Summer Plans & Chaos

The hostel room was unusually loud for a late afternoon.

Four beds.

Four girls.

One half-packed suitcase lying open on the floor.

“Okay, listen,” Riya announced dramatically, flopping onto her bed. “The semester is finally over. Exams are done. Trauma is permanent. Summer vacation is here.”

She sighed happily.

“I am going to rest,” she declared. “And then I am going to sleep.”

She paused.

“And after that… I will sleep some more.”

Meera, sitting cross-legged on her bed while scrolling on her phone, didn’t even look up.

“What else can you do apart from sleeping? We know you, Riya.”

Riya gasped. “Excuse me? I also eat.”

“Exactly,” Meera replied dryly. “Sleep and eat. Revolutionary life plan.”

From the window side bed, Anaya—the girl everyone adored—looked up from folding her clothes. Her lips twitched.

“Really?” Anaya said, head tilting slightly. “You’re going to waste three whole months just doing this?”

Riya pointed at her. “Waste? This is called healing.”

“From what?” Anaya asked innocently. “The stress of attending three lectures a week?”

Meera snorted.

Before Riya could retaliate, Kavya, the calmest among them, leaned back against her pillow.

“Leave her,” Kavya said lazily. “What about you two?”

She looked at Anaya. “What are you doing this summer?”

Anaya’s eyes sparkled immediately.

“I’m going to work.”

The room went quiet for half a second.

Then—

“In your brother’s company?” Meera asked instantly.

Riya sat up. “Obviously. I mean—your brother’s company is huge. Super popular. Why wouldn’t you?”

“Yeah,” Kavya added. “People would kill for that opportunity.”

Anaya wrinkled her nose. “No.”

Three voices together: “No?”

“Nope,” Anaya said cheerfully, tying her hair into a messy bun. “I’m not working in my brother’s company.”

Riya frowned. “Why?”

Anaya didn’t answer immediately. She sat down on her bed, legs crossed, expression unusually serious for someone who was normally chaos in human form.

“Because if I work there,” she said calmly,

“no one will see me as an employee.”

Meera looked up from her phone now.

“They’ll see me as the boss’s sister,” Anaya continued.

“They won’t scold me. They won’t correct me. They won’t trust me with real work.”

She shrugged lightly.

“And I don’t want special treatment.”

The room went quiet again—this time, thoughtful.

Kavya nodded slowly. “You’re right.”

Meera sighed. “That actually makes sense.”

Riya blinked. “Wow. You’re smart when you’re not being annoying.”

Anaya grinned instantly. “I’m always smart. I just hide it so people underestimate me.”

She leaned forward and poked Riya’s forehead. “Like you.”

“Hey!” Riya protested.

Anaya laughed, the sound light and infectious.

She looked around. “What about you guys?”

Meera raised her hand lazily. “Internship.”

Kavya nodded. “Me too.”

Riya stared at them. “Traitors.”

“You literally said you’re going to sleep,” Kavya reminded her.

“And eat,” Meera added.

“Yes,” Riya said proudly. “Self-care.”

Anaya clapped her hands together. “Congratulations. You’re the only one living her best life.”

Riya smiled smugly. “Jealous?”

“Very,” Anaya replied without hesitation.

She flopped back onto her bed dramatically.

“Ugh. Why am I the only responsible one here?”

“You chose this,” Meera said. “No one forced you to be ambitious.”

“I blame my parents,” Anaya replied immediately. “And my brother. And my genes.”

She turned her head toward Riya. “You’re adopted.”

Riya threw a pillow at her.

Anaya caught it easily and hugged it. “Violence. So rude.”

“You’re unbearable,” Riya muttered.

“And yet,” Anaya said sweetly, “you love me.”

There was a pause.

Then Kavya said softly, “We actually do.”

Anaya blinked.

Meera nodded. “Yeah. You’re annoying, but… you make everything lighter.”

Riya crossed her arms. “Don’t let it get to your head.”

Anaya smiled—small, genuine, warm.

“Too late,” she said. “My head is already huge.”

They burst out laughing.

The sun dipped lower outside the window, golden light spilling into the room. Suitcases lay half-open. Clothes were scattered. Futures were being planned in careless sentences.

Anaya rolled onto her side, propping her chin on her hand.

“You know what?” she said suddenly.

“What?” Meera asked.

“This summer,” Anaya continued, eyes bright,

“is going to be fun.”

Riya raised an eyebrow. “Why do I feel scared?”

“Because,” Anaya said with a mischievous grin,

“wherever I go… chaos follows.”

Kavya laughed softly. “God help your future workplace.”

Anaya saluted dramatically. “They don’t know what’s coming.”

And somewhere far away, in a world of glass buildings and boardrooms, fate was already quietly preparing its next move.

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