Ruhi's POV
Guess who is back to being cold?
After Siddharth messed with my brain all day long, I decided it was better for me to keep my distance from him. But turns out, he was one step ahead of me when he completely ignored me during our last paper.
I don't understand what is going on in his mind at all.
Like, that's cheating! I was supposed to give you a cold shoulder not the other way around.
But I have to do something. He had won against me last time, and I won't let that happen again. Not at all.
The past few days went by quickly. With Siddharth and me not talking - or fighting - the group was all about cheesy flirts and blushes with Naman and Aditi.
Radhika also seems to blush a little too much since her first committee meeting. At least she admitted that she likes him in a way that's not just limited to his looks.
And as for me, well, things are going smoothly. We only met Rohan once during our last paper. That was... something.
So, after our last paper...
Flashback
We had just walked out of the college gate after completing our exams. Siddharth was ignoring me for some reason. Weirdo.
Anyway, good for both of us.
Thank God, we didn't meet Rohan today-
"Hey, Ruhi!"
Ugh!
"Hi, Rohan.", I smiled at him.
"How did your exams go?"
"Yeah, they went well.", I replied.
He looked at me and Siddharth and the distance between us, "Have you guys still not made up?", he asked.
"What do you mean?", I question back.
"You were a little lost that day at work, so I thought you might have had a fight with him or something.", he explained.
That's my cue.
I moved closer to Siddharth, "You're right, Rohan! What should I even say?", I circled my arm around Siddharth's, making him freeze, "Siddharth says that he can't focus on his exams because of me. His mind is always busy thinking about me. I don't blame him, but is it my mistake that he finds me distracting?"
Siddharth started coughing. Everyone bit back a smile, and so did I, while Rohan shifted his weight from one leg to another.
I blinked at Siddharth innocently, "Tell me, baby, is it my mistake?"
His cough became harsh and he turned away.
I looked at Rohan, while simultaneously patting Siddharth's back with a little too much force, "Don't mind, he has cough."
When I looked back at Siddharth, his face was completely red.
Wow! Never had I ever expected to see a blushing Siddharth.
It might just be because of coughing, but I would like to tell myself that it was my teasing that left him flustered.
When he finally stopped coughing, I asked, "Are you okay? I told you to have the medicines on time! When did you become so ignorant?", I scold him.
The next thing he did was out of my syllabus.
He cupped my cheeks.
"Since the moment you became my girlfriend. How do you think I'll be able to do anything else when you're always on my mind?", he said softly.
How does he always manage to pull an UNO reverse card on me?
Okay, focus, Ruhi. You have to win this time.
I cupped his cheeks too, a soft smile plastered on my face, "And how do you think your girlfriend will feel when you don't even take care of yourself."
He smiled back at me, "You care for me, that's enough."
Suddenly, Rohan excuses himself for a second to attend a call.
We stay like that only, cupping each other's cheeks, fake smiling at each other.
"Why don't you just take poison instead of medicine, monster.", I grit my teeth, the sweetness in my voice still there.
"You're poison enough for me.", he said, matching my sweet tone.
Rohan walked back, clearing his throat, and we finally pull away, throwing each other a glare disguised as smile.
Siddharth wrapped his hand around my shoulder, "I would have to thank you, Rohan, for making Ruhi talk to me again."
Rohan waved it off, "Oh no! Your love for each other brought you back together."
Radhika nodded, "He is right! You are made for each other!"
Naman jumped in too, "Totally! You shouldn't let small fights come in the way of your undying love for each other!"
Oh, how I feel like strangling my friends to death.
"Anyways, I should leave now. Bye.", Rohan finally said.
"Bye! See you at work.", I replied.
As soon as he left, I dropped my smile and Siddharth dropped his hand. I stepped away from him, throwing him a silent glare, while he scowled back at me.
And just like that, he went back to ignoring me.
Flashback ends
He somehow managed to have the last word and my peace again.
Like, how does he manage to play hot and cold with so much ease?
And I hate that I think about it so much because, at the end, we are still enemies. Despite knowing that, he still manages to ruin my day by coming in my thoughts.
Like bro, get the hell out of my mind!
Okay, whatever.
Anyways, the reason I am so much annoyed isn't that.
It's that, we had our results today.
And guess who scored more than me?
The one and only, Siddharth Thakkar.
Yes! He beat me by just 0.02 SGPA!
Can you believe it?!
