𝓑𝓻𝓸𝓴𝓮𝓷.

Chapter - 19

Hope you all like this chapter. Love you all so so much!

TARGET : 1100 VOTES, 270 COMMENTS.

Shivanya ~

The final day of the wager.

I had spent the last ten days trying to push Mr. Birdbrain away, resisting his every move, every little attempt to break down the walls I had carefully built around my heart but none of my attempts seemed like they were enough.

Maybe it was the way he looked at me, with such quiet intensity, or how he seemed to understand me in ways I didn't even understand myself. Or maybe it was the way he never gave up, even when I thought he should.

I hadn't seen Vihaan all day, and a part of me was grateful for the space. But another part of me, one I wasn't willing to acknowledge, kept waiting for him, wondering what he would do. Would he finally accept defeat? Or would he show up with one last grand gesture, thinking he could win me over?

I was sitting in my cabin with the laptop open for the past two hours, unable to focus. My brain kept revisiting the conversation with him from last night over and over again.

Unlike these past nine days, there was no note waiting for me on my desk from him today and neither did he come around, wanting to talk and tease like he usually did.

I pulled my drawer open, my fingers already reaching for one of the nine notes he had left me over the past days.

I unfolded one of the notes, reading it for what must have been the tenth time. "I am not going to give up on my chance of having a life with you, Sunshine. Not until you tell me that there has not ever been one single moment where I have given you butterflies."

I reached for another note. This one had a little doodle of a cup of coffee and a smiley face. Below it, he had written, "Coffee's on me today. I'll even pretend I don't know it's your third one."

A soft smile tugged at the corners of my lips. I hated that he made me smile like this. I hated that his notes, these simple, almost trivial gestures, were doing exactly what I had been trying to avoid, making me feel something.

I shook my head and closed the drawer, pushing the notes aside, as if hiding them away would stop them from affecting me. But deep down, I knew it was a little late late. Vihaan had already gotten under my skin.

Where was he today, anyway? The thought drifted in before I could stop it. He hadn't left a note this morning, hadn't shown up at my cabin with his usual self. There was this strange emptiness in the space he usually occupied, and I couldn't shake the feeling that something was off.

I checked my phone for the time. It was late afternoon, and I hadn't seen him at all. The usual banter, the light sarcasm, the teasing remarks—all of it was missing, and I didn't like how much I noticed.

I leaned back in my chair, letting out a sigh. Today was the last day of the wager. The thought should have filled me with relief, but instead, there was an odd tension building in my chest. The past ten days had been a whirlwind of emotions - anger, frustration, and something else I wasn't ready to name yet.

The bet had started off as a game, a challenge to prove that I wouldn't fall for his charms. But somewhere along the way, it had stopped feeling like a game. I had started noticing the way he looked at me, the way he listened when I spoke, the way he never pushed too far but always seemed to know when to pull back just enough to keep me on my toes.

And now, here I was, waiting for him to make his final move. Waiting for the grand gesture I was sure he had planned, the one he believed would be enough to win me over.