Varun's POV

I could tell that Prachi was upset when I told her that I wouldn't be able to make it to her house today. But I had to go to work, and I really couldn't tell her that. Probably never would tell her.

It was a small restaurant run by my uncle. He was a really nice person, and had offered me a thousand times a room at his house.

But I had refused. I obviously didn't want to take more favours from him. He was already offering me more salary than required. I couldn't possibly live in his house, disturbing the equilibrium of his family.

I lived alone, since my family lived in a small city nearby, and not in the city I was currently living in.

I lived in a two room apartment, and it was the cheapest uncle had managed to find for me.

Anyway, I had promised Prachi that I would meet her on sunday, and I would be lying if I said that I wasn't looking forward to it.

******

Prachi was rich. Pretty rich.

Her parents owned an independent house which wasn't very big or extravagant, but it was beautiful and classy.

The craziest part, though, was a room in her house solely dedicated for video games. She had an arcade in her house.

"My mom and dad love video games. That's how they became friends. That's how they got married. They have passed their craze down to me." She sighed.

I looked at her, she looked at me. I gave her a mischievous smile.

"So I too have to know video games like your dad in order to woo you?" I asked.

"In your case, even that is not going to help." She said, trying to sound sassy, but her face turned a bright red, and I had to purse my lips together to contain my laughter.

"Hello." A came voice from behind us. I turned around to see a girl, around the age of Prachi, a little older at the most, walking into the room

"You must be Varun." She said, and took my hand and shook it. I quickly extracted it, feeling wierded out by her confidence.

"I am Prachi's sister. My name is Ananya. And can I just say that I am glad I met you, because I really have to tell you something about Prachi." She waited, as though she knew Prachi would stop her.

"Ananya, go to your room." Prachi said firmly.

Ananya pretended to ignore her, even though it was obvious that she was doing everything keeping Prachi in mind.

"She talks about you all-"

"Oh my god shut up." Prachi said and ran towards Ananya.

Ananya ran way from Prachi and continued, "the time. Like All. The. Time. Can you- "

"You are DEAD!" Prachi screamed. She was indeed the best screamer in the world

"ask her to take it easy.?" She said, her eyes glinting with mischief, as she ran from one corner of the room to other, Prachi trying to catch her.

"Did you two guys hug any day? Cause-"

"SHUT UUUP"

"Cause she literally went crazy after tha-"

"I WILL KILL YOU!"

Prachi finally got hold of Ananya and placed her palm on Ananya's mouth. There were muffled sounds, and I couldn't understand any word that Prachi's sister was saying.

I felt extremely awkward, to the point that I didn't know where to look. How was I supposed to react to all the things Prachi's sister was saying? Was a supposed to be flattered? I guess I was.

"You want some snacks?" A voice came from the door which was behind me. I jumped, then felt relief flooding through me. I had had enough of this wierd situation.

"Yeah, but not now. We have to start with the project." Prachi said, then grabbed my hand and pulled me with her.

She did not seemed to be affected by the contact at all. I on the other hand had to force myself to not let it show on my face.

When we reached her room, she said, "sorry about my sister. She is just a little immature."

"It's ok. I kind of enjoyed your fight." I lied, smiling.

"I know you didn't. You looked so awkward. I'll make sure I smack her on her head later."

"You are older than her?" I asked.

"Yes. By an year. Please don't tell me you to think she looks older than me."

"Why? Is that bad?"

"No. But it's annoying. Kinda. Anyway, should we start?" Prachi asked and took out her MacBook air.

Woah. We are going to work on that? Cool!

We worked for the next hour and a half, and Prachi was one hell of a distracted person. She would check her phone every fifteen minutes, and sometimes she would just stare into thin air, so distracted in her thoughts that she would not once notice me looking at her.

She was extremely intelligent and fast at her work at the same time, so both the factors cancelled each other and she did the work at the same speed as mine.

"You wanna eat something? I'll get something." She said and without waiting for my reply, and ran out of the room.

I got back to work on the Prachi's laptop, and suddenly an fb notification popped up. I would've ignored it had I not seen my name in it.