I got an SGPA of 9.44 and he got 9.46! That small difference? It has ruined my peace. Because Siddharth might not be talking to me, but the smirk on his face since we got our results is enough to leave me frustrated.
We were all together at Radhika's place when the results came out, and the guys left shortly after.
However, Aditi and I stayed over for some obvious reasons.
We haven't had a girls' only hang out since days and we most certainly need one.
I definitely do.
Siddharth's POV
While walking back from Naman's house, Ruhi kept annoying me with her weird expressions and sounds.
Everything was fine - until she called me baby.
I don't know why, but her calling me baby was both frustrating and funny at the same time because, firstly, she was doing this to annoy me even more and I knew it, and secondly, calling a guy more than half a feet taller than her 'baby' was a joke in itself.
I won't lie. I was caught off guard when she behaved that way. But the good thing is, I can regain my composure quickly.
Unlike her.
I am still figuring out what came into me when I called her 'My Rooh', but it was clearly worth it after seeing her reaction.
Speaking of that nickname. It just came out of nowhere and I was surprised by myself when I came up with that comeback.
She was too flustered to say anything after that and walked away, but her red cheeks somehow stayed with me.
When I went back home and sat down to study, all I could think about was her flushed face and her voice calling me baby.
And for some reason, at the end of the day, I found myself smiling when I recalled our interaction.
That's because I won against her.
That's the reason, yeah.
Of course.
The next day, when I met her before our exams, she asked if I was going to turn into Rishi just to annoy her.
Honestly, I never thought I would flirt with any girl ever. And I am still digesting the fact that I've been flirting with her lately, but it just... Happens. I never planned to do it.
And when it comes to Rishi, he might be flirty, but he doesn't lie. But I did.
I lied when I said I liked when she called me baby.
Nope. I hated it. I hated it so much that even my heart cringed enough to skip a beat.
It was the worst experience ever.
Next to meeting her, of course. That can never be topped.
So, I said what I said.
And I might be completely wrong, but I think I saw the tiniest flicker of disappointment in her eyes at my words.
For the first time in my life, I want myself to be wrong about something.
I might have not waited long enough to see her proper reaction at my words, but those eyes?
Yeah, they haunted me throughout my paper. Like, I am halfway writing an answer and out of nowhere she pops up in my mind and somehow, I myself don't know what I was writing just a second ago.
God help me from this witch. She has put a spell on me.
So, to save myself from further spell - distraction, in simple words - I decide to not talk to her at all.
That's what is best for me. Because I barely managed to finish my paper that day.
And I can't let anything - or anyone - get in between me and my grades.
But God had other plans.
Life was blissful, until He blessed me with a Rohan in my life.
He comes on the second number in the list of people I wish did not exist at all.
First is again, of course, Ruhi.
I regret the whole fake dating thing every single day just because of that guy. If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't even have to act lovey dovey, which we don't anyway, but we still have to act like those typical couples in front of him.
Again, everything was going fine, until she pointed out the fact that she was distracting me.
For a second, I panicked.
How did she know?
But then, it was just an act. She didn't really think I get distracted by her.
Which she was wrong, but she doesn't need to know that.
She then proceeded to patting my back- wait, no - slapping my back, when I coughed.
This girl will for sure give me a back problem by the time we complete our degree.
My face turned red due to all the coughing.
She is enjoying this.
I can't let her.
So, I did the first thing that came in my mind.
I cupped her cheeks.
Why the hell is this the first thing on my mind again?
The worst part? She cupped my cheeks in response.
Her palms felt so warm on my cheeks.
And her cheeks? They felt so soft under my palms. I felt like pulling her cheeks for a secon- wait, what?
Get a grip, Siddharth.
Thank God, Rohan left soon after that, or else I don't know what more drama we'd have to do.
And then comes today- the day of our results.
We were all at Radhika's place with the reason of checking our results together. These guys really just need an excuse to meet.
We could have just checked them at our homes.
We were all sitting in the living room, a little nervous, a little excited.
And me?
I was calm and confident.
But someone seemed calmer than me.
Ruhi.
It seemed like she did not care about the results at all.
Overconfidence.
I looked at the others, Radhika was refreshing the website continuously, and Aditi was sitting beside her, biting her nails.
While Naman - well, he was busy admiring Aditi.
This guy will do everything but propose to her.
