Suddenly, an unknown person appeared behind Veer.
"Yo! Mind if I sit with you guys for lunch?"
"Yes, we mind. Please fuck off," Veer replied in a playful, sarcastic tone, still unaware of who was standing behind him.
"Bruhh," The person standing behind responded, sounding discouraged.
Dep and Kevin nonchalantly gaze at each other with an unperturbed look. But internally they were screaming for Veer to not blow this opportunity.
…
"He’s just goofing around. Come sit with us," Kevin reassured him while forcing a smile.
Veer lowered his voice and leaned closer to Kevin. "What? Why are we letting someone sit with us?" Veer asked, still not realizing who was behind him.
Dep leaned closer towards Veer and whispered in his ear "Turn around, you freaking moron,".
Veer turned around and his eye lit up with surprise. ‘No way. It’s him; it’s Abhi!’ he thought to himself.
"Damn, you almost got me! Ha-ha," Abhi said with an awkward smile as he stood behind Veer.
"*Cough* my bad. *Cough* I just can’t help myself. Gotta do a little bit of trolling, you know..." Veer said, finally realizing that the key to unlocking the truth had willingly walked straight into their pockets.
"It’s all right… If you all forgot about me, I’m—"
"Abhi! Your Abhi. We know you, mate. There’s only one person who had an intro we didn’t forget the next minute," Kevin interjected.
"Yeah, everyone was shocked. Are you really from Rakvill?" Veer asked nonchalantly.
"Yes," Abhi answered bluntly, then continued: "Also, it’s been a few hours, so I could have forgotten some of your names by now. Can I double-check? The last thing we want is for years to go by without knowing each other's names, right?"
"Yeah, that’s fine," said Dep.
They were all about to reintroduce themselves when Abhi spoke up first.
"Veer, the orange-haired skinny dude who likes MMA," Abhi said, pointing at Veer, who was sitting next to him.
"Damn! That’s one way to describe me," Veer replied.
"I’m sorry; that’s just how I memorize things. It’s a habit… more like an instinct," Abhi explained.
"Okie dokie," said Veer.
"Kevin, the big buff dude—uh, I mean, the dude with long black hair who likes going to the gym?"
"I’ll take that as a compliment, ha-ha," Kevin laughed.
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"And… Deep?" Abhi continued.
"Nuhuh, it's Dep. Also, why don't I get a Memory Description as well, huh?" Said Dep.
"Oh sorry, I'll try next time." Replied Abhi.
"Heh, so you are gonna forget my name again? So bad, at least you could have mentioned my luscious brown hair." Said Dep in a silly grumpy tone while pouting her lips.
“Uhhmm” Abhi reacted….
"Stop pulling his leg." Said Kevin.
"Ha-ha, it's fine." Said Abhi.
"By the way, Is Abhi like a shortened name? I go by Dep, shortened from Deepika, so is your real name Abhishek or Abhijit?" Asked Dep
"No, it's just Abhi; which literally just means 'Now' Quite funny, isn't it."
"Pretty cool yeah." Said Veer.
"Nice, so when did you come to town?" Asked Kevin in an attempt to pry into the mystery behind Abhi.
"Just a few months ago... I also have a part-time job after school." Said Abhi.
"Oh, so did you leave Rakvill around the end of last year?" Asked Kevin.
"Maybe…. I don't exactly remember." Answered Abhi.
"Really? Wasn't that around the time the war had ended?" Said Veer.
Kevin subtly looks at Veer, gazing at him with his piercing eyes. Expressing displeasure over Veer asking that question.
"I don't know, by the way, my job gives me a house to live in as a bonus," Said Abhi, seemingly divergent from the trio's questions.
"Hey, that's pretty cool, I do hear about some hard jobs giving these types of facilities from my father." Said Dep with an energetic tone to Abhi.
"Well, it's work at a steel factory, so it's as hard as it gets around here, no pun intended." Said Abhi while softly chuckling.
The rest of the group also lets out a giggle which eases the atmosphere a bit.
"Great, by the way, I wanted to ask if you know anything about incident 99 of Rakv-" Kevin gets interrupted while finishing his sentence.
"Heyyy Abhi, wanna try some of Paneer Tikka?" Veer interrupted that question, giving Kevin the same piercing gaze he received from him just moments before.
"Oh thanks, Veer but I'll have to pass, you don't have much food left."
"Ay, don't worry 'bout it, I ate plenty. You can eat as much as you want. Well, I wouldn't mind sharing your food either, my parents don't want me to eat the Mid-day meal, and the food lady rats me out if I get some without my parent's permission, so I really would like to try some. Equivalent Exchange ya know."
"Ha-ha, Alright then I'll appreciate your Paneer Tikka, my friend," Said Abhi in a comically high-pitched tone.
"Ha-ha, go ahead, it's all yours." Veer slid his tiffin box towards Abhi, and then Abhi joined his hands and said a quick prayer.
He takes a bite of the food and, for a second sits there silently staring at nothing.
"Wow, it's amazing, Veer. Thank your mom for me please." Said Abhi while slowly chewing the bite in his mouth.
"Sure, though my chef made the dish, not my mom." Said Veer.
"Oh… Well, say thanks to your chef as well then." Said Abhi in a silly tone
"Sure ha-ha." Veer chuckled back at Abhi.
…
"I need to go to the bathroom real quick. I'll be right back" Said Abhi, then he slowly stood up and walked away.
The group gazed at Abhi while he slowly walked towards the school building, they did not speak a single word until he finally entered the school building. As soon as he was out of sight:
"That was sudden." Said Dep while gazing at the entrance of the building where Abhi was last seen.
"Kevin, you dummy, what if he left because of you." Said Veer with a stern irritated voice.
"What did I do?" Said Kevin while creasing his eyebrows in confusion.
"Weren't you piercing me with those gloomy eyes of yours when I was asking Abhi about the exact time he left Rakvill?" Said Veer
"Yeah, asking that question was too personal, too quick. He could've become suspicious of why you were digging for information so hard." Replied Kevin.
"So why did you go straight to asking about incident 99? Wouldn't it be even worse?" Said Veer.