5) Curiosity killed the cat

Kiara's POV

Standing in a rose garden, I twirl around giddily as my pink floral sundress flares around me, rose petals falling all over me.

"Kia?" My feet come to a halt when I hear the voice. Tom Hiddleston is kneeling in front of me, a beautiful diamond ring in his hands. "Will you marr- "

"Wait, Kia! Don't say yes!" I hear another yell. "Your Dean Winchester is here, baby." Jensen Ackles shouts as he appears out of nowhere.

I notice the bouquet of blue orchids that he's carrying. He knows how much I love orchids.

Aw. He's so sweet.

"No! You can't do this to me, Kia! " Chris shouts, running towards me with a box of chocolates in his hand.

Yum, yum.

"She is mine." Tom stands up.

"No, she is mine." Jensen interrupts.

"She belongs to me." Chris declares and chaos interrupt as they fight over me.

"Wait! Don't fight. Please." I try to de-escalate the situation. "It won't lead anywhere. If you really wanna decide who deserves me, we can have a competition."

They pause for a moment and then agree with my suggestion.

"Okay, you all ready?" They nod their heads in unison and crack their knuckles.

"So, let the competition begin!" I yell and they hunch their backs, glaring at each other.

Oh, no. Are they gonna fight? Is someone getting killed today because of me?

My fear only worsens when they take fighting stances, as if ready to punch each other.

I wait with bated breath and they all shout simultaneously.

"STONE, PAPER, SCISSOR!"

WAIT, WHAT!?

I stand in stunned silence as Chris takes out scissor whereas Tom and Jensen take out paper.

"Woo-hoo! I won. I knew it. I knew it. " Chris hoots, fist pumping in the air and doing his celebration dance on his favorite song.

"Who let the dogs out. Who. Who.... "

.

.

.

I blinked my eyes open and switched off my alarm. Lying on the bed like a dead body for some time, I decided to go for a bath.

Sometimes I wonder what if my life, too, was a cliche love story? You know, where I come out of my bathroom in just a towel and find a bad boy in my bedroom staring at me, checking me out?

Cue an exaggerated, big sigh.

I need to get my head checked.

I guess reading so much fiction has finally started affecting my mental health.

Should I finally go see a doctor like Saumya had been suggesting since so long?

Nah. I would be fine.

Hopefully.

I mean we all daydream about such things, don't we?

The only problem is my day dreaming gets worse because of the fact that I have a wild imagination - a very wild imagination that sometimes gets me in trouble because I have a habit of imagining wrong things at the wrong time.

Day dreaming to fangirls is what murder is to sociopaths.

I was about to go into a detailed debate with myself on the topic when my phone rang.

What is it with people disturbing me when I'm trying not to get late for college?

I looked at the caller id and rolled my eyes.

I picked up the call, making sure to be as bitchy and sarcastic as I could be. "Well, well. Look who finally decided to call me."

"Hello to you too, Kia." Anushka, my childhood best friend, answered extra sweetly. "So nice of you to ask me about my well-being. I'm doing good. How are you?"

"Listen- " I started but she cut me off.

"Classic café. 5 pm. Saturday."

"Are you asking me out on a date or challenging me for a duel?"

"None. I'm just reminding you that we are meeting this Saturday."

"Of course, I remember that. You sent me a google calendar invite for that." I deadpanned.

"I like to be organized." She defended herself.

"Sure, Monica from Friends."

"And where is my Chandler!?" She wailed and I face-palmed.

There we go again.

*

As soon as I reached my classroom and opened the door, I was tackled into a hug and almost thrown to the ground by none other than Maahi.

"OH. MY. GOD!" She shrieked so loud in my ear that I was worried my left ear had stopped working. I looked at her in shock and she was grinning so hard I started getting scared of her creepy smile.

How are her cheeks not hurting from smiling so wide?

I hadn't even recovered from the initial shock when she started jumping up and down. "Oh my god! Oh my god! I don't believe this. Fuck, man! "

Another one of Maahi's manic episodes.

I stood up straight, still trying to understand why she had tried to kill me so early in the morning when she started fist pumping in the air. Maahi was moving around recklessly, hopping and flailing her arms around. It looked like she was trying to hit everyone with her hands who were in her vicinity.

She was just trying to dance.

"Maahi, look at me. Calm down." I held her shoulders and shook her but immediately ducked when her hand came flying out of nowhere.

I looked at my friends to help me out of the situation and found them sitting a little away from us with their expressions clearly screaming - We're tolerating this since morning. Now, it's your turn.

"You won't believe what happened!" Maahi exclaimed, still prancing around like a mad deer on a rampage.

"Uh-huh. Okay, let me take a guess. A fan asked Harry if he is dating Camille and he said that they are just friends while he was also spotted with Taylor last evening." I said in a monotone voice, crossing my arms and raising an eyebrow. Actually, both eyebrows because I don't know how to raise only one.

Maahi's head snapped towards me faster than lightning and I was thankful her neck wasn't broken. She was dumbfounded, her mouth agape and eyes wide.

