exasperated voice of the once timid Saakshi made Divya chuckle. Saakshi though was based in Dehradun, she was currently staying in Delhi working on her internship with ASCI. "And when this is not over Mom is worried because I am not going home and that china is filled with corona, how am I to tell my mom that I might go back in a week or two as it is our tenure is getting over."

Divya heard the way Saakshi let out a huge huff and sat down somewhere, she herself chuckled and replied, "Who says life is easy...any which ways I called you to tell you that I didn't made it to the Student of the year..but I was awarded the Best student organizer."

"Ohh that's so great!" Divya could hear the enthusiasm and happiness in Saakshi's voice. She had always been like that, celebrating each and every minute victory of hers as if it's her own."I knew you would get something or the other, after all you did so much... now stop over analyzing that tiny brain of yours Divya, you did all that which you could something come to you with time. But look at the brighter side, the Divya I knew 5 years back was even scared of raising her hand to answer a question whose answer she knew is now long gone, you don't have to go back there..."

"I did, last night I did went back there I was feeling breathless it was difficult I could see those questioning eyes of Priya, I could feel it all over me again Saakshi and it scared me that if I were to cry again I couldn't stop...those things I had thought they would go away the moment I would confess about them to bhai, when I would deal with them...but they come back just like that all of a sudden and its always bad every time that they come." Divya's voice was soft, however she was scared and trembling. Those flashbacks that she would get time and again were something she had only told about to her brother and Saakshi and Adhiti, even Parth wasn't aware about them.

"What do you want me to tell you Divya...it's more like now how many times do I have to tell you that it's okay, Divya sometimes it's okay to let go off those tears and break down, you know you aren't there in this world for a while when you do that, but when you come back to all of us you are okay, you are strong... Divya none of us are going to be there for long, I am here just over the call, at times so would be your parents and your brother, bottling out all those frustrations and pain will lead you nowhere, just accepting it and working on it doesn't work at times feeling them and letting them out is what you need."

The pregnant silence stretched between the two, Divya was contemplating whether to tell her what it was, whereas Saakshi waited for her to speak her mind out.

"Now will you open that trap of yours and tell me what was it this time?" The way Sakshi snapped at her made her laugh. Divya knew Saakshi was right and she might actually have very little time. With a small smile she opened her mouth, took a lung full of air and began narrating.

"One moment I was thinking about the time when I received the award, I was happy, I could feel the way mom had hugged me, the way dad had patted my head...Saakshi I had felt so proud of myself, and then all of a sudden I was reminded of the day when the Principal had called me and Priya out form class. You weren't there it was in 10th, as usual our fees weren't paid she had asked me to get my bag along with Priya we were made to sit by the school's gate till the time dad didn't come...each and every person saw us there, all of them had questions in their eyes, people knew what the problem was, yet they came up to us and had asked why were we sitting there...it was so shameful, and then Abhinav's friend came."  Divya rubbed her thumb across the design that was engraved on the railings...the cool air that blew around made her shiver as she remembered the day when this all had happened... It has been 6 years now, yet the memory is engraved in her mind as if it was just yesterday.

"That guy had that smug look on his face as he had asked Priya...Saakshi, Priya was so little, he could have asked me but no he had asked her why she was standing there and if she was thrown out of choir and the football team and the school as well. Saakshi that school was toxic, it surely gives me so many beautiful memories to smile at because of you all...but it gives me and Priya panic attacks, fear for us is associated with circulars that the peons get, the threat when any office member still comes into an ongoing lectures...so many times I had expected that while the lectures would be going on someone would come and tell me that you won this... that you are appointed as the prefect, but it never came that Abhinay was made the prefect, that guy who had one of the worst records in the school but not me...I was nowhere to be found, Saakshi that one thing keeps on reminding me how I used to feel worthless of myself, how at times it used to even hurt while breathing...no one knows what really goes on in ones mind but I am happy that I left that Divya back there."

"You are okay...  Divya you hear me, you are okay, and Priya is okay, your talent and your worth is now being appreciated by all and you are just going to do so much more better. All those people were idiots, that Abhinav, I don't know what did you see in him but he was an equal asshole, and trust me one day you will find a guy who will see you as your equal, with whom when you would quarrel it won't be about testing your worth at the back of your mind, it will always be about right and the wrong... just stay strong, accept those things that are coming your way, express what you feel like crying sometimes while holding that pillow...Divya it's completely okay."

"Hmmm" Divya muttered with a bright smile on her face. It felt good to talk about it once again with someone. She never really expressed what she felt and may be that's why she had always felt this vulnerable. However she knew that saakshi knew that this was just the gist of it...there was something more to it that she hadn't said out yet. But then again, she didn't have it in her to speak that out... not just yet.

The two kept on talking about various things as Divya explained all the stupid thing that Parth did that Rishi and Nandini did, and the various things that she now planned to do, and about an hour or so later when Saakshi had to go for yet another dinner meeting the two hung up the call with Divya warning Saakshi to take care of herself. 

She hadn't realized until now that the virus that was found in a far off city of China could as well travel so quickly into another country. Though the situation wasn't that worrisome, she wished that it would soon get resolved, and somewhere she was shocked herself for she worried she might not be able to go on that IV that she was so eagerly waiting for. Divya had just kept her phone aside when it buzzed frantically, opening up the lock screen she saw there were two notifications.

Madhav Khandelwal has accepted your follow request

Madhav Khandelwal has requested to follow you.

However unknown to Divya she clicked on the confirm button with a big smile on her face. 

A/N
Hello Everyone hope you all liking this story,  do Let me know you views on this chapter and keep an eye on your notifications on friday as I would be up with the next chapter. 

Just a heads up here on the story would lead on to yet another rollercoaster ride. 

Do vote comment and share this chapter and the story with your friends. 

Happy reading
Yadni Bagwe.