Chapter I: Surprises? No thank you.

It is very very (and I would have added another very if not for such a crucial time I was in right now) annoying that people, especially women, find surprises as an event, to add thrill in their life. It gets me to serious thinking that how a surprise as in an event unsure of happening can ever bring a lively hit to a boring life.

Surprises are overrated these days because it is not the effort which counts but the hashtag which goes before the word itself that makes it even more wanted.

Imagine being in your nice steady life, you have everything planned, scheduled and noted. You know when to be happy, you know when to be depressed, you know when to walk out of the annoying classroom where teachers just get on your nerves, you know exactly when that favorite bookstore opens so you can sneak a peek, and you know when to breathe or let out a fart.

You know stuff and you want it to be known.

How in the world can one live with surprises, especially the ones deliberately planned for you so you're happy?

I am happy where I am, thank you very much. Never been a fan of surprises since the fifth grade and don't intend to be happy with one now.

So, it wouldn't come as a blow to people who survive with me to know that I do not like surprises and did not want one on my twenty first birthday; which as a matter of fact was well planned by me. It was attend class, read another book and sleep in the hell hole people here called as a home, as a paying guest.

It was accordingly lived too, my parents did not surprise me with a call or a wish, my boyfriend did not force a surprise birthday celebration on me like last year, my roommate did not surprise me by being polite or inquire about my whereabouts or my name as a matter of fact and there was nothing but immense pleasure in how I spent that day.

It didn't end well, who was I kidding? It did not end at all. That night was and is so vivid in my memory, because I clearly remember wearing earplugs because my roommate, the pain in my ass, as always had a little party in her room with loud blasting music. It was no surprise though; she was such a spoilt rich brat that she sound proofed her room but wouldn't reduce the noise.

A fail obviously because she got few workers to get the work done but they cheated on her and let's just say there was a big flush of money gone to the drains and she couldn't care less. Anyway, so because of that noise which was not unusual now, I did not hear someone ring the bell and definitely did not see what they had dropped in as their little welcome present.

No, it wasn't a bouquet of flowers which I swear is so cheesy, not a basket of chocolates because I hate them and definitely not my boyfriend, cheekily dropping in without informing me first.

When I was opened the door to lock the safety door, the most random thing walked in my house. It was a bit shaky and a lot scary since the house lights were dimmed and my coffee was brewing on my study shelf. My roommate was either drunk or dead because the music was still on and she hadn't greeted me with her remarks since hours now. I really do pray it is not the latter because the police would not let me go off the hook so easily.

My heartbeats paced so rapidly when the three feet tall figure walked past me in my room and I stood there holding my breath because ghosts were not a common guest in Mumbai.

After I had sensed the actuality of a human boy standing in the middle of the living room, his right hand on the left, his eyes looking at me, tired and sad and his feet were trembling with what I understood as fear. Quickly, I skipped outside to see whether there was some adult with this kid and considering there was only one room across us on this floor which had an elderly couple, whom I had not in my entire 714 days that I had lived there, ever saw or even bothered too.

He did not belong there and he definitely did not belong anywhere from this building because the lad had yellow bright t-shirt with marks of mud and his pants dirtied from below by mud and rain, his hair look tattered too. This damn building had residents too proud to even broom their own houses, forget leaving their kid like this.

I shut the safety door, not latching it because these days pranks had their levels gone way down than the dead do, the door was wide open, and my eyes fixated on the kid.

"Excuse me? What are you doing here?"

Silence

"Hello? Who are you? Please tell me you have parents."

More silence.

He looked at my lips then he met my eyes and then he watched my lips again. His fingers rubbed off each other, slowly as if he that gave him any comfort. My head started to pound because my damn coffee was untouched and my normal routine of reading for my upcoming terms was messed with. I had not dealt with kids and did not want to, they were messy, tardy and especially, unplanned.

He looked at the sofa and then at me, "No, no mister." I spoke, my anger increasing, "Tell me, who sent you?"

The skinny kid gulped, and looked longingly at the sofa; he wanted to approach the comfortable sofa because his feet were trembling, and who knew how long he was standing outside? I pointed my long finger at him, "You are staying right there."

He did not look like he would run away nevertheless he did run away from somewhere to arrive here, hence I moved out the house, the door still open but the safety door latched as I scanned the garden from the corridors to see any person with similar resemblance to the boy or any parent searching for their kid but there was no one, except one sleeping watchman who had not locked the gate properly and reeked of alcohol from a distance.

Shaking my head at this poignant fate of mine, I found nothing to get me some help with the boy and where would I get some at midnight?

He was still there where I told him to stay, but he was not standing, he sat down, his arms around his knees and his eyes waiting for my return.

"Who is this one?"

He was silent, breathing steadily but watching me, my lips intently. He was getting creepier by the second because he now looked at my roommate who walked in as if she saw someone dead, because she was casual as she can ever be.

Yes she would be casual to a dead being.

"He walked in when I opened the door."

"Like a ghost?" She rolled her eyes, not believing me at all, "Seriously? You are fucking my brains now?" The twenty six year old woman was not a person I'd like to have a conversation with, so yes, I ignored her.

