My Ex - Crush

Episode 32

Arjun's POV:

I dropped Anusha off in front of the hostel, giving her a quick tip before she left.

"And next time, if you need anything urgently, materials or printouts, call Shankar auto Anna. He’ll get whatever you need and bring it to the hostel," I said, watching her face light up with gratitude.

"Thanks, Arjun. I don’t know what I would have done without you. And please thank Vinoth for suggesting the scooty. It saved me today." Anusha smiled, clutching the materials we had bought, and disappeared inside the hostel.

I returned the scooty to Jagan and headed home. Amma was sitting in the portico, engrossed in correcting her students' assignments.

"Good evening, teacher!" I said with a grin, walking briskly past her into the house.

I found Preeti, my younger sister, lounging in front of the TV and immediately snatched the remote from her hand.

"Amma!! Look at Arjun!" she whined.

"Go study. You’re in 10th grade now. No more TV for you," I replied, dodging the slap on my arm as she pouted and stormed off to her room.

I settled on a music channel and relaxed with the coffee Amma had made, feeling the day’s stress begin to fade. Appa came home and sat beside me, asking the usual question.

"How was the exam?"

"I might fail," I joked, earning a laugh from him. But then, Appa brought up something that instantly killed my mood.

"I heard about Royan. He’s pursuing architecture in another city. Maybe you both can work together someday."

My chest tightened. Royan. Even the name made me uncomfortable. What we had was in the past—long gone.

"Oh, yeah, Appa. I’ll contact him," I lied and excused myself to my room, my thoughts spiraling. I needed to shake off these feelings. Royan was a ghost from the past, and I couldn’t afford to let him haunt me now.

I sat down at my desk to work on my design for the viva, determined to focus. My group members had promised to correct their drafts by the weekend. But as expected, Arul’s work was riddled with mistakes, Anusha handed hers straight to me, and Bhavani barely tried.

By the end of the weekend, I had practically done everything myself. And despite the frustration, I couldn’t help but feel proud of how it all came together. The viva day arrived, and we passed with flying colors.

Anusha was glowing with happiness as we left the review.

"I really liked this team," she said.

"Yeah, why wouldn’t you? Arjun did all the work anyway," Arul snorted.

Indhu, who was part of the group, rolled her eyes. "Let’s be real. If Arjun hadn’t coordinated, we would’ve been scrambling. He made it easy for us to focus on the other parts."

Anusha beamed at me. "We should work together again."

"Definitely," I said, smiling back.

"Promise me you'll pick me first for the next project," she added, looking hopeful.

"Done."

The thought of our next group project in the fourth semester excited me. Seniors had told me it was the most fun—working on rural designs. But I had to remind myself: one step at a time. The third semester was next.

As we sat on the staircase, waiting to leave, I saw Deepika’s group rushing into the review, struggling with their sheets and models. She caught my eye and gave me a small smile. I mouthed "All the best" as she disappeared inside.