||Win or lose?||

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"Hurry up, it's almost 10 o'clock", Shravas was shouting at Lasya as they were munching scrumptious sandwiches in the canteen of Sri Ram College of Engineering.

"Wait...let .. me..me eat this", She said muffled as her mouth was stuffed with her favorite.

He chuckled looking at her the way she was eating without any thoughts about how she might be looking or what others would think about her.

'such a carefree girl, my little hearts',  he mumbled himself giving a glance at her.

She raised her brow in confusion. She stopped chewing her food, "Did you just say something?"

He nervously smiled, scratched his nape, and thought of ways to cover up. 

"Yes, I did say to hurry up we are going to be late for the event", He without letting her know changed the topic.

She sighed and munched faster.

"Okay, I am full now", She said as she wiped her lips with the tissue.

They left the hotel by around 7.30 in the morning and took 45 minutes to reach the venue. As soon as they entered, Lasya started feeling very giddy and nervous and when she is nervous she finds it difficult to cope with the surroundings so to gain momentum she has to eat something she is fond of.

So here they are, together again in the college's canteen where they served her favorite paneer cheese sandwich. It's almost an hour since they are eating, especially Lasya eating.

She has finished almost 2 sandwiches and a bottle of coke.

"Thank God, you are at least full now. It's like, you haven't eaten for so long when I saw you the way you were eating just a few seconds ago", He said shaking his head in disbelief.

"I am unique. So yeah, sometimes I eat a lot more than you expect especially when I am nervous as hell", She said shrugging her shoulders as if it was not a big deal.

"Anyway, it's your treat, right? So I didn't do anything wrong. I just ate what I could have done a few days ago. That's it", His eyes widened like a saucer, and sighed heavily.

"I must be very alert again and I need to think twice before asking you out for dinner or something else especially where food is involved", He said and burst out in laughter after seeing the invisible smoke coming out from her ears.

His laughter was down when he saw her standing there with her arms down and breathing heavily as if she was ready to pounce over him any second just to tear his rib apart.

Soon, he straightened himself and ruffled his hair with a frown.

"Come, let's go. We don't want to be late now, do we?", He asked as he grabbed their backpacks and made the way out of her sight.

When he was away, he let out his breath which he didn't know he was holding.

'Oh holy Lord, she seems to be very scary when she is angry. It's better to be in her good card if I don't want to die before my love confession', he groaned mentally.

Meanwhile, when he left, Lasya burst out in laughter and as she couldn't control, she took hold of the nearby table to steady herself.

She then gulped a glass of water kept on the table and then went trailing behind him.

'Did he really get scared? Thank God. I didn't know I could be this scary and furious. Ha, Serves him better then', she thought mentally and giggled at him.

When she made the way out, she saw him in deep thought. She stood in front of him and snapped her fingers to bring him back from his train of thought.

"Penny for your thoughts. What were you thinking? That too standing in the middle of the corridor", She asked looking here and there analysing where to go next.

"Uh..hm..", he wondered why he was stuttering. He cleared his throat and looked at her when she was already staring at him with her arched eyebrows, "I was thinking about the event. We should give our best and take back the trophy to our college".

She blinked her eyes and stated.

"Yes, I do have the same wish that we will win. But see," she motioned her hands everywhere to see the students busy preparing for the event, "Seeing this, I don't think we deserve a trophy. They are brilliant and studious unlike us", She said dryly and ducked her head.

He moved towards her and lifted her chin making her look at him.

"See, participation is important. Winning is secondary. Also, who said we can't win? We have done our best and we will give them - the judges THE BEST of everyone", He smiled at her.

She didn't dare to break the gaze she had on his eyes.

Since she didn't say anything, he continued, "Lasya, be positive like you were always been when you were struggling to meet your needs back then. You had a hope to live a normal stress-free life like now. Where is that Lasya? Who took everything challenging and positive? Who never wants anyone to look at her in pity and sympathy? Who wants to do something or another to win among others? I need that Lasya back again which I adore", He waited for her to say something.

 Her eyes were glistening with unshed tears that were now blurring her vision. 

