I exhaled, shaking my head in disbelief. "Welcome, Mrs. Vedant."
She raised a brow, smirking. "Are you ready to become my puppet, Mr. Vedant?"
________________________________________
Anaya had always been a dreamer, lost in fictional worlds. Books weren't just entertainment; they were her escape. Reality was dull, full of responsibilities she had ignored for years.
She had lied to her parents-told them she was preparing for JEE, that she needed time away from school to study. They believed her. She made them believe her. When she decided not to give JEE, she came up with another excuse: "I've realized I don't want engineering. I'll do UPSC, so I'll take CUET instead." And they trusted her again.
But she hadn't been studying.
Time had slipped away in distractions-books, social media, and then, anime. Her brother had always told her to watch anime, but she never cared. Then, in 10th grade, she overheard a boy in her class talking about One Piece. His passion intrigued her, so she gave it a try. And just like that, she fell into another loop-binge-watching episodes for hours, days, weeks.
Now, she had one month left for boards and two months for CUET. The weight of her wasted time pressed on her chest. How did I let this happen? She had no option but to fix everything.
Vasant, on the other hand, was everything she wasn't. Strict, studious, disciplined. He followed a routine, stayed up late to study, and was determined to crack JEE. But inside, he was drowning. Some nights, he felt so overwhelmed he cried. Yet no one knew. To the world, he was just another hardworking student.
He hated books but loved anime. He didn't know that a girl in his class had once listened to him and fallen in love with his favorite anime. He didn't know that their lives had unknowingly intertwined years ago.
And they still didn't know each other.
But fate wasn't done with them yet.