Clandestine

|-20-|

~Without a War~

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KARAN POV

2:30 pm

I texted Boss if Hiral, Himanshu, Tejasswi and I can head to H.E.X.A. I then texted Adi if he can explain to everyone what he told me. He has been quite busy with all those appointments all day. He sets up a time for 7 pm when he will finally be done.

I was currently walking Hiral to her car.

"You seemed out of it today."

I look at Hiral who has concern in her eyes. "It's fine, my mind is on this morning. "

"Are you sure Aditya is on our side?"

"To be honest, I wonder that too sometimes but, I know him. He's my cousin and I know he is a good person with a big heart. He wants to stop whatever they are planning." I stop at her car and face her. "We can't give him all our plans though. Safety measures, we need to be careful."

She nods. "He's your cousin right?"

"Yeah."

"No wonder he's so cute." She smirks, teasing me.

"Yo", Himanshu walks to us giving me a bro handshake.

I got much closer to the twins. Hiral and I had a major class together so I got to know her more. She always tells me she finds me cute, but "ships" Tejasswi and I like the rest.

Himanshu and I became bros, especially after our Lockdown, which now our school has cops rotating all day. I gained a lot of respect when he was there for Tejasswi, helping her with the lockdown and since then we have been talking more often. Himanshu leads me away from their car as Hiral takes one last glance at me and gets in the car.

Two girls pass us by. "You do realize almost every junior and senior girl gapes over you, right?"

I look at him confused. "What?"

He laughs his flashy smile. "Those two girls just looked you up and down like a snackkk."

I look back at the girls and look at him.

Really?

"I didn't notice."

He laughs and shakes his head leaving me hella confused. "So many girls want a bite out of you yet your eyes are only on one girl."

I walk with him, hands in my jacket pockets staring at my shoes.

He stops and points up, where Tejasswi just exited the school and someone comes up to her.
"What's going on between you two?"

I squint in Tejasswi's direction, where the late January sun is directed on her like a spotlight, lighting her glowy tan skin and light brown curls.

"We're friends Himanshu, just friends."

My mind goes back to when she came to my house after New Years' when I injured my shoulder just three weeks ago. She basically friend-zoned me, and that's all I thought about when she left that day.

"You like Tejasswi, Karan, we all see something brewing."

"I like her Himanshu." His eyes go wide with surprise that I admitted it and I face him.
"I like her, but she is selfless enough to put the mission above us, and I should keep doing the same."