The microbiology lab was louder than usual that afternoon, glassware clinking, pages rustling, voices overlapping like static. But amid all that noise, something quieter was happening—something more… deliberate.
People were watching.
They didn't need gossip to spread it. It was there in the way heads tilted slightly when Aanya walked in with Saurin, their shoulders brushing as if pulled by an invisible thread. It was in the soft, private smiles exchanged during viva prep.
Aditi noticed first—because Aditi always noticed. She caught Aanya's arm before they split into groups.
"You two planning to announce something?" she whispered, lips curved in mischief.
Aanya frowned, confused. "What do you mean?"
"You don't see it, do you? Everyone else does."
Before Aanya could respond, the professor called her name, and she slipped away, heart beating a little faster for reasons she didn't want to examine yet.
Across the lab, Saurin caught fragments of whispers too—"Look at them… always together"—and he hated how much it affected him. He told himself it didn't matter, that what was between them didn't need validation. But the way eyes followed them like a shadow made something coil tight in his chest.
And then—he saw him.
The senior.
Leaning casually against the doorway, as if he had no real reason to be there. His eyes swept over the room, landed on Aanya… and stayed.
Saurin's jaw clenched so hard it hurt.
He pretended to flip through his notes, but his gaze kept darting back—watching as the senior approached Aanya with a polite smile, asking something about embryology notes she'd once prepared. Aanya smiled back—polite, friendly, clueless.
It shouldn't have burned like this.
But it did.
When the lab ended, Saurin walked out beside Aanya, his stride sharper than usual. She noticed.
"You okay?" she asked softly.
"I'm fine," he replied, too quickly.
"You don't sound fine."
He didn't answer. Couldn't. Because how did he explain the storm brewing inside him? How did he admit that for the first time since that kiss, he felt like he might lose something he hadn't even claimed yet?
Behind them, whispers floated again.
"They look good together…"
"…but who was that senior talking to her?"
Aanya heard it too. She looked up at Saurin, expecting him to laugh it off.
But he didn't even smile.
He just looked straight ahead, hands shoved deep in his pockets, and for the first time, Aanya wondered if something had shifted between them again—something unspoken, but loud enough to echo.