the romantic novel - II

March knew at the back of her head that Asher would never agree on meeting them so she just stood outside holding his book in her hand. She held the book so that Asher would notice what March and Jessica were up to and that way he would come out and meet them.

The guard went over to Asher.

"Listen, son, there are those two girls right there who have something to tell you, just go meet them once," the guard informed him.

Asher looked over where the guard was pointing and saw March waving her hand up and down showing the novel in her hand. Asher glanced over at them and behaved the usual way. He turned his gaze away and told the guard, "I don't know any of them."

"What? These girls have been annoying me for a long time. I'm so sorry son, you continue with your studies" said the guard and walked towards March and Jessica.

"He refuses to recognize you. Now you both may leave from

Here," the guard said sternly. Saying this, the guard shut the door on their face.

Both of them walked out of the library in rage. Jessica was furious witnessing his attitude. She went and sat down on the seats near the library and said in anger, "If he ever comes in front of me, I'll break his face for sure."

March kept listening to her silently. After some time she spoke, "Let's forget about it, we'll just return it to him in class. There's nothing else we can do about it."

Seeing March sad, Jessica comforted her, "No problem, just be positive."

Asher on the other hand was still sitting beside the window and kept looking at them from above. Seeing March sit there sulking he mumbled to himself, "What does that girl want from me? She kept showing me that novel when I own the same novel too. There's nothing about that novel anyway."

While he was thinking about all this, Asher opened his bag but to his surprise he didn't find the novel inside.

"What is this? This is not my novel. I'm sure it's that girl's novel. She bumped into me in the morning. Maybe it was then that our novels got exchanged. Maybe that's why she kept following me around." Asher thought to himself.

He looked for March through the window and then opened the novel to the page the bookmark was placed which was the last page that was read by March. He read a paragraph from it and in the course of reading it, his face turned red as an apple.

He immediately closed the book and started looking around to prevent himself from reading any further and checking if anyone saw him reading such clichéd books.

He quickly turned towards the title of the book and while looking

at it thought to himself, "What kind of book is this?"

March sat on the bench kicking the soil beneath her feet. She had kept dancing around college from morning till evening and at the end when she finally had the chance to meet Asher, he refused to meet her. Jessica couldn't see her sadness anymore. She looked at him sitting by the window and told March, "Don't think about it too much, let's go back to the hostel. We can have some junk on the way back, and then we'll hurry back to the hostel."

March took a last look at Jessica and asserted, "Sorry, I kept you on the drive with me all day. Come on, let's go".

Both of them stood up and started walking towards the gate to leave college. Just after walking a few steps, someone called out from behind.

"March Portman?" somebody yelled.

Hearing this both of them looked back and were taken aback. March felt as if she was in a dream. The boy who had been ignoring her all morning was now walking towards her. He held a bag in one hand and her novel in the other. He continuously looked at March while walking towards her.

He came and stood in front of her and said, "March Portman, this is probably your novel." After he said this both of them looked at the novel feeling embarrassed with each other. March snatched the novel away from him and made Jessica hold on to it. She couldn't seem to exchange glances with Asher. Suddenly Asher extended his hand towards March. Seeing him extend his hand, her heartbeat started racing. Somehow she gathered the courage to shake hands with him.

However, as soon as she extended her hand Asher spoke, "My book?".

All of March's dreams came tumbling down.

"Oh! Yes! Here it is. I'm sorry to put you through so much trouble this morning," she replied feeling awkward.

"It's okay." Asher replied.

All this while Asher was standing talking to March, and she made sure that she wouldn't miss this opportunity that easily. She continued "Have you read anything from my book yet?".

Hearing this Asher remembered the paragraph of the book that

he had been reading earlier and started to blush.

"No, I don't read books that impart useless knowledge," he commented hiding his awkwardness.

"Why did you refuse to recognize us back at the library?" Jessica

Intervened. She had kept quiet for a long time.

Looking at her Asher replied, "Because I don't know you both."

Jessica got all worked up hearing his reply and responded back, "Don't know? Don't you remember introducing yourself in front of the whole class earlier in the morning?".

Asher laughed hearing her response.

"I just gave my introduction and didn't hear anyone else's and I don't care," he answered coldly. After saying this he begin to walk

away. "So we don't know each other?" March called out from behind,

one last time, as he walked

Hearing this, Asher stopped mid-way. Without looking at March he answered, "Reading such novels will not help you from gaining knowledge." and saying this he left from there.

Even though he left from there, March couldn't resist taking her eyes away from him.

"Looks like he opened and read some pages from your novel."Jessica stated in anticipation.

"Dude I don't even care about that, all I care about is him taking my name. That is more than enough for me. I'll be able to sleep in peace today," replied March lost in her own world.

Even while saying this, her smile had not disappeared from her face.

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