[This book got more than 5k reads. 😊😊 I am so happy. So this is my thank you gift to my wonderful readers who made it happen. Thank you so much buddies. Hope you all like this small gift.]

[MalaPok06 thisuni21 @ChandrapalSingh1 are right. Rhea it is. 😉]

Ranbir turned around to see Rhea. Instantly, Ranbir's handsome features hardened into a mask of bitterness.

"What?" Ranbir snapped.

"I want to talk to you. You haven't talked to me since you have returned from the hospital. I..." Rhea began.

"And yet you failed to get it into your thick head that I don't want to have anything to do with you, let alone talk to you. After, everything you have done with Prachi, I don't even want to see your face." Ranbir looked away in disgust.

"Prachi! Prachi! Prachi! Why does everyone cares only about her? Why noone cares about me at all? Why is every one of you are supporting her against me?" Rhea's eyes mirrored the hatred in her heart for Prachi.

"Let me think. May be because she deserves all the love and care in the world. May be because she knows how to love and care and support selflessly. May be because she is not a selfish and self centered person like you who can destroy others life after a whim." Ranbir smirked mirthlessly.

"Whim? You are calling my love for you just a whim? You..." Rhea couldn't finish what she was saying as Ranbir started to laugh.

"Love? Do you even know what love is? Love is doing everything you can for the happiness of the person you love. Love is ensuring the safety of your beloved even at the cost of your safety. Love is standing by your beloved through thick and thin. Love is letting go if the person you love doesn't reciprocate and still pray that your beloved gets the love they want, even if your own heart is breaking into pieces. That's what love is. Got your answer? Now get lost." Ranbir glowered at her.

Rhea scowled and turning on her heels, stomped away.

"There they are!" Another voice reverberated in the deserted corridor.

Ranbir and Aryan whirled around to see Prachi and Sahana hurrying over to them. Ranbir smiled seeing his beloved and closed the remaining distance between them. 

"Hey. What are you doing here?" Ranbir smiled at her.

"I should ask you that. What are you two doing in front of the Principal's office? Did you do any mischief?" Prachi narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

"Hawww! Prachi! You always blame me." Ranbir pouted like a baby making Prachi giggle.

"Awe! Sorry, little baby!" Prachi laughed seeing the adorable look on Ranbir's face getting replaced by an irritated frown.

"You called me baby again! I am not gonna leave you this time, Prachi Vrachi." Ranbir advanced towards her as she backed away.

Prachi turned on her heels and broke into a run as Ranbir chased her.

"They fight like kids, don't they?" Aryan laughed.

"Totally." Sahana giggled.

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Ranbir was chasing Prachi and was closing in on her as he was faster being an athlete. Soon, he stretched his hand out and wound his fingers around Prachi's dainty wrist from the back and pulled her inside a classroom. Before she could realize what had happened, he held her captive by placing his arms on the wall behind her in both side.

"How will you escape now? So, I am a baby, isn't it?" Ranbir smirked.

Prachi gulped hard at the devilry in his eyes and shook her head in negation.

"No? But you just said that I am a baby. Twice." Ranbir raised his brows.

"Sorry." Prachi looked at him with puppy face.

It took a lot of will power for Ranbir to stop himself from melting. Her one imploring look can do that to him. Ranbir shook his head, more to come out of the spell cast on him every time by a particular pair of imploring, dark eyes than in negation.

"Apology not accepted. You will have to suffer punishment." Ranbir smirked.

"You are so mean." Prachi complained.

"That I am." Ranbir chuckled softly.

"What punishment?" Prachi huffed. 

Ranbir leaned in with a mischievous smirk while Prachi leaned back against the cold surface of the wall behind her.

She didn't feel any discomfort or alarm due to his closeness, not even when he was merely inches away from her, just a strange kind of flutter in her stomach.

As he leaned closer, she closed her eyes, not knowing what to expect. A few moments later, her eyes flew open, feeling him kiss her nosetip and then straightening up again.

She looked up into his eyes. There was boundless love and affection only for her brimming in his eyes. A small, tender smile was adorning his lips.

What Prachi didn't know and couldn't see was that her eyes, too, were brimming with answering love and affection for him. Had Ranbir not realized already that she loved him, he would have done so at that moment.

"So, did you like it?" Ranbir smiled mischievously at her.

"Like what?" Prachi failed to decode the naughty glint in his eyes.

"Your punishment. I wanted to ask you if you liked it enough to do such mischiefs time and again, so that I can punish you like this again and again." Ranbir looked at her with a straight face.

As the meaning of his words dawned on her, her cheeks tinted with a rosy hue. She lowered her eyes with a shy smile.

"You are shameless, Ranbir Kohli." Prachi pushed him away and darted out of the room.

Ranbir ran a hand through the dark mass of his hair, chuckling.

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After a few while, Pranbir and Arhana left with their respective families.

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Next day

It was a beautiful morning with the sun smiling out of a cloudless sky. As Prachi and Sahana disembarked from the auto, their attention was enticed by a group of girls huddled near the entrance and engrossed in whispering something among themselves and giggling.

"Prachi, let's go and see what is so funny." Sahana stared at them longingly.

"Sahana! Don't waste your time in idle gossip. If you have so much free time, then go and study in the library." Prachi rolled her eyes.

"Prachi! You are such a spoilsport. Ranbir is right to call you lecturi." Sahana giggled.

"Really! Then Aryan is also right when he says you are Sa Ha Na which means intolerable." Prachi burst into fits of giggle as Sahana's jaw dropped open.

"Prachi! I am so not gonna leave you!" Sahana shrieked.

Prachi dashed away, giggling, while Sahana chased her. As they were dashing through the campus, Prachi, who had turned back to see how far Sahana was from her, careened into someone. 

Startled, Prachi came to an abrupt halt and turned to see who she had dashed into. Sahana, too, had come to an abrupt halt a few feet away.

Let's end it here today. 😉

Hmm....so what do you think buddies? Whom had Prachi collided with? 😉

Hope you all liked this part. Waiting for your feedbacks.