"Let's go," Sanyukta said. Randhir followed a few steps behind.

"Ek cheese Maggi," Sanyukta asked as soon as she reached the counter. "What about you?"

"Corn cheese sandwich, extra cheese," Randhir ordered.

"Wow, a gym rat like you eating cheese?" Sanyukta teased.

"I'm not obsessed with it like your best friend Parth," Randhir countered. "I know how to manage everything."

"And what does Parth have to do with anything?"

"You run around him like some fangirl begging for a scrap of attention, so I used your only point of reference."

"Excuse me! He's my best friend - and he helps me out as much as I help him out."

"It doesn't seem like that from where I'm standing."

Sanyukta let out a slow breath. She would be mature. She would try, at least.

"Randhir - you don't have any girl friends, you can't understand boy girl friendships."

Randhir smirked. "Of course I've had girlfriends, like Tanya from Biotech last year."

"Okay first of all I meant friends who are girls and more to the point, didn't you tell Tanya 'I don't have time for your silly fairytale love nonsense'? I found her crying in the laundry room an hour later."

"Oh come on! it wasn't that bad."

"It was awful Randhir. She only stopped because I bribed her with chocolate cake."

Randhir rolled his eyes. "Stop exaggerating, Sanyukta. I can't help it if she is overly sensitive. And one more thing - stop wasting my time with this! Let's focus."

"What the hell dude, you need some help seriously."

The waiter interrupted before Sanyukta could finish her rant.

"Maggi, aur capsicum tomato sandwich."

"I ordered a corn cheese sandwich!"

"And I asked for cheese Maggi, not plain."

"What to do," the waiter said. "we're out of stock. If you wanted all that you should have come before 5 AM."

"5 o clock?! Dude we have class in three hours, eat fast," Sanyukta said through a forkful of noodles.

"Didn't anyone teach you to close your mouth while chewing?" Randhir said. He moved the sandwich to his mouth and slowly bit off the corner, trying not to grimace as the tartness of the tomato exploded on his tongue. "I hate tomatoes and how slimy they are."

Good, Sanyukta thought. Let him suffer.

But a voice in her head - which sounded suspiciously like Parth - told her to act mature.

"Bhaiya!" She called to the waiter, who was busy sorting through new cutlery. "Can I have a fork please?"

"Here you go. And finish fast - I need to lock up the canteen."

Sanyukta nodded and turned to Randhir, holding out the fork to him.

"Here, you can have some of my Maggi," she said.

"Thanks Farzi."

"Wow, now I know I must be really sleep deprived because I thought you just said 'thank you'."

"Whatever, just hurry up," Randhir said.

"Well?" Sanyukta asked as they both ate in silence. "Aren't you going to share your food?"

Randhir passed the plate to her. He was too tired for wisecracks, he decided, as they polished off the snacks.

"Canteen is closed!" the waiter said. "You need to leave, now!"

"Fine, fine," Randhir grumbled as he followed Sanyukta out. "Hey wait, where are you going?"

Sanyukta turned back in surprise. "I was going to check the library, getting this done fast and all."

"Vidushi and I already checked there," Randhir said. "Let's brainstorm for a moment, before we run anywhere, yeah?"

"Oh and when I wanted to brainstorm last night it was not a good idea," Sanyukta said, but she sat next to him anyway. It was a calming feeling, sitting in the middle of the ground when the night was still and everyone on campus was asleep.

"Let's think about this logically, although that's impossible for you. Vidushi and I covered the grounds and the library, you and Kaustuki covered the girls' hostels, Jignesh covered the boys' hostels, and Parth wandered around like an idiot."

"Parth covered the mechanical engineering workshops. What else? Can we go to the admin buildings? Staff quarters?"

"You know they'll kill us if we go there. What about the labs?"

"Dad was super pissed after we broke that microscope," Sanyukta said. "I don't want to pay another two lakh fine."

Randhir laughed. "Yeah, my mom only calmed down after I told her about Microsoft. Those were the days man - those internship interviews in placement block were a break from Vardhan's crazy tasks."

Sanyukta stood up, excited. "That's the answer, Randhir! Placement block is always open for anyone who wants to prepare. The bags must be there."

"And even underfed, I come up with the right answer," Randhir crowed. "Let's go, Farzi."

They walked across the grounds to the placement block, the doors sliding open to let them inside.

"Wow this feels nice," Sanyukta said as a blast of chilled air hit her. 

"And we'll be needing that - elevator is out of order."

They took the stairs to the first floor. "I can't go on Randhir, please can you check?"

"Come on Farzi, no excuses."

"Fine, fine," she grumbled. "I was hoping we'd go just one day without these crazy tasks and late nights."

"I know what you mean," Randhir said. "My internship was a walk in the park compared to what Vardhan sir puts us through."

"Exactly! I didn't have to do anything at my internship."

"Aha! I knew it from the beginning," Randhir said. "You must have just whiled away your time at Google."

"No I didn't," Sanyukta protested. "I tested out this new system to calculate the total revenue from Google Ads. It was really important to make sure the testing system was accurate."

Randhir was stunned. "So you wrote a test...to check if a test was working properly? I knew your internship was a joke."

"Please...I made a bunch of contacts. And I worked out of the most amazing office. Besides, what revolutionary work did you do?"

