📌Hey dear readers, sorry for late updates but there's a bad news. My exams are starting from today till 20th June, so the updates might be even more late. I sincerely apologize for that....
🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
The corridor outside the psychology lab was unusually quiet that morning. Haseena clutched her notebook tightly, eyes flicking left and right as if danger might jump out from behind the water cooler. She hadn’t spoken to Anubhav since that day—the day she’d blurted out her feelings like a schoolgirl in a film scene gone terribly real.
And then vanished.
Just as she took a cautious step forward, a shadow fell across her path.
“So,” came a voice she knew far too well, “do all your love confessions end with you running away mid-sentence?”
Haseena froze.
Anubhav stood there, leaning casually against the wall, arms crossed, a teasing glint in his eyes. No panic. No coldness. Just... calm amusement.
“I-I didn’t run,” she stammered, gripping her notebook like a shield.
“I walked. Very fast.”
He chuckled softly, stepping just close enough to make her heart race.
“You left before I could say thank you.”
Her throat dried.
“For what?”
His gaze softened.
“For being brave enough to say what most people can’t.”
And just like that, her knees forgot how to function.
Before she could answer, a group of students rounded the corner, their chatter loud and oblivious. Anubhav stepped back, face transforming into the perfect professor’s mask. Haseena turned away too, pretending to study the notice board. But her heart… oh, her heart was writing poetry in Morse code.
---
Later in Class
The topic couldn’t have been more ironic: Forbidden Desires. Professor Mahi was in her element, dramatically analyzing suppressed emotions and moral boundaries.
“Sometimes,” she declared, “our minds are forced to censor what our hearts scream the loudest. That, dear students, is the birthplace of longing.”
Riya raised her eyebrows at Haseena. Shazia tried to stifle a laugh. Haseena buried her face in her notebook.
Anubhav entered ten minutes later to take over the second half of the session. His steps were steady, his voice even. But Haseena could feel it—that same quiet current that ran between them.
He spoke about choices, inner conflict, societal expectations.
“There are things we want,” he said, glancing across the classroom, “but wanting doesn’t always make them right. Sometimes... it just makes them real.”
Haseena didn’t blink. Neither did he.
---
Meanwhile, at Home
Dadi was already dressed in her cream-colored saree, hair tied tight in a bun, as she clutched her purse and muttered curses under her breath. She was ready to storm the college, drag her granddaughter back home, and give that professor a lesson or two on “maryada.”
Just as she reached the gate, a voice called out.
“Arey bhabhiji! Aapko bhool gaye kya? Aaj to mandir ke fundraiser ki baithak hai!”
A group of Mahila Mandal ladies stood outside with clipboards and snacks, beaming with enthusiasm. Dadi blinked.
“Baithak?” she repeated, puzzled.
“Aapko toh mukhya adhyaksha banaya gaya hai!” one woman added proudly.
Dadi’s pride kicked in. She couldn’t say no—not when she was the star of the neighborhood today. With one last bitter glance at the gate, she turned back.
“College toh jaake aati... yeh sab beech mein aa gaya,” she grumbled.
---
Haseena lay on her bed, staring at the glow-in-the-dark stars stuck to the ceiling. The room buzzed with soft music, half-finished assignments, and the smell of instant noodles.
Shazia flopped onto the bed beside her and threw a pillow at her face.
“You’re glowing,” she said dramatically.
“Like you drank love potion instead of chai.”
“Shut up,” Haseena mumbled, smiling.
Riya sat cross-legged near the window.
“So? Did he say anything? Did you kiss? Did he write you a poem in blood?”
“No!” Haseena exclaimed.
Then, softer:
“But he said... thank you. And looked at me like... I wasn’t crazy for feeling what I felt.”
Her friends fell quiet for a moment.
“He better keep looking at you like that,” Shazia said, mock-warning,
“because if Dadi finds out, even he won’t be spared from flying chappals.”
They all burst into laughter.
Outside, the night wrapped the campus in silence. And somewhere deep in Haseena’s chest, a tiny light flickered—of hope, of rebellion, of love yet to bloom.
---
YOU ARE READING
༺ 𒆜Ishq Ka Pehla Saya 𒆜 ༻
Fanfiction✧ Phase One: A childhood full of mischief, secrets, and survival. ✧ Phase Two: A college girl's battle between forbidden love and family duty. Haseena was born into rejection. But she was also born to fight. With two brothers who love her, a grandmo...
