Half the school day had passed in a blur before lunch break finally arrived.
Rohit sat at his usual table in the bustling cafeteria, surrounded by the familiar chaos of trays, lunch boxes, and loud conversations. He had ordered butter chicken with naan today.
To his mild surprise, it was actually decent — nowhere near the standards of the Singhania estate, but far better than the tasteless disaster he had suffered through last week.
Across from him, Akhil opened his tiffin box and shyly pushed it toward the center of the table.
"I know it isn't much," he said modestly, "but have some."
Inside were simple homemade chapatis with potato and onion curry. Before anyone else could move, Jignesh lunged forward and snatched the entire box.
"Deal!" he declared. "You eat my dhokla, I eat this."
The box barely stayed in his hands for two seconds before Subhojit snatched it away.
"Fatty, don't monopolize Aunty's cooking. Good food is meant to be shared."
