Author's Note : Hi everyone so I finally decided to update after five long months 😆
I thank you all for giving so much love to this story and sorry for keeping you all waiting for so long.
Please tell me how liked this chapter! Also, I've posted it without proofreading or anything so apologise for that.
Chapter 3
Shaurya cursed under his breath in frustration. He was forced to travel in congested economy class with these students. The management could've booked business class for all of them. He looked at Anokhi seated beside him and two other students : Drishti and Samar seated behind them. All of them were sleeping in awkward positions. He knew surely they'll have a sprain.
Just then Anokhi's hand smacked Shaurya on his face. He grimaced and pushed her hand back which only made her rest her head on his shoulders. It was only for SIAC's reputation that he was tolerating this girl. She was the only participant from SIAC in the prestigious Innovation festival at Stanford. Drishti and Samar were part of other minor competitions. Shaurya looked up, silently praying for some patience to deal with her and tried to sleep.
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But patience he did not get. Shaurya woke up in an awful mood, both because of the horrible flight and Anokhi. He swore her mere presence pushed his buttons. It's been about six hours on the flight and she had since moved from merely resting her head on his shoulders to being sprawled over his chest, her delicate wrapped around him snugly.
Shaurya felt an intrusive urge her to pick her up and dump her in another corner of the cramped economy class. He looked around helplessly as everyone slept peacefully, this had been the worst flight of his life.
Earlier he used to reprimand himself thinking he disliked her only because she was Aastha's favourite but now he was convinced she was the most irritating person he had ever met. He carefully kept her hand away, praying he finally gets some sleep.
~~~~~~~
Her breath hitched as she felt the heat of his body get close to her. He snaked his hand around her waist and pulled her in, her back to his front. She could feel all of him pressed against her. She felt him push her hair to the other side and she sighed. She turned around to see...
Anokhi woke up sensing a commotion around her. Her heart still beating fast because of that dream. She stirred and opened her eyes in instant awareness and jerked away from Shaurya sir mortified at how she was wrapped around him, thanking God that he wasn't awake.
She sat in guilt having seen the dream while being wrapped around her professor. It all felt wrong yet somehow she couldn't help but look at his sleeping form nervously, subconsciously admiring his handsome features. Anokhi gave herself a mental reminder that he was her professor and decided to get rid of all the thoughts she was having about him.
~~~~~~~
"Shaurya sir wait for me!", Anokhi ran across the hotel lobby to catch up with Shaurya who walked quickly in annoyance, ignoring her.Finally he stopped at the reception and Anokhi heaved a sigh of relief. He was exasperating, it really puzzled her where his cockiness came from.
Him reassuring her about the competition, helping her with the preparation made her think he wasn't as bad as she was making him out to be but no he proved her wrong. He'd been an absolute jerk since the day she met him and he reaffirmed that by his awful behaviour since they got on the plane.
"Hey Anokhi, go take the card for your room, it's at the reception", Samar reminded her. She thanked him with a small smile and approached the reception only to be greeted by Shaurya's sour face. She ignored him and got the card.
Shaurya got off the elevator only to see Anokhi entering the room next to him. He had his signature scowl on his face and asked her what she was doing there? She looked equally angry and fired back that it was the room booked for her. He couldn't say much than to get in and slam the door in frustration.
He didn't like her attitude. Everybody respected him as a professor and talked to him well but she didn't. She said what she wanted to, even when she knew he was her professor. It made him tick in anger. The nerve of her made him dislike her the most yet he admitted how brave she was.
Shaurya shook his head to clear off his mind and finally drifted to sleep.
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Shaurya along with the three students gathered at Stanford the next day to participate in the competitions. The campus was huge with historical buildings and lush greenery. Anokhi tried to take it all in. It still didn't feel real.
Shaurya talked to Drishti and then Samar trying to motivate them to do better. His eyes looked for her, trying to talk to her once before the competition starts. He never liked her but he was her professor and he was here to support her, to help her perform her best in the competition for SIAC.
"She's in the lateral office", Samar said to him. Shaurya nodded in annoyance and walked off. How did he know where she was. He was another student whom he wasn't really fond of. He reached the office and before he could say something, he found her standing at the window staring off into nothingness, her eyes filled with deep sorrow.
He knew in an instant what she was thinking about. Her family. Despite disliking her, Shaurya has always accepted that she had guts to leave her wedding for her studies. He always had a problem with her fearlessness but maybe that was only because he had never witnessed that kind of determination.
"Don't think about it", he said in a voice quiet enough for only both of them to hear. She jerked in surprise and turned around in an instant only for her to collide into a hard chest. Large callous hands wrapped around her body, steadying her.
She was breathing hard, her body responding in awareness of his touch. She closed her eyes and tried to calm herself, trying to imagine his angry face at scowling at him. But that didn't seem to work either.
"Ms. Bhalla are you okay?", Shaurya called out to her in concern. Anokhi tried to steady herself to look up at him to reassure him. But words failed her when her eyes met his.
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