"Thank You, Shravas for being there for me. You have always supported me and I must tell you that you have understood me", She blinked away the tears and wiped her face with her knuckles.

"Yes, we will give them our best and participation is more important. We are way better than anyone else who is now sitting at home and enjoying watching us. Out of all the people, we are the ones our college selected for this event so that itself makes us half won and now, this is the least we can do. Just go there and give your best. Yes, I can do this, we can do this together", Lasya let out confidently.

"Yup, there comes my bold Lasya. Come now, let's go and occupy our seats", He said with a smile and dragged her towards the venue.

10 colleges are looking forward to this competition. Most of them have come along with their partners but two colleges have brought their teachers along with them. It seems some people still require spoon-feeding in everything.

Lasya and Shravas made their way to the front seat and took a corner side just to free from the camera view towards the podium and they placed their items on the table allotted for them. The view to the stage is clear from their table so that they could watch other students presenting the presentation which could help them in observing how they present.

"Give me the pen drive and hard copy of the paper", Shravas asked typing his password to the laptop.

She nodded and took out what he asked from her backpack. She then opened her laptop and arranged everything on the desktop page. Soon, the event gets started with a few introductory speeches and chief guests sharing their experiences regarding college life and event participation.

Lasya always liked to listen to motivational speeches which helped her to move on in her life for the better with hope. She smiled thinking how Shravas had understood about her. Her thoughts were broken when her phone started ringing in her pants pocket. Today she was wearing black denims with a pink cold-shoulder top. Without checking the caller ID, she attended the call.

"Hello"

"Hey .. La ...." A caller on the other side of the phone squealed making her flinch in the seat. If it was not the phone, then her ears would have gone by now from the way the caller squealed.

"Tinaaaa", Lasya whined, "what's with you and squealing these days?"

"Nothing dear", Tina said in excitement, "I just called you to wish you all the best. Also I can see you Live on the TV now", Lasya thought she might be jumping up and down.

"Gosh, Tina. You are pregnant. Please don't jump now else Harish will come and kill me for your nonsense act", Lasya stated.

"No shit Sherlock, he will never do such a thing. But Anyway leave it all aside. All the best. Do well and pass my regards to Shravas as well", Lasya could hear the concern in her voice and she couldn't help but smile.

"Thank you Tina. Yes, he is here. I will pass the phone to him. Wait, you tell yourself", Lasya handed her phone to Shravas who was busy reading the slide.

He raised his brow in confusion. She mouthed 'Tina on the call' to which he nodded in understanding.

They talked for a while and passed the phone back to Lasya.

He again made himself busy with the latest update on the slide.

"Okay then. I will call you later after the event. All the best. You give your best and you will get this trophy", Tina said in happiness.

"Thank you Tina. I hope the best will win and I wish I could deliver my best-ever presentation. Call you back soon", Lasya said and hung up the call.

She then turned to look at him to see the new changes made by him. He discussed the paper once again and after a few minutes, they were ready to roll. The event had already started and students were presenting the paper. There were three judges and there were three measures based on how they will test their students.

1. Accuracy and confidence in their delivery of presentation,

2. Real-time importance of the title,

3. How fast they answer their Viva without stuttering.

The three judges should decide on each of these measures and then they collaborate results and announce the winner.

8th was the number for RV College of Engineering to present their paper. Now contestant number 7 has already gone to give their presentation.

"Lasya, next is ours. We shall do our best. First half I will present and the next half and finishing will be done by you", He turned to look at her.

He understood she was tense. He patted her back and took her for a side hug.

"It's going to be okay. Be confident and you are going to win this cup for us for our college", he whispered to her in a low voice.

She took deep breaths and closed her eyes for a second.

"Yes, I am cool. We shall give our best and let us make our college proud of us", she said smilingly.

He nodded his head and gave her a thumbs up. Soon, they were called to the podium and Shravas started the welcome speech and started explaining the details. Their presentation has 20 slides and the first 10 will be handled by Shravas. He presented it more confidently looking at the big screen and passed the next section to Lasya easily. Lasya smiled and took over the rest of the presentation in a more innovative interactive manner than anyone else in the event which made judges nod their heads continuously agreeing to her points.

