Vihaana barely had time to catch her breath before Aadya and Taranya were dragging her toward a table near the center of the library. The guys went and occupied a table, laptops and notebooks scattered, half-eaten muffins and coffee cups in front of them.

"Sit!!" Aadya commanded like it was a royal order. "You're officially part of this."

Vihaana lowered herself onto the edge of the bench, hands resting in her lap for a second, then naturally starting to move again as she talked. "Okay... so what's going on here? Studying? Just chilling? Or plotting to dominate the world?"

"Mostly the first two," Rudra said with a smirk, flipping his notebook closed. "World domination comes later."

Vivaan was leaning back on his chair, one hand in his thigh, the other holding his coffee. He wasn't looking at her, but his gaze flicked up occasionally, following the way she spoke. Not like he was staring, but more like he was taking mental notes, observing.

Abhimanyu nudged Dhruv. "Look at her. Hands moving the whole time. She's... expressive."

Vihaana rolled her eyes. "I talk with my hands. Big deal. You guys are just boring."

"Boring?" Arjun snorted. "We're not boring. We just don't flail our limbs while explaining our existence."

Vihaana laughed, gesturing briefly as she leaned back. "I'm not flailing. This is called... communication."

Taranya snorted. "She's full of herself already."

"She's... interesting," Reyansh said quietly, smirking at Vivaan.

Vivaan didn't say anything. He sipped his coffee, keeping his arms crossed, but there was a faint twitch at the corner of his lips. Interesting. That was one word for her. Dangerous was another.

"So," Aadya said, turning to Vihaana, "you get dragged into our group, which means you follow some rules. Rule one: we tease. Rule two: we drag you into random plans. Rule three: we never let you escape. Got it?"

Vihaana shrugged, hands moving slightly as she laughed. " I think I can handle it... probably."

Vivaan tilted his head ever so slightly, just enough for her to notice if she looked. She didn't. Not yet.

They spent the next twenty minutes throwing small jokes at each other, debating which building had the worst lecture hall, and complaining about coffee prices. Vihaana felt... normal. She wasn't the new girl anymore, not really. She was part of the chaos now.

And from his corner, Vivaan thought, She's loud, she laughs at our stupid jokes... and somehow, I'm paying more attention than I should.

He didn't move. Didn't say a word. Didn't make a move. Not yet.

But the way she smiled... it was hard not to notice.

THREE DAYS LATER

I was halfway to the cafe when I realized I had no clue what I actually wanted. Great. First week of college, and I couldn't even order coffee without overthinking it.

"Want me to come with you?"

I looked up. Vivaan. Calm, leaning casually against the wall with his hands in his pockets. Slightly intimidating, not mean, just... there.

"Uh... sure," I said, trying to sound normal.

We walked side by side to the counter. I kept my gaze on the menu, hoping I didn't spill my thoughts all over the place. He didn't speak at first, which somehow made it easier, and somehow more nerve-wracking.

"What'll you get?" he asked finally, voice low and easy.

"Just... a hot chocolate, I guess. You?" I kept it simple.

"Black coffee."

The conversation stalled for a second. Totally fine. Awkward but not bad.

Then I remembered something from the morning gossip thread in the cafeteria: two of the girls had been talking about the weird seating arrangement in one of the lecture halls. "Did you guys see that hall in Building C? It's like someone decided to rotate all the seats and forgot to rotate the desks."

Vivaan raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yeah! And half the class ends up squinting at the board or twisting their necks like it's yoga class. It's hilarious." I gestured lightly at the thought, but only briefly.

He smirked. "Sounds... painful."

"Actually!!," I said, grinning. "But kind of funny too. You'd laugh if you saw it."

He glanced at me quickly, then looked ahead again. "Maybe."

We reached the counter, he ordered for himself and the others. I placed my order, trying not to make it weird, trying not to stare too long, and failing a little. He just stood there, calm, waiting, hands in his pockets, like he didn't need to be anywhere else.

Once our drinks were ready, we walked back to the table. I talked about something small—a meme someone sent in the group chat—and he actually laughed, low and quiet, not loud, just... amused. That made me grin.

It wasn't a big moment. No fireworks. No dramatic glances. But it felt... easy. Comfortable. Weirdly nice.

And I realized, maybe college wasn't going to be as chaotic as I thought—at least not with him around.

By the time we got back to the table, the group had already started their usual chaos. Dhruv was showing Abhimaanyu a funny meme, and Arjun was trying to convince Rudra that coffee without sugar was a sin. Reyansh and the girls were laughing somewhere in the mix, and Vivaan... well, Vivaan was standing quietly beside me, coffee in hand, like nothing could rattle him.

I sat down, trying not to spill my drink on the table. "So... what do you usually do here?" I asked, taking a careful sip.

Vivaan shrugged, leaning back slightly. "Survive. Avoid getting lost. Make fun of idiots when they do dumb stuff."

I laughed. "Sounds... like a strategy."

He smirked faintly. "It works most of the time."

I paused for a second, thinking about how normal this felt. Usually, I was nervous around people like him—the ones who seemed untouchable, confident, a little intimidating. But now... talking to him felt easy. Sort of. Mostly awkward, sometimes funny, sometimes smug, but easy.

"So... what's the weirdest thing you've seen on campus so far?" I asked, leaning a little forward.

He thought for a second. "People arguing over seats in the lecture hall. Classic first-week chaos. And there's that girl Vihaana, right? sitting in the front of me, gesturing wildly while explaining something to Tara. That was entertaining."

I almost choked on my hot chocolate for what he just dared to utter. "Excuse me? Gesturing wildly? That was... just explaining a story, okay?"

He smirked, looking me over casually. "Right, right. Explaining. Very very... expressive."

I rolled my eyes but couldn't stop the grin. "Fine. I'm expressive. Happy now?"

"Very," he said quietly, not in a loud way, just... enough for me to notice.

We didn't talk much after that—small bits of random conversation. He asked about my hometown, what I liked to eat, whether I was surviving the schedule. I answered, keeping it casual, not overthinking. And somewhere between talking about cafeteria food and group chat memes, oh yeah i forgot to mention they added me in their group chat on my first day after we went back to our respective dorms. I realized I was enjoying this. Not just the conversation, but... him. The way he was calm, confident, slightly intimidating, but also just... normal.

The group eventually came back from their mini chaos—Aadya nudged me, whispering, "See? We told you he's not scary."

I snorted. "Not scary. Just... smug."

Vivaan met my eyes for half a second, one corner of his mouth lifting before he looked away again.

Smug. Yeah. That fit.

And honestly?

I didn't mind it at all. I liked it though it infuriated me at times.