Rehan held the front door open for me. I hesitated but then he nudged me to go inside. It was Grand and  Majestic. I could see a large staircase in the middle which parted into two going upwards. On the right there was a large dining table whereas beside it , I could catch a glimpse of the kitchen. It was a freaking bollywood movie house the ones which you never think might exist in real  life.The interior was as bright as the weather outside. 

"Where are you all? She is finally here now?" Rehan's  loud squeal gave a red signal to my train of thoughts. Just then a girl scurried out of the kitchen, by her state I could guess that she was in middle of a cooking escapade. Then there was a ruffling of shoes and the clattering of heels and soon the  surrounding air smelled of manly cologne and strawberry....or was it jasmine?

Within seconds I was engulfed into a bear hug by a girl, and God it definitely was strawberry. No one noticed that I was choking to death, after few minutes which seemed like the last minutes of my life she loosened her hold on me. 

"Oh I don't believe she has a boyfriend, has she ever seen herself with a girl. I doubt that she is a le-" a new voice spoke. My view was still obstructed by the strawberry girl.

"I warn you if you ever complete that sentence I am going to kick you where the sun doesn't shine and you will remember that till your death", the strawberry girl had put a good amount of distance between us and she was glaring at the boy who had spoken earlier. He just had a smirk on his face. He was a definition of handsome and ....hot , he was definitely well built and he had a dusky skin. Why am I surrounded by handsome guys these days? Its impossible to keep my eyes off them.

"Yeah first let's see if you can get hold of me", the dusky boy yelled and sprinted to the opposite direction whereas the strawberry girl chased him. I couldn't help but feel amused at their levity. 

"Hello, I am Kartik", a lean boy who had spectacles looked up from his phone and greeted me. "And unfortunately the girl who just ran is my twin", he said pointing towards the strawberry girl. That is when I noticed her carefully. She had long black hair which reached till her hips and she had a model perfect body. I could instantly imagine her starring in a ad to promote designer clothes. She was beautiful. While Kartik was totally opposite to her yet they were similar in a way.

"Hi, I am Nia , I was the  peeping tom earlier", the younger girl addressed me. 

"I am Ananya and I like my peeping tom", I chuckled acknowledging both Kartik and Nia .

"For god's sake stop it , both of you or you will get yourself killed one day and we would have to dispose your bodies to avoid the police" Rehan spoke in a mock serious tone while Nia and Kartik suppressed a laugh. 

The the strawberry girl came to halt in front of me ,"I am Kamya and we are going to be very good friends", I could see that the boy who had teased Kamya was about to speak something but then he stopped and instead he came towards me and extended his hand,"Hey princess I am Danish", he was good looking but the fact  that he had called me a princess was annoying and he had already lost my attention because my thoughts  drifted back to Varun and who he had nicknamed me Angel.

"Like what you see ,Princess?", this statement had turned me red but I gathered my senses. 

"I am not a great fan of mud ducks so basically my sight is not pleasant now", Danish had a jaw dropped expression whereas Rehan was confused  because he did not expect a comeback from me,I suppose. 

Soon the house was erupted into laughter."Mud....duck uh hhh I already like you", Kartik managed to say between his chuckles. I could see Nia and Kamya laughing too. 

"What is going on here?", an elderly commanded voice spoke. I directed my gaze towards the voice. It happened to be a lady of Mrs. Singh's age. As soon as she saw me her expressions lightened. 

"Oh Ananya you are finally here, did these morons trouble you?" she said looking at the others.

Before I could speak I heard Kamya ,"No Aunt Sunaina , in fact she just called Danish a mud duck", clearly emphasizing on 'mud duck'.

"Full marks for creativity Ananya but I think you should rest now, you have had a long day dear", Aunt Sunaina sounded amused and concerned at the same time.

"Yes. It was nice to meet everyone of you", I mumbled and then Kamya dragged me along with her to the stairs saying ,"I am going to take you to your room".

As we moved upstairs I could hear their muffled voices , "It still has a duck in it , isn't that a compliment", followed by  low chuckles. I couldn't help but feel relived taking into consideration that they all seemed to like me.

As the staircase parted into two different flight of stairs, Kamya took the right one ."So you see the two rooms in front of us belong to Kartik and Danish , if  we would have taken the left at the partition then we would have come across Mom's and Rehan's room. Our rooms are on the second floor", she rambled while taking me up the next flight of stairs. I was never used to climbing so many stairs and here now I was going to do that on a daily basis .

As we finally reached what Kamya seem to have  said 'my room' I was pretty exhausted , I assured myself mentally that it was just because of the jet lag and the long tiring day. I might get used to those gazillon stairs in a few days time. I was really overacting...or overthinking .

