His Favourite Book

Chapter 19 - Flashback

"This is the address." Sitting in a car, Drishti showed a map to her driver, asking him to take her there. It was Aashna's address.

[Flashback: 9 days ago]

Drishti was standing near the main gate of their University. Abhimanyu was nowhere to be seen, so she called him. "Hello, Abhi? Where are you? You didn't even pick me up today. We haven't met since morning and I-"

"If it's not important, hang up quickly, she's gonna leave." He said, from the other side of the call. It was as if he wasn't even paying attention to her words and was in his own thoughts throughout.

"Who's leaving- Hello? Hello! Abhi! He hung up." She looked up to see Abhimanyu running towards the parking area. "There he is." She followed him only to find him stopping at a girl. They walked to her bicycle, and after a short conversation, she left. After a while, Drishti went up to Abhimanyu. "Who is she?"

"Aashna. We'll be working on our research papers together. I just got mine approved today."

"Oh."

2 days later, after the day's classes were over, Drishti came up to Abhimanyu and dragged him to the back of their building.

"What-" He was startled by her actions.

"I want to talk." She said before snatching away his bag and taking out his research file. "This. You have been writing in it senselessly for two days. Have you forgotten that you are committed now? I just wanted a few texts and call replies from you. Am I asking for too much?" She was clearly furious.

"Drishti, I'm sorry... you know how important this is for me. I couldn't afford to distract myself and waste time by-"

"So I am a waste of time now. Great. You like initiating arguments with me, don't you? That new girl. It's her, isn't she? You are so into working with her that you've FORGOTTEN YOUR GIRLFRIEND!!!!"

"What? No! That's not what I meant, Drishti, I-" He was helpless and more worried about the file she was holding. She swung the file harshly enough for the papers to be visibly ruined.

"DO YOU REALLY NOT UNDERSTAND OR ARE YOU ACTING DUMB IN FRONT OF ME? ALL THIS BECAUSE OF THIS ONE SHITTY THING?" She screamed before throwing away the file.

(A/N: In case anyone wants to reread, it's from Chapter 14 - You Can Cry)

That's when she ruthlessly broke up with him. After leaving him there, when she reached the main gate of the university, she saw Kartik. She had seen Aashna with him a few times in the last 2 days. Without any thought, she walked towards him. He was too engrossed in his phone to even notice the actual person coming towards him. He started walking beside her, still not noticing her. She had been given a chance and couldn't think of anything else. She took him to the road, where he was almost saved from dying by accident. After a while, she saw Abhimanyu talking normally to another friend of Aashna, Muskan. Like he hadn't just had a breakup. That fuelled her anger more.

[Flashback - END]

Reaching Aashna's society, Drishti got out of her car and looked around. She saw her bicycle in the parking lot. She let her intrusive thoughts win and started beating up the bicycle as if it were a sack of wheat.

She broke the stand, loosened the chain, and removed the basket to throw it on the ground. Just as she brought her hands up, they were held by someone. Before she could turn and see who the person was, she was pulled farther away, behind a pillar. Just then, a car and a cab arrived there, revealing Girisha and Aashna's parents.

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!" Abhimanyu whisper-screamed so as not to let anyone else hear them.

Drishti viciously looked at him and with zero words, began stretching the basket, in an attempt to break it. She failed, obviously.

They saw a girl coming up to Aashna's bicycle and she immediately started analysing the situation. Abhimanyu was scared and Drishti made him angrier. He dragged her and sneaked out of the society.

- X - X - X - X - X -

Muskan was walking ahead of Aashna and Kartik, trying her best to ignore their bickering. Entering the class before them, she found Abhimanyu and his girlfriend arguing over something at the back of the class. As much as she wanted Abhimamyu to not talk to that toxic girl, she couldn't jump in on their matter. She decided to ignore them and sat on her seat, while still being able to hear faint words from them.

"I told you, I was there just to meet her and not do any harm! The bicycle thing is different!" Drishti said.

"Drishti, leave, I said." Abhimanyu was still trying his best to remain calm in class.

"Fine. But remember, you have to come to the dinner by any means tonight." She said and left the class, bumping into Aashna on her way. Aashna's cheeks were held by one hand of Kartik so she couldn't take a look at Drishti. Whispering a "Sorry," both of them entered the class.

"I've already said I won't go. What languages does she understand?" Muskan heard Kartik mumbling. She turned around and saw him looking at Kartik and Aashna playfully arguing and fighting over whether Kartik had ruined Aashna's bicycle. He seemed like he wanted to say something to Aashna, but was holding back. He finally decided to get up and confront her.

"I. Said. I. Didn't. Even. Touch. Your. Cycle." Kartik said while holding Aashna in a headlock.

"Who? Else? Then?" Aashna tried getting away.

"Umm... Aashna, he really didn't do it." Abhimanyu interrupted them. He went on to explain how and why Drishti had been troubling them. Muskan, from behind, nodded as if she had finally understood all the happenings with him and Kartik. "I'm sorry. It won't happen again. I'll make sure to keep her in check. Please forgive her... if you could..."

"It's... okay." Kartik and Aashna looked at each other to think of something else to say, but their professor had entered the class, making everyone settle down in their seats.

As the class ended, the professor asked Aashna and Abhimanyu to present the final draft to her the next day. They could then start the next step of their research papers. After the professor left, Aashna immediately opened her file and started reviewing things. Abhimanyu joined her.

"Let's study for some time while they get their work done?" Muskan asked Kartik and received a hesitant nod from him.

Kartik started studying but soon realised that most of the reference material was on his phone, so he frequently kept unlocking his phone. After a while, he got tired of doing so and opened social media apps to pass his time while the other three were still studying. He looked at them with envious eyes. He still had a lot left to study. 'A few minutes here and then I'll study twice as hard to compensate.' He thought and began scrolling his time away.

Seeing him, Aashna was tempted to take a short break. She closed her file and put her head down on the table to rest for a while. Her eyelids dropped as soon as her head touched the surface. Hearing a long breath from Aashna, Muskan patted her head. She glanced at Kartik only to find him looking at Aashna with heavy eyes as if he had a lot to say but was holding it back. Muskan wanted to talk to him but decided to put it off for some time, at least until he himself would initiate the conversation.

"We are finally presenting this tomorrow, I'm tired but happy," Aashna's words came out muffled because of her pressed cheeks against the table.

"Stop acting like you're the only person who works a lot." Kartik suddenly said and looked away in annoyance.

It took the others some time to grab his words. "Kartik!" Muskan couldn't believe her ears.

"What?" Kartik picked up his bag and walked out of the class.

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A/N: That’s all for today's chapter and see you in the next one! Until then, Happy reading <3