Chapter : 24

Ananya's POV

I was pacing outside the bathroom door. My arms crossed, and eyes closed off. Just keep your calm. You have to spend only three days with this creature. Just three days.

Three painful days.

I looked at my watch. 9:41 am.

"Are you kidding me!? Get out now." I yelled out at the closed door.

All that came back was his voice  humming a song. I clenched my teeth and took a deep breath.

Breath one.

Breath two.

Breath three.

That's it.

I banged my fist on the door. He didn't respond.

"Rishav don't be such a-" I was yelling when the door flung open. My words stopped midway as I took in his appearance.

He had his hair all wet and his upper half was bare while his lower half was clad in a pair of faded blue jeans. He smirked at my stiff face.

"Checking me out? I mean I don't mind but it doesn't suit an innocent girl like you," he said.

I realized I was staring and my face heated up. I pushed him out of my way and stomped into the washroom while he gave a low chuckle and moved aside.

"Shut up!" I threw over my shoulder as I closed the door, embarrassed.

***

Rishav's POV

"Ananya, you're taking too long!" I sang, knowing that it will annoy her.

She cursed from behind the door causing me to chuckle.

"You enjoy annoying her so much," Kabir noted as he flipped through the pages of a science magazine.

"Eh, the way she reacts makes me want to annoy her even more." I shrugged.

I did enjoy bickering with her. Maybe because she was different from the rest of the girls. She never tried to impress me, like all the others. She was just being her real self.

"Earth to Rishav, you look really creepy with that weird smile on your face. What's the matter with you?" Kabir called me out of my trance.

"What?" I blinked at him.

"I see what's going on. You never smile like that. Never. But these days I have seen a few changes, bro," Kabir said with a sly smile, his eyes locked in on mine searchingly.

Before I could comprehend his words, the door to the bathroom opened and Ananya walked out. She was wearing a baby pink kurti and white jeans. Her hair was tied up in a messed up bun.

"Guys mind if I set my hair? It'll take just 5 minutes. I promise no more than that," she said, grabbing a maroon brush out of her bag.

"I'll get going, we are late already," Kabir spoke and headed out with Saqib.

"What do you mean? What's the time anyway?" Ananya asked, running her comb through her brown bird's nest.

"It's 10:23 am," I answered, glancing lazily at my wristwatch.

"What!?" Ananya gasped.

She dropped the comb on the bed and just ran her fingers through her hair to tame it down. Once she was done, she picked her bag and strapped her shoes quickly. I gaped at her cat-like agility at the mention of being late.

"Relax, it's the interaction session anyways. The main event is still to come. You never been late to the opening of any kind of events?" I said as I slowly got up.

"No. I hate being out of schedule. Thanks to you that I'm late." She kept mumbling angrily while a grinned and followed her out of the room.

She really is different. She didn't care about her hair not being perfect in front of so many eyes but all she cared about was being late to the session.

It's really hard to understand you, Ananya Sharma.