102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡshAhJSO2Fm
It didn’t take long for Sambhavi to start noticing the little things about Rahul.
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqSku2wX1o7
He never brought a water bottle. Not once.
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3XhhdfPzjx
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.
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ95pxMpPMBo
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.
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvvT4b8R7jL
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.
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzEV6fX2sJ2
One day, fascinated, Sambhavi tried to copy him.
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyhsrFomq6L
She picked up her pen and tried twirling it like he did.
It slipped.
Again.
And again.
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnY43EtatKR
She picked it up, tried again. Failed.
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCpAyVNNwsQ
Rahul noticed.
He smirked.
“Trying hard, huh?”
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy2OA2iPci1
She looked up, startled.
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJRUzYmHKKD
“Let me help you,” he said, grinning.
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEc4JSQrBoc
She blinked. “Are you sure you want to teach me?”
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnUaNduHsBZ
“Why not?”
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkDcxijYZqJ
He took her pen, placed it gently between her fingers, and then…
Held her hand.
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLCKJbS5tIT
Her mind went completely blank.
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhpXQdaF4n8
He was holding her hand.
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaw68PYmQ6z
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.
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDF1TNpggeq
He showed her slowly, patiently.
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEbN71yDEve
Rachel, watching from beside them, said, “Teach me too!”
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNsoo08fmmx
But Sambhavi jumped in fast.
“I’ll teach you! He just showed me now.”
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd8yev9EcjF
Truth?
She just couldn’t bear the thought of him holding Rachel’s hand.
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDHXfP6z8yh
From that day, pen twirling became her new obsession.
She’d sit and practice secretly, smiling every time she succeeded.
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCmqd8LEgPG
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMPU66LWDxU
---
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡryhKJ2lW46
Between all this, the trio of Sambhavi, Rahul, and Rachel played games during boring classes:
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlb86JVcxo2
Pen fights with loud smacks on the desk.
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjp9SBTaHMq
Tic Tac Toe, scribbled on the last page of the notebook.
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfZT7DPHN1d
The dots-and-boxes game, trying to trap each other and fill the page.
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX5eOkduNTW
Name, Place, Animal, Thing—where creativity met chaos.
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUWRiwuxvVF
Atlas and Antakshari, songs whispered in turns.
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsyyUBaR2jN
And of course, Bingo, Kurkure, and Lays games during tiffin breaks.
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjW3ntwVAtZ
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeu5HqI5Ve5
Rahul even taught them a few special games:
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡieIc6EtGiF
In one, he’d hide a tiny dot somewhere in a random page of a book, and the others had to find it.
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJAdcNa8QQt
In another, he’d show just a corner of a page and they had to guess the exact page number.
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn7nnLtn7Rp
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI63doU4x2G
Each game. Each moment.
Sambhavi stored them all like treasures.
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv7yvsO0MDs
She began to live for the in-betweens—the spaces between chapters, between classes, between words.
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlnDGCM0V7A
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.
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDBgfuAnuc8
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.
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSNP6yIaSQw
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWlLhOF2E2A
---
ns216.73.216.8da2
