Evyaan always manages to grab everyone's attention when he's around. When he asked me to help with his bag in front of my friends, everyone's entire conversation shifted to him—his eyes, hair, watch, and whatnot. I grew tired of the discussion when someone suddenly covered my eyes.

"Guess who?" she said, adding an accent to make it stand out.

"Vani-Vanie?" I stuttered, not too confident in my answer but said it anyway.

"Yeah! Girl, haven't I asked you to find me?" she pouted and scolded me.

"I'm sorry, I didn't see you in the restaurant," I stammered again, unsure how to reply.

"Girl, chill. I'm kidding!" she replied, and I relaxed a bit. I really thought I had disappointed her.

She looked over my shoulder and smiled at others. I turned back, and they smiled back at her too.

"Hi, I'm Vanie," she introduced herself, and everyone followed suit.

Vanie seemed to enjoy their company as they chatted for a long time. I tried fitting in again, doing my best to communicate more, but I tired too quickly. Then, Aakib came to save me. I excused myself from the girls, and Vanie warned me again to look for her, or she'd get mad.

"Hi, I'm Aakib, by the way," Aakib said on our way. "Oh, I know," I replied.

"That's great, but you gotta tell me your name. It'll be weird if I keep calling you Evyaan's seatmate," he said with a straight face, embarrassing me to the bones. God, why didn't I say, "Oh, I'm Samayara"? Why do I have to be this awkward all the time?

"I'm sorry, it's Samayara," I said, and he didn't reply but just nodded. We fetched Evyaan's bag and made our way towards our buses.

"Samayara, tell Evyaan that Evaana will visit him," he said, handing me his bag outside the bus. It was quite heavy, but Aakib didn't even budge after seeing me struggle and left. I personally liked it this way—someone who doesn't bother about others' business. I don't like getting help in general.

"And yes, if I ask her, she'll definitely agree," I heard Evyaan while boarding the bus. He was talking to Laksh. He looked quite surprised seeing me there, and I was surprised to see him flustered. He quickly came over to take his bag from me.

"Um, Samayara, what I was saying was, don't you think the upper chambers are better? They're more comfortable, and you know there will be less noise," he blurted.

"Yeah, they sound great!" I replied.

"So, do you mind exchanging seats and getting the seat parallel to me?" he blurted the words again before letting me speak. So that's what he was talking about with Laksh.

"Yeah, the upper chambers sound cool," I said, taking a breath of relief. He must have felt I might disagree, but upper seats are good, being parallel with Evyaan is better. He offered me the meds again, and I returned him his AirPods.

"Aakib asked me to tell you that Evaana will visit you," I told him. "And your favourite Evaana is here." An energetic Evaana hopped on the bus with a not-so-energetic Samrudh.

"Missed me, babygirl?" she asked, pulling me closer.

"Yeah, I did," I replied, and Samrudh rolled his eyes.

"Roll your eyes again, and I'll poke them, Samrudh." "First, get the work done. Not everyone has that much energy like you," they bickered.

"Guys, let's get the work done first," Evyaan interrupted them. They discussed a few things for a while, and I texted my family for the time.

"Done," Samrudh said, and Evaana came over to my seat. "free now?" I asked, and she nodded, resting her head on my shoulder. I was stunned for a moment, but Evaana must find it comfortable to rest like this. I noticed her very pretty hands, and the watch she wore was identical to Evyaan's. It was beautiful.

"You both have matching watches? it's so cute!" I remarked.

"No!" they both shouted in unison. "It's just a gift from our elder sister. It's a watch with GPS locations, so in case we get into trouble, we'll be able to contact her directly. In short, she's paranoid," she said, standing up.

"With a troublemaker sister like you, anyone would be," Samrudh teased.

"This is why I don't say anything before you," Evaana replied quite annoyed.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't know-" I tried to explain, in case she would get angrier.

"Samayara! Why do you apologize so much? You didn't even said anything wrong. Stop apologizing, babygirl," she said softly. "And we're not leaving because you said something, but because we'll be late if we stay here any longer," she clarified. She must have read my expression.

"Bye, guys," Samrudh said, and they both left. Soon, students from our bus also started entering!

"Let's go to our seats," Evyaan said, yawning. We were all really tired after a long, LONG day. We climbed the upper deck and he checked his phone.

"Goddamit! My battery is too low to call," he exclaimed, searching for Kiaan, but he hadn't entered the bus yet.

"You can take mine if you want," I offered.

"Really? Thank you so much!" he said, taking my phone. He copied a number from his phone before plugging it in to charge. He texted something, then video-called someone. A very pretty lady with quite identical yet not so similar features to him picked up the call.

