With trembling fingers, I pressed the phone back to my ear, my heart pounding so loudly I was sure he could hear it. I took a shaky breath, barely able to steady my voice as I whispered, "Hello?" The silence that followed was deafening, thick with anticipation. Each second dragged on, every beat of my heart echoing in the stillness. I braced myself, unsure of what was coming next, and then I heard it-his voice, calm yet laced with something that made my breath catch. "Maya," he paused, and for a moment, I thought the world had stopped spinning. "Will you be my girlfriend?" Everything froze. My thoughts, my breath, time itself.... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ When Maya, the queen of awkward silences and overthinking, agrees to fake-date Dhruv, the campus party starter, she figures it's all in the name of helping him win over his crush. Easy enough, right? Except Maya's idea of a fun date is hiding in the library, and Dhruv's involves dragging her to every loud event in sight. But somewhere between pretending to be in love for jealous eyes and actually sharing quiet moments in between, Maya realizes Dhruv isn't all charm and chaos-and Dhruv starts falling for Maya's hidden spark. Soon, their fake relationship feels a little too real, and they're left wondering: who's pretending now?
21 parts