Vedanshi had fainted, and everyone was panicking. Nayan gently sprinkled some water on Vedanshi's face. She slowly regained consciousness. Nayan helped her drink some water.
"Vedanshi, are you okay? What suddenly happened to you?" Nayan asked with concern.
"Yeah… what?" Vedanshi responded, still confused.
"I think you're not feeling well. You should go home," Nayan said. Vedanshi was still in Nayan's arms. She looked at him with empty eyes, his concern was clearly visible in his eyes.
"No, I'm fine. It's nothing… maybe just because I walked in the sun. I probably felt dizzy," Vedanshi said, avoiding eye contact and stood up.
"I'm sorry, I made you all really late because of me. We should head to the museum," she added.
"But you're still not well. We can visit the museum tomorrow too. You can go home if you want," Nayan offered.
"No, it's not needed, sir. I'm fine now. This is not a big deal," Vedanshi insisted.
"Okay, shall we go then?" Nayan asked, and everyone nodded in agreement. So they all headed toward the museum. Parth and Parthavi were walking at the back. Parthavi walked with full attitude.
"Now tell me the truth, Parth. You joined this university on purpose, didn't you?" Parthavi asked, glaring at him while walking. But Parth didn't respond. That only made Parthavi angrier, though she didn't say anything more at that moment.
Everyone was inside the museum now. Nayan was explaining each and every detail about the exhibits. But Vedanshi wasn't able to hear anything. She was completely out of it. Her mind felt like screaming, she just wanted to cry loudly. It felt like someone was hitting her on the head with a hammer. She couldn't focus on anything in the museum.
Nayan noticed her condition, but he didn't say anything. He understood something was wrong, especially since Vedanshi hadn't even greeted the new students or looked in their direction once. There were still three more classes after the museum visit, but Vedanshi didn't feel like attending any.
"Vedanshi, are you okay?" Akshay asked, noticing her pale face. Vedanshi didn't say anything, but tears welled up in her eyes and began streaming down her cheeks, leaving the boys shocked.
"What happened, Vedanshi? Why… why are you crying?" Sagar asked anxiously.
"I'm going home. I'll talk to you all tomorrow," Vedanshi said. Everyone started speaking at once, "At least tell us what happened!"
"Please, don't ask me anything right now. I just want to go home," Vedanshi said.
"Okay fine, I'll drop you," Nikhil offered.
"There's no need for that. I'm going toward Ameeron ki Pahadi, so Vedanshi will come with me. You guys attend the classes," Nayan said from behind. Everyone felt relieved, waved goodbye to Vedanshi, and went to class.
Vedanshi and Nayan walked out through the gate. She didn't care about anything else at this point. She just wanted to go to Maria. Meanwhile, Parth kept watching Vedanshi as she walked away, and Parthavi was still glaring fiercely, sometimes at Parth, sometimes at Vedanshi.
Vedanshi sat in the car with Nayan. She didn't speak a single word the entire ride. She had held back her tears so tightly that her eyes had turned completely red. Nayan handed her a water bottle while driving. Vedanshi took it and gulped it all down in one go.
As soon as they reached the restaurant, Vedanshi didn't look at anything. Maria was sitting on a chair, doing some calculations. When Maria saw Vedanshi, she immediately stood up.
"Vedanshi, you...!" Maria had just begun to speak when Vedanshi ran straight to her and broke down crying, clinging to her tightly. All the tears she had been holding back until now came pouring out. At that moment, she completely surrendered herself to Maria. She was crying uncontrollably.
At the doorway, Nayan was still standing, holding Vedanshi's bag in his hand. Even after a long time, Vedanshi hadn't stopped crying. So Maria gave Nayan a subtle signal with her eyes to leave. Nayan placed the bag on a nearby chair and quietly stepped out. As he left, he glanced one last time at Vedanshi, who was still clinging to Maria. Then he got back in his car and returned to the college.
In truth, he didn't really have any urgent work — he just wanted to drop Vedanshi home himself after seeing her condition.
Meanwhile, after some time, once Vedanshi had calmed down, she told Maria everything. Maria sent her to her room to rest. Maria cared for Vedanshi like a mother, so she too felt deeply hurt seeing her in pain.
That evening, Akshay, Sagar, and Nikhil came to the restaurant to meet Vedanshi. She was managing some work there. Even though Maria had told her to rest, Vedanshi still came in.
While they all sat down for tea, Akshay said, "Hey Vedanshi, we're going to the temple of the Goddess. Why don't you come with us?"
Vedanshi immediately said yes. She had already been emotionally drained since morning, she had no idea how many times she had cried that day. Her face was swollen from all the crying, and her eyes were red.
It was 7 in the evening when they all reached the temple, and today, they wanted to stay for the night aarti as well. The temple was always quite crowded, and devotees had already started gathering for the aarti. Since there was still some time left, they all sat behind the left-side pillar of the temple. A session of devotional singing (bhajan-kirtan) was ongoing inside the temple.
The temple itself was grand, almost like a palace. It had been designed to resemble a royal palace entirely. There were around 20 wide steps leading up to the temple, all painted in red. At the top of the stairs, there was a large courtyard, completely open to the sky. From this courtyard, more stairs led up to the inner temple. These steps were built on all three sides, and the temple's mandap (main hall) was supported by massive pillars. The mandap was so large that even devotional singing sessions were held there. In the sanctum (garbhagriha) of the temple stood a large and beautiful idol of the Goddess, so lifelike that it seemed alive.
The temple dated back to around the 7th century, but its magnificent form had been given only in recent years. The head priest (mahant ji) of the temple was quite elderly, probably around 70 years old. He had dedicated his entire life to the care and upkeep of this temple. There was also a Sanskrit school attached to the temple, where students from far and wide came to study the language.
They were all sitting in the back part of the temple, where there was a courtyard surrounded by rooms built for the Sanskrit students. Vedanshi was telling the others about Parth and Parthavi.
Some time in the past... she got lost in memories.