The rustling of pages turning and stamping was heard in the library. Being one of the libraries that hold books from years and years in the library, it was famous enough for people who had lived in the neighbourhood to get their books from them. Exam students typically get books weekly, while other readers promptly purchase them. Due to the need for a lot of knowledge in a short amount of time, people often borrow books for weeks. The competition is getting harder and harder for the students and the harder it gets, the harder it is for them to pass the exam in their first attempt.

The staff for the library knew who needed the books and knowing people instantly wasn't that hard after all. So when they saw their usual readers, Saanvi and Shruti coming inside the library, they smiled instantly.

"Good Afternoon, Saanvi." the person at the desk says to her. "And good afternoon to you too, Shruti!"

In response, they both smiled with happiness.. "Good Afternoon to you too, Fernandes Aunty!" Both said in unison.

"You both here came together?" Fernandes Aunty asks. "You both know each other?"

"Oh, we both are in the same coaching class," Saanvi says. "And today, we finally talked to each other for the first time."

Mrs. Fernandes knew that Saanvi didn't talk to a lot of people, so when she saw that Saanvi was finally talking to other people felt elated to hear this change. "Oh, and what happened to the news that we heard about you? Is it true?"

Saanvi who frowned a little at the question, kept mum about this question. Shruti who noticed this change of behaviour, jumped to answer. "Aunty, you know how this newspaper and new channel have views on people like that. They try to twist things and hence keep spreading fake news." Shruti says.

"Oh, that is true," Mrs Fernandes says. "At this time, people will believe anything they see in the news and not fact-check it even once. I also fell for their trap."

"See!" Shruti exclaims. "That's why I don't believe whatever is revealed in the Newspaper anymore. Who knows, in the future they will claim that I am heir to one of the top Gujarat business families."

"You are an heir to a top Gujarat Business Family?" Saanvi tilts her head while asking.

"Oh, I am not," Shruti reveals while brushing off the topic. "I was being hypothetical."

"And you are this accurate while being hypothetical?"

"Saanvi, why are you investigating me like a police officer?" Shruti groans in annoyance. "I am telling you, I am not an heir to any big families, I swear."

"I mean, if you are an heir to a big family, I won't mind," Saanvi tells Shruti. "Just don't lie to me, I hate liars."

Before Shruti could reply to Saanvi, Mrs Fernandes says on Shruti's behalf. "Oh, she isn't an heir to any family. She lives here alone with her Grandparents close by. I have met her grandma, and let me tell you one thing about her, she looks stunning even at this age." She then adds. "I do wonder though, where are your parents, Shruti?"

"Uh, they don't exist anymore," Shruti says as she sweats a little. "I don't know what they look like anymore."

"Oh, my!" Mrs Fernandes exclaims. "I didn't know that, I am sorry."

"It's okay, Aunty. It wasn't your fault. I didn't tell anyone about my family because of this reason."

"But still, I shouldn't have–"

"Oh, come on, aunty! Let it go!" Shruti diverts the topic. "Can you bring us our books?"

"Yeah, sure, just wait for a while." Mrs Fernandes says and is on her way to bring their book when she turns and smiles at Saanvi. "Your favourite book is here now, go read it while I bring your other books."

"Are you serious, aunty?" Saanvi asks. "Where is it?"

"It's on the first floor, go!"

Before Shruti could understand what was going on, she saw Saanvi running towards the staircase and realized that Saanvi was long gone. Not knowing where this is going, she just follows her until Saanvi stops in the fiction section.

"You sure have a speed while running," Shruti says as she gasps for air. "You went in a blur and I was too slow to even follow you."

Not getting a reply in return. Shruti goes towards her and slightly nudges her. "Hey, are you listening?"

Saanvi who had a book in her hand, startles and looks at Shruti. "You said something?"

"Yeah, I did," Shruti says again. "You are so fast than me, how is that possible?"

"Oh, that," Saanvi says while still reading. "I have learned Taekwondo as a habit, hence my strength is better than any normal person."

"What? You know Taekwondo?"

"Hmm, yes," Saanvi says and Shruti tilts a little to read the title of the book Saanvi was reading. It was 'The Spanish Love Deception'.