I looked down at the boy, "Will you speak? Tell me, who sent you?"

Silence

Riya, who was now serious to understand the gravity of the situation, kept the mobile away, "Shit. Who is he?"

It was her turn to dwell upon questions as I found my phone from the bedside, dialing the only number I had on speeddial, "Hello?"

"Yes, baby?"

I controlled the urge to groan, he knew I did not like such words, "Arjun, you have to come here."

There was talking in the background and what seemed like jazz music playing on a piano, "Purvi, what is... wrong?"

I looked at the boy who was being examined by my sleepy slash tipsy roommate. "Look, he has something in his hand." She remarked, speaking to me for the first time without any malice and sarcasm.

There was something in his hand, which I did not notice at the start because my observation skills rusted for my coffee was cold. "He is not giving it to me." She huffed as she sat on the chair, adjacent to the dining table, facing him.

When he saw me come out of my room, he held it out for me and surprisingly I took it. The words inscribed were a surety that nothing ever would remain the same for me now, nothing would ever be steady and planned.

"Purvi, I am out with a couple of friends, can you at least speak?" My boyfriend was finally worried for me.

Good thing right?

'Surprise! Happy 21st Birthday, sweetheart'

It said in typed italics and my sigh grew into a loud groan while Riya smirked, she thought I was toying with her, and I had no strength to challenge her whatsoever.

"There is a boy in the house." I spoke on the verge of angry tears and tired groans. "And I am going to pass out."

This is the story, of how my life changed completely, never to step on the past again. This is how my twenty first birthday gift was a blessing in disguise and I realized it too late.

_

"What? Please be specific darling, it is going to take more than a boy to get me away from my friends."

"Arjun, I am serious, there is a strange boy in the house and I am literally freaking out now. He has no adult with him and I don't know what to do." I paced around the room, taking steady steps which was how I tackled nervousness and anxiety, "Can you come here, soon?"

"Babe, it will take me another couple of hours. The opposition party has outrun us by holding a 'Rights of Women' campaign tomorrow and we need strategically a new one in less than five hours. Once I have a plan ready, I can come. But you have to understand that right now, my party needs me."

Oh! Arjun Saxena and his love for politics! What he was into was some bullshit I'd explain for some other time because I had enough on my plate for now.

"Is it possible you have overlooked the mother or someone, maybe she is searching for him." He asked, over the voices of his team. "Something right?"

The him was looking intently at Riya who was typing furiously on her phone, the bright light on the mobile seemed to keep him curious but the lad was still on the floor and Riya was still unobservant to the fact that a probable five-year-old was keenly looking at her. "Maybe." I sighed, not wanting to argue with him or tell him to come here. "Alright."

He sounded tired to me and occasionally spoke to his friends over the call who kept screaming to join them while he waived them away. "Don't worry, as soon as I ready a plan, I am leaving and will reach out to you." Riya noticed the lad staring at him and she narrowed her gaze, he narrowed his gaze too, she tilted her head to challenge the little fellow and he tilted his head too, it was like watching a boring cartoon on some channel.

Arjun was pulled away from the mobile by someone and the call disconnected as Riya looked at me, her eyebrows rose. "I do not like this guy."

He raised an eyebrow too and then intently turned towards me, his eyes clearly losing focus from my lips to my eyes and then back again, "What are we going to do?"

My roommate laughed, getting up from the chair. "We? No way baby, there is no way he is related to me." She stretched her arms and let out a lazy yawn, how she could be so relaxed in such a difficult situation was beyond my belief.

"What makes you think he is related to me?"

She shrugged, and shrugging gets on my nerves. "I don't know, the note for instance."

She had a point but I wasn't aiming to win this argument, what I really wanted was to get rid of this kid whose eyes as a matter of sudden amusement started to flutter, he wanted to doze off but kept his cool. "It may be a prank for all we know!"

"Yeah." She said it her hands now folded across her chest, "But a prank on you. Why should I care?"

Another great point. God, she had such a similar viewpoint as mine. However I would not have left some girl stranded with a kid that is something so inhumane.... Who am I kidding, the one running away from people's personal matters would be me, and in fact Riya at least stayed a lot longer than I would have. To deal with a kid was to deal with every nuisance ever, and the age of twenty one is not for such a task. My eyes pondered over the kid and his head placed on his hands, he even brought his knees closer to his chest, if I hadn't been such a stony person myself, the scene would have melted me.

"You know what, there might be a camera somewhere, and you just do not know to hunt for one." The girl who combed her hair at least a hundred times each day, the girl who did not come out of her room without looking really presentable, the girl who knew that looks mattered and she'd rather die than walk out without a touch up actually went out of the room with her grey loose t-shirt that covered her shorts, her hair undid and she being tipsy herself.

Well, like I said, the kid kind of did melt someone here.

After an half hour of Riya's hunt, we were nothing but in vain, however the hunt did include she complaining and screaming on the now awake with a headache watchman, her incompetency to walk without falling and her quest on how the universe was cruel to kid and a mother, forgetting that we were the victims. "There is no one out there."

