As November surfaced, the air became chillier and the days became shorter but it was no relief to Vikram because it was the nights that haunted him the most. Once he was back home and alone in his room, he would spend hours thinking about Aditya. Sometimes Vikram believed that if he thought about Aditya hard enough, he could perhaps manifest him into life.

But when that didn't happen, Vikram would curl up on his bed and cry.

The only way to deal with thinking about Aditya was by not thinking about Aditya, but it was near impossible. Math had betrayed him so he was not going back to it, possibly ever and Vikram didn't even care that he had neither caught up with his textbooks nor preparations for 12th boards.

Him liking Aditya couldn't really have come at a worse time.

The first ray of change came in the form of Vikram's mom's friend.

Vikram had just come back from school and was on his way to his room when his mother called him out from the living room.

Vikram dragged his feet in, not really wanting to sit and talk about anything at all but then he saw there was a guest in the room. He suddenly became attentive.

"Vikram, say hello to Tanuja aunty." she said, "She's my friend from the publishing."

Vikram smiled at her. "Namaste aunty."

Tanuja smiled. "Namaste beta."

"Sit, sit." Meera said and Vikram followed.

"I've heard so much about you from your mother." Tanuja said with a stern smile and Vikram noticed she too looked as elegant as his own mom.

Vikram had to admit he was a little nervous. First because he had completely forgotten about all this and second because a part of him wanted to be told that he was good at one thing at least and that not all that he touched, he destroyed.

"I've been wanting to meet you for so long but I had a packed schedule and I came as soon as I was free."

Vikram nodded politely.

"I've seen your photos from the award ceremony and there are a few shots that I particularly liked very much." she said, "Do you perhaps have some more work of yours that you could show me?"

Vikram looked at her and then at his mom who nodded at him.

"I have some on my laptop." he said. "I'll go get it."

With that, he quickly rushed to his room, found his laptop, opened the folder where he had saved the photos he had taken so far and brought it down for Tanuja to see.

He kept the laptop on the coffee table and put on the slide show.

As Tanuja watched the photos, Vikram kept his eyes on her face, looking for indications that might tell him what she thought of the photos but there was none. Once the slideshow was over, Tanuja flipped the laptop close and looked at Vikram.

"Do you want to be a photographer?"

Vikram really did not know. To him, photography was not exactly a career, just like his father had told him.

"I haven't thought of it too much."

Tanuja smiled. "Your photos are good." she then added and Vikram felt a weight lift off his shoulders. "For someone who has never taken up professional course, they're better than what I'd imagined. I think you will do very well if you take it up professionally."

Meera smiled at him and Vikram smiled back. But he had so many questions.

"I only know about photography from practice. I don't know much about my career choices."

"Oh there are tremendous options." she said but it was obvious Vikram was confused.

"Tell you what, why don't you stop by my office sometime and meet people there?"

Vikram looked at his mother and she nodded at him again.

"You can see the type of work we do and you can talk to some of our in-house photographers as well. Does that sound okay?"

Vikram nodded enthusiastically. "Yes." he said. "When can I come by?"

Tanuja laughed at his excitement. "Drop by after school tomorrow."

Vikram couldn't believe this was happening.

The next day, as he had been told, Vikram reached the office building immediately after school. He stood outside the building that had the sign 'Nouve Publications' stuck to the front.

Vikram took a deep breath. "Here goes nothing." he said and stepped in.

He was immediately met with a very open lobby that was all white and shiny and Vikram stared in awe. He had been to his dad's office a couple of times but that was not nearly as impressive as this.

"How can I help you?" someone called out to Vikram and he realized it was a girl at the reception.

"I'm here to meet Tanuja aun... Tanuja Saxena." he said, suddenly trying to sound professional.

"Do you have an appointment?"

Vikram wasn't sure if he officially did. "She asked me to drop by." he said.

"Can I have your name please?"

"Vikram Ahuja." he said politely and she picked up the receiver of her phone.

After a few seconds, she turned to Vikram.

"You can take the elevator to the fifth floor." she said, "That's her office."

"Thanks." Vikram said and rushed to the elevator.

The ride to the fifth floor was full of nervous tension, and Vikram didn't know what to do about it. When the elevator door opened, he found himself standing in front of a large open space.

There were rows of cubicles extending from the front to the other side of the space at the end of which was a large door and a big, glass cabin.

"Are you Vikram?" someone asked, approaching him.

Vikram looked at the man who seemed to be in his mid-twenties and had a thick beard. Vikram nodded.

