The whole class stood up when Mrs Girija Maheswari walked in

By the time Neha stood up to greet the teacher, the rest of the class have already got seated after wishing the professor

"Why are you still standing Ms Bhatia. Don't waste my time. Sit down and open your books" Mrs Maheswari said placing the doll in a corner

The doll is really very ugly

Aren't dolls supposed to be pretty?? Neha wondered

The rumor is that Mrs Maheswari is childless and considers the doll as her child

She carries the doll everywhere she goes

The doll comes in different clothing on each day.

She had even heard that Mrs Maheswari dresses the doll in the university Jersey during any inter college festivals.

The doll is university's unofficial mascot

What kind of weird people does this university has

Neha stared at the doll and scrunched her nose

Even the Chucky doll looked prettier than this

What will Mrs Maheswari do if the doll goes missing

Neha grinned

She could kidnap it. Then ask for a ransom

That would be wonderful

A free period a week for one month. That would be the best ransom for the ugly doll.

And maybe she can give hints to some of her friends that it's she who kidnapped the doll

No proofs.. Only rumor

That would make her the college badass

Wow!! She can image herself getting down from her own new sports bike, all badgirl style and people parting away giving her way to walk in

Which motorcycle should she buy??

How about a Harley Davidson

She could name it Mozzarella.. Or maybe Margarita

"Neha Bhatia"

She could even appoint some girls from her class as her side chicks

"Neha Bhatia"

And they will fall over themselves to do whatever she wants

Neha sighed dreamily

"Neha Bhatia"

"Present Ma'am" Neha said raising her hand

Neha pulled a stop to her train of thoughts when a fire breathing dragon stood in front of her

Okay!! That might be an exaggeration. But hey, it came close

"This is not a place for day dreaming Ms Bhatia. If you find my class boring you can get out" The professor said

Neha sighed and packed her bag

She had always found Mrs Maheswari's classes boring and was tempted to walk out many times but always stopped thinking that would hurt her feelings

Now that Mrs Maheswari herself is giving the permission why should she sit here and bear with the boring class

She stood up with her bag all ready to walk out when she saw her classmates looking at her with disbelief

Oh no!! The professor was being sarcastic

Neha smiled sheepishly at the professor and sat back

"Get out Ms Bhatia" the professor screamed and she ran for her life

"Chahe koi mujhe jungli kahe...
Kehne do jee kehta rahe
Hum pyaar ke toofaanon mein gire hai
Hum kya kare..... Yahoooo" she sang as she skipped along the corridor towards the cafe

"Oyee...you!! Come here" she heard someone shouting and turned to see that they were pointing at her

"Me???" She asked pointing a finger towards herself

"Can you see anyone behind you??" He asked

"Ofcourse no!! How can I when I don't have eyes behind my head?? But I can always turn around and check" she said and turning around and looking

"Okay!! No one is behind me." She said and stood in front of them

The two guys were sitting on the corner bench and another guy was standing in front of them with his head hung low

The boys sitting there turned to the guy and asked

"You saw her?? So did you like her??" One of them asked

Neha felt offended

How can he ask such a question to the poor boy

"Ofcourse he likes me. Haa...I haven't met him before, but now that I have, I'm pretty sure he will definitely like me. Infact everyone likes me.... Everyone except that stupid little devil Pihu. But we don't have to count her. She is just jealous of me... "

"What the... " one of the boys who is sitting there frowned at her and she frowned back

"Look girl. We are your seniors. You will give respect okay. Talk only when we ask you to. Now shut up" the other boy said and Neha made a gesture of zipping her mouth

The boys again turned to the shy boy

"Now propose her" and the shy boy's eyes widened in horror and Neha's eyes lit up

OMG!! No one has ever proposed her before

Oh please someone take a video

The boy still looked at the ground

"What?? You don't like her??" senior boy no 1 asked

Let's call them S1 and S2

The shy boy shook his head

"What?? So you like her??"

"He totally does" Neha said grinning and S2 glared at her

"Didn't I tell you to shut up"

"Ooops"

"Okay! Arjun here is too shy. What is your name??" S1 asked her

"Neha Bhatia"

"Okay Neha! As Arjun here is too shy, why don't you propose Arjun" S2 asked smirking at her

"Really?? Wow!! This is my first time proposing." She said grinning and turned to Arjun

"Arjun, my love" she said dramatically and the Arjun looked at her in horror

Neha turned sideways to see the seniors looking at her with amusement

"Carry on. We are enjoying it" S1 said and took out his phone to take the video

Neha turned back to Arjun and got down on her knees

"I love you. I love you so much. You can be my prince and I can be your princess. You can be the butterflies I feel in my belly. You can be the chills I feel on our first date. Will you marry me. Please say yes" Neha said taking Arjun's hand in his

Zian stared at her stunned

He and Zahir were on their way to the cafe

He had a free hour and he made the mistake of telling that to Zahir

And Zahir, being the loving brother, as he himself claims, bunked the class to give him company

Zian couldn't believe his eyes

Neha is proposing someone??

