The Addiction of Love

XII

Shayaan was in the middle of a lecture with the first year batch when a knock on the door came. He looked only to find Zara standing there.

"Sir, can I talk to you for a minute?" She asked, barely containing her smile.

Shayaan excused himself from the class and walked out. Once they both stood in the corridor, a huge smile broke out on her face.

"I got it. I got it. I got the job." She started to whisper yell while jumping up and down in her place. She gave the envelope in her hand to him. 

He opened it and found Zara's offer letter inside. "I'm so proud of you, baby." He lightly brushed his fingers on her hand.

"Naa, not just like that. You're taking me out for dinner tonight." She demanded.

"Whatever you say! But right now, I've to get back to class." He said.

"Okay. I'm going back to the hostel."

"I'll pick you up at 7:30." He told her and went inside the class, while she walked off. The letter in her hand gave her immense sense of achievement.

Maybe things have changed in the past month. For starters, she and Shayaan had said yes to their parents, but Zara had requested the nikah to happen after she was done with her MBA. So there were still almost three months left for it.

Shayaan and Zara had been on quite a few dates now, and they had grown more comfortable with each other. But in college, they behaved just like any normal professor student would, because they had mutually decided that they didn't want the college authorities to know about their relationship. Even though there was no formal rule about professor-student relationships, they still decided to take precautions. It was just a matter of a few months. Only Zara's friends knew about them.

Before heading towards the hostel, she went towards the classrooms where the interviews were being held. Shiv was giving one, and she decided to check the status. Coincidentally, when she reached there, Shiv had just gotten out of the interview.

They saw each other, and a smile broke out on his face.

"Meet the new marketing manager of KNC Ltd." He raised his collar and announced.

"Congratulations!" Zara hugged him. She was genuinely happy for him. He'd put in a lot of hard work in the past weeks for cracking this interview and it had all paid off now.

"Have you seen Sandhya?" He asked after breaking the hug.

"She must be in the canteen." Zara knew there was something going on between them. It was clearly visible in their eyes.

"I'll see you later?" He asked, and she nodded. Then he rushed towards the canteen.

Zara was content for her friends. Sandy had gotten her offer letter yesterday, herself and Shiv got today. Avni was going to work in her family business, while Nitya had been betrothed to her family friend's son for a few years now. So she'd be getting married and shifting to the USA with him soon after they get their degree. So there was no point in looking for a job in India, but she had started applying in America.

Sandy sipped her chai while underlining the important points of her course book.

"Sandhya," There was only one person who called her by that name.

She smiled seeing Shiv at the entrance of the cafeteria. The smile on his face told her that he'd got the job. He came running towards her, so she stood up.

Her congratulations died in her throat because as soon as he reached her, he wrapped his arms around her waist and hoisted her up. She held onto his shoulders too in the fear of falling down.

All the students sitting in the canteen gave them teasing looks, while some even hooted, but Shiv and Sandhya paid no heed to them. They were lost in each other's arms.

He finally broke the hug and put her feet back on the ground. She gave him a breathtaking smile. "I'm so happy for you."

"Will you be my girlfriend?"

He took her off guard by such a sudden question.

"I- I, umm.." She couldn't form a sentence.

"Sandhya, I really like you. I never said anything because I didn't think I was worthy of you. But now that I've got a job, I'd like to take you out." He scratched the back of his neck.

She just stayed silent.

"I know that we belong to different social classes. I mean you can easily find a guy for yourself who earns billions. I'd be nothing compared to him." He nervously chuckled.

"I would totally understand if you said no.."

"Shhhh," She placed her index finger on his lips.

"I don't need a billionaire. I just need a guy who can afford to buy ice cream for me everyday and loves me even when I get fat by eating them." She smirked.

A beautiful smile appeared on his lips. "Chotu, get all the flavors of ice cream you have." He said loudly for Chotu to hear it.

They spent the entire evening feeding each other ice creams. It was a memory they knew they'd cherish for the rest of their lives.

🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸

Everyone asking me to write a separate story for Sandhya and Shiv, I'm sorry but it will not happen. I'm happy with their scenes in this story. I tried thinking for a new story for them but it just wasn't working out for me.

Epilogue is coming up tomorrow! Are you guys ready to say goodbye to them?