The Addiction of Love

II

Two weeks after the exams, marked the beginning of the fourth and final semester of Zara's MBA. During the two week break, she had gone to Lucknow to meet her family.

The Ibrahim khandaan was a famous name in the capital city of Uttar Pradesh. Zara's grandfather, Mansoor Ali Ibrahim, was a lawyer and had come to Lucknow nearly half a century ago. With the passing years, he got money and fame in his profession and soon became a very renowned person in the whole city. His sons; Zara's father and her uncle also followed their father's footsteps and established themselves as successful lawyers. The grandparents passed away a few years ago, but both their sons lived together as a joint family in the mansion built by the grandfather.

Zara had a total of four cousins from her paternal side and only one sibling, Noorie. She was in grade twelve and was planning to go abroad for higher studies.

This short trip back home had made Zara completely forget about the new professor joining. So on the first day of the new semester, when she reached the class twenty minutes late, a stranger addressing the students took her off guard for a moment.

She stood frozen at the door as her eyes kept ogling at the man in front of her. Not any older than thirty, he was dressed in white pants and navy blue shirt. She saw the hand movements he was making as his lips moved.

It was Shayaan Baig's first day teaching in a new university. While he was speaking to the class, he sensed someone standing near the door. He turned around and his cool grey eyes met her honey brown ones. He stopped speaking and asked her, "Yes?"

She cleared her throat. "May I come in?"

He looked at her confused. "Are you in this batch?"

She nodded, while pulling her hair behind her ears. He was making her nervous.

"May I know the reason why you are so late, Miss..?" He put both his hands in his pocket.

"Zara. Zara Ibrahim." She introduced herself.

"Miss Ibrahim, tell me. Why are you late?"

"Because I woke up late." She was in such a daze that she subconsciously spoke the truth.

The entire class cracked up.

"Silence!" His authoritative voice made everyone shut up, and he looked at her again. This time, he was a little angry.

"Well, Miss Ibrahim," His tone was hard, "Next time if you wake up late, don't bother coming to my lecture at all. Now get out."

Zara had had a lot of strict teachers in her life, but no one had been this rude to her before.

"I'm sorry?" She couldn't help but ask.

"I asked you to leave." He focused back on the class and continued where he had left off, while she stood there, perplexed.

"You won't let me sit in the class?" She asked again, disturbing his lecture. He turned towards her again. "Ashish sir never denied me from attending his class." She complained like a little kid.

"Well, this isn't Ashish sir's class, is it? If you want to sit in my class, you've to come on time." He then looked at all the students. "And this goes for everyone. I won't allow anyone to attend the class if they reach the lecture room after me. Once I enter, the doors are shut for everyone."

Every student passed each other looks of horror, while the new professor paid no heed to them. He just started teaching again. Zara waited for a few seconds before storming out of the class in anger.

She had never felt this embarrassed before, but also a strange feeling overpowered her being. It was like hate and admiration for that man at the same time. Hate because he didn't let her inside his class, and admiration because he was a strong-willed man with confidence.

Anyway, Zara's mood was already spoiled, so she decided to skip all the lectures of the day and went to the canteen. She ordered herself a cup of chai and sat down with her journal. She loved doodling and had a bunch of journals filled with her beautiful doodles.

It wasn't long before her friends joined her. They tried their best to cheer her up, but it was all in vain.

She had always been a pampered child, and was very sensitive to serious scoldings. She wanted to go back to the hostel and curl up in her bed, so she bid bye to her friends and started to walk out. But it was just not her day. Before she could leave, she stumbled across Sandy.

Sandy made a fake sad pout, "Zee got a scolding today!

Zara just wanted to ignore her and leave, but Sandy wouldn't stop speaking.

"Well, it is good that finally someone is here to make you realise that you're not as perfect as you think you are."

"Sandy, don't mess with me right now." Zara could feel her eyes filling with tears, which just made her more mad. What was happening to her? She wasn't this weak to cry over such petty issues. She didn't want to break down in front of everyone, so she hurriedly left the place.

Sandy smirked after her and turned around, only to find Shivaansh glaring at her. She glared back at him for a few seconds, before he broke eye contact and looked away.

🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸

Did you find Shayaan rude? And what are your thoughts on Sandy?