Vasudha

She lay lazing on the couch, flipping through channels on her television when her phone rang loudly. Groaning, she reached out towards it only to find it was out of reach.

Why me? she thought as she got up to answer the phone.

She did not appreciate her leisure time being disturbed. Her exams had just ended and all she wanted now was some peace and quiet. Apparently she was not to have it.

"Vasuchaaaaaaaaaaaan!" she heard a loud noise emanating from the speaker and had to hold at arm's length to avoid torturing her ear. 

"Yes Kim?" she asked her best friend as calmly as possible.

"Oh my god oh my god oh my god!" her best friend squeled and for a moment Vasudha thought she might be having a seizure but then she continued, "Have you checked out the results of that scholarship programme you applied for?"

Vasudha's heart started to beat wildly suddenly. She had applied for a scholarship at the Seoul International Institute a few months ago. It was her dream scholarship. Her tuition and accomadation were going to be fully paid for and she would have an advantage at almost every college there was. She had never expected to get it. After all millions of people must be applying and only one could be given the scholarship. 

"Not yet..." she forced to form words, "Are they out already?"

Kim chuckled on the line and Vasudha could almost imagine her crashing on her bed and curling up inside as she exclaimed "You my bestie are going to Seoul~"

                                                                              ~~~

"Have you packed everything?" Vasudha's father asked her once again. 

"Yes pa!" she nodded and gave her father a quick hug.

He fiddled with her jacket and bag straps as he waited.

"Passport?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Ticket details?"

"Yep."

"Clothes?"

"No. I'm carrying ketchup bottles in these two bags."

"Vasudha!" 

"Sorry!" she giggled and hugged her father once again.

"Stop worrying." she said and patted his cheek.

The day had finally arrived. The past month had probably been the craziest of her life. Dealing with her present school, saying goodbye to friends, visa, clothes and so many other things had completely occupied her mind. She hadn't been able to give her family much time. She felt guilty now but there was nothing she could do about it. And her philosophy was that when you can't do anything about a situation then there's no point worrying about it. 

"My baby is all grown up." her dad said in a choked voice as she hugged him tightly again. 

"Dad. Don't cry. I want to see your happy face as I go okay?" she said and dabbed at the tears in her father's eyes with the end of her sleeve.

"Yeah." her father said and controlled himself as he hugged her once again before watching her disappear into the airport. He smiled and waved but inside a storm of emotions was blowing through him. He was proud of her, she had come so far. He always knew she would make them proud. And she had never let them down. But he was worried. He was worried that his daughter was too vulnerable in a new world, a new country. Would she be all right? 

As he kept waving even though he could no longer see her, he realized he had to trust her. She could no longer be his baby. She was a young woman. Independant and free. She could soar. And he would be equally happy to watch her from the sidelines. 

                                                               ~~~

She breathed in again as she walked towards the gate of her dormitory, dragging her bags behind her. Huffing and puffing she stopped for a second and looked at the key card she had got from the office again. 

Basudha Razkumar
Girl's dormitory
Block B
Room no. 321 3rd floor

Not only had they spelt her name wrong but also put her on the 3rd floor when she was dragging a million kilograms behind her. 

Pulling her bags behind her she thought back to the office once again. At first she couldn't believe her eyes. This office was no less than a hotel. 

A huge marble lobby sprawled out in front of her in all directions with a huge wooden desk towards the right where four immaculately dressed youngsters were busily speaking into their phones. An ornate fountain gleamed in the middle of the lobby and reflected the bright lights which illuminated the whole place as if it was some modern fairyland. 

A beautiful flower arrangement curled out of a vase situated further along the lobby and for a moment Vasudha contemplated clicking pictures of everything to show everyone back home. 

That was when she had been interrupted by a young boy with a charming face who had introuduced himself as Kim Joonmyeon and asked her if he could help her.

She wanted to say that there were various ways he could help her but ended up telling him about her being a new student. 

He nodded and gave her a charming smile and the next few hours flew by as she filled form after form and ultimately obtained a keycard with a wrong name and was guided to her dorm building which brought her back to the present. 

She would have to carry these bags up three floors which she was sure would be far from a pleasant experience. 

And that wasn't her only problem. The path leading up to the dormitory went uphill. And it went uphill a good half kilometre. 

Looking up to the heavens for help, she heard a voice suddenly which made her spin, "What are you doing?" 

There was a young boy with an ear piercing standing in front of her. He was wearing a loose jacket and a cap with baggy jeans as he spun a basketball in his hand. He looked at her curiously as she noticed how tall he was. She looked up to meet his eyes but the sun shone in her eyes forcing her to look down once again.

"I'm a new student." she said and pointed at the the dormitory, "I need to get there but I can't with these bloody bags."

"Could you please-" Vasudha was interrupted by a loud racing car speeding up. It was a convertible and was being driven by a guy who looked slightly tipsy as he veered it this side and that. 

The sound of shrill laughing emanated from the vehicle and a girl was latched onto the guy's arm. Another two girls sat in the back of the car, letting their hair flutter with the breeze. The voices seemed to emanate from them.

The car didn't stop speeding towards her and for a moment Vasudha thought that these were her last few moments but the car stopped suddenly in front of the strange boy and the man in the front seat called out, "Yo Chanyeol!"

The guy standing beside Vasudha waved back as the man eyed her carefully and looked her up and down. She isntantly felt uncomfortable and pulled her jacket closer to her. 

"Well hello..." he said, hopping out of the vehicle with a smirk on his face, "I'm Yunho. And you are?" 

Vasudha took a few steps back and said "I'm a new student. My name is Vasudha."

"Vasudha..." the guy repeated as if tasting how it felt in his mouth, "Indian? Well thats great. I haven't met anyone from there. I'm Yunho, Vasudha." 

He took a step closer, "I hope we can be very good friends."

Vausudha didn't know how to react initially but was going to give the guy a good telling to before she heard a soft voice behind me, "Oppa. Don't you have college? Go back now that you've dropped me."

A girl was emerging from the car. It was the same girl who had been sitting next to the guy. She ran a hand through her hair and gave Yunho a glamorous smile. She was tall and slim and seemed to be made of what models are made of. Her clothing seemed to be really expensive. Vasudha wondered if she really went to this school.

"Take care Seohyun" Yunho turned towards her and she leaned towards him and kissed him as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer.

She broke it off quickly as he smirked and made his way back to the car. Chanyeol jumped into the seat beside him as the two other girls got out too.

Vaudha gathered her bags again and sighed. She was not used to these surroundings at all. 

"Hey um... could you please help me with these bags? I've made it half the way but they're really heavy!" she huffed and patted Seohyun on the shoulder once.

Seouhyun turned to her with an incredulous expression and glanced once at her bags. The two girls who were chattering previously turned deathly quite.

Seohyun raised her eyebrows and said "You should watch out, brown girl." 

Vausudha was about to retort when Seohyun reached out with one toned leg and kicked Vasudha's bag with the heel of her boots, making it fall down the hill and burst open, spilling the contents all over the road.

"Are you crazy!?!" Vasudha yelled and ran to gather her belongings as she heard the girls behind Seohyun gasp.

She turned back to see Seohyun frowning and glaring at her in a deathly manner.

"You've messed with the wrong person, you piece of ."

"You-" Vasudha was about to say when she noticed Seohyun turning away and walking to the dormitory.

Vasudha controlled her temper and continued to gather her belongings from the road. She would deal with this girl later. And teach her a good lesson at that.

How was she to know that this would be the girl who would make her life a living hell in a few months?

*phew* 

Thanks for reading!