"H-how.... how do you know?" She blinked twice. "Are you a mind reader?" She asked, wonder lacing her voice whereas I mentally face-palmed.

"No, idiot, you have already told me this five times yesterday." I deadpanned and hit her lightly across her head.

This girl had called me twice at midnight and messaged me three times about this news.

Her mouth formed an 'o' as realization dawned upon her. Rubbing her head, she smiled sheepishly and said, "But I am so happy. He said they are just friends. Just friends." She gushed and clapped her hands together like a kid getting excited over gifts on Christmas.

"You know according to research, when a boy says 'we are just friends', then there is definitely something going on between him and the girl." Nandini piped in, without looking up from her phone, a little smirk playing on her lips.

"Fuck off, bitch!" Maahi said annoyingly, glaring at her. "Harry ain't another boy. He is the love of my life." She sighed dreamily and I chuckled at her antics, sitting down and waiting for the professor to come and bore me to death with her lecture.

*

My classes were over by 4 and I was walking back to home alone. Maahi had some work at the library so she stayed back.

With earphones plugged in my ears, I was humming lightly when I heard a loud crash. I stumbled, my head snapping up and my heartbeats raising unsteadily. My eyes searched for the source of the loud sound and I coughed lightly when I came across a mist of black smoke. As I swatted the smoke away from around me, I found a truck smashed in an upside-down car lying on the roadside.

Shit.

The truck driver stumbled out of the passenger seat and judging by the glazed look in his eyes, I could say he was drunk. Blinking his eyes in a daze, he observed the scene in front of him and his face reflected pure panic. He stumbled back a little but somehow managed to hold himself upright. Immediately glancing to his right and left to see if anyone had noticed him, the guy fled away. Some of the nearby standers who had stopped to see what had happened, tried following him.

I stood frozen in my place for I don't know how long. I had never encountered an accident before. Then, my senses kicked in and I quickly rushed towards the car along with others to check if anyone was hurt. Smoke was still puffing out of the car and we couldn't see a damn thing. I bent down, my eyes watering. Squinting my eyes, I tried to look at the driver's seat but to no avail as I inhaled some smoke and immediately backed away. A few older men pushed me back as if I was a small kid and couldn't handle myself. Staring helplessly at the car, I shouted for help since I knew these men wouldn't let me help. After struggling for a couple of minutes, they took out a person out of the car and I stepped forward to peek closer.

He was a middle-aged man, lying unconscious with blood oozing out from a cut on his forehead. People were panicking around him, yelling and not really doing anything about the situation.

"Someone check his pulse." A random aunty demanded loudly, while standing at least 20 feet away from the spot.

I rolled my eyes and squeezed my way out of the crowd.

"Give me some space." I pushed a man away who was just hovering and making a video of the whole scene.

"Call an ambulance." I ordered and knelt down beside the unconscious man.

I had learnt some basics of emergency aid in college. So, I knew how to check someone's pulse. I held his wrist and timed his heartbeats.

He was still alive.

"Thank god." I breathed.

"We need to take him to the hospital." I suggested nervously and as soon as I said that, an ambulance arrived. The nurses ushered him to the vehicle and that's when I noticed a black briefcase beside the car.

This looks important.

I picked it up but before I could hand it to the nurses, the ambulance had driven away.

Goddammit.

I had to follow them since I couldn't leave the briefcase unattended. I reached the hospital right at the moment the man was being taken into the OT.

I had to stay there because of the briefcase. So, I made myself comfortable on one of the chairs beside the OT and waited for the man to regain consciousness.

Cons of being a good person.

Sighing dramatically, I wondered what was in the suitcase.

Should I open it?

No, you shouldn't.

I would just look at it and then close it immediately.

I mean, one look at it won't hurt anybody, would it?

No, but it would definitely hurt you when its owner finds out about this.

Well, the owner was still unconscious. Moreover, he wouldn't even know if I peeked a look.

One thing about me - I am a very curious person. And my interest was piqued.

Curiosity killed the cat.

The cat has 9 lives, remember?

What if it's something dangerous in the suitcase?

Like a bomb?

Oh god! Was this guy a terrorist?

Don't be silly, Kia.

Okay, just one look. Only to make sure there wasn't a bomb inside. Convincing myself that I would just peek one short glance, I opened the briefcase.

And gasped.

Money.

So much money. And some files and cheques.

Money, money, money.

My mind started playing the song on loop.

Either this guy was a thief or one hell of a rich person.

Just then, footsteps approached and I clammed the suitcase shut. Combing a hand through my hair, I started whistling as if I wasn't prying into someone's property like a thief.

A nurse came out of the OT and informed that the man had regained consciousness.

Well, time to find out.

With that thought in my mind, I took the briefcase and entered the room the man was currently in.

I'm so sorry for being late but I have no idea what's happening in my life rn 🥲🥲

I'm just trying to navigate through life just like I navigate a road when I find a cockroach on it.

So, you have an idea how it's going *extra cheerful smile with dead eyes*

I wanna say I'll try to update fast but I don't want to disappoint you guys again. So, let's hope a miracle happens. Amen. 🙇‍♀️