She finally gave a conclusion and wound it up with a thank you speech.

The total presentation was about 10 minutes and in those 10, they covered the maximum possibilities of the topic including their cons and pros.

Finally, both of them gathered in front of the judges waiting for the set of questions.

The first judge who was responsible for assessing the accuracy and confidence level gave them a 10/10 mark.

The second judge who was responsible for real-time value with the topic gave them a 9/10 mark.

The final and third judge who was responsible for their Viva gave them full 10/10 points since they answered almost the second they heard the question.

"Wow, no one has answered this fast. You guys are superb, especially the young lady. You were perfect and I wish you guys would win the trophy. You have shown true dedication towards the presentation and I believe it is your hard work that has benefited you. So your score is 29 and I believe no one has scored that much but let's see two more colleges are yet there to present their paper so all the best", the third judge said happily.

Lasya was smiling and Shravas held her shoulders and patted her for her efforts.

Still, two more colleges have to present the paper and final results are yet to be announced.

Shravas and Lasya sighed and let out the breath that they had been holding for a while when the judges were giving their scores.

"I can't believe this. We did it. We did it", Lasya squealed in happiness and hugged Shravas tightly.

She had tears of joy in her eyes which showed how much she worked hard to achieve this.

"Well, we did it. I told you that we are capable enough to pull this over. Also, you were superb in the questionnaire round. Your answers were truly amazing and the way you explained every detail gained us more scores", He said pulling her away from him and wiping her tears.

Now, they packed their backpacks and relaxed in their seat waiting for the final announcement of results telling the winner of the competition.

After half an hour, the 10 college contestants were finished participating in the event and now they are eagerly waiting for the results. The top three results were announced and one of them was RV College of Engineering. It seems there was a secret ballot for the calculation of the winner.

As they said, they valued the number of slides used for the presentation and the way they presented their paper in IEEE format will also be considered. So yes, the excitement can't be content enough as they declared the winner as RV College of Engineering, Bangalore.

Shravas and Lasya were already standing when the results were announced and they were looking at each other and finally, when they heard the winner announcement, they just jumped out of their seats and hugged tightly.

They made their way towards the podium and collected their medals, mementos, and cash prizes.

"I also like to announce one more thing. As the winner, they get a chance to publish their paper in our national and international technical journal which will be officially verified by our IEEE council which will help them to boost their career and interest in this technology field. So once again, congratulations RV College of Engineering, Bangalore. You students are the light of our country. Brilliant performance today and let your success journey continue from here. All the best. And Thank you", saying this vice general of the IEEE council announced and dispersed the audience. 

Later there was, the vote of thanks for the event winding up followed by our national anthem. 

"Oh God, I can't believe this. Our paper is in a journal that too internationally. Oh Gosh, I think I am gonna faint", Lasya shrieked out in enthusiasm. 

Shravas who was watching her, started wondering whether she had turned into a crazy girl who started jumping around for everything. He chuckled and shook his head in disbelief. 

"Okay, okay. Now enough jumping Lasya. See everyone is noticing us. Please behave we are still in the venue", He said and tried to pull her towards him to calm down but to his utter surprise, she dodged him and snapped his arms away from her. Soon, Shravas swiped off her feet from the ground and twirled her with excitement and was shocked suddenly. 

"Put me down Shravas. What are you doing?" She asked looking around. 

"I am also enjoying with you. That's it", He said shrugging his shoulders. 

"I understand. I am sorry", she said holding her hands over her ears. 

"Now please put me down we are on the media and I don't want people pointing their finger toward you regarding this matter", she said shyly, her cheeks getting a tinge of crimson due to the way he had lifted her. 

He slowly pulled her down, and their faces very close, nose touching each other with their ragged breaths. If they were in privacy, we could think of something related to romance but being in public seems odd so they just get separated and look away feeling embarrassed. 

After what seemed an eternity, one of them had to talk so Shravas took the lead.

