New Beginnings

45- Home

I winced seeing his face, it looked like I gave him a 440 volt shock.

Everyone turned their attention towards us, raising their eyebrows,  as Samar had shouted in shock.

"It's nothing", I waved them off.

Twins went back to their devices, rolling their eyes at us and Samar's Mom didn't bother giving us any reaction.

"Relax. It is not a final decision", I held his hand back, trying to get him oit of his shocked state.

"Why are you thinking about going?" he whined, for the first time.

I chuckled at his cute expressions but explained everything.

"When I came to know that there was only one college in this town, I was furious. That day, Uncle and Aunt promised me that they would let me study in the city if I still wanted to, after I complete the two years of Junior college here".

"So you have decided to go", he spoke, more to himself than me.

"Nope. I am still considering all the pros and cons before coming to a decision. That's why, I wanted to meet your brother to know about everything", I answered patiently, knowing this news would be hard to digest.

"I don't understand one thing. Why do you want to talk to my brother about studying in a city? You have already studied in a city for almost your whole life", he asked me, looking confused.

"I have experience of studying in a city but I don't have experience of staying far away from home while studying", I cleared his doubt.

He smiled softly at my answer and said, "You have always called it Aunt's house or just house but today you called it a home".

"It feels like home now", I replied, smiling as well.

Home: I couldn't pinpoint the moment when the house started feeling like home; when my fake smiles turned into real one's; when they started becoming my family.

Yeah, there were ups and downs but which family didn't. They were my family and I wasn't an outsider anymore.

Along the time, I understood why I had angry outbursts over their little mistakes. Though they made mistakes, my reactions were overboard. It was probably because that was the only way I could express my pain and hurt, which I had buried deep inside my heart. When I started understanding it, my outbursts lessened to a great extent.

I still felt the loss of my parents, missed them like crazy but it didn't kill me from inside like it did before. I had my family to help me cope up with my loss and fill me with all the love they had.

Along with my family, I found some wonderful people in this year. One of whom is groaning in a low voice right now.

"What happened?" I asked Samar, who was groaning in a low voice like he was in pain.

"You will be so far away, if you decide to go. Now I need to ask my brother about how to maintain long distance relationships", Samar answered pouting.

A laugh left my lips, hearing his absurd problem.

"I haven't even decided yet and you are already worrying. Look at you, didn't even propose me and already thinking about long distance relationship", I spoke with a chuckle.

"I haven't yet, but I will ask you to be my girlfriend. So the question still matters", he countered with a huff.

"What do I do with you?" I asked cutely and rested my head on his shoulders, asking him to wake me up when we stopped.

~~~•~~~

After making two stops for food and washroom, We arrived at the camp. One look at it and my eyes went wide. Twins had the same expression as me. I couldn't understand why they called it a camp when it was an institute.

Samar's Mom went ahead to register our names while we stood there looking here and there.

After registering and paying, she came towards us with a young volunteer.

The volunteer had a bright smile on her face while she introduced herself.

"Hello, my name is Naina and I have been selected to show the new visitors around".

"We are new but Samar and his Mom are coming here since many years. So, I don't think we will need help as they can show us around", Raghav rejected her help in a frank yet polite tone.

She gave us an uneasy smile after hearing him but switched it back into a bright smile, she had before.

"Alright. I will just show you your rooms and give you my contact number just in case you need me".

We all nodded at her and followed her towards the building.

When we reached, she gave us two keys of our rooms.

"Only two?" Rishi asked, with furrowed eyebrows.

"Ah! Yes. Even though this camp is open for the whole year, it gets crowded during vacations. So we cannot allot more rooms. You will have to share. I am sorry for the inconvenience", Naina answered apologetically.

"Why are you saying sorry dear, it's not your fault. We understand", Samar's Mom said smiling softly at her, taking the keys from her hands.

Naina went away after giving her contact number, still having a wide smile on her face.

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