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"Oh," Kavya mumbled.

"A-ha," Dhruv mumbled back looking at the girl in front of her.

They were standing in front of each other after 8 years. 8 long years. And in all these years they hadn't even heard about each other. Although they lived in the same city their worlds were totally different. They were from two different worlds of the same city. There was a long silence before Dhruv finally broke it. "It seems like your habit of bumping with me hasn't gone?" He sneered.

Although Dhruv's behavior was indifferent, his heart was beating erratically in his chest. There was no way that Kavya Sharma was standing in front of him. And suddenly he felt he was 17 again, when he first met her, or in their words bumped into her. It felt somehow time hadn't passed a bit. He couldn't believe it had been 8 years. In those 8 years, he always made sure she was never mentioned. He made sure he never said the name Kavya.

Kavya rolled her eyes. "A hello would be nice." She crossed her arms over her chest.

Kavya's heart beat rapidly. She quietly took a few breaths to calm her self. She was standing right in front of him. Him. She wasn't sure why her heart was reacting like this. She knew it was him. She knew they were going to come face to face. And she had prepared herself for it. Still, her heartbeat refused to slow down.

Dhruv scoffed. "Hello? Childish people like me don't use hello do they?"

Kavya didn't reply instead she again rolled her eyes and looked away. She didn't want to deal with this. She wanted to run away from the situation as far as possible.

"Now if you excuse me someone else is waiting for me." Dhruv refused to show any kind of emotions as he spoke.

Wait he doesn't know that she is the girl his parents had chosen? Kavya thought.

"Wait... I'm the one you're supposed to meet here." Kavya spoke with a raised eyebrow. She was uncertain if he knew about her being the girl or not. Maybe he knew about her and he wanted to insult her somehow. She knew for sure that he hated her with all his heart.

Dhruv turned his head as he looked at her. A confused frown clear on his face. "What do you mean?" Dhruv asked.

"Three days ago your parents had come to see me for you," Kavya informed observing how facial expressions changed.

"You're joking," Dhruv said simply shaking his head.

"Are you dumb? How would I know if the girl isn't me?"

Dhruv looked at her face for a few moments. She is still so beautiful he unknowingly thought. But didn't showed his thoughts on his face. Dhruv sneered. "I'm not marrying you. Not in any cost."

And without waiting for her reply he left her standing there, making sure to push her with his shoulder.

....

"What do you mean by he just left?" Sakshi asked with widening eyes after Kavya narrated her yesterday's incident with Dhruv.

Kavya gave her a side glance. Her head was rested on her uncomfortable office chair as she chewed the back tip of her pen. After Dhruv left Kavya also went home and lied about the date going well to her parents. Hoping he wouldn't say something which may land her in trouble.

Her mind was occupied with the thoughts of what could happen next. But what, if Dhruv told everybody what actually happened in the cafe and her parents, came to know about her secret relationship in school. Although it was a long time ago, she was still scared.

"I still can't believe you used to date The Dhruv Malhotra in school." Sakshi placed her hands on her cheeks and said with aww. "Like he asked you to be his girlfriend. Wow."

...

Kavya was walking back to her house after school. She always walked with her one of the very few friends she had, Riya. She also came from a middle-class family and got a scholarship. They weren't that good friends but it was better than having nothing.

But Riya being absent, Kavya had to walk alone. She was trying to get home as soon as possible. The sky looked like it would burst out any moment and she didn't really trust Mumbai's rain. It already had rained almost the whole day making it hard to walk fast in the streets.

"Hey." Kavya heard a familiar voice. Turing her head she saw a black Audi car slowing down beside the sidewalk. The window of the back seat was open. Dhruv's head was a bit out of the window as he beamed at her.

"Hi." She smiled back.

"Come in I'll drop you." He said with a smile.

"No no, it's okay." Kavya shook her head with a smile. "And if my neighborhood aunties saw me coming out of your car... Then only God knows what will they make it up from it." Kavya added with a small laugh when she saw Dhruv's frown. She knew Dhruv was going to pressurize her until she agreed.

In the last few days, she and Dhruv had become really good friends. They spend almost the whole day together in school. They had started to seat together in classes to Kavya waiting for him while he practiced for the school football team and Dhruv giving her company in the library. Dhruv had even become a fan of Kavya's mom cooking.