But before that, their phone started ringing and vibrating with nonstop messages. Everyone congratulated them from the Principal to their HOD and their friends and family, everyone wished them well and asked them to enjoy the rest of the trip. 

"Lots of messages and I am so happy Shravas. We are valued", Lasya said after a while looking at the phone. 

"Yeah, I am also happy for you and us. It's our time to celebrate. But first let's have something", Shravas cooed, "I am feeling very hungry", He said collecting their belongings and placing their certificates and other winning things into their bag.

 "Uh..hm okay. I too feel hungry." She said and helped him in packing their stuff. Soon they had a tummy full of lunch and they went back to their hotel room. Reaching the room, they decided to check their prize money and other things.

"Oh My God! Oh My God!", Lasya started jumping off the bed without thinking that there was someone who was watching her in amusement.

She felt someone's intense staring, she stopped jumping and then stuck her tongue out. 

He chuckled seeing her. 

She straightened out and patted the nearby space asking him to take a seat beside her.

"Look Shravas, we have won Rs 5k each as price money. God, I can't believe this. I am very grateful to God for giving me this amount", She said dreamily. 

"You are into savings right?" He asked raising his brow.

"Yup, I do much. Because people like me need savings to lead a normal life with all the facilities you people have. I didn't mean luxury at least I could be able to buy three meals a day for me and my Ritchie until my last breath. So savings are really important. Don't you think so?" 

She asked frowning. He raised his hands in surrender.

"I am sorry. Yes, you do need savings. But I am not that lavish person like you think. I do save a lot", She smiled at him.

"Don't worry. You will get your prince charming soon. You wouldn't worry much about your future then", Shravas said nonchalantly. She gasped loud enough to make him hear to which he giggled. 

"I don't need any prince. I have Ritchie for me. That's more than enough. Also, I have friends in my life which I am very grateful. So I will never ask for anything more and, also I am not looking into love or something in life because I don't think someone wants me as a girl in his life", She paused. 

Shravas's smile vanished listening to her words which pierced his heart.

"People like me should be satisfied with what we have. We don't deserve to dream that big", She said faintly smiling at him.

"You will find him soon. Just mark my words", He said with determination. 

"Aye aye captain" she teased him. 

-*-*-*-*-*-*

Just then his phone started ringing out loud. It was a video call from his family. 

"A video call from my home", Shravas said looking at her.

"Wow, that's great. You carry on. I am going to my room to freshen up and take a nap for some time. After that If you want, you can go sightseeing", She said taking her backpack and Walking towards the door.

As she was walking by, Shravas held her hand firmly. "We are attending this call"

"No Shravas, we are not. But you. I don't want to disturb your family time. Please understand. Let me go", Lasya urged while she made him leave her hand. 

"No, and they will enquire about you. I am so sure Lasya. Please stay", Shravas said looking intently at her. 

She bit her lip not knowing what to do. They might have called to congratulate them. Maybe, or maybe to have some family time which she doesn't want to interrupt. 

Without waiting for her reply, he unlocked the phone and answered the call. 

"There you are. Well first of all congratulations Shravas. His dad wished him and from the back, everyone came wishing him"

"Aww thank you, guys", Shravas replied with a happy smile and silently wished them to ask about Lasya. 

"Where is Lasya? We want to talk to her", his dad enquired. 

Lasya couldn't believe what she heard. Someone enquired about her and that made her feel too much inside. 

"Where is Lasya di?", Lasya could hear her baby boo, Shravas sister - Sheetal enquiring about her. 

"I am here baby boo. How are you, my dear?", Lasya got hold of his phone. 

"Aww, that is not fair Lasya. I enquired about you first and here you are, ignoring me",  his dad shrugged his shoulders. 

Lasya had a smile, "Uncle, how can I ignore you? I am here and well. All thanks to your son who helped me and us to win the prize"

"I am so happy for you Lasya. Congratulations and enjoy there. Once you come back we can have a party, ok?", his dad cheered her up.

"Yeah, sure. Thank you uncle", Lasya gave him a thumbs up. 

"Congratulations Di", Sheethal replied. 

