It was the first day of the week, and as per schedule it was the day to find out who was the Mr. and Ms. SVM, it was simple contestants had to come up on the stage perform something and then, at the end of the ramp walk they will be asked a question.

Just a day before when everyone was once again huddled up for meetings, Divya had known that no matter what 20 constant people with a plus one from BBI will surely be there for all the events no matter what.

This had been a thing from the first year until Madhav had joined their gang. Their closest friends who counted up to 20 from their class would always be there for the events, not only because each of the competition will have a participant from their class, but as well to support the ones who were organizing it.

When in the morning, Divya had met Kavya she had said, "You don't have to worry, just let me know when we can settle in, our whole team is here."

And now as she stood near the stage, Divya can surely see all of them huddled up right in the second row awaiting eagerly for the competition to begin and cheer for Manav who she knew was surely participating.

As the participants came and went, Divya felt the anticipation. She called the next slot and realized it was Manav's turn, she called him up and said,

"Manav all the best..."

"Thanks a lot yaar." And with that he began walking around in circles again. It had been a normal thing for them all now. He would always be anxious and fidgety just the way he was right now, before any of his performances. Manav was an actor. He had been working with various film directors and tv serials, and had recently moved on to doing theaters. Divya remembered very well when they all had seen his first appearance in the serial... they all had cheered out so loudly as they had once again watched the same scene on their phones while seating in the BTM garden.

They had felt so proud of him.

As Manav made his way up on the stage, the whole crowd began cheering. Mono acting was Manav's forte and since first year itself she has seen people gathering around just to see his act.

As the performance began, she could feel her heart beating loudly in anticipation, as her eyes shifted from Manav towards the crowd she could see the whole group seated in such a way that they would fall off their chairs. It was funny, but then it was Manav who was performing.

When the performance ended and Manav came down, Divya went and hugged him.

"You did so well." The two smiled at each other, as he made his way back into the audience, a bit of rustling began as the group congratulated him.

After about an hour or so, the results were finally out, and the team began with the second round. In this round they were all supposed to do a ramp walk and at the end of it they were supposed to introduce themselves and answer the Judges question.

Many gave very interesting answers, but there was one that was the best. One of the girls had talked about how she was proud of herself and the way she looked.

"I have always been complimented as cute, I was told I should lose a bit of weight because I might fit into the modern clothes... and that made me wonder, was it really necessary that I should look slim and trim all because I had to wear modern clothes?" she then pointed out to herself and said, "I am wearing a body con dress right now, and it suits me well...I am proud of how I look, I wouldn't want to be something else all because people want me to look in that certain manner."

The whole room had swung into hoots, as she descended the stage. When the results were announced it was a tie between three boys and surprisingly one of them was Manav.

The judges then decided to ask a common question and while the one contestant answered the remaining two were to stand out.

The question however was, "Three years down the lane, what is that one thing that you would remember the most about these three years of your college?'

Each and everyone in that hall were in tension. Manav was this close to winning the competition, Divya couldn't control her excitement but alas she couldn't even show it out the way her other friends did as this was a competition she was arranging.

When Manav's turn came, he went up and made each one of them come to the brink of tears. His answer was something like this.

"My friends are one of the worst people in the world, not because they have conspired against me or something like that, rather because in just 3 months they made sure they knew what kind of a person I am. They have made sure to watch each and every episode of mine, they listen to the songs in which I have been featured on repeat, yet they say that I have been doing worst...this is so not me, I should have done so much better, I mean if you ever want to get demotivated, you can surely go and meet them. And the worst thing that they have ever said is..."

He looked at each one of them, even at Divya as they all continued, "You will forget us once you will become a super star, in fact after 6 months we won't be found even on your social media. They are so sure that I will forget them, and I don't know if I will or not... but I know one thing that I would never forget the fact that everytime when a new movie of mine will be released, these idiots will be the first ones to go and watch it, I would never forget the feeling that I get while working there as I know that no matter what there are 20 people and a plus one adopted friend of mine who will be seeing this piece of art all while rooting for me to do more better."

That afternoon, Manav didn't win the competition, because he was too filmy, people had better answers then he did... but he was able to win the hearts of those 20 people and the plus one adopted friend of his once again.