Reading the title again, Shruti exclaims in shock.

"Wait, you wanted to read this book, too!"

"Don't tell me, you wanted to read this one too?"

Shruti nods her head. "This book is here? I searched for it here the last time I came here but wasn't able to find it then. Did you convince Fernandes Aunty to buy this one for you?" She asks Saanvi to which Saanvi nods her head.

"In order to convince her to buy this book, I explained that I would read it while waiting here in the library for my issued books. There's a good chance she remembered that you probably wanted this book as well." Saanvi says and gives the book to Shruti to read it too. "Here you go, I have read chapter one already."

"You read it already?"

"I am also a fast reader," Saanvi says as she raises her invisible collar. "One of my other talents."

"Wow!" Shruti exclaims. "I am sure, Saatvik would be a lucky guy if you guys ever date."

"I am not focused on dating anyone now," Saanvi truthfully told her. "My first and main priority is to be independent, hence government job is my sole focus now. Yes, I love to read books like this sometimes just to release some mental tension but just reading books isn't going to be helpful for me, right?"

Shruti nods her head understanding Saanvi's situation. "Nowadays, people are solely focusing on getting a job, not caring about if it's private or not, but what they don't realize is that as much as the Government exam has its advantages, it's not easy to prepare for it." She says. "Anyone who finds out that I am studying for a government examination will laugh at me and wonder if I am doing this so that I can have extra income by doing shady things."

Saanvi was going to tell the incident she had faced before but she realized that she didn't even know that much about Shruti at all. "Well, the people will talk and talk but they aren't the ones who are doing the job," Saanvi says.

"You are right," Shruti nods her head. "Anyway, shouldn't we go down now? Our books must be there waiting for us."

Saanvi nods her head and keeps the book back in its original place, but before leaving, Saanvi looks back at the place and sighs. "I will be back here next week. Please wait for me, then."

Shruti who didn't say anything at that, just looked around and started descending the staircase. Saanvi followed suit.

"Oh, you guys came back," Mrs Fernandes says when they both come back to her and get the books they ordered on the table. "Here are your books, and if you guys want to, you can buy the book that you both wanted at a discounted price."

Saanvi who was still skeptical about buying it, shakes her head but Shruti looks at Mrs Fernandes confidently. "How much will be the price?"

"Half the original price of the book," Mrs. Fernandes says. "You can buy it now, or buy it after a few days but I will keep the book for you guys."

"I will think about it," Saanvi says. "But, I will buy the book at the original price. And if possible, can you also buy one for Shruti as well."

"Why?"

"Because I don't think it will be a good idea for us to share a book. I have already had faced a situation like this before and I don't want to share the book that I like." Saanvi says as she gets a flashback from her schooldays instantly. "And it's not that I don't want to share this book with you, Shruti. It's just—I had my fair share of not-so-good interactions with people. That's all."

Shruti just nodded her head and tried to hide her emotion, after all, she was hurt by the statement but accepted Saanvi's deal. She wanted to buy the book at the lowest price as much as she was possible but alas, at the end of the day, she would have to wait for a few more days then.

"It's okay," She says and smiles at her. "I would buy the book some other time."

Once the whole thing was cleared, Saanvi and Shruti got the book that they had issued for the week and got outside the library. Saanvi who was going to cover her face, so that no one else would recognise her, was interrupted by Shruti as she held her hand and stopped her.

"If you know that you are not wrong, then why are you covering your face?" Shruti asks. "They should know that people need their privacy and they shouldn't have clicked the photo in the first place. You are not wrong, Saanvi, so you should not hide your face."

"I don't want to hide my face anymore but I can't help but do this, or else, they will follow me even inside the house," Saanvi says. "My best friend and a brother-like figure told me, that it's better if I avoid this until some damage control is done, so until then, I have to be like this."

She proceeds to tie the scarf over her face when a man out of nowhere approaches her. That man had a card with him, but with no photo, so Saanvi was sceptical about the person and tried to keep her emotions under control.

"You are Ms. Saanvi Meshram, right?" The reporter asks. "You are dating Saatvik Sardesai?"

