72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtH356HJmvd
It didn’t take long for Sambhavi to start noticing the little things about Rahul.
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx1qmS9WSvh
He never brought a water bottle. Not once.
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKvoR0RYobd
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.
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡazfeJhmMfZ
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.
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJNqJGNlFD8
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.
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Clt78ESJn
One day, fascinated, Sambhavi tried to copy him.
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjocrjgTQNI
She picked up her pen and tried twirling it like he did.
It slipped.
Again.
And again.
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeCjvVAQO5x
She picked it up, tried again. Failed.
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEpF4frWXla
Rahul noticed.
He smirked.
“Trying hard, huh?”
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0N6hgAlEwD
She looked up, startled.
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2hSoMO6jrF
“Let me help you,” he said, grinning.
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡalZEbsYoNb
She blinked. “Are you sure you want to teach me?”
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ1lMaAYh8n
“Why not?”
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSO44wXn5rd
He took her pen, placed it gently between her fingers, and then…
Held her hand.
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcZm4g1dfr0
Her mind went completely blank.
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkUn7q3AtSP
He was holding her hand.
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWZBU8HzmUs
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.
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4bUJPgCE7x
He showed her slowly, patiently.
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUHzKDrfMh5
Rachel, watching from beside them, said, “Teach me too!”
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF5syoHHZhm
But Sambhavi jumped in fast.
“I’ll teach you! He just showed me now.”
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOu2URs1wnd
Truth?
She just couldn’t bear the thought of him holding Rachel’s hand.
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbCK8pUFgvt
From that day, pen twirling became her new obsession.
She’d sit and practice secretly, smiling every time she succeeded.
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ9RrRPFEQg
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFHgYib47N0
---
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyfWNs0bkGs
Between all this, the trio of Sambhavi, Rahul, and Rachel played games during boring classes:
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE2CC14HezG
Pen fights with loud smacks on the desk.
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFl6pZrKBXu
Tic Tac Toe, scribbled on the last page of the notebook.
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkSIAOtjy8H
The dots-and-boxes game, trying to trap each other and fill the page.
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4m2DOHArXK
Name, Place, Animal, Thing—where creativity met chaos.
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtrLEXqLnCf
Atlas and Antakshari, songs whispered in turns.
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQJg0QLuaaM
And of course, Bingo, Kurkure, and Lays games during tiffin breaks.
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAhZFEuFOPd
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmMu69UI0Ee
Rahul even taught them a few special games:
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlY4DpyN1aC
In one, he’d hide a tiny dot somewhere in a random page of a book, and the others had to find it.
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvOQ2jviLAk
In another, he’d show just a corner of a page and they had to guess the exact page number.
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH5oIkmbWvW
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0kO5xyXyCz
Each game. Each moment.
Sambhavi stored them all like treasures.
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhfCCBMyqoI
She began to live for the in-betweens—the spaces between chapters, between classes, between words.
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpbNgwMj98z
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.
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNKL8lRNvMX
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.
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4nMFQq6SYI
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7VZdb2CyZC
---
ns216.73.216.146da2
