Dehradun.

Morning, 10:30 a.m.

At Excel College, in the canteen, a girl was sitting on a chair, reading a book. She looked around 20 or 21 years old. Suddenly, another girl came running toward her, panting heavily, and said,

"Come on… come on, Drishti!"

Drishti looked at her in confusion and said,

"What are you talking about, Mahi? And why are you so out of breath? Drink some water first and then tell me. I’m not going anywhere, I’m right here."

Mahi grabbed the water bottle from the table and drank it all in one go. After catching her breath, she looked at Drishti excitedly and said,

"Hey, you know new students are joining the college today, right?"

Drishti, with no particular expression, replied,

"Yeah, I know. So what? They come every year. What’s the big deal?"

Mahi rolled her eyes and made a face,

"Oh, come on! That means there will be juniors… and handsome boys too. This is the perfect chance to have some fun!"

Drishti took a sip of her coffee and said casually,

"Oh… but I’m not in the mood today. Let everyone else have their fun, I’m just chilling for now."

Mahi squinted her eyes and then, trying to butter her up, said,

"Oh, come on… Atiksh and the others are there too. You don’t have to do anything, just watch."

She kept pestering Drishti until finally, Drishti gave in and said,

"Alright, let’s go then… Someone’s going to get some nasty ragging today."

As they walked out, Mahi muttered to herself,

"Just now she was saying she wouldn’t come or do anything, and look—she agreed so quickly. I always have to butter her up. Anyway, good! Today’s going to be fun."

Drishti turned around and saw Mahi lost in her thoughts. She shouted,

"Hey! Miss Daydreamer! Are we leaving or are you planning to stay here? Save your dream world for later!"

Startled by Drishti’s voice, Mahi snapped out of her thoughts and hurried after her. Both of them went to the parking area where their friends were waiting.

But as they walked in, Drishti’s eyes fell on her Bullet bike, and she screamed loudly.

Seeing Drishti scream like that, Mahi also looked in the same direction. Her face turned pale, and her eyes widened in shock.

Drishti’s face was red with anger. She rushed toward her Bullet. Its condition was terrible—one side mirror was missing, and the bike had been moved from where she originally parked it.

Clenching her fists, Drishti looked around furiously and shouted,

"Who dared to mess with my bike? Show yourself if you have the guts! Do you even know who you’re messing with?"

Scanning the parking lot, she spotted a guy standing a little away from where she had parked. Drishti walked toward him and called out,

"Hello! Excuse me…"

But the guy didn’t respond. He was lost in his own world, busy doing something on his phone. Drishti waited for a moment, then called him again, but he seemed completely unaware.

She observed him carefully. He was about 6’1’’ tall, with thick, long hair—like Salman Khan in Tere Naam, reaching just to his shoulders—and a full-grown beard. He looked like a total Devdas type of guy.

In her mind, Drishti muttered,

"Did he just go through a breakup or something? He looks like a total Kabir Singh wannabe. No sense of living… people break up and turn into full Devdas nowadays."

Drishti tried again, this time louder and angrier. She stepped closer and shouted,

"Hey, Uncle! Hello! I’m talking to you—where is your attention?"

Her voice was loud enough to finally reach him. He turned around abruptly and found Drishti standing very close. Startled, he instinctively took a step back.

Without any expression, the guy asked,

"What? What do you want?"

Drishti glared at him. His eyes were blue, his skin fair, his beard thick. He wore a checkered T-shirt with the top three buttons open, slightly showing his chest. His sleeves were rolled up, and he was wearing black pants.

Drishti tore her gaze away and pointed toward the side,

"My Bullet was parked here. Did you see anyone messing with it? And… is this your bike?"

The guy looked where she was pointing and nodded,

"Yeah, that’s my bike. But when I came here, I didn’t see any other bike."

"What? You didn’t see my bike? It was right here! Then how did it end up over there—and in such a mess? Who the hell did this?" Drishti fumed.

The guy glanced behind her at the Bullet’s ruined condition. His face remained blank. He just shrugged his shoulders.

Seeing that boy’s reaction, Drishti got even more annoyed. Folding her arms and glaring at him, she said,

“Do you talk to everyone like this or only with me? Or do you not even know how to talk…?”

The boy looked at Drishti in confusion and said,

“What you mean? What are you trying to say?”

Drishti flared up and snapped,

“Hey, Kabir Singh 2.0 version, I’ve been asking you for so long who did this to my bike, and if you don’t know, then did you see anyone messing with it? That’s what I’ve been asking!”

The boy gave another short reply,

“No.”

Drishti was getting even more irritated with his attitude, and her anger kept increasing. She opened her mouth to speak, but the boy said to her,

“Look, I didn’t do anything, and I have no interest in arguing with you… so let me go. I have no role in this.”

