"Haa... Haa...."
A young man gasped for breath after arriving outside the gates of an enormous building belonging to one of the renowned universities on the continent.
"I did it!" Akhil felt excitement surging within him after reaching the university on time.
KRIEEEKK
"No, you don't." Like a bucket of ice thrown on his momentary happiness, the university gates closed by the gatekeeper, who was not in the mood to deal with Akhil's daily habits.
The moment Akhil's ears perked up at the sound of the gates locking, he swiftly closed the distance between him and the huge gates before hitting the metal grills with his bare hands.
Bang!
"Open this thing! I promise it was definitely a real grandma this time!" Akhil screamed at the gatekeeper, who was leaving after locking the university's main gates without paying any attention to him.
BANG!
"I was helpless. That grandma was in a wheelchair!" Hitting the gates once again, he tried to justify himself while looking at the disappearing back of the gatekeeper.
SWISH~
What awaited him was a soft breeze, caressing his hair as if trying to erase his non-existent tears.
Seeing even the air in the mood to joke, he inhaled the breeze, which was mocking him before throwing it out by adding his mouth's stench to it—a cruel revenge.
"Phew~, let's go through another route!"
....
Screeech
"Hehe, now it's easy." Crawling through a small space present on one of the garden walls, Akhil felt genuinely satisfied, but it seemed his luck was not that good today.
'!?'
His eyes settled on two boots, standing at a level where his face, touching the ground, could clearly see them.
Feeling helpless, he placed his forehead on the ground before giving a last attempt to save himself. "Will you let me enter if I give you Professor Ritu's phone number?"
"...." Not hearing anything, he understood that he needed to increase the stakes. After all, he couldn't be late today. Slowly lifting his gaze, he revealed his hidden weapon. "I can give you a subscription to her Only Fa—!?"
He was interrupted as his lifted gaze reflected the figure of a beautiful woman standing while wearing glasses, a short black skirt, and a white shirt revealing her cleavage. She looked down at him.
The only thing that raced through his mind at that moment was, 'Damn it.'
"Hehe, I was kidding, Professor." Slowly rising while clearing the dust off his body, he tried to keep smiling, but his sweat bead betrayed his facade.
"Sigh, you know, Akhil, don't go around advertising your own professor." Ritu couldn't help but sigh, already aware of the rumors going around regarding her history—all due to this kid who used her as a bargaining chip.
"Thanks, I promise it will be the last time." Akhil sprinted past her, running towards the Computer Science Branch building while waving.
Professor Ritu kept blankly looking at him, watching his disappearing back.
She took out her phone before sending a message to someone.
.
.
.
'I reached on time, I guess.' Akhil ran through the hallway, looking toward the classroom where his classes were about to begin.
From within the classroom, he heard another voice, making him realize it was roll call time. "Roll number 44."
BANG!
"Present, Professor!" Akhil kicked the door open while holding his bag's straps with both hands, feeling satisfied at reaching on time.
Standing at the head of a large hall, Professor Banzihum completed his sentence before turning his attention back to the classroom. "So, I was saying, roll number 44 should submit an application for having this many delays every day for a whole year."
"S-sorry?" Akhil didn't understand what the professor was saying; more like he didn't want to understand— a typical human reaction to such scenarios.
"You can take your seat now." The professor turned toward Akhil before moving toward a huge smartboard, wearing a microphone for better lecture clarity.
'Once again, a shitty day.' Akhil slowly moved toward his seat. The confusing thing he could never understand was all the girls turning their faces away from him.
Every female student averted their gazes the moment their sight even captured a shadow of him, making Akhil somewhat feel....
Nothing.
Yeah, he didn't feel much from their reactions since it was a daily thing. Not once had any girl approached him or even looked at him. He attributed it all to a small burn mark on his left cheek.
Though the burn was very small—more like negligible—still, he couldn't think of any other reason. He was completely fit in all categories.
He never forgot to take a bath every Sunday, and he even wore clothes washed every month.
He could have taken his smell to be repulsive if those girls had disgusted looks on their faces.
But what he saw until now was only fear.
"You are only my friend, Niharika." Arriving at his desk, his eyes settled on a young woman with cascading black hair and beautiful eyes, accentuated by long eyelashes and rose-petal-like lips giving way to soft yet warm breath.
Everything seemed perfect about her.
She was Niharika Rajashekhar, the one and only daughter of the world's richest businessman, Rajasekhar Hans, with a net worth expanding to $4.57 trillion dollars.
From pharmaceuticals to information technology, almost every field had their involvement; they were like monsters in the business world.
"You bet I am." Niharika chuckled, offering Akhil a seat next to her.
"Again, we got matching dresses, pftt." Akhil chuckled, noticing her wearing the same colored dress as him, which was normal for them, though he always felt surprised by this coincidence.
Taking his seat and placing his bag inside the desk, he tried to tease her. "Heh, don't tell me you stalk me, Niharika."
He turned his gaze to see her reaction, but what he witnessed was her leaning on her palm, her hand supported by the desk. No hint of a blush was present on her face as she stated, "You are really smart, you know?"
His smile slowly vanished due to not getting any reaction, instead seeing such a deep gaze from Niharika—something that only let his reflection be seen through it—causing him to run his hand through his hair before nodding. "Yeah, I think so." He answered, feeling awkward.
But not letting down the mood, he nudged his shoulder with hers. "But you are smart too. See, you even wore that bracelet I gave you so that you can emotionally blackmail me to make your notes."
Niharika's eyes, fixed on Akhil, not even blinking for a single moment, slowly turned toward the bracelet in her hand, a soft smile forming on her face, but it was momentary.
"Oh, how about we go to Laila's concert the day after tomorrow?" Akhil was emptying his bag to find the tickets he found lying on the road, which was amusing since he always got free tickets from the same place.
Not that he hated it.
After all, Laila was a global sensation, captivating audiences across borders, earning her legions of devoted fans worldwide.
With sold-out concerts and billions of followers on social media, she was the epitome of perfection—someone who was the most noble and kind-hearted.
Everything was more than perfect about her; she was today's saintess.
Hearing Akhil's words, Niharika's soft gaze became cold. Her facial features, which even though did not have any expression earlier, somewhat felt warm, became rigid.
"Here," Akhil, without waiting for her response, pulled her hand and placed the tickets in it, causing her eyes to widen.
Slowly, the cold demeanor calmed down, but her hand gripped the ticket before crumpling it up.
"Wait, you will tear it. Don't tell me you hate Laila?" Akhil swiftly held her hand, seeing her forcefully tightening it, causing him to ask the same question once again. But this time, instead of hearing a straightforward "Yes," he heard:
"How can I hate something you like?"