But… I Don’t Believe in Love – Chapter 2 – by Awestruck

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, I felt a piercing pain in my head. I knew that I shouldn’t take a lot of stress, but finalizing this deal was very important for me to keep walking up the steps towards success. I had just closed my laptop and was heading towards my medicine box to get a painkiller when my eyes landed on her earing. I gently picked it up and didn’t try to stop my smile from covering my face. She was a charming bag filled with laughter and playfulness and the Oberoi Mansion would simply light up when she entered.

As I continued day dreaming about her, I realized that my headache had slowly faded away. To further reduce my stress, I sat comfortably on my chair, took my phone out, and opened Rudra’s profile picture; it was one of him and Anika laughing together. I was staring at the picture dreamily with a stupid smile on my face when Om entered. Sadly, I was so engrossed in my dreamland that I didn’t notice him until he tapped on my shoulder and asked suspiciously, “Shivaay, why are you staring at my Rudra’s picture like that?”

“Why would I stare at Rudra? I was looking at…” I immediately stopped and silently thanked god for returning my senses to me at the right moment.

“At…? Well since there are only two people in the picture I assume you were staring at Anika. Am I right?” Om said with a mischievous grin on his face. He was the only one who knew about my crush on Anika. I had to hide it from Rudra as he would always run up to Anika and tell her everything.

“You know I have a picture of Chulbul in my phone, not that I am interested in him; don’t worry he’s all yours.” Looking at Om’s bewildered expression, I couldn’t stop myself from laughing.

I stopped laughing as soon as I saw the anger in Om’s eyes melt away and get replaced by twinkling mischief. In the blink of an eye, he grabbed Anika’s earing and ran away. Even though I wanted to run after him, I had to force myself to sit back; being the boss had its own set of disadvantages, I wasn’t allowed to run around the office like Om could.
When I returned home, I heard Rudra bluffing all about how hard he had worked to win the competition and about how jealous Anika had become one seeing him winning. I chuckled and joined my two brothers.

After casually chatting for a while, Rudra brought up the topic of Anika again. I tried my level best to control myself, but no matter how hard I tried, whenever I heard her name, a small smile would appear on my face. He then turned to me and said “Oh Bhaiya, you know Anika talked about you today! Not once, but twice!”

My happiness knew no bounds. I couldn’t believe that she had actually thought about me! I eagerly looked at Rudra and waited for him to elaborate.

“You know she is actually smart. She said that she knew the only reason I won was because my arrogant brother was also the judge! Don’t worry Bhaiya, Om and I don’t think you are arrogant I have no idea why she always calls you arrogant. Right Om?”

The smile on my face had faded away. So… that is what she thought I was – arrogant. Om realized what I was going through and supportively put his hand over my shoulder and nodded.

“And you won’t believe what she said the second time!” Rudra continued with a horrified expression on his face. I was preparing myself to hear something worse. It wasn’t exactly her fault after all, I did behave arrogantly with everyone.

“She said that she’d rather love you over me!! Can you imagine someone choosing Shivaay Bhaiya over me? He doesn’t even go to the gym regularly! And I’m sorry to say Bhaiya, but I’m hotter than you.” While Rudra continued chanting about how good looking he was, I quietly slipped away and went to my room.

While hugging a pillow as I lay on my bed, I closed my eyes and imagined her. Rudra’s words echoed in my ears as I slowly drifted away to my dreams, imagining my own world with her. If only she knew how much I loved her…

Author’s Note:
So here was Shivaay’s perspective. This was my first attempt on writing through the perspective of a guy who is head over heels in love. I have written it solely based on my experience with my guy friends ?. Thankyou all of you for the love and support. I didn’t know my concept would be perceived this wonderfully.