It was stupid to know and anticipate what was to happen to them 6 months down the lane, but Divya and the group shed silent tears that day, as they realized just how little while they all had with each other. It really made her wonder who all out of them would remember each other, will these tales of friendship actually be foretold to others or were they just going to be yet another group of friends who had graduated through college.

======

The third and the second most important day of the event was finally here, Divya and Gautham had been at setting up the auditorium for the open mic since morning, the set was supposed to be hatke, but surprisingly the time and budget didn't permit them, hence finally the stage was set up , the chairs were arranged and a mic was made to stand in the middle of the stage with the lights covered in yellow, red and orange colored gelatin paper to give it a different vibe.

As the time went by and they waited for the singing competition to get over, Divya made sure to take numerous pictures with everyone. Their traditional class picture was as well done and finally when the competition began everything became even more gibberish with Gautham and her actually taking over the lead of checking the contents, both the presidents being busy with the judges.

When finally the contents were checked, it was announced that they were taking in on the spot entries, which created a bit of chaos but then they couldn't really do anything as the competition was already started.

Divya and Gautham were quite tired and had taken their seats when she saw a small commotion at the door, she made a bee line there and asked what the matter was.

"Yar it's Aman, Madhav and the others, they want to come in but I can't let them, there isn't much space." Rishi said, who was the head incharge of the security that day,

"Chill, I had made sure we have space for them, I will ask the member to get up" she indicated the members to do the same and soon about 10 seats were made available as Aman and the rest of the gang walked in, obviously only after being warned to not disturb anyone.

But then how were they going to abide by anything.

As the performances continued, with a few doing standups, a few reciting poems and what not, there came on biggest issue, As one of the participants had copied the whole content of his stand up from a comedy show.

Divya quickly made a few calls, the judges were informed and the boy was disqualified, as she looked at Ms. Maheshwari she knew they were in big trouble. But that wasn't the only thing, as she went ahead to explain the blunder, Aman kept on calling her, followed by Madhav. She indicated to them to wait for a minute but none had it.

She walked up to them and asked, "What is it?'

"Yaar Divya, are you wearing a saree?" Madhav asked. Divya took a step back and looked down at her black colored kurta and leggings which she had paired with a printed dupatta and her favourite jhumkas.

"Madhav get your eyes tested, I am not." She snapped at him and then turned around to go back ahead, when he held her hand and pulled her near him.

"Acha listen..." Divya waited for a few minutes for him to say something but Aman interrupted and said, "Dude this guy... his content is seriously going overboard, can we have someone else."

"Aman, don't be an ass, if you are not interested go out." She once again turned around to go but Madhav pulled her again and said, "Aree Divya Listen na, the event is really nice, Good Job there... Acha tell me how does Aisha work?"

"Seriously guys, you want me to give you gossip at this moment?'

"We are getting bored, can't handle this Naveen's poem for long." Divya looked at the stage and back at them. She had to agree that guy was one hell of a devdas, even she couldn't handle his poems.

"Shut up guys, we will talk later." She was about to go when Aman said, "Divya you know you are looking like an Aunty in that outfit.." the slap that Aaman received was something all around them saw in much more interest than they were listening to the performances.

"Aman don't be an ass, and you are once again wearing the same kurta you wore in FY." She said and had turned around to go, when Madhav pulled at her hand once again such that she was about to slip and fall but thanks to the handle on which she balanced herself.

"What is it Madhav?" Divya asked, getting quite irritated, as the two laughed and Madhav said, "You are looking very pretty, and this is really an amazing job." Divya couldn't help but give a smile to him, Aman as well nodded his head letting her know how proud he was of her.

"Thank you...if this was what you had to say, you could have said it already, what was the need of the whole drama?'

"Yaar Divya... don't you know there is this different thrill in teasing and troubling you." Aman said as the whole group began to laugh. Divya silenced them as Rishi gave them an exasperated look, cursing them all Divya walked back to her position.

Aman had been one of the best people she had met in her college. Both of them had met through a friend whom they lost a few months into college, it had deeply affected them, and from then on, both of them understood each other at a completely different level. Aman was a shy person who would hardly speak to anyone, while Divya fought her own battles to stand out of the crowd, and the way the two of them had survived through these sea of people making an image for themselves was an achievement of its own. And they knew what all they had missed out on while they were at it. And for that though Aman irritated her, she lectured him on things, they were not really best friends but surely important for each other. Whereas for Madhav, she was happy the way the two of them were finally walking on to the path of friendship, she had known him for a year now but through these few months she began to understand him and was happy to know that each day that they spent together, Madhav proved how wrong all those rumors about him were.

