CHAPTER 4

Thursday night,

I'm really excited and packing all the important things that I need for the next 4 days in India. 'Ring, ring' I heard my phone ringing so I immediately attend the call as I know who was calling.

"Bindu, come down, we're waiting for you. " Said, my brother. I think you guys already guess, yes, my nickname is Bindu and only people who are close with me are allowed to call me like that.

"Yeah, I'm coming. Did you bring all my sparring stuff?" I replied with doubt.

"We have already brought everything. You come down first," said my brother in an infuriating tone.

"Okay, I will be there in two minutes," I said and hung up the phone without waiting for a reply.

I got up and informed Abinaya that my family members are at downstairs so I got to go. She nodded and smile. I sprint downstairs and saw my mom, father, brother and my little sister waiting for me. I was delighted when they come to visit me. When I get closer to the car, my brother hand over my passport, snacks and sparring guards. Actually, it is kinda strange because my family members don't hug each other very often so the only person I love to embrace is my little sister. I went to her to give her a tight hug and told her that I am going to meet Shivaay Nigam. She smiled at me and said "send the pic to mom after you take pictures with Shivaay" I said, "done".

After a few minutes, they said a final goodbye and went back home. At that moment, I felt like I fell in the dump when I saw them going away from me. My eyes were filled with tears, but I wipe them before it flows. I took all the things and walk towards my room. As fast as I reach my room, I finished the remaining packing. Finally, I was done with my packing and I felt butterflies flying in my stomach when I think about the tournament. In a meantime, I fell asleep while talking to myself.

The next morning, I rolled out of my bed from the beep of my alarm. It was 6.30 in the morning and I have to go to college at 8 o'clock so I lead my way to the washroom and got refreshed. After some time, I got ready to leave, but before took my step out my hearts told me to look back at the room. I saw my roommates were sleeping peacefully, so I decided to not leave the room without informing my friend. I leaned down to her and tried to wake her up, but she hummed. I get closer to her ear and said "hey, bye I'm leaving. Are you listening?" I muttered because I don't want to disturb the other two roommates.

She turned and replied, " hmm, All the best, be safe and don't forget to message me when you reach there." When she finished the last line I felt that there's someone who cares about me. I nodded and said, "sure, bye." She got up and mumbled "bye" while hugging me.

Then, I took all my things and went out of the room. While waiting for the elevator, I booked for Grab so it will be here as soon as I go down. A few minutes later, the car I booked reached and head to the campus. In the meantime, there were so many questions bothering me which are 'Will I able to win this tournament? What if I didn't win? I don't want to disappoint my coach and family members.'

The nervousness in me turned into tears. But I was very sure about one thing that "no matter what, I need to come back with a gold medal or if the game is hard, at least I need to get a silver," I muttered and make a promise to myself. I guess you guys also have made promises to yourself before going to the exam or participating in a game.

" Miss we are here," said the driver. I looked up to check whether I came to the right place and got out of the car after paying him. When I was walking to the entrance I saw everyone was already there before me. I felt so embarrassed. Of course, right when you come late, you feel uneasy and awkward because everyone will stare at you like you are coming from different planets. I am proud of myself that I can read your mind. Hahaha... it's kind of an unpleasant moment.

As fast I settled down, I asked one of my team members " am I late?" with a peculiar look. She smirked and said, "No. Don't worry. Actually, we are waiting for the driver who is going to bring us to the airport,". After hearing that I took a deep breath.

After waiting for half an hour, a van parked in front of us. We picked our things up and arranged them in the van. "It's already 8.30 and our flight is at 9.30 so we need to rush," said my coach to the driver while giving an angry glance.

When we checked in at the airport, there was appalling news waiting for us.