Hues Of Dusk

Chapter 99. Doomed

"It is really awesome," I complimented.

"Glad you like it." Ved smiled. "Now finish it up."

I nodded and instantly moved the spoon to grab another bite. My heart was doing cartwheels as I moved the morsel in my mouth's direction, but my body froze when my gaze registered Ayush's silhouette in the distance. Soon, his whole body came into view and my hand shook in nervousness when I saw him standing in the corridor with clenched fists and pissed off expression.

I tried to eat, but the way his challenging look was piercing through my soul made me drop down the spoon and glance at Ved with mixed emotions. He furrowed his eyebrows and asked me why I stopped; I was so going to regret my next actions.

"I am not hungry," I murmured.

"What?" Surbhi shouted. "You didn't even eat your lunch, and now, you aren't even eating your favourite dish?"

"We won't let you starve, so you better eat what Ved specially cooked for you," Tanya scolded sternly.

"Yeah, dude. If I was in your place, I would have gobbled that up in one go," Divya said, and Rashi agreed with her.

"I don't feel like eating," I lied and shifted away from Princess as Ayush entered the cafeteria and sat down on his usual table.

"What happened to you suddenly?" Ved accused.

How was I supposed to get out of this? If I eat it then I don't know whether Ayush would explode, and if I don't eat it then I would end up hurting Ved in the process; he took the effort to cook my favourite dish for me.

I would have preferred dying at that moment than being stuck in that situation.

"Are you going to eat or not?" Ved questioned in a cold tone.

"I... I want to, but..." I gulped nervously. "Ved, I... a-am..."

"Why don't you say it directly if you don't like it?" he grunted and grabbed his lunch box.

I moved my hand to stop him, but he snapped up from the chair in a flash and stomped towards the exit. On his way, he dumped the food along with the container in a trash can and vanished from my sight. For a moment, I couldn't believe that I managed to eventually enrage him and insult him too.

"Job well done, Sandhya," Surbhi taunted and got up from her spot.

"What the hell was that?" Rashi expressed her disappointment and followed suit.

"Do you enjoy hurting him every time?" Divya gave up and shook her head at me.

"Girls," Tanya warned and told them to stop blaming me.

"No, Tanya. I have had enough. She won't tell us what's going on with her, so how are we supposed to know? We are not psychic," Surbhi argued and punched me on the shoulder before storming out.

"We are also leaving," Divya informed and left with Rashi.

"You okay?" Tanya put her right palm over my left and squeezed it.

"I don't know," I mumbled and glanced at Ayush.

Brrrinnngg!

"Please don't stress yourself out whatever the issue is, Sandhya." Tanya patted my shoulder and left for her class.

I also got up and picked up my bag. I avoided looking at Ved's best friend on my way and sighed dejectedly. My pace was extremely slow, but I managed to get to the Chemistry lab on time. My butt landed on the chair, and I took out my textbooks like a robot.

I began doodling to keep my brain from exploding and avoiding crying in front of my classmates. I knew I acted like a jerk, but I saw no option other than refusing Ved's cooked dish, ending up making him look like a fool. If Ayush hadn't arrived, I wouldn't have wasted my time overthinking and would have ate it in one go.