Let's start

Come morning, the sun rose. Vy readied for class. He was thinking about breakfast, when sounded the knock. Dee had come.

"What're you doing here?" He asked.

"Good morning to you too," she replied. "Ready?"

"Yeah," he answered, after a second. "You?"

"Really?"

She was amused. As stupid as the question was, it surely was him. Only he could think of asking that when she had come over to walk him to class. And still sound more silly than stupid.

"Let's go," she said.

She grabbed his hand, and pulled him out. The residents had all returned. There was an equal distribution of genders in the building. Still, it wasn't everyday that a person of the opposite gender came over to visit a resident so early in the morning. It sure was suspicious, since the two were obviously off to college. Didn't that mean they were a couple. And who didn't like catcalling young couples.

Vy and Dee were shameless enough to be amused and even entertained by the reactions. There was no room for embarrassment.

"You ate?" He asked when they left the building.

"Of course," she answered, giving him a gaze that said it was a stupid question.

"I didn't," he said. "I'm hungry. I want ramen."

"Is noodles all you eat?"

She spoke as if exasperated, but the glint in her eye gave up the truth. She was salivating too, for uncle Bay's ramen.

"Ramen?" Bay asked when they walked in.

"Of course," Vy replied.

"Me too," Dee added smiling her sweetest smile.

Bay prepared his best ramen for his favourite customers.

"College?"

Vy answered with a nod. Dee was nicer, used words.

"Yeah. First day."

"Is that excitement?" Bay asked.

"Where?" Vy asked seriously.

Dee was confused. Bay was stunned. He wondered if these two would be fine really?

"Have a nice day," Bay wished them as they left.

Dee had only one thing to say along the walk.

"I want to see if it goes as you said it would."

"It will," Vy said without a hint of doubt.

"I want to see," she said in the same tone.

"There's a bigger thing first," he said.

"What?"

"I can't sit in my usual place in the back. Li wouldn't like that."

"So? Sit anywhere else."

"It'll be boring."

"Sit with me."

"That's what I wanted."

They were both smiling happily. They were neither early nor late to class. They were noticeably different though. She sat in her usual place, at the front left corner. He sat next to her, surprising everyone. Whispers flowed, loud enough to reach Vy and Dee. They remained shameless. And that strengthened the whispers.

Dee looked at Vy as Li walked in. Li walked past without pausing, without as much as looking at Vy. It was exactly as Vy said. Dee couldn't understand why she felt so troubled.

Dee's usual neighbour, Annie, was the first to voice the doubt loudly, as soon as she walked in too.

"What's going on here?"

Annie seemed a quiet girl because she was always smiling and her lips rarely parted. But only those who were really close knew the truth hidden underneath the public image. Annie was loud, sharp tongued and brazen with her taunts. Being Annie's best friend, how could Dee not know?

"It's not what you're thinking in that dirty head of yours," Dee spat.

"Then it's surely smellier shit," Annie replied, with an innocent smile. "Like you've got diarrhoea, and it's all green. Bright, flashy green."

"Yuck," Dee said disgustedly. "You rotten dog. Go clean your mouth."

Dee made a sweeping motion. Annie shrugged, but made no motion to leave. Instead, she sat on the other side of Vy, and stared into his face intently.

"Nothing really," Vy answered finally. "I'm sort of in trouble. Kindly Dee is offering me place to hide."

"Who did you mess with," Annie asked in a gossipy voice.

"Huh?"

Vy didn't understand. Dee didn't care to explain. Annie was just waiting for the answer. And the professor walked in, ending the conversation.

The morning was quiet. Everyone else had questions. And since Vy was so far away, they looked to Li for answers. After all, Vy and Li were close. Li would definitely know why Vy abandoned the back of the class. Unfortunately, Li didn't spare an ear for any question about Vy.

After lunch, Li called Vy aside. She had Moni with her. She spoke the exact same words from the story, with the very same feeling. Vy was truly shaken. It was so much more than what he pictured. He felt so much more hurt, for her. He remained quiet throughout, and in the end nodded when she asked him to stay away.

Dee had been eavesdropping. After Li and Moni left, she walked over. She held Vy's hand as they leaned against the wall. Neither spoke for a long while. And then, Dee did.

"I still don't know. But maybe it's real. So, what do we do?"

Vy shrugged. He didn't know. He didn't have the plan charted out to the finest detail. He knew the desired end, and had a rough estimate of the path to that end.

"Get Ash and Li together," he said.

Dee nodded.

"Right. Of course. Ash is Li's happy ending, obviously. Where's he?"

"Far away."

"And what's the plan for getting them closer?"

"I don't know."

"How do they meet in the story?"

"The parents arrange for them to marry."

"So, we don't really have to do anything. The parents will still get them together."

"You think?"

"If this is the story as you say it is, then the inevitable end is inevitable. Isn't it?"

"I guess that makes sense."

"Then, all we need to do, is keep away from Li. It's that simple."

"I hope so."

He really did hope it was that simple. But he really couldn't think of anything else. He did ask for Dee's help. So he should pay heed to her advice, shouldn't he? At least, until Li asked him out, she wouldn't have anything to do with him. And until then, he would do exactly as Dee suggested.

"Alright then," he said, cheerily. "Let's just do our stuff."

"And what's that?"

"For starters, the project. I've got an idea. Let's write a replicating program."

"What's that?"

"I don't know. It sounds cool though, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, it does."

"We'll figure it out. We've got the whole semester, don't we?"

"Yeah, we do. I'm just going along with whatever."

She pressed his hand. He smiled, and leaned his head over ever so slightly. It was nothing to outsiders. But to them, it was something.

"Yeah," he agreed.