1 The 'WH' word

The half of the globe is asleep, and the other half's awake. In the middle of this natural chaos our guy here; is hallucinating. Just staring at the wall, thinking why is he hallucinating or what is it about; or when exactly did he start creating those inner reflecting images. 'Tap' a slight knock occurs at the door, the bed-sloth finally moves, turns off the AC, switches on the fan at the highest, and then opens the door.

"Okay, so is it just me or does the clock really say 4:53 in the morning?", asks the woman,

"Oh no, your eyes are fine; it's just my clock stopped working", answered Ben.

"Aha! so want me to fix it or will u do it on your own?", asks the woman,

"Mom! It's not like I dont wanna sleep, I'm just not able to", says Ben while adjusting his bed to comfort.

Lena looks at her son with a sigh, takes a deep breath, sits just besides those legs perfectly tucked inside the blanket. And gently massages it while she looks at her son's closed eyes, just pretending to be asleep.

"Alright, that's it", says Lena aggressively dropping her hands on Ben's legs, " What's wrong with you, I mean you always used to be all happy with a smile and you do smile now but you know as a mother, forget mother as a human who knows you since even before you were born, I predict there is something seriously wrong with you".

"Like what?", asks Ben.

"I dont know, you tell me, since when did you stop existing, just get out of this room once in a while", says Lena.

"Alright mom, so when was the last time you saw me jumping up and down to go play cricket with 'THE BOYS'!!!", says Ben in a sarcastic tone.

"Never, THE BOYS never picked you", replied Lena.

"Thanks Maa really felt great", Ben says with a dull voice more like he knew something like this would be the response.

"Oh come on really! I am just saying, before you used to be active and go play with ur friends...", says Lena in a squeeky voice, Ben interrupting in between says, "that before was even before I passed high school, I am a grown up now, things change."

"Yeah sure; earlier you knew 50 people and fifty were your friends. Now you know a thousand but you barely talk to like 2 or 3, and please tell me there's a girl among those 3", says Lena while she checks her schedule on her mobile.

"I do talk to Kiara..."

"Ah Kiara", says Lena with a disappointed face, she continues, "Why are you always talking to that girl, I dont like that one".

Aggressively turning his head to his mom, with a frustrated tone Ben asks, "Alright woman, you decide before you speak; it's either me talking to people or it's me 'NOT' talking to people."

" Exactly what I'm trynna say; talk to people, not just Kiara; and if I may, never Kiara."

"What's the matter with you...she's a good...person", says Ben going back to the spoon position; he continues, "...and besides you dont have to worry, she's just my best friend."

"Just your best friend!!!", exclaims Lena with her eyes wide open, she stands up and walks up to where Ben's face is facing and sits exactly with his face in parallel and she continues, "Interesting story; you know your dad had a best friend in high school, her name was 'LENA'... Oh! thats me."

"Dont worry ama! There's nothing going on and if anything happens with anyone you will be the first one I say it too...now let me sleep...", says Ben pulling the blanket over his head.

Lena pulls up her socks wears her shoes and leaves for the jog she woke up for; while Ben still awake keeps thinking to himself staring at that one little device which holds his most precious treasures, the moments for which he would trade his Life to relive...

'Am I the only one? I mean I did move on, and I do feel something towards other girls too... comparitively yeah. But what is it?

What is Love.