I'll Be There For You

ROSHAN

Year: 2342

Month: September

Date: 14

Destination: Southern part of Western Earth – Earth

Yup. We reached. Roshan stretched his arms as he stepped off the plane and immediately turned back to help Naina get off.

She glared at his hand and then swatted it away as if it was a bee. She then jumped off.

Well then. Okay.

He scanned the area. Wow. WOW.

This place was nothing compared to the dump where he lived.

Lush green trees as far as the eye could see. The roads were not uneven and didn't have cracks but were actually scenic to see. Holy shit he could even see birds flowing up in the sky. It was blue! The sky was actually blue and not grey.

"Where in the world are we? Candy Land?", he muttered under his breath to no one in particular.

He turned to his friends and took a step back.

Each one of them held such rage on their faces. Ahh. Made sense now. This was why they all hated the Powers and decided to join the Resistance.

It was pretty cruel. Just one look at this place and you could tell it was screaming with money. Money that had not even shown its face where they all were from. He thought back to the resistance HQ. It was a cow shed. Literally. Well, what's done is done.

He took a deep breath and plastered a grin on his face.

"Okay guys! So I see this is what oxygen feels like. Hmm....not bad I gotta say.", to emphasise his point, he stretched his arms and took another deep breath.

Sameer glared at him. "Shut up. Just, stay quiet please."

He feigned mock offence on his face.

Naina rolled her eyes and turned to the pilot who had also stepped down and was watching their group with amusement, "Where's the other recruit we were supposed to meet?"

Oh yeah. Roshan had totally forgotten about the new person who was supposed to join them.

The pilot looked down at his watch and frowned.

"um...he should have been here by now. Hold up guys."

The pilot ducked back in the jet.

Roshan stared at their crew. They were a pretty good team. Though this was the first time the three of them had been grouped with Naina. Naina had always gone out of her way to avoid him and his friends. If and when their ops ever clashed, she'd make some sort of excuse and back out.

This used to make him want to irritate her even more but now it just felt insulting. Was he that repulsive?

That was why he was shocked when Naina hadn't put up any sort of protest to the idea of teaming up with him.

He glanced over to where she was sitting. He almost let out a laugh. Somehow, she had managed to sit on one of the plane's wings and was idly swinging her legs back and forth.

He strolled over to her.

"Hey."

She rolled her eyes and ignored him.

Roshan gritted his teeth but continued, "Look. Can you not throw shade at me for two seconds and honestly answer my question?"

She stopped her swinging and looked down at him with surprise. "S-sure.", she stammered out with shock.

"Why'd you decide to let us come? I know you enough to know that you somehow would have managed to convince Gen to replace us. Or you yourself would have backed out. I'm kinda surprised you decided to tolerate me you know.", it came out a little more bitter than to his liking. He cursed himself.

Her guarded expression fell and guilt replaced it. Now it was his turn to be surprised.

"I don't hate you Roshan.", she said this so softly that his heart skipped a beat.

"No? Oh that was very evident.",he said with dry humour.

"No. I'm sorry that I've been such a jerk for the past few months. It's just....it's complicated. I'm not someone you think I am. But I promise, I will tell you one day. Until then, just bear with me."

He looked up at her and grinned, "Bear with you? Oh honey I never bear with you. You know that."

She laughed one of her good hearty laughs and he stared at her in amazement. Shit.

***