The classroom fan groaned like it had been forced into this school against its will. Chalk dust floated lazily in the air, the kind that settled on uniforms and never really washed out.
Ekaksh sat in his bench — technically with Isha, though their worlds barely brushed. The gap between them was so narrow that if either shifted an elbow, they'd clash. Yet, in months of sitting together, they'd only exchanged three sentences:
"Notebook dogi?"
"Homework diya kya?"
And once, a tragic, "Pencil le lo, ink nahi hai."
That was it.
And yet, Ekaksh was the kind of guy everyone in class knew. Funny, a little too loud, good in studies but never acting like a topper. He cracked jokes mid-lecture, scribbled caricatures of teachers on the blackboard when no one was looking, and still somehow pulled decent grades.
"Bhai," Raghav whispered from the bench behind, "new admission in Section C. Heard she's cute. You going to shoot your shot?"
Ekaksh smirked. "Arre, don't worry. I've got an eye out."
Raghav pounced immediately. "Ekaksh, you only have one eye out! That's the problem!"
The whole back row exploded. Someone added, "Bro's name literally means one-eyed, no wonder he can't see the right girl!"
Ekaksh clutched his chest dramatically. "Wah, friends like these, who needs enemies? But don't worry… when I find the one, I'll see her clearly. Even with one eye."
The teacher's chalk whizzed past his head and hit the wall. "Ekaksh! Do you ever shut up?"
"Sir, my mouth has no attendance shortage," Ekaksh replied, earning another roar from the backbenchers.
Beside him, Isha continued writing neatly, lips curved in her usual faint smile. Elegant, soft-spoken, her handwriting looked like it belonged in a wedding card, not a class notebook. She didn't glance at Ekaksh, not even when his jokes shook the bench. She just… existed. Calm. Balanced. Untouched by the circus around her.
Ekaksh? He didn't notice her much. Not really. Why would he? She wasn't part of his chaos. She was the type of girl who'd float past without a ripple.
But school has its own way of tossing grenades.
It was after lunch when Tanya, the class gossip queen, marched in like she was breaking national news. "Arreee, sab suno! Breaking update! Ekaksh proposed to Neha near the library—aur usne reject kar diya!"
The class gasped as if they'd just heard a teacher got married to the principal.
"What?!" Raghav jumped up. "Neha rejected him? Bro, even samosa vendors don't reject him!"
"Serious news!" Tanya pressed on. "Neha said she wants a mature guy. Not a joker!"
The class oooh'd in unison. Neha, sitting two benches away, adjusted her hair like a queen confirming the scandal.
And just like that, the rumor bell rang louder than the actual school bell.
Ekaksh blinked. Once. Twice. "What the—?!"
The chapter ended with him staring at the chaos, realizing somehow… he'd been thrown into a story he didn't even sign up for.