As the weeks passed, the park whose plan was laid by many engineers was taking shape by the help of students and anyone who was interested in helping. Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoons were spent in gardening, digging dirt, planting saplings etc. but Pooja had to make up a lot of stories to come out of her house every week which included everything from "Special Classes At School to Visiting a Sick Friend".

One such Saturday evening while she was working on the Flower Beds near the Entrance Gate, she was working without a care in the world, Ravi came and joined her and they were working so hard that they got mud spots in many places on their faces and then Ravi asked Pooja,"Hey Pooja, how is it that you manage to come twice every week while others want to skip their share of work by giving some reasons."

To this Pooja smiled shyly and replied,"Well Ravi the thing is that, I have a lot of childhood memories of playing in this green lot and I didn't want to lose it to someone stupid, I just want to do my bit to save the environment before I leave the school."


Ravi couldn't understand what was so great about that piece of land but didn't want to hurt


Pooja so he just said,"I am really touched by your will." and Pooja once again smiled coyly then Ravi noticed that the Pooja's left cheek was dirtied and when he pointed out to her to clean it she couldn't get the right spot then he removed a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped it clean. Unknown to them someone had clicked their picture in that position.

Then Ravi said,"Pooja I think your Mother is really cool allowing you to do all such kind of activities when most mothers might think that you are wasting your time."

Then Pooja felt a feeling of guilt filling her up and said to Ravi in a low tone,"Actually even my mother is like all mothers she does not approve of me going and doing all such kind of work but I do it out of sheer interest."

Then Ravi told her,"Hey I think its better you tell your mother about it because if she gets to know about this from someone else then she might feel bad."

Pooja protested,"If I tell her she won't let me come here again." "Its alright Pooja, you initiated the campaign and brought it till here, now even if you back off I wont feel bad, I will finish all the work even if I have to do it all alone.",said Ravi.


Pooja was really impressed by Ravi's interest in protecting and beautifying the park but she said nothing more and they both continued their work before leaving for their homes.

Later that evening at Pooja's house, when Pooja was studying for her upcoming weekend test in Verma Coaching Center, Shruti who was Pooja's older sister comes up to her and asks,"Hey Lil Sis how was your special class today?"

To this Pooja replied,"It was fine we had Botany today, we learnt a lot about new varieties of plants today."


"Only the theory classes were fine or even the Practicals?",taunted Shruti.



"Sister What are you talking about?" asked Pooja her voice now trembling a little bit.

Then Shruti looked at her seriously and asked,"What is his name?"

"Whose name do you want?",replied Pooja now really scared.

"Don't play games with me Lil Sister I know what have you been up to this entire afternoon and how important your special classes were.",said Shruti angrily she then continued,"I don't care what you are doing or who he is, but telling lies about it was bad."


Pooja still tried to play innocent but Shruti smiled evilly and showed Pooja her cell phone in which a picture of Ravi wiping Pooja's cheek was there. Pooja was dumbfounded for a moment and just managed to say,"How did you get that?"


"Well while you and your friend were busy I took it as I was passing by, lets see what Mom has to say about this."

Pooja was really scared about her mother and pleaded with Shruti,"Please Sister don't tell anyone about this I will do anything you say, if you want I will even do all your chores for a week, just don't tell Mom about it."

"Well the offer does look tempting but its wrong for you to lie and for me to support you, So...." saying this Shruti started to leave the room then Pooja did one last attempt," Sister I always did what you told me and kept many of your secrets just keep my one secret Please..."

But Shruti left quickly and went upto their Mother who was having a really bad headache and when Shruti showed their her the photo she was really enraged and angrily called out for Pooja.

Pooja came down silently and was shivering from inside. She knew that her mother got those occasional headaches and during that time her mood was really bad. Pooja's mother was talking so angrily that tears rolled in Pooja's eyes out of fear and before Pooja could utter a single word, Pooja's mother slapped Pooja so hardly that finger marks fell on Pooja's face Shruti was shocked by the turn of events Pooja started crying loudly and was running away from her mother and just then their door opened and Pooja's Father came in.

Pooja ran into her father's arms and started crying loudly. Pooja's father was really taken aback by what he was seeing and he was really tired by the day's work but he couldn't bear to see his Precious Darling crying bitterly and said in a calm tone,"Little Princess what happened tell me everything."

Pooja's mother angrily told him,"Well your delicate darling is not so little anymore. Do you know what has she done?"

Pooja's father left the bag in the hall and took his wife inside and asked her what happened. Shruti was feeling a little bad as she never expected such kind of events, she just said,"Sorry Poo, I never thought that Mom would hit you... I am really sorry."

Pooja was really angry on everyone in the whole world for that few minutes and just wanted to get away from there. Her tears continued to roll down her left cheek which had become red because of the slap. After sometime Pooja's father came out and was feeling really bad that his daughter had cheated them but also knew why she did it,

So, with a cool mind he thought for sometime and said,"Look Pooja what you have done is really wrong and I am not talking about the gardening part but doing it without our knowledge." His voice was stern but steady.

Pooja said,"I am really sorry, I will never do it ever again." and she meant it.


Pooja's Mother was still angry and she was breathing heavily. Later during dinner time Pooja's family had a quiet dinner, even the T.V. was turned off. Pooja's mother said,"Young lady no more going out all alone or with your friends for a long time, if you were really so interested in saving the Environment you could have convinced me to approve but you took the easy path which is bad."

Pooja's Father cut in and said,"Listen Pooja there is always the Easy Path and Right Path for anything, the easy path may seem tempting but its the right path which should be adopted."

After a quick dinner Pooja ran into her room and cried silently into her pillow for a long time and she was so tired by the day's events that she feel asleep without even knowing when.