She held  the door open for me plastering a huge smile on her face . I entered, the room was grand just like the rest of the house but it seemed comfortable . The walls were painted white and there was a queen size bed in the the middle. Beside the bed there was a study table with a chair.The farthest side had a huge window and the cutest sofa I had ever seen. I was happy as it was going be a comfortable place to read. Kamya came out of nowhere and playfully shoved me towards a sliding door which was between the washroom and the bookshelf wait a BOOKSHELF. How did I not notice it before? I was crazy about books and I was used to people calling me  'bookworm' or a 'nerd'. As I was not allowed to hang out with friends after school and was rarely allowed to bring a friend home, I made books my friends. Niharika, my foster agent  was generous enough to get me the library membership and it worked out well for me .

I glanced at the books, they were of all kinds from harry potter to sappy romances like Nicholas Sparks to science fiction like Veronica Roth. It also included teen fiction by John Green. It was amazing and it made my day...no it could make my days. 

 "I thought you might like reading so ......", the voice startled me, bringing me to reality.  I snapped to my right to see Nia was the one who spoke.

"If you don't like it....or you are not a great reader, we might just remove it and you can have the space", Nia trailed off again. I was about to tell her that she was getting it all wrong but Kamya interjected,"Relax Nia its the other way round, she was staring at the bookshelf like a kid..no like Danish,  who has just received a huge chocolate cake, ready to devour every bit of it"

"Yeah I love it but still the ' Danish ' analogy went too far I guess", I joked with mock indignation .

Just then Danish stepped in the room ,"Are you people talking about a hot guy right now?" When I gave it a thought it seemed like Danish was really cute and the times when he tried to be his cocky self he came out more cuter making everybody laugh. 

"No they are having a conversation about 'mud ducks ' I guess", Kartik was right behind Danish . His comment earned him a playful hit in the head by Danish.

"Why do you always have to blast my bubble?", Danish spoke out of frustration.

Kamya tried to shoo them out of the room saying 'only girls' allowed. After bit of shoving threats and yells they both decided not to irritate Kamya more and went out of the room saying goodbyes to me and Nia , who was still standing there calmly.

"Its good that you liked it", Nia wondered.

"Thanks, I love it and it was very thoughtful of you", I replied with a genuine smile .

"Ananya are you not excited to see your new wardrobe", Kamya gestured to the sliding room beside the shelf.

"Of course I am", I showed enthusiasm for her sake. In reality I was least bit interested in clothes. She revealed my new wardrobe which was a  walk in closet. I was awestruck,it was loaded with all types of clothes and accessories all lined beautifully.There were many dresses none of which were my type. I made mental note to search for some denim and cotton later.

"I guess you lack a lot of fashion sense but now you don't have to worry. I am going to work on you", she eyed me with a calculating look.

The last thing I wanted right now was a makeover so I glanced at Nia for some help. To my relief she butted in ,"Kamya di , I think we should let her rest for today and you were the one telling me  how essential beauty sleep is."

"Yeah, you look exhausted Ananya, lets keep it for later then", Kamya said looking disappointed. I mouthed 'thanks' to Nia. Being with Nia was as easy as breathing.

Soon I was alone in the room. I unpacked my small duffel bag quickly setting my books in the shelf and changing into comfy T-shirts and sweatpants. I had a pouch of my toiletries which I wanted to keep in the washroom but to my surprise it was already equipped with all the necessities and makeup. I did not even know what half of the stuff was called, as makeup was not my thing . The last thing which I had brought with me was my diary and my mom's photo. I took it out to have a glance. She was nothing like me , she was beautiful with dark brown hair and  blue eyes. She looked young, lively and happy all the time before cancer came around. She was my whole and soul support system. Being a single mom,I had seen her struggle everyday. I was too small to understand the reluctance behind her smile but now I know the only reason she kept that smile on, was me.

During her last days, instead of taking the sleeping medication she had decided to stay awake . She talked to me for hours and hours. I remember her telling me that ,"Anu after I am no more , when you think your world has shattered into pieces , don't give up hope. This is just a bad phase and it definitely is not your time.The universe is always conspiring , once it was against you but there will be a time when the universe will favor you and you will meet the exact thing that makes your world whole.That will be the beginning of your time and believe me it will eventually come".

I believed her and after all those bad experiences I was still there. I had not given hope. I was still searching for my time. I hoped that the universe would signal me when my time would come around. Clutching the key pendant close to my heart I had let the exhaustion take over me and I drifted to sleep.