The Right Kind of Wrong

10. An Unexpected Gesture

The sun filtered through the large windows of the library, casting soft golden light over the rows of bookshelves. Savi sat at a table, hunched over her laptop, her fingers furiously typing as she tried to finish her section of the project. Her frustration was palpable; the deadline was approaching fast, and she was stuck on a particular part that refused to make sense. She ruffled her hair in frustration, muttering under her breath.

"Come on, this can't be that hard. Why won't this work?" she hissed, glaring at her screen.

The clatter of footsteps approaching made her tense up. She didn't even have to turn around to know who it was. That familiar, infuriating presence seemed to suck all the air out of the room.

"Struggling, Chavan?" Rajat's voice came from behind her, dripping with amusement.

Savi didn't bother looking up. "Don't you have something better to do than annoy me, Thakkar?"

Rajat slid into the chair opposite her, a casual smirk on his face. "I could say the same to you. Looks like you're the one fighting with your laptop."

Savi exhaled sharply and finally looked up, glaring at him. "What do you want?"

Rajat leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. "Just checking on the progress. We do have a deadline, after all. And from the looks of it, you're behind."

Savi shot him a look that could melt steel. "I'm working on it. Not everyone can sit back and sail through this, okay?"

"Sailing? Is that what you think I'm doing?" Rajat raised an eyebrow, half-amused, half-incredulous.

"Pretty much," Savi muttered, turning back to her screen. "You seem to be taking everything lightly, while I'm stuck doing the heavy lifting."

Rajat's smirk softened into something more thoughtful. He watched her silently for a moment, the tension between them familiar but lacking the sharp edges it once had. He leaned forward, scanning her screen, much to Savi's annoyance.

"What exactly is the issue?" he asked, more serious now.

"I'm trying to format this stupid data set," Savi grumbled. "But no matter what I do, it's not aligning the way it's supposed to. I've tried everything."

Rajat glanced at the screen, furrowing his brow as he took in the information. "You're overcomplicating it."

Savi's head snapped up, eyes narrowing. "Excuse me?"

Rajat ignored her glare and took her laptop, turning it slightly toward him. His fingers moved quickly over the keys as he adjusted the document, restructuring it in a way that Savi hadn't considered. After a few moments, he pushed the laptop back toward her.

"There," he said simply. "Now it's formatted correctly."

Savi blinked, staring at the screen in disbelief. The data that had been giving her a headache for hours was now perfectly aligned. She frowned, feeling a mix of relief and irritation. "How did you do that?"

"It wasn't that hard," Rajat said, shrugging. "You were just trying to do too much at once. Sometimes you need to step back and simplify things."

Savi's frustration flared again. "Oh, so now you're the expert at everything?"

"Not everything," Rajat said, his tone annoyingly casual. "Just most things."

Savi bit her lip to hold back a retort, but then sighed in defeat. She hated to admit it, but he had actually helped her. She wasn't sure how to feel about that.

"Thanks," she muttered, reluctantly.

Rajat raised an eyebrow, clearly surprised. "Did you just... thank me?"