Saying this, the boy started to leave. But Drishti grabbed his hand, pulled him in front of her, and said,

“Hey, how can I let you go like this? I don’t see anyone else here except you, and when I ask you, you’re giving one-word answers.”

The boy didn’t give her any attention, brushed her hand aside, and said,

“I’m not going to repeat the same thing again and again. Leave me alone, got it?”

After saying that, the boy walked away. Drishti just watched him leaving and muttered to herself,

“I’ll see this boy… let’s see where he goes to escape from me.”

Mahi, who was standing in front of Drishti’s bike clicking pictures and doing something on her phone, caught Drishti’s attention. Drishti went there, a little irritated, and said,

“Why are you clicking photos here? What will that do? My bike won’t get fixed from this. Find out who did all this!”

“Hey, oh my god, that’s exactly what I’m doing! I posted it on social media, and I also told Atiksh. He’s looking into it. He called you—come on.” Mahi said, still busy with her phone.

And then she grabbed Drishti’s hand and started walking.

College Campus…

Atiksh, Noor, and their friends were sitting in the campus, chatting with each other.

Noor said,

“Guys, what do you think? Who could have done this to Drishti’s bike? And that too with such courage, they completely destroyed her bike!”

Rahul thought for a moment and said,

“Hmm… I’m also thinking the same. Who could have done this? And how did they get the courage to mess with Drishti’s bike? Bro, whoever did this has made a huge mistake by messing with Drishti.”

Another boy, named Himanshu, who was playing a game on his phone, said casually,

“Well, what’s done is done. Now focus on how to get her bike fixed. And right now, she must be totally losing her mind, extremely angry… so think of a way to distract her, or else there’ll be a whole Mahabharat here.”

Atiksh agreed with Himanshu and said,

“You’re right, bro. First, let’s get her bike fixed. Then we’ll find out who did it.”

“Look, there comes Drishti!” Noor said, seeing her approach.

Hearing this, everyone turned to look at Drishti and Mahi. Mahi was chill as usual, but Drishti’s facial expressions clearly showed that her mood was ruined. She was angry but holding herself back from exploding.

Drishti and Mahi reached their friends. Drishti glanced around at everyone and said,

“Why are you all looking at me like that? Don’t you guys know what happened?”

Rahul replied,

“Yeah, we know everything, but why stress over it now? We’ll find out soon. Don’t worry.”

Drishti glared at him furiously. Seeing her glare, Rahul forced a laugh and quickly tried to correct his words,

“That’s not what I meant. I mean, we have volleyball practice now, so let’s do that. Anyway, Atiksh has requested the CCTV recording; it’ll come soon. That’s what I meant.”

Drishti looked at Atiksh, and he said,

“Yes, I’ve asked for it. It’ll take some time. Come on, let’s play volleyball—it’ll help your mood. After college, I’ll take your bike to the garage; it’ll get fixed. Come on.”

Saying that, Atiksh started walking toward the volleyball net and even grabbed Drishti’s hand to take her along.

---

Now, two teams were formed for volleyball. One team was Atiksh’s, and the other was Drishti’s. Both teams were now busy playing volleyball. They were giving each other a tough fight, and Drishti was hitting the ball with one hand only, and so hard that anyone could get injured.

While playing, Drishti hit the ball with such force that no one could return it, and the ball went to the other side. The shot was so strong that it could hit anyone, and everyone’s eyes followed the ball flying away.

Drishti, on the other hand, was chilling, as if she didn’t care at all. That ball hit a boy on the head, and he fell down. Drishti and Atiksh ran toward him.

Atiksh helped the boy up and said,

“Sorry, bro! We didn’t do it on purpose… it was an accident. Are you hurt badly? Are you okay?”

The boy rubbed his head and said,

“Yeah, bro, I’m fine. Don’t worry, it’s nothing serious. It’s okay, things like this happen while playing.”

Drishti, who was looking for the ball, finally found it. The voice sounded familiar to her. She turned back, her eyes widened in surprise, and she looked at the boy and said in shock,

“You… here too?”

The boy looked at Drishti with the same reaction and said,

“I should be asking that—what are you doing here? And this ball?”

Atiksh, watching the two of them react like that, got confused and asked,

“Guys, do you know each other already? Have you met somewhere before? Why are you both reacting like this?”

“This is the same Kabir Singh duplicate who broke my bike! And now he’s denying it, saying he didn’t do anything…” Drishti said through gritted teeth.

The boy, expressionless but in a slightly raised voice, said,

“I’m telling the truth. I didn’t do anything to your bike. I don’t know who did it… Wait a minute, did you purposely hit me with this ball?”

Hearing that, Drishti was speechless for a second. She couldn’t figure out what to even reply to this boy.

