~Sanvi's POV~
A deep silence followed with a tense eye-lock.
"Wanna know who will be rank one at the end of this session?" I smirked, breaking the pause and matching his flirtatious vigour. He pulled his brows at me in mockery.
"Me? Yeah, I already know that..." He answered.
"Mhm. You think you're so smart. Not this time. Not again. You know our order, right? First you, then me, then you and this time, it's my turn again. It's all pre-ordained."
I exclaimed in an almost sensual tone (to my utter shock) turning my body to him, such that our knees touched intimately. A brief silence followed as our eyes locked once again,-a little too cozily for my likeness- which was broken moments later by his roaring laughter.
"You..." His wheezed out loud while laughing uncontrollably.
"You..." He coughed while I reluctantly advanced my hand to pat his back but refrained from doing so.
He was making fun of me for heaven's sake!
"You... think there's someone pre-ordaining things from....up there?" Saying so he had given up on his side support and was almost on the floor, rolling haphazardly.
After a moment or so, noticing my dumb silence, he sat up straight wiping his teary eyes, still smiling widely from the after-effects of such monstrous laughter.
I didn't know what to say.
"Well?" He urged, making me look up to the ceiling.
"I don't. But I do believe in whatever is going on in here. I know you in and out. And I know myself. I'll knock you out of the court this time and I have the confidence. I work hard." His eyes softened at my words as he regained his composure.
"Therein lies our difference, Sanvi. I don't need to work hard. And what makes you think I don't have the confidence required?" He enquired.
His voice was back to serious in no time sooner than it had left.
"Well, no one is more glad for that difference between us. Atleast I can say proudly that I use my brain more than you do by actually working it, unlike you. And mine is stronger." I winked his way, satisfied at thinking up a good retort.
"Haha. Say whatever you want. At the end of the day, I am going back home with a trophy and the rank one in my name." He winked back, making me scowl.
I felt this irritation take over my senses, all of a sudden.
"You say that like you want to sleep with your trophy and your rank... Objectophillia much, Rathore?"
Saying so, I pursed my lips in order to muffle a cackle. I hadn't even realised what I had blurted out in a hurry.
I looked towards him following a dead silence only to catch him staring at me intensely. The stare made my toes fidget.
"You'll know that better." His voice was sharp as he leaned his head to the side. "Tell me, Sanvi. Do you think I'll sleep with an object?"
I was dumbfounded.
What the hell were we even talking about?
"Why the hell am I the one who's supposed to know that?" I feigned ignorance, sitting cross legged, looking at everything but him.
My heart began beating faster, feeling his warm hand on my thigh and in a swift turn, I was face-to-face with him.
"You just declared that you know me in and out. And you know exactly why..." He cooed, teasing me as I turned sharply to stare sideways.
"What the hell? Whyy..." I croaked out nervously.
"Do you want me to spell it out, Sanvi?" He was playing an unfair game. I cursed myself for chiding him like that and tried to escape swiftly. His hands that were still on my knees held me down.
"What do you want me to say, Rishabh?" I snapped, feeling agitated and flared my nose at him. His smirk deepened.
"That you stole my first kiss..." He whispered naughtily, making me blush crimson as my lips stuttered.
"Admit it, Sanvi." I closed my eyes and tried to control my composure.
"Oh please, stop lying." I managed to croak out in a stern voice. "Steal?" I mockingly laughed.
"That was not your first kiss. I am not blind, Rishabh. I know for a fact that you had a girlfriend. Hell, I have seen you strutting around with her multiple times in the campus!"
He was taken aback by my serious expression.
I was not going to sit there and take whatever rubbish he was spouting.
"Tell me, I am lying then..." I spat angrily, pushing his palms off of my thighs.
He was clearly befuddled as he began stammering. But that stupid smile was still intact on his face.
What the hell. Nothing vexed him!
"Go on, gaslight me into thinking what a crime I committed by kissing you when clearly you are the one at fault here and I was the one who lost my FIRST kiss to...you." I stood up, utterly infuriated at his speechlessness.
"I didn't kiss her, Sanvi." He said calmly, maintaining that stupid smile on his face.
"Yeah, sure... I'll believe you.." I rolled my eyes, clearly done with his bullshit. He stood up and stumbled as the books fell onto his feet.
"I am telling the truth...will you..just listen." He tried to grab my hand as I began picking out books from the shelf a little further from where we were sitting.
"Leave me..." I jerked out of his hands.
"You're clearly violating our agreement. No unnecessary touches. Stay away..." I warned him with a finger and he sighed in resignation while ruffling his hair.
"Okay, alright. I won't touch you." He put his hands up in surrender.
"But I truly didn't kiss her. Yes, we did date for a few months but things never did...ahem...get to physical." He scratched his neck as a sign of his embarassment. I narrowed my eyes at him.
"Why...?" Came out an involuntary question from the back of my mind. I pursed my lips immediately.
He simply shrugged.
"I don't know... She was not my type." He answered nonchalantly leaning against the shelf and folding his hands over his chest.
"She was the one who asked me out two years ago. I agreed because she is a good friend of Dhruv." My fingers went up to my mouth as I nibbled on the corners while listening to his story intently. He nodded his head involuntarily as he continued.
"Thought why not give it a chance especially when Dhruv was eating my brain everyday to go out with her. We went on a few of coffee dates. She was a decent girl, of course, beautiful, studious and really sweet..." I didn't know why my heart dropped at his words.
"... which made me go on with her for a couple of months. However, when it came to being physical in anyway, I was always hesitant. She got frustrated after two months..." He laughed as he looked at me with an unusual glint in his eyes. "...especially when I kept on telling her that I wasn't ready to be physical yet."
"What's stopping you now?" I found myself blurting out.
"As far as I know you are now desperate enough to be physical even with a girl you barely know..." I threw a glare his way, twisting my lips in annoyance.
Why did I feel so weird after hearing that story?
"That...wow, you're gonna hold that on me for a long time, huh?" He scoffed, chuckling a little.
"Till I am alive, Rathore, till I am alive. I won't even let your ghost forget about that incident." I shook my head to and fro playfully.
"Well then do you really want to know what's stopping me now?" I stiffened amidst my show of superiority.
His suggestive question.
That didn't bode well with me.
"Mind you, it involves this very incident that you'll never let me forget." I shot my head up to see him smirking my way.
"Wha...no, that's fine. Are we here to chitchat? We're burning daylight. Chop chop."
My hands shooed him away as I turned to browse the shelves. I grasped my hands tightly in order to stop the shivering. My heart was beating to the point that I thought a stroke was coming up.
Out of thin air, I felt warm muscular hands wrap around my waist and pull me against a taut body. I gasped at the sudden movement as my back nestled into his embrace.
"I don't know how long I'll be able to keep up with Clause Three in our agreement, Sanvi." Rishabh blew my curls from behind, making all the blood rush up to my ear before unhanding me and going his own way.
I stood there like a statue with all of my body on fire, for a long time until the librarian herself came to shoo me out of the library.
**********†**********
To Be Continued.