Friends!

His caller device buzzed with a notification. "Dost, read the message," he commanded as he himself laid on his small bed.

Dost was an artificial assistant embedded in every cubicle. "The sender has not given me the permission to do so," it replied in the voice of a young boy.

Tejas didn't have the will to walk to the device. So he flicked his forehead for an instant and short-lived connection to his caller device.

"Open the door," Laksh had texted.

They had stood him up but he reluctantly dragged himself to the door. It was the one thing he couldn't command Dost to do.

When Tejas opened the door, he found nobody outside. Yet, as soon as he turned around, he asked crossing his arms, "You weren't in the park?"

Inside four bare feet were shaking. Random parts of two people were becoming visible. Finally, Purvi and Laksh, wearing saffron balloon pants and and white half sleeved short kurta, the same as that of Tejas, stood in front of him.

Purvi signaled Tejas to close the door.

"Scared?" Tejas taunted. It was forbidden for all trainees like them to leave their respective cubicles after 7:00 pm.

She signaled him again.

"Alright!" Tejas closed the door and slid infront of it to sit down. His friends sat on his bed.

"Your question was?" she enquired.

"Where were you?"

"She took me to the ar-aaaaa-caaaa" -Purvi covered Laksh's mouth with both her hands before he could spill more but while she was busy doing that, Laksh texted.

Tejas flicked his forehead again. "Arcade," he read out aloud. The disappointed and sad look returned to his face.

"That place motivates me to code!" She glared at Laksh but kept her eyes away from the door.

"You left me out, again." Tejas looked at his knees and crouched.

Purvi said very tenderly, "I will take you too. Next time." There was a guilty smile on her face as she rubbed her left fist with her fingers.

Tejas curled up on the floor and faced the door. Purvi walked to him and laid down with her back on his side.

She whispered, "Thinking about something?"

"Forget it! Ma warns me to stay away from those places." He looked at her, "They're too…too-"

"-Immersive?" Laksh fetched the word as he prepared himself to lay on the bed. Tejas nodded. He propped his head and saw the silvery bands on his feet.

"Laksh," he sat up straight, "how did you steal those again...the invisibility bands?"

"You don't need to know that!" He snickered and with a mischievous but proud look in his eyes.

"Don't tell me you will be in trouble-"

"-We'll see." Laksh sat up too after saying that.

"How many days more before you finish your training?" Tejas asked them.

"I complete in a week. But him, he has one month more to go."

"It's not my fault that I hate to code. Purvi is a genius so it's easy for her."

Purvi furrowed her brows. "I have to work hard too. The only difference is I love to do that."

Laksh looked at the sky from the ceiling and spoke in a low voice, "Good for you!" His voice became even lower and hoarse, "If only I knew what I loved..."

"Don't worry buddy, you'll find it," Tejas assured him.

"When, Tej? When?" He clenched his teeth as he said that.

Purvi walked up to him and put her arm around him. Tejas too patted his back as he sat near him. They didn't know the answer to that. After all, they were a bunch of 10 year olds, burdened with too much.