Chapter 1
*Rishika's POV*
I slowly open my eyes and yawn. What a beautiful day it is. But as beautiful as I consider this day, I'm also very nervous today. I wake myself fully and get off the bed, then I walk to the mirror and look at myself with a tiny smile.
Finally, I got admission to Aravalli International University. It was really hard to get a scholarship of such a big amount that could cover the cost of this expensive institute, but I did it. I got it, and today is my first day. I'm really very happy and a little nervous too.
After an hour, I am with my mom having breakfast in my small yet cozy home. I'm ready for college, clean, bathed, and dressed up completely, nothing like the girl with messy hair I saw in the mirror an hour ago.
Suddenly, my mom speaks in the middle of breakfast, "Rishu, you've worked so hard to get into this college. Now study well and don't waste your time in college. Students there are very rich and spoiled. Stay away from them, okay? They're no good. Especially boys, stay away from them..." And so on. My mom keeps talking, like every other brown parent, trying to fit these sentences into my mind, which I've heard from her thousands of times already.
After I finish my breakfast, I take an autorickshaw, and now I'm standing at the gate of my university.
It is such a huge building. I'll probably get lost here. My hard work paid off. I can't explain the feeling I'm feeling right now, the feeling of having the thing for which you didn't sleep for days and nights, the feeling of having the thing for which you skipped your breakfasts, and even dinner sometimes, the feeling of having the thing which won't let you sleep even when you're already asleep.
I exhale a long breath, trying to reduce my nervousness, and then walk through the first door with a tiny smile and a confident posture.
But I guess I'm not very lucky today, as after only a few steps, a basketball comes flying in my direction and hits me square in the face.
"Ah!" A startled tiny scream escapes my throat even before I can process what happened. It really hurts. I turn my face to the side to look who it is, and there is a group of boys playing basketball in the open court.
They notice me and the fact that they accidentally hit me, and then three of them approach me. A tall guy bends and picks up the basketball from near my feet. Then the one who hit me speaks up, "I'm really sorry, miss. I didn't mean to hit you."
I mumble in a low voice, "It's alright. I know you didn't mean to."
Their faces relax visibly. I guess they're from the second or third year, as if they were freshers like me, they wouldn't have a friend group already on their first day, and they wouldn't have been playing basketball on their first day instead of being nervous or excited.
I sigh and continue walking while rubbing my face lightly where the ball hit me, thinking about the bad luck I have to get hit on the very first day of my college. God knows what else this day holds for me. But yeah, a small part of me is relieved as they didn't react in an entitled or arrogant way as expected from them and apologized politely.
After a long search, and roaming the entire campus like an idiot, I finally find the auditorium. I relax visibly and then step inside the huge auditorium. No exaggeration, but this is really the college everyone dreams of. The auditorium is so big and has a lot of air conditioners in it. I don't have a single one at my home. What a pity.
Then I take a seat in the auditorium as today is the orientation day for our college. I can tell that everyone here is as nervous as me, though the only difference between me and them is that most of them are wearing branded, expensive clothes, shoes, and jewellery, and me... well, I'd rather not notice what I'm wearing so that I won't feel as embarrassed as I'll feel when I pay attention to the difference between their status and mine.
But I guess I look presentable. I'm all clean, and my clothes may not be branded, but I have a good taste in clothes, so no one would notice unless they search for a brand tag on them.
I finally sit straight as the program finally begins, and everyone else also takes a seat and focuses on the event unfolding in front of our eyes.
It looks so peaceful, so dreamlike, as I finally have everything I wanted, and now I'm going to focus on my studies and thrive in my career.
But no, nobody knows about the storm that's about to enter my life, not even me. The storm that will break the peaceful world I've woven with such great strength and hard work, and everything will be a complete mess.