"I am Kartik." he said and held a hand out. Vikram took it and shook it enthusiastically.

"I'm the head photographer." he said. "Tanuja said you'd be coming by."

Vikram found it a little odd that a man this young was calling his boss by name.

"Follow me." he said and walked ahead. Vikram quickly followed after.

"This is the main office." he said, pointing to the cubicles on the left. "The writers, copy editors, chief editors, photographer and freelancers all sit here."

Then they moved ahead. "The legal and IT departments occupy the first floor, then you have the sales and marketing, and the finance department that occupy the second floor. It's a shared space but they hate each other." he added and Vikram laughed.

"Third floor is the in house studio and fourth is the HR."

Vikram nodded, taking a note that they had covered all floors. He followed till they reached the end and stood outside the large door Vikram had noticed. Kartik knocked once and opened the door.

"Vikram is here." he said, walking in and so did Vikram.

"Ah, yes" Tanuja said and Vikram noticed how weirdly chaotic her office was. There were papers all over the desk and floor, books stacked on top of each other everywhere, pens and post-its randomly scattered, photos here and there and the only place that did make sense was her desk which stood in contrast of the cabin.

"Sorry for the mess." Tanuja immediately said when she found Vikram eyeing the place intently.

"I keep telling you to clean but you never listen to me." Kartik added and Vikram found it amusing. He had never heard employees talk so freely to their employers. Everyone at his father's hotel always was so formal and uptight. This was a pleasant change.

"You know people with OCD?" Kartik asked as he turned to Vikram and Vikram nodded.

"Tanuja has OCD too, except it stands for 'Obsessive Chaos Disorder'." he said and Tanuja threw a crumpled paper at him.

Vikram laughed.

"Take Vikram to the 3rd floor and let him look around. Let him meet some other photographers and mingle. Take him with you wherever you go." she told Kartik and turned to Vikram. "If you have any questions, feel free to ask and you can especially bother Kartik for everything." she said.

"Thank you." Vikram said and they quickly left.

Kartik informed on the way to the third floor that that was where all the photo shoots took place. The elevator door opened and Vikram found a floor divided into two parts. The first had large open windows for natural lighting and the other was a closed space.

There were cameras placed in the open area but other than that, it was pretty empty. Vikram followed Kartik to the other half and when Kartik opened the door to let them in, Vikram was immediately mesmerized.

There were a handful people inside and three camera angled to the center of the room at the far end. The umbrella modifier were pointed to what looked like a neat white background, in front of which a high chair was meticulously placed at the center. There was a desk attached to the wall on the right where a computer was placed and someone sat working on some photos as a woman in a blazer and matching pencil skirt stood hovering behind him, looking at the screen.

"Come on." Kartik said and took Vikram to where the computer was.

It was only when he approached near, did he find out who that woman was.

"Is that..." Vikram asked, a little flushed suddenly, "Is that Diksha Patil?"

Kartik nodded and went close to her. "Diksha." he said and she turned around.

"Kartik, hey!" she said and hugged him.

"How's the shoot going?"

"Hectic." she said, rolling her eyes. "I've already had three wardrobe changes."

Kartik laughed and turned towards Vikram.

"Diksha, meet Vikram" he said, "He's my apprentice for today."

Diksha looked at Vikram and smiled before putting her hand out.

"Vikram, you must already know who Diksha is."

"Oh stop it!" Diskha said, lightly hitting Kartik on his arm and looked at Vikram, "Nice meeting you, Vikram."

Vikram took her hand but forgot everything else. When he walked into the office, Vikram had no idea that he'd get to meet one of the country's top actresses. And what had stunned Vikram even more was the fact that she was only twenty and already so well established. He had never met a celebrity in person before and it was more than overwhelming. Diksha was stunning, more than she looked on TV, if that was possible. Her clear skin made her dusky complexion look like velvet and in her heels, she stood at the same height as Vikram.

"Hi." Vikram let out finally, "You're so beautiful."

Diksha blushed as Vikram let her hand go. "Thank you" she said. "You're not so bad looking either."

Vikram felt a flush run to his cheeks. The best actress of the country, well one of them, had told Vikram that he wasn't bad looking. He wanted to tattoo the information on his forehead.

"He's here to learn a little about photography." Kartik said.

Diksha seemed impressed for some reason. "Well you've come to the right place then." she said. "Hang around for a bit."

With that, she walked to the center of the room and fixed herself up on the high chair.

"Ready." she said and the other people in the room suddenly took their positions. And then, all that could be heard was the sound of shutter.

