chapter 2

"yes miss?" She asked him with a boring stare.

"I'm Veronica, and I'm a new admission at this hostel" she replied, as she avoided looking at her.

"Oh! So you're that university girl who got transferred here and needed a place to live" she exclaimed as soon she remembered.

"Yeah and I got my fees paid in advance for four months" she reminded her in case she asks her again.

"Yeah, yeah I know. This is the list of instructions you're going to strictly follow here. and follow me to the room 36" The woman instructed and held out a paper which was filled with letters in blank ink.

Veronica picked her bag and held the paper in her hand, following her behind.

"Rule number 1: no men are allowed here so you cannot meet or call someone here!" She spoke as she walked through the corridor at front. Veronica rolled off her eyes as she realized that this woman was clearly trouble.

"Rule number 2: breakfast at 07:30, lunch at 01:30 and dinner at 08:00" she was scheduling the food timings as she went up the stairs. Veronica was least interested in her blabbering as she already knew that such rules exist only to overpower the girls.

"Rule number 3: you're going to reach hostel before 08:00pm or you'll not be allowed entrance after that! A very important one. " She stopped suddenly in front of a room and turned around immediately to face her with a sick smile. Veronica almost lost her balance at her creepy action.

"This is your room" she stated and entered inside.

The room had a double story bunk bed on one side and the same one on the other side. Which meant that four girls were staying here in a single room. Between those bunk beds was a large window and in front of the window a study table was placed which barely had any books piled up there. She looked around the mess that these girls created, clothes and make-up was everywhere in the room and the dressing table beside the left bed was almost exhausted with their endless cosmetics. Piles of shoe pairs were forced beneath the bed. And the girls were lying on their beds, chirping and eating packs of chips carelessly.

She was horrified from the view.

"Girls move around and meet your new roommate, Veronica. And clean this garbage or I'll call the

incharge to kick you out of the hostel In a minute!" She changed her tone from soft to harsh with changing sentences.

The girls instantly got off their beds in fear and started clearing up the scattered rubbish around the room. As Veronica stepped in and the receptionist woman walked out.

"Thankyou, Miss?" She left the sentence incomplete as she didn't know what was her name.

"Stacy!" The woman told her with a full grin and turned around to leave.

"Miss Stacy" she barely whispered on her back.

"Welcome!" The girls cheered all at once to grab her attention and she turned around to face them.

"Thankyou" She replied meekly.

"I'm Amelia!" A girl with blonde hair and fair skin which had freckles replied.

"I'm Rachel" she was a brunette with straight hair and square glasses and looked kind of intimidating.

"And I'm Mina" she had dark brown hair with a pale skin, the one that Asians have and she gave cool vibes.

"Nice to meet you all, I'm Veronica" she greeted them and was guided to her bed which was gladly the top one, because she needed peace and least distraction.

"Where are you from?" Amelia asked her in excitement.

"I came from Virginia" she answered hesitatingly, she

didn't wanted to reveal much information about herself.

"And you're here for?" It was Rachel this time.

"I'm studying psychology at university and I got myself transferred from there, gonna study second semester here" she finally revealed all the information at once which concerned them.

The breakfast timing was past now and she couldn't have anything to eat so she took a shower and laid down on her bed. Closing her eyes, she drove herself to sleep despite the loud chatters of girls beneath her. She wondered if they even go to university or some institute or just spend whole day lying here.

She woke up around lunch when Amelia tapped her arm. They all had lunch together and she came back to her room after that while the three girls went into the lawn downstairs to spend some time there.

She took out her semester schedule and noted down the classes she is going to have tomorrow. She needed to prepare for the first day in a new university.

The day passed in a haze as she read a book from the library. She was surprised when she found that this useless hostel even had a library. And it was the most intriguing thing she found in this Hostel.

The next day, she woke up at 07:00 am and took a shower, pairing a half sleeve maroon shirt with black jeans. Wearing a beige long coat over it which Rachel lended her and God knows how her heart melted, realizing that she didn't had any warm clothes with her.

She applied lip balm, and combed her hair, spraying one of the loads of perfume which girls asked her to use freely. She had her breakfast at 07:30 and stepped out of the hostel.

According to the girls, the university was at a walking distance, barely a 10 minute walk. So she decided to open the map and follow the directions. A slow sad song ringing in her ears at a medium volume, she stuffed her hands in the pocket of the coat, walking by the side of road.

The vehicles passed her as she let out a white smoke from her mouth whenever she breathed out. She looked around at the trees whose leaves had fallen off and only branches were visible. She wondered if they were also waiting for the spring to bloom them like her?

She smiled at the thought. Such a mutual situation. She didn't tie her hair as the cold was too much to bear and she had nothing to wrap around her neck. Somehow her thick, medium sized wavy hair kept her neck protected from the freezing cold. Internally she was thanking Rachel for lending her the coat or she would have turned into a ice cube until now.

She followed the directions on her phone and finally reached the most prestigious university. If not for scholarship then she would never had the chance to get into a good university. She had to struggle so much in the first semester to score the highest GPA to maintain her scholarship.

She smiled at her luck and entered inside the gate. It was such a warming sight for her. The university covered a vast area which was covered with flowers and grass. And on the right side was a big auditorium. Starting from the middle till the left were large buildings which she assumed to be the classrooms, offices and libraries.

She moved forward and found girls and boys everywhere of her age and some much older than her. She walked towards the buildings and read the departments name.

Institute of clinical psychology was on the left side. She turned around and started walking towards the shiny building which seemed to be newly built. She asked the receptionist about the room 204 where her psychotherapy class was going to be held.

The receptionist guided her to the second floor. Her gaze was low as she read the schedule of her classes walking towards the elevator. All of sudden the elevator opened and some men dressed in black suits along with a man at front who wore Royal blue suit stepped out. Her gaze was still low and she didn't paid any attention to the men as they walked past her.

But as soon the man in blue suit crossed her, she felt a strange smell of cologne filling her nostrils which was probably coming from him. It was a woody smell with top notes of spices. She never smelt something so much strong and intoxicating, her senses felt out of balance as the aura around him seemed to be more darkening than the smell itself.

She turned around to see who he was but she only found his back going away, as the men in black followed him. She saw the receptionist and all the students bowing him in respect.

Who was he? She wondered.

As soon as the elevator rang a ding noise, she found herself standing out of the elevator and it was about to close.

She pressed the button multiple times to make it open again but it was already closed. She took the stairs as she was already getting late for her class which was going to start at 08:30. She stepped inside the class and sat at the front seat, because she was a book nerd who has to write down everything which the teacher's tongue will utter.

Slowly the class started to fill in with the students, not much of attention she received from the students around her. Soon the teacher stepped in and the projector was lighting on screen, indicating that the lecture was started. She grabbed her pen and notebook at once, focusing on the teacher with all the attention in world she could ever offer.