"Ha ha boy, don't hold me in such high regard now..." he responded, "... 'for who knows what unforeseen event will change the minds of them readers...!' "
"Heh.." I smirked, turning back at him. My mood was slowly lightening up once again,
"So Avinash, what do you think of this... lovely morning?" I asked, getting my eyes familiar to that frame containing him. There was not a single person around at that moment excluding me and him,
"Hmm... What can I say about this day that you have not already experienced with your own senses?" he replied, in an accent which almost sounded dreamy,
"Man, you are really like that last piece of a puzzle board, you know," I said, taking a step towards him,
"Whoa, that's a completely random comparison...!" he commented, meekly, standing at that same position.
"Like... you always appear casually at the moment when you are needed, and become an important deal all of a sudden... you know what I mean to say right?" I expressed, wearing a cheerful expression,
Listening to my complement, his head drooped down for a moment.
"...Absolutely...!" he replied, looking up at my face once again, wearing an enigmatic smile on his face."So... what are you doing out here?"
"I... was just taking a look around the campus, you know, revisiting some moments from the past and emo stuff like that," answered Avinash. His smile faded, replaced by a countenance of concern as he cast anxious glances all around him.
"Okay, I see...?"
Something was wrong...!
My mind was at that point totally exhausted from all the nonstop chain of events that had taken place since morning and I was not at all ready to get involved into anything else so I just continued with the casual conversation.
It was just then that I noticed something very unusual- he was not carrying his bagpack along with him.
"Hey, where's your bagpack?" I asked, forcing a casual tone to avoid suspicion,
"Oh... It's in class," he answered.
"Oh..." I replied, gazing thoughtfully at him.
As soon as I neared him a little more, he quickly grabbed my right hand and pulled me close to him.
"Okay, listen to me now," he whispered, in a serious voice.
"Yeah...?" I voiced, calming my fight or flight tendencies,
"No no no- don't get tensed up unnecessarily, it's nothing serious... rather it's something really interesting," he preached, getting a hint of my suspicion,
"That's okay... but what is 'it'? " I asked once again,
"So, I... was just suggesting... that umm as we are both already late for class, how about we take a quick.. trip from somewhere?"
Everything was silent for a moment as I was even more dumbfounded than the preeceding moment.
"Huh...!? That's... it?" I exclaimed hysterically, and in absolute confusion,
"Yeah... that's basically it" he responded,
"Oh... T-t-that's totally okay...!" I replied, forcefully shutting down my brain. "But where is it that we are going?" I asked, my enthusiasm bursting forth at the thought of unplanned adventure.
"The factory" he replied, in the blink of an eye, almost as if he was waiting for my question.
"The factory!?" I exclaimed, glancing at him with an expression close to disbelief.
"Sssh!" He whispered, putting a finger on his lips,
"What the hell is going on?" I interrogated, totally bewildered by his actions.
"You are asking too many freaking questions...!" he complained, repeatedly glancing at our surroundings,
"Are you perhaps... hiding from someone?" I asked, looking at his cautious attire.
"Well..." he whispered, looking at our surroundings with a thoughful expression. I was still struggling to comprehend the reason behind his peculiarly random wish of visiting the factory.
"Heyy.."
As I called him another time, he glanced at me all of a sudden wearing an extremely nostalgic look on his face. The last time I had seen that look on his face was nearly a year before, when he had shown me his concept art for one of our best arc of our comic, Shilpi. "Okay... I will enlighten you with all the details as soon as we are out of here. Just trust me for now," he stated, excitedly patting on my back.
"But wait...!" I stated, suppressing my voice to an extent, "Isn't the route to the factory strictly off-limits?"
"Heh he heh," he replied, a dreamy smile evident on his face.
"That is the entire reason for its importance!"
As he uttered those words, an aura of hopeful enthusiasm seemed to envelop him—or maybe it was just my imagination, as I had never heard him express anything similar before.
"Let's Go!" he declared. "Maybe you will get to see something that will open your eyes to something far... beyond ordinary!" saying that, he set off towards the opposite end of the campus with quick footsteps.
It had been a series of events since morning. Just moments ago, I was attempting to recover from what appeared to be a major setback, and now I found myself on a mission to trespass my way into a restricted old factory!
'Whatever' I thought, launching myself after him, 'atleast I am doing something interesting this time!'
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