My Ex - Crush

Episode 36

Arjun's POV:

"Arjun," her shaky voice echoed through the dead silent classroom, cutting through the tension like a knife.

The moment her voice broke the silence, the room erupted into chaos. Loud whistles, cheers, and claps filled the air as people celebrated. My stomach dropped as I turned around, barely able to comprehend what had just happened.

My friends were already surrounding me, clapping me on the back, congratulating me like I had won some grand prize. But my mind was racing.

"Finally, you’re the UD!" Arul said with an over-enthusiastic slap on my back.

"Arjun, when’s the treat?" Vinoth asked, practically bouncing beside me. I wanted to punch him.

"This is the only good thing Deepika has ever done for our batch!" Shalini laughed, clearly enjoying the spectacle.

I wasn’t.

My eyes scanned the crowd for Deepika. That traitor. She had completely disappeared with her friends, probably hiding from me.

“I’m not going to accept this!” I muttered, shaking my head, my temper rising by the second.

Without another word, I pushed past my friends, ignoring their congratulations, and stormed out after the seniors.

I followed Ashok and Chinmayi to the exhibition hall, refusing to accept this ridiculous vote. There was no way I was going to be the UD. They didn’t understand what they were asking from me.

"Arjun, come on, just accept it. You got the most votes! Your class clearly trusts you," Ashok said, trying to calm me down.

“I don’t care about that Sir” I snapped, crossing my arms. “I wanted to focus on GSen. I’ve planned everything for it. Let Naveen take the UD. He’ll do fine.”

“Bro, you can be U-Sec and still work on GSen. You’ll manage,” Jagan chimed in, trying to placate me.

“I can’t manage Sir!” I shot back, my frustration boiling over. “You all don’t get it. I don’t want to split my time between NASA coordination and GSen. It’ll ruin everything!”

Chinmayi rolled her eyes and pulled out her phone. She dialed up someone and handed it to me without a word.

It was Vignesh, one of my seniors who was now doing his internship in Chennai.

"Anna, don't even start. I know you’re going to try to convince me, and I’m not listening,” I said the moment I took the phone.

“Dei, shut up and listen to me first,” Vignesh’s voice came through sternly. “If not you, then who else in your batch has the capability to be UD? Tell me that.”

“Anna, I don’t care. You know how much I’ve invested in GSen. I don’t want to be dragged into the mess of being UD or U-Sec. I don’t have time for this!” I argued, my voice rising.

“Arjun, plenty of people before you have managed both. It’s not that big a deal. You just need to organize the other teams and coordinate a few things. You can still give your best to GSen. Get good coordinators for other trophies, and it’ll be fine,” Vignesh said, trying to make it sound easy.

But I’d seen what being U-Sec did to seniors. Souban, my predecessor, had been running around like a headless chicken when GSen sheets got delayed. He’d barely survived the year. I could already see Ashok balding!

“I know how this works, Anna. I’ve seen the pressure. It’s not just some side job. I can’t split my focus like that,” I argued again, pacing around the exhibition hall. My fists were clenched at my sides, and I wanted to just throw the phone away.