"I did good work!"

Sanyukta narrowed her eyes. "Really?"

"Fine," he admitted. "I wrote a test..to test another test, which was testing the system. But before you say anything, you know that cloud computing is more complex than search."

"Wow!"

"So you agree with me?" Randhir was confused.

"No, look at that," Sanyukta said, pointing at the window.

The sun was peeking out from behind the horizon. The trees were bathed in orange light. The only living things awake at this hour were the birds.

"It's six am and the last place in the world I'd like to be is standing here with you."

"I'd rather be in bed too, you know," Sanyukta said. "And I can see the bags on the sixth floor landing!"

They dragged the bags to the ground floor, exhausted but triumphant, and slowly crossed to the hostels. "Good night, Sanyukta," Randhir said, when they reached the Academic Block. He left to the boys' hostel before she could respond.

Well then. Not everyone could be helpful. Parth was the exception, not the rule, she reminded herself.

Finally! She crept into the room and collapsed into bed without bothering to change out of her day clothes.

----

"Sanyu get up it's 8 o clock," Kaustuki said.

Sanyukta rolled over and mumbled, "Just let me sleep."

"First day of third year, you don't want to miss this."

"Okay, okay, I'm up," she said, dragging herself to a sitting position. "Where's my toothbrush?"

She stumbled to the restroom, grateful that it was empty. A shower will have to wait until classes are done, she thought. I have just enough time to change and grab some toast. I hope class is worth it.

Kaustuki was waiting for her when she went back. "Here, I packed your bag and picked out some clothes for you. Hurry up and change. Vidushi's already left."

Gratefully, Sanyukta got out of her dirtied clothes and stepped into the ironed clothes Kaustuki had laid out on her bed.

"There's no time for breakfast so I got you some energy bars," Kaustuki said. "Let's get to class."

"You are an absolute goddess, Kaustu," Sanyukta gushed. "What would I do without you."

"Don't be silly," Kaustuki waved her off. "You'd do the same for me. Plus you must have had a horrid time, stuck with Randhir."

"Yeah he's so annoying," Sanyukta said. "Wait, isn't class that way?"

"No silly, third year classes are in the East Wing. Look, there's Jiggy and Parth. Hi!" She waved.

"Good morning Kaustu," Jiggy said. He looked wide awake. "Madira's first class - let's see if she's as bad as everyone says."

"Stop bouncing around, it's annoying me," Randhir complained as he joined the group. "And let's go inside, I want a seat at the back for this class."

"Randhir Singh Shekhawat!"

With a sinking feeling, Randhir turned around to see Vardhan sir storming towards them. "I want the entire Dream Team here in the next sixty seconds. Quickly!"

Jiggy ran into the class to call Vidushi. "What's going on?" she said, confused. "Sir, is there an issue."

"Yes, Vidushi Kumar, there's a huge problem. You all succeeded yesterday but I failed," Vardhan said.

"Sir?"

"You found everything, but you still didn't learn to think on your feet. Can anyone tell me why?"

Complete silence greeted Vardhan's words.

"Typical," he huffed. "None of you know how to think. And why would you know how to think, when you leave all your thinking to your cell phones?"

"Sir, what's the issue with-"

"Quiet, Randhir! I was watching you all last night, trying to call each other and send SMSes instead of using your brains. Too dependent on technology for your own good, each and every one of you. No, Sanyukta, I don't want to hear anything."

He put up a hand to silence her.

"You are too dependent on two things - your money, and your cell phones. So you are going to learn how to live without them today."

"Okay sir," Sanyukta said, digging through her bag for her phone and purse. "Here you go."

"Wait a minute. I didn't tell you the full task."

"Full task?"

Vardhan smiled slowly. Terror shot through Sanyukta's spine. That smile never meant anything good.

"Of course I am going to collect your cellphones and wallets," Vardhan said. "But if I let you attend classes today, the only thing you'll learn is how to tolerate a few hours of boredom. No, your task is going to be very different. The college just got a new lathe for the Baja Racing team," he said.

"But it's stuck in the warehouse. I need you to bring it back here by 6 PM today."

"Sir but why should we do anything for the mechanical department?" Vidushi protested.

"Actually, I need you to have it installed and running by 5 this evening. Well? Does anyone have any more stupid objections, or is this task challenging enough."

"Sir our classes," Jignesh asked.

"I will explain it to your teachers. Just focus on the task. Anything else."

"One - one last question sir," Vidushi said. "Where is the warehouse located?"

"Good question, Vidushi," sir smiled. "See what a few seconds without your phone can do? Note it down: 513, Maruti Marg, Malviya Nagar."

"Mal- Malviya Nagar? Isn't that in Delhi?"

"Of course it is, Parth Kashyap. If the warehouse was in Roorkee, that wouldn't be any fun would it?"

Great. Sanyukta bit down her tongue and tried not to scream in frustration. No purse, no phone, and on top of that she had to go to Delhi again and be back by five in this sleep deprived state. This year was not looking good so far.

------

A/N: Long time no updates, but now that we're under lockdown I found some motivation. Hope you guys are doing well!

How was this chapter? I tried to do justice to Randhir and Sanyukta, and to the love hate relationship they share.

Tell me what you want in the next chapter, during their task in Delhi.

Until next time!