I clicked on the notification and was left shocked. It was a facebook page dedicated to roast me.

The profile picture was of me with a severe nose bleed. It wasn't even photoshopped. It was a photo of one of the times I was beaten up. I could recognise the bricks of the dark corner.

Ashish had invited Prachi to this page. There was a post or two already, one of them saying that I should've died today.

The room suddenly felt like it was closing on me. My heartbeat raced as I found it hard to breathe. My body broke into a sweat and my surroundings went dizzy. My fingers began to tingle.

This is it. The end of my life.

I gasped in air as I struggled to breathe. My heart pounded against my chest, blood rushed to my ears. My body shook violently.

I am going to die.

I could not comprehend my surroundings. I was in a void kind of a place. I could hear a distant sound, but that was it.

Suddenly, my breathing began to return to normal. My surroundings started to come into focus, and the distant sound I could hear was now becoming clearer.

"Varun! Drink this! Please." As my condition returned to normal, I looked around to find Prachi's entire family around me. I was in wierd crouched posture, which I didn't even realise I had positioned myself into.

Prachi's father was rubbing my back, her mother was pacing the room and Prachi was holding a glass of water for me.

"What happened Varun?" Prachi's father asked me.

I swallowed hard. "I don't know. I wasn't able to breathe, my heart beat," I took a deep breath "my heart beat just went really fast and I felt dizzy and-"

"These are the symptoms of a panic attack. I've read it in an article once." Prachi said then turned to me, "were you feeling all sweaty and nauseous? And had a feeling you were going to" she inhaled loudly, "die?"

"I didn't feel nauseous, but yes, I did feel the other things." I said.

"Why would he get a panic attack all of a sudden? He was fine until now." Prachi's sister said from behind. I had already forgotten her name.

I did have a reason. But I wasn't going to tell them.

"Panic attack need not necessarily start because of a reason, actually. It could start because of a reason, but it's not necessary." Prachi said.

"Please drink this." She thrusted the glass towards me.

I took it and drank the water. Then said, "I think I should leave now." And got up.

"No!" "No way." "Are you serious right now?" "I will not allow this." Came several voices at once, and I was left confused.

"Stay here for sometime. Go home at evening." Prachi's mother said. I checked the time. It was 12:11 pm. I had come at 10:00am. Two hours had gone by already?

"You are staying here today." Prachi said.

"Bu-"

"You live alone. What if you suffer another panic attack. Or worse!" Prachi said, and I just looked at her, wide eyed.

"How did you kno-"

"He lives alone? Ok, you stay here with us today." Prachi's father said.

"Thank you so much uncle, but I really need to get home."

"Why?" Prachi's father asked me.

I opened my mouth, then closed it. I couldn't give them an excuse of work, because I didn't want Prachi to know about it. I couldn't tell them there was a lot of homework, because I had come to Prachi's house to do homework.

I was at loss.

"You are just staying here. That's it." Prachi's mother said.

I hung my head low, not having an option but staying there, I guess.

Slowly the crowd dispersed, each going to their own business, not before reminding me to call for help whenever I needed it.

When they were gone, slumped back on the couch I had been sitting on the whole time.

I bounced on the couch as Prachi sat next to me.

"Did something happen?" Prachi asked me softly, and held my hand. My heartbeat raced again, but for a different reason this time. Tingles shot up my arm, and I quickly pulled back my hand. It was like panic attack all over again.

From the corner of my eyes, I could see Prachi going a little pink. She was embarrassed.

"I am sorry. I am just a little disturbed right now. I honestly don't have a problem holding hands with you." I said, although it came out a little wrong I guess, because Prachi turned a brighter red, as she looked at the other side of the room.

Without realisation, a small smile tugged my lips. I immediately felt better.

"Sorry for disturbing you and your family." I said, meaning it.

She looked at me, and said,

"You should be." Both of us started laughing, I, forgetting for a moment, all the worries of the world.

Her smile lightened my mood.

Damn, I think I liked her. A lot.

******