6

"You Okay?" he asked as they walked back to the cafeteria.

She nodded. "No medicines to eat. Thank God," She told him.

"You should go back two days later and put on the medicine and change the dressing." He told her. She nodded again.

"Thank you." She thanked him.

"It's fine. Come you must be hungry." He said and they went straight to collect food again.

They stood on the line again to collect food. "You shouldn't much eat non-veg when you have a chance to get an infection from the wound. I think you did but yesterday." He said.

"You saw me?" she asked in a surprised tone.

"Yep." They collected the food and went to the empty table.

"I saw you in a bookshop yesterday." She told him. "What's your major?" she asked him, curious to know.

"I'm doing research currently for my thesis. I also teaching creative writing for the first year's." He said. "You must be of art major." And she nodded back eating silently trying to assume his age. 'he looks too young to be a teacher.' She thought.

"What's your name?" he asked her.

"Dariya. Yours?"

"Brandon" he sad his name. Soon they finished lunch and went to their own classes. "see you around." He said and left.

Weeks passed and nothing changed. Dariya overworked herself on a work she had chosen for the final year project. She was so bored and nothing else to do that she completed her project already while four months were left for her course to be completed. Dariya often went to her hideout in the campus behind the main campus, near the botanical garden. She sat under the shades of the tree trying to sketch the flower garden opposite her. Brandon stood behind her watching her stroke the paint on the canvas. Brandon has seen her before under the same tree. But never once has she seen him before immersed in her own world. Dariya never was aware even if anyone was around.

"Beautiful," Brandon commented. Dariya jumped our of horror and turned around to see who it was. She spilled the paint in her hand on him and the paint sprayed on his face from the brush. Yellow paint in the face and spilled in the black shirt.

"God, you scared me!" she told him breathing heavily.

"Am sorry I didn't mean to scare to get the paint shower." He said laughing. She kept the paints and brush down and took out her scarf to the rub off the paint from him.

"Sorry sorry." She apologized. "I didn't mean to" she stopped in the middle thinking what she was doing. He was looking at her. "Apology accepted," he said and took her hands off from his cheek. She took her hands back swiftly and said.

"Do on your own." She gave him a bottle of water to wash the paint from the shirt. But it wasn't going much. It was really funny to watch him, and she wanted to laugh. But she stood there, controlling "Consider that a new style." She commented.

"I know you wish to laugh so much. Please do. I don't mind." He told her understanding how much she was controlling trying not to meet his eyes. She kept her hands on her mouth, smiling. In the end, she burst out laughing and accidentally hit on his hands spilling all the water on his clothes. she didn't even know that and kept laughing. After a few minutes, she stopped only to see him drenched in water. She kept both her hands on the mouth. "Sorry" she whispered.

"I needed it." He said looking at her. He understood that she hasn't laughed much before. There was a sparkle in her eyes that told him the story. He enjoyed that. He enjoyed the moment with her.