The boy was sound asleep now on the floor itself while Riya sat on the sofa, I was pacing around when she left, stopped to ask the kid some questions and tried threatening too yet he touched his chin with his thumb and I took that as a sign of him just infuriating me, so I started pacing again. "I cannot do this tonight." Riya shrugged, yawning and not bothering to cover it with her palm.

"Why should I?"

"Then don't. Drop him out of the house, it is simple."

With intentions and characters, another thing on which humans would be judged was their attitude towards themselves. Were they selfish or selfless, could they be self-centered or focus more on the give part than take, can they certainly do something good or be bad people? What was this good? Sure what Riya just said sounded harsh and cruel but it was two faced, it was cruel enough for her who had... I don't know, party stuff maybe and for me, it was cruel because I had to skip both my coffee and my studies for him.

It sounded good to me. I don't know him, don't want to and probably will never. Riya was not a family person, same as me, she did have a great social life and a fan following to keep up to by the amount of her YouTube videos keep rolling each day and I had enough of drama in my life to stop me from getting involved.

She gave me a small shrug, the one which was reasonably acceptable to me now, while I nodded; it was very strange because in these couple of years, this was the first thing we agreed upon no matter how bad it was to an alien ear.

"Hey?"

"Oh look." Riya scoffed her gaze boring on the guy outside the room, challenging a small smile on the newest human's face, a smile I was still not used too. "Your actual boyfriend is here."

It was funny how from being comfy roommates we quickly settled with our cold behavior again. "What are you doing here, Anirudh?"

Anirudh Sardana rubbed the back of his neck with his right hand which he did when he was nervous, while I reached out to open the door. "Arjun sent me, and he wanted to know if you're okay."

Translation- My boyfriend won't be coming tonight to actually see if I was okay because of some his party and then still be guilty and send his best friend to check on me, like always.

"Aww. How sweet." Her sarcasm cutting the tension between us like sandpaper on a wall. "Will he also let you kiss his girlfriend goodnight?"

Anirudh was uncomfortable by Riya' remarks and I rolled my eyes, yet closing the door behind him. I don't understand why, since he was accustomed to Riya's redundant statements but is flabbergasted every time, for it wasn't the first time Arjun had sent his replacement here and definitely would not be the last. Anirudh, I wouldn't mind saying, was more in my house than Arjun ever was.

Anirudh Sardana

I remember the first time Arjun introduced me to Anirudh, as his new girlfriend. He was a tall frame, one feet taller than me, half than Arjun. Anirudh has a sturdy figure, he was always dressed modestly, a proper student council head, his shirt always tucked in and his pious aura overwhelming the room. He had his dark black curly hair messily pushed back; a narrowed jaw and his round frame glasses complimented his oval shaped face.

Also, he was sickly sweet than any person I had ever met.

That makes me cringe, come on, the guy was so sweet even Mother Teresa would give him a hug. There was absolute no flaw in that guy and for him giving was everything. Even though he had a tedious studying schedule for his masters in psychology, he handled all volunteer work in college, has a donation drive for the poor on the streets and lived with his family. The latter makes me want to slam my head against the wall, because living with your big fat joint family, and not losing your sanity, that had to be something.

"Thanks Riya." He smiled, not a warm one, not a challenging one either. "Your hospitality towards me is impeccable."

She tilted her head; something she did it when she wanted to challenge someone. "You're welcome and it is not Riya it is Rai-ya, RAI-YA"

The umpteenth time she has corrected someone and the umpteenth time the person has ignored her.

He looked at the kid and the first thing he did was picking him and placing him on the sofa, the first thing I did was to pinch myself to face reality while first thing Riya did was open and shut her eyes twice, "He has not spoken a word?"

"Not a single one."

"And no one around?"

"None. He was outside the house, who knows for how long?"

"Maybe there is something on him, a chit or a card or a note."

"Here" Riya lazily passed the card to him through me, even though he held out a hand towards her. "Some birthday shit." She said her attention by the notification chime on her phone.

Anirudh's expression turned from curious to concerned and then he met my eyes. "Seems like it is from someone who knows you."

"Thank you genius, we did not discover that. Like, at all." The brown hair with pink highlights girl spoke again, her gaze still on the cell she typed on.

He ignored her and did not leave the gaze we held. "You look very anxious, why don't you both just sit and relax as we think a way over it."

"Oh I am relaxed." Riya answered, nonchalantly.

"And I am more irritated than scared, what can we do now?"

He looked me and then at the kid who curled himself in a ball now, his hand protectively wiping the kid's face. "Looks like he cried before he arrived."

"He wasn't in tears when he entered, maybe he stopped crying."

"Are you sure Purvi, last month you said there was a guy who delivered the fraudulent parcel and it was actually a woman." The lazy ass sitting on the bean bag chair scoffed.

It was a great astonishment for her to remember my name but an insult was an insult. "It was an honest mistake, the similarities were too genuine and I wasn't on my daily dose of caffeine."

"Like today."

Now I remember why I wasn't talking to this girl, she had nicer and wittier comebacks and bettet style of delivery. "Maybe we can call the police."

"Not now, first thing in the morning." Anirudh spoke, while calling