ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴏʟʟᴇɢᴇ ʀᴏᴍᴀɴᴄᴇ [ᴄᴏᴍᴘʟᴇᴛᴇᴅ]

• Part 31 •

Mayukh POV:

Seeing her at my house today felt so surreal. I had a doubt that her teacher could be Nikita by the way Jhanvi had described her but seeing her at home was just... unbelievable.

Once I dropped her back, I drove home and parked. Once I entered, I overheard Mom and Dad talking.
"She's such a sweet girl." Mom said.
"I know, very down to earth as well." Dad added.
"We should keep asking Nikita to come. I felt so nice having her home today."
"I agree, she's good at her job as well."
"She didn't take anything from me. I offered her a necklace as well, she said no."
"That speaks a lot about her character."
"It does. She's not running after money."
"But give her something. It doesn't look nice that she does this for free."
"I asked her everything - if she wants some help with work, or some extra support in university, or cash or anything. She declined everything saying she wants to earn it herself."
"Wow... do one thing... you know the pooja we are having at home tommorow, invite her. I want to see more of her Shambhavi."
"I do too. She's a good change. A good addition."
"I'll tell Mayukh to pick her up tommorow then."
"Yep, I'll call her right now."
"She might be asleep. Call tomorrow, or we'll tell Mayukh to go tell her. They share classes."
"Okay. We'll do that."

This is adorable.

I walked in and cleared my throat.
"Mayukh! Come. We were just talking about you." Mom said, "Can you invite Nikita to the pooja tomorrow?"
"You guys share come classes, right?" Dad asked.
"Yes. We do."
"Great! Then once class ends, bring her home with you."
"Sure but I don't think she'd be comfortable. You saw her today." I said genuinely.
"Don't worry about that. I'll make sure she's fine." I heard Gautam Dada say as he entered.
"Okay then. I'll bring her after class."

Saying so I left to my room. Tomorrow will be beautiful.

Just when I was about to sleep, I heard a knock and saw Gautam Dada open and enter, and shut the door.
"Dada? What's up?" I asked.
He came and sat on the bed as I settled down leaning against the headrest.
"Nikita... is she your Nikita?" He asked.
I smiled and nodded, "Yep."
"Wow. You got her home?"
"I had no idea that she's Jhanvi's teacher."
"Why is she teaching? Shouldn't she focus on her studies. Final year."
"I was thinking the same. I'm assuming she wants to earn a few bucks for her family, she's a scholarship student."
Dada smiled, "She almost teared up seeing me."
"What?! Why?" I asked in concern.
He chuckled, "Seeing me reminded her of her brother, who she hasn't met in months."
"Oh."
"Pure soul."
"She is."
"I see the whole being scared of you. I saw her face change when you entered."
"I don't know what's up with her."
"Find out."
"I have a brief idea."
"The Riya thing... the blackmail."
I nodded, "I need to put her in her place. It's not just about Nikita, she's done this before I'm sure."
"To who?"
"She bullies everyone Dada."
"Except you and our brothers."
"That's because she thinks I like her, she knows clearly now that I don't, but she won't stop and since I'm not an easy target, she abuses the one who is."
"Nikita." Dada said and I nodded.
"In that case, it's time we have a board intervention." Dada smirked.
"What are you suggesting?"
"You know, sometimes people best understand their place when they're reminded off it."
"Okay..." I asked, confused.
"Riya needs to be reminded of her place."
"How do we do that?"
"Leave that to me. You just focus on Nikita. She's a good girl and I'd rather you be announcing your marriage to her than Riya."
I scoffed, "there's no way I'm doing anything with Riya."

He got up and started walking when he turned back, leaning against the door, "By the way..."
I looked and raised my eyebrows.
"Great choice." He smirked.
I smiled back, "Thank you."
"Ghar leke aa usko, not just tommorow."
[translation; bring her home.]
"I will." I smirked, understanding him.