"Not interested," Saanvi replies to them calmly. "I have to go."

As she tries to avoid the said reporter, he grabs her hand and rubs it in a way, that anyone would know what is the real intention of the reporter.

"But you can't ignore our questions." That reporter says that's when she twisted his hand and punched him in his chest with her other hand.

"No means no!" She says and saw the baffled look on his face. "And harassing a person just because she doesn't want to talk to you, it's not a good look as a reporter. I hope that you keep this in the interview."

"How dare you punch me?" That reporter strides towards her and she almost kicks him in the face. Her shoe was just a centimetre away from his jaw, and he backed away. "You will pay for this." He says to her.

"Oh, yeah," Saanvi says and yells in her highest voice possible. "Sure, then I will tell everyone that you tried to harass me as well!"

As there was a small crowd gathering there slowly when they saw a commotion, she knew people would hear them but now the crowd got bigger, and all of them were asking each other what happened. To clear their doubts Saanvi announces. "This guy was harassing me, just because I wasn't going to answer his question, just because they think, that I am dating the one and only Saatvik Sardesai. But let me tell you one thing, I am not dating him at all. And when I refused to give him answers to any question, he started forcing me to answer to him. Now you tell me, who is wrong in this situation?"

As the place they were in was close to a marketplace, everyone there was an ongoing shopper, and once they heard her side, they started yelling at the reporter. "Hey! If she said no, then why force her?" One said.

"Who is he though?" Another one said.

"I think, I have seen him somewhere," One aunty said and stared at his face, to remember where she had seen him before. "Is he—"

Saanvi who wasn't sure where the conversation was going, points out. "And if you want proof that I am lying about this, there is a CCTV camera around this area almost in front of any shop, Check them now."

"No, we trust you, and this man isn't a reporter at all." That same woman says. "He is one of the small goons from this neighbourhood. He harasses every single woman he gets the chance to, and now that people have seen your face in the newspaper, he must have thought to harass you as well."

"Oh, so you are not even a reporter, huh?!" Saanvi says and goes to approach him but before she can do that, the so-called reporter runs away. Saanvi who was furious, ran behind him, and soon, punched him on his head when she saw his head while running. As he was not able to run that far away from the place where the incident took place, she caught him right away.