---------------------------------

As the day had come to an end and when Divya had reached home with a weird feeling in the pit of her stomach, she felt restless. She wanted to talk to someone, but couldn't really understand with whom. And it seemed her gut feeling was right, as, as soon as she reached home, her mom asked her to get ready, they had to go to her uncle's place as her grandfather had died due to a heart attack.

Surely he had been in the hospital for a while, but still this was all of a sudden.

And hence the final day of the event somehow Divya had missed out on as her Grandfather died all of a sudden. She couldn't comprehend what was to be done. Though she had a long weekend to mull over, yet the memories of him still lingered around.

She remembered how that evening she had made calls to Aisha and Gautham and Maheshwari ma'am asking for forgiveness for not being able to be there. Surely she knew people would understand. But there were talks, Nandini and Simran had tried to assure that things had gone well, but there were talks around how she had bailed out on responsibilities on the very last day and somehow that hurted in the worst manner.

Divya slowly crept out of her room into the kitchen and pulled out Milk from the fridge and was preparing herself a cup of coffee. She needed that else she would soon build a headache. Divya was still stirring the sugar in the milk and was about to put some coffee in it when she heard her brother.

"Make one for me as well." Dhruv walked into the kitchen and made himself comfortable on the kitchen island right behind her. Divya could feel his eyes on her, and surely he had something to say, rather a lot to say.

"You didn't sleep yet?"

"No, I was thinking..." Divya turned around and gave him a skeptical look. It wasn't usual for her brother to come and tell her that he was thinking, and the times when he did it had mostly been about her, about mom, about dad about Priya...something that he had observed and had been in his mind for long now.

"And you were thinking about it?" Divya asked.

"You know day before yesterday when you came back home you were disturbed, so much that you didn't even answered Saakshi's calls or Adhiti's as well. And you didn't even complain about Parth."

Stirring the coffee until it blended well with the milk, Divya thought about her brother's words. She hated it when her siblings were like this. They had always been close to each other and they knew when the other was not doing well. And Parth had seemed to have done masters in this.

Or maybe it was quite obvious when she didn't answer Saakshi and Adhiti's calls, the two best friends of her who had been there with her since school days. Though both of them had got transferred to faraway places, they were still in contact, and over the years they had grown closer.

Whereas Parth... Parth was a headache that her parents had brought in her life. The sweet caring Sharmaji's son who had now turned quite handsome was her neighbours son. He though wasn't in the same college as hers but having practically grown up together, all her cousins knew him...and he would be there wherever her cousins would be. Be it that funeral or him trying to get into her college for their fest or her birthdays or the evening snacks where he could just irritate her and get a reaction from her.

She remembered how priya would time and again tease her that there were chances that parth had a huge crush on her. And if, if ever Divya wouldn't have known what a headache Parth Sharma was, she would have surely shared the same feelings , alas she knew Parth and she would never fall for his good looks.

"Parth had been showing mercy on me, we were trying to be civil, and about Saakshi and Aditi, I had been very busy." Divya handed the cup to Dhruv and jumped up on the other counter right opposite to him.

"So much that you didn't even share the fact that Nanu died and how clueless you had been these few days... " Divya fidgeted with her cup as Dhruv took a sip of the coffee and then continued, "So tell me how was students' week?"

Divya looked at her brother and shook her head at him. He was quite wise at things like this. She was glad she had him, but she didn't know where to start from.

"I don't know what to tell you." she confessed and took a sip of her coffee, a lame attempt of hers to try and keep her tears at a bay.

"Tell me what is disturbing you the most." Dhruv waited patiently , as if he had the whole time in this world, as Divya gathered her confidence to speak out what she had wanted to.

"I tried everything Bhai, I tried my best to do everything to keep all the mistakes at a bay, I even yelled at Nandini, at Simran right in front of everyone, I felt so bad, they didn't deserve that and you know I don't like doing that, I made sure that everything was at perfection even taking feedbacks from people. But then one small mistake...which wasn't even in my hand, and I lost all the good deeds that I had done since last two weeks."

