Teach me to love: Contemporary Romance ✅

6.Maya

"So, I went to his orientation speech today," I said excitedly.

"Whose speech?" asked Zara.

"Aaryan's,"

"Oh," teased Zara.

I giggled, "Yes, him. Anyway, after the speech, I saw him walking to his car, so I went to say hi."

"And?" Zara prompted.

"And we talked for a while," I said, smiling to myself. "He was better than yesterday. He even accepted the flower I gave him." 

lie! it was no better than yesterday.

"That's great, Maya," said Zara. "Sounds like you had a good time."

"I did," I replied dreamily. 

lie! well I did have good time but I doubt he did

Zara chuckled, "It seems like you've a new crush."

"What? No way," protested I, trying to hide my blush.

lie! I am totally obsessed with him, another guy to my list, let's see how many days he'd last.

"I know you too well, Maya," said Zara. "You're blushing right now. Admit it, you have a crush on him."

I let out a small laugh. "Okay, fine, maybe I do have a little crush on him. But it's not like I didn't have a crush on 159 men before him so I know this isn't going anywhere."

"yeah, you and your stranger crushes and I'm surprised how you had no boyfriend" Zara continued seriously "but, remember to keep it professional with Aaryan."

"I will," Maya promised. 

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I was grading my students' essays after the video call with Zara when Neha walked in, chatting on her phone about something I couldn't quite make out. I looked up from my papers and greeted her with a smile.

"Hey! What's up?" I asked, pushing my glasses back up my nose.

Neha was a biology teacher for the high schoolers and she's super strict and also she's the kind of teacher you'd have a crush on in your teenage years. Neha plopped down in a chair next to me, her expression sored. 

"Ugh, don't even get me started. They paired me with Mr. Aaryan for the lectures and I so wanted to talk to him but I couldn't, I even wore my best dress for him and also I had to take an extra class it was a nightmare. We've already had one class but Mrs. Aileen wanted me to take extra."

I winced sympathetically. "That's rough," I commiserate. 

Neha snorted. "My day did go rough but the only thing good thing was I got paired with none other than Aaryan Singh."

My heart skipped a beat at the mention of his name. I tried to keep my face neutral, but I felt my cheeks start to flush. "Yeah, that's great."

Nothing in that sentence was great other than his name.

am I jealous? maybe.

maybe? no, it's a yes!

Neha rolled her eyes. " You know how these things work. They pair the 'best' teachers with the 'best' partners and clearly I'm the best pair for him."

ok that's enough. Why is she bragging?

I bristled at her insinuation. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Neha shrugged. "I mean, you're nice and all, but you're not exactly the most...serious of us. Aaryan Singh is a businessman, Maya. He's not going to be interested in someone who talks about Shakespeare and makes goofy faces at their students. He wants someone who's also serious with their work"

It's just a project to which they are paired together. Why is she making it sound like something else.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said defensively. 

We spent the next few minutes chatting about the upcoming guest lectures, and I tried to focus on the work at hand. But my mind kept drifting back to Aaryan, and I couldn't help but feel a little not-good at the thought of Neha working with him.

I knew it was ridiculous. I was a grown woman, a teacher, not some schoolgirl with a crush. But there was something about him that drew me in, something that made me want to know him better, something that also happened with the 159 other individuals, Zara's words came back. 'but, remember to keep it professional with Aaryan.'

'remember to keep it professional with Aaryan.' I repeated in my head and threw away the thoughts. 

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word count: 677

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