Cigarettes & Peonies

14

"Can i wait for you at the stop!!!" maahi asked her brothers in trepidation. They both studied her for a minute before shrugging their shoulders.
"Ok, if you don't have any problem in reaching home a little late!!!" said kush coolly. Maahi sighs in relief. Meanwhile the bus came honking in their direction. She climbed into the bus and sat on her seat. The bus travelled for a distance before halting on the bus stop. On the bus stop she sees the one and only, creepy Karanvir who stood smirking evily. She looked away for she knew that it was his nasty proclivity to continue staring upon her. Grabbing a book from her bag she leafed through the pages until she came onto the page she was to read. It was the topic her professor discussed a couple of days before and she was just revising it just to make sure she stayed well informed about the topic. Suddenly there was a ping on her phone. Casually picking her phone up she found a message from an unknown number floating upon the screen. She tapped on the notification and the message opened before her on the screen. It read "Good morning beautiful". She gasped loudly. The number was fron the same unknown person who had called her a couple of times before. Quickly she blocked the number and turned off her phone. After that she shifted her gaze to outside the window where she discovered karanvir's handsome face tainted with that same evil smirk. She looked away in fear.

When the bus reached the university's bus stop, maahi carefully climbed down with her friend vaishali.
"Ofcourse, Karanvir the creep!!!! That's what I always call him." vaishali laughed as Maahi giggled softly. Vaishali's eyes wandered across the stop and caught the dork Karanvir staring in her direction, around him were his half witted friends. A frown developed upon her face.
"Speak of the devil and devil's here!!! How idle he is, I sometimes wonder!!! I am damn sure he's got a nose of a dog......boy, he looks like one!!!" vaishali scorned at the sight of him. Maahi followed her gaze and was left stunned on finding the creepy Karanvir right across her. Her figure shivered under that intense stare of his. She quickly grabbed vaishali's arm and started marching towards her building.
"Wo!!!! Slow down girl, that dork ain't gonna eat us!!!" vaishali said as they strode towards their classrooms. Maahi only answered her when they had left Karanvir far behind.
"With that look in his eyes I kinda believe that he will eat us someday!!!" maahi muttered insolently. Their department buildings were across each other's which, in Maahi's opinion, was a good thing.
"Let's meet at lunch!!!" vaishali said before waving her bye and walking towards her classroom. Maahi smiled at her and went her way.

The professor was teaching about the taxonomy of the plants. It was the second lecture. Maahi was attentively hearing him while noting down some important points at the same time.
"So because plant species are....."
"I'm coming in Sir!!!" a husky voice interjected and the atmosphere dropped to silence. Everybody turned to look at the door only to find the college's baddest boy standing haughtily at the door accompanied by his grinning friends. Maahi's breath stuck in her throat as she watched him big figure standing just outside the door. Professor looked irked and his next words confirmed that.
"Why so Mr. Roy???" asked he, worked up. Karanvir eyed maahi for a second before looking back at the professor's square face.
"The entrance gate is locked and it won't open until the lunch." Karanvir said flatly. Maahi mentally prayed for the professor to ask him to leave already. Professor narrowed down his lids into tiny visible slits.
"Why is it that when you guys are around the entrance gate is always closed??? Besides, I would like to know what MBA students are doing in the sciences building. Care to explain???" professor asked sternly. Karanvir looked blankly at the professor who kinda felt nervous under that poker face.
"No. I won't care to explain. We want to come in and that's all you need to know." Karanvir said sharply which took him by surprise. The professor, although despised him, couldn't say no more because you don't want to squabble with a next in line mafia for sure. Besides Karanvir always had the reputation of being violent and crabby. The last thing he would want is to let him snap his neck. Professor said no further and the spoilt lads were already inside the classroom. Now, maahi thought that Karanvir would take the seat on that far row but NO, he actually sat just behind her which literally stunned her for a minute. But then professor resumed the class and she tried to focus on the lecture. A minute later, she felt something like a finger gliding smoothly over her hairs. She stiffened as further she could feel a nose being pressed upon her hairs. Her fingers digged into her notebook as she prayed for the lecture to get over soon. In addition to the tender touch over her hairs, she actually heard some faint mouthings like 'Baby girl' 'Adorable' and one occasion she thought she heard 'I love you' but then she wasn't sure if she heard that correctly. After 15 minutes, the professor terminated the class and started to move out. Maahi quickly got up and followed him out of the class just to avoid the creepy Karanvir.