"What happened." Divya looked at her brother who sat there, his cup now sat beside him on the counter, his attention completely on her. She thought how different this felt to let out to someone who was seated right in front of her rather than to someone over the phone. She wondered if her brother wouldn't have even heard about this if she hadn't ignored Saakshi's and Adhiti's calls.

"There was this contestant who came at the last moment his content was plagiarized, we couldn't find it before his performance, but we did at the last, we, I mean Gautham and I we did everything in our hands to solve it but still the professors had created a ruckus not just our conveners but of the whole college."

Divya took a deep breath, sucking in all the tears to not let them out just yet as she spoke, "The whole college was singing praises just before the results were to be announced until we disqualified the contestant for having plagiarized content...the whole blame was put up on me and Gautham, when in real it wasn't even our fault, we had checked everything till our last moment, we weren't ready for the event to start and Ma'am had just come and said to start the event... how can they just do that? Does this one small mistake of ours take over every little hard work that we had been doing since the last three weeks...and above all, now I am being called a coward because I could not come back to college the next day... I was supposedly making excuses."

Unable to hold back her tears anymore Divya broke down, she heard the shuffling as her brother came and hugged her. He cooed her as she kept on mumbling things that weren't really clear to his ears but he knew she needed this, this breakdown that she had been holding onto for a very long time.

"Divya, you know, this is just the beginning, you should be happy you made it through this so bravely without anyone knowing how difficult it had been for you. You did all your work so very well, your teammates are still with you standing by your side. See when tomorrow you would go back to college they would welcome you back with open arms, and that what you have to do..welcome them back with open arms."

Divya let go of the hug and looked up at him as he smiled down at her . She nodded her head and wiped her tears as he asked,

"Ohh by the way, I heard from Priya she said you have quite a group in college, you never mentioned them." Divya smiled sheepishly at him and then took a deep breath. This was yet another thing that had been sitting there on her heart for a long time.

"Bhai, you know right I haven't had much friends other than Adhiti and saakshi, even they it had been them who had always came back to me after all my stupid acts, I would always go around looking for that best friend to whom I would talk everything without any filter, who would be there for me at any odd our, when all the while they had been there right beside me...and by the time I realized that they had got posted."

She observed the way her brother's eyebrows formed a deep frown as he indicated her to continue.

"Since the very first year I knew that I didn't wanted to get close to anyone, then I met Nandini, Simran, Aman, Natasha, they had been best, the more I would try to stay away from them, cancel out on plans they would come back, they would support me just the way you and Priya had always done, and at times it worried me what would happen after these three years, I might get quite used to them and then they might just get lost into their lives and I might lose out on them. Not everyone is Adhiti and saakshi and they were just two... these, these all are a complete group of 10 people I don't know...."

Divya fidgeted with her hands as she continued, "These days we all have been working together, I am liking the time that I spend with them, I can connect with them so very well. Each of them is crazy, special in their own way...bhai, they are like those "the friend group' that everyone wishes for and I am scared that if I were to call them my friends I might actually lose out on that friendship."

"So what have you decided to do then?" Dhruv asked, whereas divya kept on looking at him. Her heart was beating so loudly that it scared her what she was about to say loudly would actually sound crazy but she wanted to take this chance one time.

"We have just three months left...proper three months of college where we would be having lectures excluding the preparatory leave and the winter vacations...I have decided that now all the work for the vice president is done and only the Student of the year, Milange, and our IV is left...."

Divya looked right into his eyes and said, "I will go with the flow of the events,I won't hold myself back, I would hangout with them everywhere possible, I would stay back in college even after work to just hang out with them, I will go on the IV and have fun irrespective of if any of them would be there with me after these three months. And I don't know what do they think of me, does anyone other than Nandini, Simran and Natasha even consider me as their friend or not, but they are my friends...and I will try my best to make as many memories with them as possible."

A/n 

sneek peak

"take out that 10 rupees I will drop you., "

Divya gaped at him as she handed him the 10 rupee note. She could have surely gone in an auto but walking up to the corner and the. Getting cramped up in the sharing auto was the last thing she wished to do. 

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Happy reading 

Yadni Bagwe