You Were My Crush: Till You Said You Love Me! Read Online Free Page B

confident as it was before, ‘he is not a part of our group.’ She pointed towards me like a little school-going child.
    ‘You are not?’ He turned to me. ‘I have never seen you in class before. Do
you
even come to college?’
    ‘I had some problems at home,’ I said.
    ‘Anyway, what is
she
saying? Are you a part of this group or not?’
    ‘Sir,’ I explained, ‘I was a part of their group but she kicked me out without informing me and I did not know when this presentation was. So, I didn’t take part in the presentation too.’
    ‘And you say it’s
her
fault?’
    ‘No, sir, it was mine, too. But I was meant to be a part of this group,’ I said, as politely as I could.
    ‘NO, he was NOT!’ she shouted, and though the class was shocked at her loud outburst, it almost brought a smile to my face. I could almost see tears in her eyes.
Yes!
I pumped my fist.
Take that, bitch. Lizard. Bitchy Lizard.
    ‘Shut up, you two. Look at the two of you. What do you think this is? First grade? Everyone in the class will repeat their projects. You will choose new topics and I will send you the guidelines this time. And
you two
, yes, you will form a new group and only you two will work on the project.’
    ‘But, sir? I cannot work with him,’ she protested. ‘He doesn’t even come to college. He is irresponsible and brash.’
    She stood there, helpless. Her desperation was extreme.
Life is so fair
. She was now stuck with a lazy, incompetent guy!
Oh, that’s me. Shit.
    ‘That’s not my problem,’ he said. ‘Although, Benoy, please don’t think that your dad can make a call and you will pass this subject. That will
not
happen. Do you get it?’
    Fuck him. Life is so unfair.
Later, he added he could ask either of us to present and we would be marked as a group.Therefore, if I were to screw up, Diya would get a zero, too. It was a foolproof plan to screw us up. He said he would ensure the external examiners did not score our final papers.
    For the rest of the period, he kept harping on about how disciplined and intelligent students are in IIT Delhi, the college from where he graduated. He said he was appalled at the quality of students outside colleges like the IITs, DCEs and NITs. He was pissing off everybody in the class.
Up your ass
, I wanted to say.
    I should have been worried but I was happy that the arrogant girl got screwed with me as well; her shoulders had drooped and her face had lost its colour. As soon as the class ended, Diya started to look for me. I hid behind a big group of students and left the class with them.
    Fuck her
, but yes, I was scared too.



Chapter Six
    I would not say I hated him but I did not love him either.
    I was just indifferent.
    It was one of those unpleasant days. I strode inside Dad’s office. Every month, I had to sign a few papers, agree to a few deals and some other nonsense. Since last year, every business that was in Mom’s name was transferred to mine and my signatures were required for every major decision in the company. I waited for fifteen minutes in the conference room for him to turn up with three of his lawyers like he always did. Finally, he came and, as usual, he was sharply dressed in a grey suit that fit him snugly and a thin, black tie that looked smart on him. There were no signs of a middle-age paunch. He hardly looked like a father of a twenty-year-old.
    He was almost as tall as I was. Black hair peppered with white, a hint of stubble, dark brown eyes and exactly my complexion. I could bet my money he looked better thanI did. Secretly, I had always felt good when relatives said that I looked exactly like my dad.
    Like every big business person in Delhi, he had never been to college. He took three attempts to clear school. He started as a minor steel trader in Sadar Bazaar, but slowly and steadily, he rose to become one of the biggest manufacturers of heavy machinery in India. He did it for the big industries, the government and the army—the people that