"I’m not interested in fighting with you again and again, and I was just playing my game. How was I supposed to know that you would suddenly pop up here again?" Drishti said, snapping at the boy.

The boy raised his voice slightly.

"So now I’m not even allowed to come here? And this isn’t your private property that no one can come or go. Anyone can come and go, understand?"

Drishti made a face and said,

"I never said that. You’re the one saying all this. On the contrary, I’m starting to suspect that maybe you’re the one who did all this to my bike… but you just won’t admit it."

The boy now spoke in a frustrated tone.

"How many times do I have to say that I didn’t do anything to your bike… believe it if you want, otherwise don’t. I don’t care."

Drishti replied with great attitude,

"Well, we’ll find out soon enough who did it all. And if I find out and there’s any evidence against you, just wait and watch what I’ll do."

The boy looked at Drishti for a second and answered in a flat tone,

"Ok, then talk to me after that, but first stop suspecting me and also stop fighting, understood?"

Atiksh tried to resolve the argument and calm them down.

"Hey, why are you two fighting like little kids, and that too without any proof?"

Drishti fumed and said,

"He’s the one who started it first. Tell him, why are you telling me?"

Atiksh tried to explain to her.

"I’m trying to explain to both of you."

Then he turned to the boy and said,

"Sorry, bro, I don’t know what happened between you two, but if you really didn’t do this, that’s a good thing. But if you did, then you’ll have to pay, because that bike was her only means to come to college. She doesn’t have any other way to travel."

The boy glared at Drishti and then said,

"So what’s the big deal? There are many kids in the world who go to school and college by bus or auto. She can come like that too. But I didn’t do anything to her bike."

When Drishti heard the boy’s words, her anger increased even more. She clenched her teeth and was about to open her mouth when Atiksh gestured for her to stay quiet. He then smiled and said to the boy,

"Sure, if the bike isn’t fixed, then she doesn’t have any other option. Anyway, thanks and sorry that the ball hit you."

Saying this, Atiksh took Drishti away from there. Watching them leave, the boy muttered to himself,

"Kids these days are really rude. They don’t even know how to talk to elders. I don’t know how my days are going to pass in this college."

The boy took a long, deep breath and continued on his way.

Meanwhile, everyone else was waiting for Drishti and Atiksh. They had seen what had happened there. When Atiksh came back with Drishti, everyone started asking questions.

Mahi asked,

"That boy again? What’s going on today, Drishti? You’ve been fighting all day!"

Rahul said,

"Looks like today’s going to be a bad day. After all this, I wonder how our lectures are going to be."

Atiksh calmed everyone down,

"Hey, all of you, calm down. I just went and solved the matter. Now you all don’t start again."

Noor chirped happily,

"Wow, that’s really great. Why don’t you do one thing, Atiksh? Why don’t you run for Head Boy? You help everyone and solve problems in a snap. You’re the perfect candidate!"

Atiksh slapped his forehead and refused clearly,

"Absolutely not. I only help my friends. I have no interest in solving the problems of the whole world or the college, and I don’t want to be Head Boy."

Hearing this, Noor pouted and said,

"Ok, as you wish. I was just suggesting."

Atiksh looked at Drishti and said,

"And you, don’t stress. By evening, everything will be clear. We’ll get the CCTV footage. Until then, chill and don’t make that small face, alright?"

Atiksh patted Drishti on the head. Then, the bell rang for the start of the college lecture. Himanshu picked up his bag and said,

"Come on, today the new semester is starting. We should hurry, or our professor will reach the classroom before us."

"I heard there are a lot of new subjects this time, like Digital Science. I’m really excited because I wanted a subject related to computers and technology, and now it’s included. I’m excited!" Drishti said happily.

Himanshu thought for a moment and said,

"Umm, I guess our Prajapati Sir will still be teaching us, because earlier he used to teach all the computer-related subjects. It must be him, and apart from him, no one else teaches well anyway."

Drishti agreed with Himanshu and said,

"Yeah, it’ll be him, and you’re right. No one else teaches as well as he does."

The group continued chatting with each other as they walked toward the classroom.

Classroom…

Today, the classroom was completely full. When Drishti and her friends entered, they were a little surprised because the classroom had never been this crowded before. Still, they all took their seats.

Drishti and Mahi sat toward the front, while Rahul and Noor went to the back as usual. That was always their spot—on the back bench by the window. Atiksh and Himanshu also sat on the seats beside Drishti.

Drishti took out her notebook and put her pen in her mouth while flipping through the pages. Atiksh opened a book and started reading. Meanwhile, Mahi started fiddling with her phone, looking at her photos and doing something.

Just then, the professor walked into the classroom. Everyone greeted the professor as he came in, but when Drishti and Atiksh saw their professor, their eyes widened in shock.