Instead of replying to Kavya, Dhruv came out of his car. He leaned against the front window and said something to the driver about waiting for him near some place which Kavya didn't hear clearly.

"Let's go," Dhruv said as stepped under Kavya's yellow umbrella.

"What?" Kavya asked confused as she saw Dhruv's car drove away. "Dhruv you don't have to. It already drizzling."

"Yes. It could rain at any moment. And look, the street is literally empty...I don't think it's safe for you to walk alone." Dhruv said looking at her.

Kavya smiled a blush creeping on her cheeks. She quickly looked away hoping Dhruv wouldn't notice it. "It's okay you look cute when you blush," Dhruv commented with half smirk and half genuine smile.

Kavya bit her tongue and squeezing her eye shut for a second before opening it again. "Haha okay thank you," Kavya said in a playful, sarcastic tone. Dhruv chuckled. They both walked not talking much, just making some here and there random talks.

The rosiness from Kavya's cheek never left as their hands kept brushing into each other as they walk.

"Coffee?" Dhruv asked when they were about to cross a cafeteria.

Kavya looked at the cafe then to the other side of the road. "Chhat?" She asked with a grin.

Dhruv followed her gaze. "You want to eat that?" He asked with a frown. The hesitation was clear in his face.

"Yeah. What's wrong with it?" Kavya raised her eyebrow.

"Umm... I don't know" Dhruv hesitated, crinkling his nose.

"Don't tell me you have never tried this."

Dhruv shook his head rubbing the back of his neck.

"Then you should try it." Kavya smiled from ear to ear. She grabbed Dhruv's wrist and quickly crossed the road. She asked for two plates when they reached the small stall. When they got their Chhat, Dhruv was clearly hesitating. But with Kavya's encouraging smile and puppy dog eyes, he tried it. And he for sure didn't regret him. Kavya smiled when she saw he was enjoying it.

Kavya was drinking water from her bottle when Dhruv pulled out his credit card to pay. In return, the old man gave him a weird look which asked if Dhruv was joking. Kavya facepalmed and giggled. She pulled out a 50 rupees note and paid as Dhruv stuck his bottom lip at bit doing a small pout. She giggled again.

They walked until Kavya stopped him from a little far away from Kavya's building. "I can go from here. If my parents saw me with a guy they will literally kill me." Kavya bit her bottom lips.

"You parents don't like; you having a boyfriend or guy friends?" Dhruv asked. Kavya shook her head. "They are quite strict." She replied.

"I don't know if you already know this or not but everyone in the class is calling you my girlfriend." Dhruv put his hands in his pocket and kicked a stone in front of it.

Kavya licked her bottom lip. She knew about it. And particularly 70% girl population in her class even some juniors didn't like her because of it. She wasn't sure herself why Dhruv hang out with her. Neither she was rich nor very pretty. And Dhruv not only was one of the most good looking guys but was also one of the richest kids in school.

"Yeah, I know," Kavya said in a quiet voice. "You probably hate to be linked with me don't you?" She tightened her grip around the umbrella stick.

"What! No- umm... I kinda like it when they call you, my girlfriend."

"Oh..."

"Soo... Will you like to?" He asked biting his lips. And raised his brows with hopeful eyes.

"What?" She asked

"Aham be my girlfriend?"

"Are you serious?" She asked blinking.

Dhruv nodded his head.

"Yeah..." Kavya shrugged with a huge smile.

"Cool." Dhruv beamed. He gave a quick kiss to her cheeks. "I will see you tomorrow in school." With that Dhruv particularly ran away to the direction they had come.

Kavya wasn't sure what just happened. Leave boyfriend she never really had much guy friends. And now the most cutest guy asked her to be his girlfriend. She wasn't sure why he asked her when he could get any girl in school. Dhruv was a bit arrogant and a little big head guy with a short temper. He got into fights in school way too easily. But he treated her differently. From the start and always.

...

So so so the meeting + the proposal.

What do you think about their meeting and especially the proposal part?

Any guess what happens next?

Don't forget to vote & Comment. ❤️