65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEmXsz8NAcs
It didn’t take long for Sambhavi to start noticing the little things about Rahul.
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoLr4236shw
He never brought a water bottle. Not once.
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMLnnwgVRAi
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.
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ8Ulexe056
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.
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcEcNharSU1
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.
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7gPpOEIF23
One day, fascinated, Sambhavi tried to copy him.
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVb0jmqOXVL
She picked up her pen and tried twirling it like he did.
It slipped.
Again.
And again.
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtsU5Rkz2qz
She picked it up, tried again. Failed.
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoXgHHgtiAk
Rahul noticed.
He smirked.
“Trying hard, huh?”
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRtnXJ8HSE8
She looked up, startled.
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlfcpmt1Plj
“Let me help you,” he said, grinning.
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡchTcFWqxW2
She blinked. “Are you sure you want to teach me?”
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCb8SA9aJxf
“Why not?”
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGtp5QYUGVY
He took her pen, placed it gently between her fingers, and then…
Held her hand.
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTj3fgwkJaR
Her mind went completely blank.
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYFRPep6N7V
He was holding her hand.
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1asbvNu5Ls
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.
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu7TYahTq3l
He showed her slowly, patiently.
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYY67m9TWtz
Rachel, watching from beside them, said, “Teach me too!”
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡggcVkggIzk
But Sambhavi jumped in fast.
“I’ll teach you! He just showed me now.”
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJSqEKmTtjD
Truth?
She just couldn’t bear the thought of him holding Rachel’s hand.
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJIpWj3arY2
From that day, pen twirling became her new obsession.
She’d sit and practice secretly, smiling every time she succeeded.
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyzkAAf2eY4
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXgxq64WPcZ
---
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Mbnw6FTnD
Between all this, the trio of Sambhavi, Rahul, and Rachel played games during boring classes:
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6k4QSWzbYg
Pen fights with loud smacks on the desk.
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGNrPrJRLKp
Tic Tac Toe, scribbled on the last page of the notebook.
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo4iCycjsoQ
The dots-and-boxes game, trying to trap each other and fill the page.
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM4nkacUYnn
Name, Place, Animal, Thing—where creativity met chaos.
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD0hYk6npjE
Atlas and Antakshari, songs whispered in turns.
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtNFFlhAnaf
And of course, Bingo, Kurkure, and Lays games during tiffin breaks.
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG6KmAx71NE
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWS7k1b11Vh
Rahul even taught them a few special games:
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSNLLMd8P1p
In one, he’d hide a tiny dot somewhere in a random page of a book, and the others had to find it.
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡluDnSS9aiH
In another, he’d show just a corner of a page and they had to guess the exact page number.
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVxd4NEMlpX
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM3dz4oLy5b
Each game. Each moment.
Sambhavi stored them all like treasures.
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs7oWRH1q1E
She began to live for the in-betweens—the spaces between chapters, between classes, between words.
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSatUULLoUX
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.
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEeDvWfR8eb
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.
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1cVwsxWVYk
65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg1Zp6Yu80Z
---
ns216.73.216.166da2
