The case of unrequited love

16 - Minus degrees

Anu, who was never punctual, reached on time. After parking the car, she was looking for Karthik.

Karthik, who was nervous AF, was sitting on a bench near the corridor.

Anu finally found him and noticed him shaking his leg aggressively. Without saying anything, she just went and stood in front of him. As Karthik's head was facing the floor, he could only look at the legs of a person standing in front of him a few meters away.

When he realized that the legs in front of him weren't moving, he raised his head to see who it was. The moment he saw her, without even thinking for another second, he ran to hug her.

"WHOA! We are in court, dear," she exclaimed, not hugging him back. Karthik apologized for not assisting during her tough times and told her how nervous he was.

Listening to the shiver in his voice, Anu realized how scared the puppy was and then hugged him back to console him. She tapped his back a couple of times ensuring her presence. It took quite a lot of time for him to compose himself.

Running her eyes through the public, she saw a girl, who was wearing a mask, glaring at them. Her eyes literally spit fire. "People are looking at us, Karthik," Anu said.

It was quite uncomfortable to be hugged by Karthik for Anu. In terms of height, he is taller than her and now that he is the one who initiated the hug, he had to bend to an extent and make Anu balance herself on those toes of hers to another extent.

He moved back and apologized for going overboard.

"I smell jealousy, Karthik," Anu was being too difficult to understand. When Karthik asked her to repeat again, she avoided and asked him to leave it when she was actually referring to the girl who was being possessive.

Karthik talked everything out, gave an explanation and apologized for his unacceptable behavior.

While they were discussing random things, Karthik said, "I didn't expect you would come! That too for me," out of nowhere. His thoughts were on shuffle.

"Of course I will come. A promise is a promise, Karthik," Anu said, which made Karthik smile. She further said, "Added to that, I am your number one fan".

Jumping from one topic to another was difficult for her too but she didn't point it out because he was already nervous.

Anu felt like she also owes him an apology as she was the reason that his brother didn't turn up. "Uh, your brother – "

"I asked him not to come," Karthik interrupted her.

The fact that she was fooled by Rajesh again made her question IQ levels. Karthik further said, "His presence does nothing good and added to that I would become even more nervous".

Throughout the conversation, a girl was staring at them from a few meters of distance. Noticing that, "I guess I am not your only fan," Anu said, staring back at her.

"Huh?"

Anu raised her eyebrow asking him to take a look at it himself.

When he looked back, it was her. Priya!

He immediately turned around, which made Anu suspect him. "What's wron - Wait, don't tell me it's Priya," her excitement was higher than his anxiety.

His sudden look when Anu took out her name said it all. "So, it is Priya!" His eyes that couldn't hide, confirmed Anu's suspicion.

He bent his head down, having nothing else to say to his senior.

"PRIYA!" Anu yelled out her name, calling her.