Neha quickly munched on her toast and gulped the juice in one go.

Taking her bag she rushed out of the dinning room while yelling for her aayi.

"Aayi! Mai jaa rhi hu. Dhyan rkhna apna aur koi problem ho toh call kr dena. Bye!"

(I am leaving. Take care and call me if there's something.)

She ran out of the orphanage that had become her home since she was abandoned at the age of 5. She didn't have any memories about her past. Except for the same dream or let's say nightmare she got.

The lady who had taken her in and bought her up become her mother and everyone else's. They called her aayi. A Marathi word for mother.

Neha was a final year M.Sc. student.

She reached the college and ran off after paying the rickshaw driver. She was late. Like always.

She ran into someone and shouted.

"Dikhai nhi deta kya? Murkha!"

(Can't you see? Stupid!)

She cursed him and ran off still shouting and rubbing her forehead.

The boy was a wall. Why was his chest so hard. It hurt.

She literally dashed towards her classroom and panted entering inside.

She frowned seeing the classroom in a chaos and the professor not there. She sat beside her friends and took deep breaths to calm her heartbeat.

"Professor....kaha?"

(Where?)

She asked still breathing heavily.

"Absent hai."

(Absent.)

Her eyes popped out and she looked at her friend angrily.

"Mai PT Usha ki tarah bhaag kr aai hu. Agar professor nhi aaya tha toh bta deti na. Aaram se aati mai."

(I came here running like PT Usha. If professor wasn't here you could have said. I would have come calmly.)

Her friend giggled and said.

"Hum subha subha do ghante travel karke aaye toh socha ki tujhe bhi thodi mehnat krne de. Waise bhi you need excercise. Tune hi kaha tha."

(We travelled two hours so we thought to let you also do some hard work. You only said.)

She shrugged and Neha whined. They got a message on the class group that the next class too was postponed so she and her friends decided to go to the canteen.

They took their spot and ordered their favourite pasta and started gossiping. She suddenly remembered something and said.

"Yaar guys mai na college fest mai nhi aa paaungi. Orphanage ka yearly programme hai uss din."

(I won't be able to come to the college fest. Its the orphanage's yearly programme.)

She said and her friend Riya said.

"Koi nhi. Tu nhi aayegi toh hum kya krenge. Rina mam se baat kr li?"

(No issues. What will we do without you. Have you talked to Rina mam?)

She shook her head and said.

"Wo absent hai do dino se. Pata nhi kab aayengi."

(She is absent since two days. Don't know when she'll return.)

"Arre toh message krde na."

(Message her.)

"Number hai tere paas?"

(You have her number?)

She asked and Riya nodded.

"Likh."

(Write it down.)

She said and started telling her the number which Neha saved on the spot as 'Rina Ma'am'.

"And by the way tum dono invited ho programme mai. Details mai text kr dungi. Time se pahuch jaana."

(You are invited in the programme. I'll text the details. Reach on time.)

She said and they mock bowed making all three of them burst out laughing.

She reached her home and had her lunch. She did not carry a lunch box because she did not like to eat cold lunch. She loved hot paranthas. She was a lover of hot things. *Like our Rihaan

After having her favourite curry rice she moved to her room. Every grown up was given their separate rooms in the orphanage for their privacy.

There were three of them. Rest were kids. And the other moved out after getting jobs.

Neha sometimes felt that the word was too cruel. How can someone abandon a child. Like a week back they found a baby. A baby of not more than a month old lying on their doorstep. She was the one who discovered him and she was shook.

When aayi took him in Neha cried seeing the baby. What was his fault. Just because someone couldn't be courageous enough to accept it or someone couldn't control their hormones and ended up being pregnant before marriage and left the baby so that the society doesn't taunt them. But what was the baby's fault who didn't even know what he was being punished for?

She broke out of her thoughts when she heard her aayi instructing someone about the programme and she remembered the fest. She still had to message Rina mam.

She fished out her phone and opened her chat. The dp wasn't visible and she concluded that it might be because her number wasn't saved in her phone.

Good morning ma'am. Neha from M.Sc. final year this side.

Mam I won't be able to take part in the annu fest due to personal commitments.

Sorry for the late information ma'am.

She sent the messages and put her phone aside. She started doing her internship work.

Rihaan was sitting with her family when his phone pinged. It was a message from an unknown number.

He frowned reading the messages. Someone seemed to have gotten the wrong person.

That's okay. Personal commitments are more important. And no need to be sorry but I think you have got the wrong person.

Neha frowned seeing the message.

Is this not Rina ma'am?

I am certainly not a 'Ma'am' and my name is definitely not Rina. So no.

Oh! I am sorry.

Its's alright.

Neha messaged Riya and asked her to send Rina ma'am's number again. She then realised she had got one digit of her number wrong and accidentally messaged someone else.

And judging by the message she concluded that he was a man.

She quickly messaged the correct Rina mam and received her message within an hour replying in positive.

A week later was the orphanage's annual programme where they conducted a grand satyanarayan puja every year for the welfare of the kids in the orphanage.

Large donations were made and gratefully accepted. Her aayi always made sure that each kid got the education they desired and deserved.

The puja had left her totally exhausted and she slumped on her bed as soon as she changed her clothes.

She plugged in her earplugs and played her favourite song from her favourite singer.

She loved him. He was her first celebrity crush and maybe the only one till now. She didn't know how but he had magic in his voice.

She slowly started slipping into slumber and whispered before drifting in deep sleep.

"I love you Rihaan Vashishta."

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