27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyqqz83yy9i
It didn’t take long for Sambhavi to start noticing the little things about Rahul.
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡamN8bnhZeG
He never brought a water bottle. Not once.
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYhrA6770y9
Every day, he would ask either her or Rachel for water.
Sometimes he’d gulp it down gratefully and then say, “Thanks!”
Other times, he’d offer to refill their bottles at the cooler.
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsG0OkJ1ExO
Sambhavi started carrying an extra-cold bottle, just in case.
She’d silently offer it with a small smile, pretending not to care.
But inside, her heart always skipped a beat.
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3R4seSXjk5
Sambhavi also began to notice something new.
Rahul had this habit—he constantly played with his pen and notebook. Swirling the pen between his fingers, flipping the notebook like a toy, making it dance on the desk with swift, practiced moves.
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrRSovmwblT
One day, fascinated, Sambhavi tried to copy him.
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIaFHz0g6y3
She picked up her pen and tried twirling it like he did.
It slipped.
Again.
And again.
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbbZNJg3M3D
She picked it up, tried again. Failed.
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeEt3h8RwEL
Rahul noticed.
He smirked.
“Trying hard, huh?”
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8YGNU6Acgv
She looked up, startled.
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbswocvy28Z
“Let me help you,” he said, grinning.
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXGhrZSgw7G
She blinked. “Are you sure you want to teach me?”
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq86WY67rt9
“Why not?”
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgLcP1nwrew
He took her pen, placed it gently between her fingers, and then…
Held her hand.
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9jqbwhbFEn
Her mind went completely blank.
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkpVMzDE92j
He was holding her hand.
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkEckJqygFX
Trying to teach her how to swirl a pen. But all she could feel was her heart pounding in her ears, her cheeks warming up like fire, fingers trembling.
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOVGINBaPSG
He showed her slowly, patiently.
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJKo7FJfqC8
Rachel, watching from beside them, said, “Teach me too!”
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpTbip4t9Pm
But Sambhavi jumped in fast.
“I’ll teach you! He just showed me now.”
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyzRBwsYvEy
Truth?
She just couldn’t bear the thought of him holding Rachel’s hand.
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLzUTaAFySq
From that day, pen twirling became her new obsession.
She’d sit and practice secretly, smiling every time she succeeded.
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBlGoFOFOUn
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjG2wUVLoso
---
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMl94BQv6Mu
Between all this, the trio of Sambhavi, Rahul, and Rachel played games during boring classes:
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJV9H3LUza4
Pen fights with loud smacks on the desk.
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ67kvvjXsK0
Tic Tac Toe, scribbled on the last page of the notebook.
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUMzfnBAepj
The dots-and-boxes game, trying to trap each other and fill the page.
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡawLrgNtQ9V
Name, Place, Animal, Thing—where creativity met chaos.
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6koZ0bIByL
Atlas and Antakshari, songs whispered in turns.
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQdc0xo06pL
And of course, Bingo, Kurkure, and Lays games during tiffin breaks.
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFOo5Jpn8bH
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb9DrAYEH1l
Rahul even taught them a few special games:
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD2qPMYgJ2q
In one, he’d hide a tiny dot somewhere in a random page of a book, and the others had to find it.
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8cF8lCeBNI
In another, he’d show just a corner of a page and they had to guess the exact page number.
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbqp5tUOJPN
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFI88ZH1n6t
Each game. Each moment.
Sambhavi stored them all like treasures.
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡByP7XP8IeJ
She began to live for the in-betweens—the spaces between chapters, between classes, between words.
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi1EAlWVlxc
Her love didn’t arrive like thunder.
It was in his pen swirling, in his smirk, in his shared chocolate,
and in the quietness of sitting beside him while pretending not to care.
And then, without fanfare, without warning—
Class 4 came to an end.
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmiNiFfSRzF
But the memories… they were just beginning, not with a confession or a farewell, but with a collection of unsaid feelings— and a girl who had fallen, fully and deeply, in love with a boy who never knew.
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡms9gX4gtb9
27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfMxX6Xto6R
---
ns216.73.216.24da2
