Hello, Mr. Major General (1)

Chapter 23: A Love Confession

Shehnaaz recalled that Arti had tapped her on the shoulder, before she passed out. That was how Arti had sabotaged her.

It had been just the slightest hint of a prick on her shoulder, but she had felt it all the same. She was never going to forget the excruciating pain and
embarrassment that had followed.

Arti had very nearly destroyed her life.

Shehnaaz was also quick to connect the dots: she had been the top-scorer for the post-grad entrance exam, but
had missed the interview. Arti,who had gotten second place in the exam,
would have reaped the benefits.

Shehnaaz was already being very lenient with Arti; anyone in his or her right mind would have descended upon the Sinha family house in a state of righteous fury and avenged themselves by now. For now, however, Shehnaaz had to content herself with denouncing Arti as her “best friend.”
She may be naïve, but she was no fool.

Parth was silent for a while before saying, “Arti’s reputation has taken quite a beating over the past few days. It’s actually best that you cut all ties with her. You don’t want her dragging you down.”

“What’s wrong with her reputation? Didn’t you just say she’s famous now?” Shehnaaz blinked, then cheekily said, as she looked coyly up at him, “Class Rep, please stop pulling my leg, I’m just a young and uneducated girl.”

Parth did not respond.

Sandeep had been watching the two of them with great interest. He snorted at this. “Our dear Sana may be young, but she’s not at all uneducated, is she now, Class Rep Mei?”

Parth had gone to pieces at
Shehnaaz’s coy look, and it was with some difficulty that he finally pulled himself back together. He lowered his head, flustered; he did not trust
himself to look again into Shehnaaz’s beautiful, playful eyes. He took out his phone, but hesitated for a moment
before finally plucking up the courage to hand it to her. “Here, have a look for yourself.”

Shehnaaz accepted the phone and found herself looking at a photo of herself. Parth had used her photo as his screensaver. She blinked, not knowing how to react. She decided to pretend not to have seen it. She made a few half- hearted attempts at unlocking the phone, then handed it
back, smiling. “Class Rep, I can’t unlock it.”

The phone could only be unlocked with a fingerprint password. Of course she couldn’t unlock it.

Parth smiled, pressed the Home button, and entered his fingerprint to unlock the phone. He then took ahold of Shehnaaz’s hand and said gently, “Here, enter your fingerprint, too. Then you can unlock my phone whenever
you like.”

Shehnaaz was dumbfounded. What was happening?

“Class Rep, your phone should be kept private. I-I-I don’t want to invade your privacy.” Shehnaaz tried to extract her hand from his grasp.

Parth did not let go of her hand. His gaze was gentle but insistent. “I don’t want to keep anything from you. I’m
giving you the right to my privacy.”
By this time, Shehnaaz, as naïve as she was, finally understood what was going on, and was now completely
flustered.

She had never had anyone confess their love to her in such a blatant manner. She did not know how to deal with it. She looked towards Sandeep for help.

Sandeep’s eyes crinkled as he laughed and winked at her. He whistled, and said, “Our dear little Sana is going to
have her first boyfriend! I’m sure your Uncle Huo will be very happy to hear this.”

Shehnaaz was at a loss for words.

Parth quickly seized the opportunity to save her fingerprint into his phone and set it up as a secondary password. He then opened his Weibo and showed her the latest news on Arti.