It didn’t take Himanshu even a single second to recognize whose familiar scent that was.
Resting both her hands on desk, Priya was leaning slightly towards him. Seeing that sweet smile on her face, all the other boys in the class were glaring at Himanshu with sharp, burning side-eyes.
Seeing Priya this close, Himanshu’s heartbeat started racing like a racehorse. Even though the classroom was a bit chilly, a weird heat of nervousness ran through his entire body.
"Ah...!"
Just a tiny sound escaped his mouth in pure panic, making him sound exactly like a scared little kid.
Priya scratched her forehead lightly with her finger and tried to remind him,
"Hey, the manga we bought together... The Demon Queen."
"Yeah... Yeah! I remember. We bought the manga."
Saying this, Himanshu jumped from his chair with so much speed like someone had put pins under his seat. His heart and body were already running like a horse, but this sudden movement and nervousness turned his face completely red like a tomato.
"I-I really liked it."
Hearing this from Priya’s mouth, the vibe of the whole class got really weird. The boys who were just glaring a second ago started looking at each other’s faces, and the whispering started.
"What do you think, are they dating?" one guy whispered.
"Are you an idiot? What kind of crazy talk is that?" another scolded him.
"But it totally sounds like that from their talks."
"Shut your nonsense!" a guy said, elbowing his friend to make him quiet.
Amidst all this class gossip, Priya looked closely at Himanshu.
"Are you okay? What happened, why is your face sweating?"
Her sweet voice and that different kind of smile on her face were honestly making Himanshu restless. Priya only kept this kind of face when talking to her really close friends. Himanshu had never seen her smile like this in front of any other boy in the class. This was genuinely a shocking thing for him. And not just for him, it was a massive shock for all the other boys sitting in the class too.
"Well... it’s a bit hot today, that’s why."
Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Himanshu scrambled to make a lame excuse.
But it didn’t take Priya a single second to understand everything. It wasn’t the first time a guy was getting nervous looking at her this closely. Making her smile even wider, Priya tried to calm Himanshu’s panic.
"Yeah, I am honestly crazy for it. The power... for that Demon." Priya kept talking about the manga with excitement, and in that same flow, she offered a hand of friendship to Himanshu.
’Wait... what? Am I going to shake hands with her right now?’ Himanshu’s brain went numb. He slowly reached his trembling hand forward.
But before Himanshu could do anything, Priya quickly moved her hand forward, grabbed his hand tightly, and shook it. The moment her soft hand touched his, a sharp current of electricity ran through Himanshu’s entire body, because he had never held such a popular girl’s hand like this in his entire life.
’What was that? Why did she grab my... my hand so fast? What meaning am I supposed to take from this now?’
After all this happened, the nervousness inside Himanshu shot up even more.
And then he finally understood why all the boys in the class were staring at him with such murderous looks.
"Sorry for leaving without saying anything that day," Priya said suddenly.
Hearing this, the breaths of all the students sitting in the class got stuck in their throats. For a split second, there was a pin-drop silence in the whole classroom, and then suddenly, the shocked voices of the students started echoing.
"Did she just say sorry?"
"Bro, she apologized to him!"
"I can’t even believe my ears right now."
For them, hearing the word ’sorry’ from Priya’s mouth was nothing short of a miracle. Apart from her close friends, Priya had never said sorry to any boy in the class till today. Regardless of whether it was her fault or not.
Seeing the blown-away faces of the students all around, Himanshu couldn’t understand at all why Priya was talking to him so sweetly today. Actually, he had never even talked to Priya before. He had just watched her talking to others from a distance, and noticed that she didn’t really talk nicely to boys. For Himanshu, Priya’s image was always that of an arrogant girl with a lot of attitude.
Seeing everyone staring, Himanshu brought a fake smile to his face and said,
"No, no, it’s totally fine."
Rubbing the back of his hair nervously, he continued,
"You shouldn’t say sorry for such a small thing."
"Actually, I got an urgent call that day," Priya finished her point.
Then she asked with excitement,
"So which character did you like?"
"My all-time favorite character is the Demon Queen," Priya answered with a smile.
’What? That witch...’
In a single moment, all the color drained from Himanshu’s face. His nervousness suddenly turned into a deep hatred. The face of that real, terrifying 8000-year-old Demon sitting in his house started spinning straight in his mind.
’How can she like that witch? Seriously, look at yourself and look at her! You are like a beautiful flower and she is like a thorn!’ Himanshu screamed in his mind.
"Where did you get lost?" Priya asked, waving her hand in front of his eyes.
"I... I like that..." Himanshu stammered.
’What do I even say, I didn’t read anything after going home!’ His brain started searching for excuses at full speed.
"Oh yeah, there was this one character... the one who had a sword and... what is that character’s name again?"
"The one who always holds a sword in his hands..." Himanshu just shot an arrow in the dark.
"Oh okay, you’re talking about Linus." A sparkle came into Priya’s eyes.
"Yeah, ha ha, you guessed it." Himanshu took a long sigh of relief. ’Saved! Thank god there is always at least one sword guy character in every manga!’
But just then, the sound of the classroom door opening loudly came.
"Good morning ma’am!"
Seeing the teacher, all the students stood up at their places together.
Priya also turned to go towards her seat, but while leaving, she looked back, gave Himanshu a very sweet smile, and whispered,
"Wait for me after school."
Not a single word came out of Himanshu’s mouth. He just turned into a stone statue and kept watching her walk back to her seat.
Hearing Priya’s words, Himanshu’s brain got split into two halves. One part of him was just remembering Priya’s sweet smile and bursting with happiness inside, but his other half was completely tangled up trying to figure out the real reason behind Priya’s suddenly changing behavior.
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