"Thank you baby boo. How are you? and how are your classes going?", Lasya asked. 

"Going good and I miss you. Please do give us a visit once you are back so we can go on a picnic. Girls picnic", Sheethal winked her eyes. 

Lasya laughed out loud, "OK sure"

All of them wished them congratulations and ended the call. 

"You are really lucky to have a good family Shravas. Always make them happy no matter what", Lasya said with a distant smile.

"I will Lasya. And thank you so much for today and for talking with my family. They care for you and love you", Shravas reprimanded her. 

Lasya sighed, "Well they do, and I am also lucky to know about them through you. So thank you", and smiled at him. 

Shravas without thinking, hugged her tightly. 

Lasya was taken aback and stood still not knowing what to do. Shravas felt happy seeing her in his arms. 

'I vow myself Lasya, I will make your life happy from now on and I will love you till eternity', Shravas thought mentally. 

-*-*-*-*-*-*

"Shravas, what happened", Lasya asked in his arms. 

"Nothing, just stay still for some time, will you?" Shravas asked irritatingly. 

Lasya chuckled and murmured a small ok. 

But little did he know, that this hug and his closeness was doing something in her. He was making her feel for the first time like he would be there for her, always. 

But she didn't understand why would he do that? and that too for her? Unbelievable. 

"Okay Shravas, let me go now", Lasya struggled in his arms. 

Slowly, Shravas left her and looked at her eyes. Something was going on in his mind, that was for sure which Lasya was unable to understand. 

"You are a lucky charm for me", he slowly murmured looking into her eyes.

But, since Lasya was in a trance she couldn't hear him properly, "what?"

"I mean you are a lucky charm for our college and because of you, we have won the trophy. I am so sure about you getting big prospects in the future because our principal and college management will now support you throughout", Shravas stated as a matter of fact. 

Lasya smiled upon hearing his praise and got irked while saying to him, "All thanks to you. You helped me a lot in this and this win is not mine alone. It's ours Shravas. Why don't you understand that?"

"Well then you also have to understand that I don't want to roam the streets alone", Shravas said. 

"What"

"I meant sightseeing. You should come and we can go together as it is our time to celebrate and enjoy. We shall have a great time. I shall prepare the itinerary. What say?", Shravas made her understand. 

"Okay, that will be a good idea. But it's already evening today. We shall go out tomorrow. What say?", Lasya asked. 

"Yeah, sure. Tomorrow then. Also, today we shall rest. I am also going to take a shower and have a good nap. I will wake you up at dinner time", Shravas left her shoulders and maintained a distance. 

Lasya felt a cold storm hit her as soon as he left her. But what to do, she has to let go. He is not hers and it will never be. 

"Okay let me open the door for you", Shravas smiled and went to open the door for her.

She smiled and nodded her head. 

After reaching outside, she opened the door of her room and she could feel his eyes on her. 

She wetted her lips in warmness, "Something is going to happen. I could feel that", she thought mentally. 

She turned to look at him to bid bye, "Bye Shravas. Will meet you later in the night"

"Sure Lasya", saying so Shravas left and closed the door. 

-*-*-*-*-

Leaning against the closed door, she closed her eyes and mumbled to herself, letting a lone tear roll from her face. 

'How I wish to tell you how much I love you, Shravas. I want to be with you. But I know I am asking for a big which I cannot dream of. I shouldn't fall for you in the first place. I will never be able to confess my feelings to you. The girl in your life will be so lucky to have you in her life Shravas because you are such a wonderful person to be in life' 

-*-*-*-*-*

Shravas slowly opened his room door, slightly and muttered under his breath just looking at the closed door of her room 

'I know you have feelings for me like something, Lasya. I can see that much in your eyes. That warmth when you look at me, is enough for me to go through turmoil and come as victory in every situation. Is this what love is all about? You know what, now I won't be able to live without you since I have already fallen deeply for you since I saw you for the first time at that bakery. I will soon confess my feelings to you and then I will never leave you far from my sight and I hope you accept my love'

-*-*-*-*-

Thank you for reading

I appreciate you ...