Vikram watched as she posed in various angles as the photographer clicked away to his will and Vikram couldn't help be mesmerized.

Once she was done, she asked Vikram to accompany her back to the computer.

Vikram stood there, next to her as she assessed the photos one after the other.

"You see this one?" she asked, pointing to a photo of her where she stood with her hands on her hips. Her head was tilted to the right, highlighting the left side of her face.

Vikram nodded.

"This needs to be deleted because the angle of the light is bad." she said.

"You know about photography too?" Vikram asked in shock.

Diksha shook her head and laughed. "No. But I know which angle my face looks best in. And this one makes it look horrible."

Vikram couldn't see what she was talking about. To him, the photo could easily be passed as the best photo ever taken, simply because she was in it. But he didn't argue because whatever Dikska Patil said, must be true!

The photoshoot went on for another hour in which, Diksha had two more wardrobe changes.

When they were done, Diksha thanked everyone and someone, who Vikram found out was her assistant, went around gifting beverage bottles to everyone.

"Did you like the shoot?" Diksha asked once they were done, the studio had been wrapped up and her, Kartik and Vikram sat around a small coffee table out in the open space rather than the studio.

Diksha was taking some time off to cool before she had to go to her next schedule.

"Yes." Vikram said, not able to believe that Diksha was interested in what he thought about the shook. "It was beautiful."

This made Diksha laugh. "You find a lot of things beautiful, don't you?"

Vikram, embarrassed suddenly, looked away from her.

"Is it always like this?" He asked after a while. "The excitement of the shoot?"

Kartik shrugged. "It depends. If you have good people working with you, it's fun." he said, "And it's always fun working with Diksha"

"Stop flattering me." Diksha said and then turning to Vikram. "But he's right. Even if it's tiring sometimes, if I have a patient photographer, it gets easier and fun to work with. Do you want to get into fashion photography?"

Vikram shrugged, "I don't know." he said. "I haven't decided yet."

Vikram found himself pleasantly surprised by how open he suddenly was. He hadn't known either of these people personally two hours ago and yet he had no problem in telling them that he was undecided.

Diksha was so chill that Vikram didn't actually feel like he was sitting with a celebrity. He had always thought of them as these people who were unapproachable and cold, who looked down on people who were not like them, but Diksha was not like that at all. She genuinely seemed interested in what Vikram had to say.

"That's okay." Kartik said. "You can always find out later."

Diksha nodded. "Did you know Kartik started as a portrait photographer?" she asked and Vikram was surprised that she knew this about him.

Vikram shook his head.

"Yeah" Kartik said. "I was into portraits for two years before I realized I wanted to be a photojournalist."

"In fact..." Diksha added, "my first portfolio was shot by Kartik."

"You guys know each other from before?" Vikram asked, a little shocked.

"We were in the same school." Diksha said, "Kartik was two years my senior."

Vikram nodded but turned to Kartik. "Is being a photojournalist better than being a fashion photographer?"

"Well..." Kartik began, "It depends actually. I love that I get to travel around the world and meet new people, try new food and the best part is it's all paid by the company."

Diksha laughed and so did Vikram.

"I like to travel too." Vikram added then. "But I don't think I am cut out for photojournalism."

Kartik smiled at him. "I have seen your photos Vikram." he said, "And I think you'd be an excellent photojournalist."

Vikram felt a swelling in his heart that he had no way of describing. A professional photographer like his photos and said he'd be excellent in it. Vikram was sure no other compliment could ever top that.

He was still sinking in Vikram's words when Diksha's assistant came up and informed her that it was time to leave. She nodded and asked him to wait outside.

When he left, all three got up from their seats. Diksha got up and lightly kissed Vikram on the cheeks. "It was nice meeting you Vikram." she said, "I hope we can meet again."

Vikram nodded with a smile and then Diksha turned to Kartik. Pecking him lightly on the cheeks, she placed her hand on his cheek. "Call me later?" she asked and for some weird reason, her action made Vikram think of Aditya and how he had held Vikram's face in his hands that day in the clubroom when he had found Vikram crying.

Kartik smiled and nodded. "I'll call you at night." he said, snapping Vikram back to the present.

When Diksha left, Vikram turned to Kartik. "You guys are dating?"

"Yeah." Kartik said as he led Vikram to the elevator. "But don't tell anyone, because it's a secret."

"Why?"

Kartik shrugged. "She's a high profile celebrity and I am just a photographer. I don't think many people will understand our relationship. You know what I mean?"

Something sank in Vikram's heart. "Yeah!" he said, because he, more than anyone, knew what Kartik meant.