Destiny: Time To Fall In Love

Chapter 8 - Realisation

Aryan's POV

The University was alive with music, streamers, and the chaotic energy of the upcoming College Fest. For everyone else, it was a celebration. For me, it was a slow-burn torture.

Aashi was a senior now, taking on responsibilities that kept her running from one end of the campus to the other. I barely saw her, and when I did, she was always surrounded. Boys from every department seemed to find "urgent" reasons to talk to her. My blood didn't just boil; it turned into a corrosive acid in my veins. I wanted to punch every single one of them.

I was walking through the quiet chemistry wing when I saw them through the glass pane of an empty classroom. Aashi was sitting on a desk, and a boy was leaning in dangerously close to her face. From my angle, his lips were pressing against hers.

Something in my brain snapped. The "Professional Professor" died in that second, replaced by a primal, blinding rage.

I kicked the door open. I didn't ask questions. I didn't wait for an explanation. I grabbed the boy by his collar, hauled him back, and landed a punch so hard it echoed in the empty room.

"BASTARD! HOW DARE YOU TOUCH HER? I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" I roared, my vision tunneling as I reached for him again.

"HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND, MR. OBEROI?!"

Aashi's voice pierced through the red haze. She shoved me back.... hard.... standing between me and the boy, who was now clutching his bleeding lip in shock. Her eyes weren't filled with the love I used to see. They were cold. They were hurtful.

"I've lost my mind?" I asked, my voice trembling with disbelief. "He was freaking kissing you, and you're asking me if I've lost my mind? Unbelievable!"

"He was NOT kissing me!" Aashi screamed back, her voice cracking. "There was something in my eye, and he was trying to help me get it out! And even if he was kissing me... why does it bother you? WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?!"

Her eyes filled with tears, and for a second, I felt the wind knocked out of me. I looked at the boy, then back at her. The silence in the room was deafening.

"EVEN I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME!" I shouted, the confession tearing out of my throat before I could stop it.

I turned to leave, unable to look at her tears, but her hand clamped around my wrist.

"Don't you think, Sir, that you're forgetting something?" she asked, her eyebrows raised in a challenge.

"What?" I asked, trying to sound unbothered, though my heart was hammering against my ribs.

"You owe him an apology."

I scoffed, a dark laugh escaping my lips. "For what? For being a 'helpful classmate'?"

"For hitting him without a reason! Apologize to him, Aryan. Now."

"Over my dead body," I hissed, glaring at the boy.

Aashi stepped closer, her face inches from mine. "Mr. Oberoi, either you apologize to him right now, or I will never talk to you again. Not as a student, not as a neighbor. Not ever."

The threat felt like a dagger to the chest. "You're going to this extent... just for him?" I asked, my fists clenching so hard my nails dug into my palms.

"I'm not doing this for him," she whispered, her voice thick with disappointment. "I'm doing what is right. I'm doing what the man I used to know would have done."

My ego was a wall I couldn't climb over. I looked at her crying, and it felt like someone was ripping my heart out of my body. I wanted to pull her into a hug, to wipe those tears, to tell her I was sorry for everything.... not just the punch, but the resort, the rejection, the distance.