She is one her knees and she is holding his hands

She is bloody damn touching him

He couldn't move

Yes!! He knew he was attracted to her. He had admitted that much to himself

But will just an attraction hurt like this

It's not as if he loves her

He hardly knows her for a week now

"What the??" Zahir cursed and looked at him

Zian was still staring at them

"They are ragging her Zi" Zahir said pointing at the boys sitting there and also saw Alex joining them

"Ragging??" Zian let out a breath and realized that he had been holding his breath

"Damn it!! They are ragging her" he growled and stalked towards them

Neha was still trying to convince Arjun to accept her proposal, who was still staring at her as if she has two heads, fours ears, three noses and two eyes. Okay everyone has two eyes. But you get the picture don't you?

"Arjun?? We can have a beach wedding. Then we can go on our Himalayan trip for honeymoon" she said and the seniors laughed the whole time she was proposing

That's when Alex joined them

"Heyy Lexy" Neha greeted him and the other senior boys frowned

"You know her??" They asked Alex

"Are you ragging her?? God!! Didn't you get anyone other than this weirdo. She is trouble man. And Zian has an interest in her. If he sees this, you two are dead" Alex said while Neha continued her weird proposal

"Zian?? As in Zian Singh Oberoi??"

"Yes. Are there any other Zians here??" Alex asked and then cursed seeing Zian stalking towards them glaring

"Damn it. He is coming" Alex said and the other boys stood up frightened

The twins are a year senior to them, so obviously they are worried

"Neha. That's enough. Go" S1 said trying to stop Neha. As if he could

"Arre. How can I stop now. Just two more seconds. He will say yes now. I have almost convinced him completely. Tell yes na Arjun. Our seniors are in a hurry"

"God!! Do whatever you want. We are leaving" they stood up to run off but was not quick enough

Zahir and Zian stood in front of them glaring

"Don't you know ragging is banned in our campus" Zahir asked

God!! This coming from the boy who ragged them on their first day last year.

"Hi Z1 and Z2. They were not ragging. S1 and S2 were trying to get to know us" Neha said still on her knees

Zian held her elbows and pulled her up

"S1 and S2??" Zahir asked frowning

"Senior boy no 1 and senior boy no 2. I don't know their names, so .." She said with a shrug

Zian turned to the boys

"If I ever see you guys trouble her" he said in a dangerously calm voice

"No. No" they said and started backing away

"Don't go. Send me the video first and then go" Neha said and the boys paled

"You took a damn video of her??" Zian growled snatching the phone from them

It was password protected

"Delete it now" he demanded and Neha looked at him in horror as they deleted the video

"How could you" she cried looking at him

"What??"

"That was the video of my first proposal. How could you delete it. I wanted to show it to my children and grand children and their grandchildren too. I wanted them to see how brave their granny Neha was. It would have been an inspiration for them" Neha said and Zian looked at her in disbelief

"Oh really?? And what if he had put that video in YouTube or Facebook?? What would you have done then??"

"I would have become famous" Neha said and Zian pressed his lips in annoyance

"And what if your parents have seen it. Would they congratulate you on how brave their daughter is??" Zian mocked and Neha's eyes widened in horror

"Momma would ground me for life"

"Grow up Neha. You have to be more careful with people. These two are harmless, so it's okay for now. But everyone won't be like that. You should learn to understand who is good and who is not. I like your attitude to life Neha. You are a very cheerful girl. But letting someone take a video of you was downright stupid. Don't let something like that happen again.I'm not telling you this to hurt you. I just want you to be careful. There won't be someone around to protect you always. Sometimes you will have to protect yourself" Zian said gently

"I'm sorry. I didn't think all that"

"I know. This ever running brain doesn't stop to think right" he said slightly knocking her head with his knuckles

"I lost the entire energy on proposing him. And I'm hungry now" Neha said

Zian chuckled

"I was wondering how you stopped thinking about food for so long"

A/n

How many of you thought Neha was going to propose Zi after the teaser 🤪🤪

Please do vote and comment

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