I mean, I might personally not like being in relationships, but they seem to already be in one. Unofficially. And it suits them. Both of them are equally cheesy and in love.
Good for them.
I then looked at Rishi and he was-
"What exactly are you doing, Rishi?", I asked.
He was sitting cross-legged on the floor, with his hands resting on his knees, back straight and eyes closed.
Padmasana.
He replied with his eyes closed, "Manifestation."
Radhika scoffed, "More like practicing being a saint after he fails in his exams."
He put a finger on his lips, "Shh, honey. Your sweet voice is distracting me."
I rolled my eyes, "What will happen if you manifest? Are your marks going to increase, or what?"
He scrunched his face, "On second thought, honey, your sweet voice was better than his cranky one."
Ruhi let out a laugh.
I smacked his head, "You should have studied harder if you were so scared of the results."
"Let me focus, Siddharth!", he complained.
I raised an eyebrow, "Where was this focus of yours before the exams? Oh, right. It was busy learning gu-"
Rishi lunged at me, muffling my voice with his hand on my mouth. While my eyes might be wide in shock, his were with panic as he shook his head at me.
Oh.
I pushed his hand away, glaring at him, "Think before calling my voice cranky next time."
He chuckled nervously, "Of course."
I shook my head in amusement.
People and their affection for others can drive everyone crazy.
Just then, Radhika announced, "Results are out!"
"I passed!"
"Me too!"
"How did I manage to get good score even after barely studying?!"
"My manifestation worked!"
I don't understand why they are making such a big deal out of this. It's just semester one's results, it's not like they graduated or something.
They jumped with joy as they discussed their results.
Ruhi hadn't checked hers yet.
She was taking her sweet time watching everyone's reactions and then finally she picked up her phone to check her results.
A second later, a small, satisfied smile formed on her lips.
She lifted her gaze, and she might be addressing the whole room, but her eyes landed on me, "9.44 SGPA."
Okay. I am sure I can top that.
Right?
I logged in to check my results.
The screen buffered for a second and then, I smirked.
"9.46 SGPA."
A muscle in Ruhi's jaw ticked.
I leaned back in my seat.
I knew I would win. Of course.
I am the best.
And when I see Ruhi refreshing her results again and again as if it would magically increase her score, I feel something.
Satisfaction.
Rishi flopped on the sofa, "Okay then, Siddharth is giving us a party today."
"Excuse me?", I narrowed my eyes at me.
Naman nodded, "You are the topper, Siddharth. Ek party toh banti hai!"
"Achha? Here, take 5 rupees each, have some chocolates, okay?" I said sarcastically.
Rishi huffed, "Some people can't even give us a treat even after scoring the highest!"
Naman agreed, "I know, right? Some people are too selfish."
If Ruhi was not wounded by that 0.02 right now, she would have said something like, 'I have been saying this since day one.'
And then, I'd have replied with, 'At least I'm not ungrateful.'
She would have retorted with, 'At least I think before-
Okay, shut up, Siddharth.
Am I seriously fighting with her in my mind now?
Something is seriously wrong with me.
No.
Something is wrong with her and because of that I am behaving like this.
I cleared my throat, "No one's getting any party. Call me whatever you want."
They groaned, "You're so boring, Siddharth!"
Again, she would have said, 'I told you guys!'
Shit.
Am I seriously missing her retorts so much that my brain is filling the gaps?
No, eww.
I have to get away from her.
I stand up, "I am leaving."
Rishi pouted, "Already?"
"You guys might have a lot of free time, I don't."
Naman got on his feet too, "We should leave too. Come on, Rishi!"
"But why are you in such a hurry?", he complained.
Naman rolled his eyes, "We are leaving, do whatever you want.", saying this, he started leaving.
Rishi immediately stood up, "Hey, wait! I'm coming too!"
We said goodbye to the girls and left.
Rishi scowled, "I wanted to stay a bit longer."
Naman wrapped his hand around my shoulders, "Then you would have missed the party."
"Party?"
He nodded, "Siddharth's party."
I raised an eye brow, "Did I not say no?"
"Did you think we'll let you go so easily?"
Oh wait. I just remembered something.
I smiled at Naman, "Let's go then."
Naman blinked, "What? You agreed? So easily?"
I nodded, "Yes, I did. Now tell me, what do you guys want to eat?"
Rishi said, "I have been craving chinese lately."
Naman grinned, "Chinese it is, then! Let's go!"
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