She Fell First but He Never Did!! The Smile That Pulled Me In...

The corridors buzzed with unfamiliar voices....

New footsteps. New faces. New beginnings...

Meihika clutched her journal tighter to her chest, her fingers pressing into its worn leather like it could somehow protect her from the overwhelming chaos of her first day in college...

She walked with her head slightly down, avoiding eye contact, lips murmuring her class schedule like a whispered prayer...

And then...

.A turn.

.A shoulder.

.A collision.

Books slipped from her hands with a dull thud against the floor...

Meihika

I'm so sor—

Her apology stopped mid-air...

So did her breath...

Because when her eyes met his, the world paused...

He wasn’t just a senior...

He was a presence...

Tall. Composed.... Wearing a white shirt rolled to the elbows and that kind of effortless confidence people try to mimic but never quite master!!

But it wasn’t his face that undid her...

It was his eyes...

A dusky brown with gold flecks, the kind that didn’t look at you, but into you...

Eyes that saw too much...

Eyes that stayed even after you walked away...

Veer

You okay?

He asked softly, crouching down to help her gather her things...

His voice was low, almost lazy like velvet laced with indifference...

Meihika

Y-Yeah...

Meihika blinked, flustered...

Meihika

I wasn’t looking... I should’ve—thank you....

Their hands brushed as he handed her a notebook...

Just for a second...

But it was enough to set off a storm in her chest...

He didn’t say much...

Just looked at her...

As if she was a puzzle...

As if he’d never seen a girl with trembling fingers and wide, unsure eyes before...

Veer

You're new?

He said, almost stating it as a fact rather than a question...

Meihika

**nodded** First year. English Lit...

He raised an eyebrow, a slight tilt of amusement in his smirk...

Veer

Figures... Literature girls always bump into people and apologize twice!!

Meihika

**Her cheeks flushed** I’m not— I mean, not all the time. It was just—

Veer

**He chuckled** Relax. I was just teasing...

And then he smiled...

God...

.That smile.

Not wide. Not showy.

But crooked, lopsided, and criminally calm...

Like he knew the effect he had on people...

Like he had done this before made hearts skip and knees weaken without even trying...

Veer

I’m Veer... **he added, offering his hand**

Meihika

**She hesitated a second too long before shaking it** Meihika...

Veer

Pretty name... **he said, letting go**

.Too soon.

Too soon for how her fingers already missed the warmth...

And just like that, the spell broke...

People walked past them again...The air moved...

The moment faded, but not entirely...

Meihika

I should... get to class!!

She whispered, pulling her journal against her again like armor...

Veer

Right, Don’t let your first lecture slip by because of me... **he teased, stepping aside with casual grace**

Meihika

**She nodded** Thanks. For the books...

Veer

**He smiled again**

And this time, it was slower...

More like a goodbye than a greeting...

She turned and walked away, each step feeling like it was pulling her further from something she hadn’t even grasped yet...

And yet... she didn’t turn around...Not even once...

But if she had....She would’ve seen that he was still watching!!

The class was a blur...

She sat near the window, pen poised above a blank page, but all she could think of was him...

Meihika

(Veer...)

Even his name sounded like a poem she'd write when it rains...

She hated herself for how fast it happened...

For how her heart betrayed her logic...

For how one glance had become a memory she kept revisiting within an hour...

Meihika

Stop being dramatic... **she scolded herself under her breath**

But then, her fingers moved on instinct writing in the corner of her page...

[There are eyes that look at you.... And then there are eyes that stop time...]

Later that day…

Her friends were chatting about professors and assignments and café food, but Meihika stayed quiet...

Her thoughts weren’t in the present...

They were trapped in a single smile, a single gaze...

A storm was growing inside her soft and slow...

The kind you don’t realize has wrecked everything until you’re already under the rubble...

Because something in her had shifted....

Not everything. Not yet....But something...

Hazel [AUTHOR]

(That’s how it starts, doesn’t it?)

Love never arrives with fireworks...

It begins with a glance...

A laugh...

A brush of fingers...

As she walked back through the corridor alone that evening, her footsteps echoed against the quiet walls...

She wasn’t expecting to see him again...

But fate’s cruel that way...

There he was...

Leaning against the railing of the open balcony outside the library, phone in one hand, cigarette in the other though he didn’t light it...

He saw her before she saw him...

Veer

Hey, Literature Girl... **he called out casually**

Meihika

**She froze**

Meihika

**Turned to him** Oh. Hi..?

Veer

You survived your first day, I see...

Meihika

Barely... **she smiled, heart hammering louder than her voice**

Veer

Skipped the dramatic exit at least...

Meihika

**She laughed** Saving it for second semester...

He watched her with that unreadable look again...

.Not cruel.

.Not kind.

Just… deep...

Veer

I’ll see you around, Meihika...

Meihika

**she nodded**

But her heart whispered, I hope so....

And just like that...

She walked away again...

And he didn’t follow...He didn’t stop her...

But neither of them knew —

That this was the start of something...

.Unspoken.

.Unwritten.

.Unfair.

Because she already felt the ache blooming in her chest...

And he?

He just watched her walk away...

With that same smile —

The one that pulled her in...

And would someday destroy her...

To be continued...