"Hi di! I'm sorry, my phone died, so I called from my friend's phone," he said excitedly. So he thinks we're friends? Being his friend felt like an achievement to me. It's nice to be Evyaan's friend, I smiled at the thought.

"It's alright, Evyaan. So how's the journey? You'll reach your hotel tomorrow morning, right?"

"Yes, di, we'll reach tomorrow evening actually. And the journey is so beautiful! I'll send you the pictures when I charge my phone," he replied.

"Sure! I'll be waiting!! Have you taken your med-" she was about to ask when Kiaan snatched the phone from Evyaan.

"Hi di! Di, I'm mad at you! Why didn't you make me get that navigating watch? I need it more than anyone else here," he said loudly, and a worried, well-suited man appeared on the screen, who was most likely startled by Kiaan's loud voice. "No, it's just my brother," she explained to him, and he left.

"Di, you're still working, and why hasn't Mr. Vishwas left yet?" Evyaan interrogated, taking the phone back from Kiaan. "We have some emergency at work, Evyaan, and don't make a scene about such small things," she whispered angrily.

"But di-" Evyaan was about to say something when Kiaan snatched the phone again, and Evyaan looked annoyed enough to throw hands.

"Di?" he said with puppy eyes to her. "I'm so sorry, Kiaan. I promise to get you one when you return," she said, and Kiaan climbed up Evyaan's deck, and then they chatted for a bit.

"Okay now, return the phone. Your friend must want it back," she said. "Oh, she's right here, di, say hi," Evyaan turned the screen towards me. I straightened my posture, saying, "Hi! I'm Vedika, the Jadeja Twinnies' guardian and elder sister," she said gracefully.

"Hi Di!" I replied awkwardly. She smiled at me, and Evyaan turned the screen again, likely noticing the awkwardness in the air. Evyaan soon hung up and returned my phone saying, "Thanks again." Kiaan and Evyaan talked for a bit, and I dozed off. 

IN THE MORNING ❄️

I got very thirsty and woke up quite early in the morning, only to find Evyaan sleeping facing on from my side. 

He looks like a dream. His fluffy hair fell on his huge lashes. His complexion brighter than usual and his dark parted lips. his biceps looking larger under his head and his one hand hanging out from the seat. He might hurt himself if he continues to stay like this. So I got down and was about to place his arms on the seat when he grabbed my hand tightly and reached down.

He inched closer to my face, his hair still falling on his eyes and I again noticed his face features closely. His eyes slowly opened before me and we both panicked. 

"I'm sorry I thought you were Kiaan and you're trying to pull me down," he explained in his deep raspy voice. He let go of his grip on my hand. A deep pink shade appeared on his cheeks. he looks more handsome when he's shy.

"Samayara? Are you okay? I'm sorry I really didn't mean to do it" he said worriedly. his half-sleepy voice didn't help with the explanation I was just distracted by it.

"Samayara!" he called out quite loudly. "Uh, yes! I'm okay!" I replied hurriedly.

"That's great!" he said, running his hands through his hair, once again looking too unreal doing it. "Is there anything on my face, Samayara?" he asked. "Uhh, no. Why?" I replied.

"Then why do you keep staring at me like that?" he asked, clearly confused. "No, I'm sorry, I-" I got lost in finding words and he understood what he said and got shy. "Uhh, it's alright," he replied, and the deep pink shade on his cheek made its appearance again. He turned his head in a different direction, and I turned to see Kiaan leaning his head on the deck, and some others were watching us.

"Ah! You scared me," I said quite loudly, and people around complained to tone our voices down. "So did you both," he said and came towards us. "You know you shouldn't publicly ki-" Evyaan covered his mouth before he could finish. "Samayara, don't mind him, his brain doesn't work before 8 in the morning," he said, and I quickly went to fetch the water bottle.

I climbed up to my seat, and so did Kiaan. "I wanna chat with Evyaan from here, is it okay?" "Sure." I took out my phone and earphones and played my playlist. "You like Ateez?" he asked. "I do," I replied. "Great! I love this song! Mind if I join?" he asked, already taking the other end of the earphones. "Sure," I replied. "We'll talk after five minutes," he told Evyaan, and I played the song.

Evyaan looked quite annoyed, and the atmosphere between both of us got awkward due to the incident in the morning. What a great way to start the morning—almost creeping out your seatmate who was sleeping peacefully. I can't help but notice that my life has become more happening ever since I met Evyaan.

"Are you guys not done yet?" a raspy-voiced Evyaan interrupted.

I hope y'all will like this. please don't forget to vote and comment and do let me know your thoughts on this chapter.🔮

SKYLINE SERENADES Copyright ©2023 by ERIAWELSHORCHIDS. Plagiarism is illegal. Any copying or publishing without permission is prohibited. The book is based on the author's imagination and any resemblance to actual people or events is coincidental.