"Next time, if you try to harass a girl, remember that she can punch you like this as well." And punches hard on his face again, enough for him to faint on the spot. The people called the police and in a few seconds, the police arrived in few minutes. Seeing the police inspector, both Saanvi and Shruti exclaim in shock. As it was none other than Inspector Anil Deshpande. The twin brother of their professor Ajay Deshpande

~~~~

Saatvik was done practising in the nets and was making his way to his bag. He heard the ringtone of his phone ringing and picked up the phone instantly thinking that Saanvi called him back but to his disappointment, it was Sachit's phone call.

"Why did you call?" He asks in a serious tone, enough for Sachit to understand his friend is grumpy. "I am busy."

"You are busy?" Sachit says mockingly. "Really? Because last time I checked, I tried to call you so many times and you didn't pick up your call."

"What do you want to talk about?"

"Don't pretend that nothing happened at all," Sachit says. "Do you know the urge Saanvi has to kill you now? What were you thinking?"

"Hey! It's not my fault that I didn't know about it in the first place." Saatvik says as he walks to a secluded place so that his teammates will hear the conversation. "Anyway, she is mad at me, isn't she?"

"Of course she is," Sachit says as he looks at the park in front of his house. "She was mad that she will have to skip some classes for the time being and her being the studious one, is not just mad, she is furious."

"Yeah, I know," Saatvik says as he remembers the phone call with her. "I called her a few hours ago, and needless to say, she was furious at me."

"Sheesh, did she tell you off?"

"Of sorts."

"Well, you deserved that," Sachit says as he notices a familiar rickshaw entering their housing society. "So, what are you going to do now?"

"I am going to ask Mom to help me," Saatvik says and frowns. "It's against what I wish for but she is the only one who can help me with this."

"And what about the Medhansh situation?" Sachit says and waves his hands when Saanvi sees him, only for her to side-eye him. "She is more furious about dragging him in this situation, She just gave me a side-eye when I waved my hand at her."

"She just came back?" Saatvik asks. "But I called her like an hour and a half ago."

"She does have some books with her," Sachit says as he notices the books in her arms. "Maybe she went to the library."

"Ohh."

"Anyway, I think, Medhansh is going to ask for his mom to help him in this situation, Saanvi said that his mother will be able to help him."

"Hmm, and what about his dad? Did he try to help him?"

"As far as I know, his dad knew that this article was about to happen," Sachit says as he tries to remember the talk they had in the Meshram household. "He didn't help Medhansh at all."

"Makes sense," Saatvik says as he recalls. "Even during our boarding school time, he didn't come to help his son when our seniors were bullying him."

"What? He was bullied in school?"

"Yes, he was."

"And that was it before you guys started hating each other."

"It's...complicated. I will tell you about it when I come back to Pune."

"And now will you tell me what happened last night after you left?" Sachit says.

"I can't. Like I said, I will tell that in person." Saatvik says. "Can you talk to Saanvi now? I want to hear her voice."

"Really? Now?" Sachit sighs in defeat. "Fine, I will talk to her."

He stood outside his house's main door and saw the disdainful look on Saanvi as she approached her house. Looking at Sachit, she groans in anger. "What do you want?" She asks as she walks towards her house.

"How was your day?" Sachit asks a bit scared of Saanvi. "You look tired?"

"If you want to ask how my day was, let me tell you in one word," Saanvi says and had a tired smile. "Horrible."

"What?"

"Yeah, it was horrible," Saanvi cleared her throat. "My classmates started looking at me as if I was a liar because I said that I have no feelings for Saatvik, a random goon harassed me out in the public and pretended to be a reporter, and I had to file a FIR case against that goon."

After hearing this, Saatvik's blood boiled in anger. He was sure if he had been here, he would have punched that goon in his face.

"What? And you didn't do anything when that good harassed you?"

"Do you still don't know me yet?" Saanvi says cockily. "I punched him thrice and gathered the crowd when he tried to threaten me."

"Ooh, I hope you are okay now?" Sachit asks, still trying his very best not to cross Saanvi in any way possible.

"I don't know," Saanvi replies. "I am taking a weak break from my studies and staying in my home until this whole thing dies down because if someone tries to harass me again, I swear to god, I will make sure that person will never see the next daylight in his goddamn life."

"But–"

"Can I go?" Saanvi interjects. "I am not in the mood to talk to anyone, and if I talked to anyone as of now, I would shut my emotions from everyone for weeks."

She walks away from him and rings the doorbell of her house. Her father was happy to see her come home but the tired and not-so-pleasant expression on her face was enough for him to understand that the day hadn't been good for her. He let her come inside and smiled looking at Sachit while closing the main door.

Once they are gone, Sachit gets inside his house and talks back to Saatvik on his phone. "Now do you know, what she is going through?"

"Hmm," Saatvik says as he clenches his fist. "Can you find out who the guy was?"

"Do you think, I have time to find out about stuff like this?"

"Fine, but if possible, please make sure, she is safe until I come back?"

"I can't tell you about that, Saatvik," Sachit says. "This was the first time, I have seen Saanvi like this, and if she said, she wants to stay away from everyone, then it's better if I comply with her wishes."

"Okay," Saatvik says dejectedly. "I will call you back, and if you meet her again, tell her, that I will also, post something about this matter soon."

"I will, and please do it soon," Sachit says and then cuts the call. Once done with the call, Saatvik reluctantly scrolls to the number that he had saved in his phone and calls the person, he didn't want to talk to.

"Hello, mom." He says as she picks up the call and his mom straightens up, when she receives his call during one meeting. When she saw his phone call, she called off the meeting she was in and answered his call cheerily. "Hello, beta!"

"Mumma, I need your help." He tells her directly and she realises that he called her because of the current news that was in the headlines since the day started and feels dejected because he called her to help him in the situation only. Not as a son who calls his mom after he reaches his training camp.

"Yes, I will help you, beta."