Chapter 58: Hey... you never gave me your number."

"But... I came here on my own. You didn’t have to do all this," Himanshu said with a bit of hesitation, looking at the cash clutched in his hand.

​Priya let out a small laugh. Turning away from the counter, she said in a very casual tone, "Maybe you shouldn’t return my gift like this."

​The whole thing felt super weird to Himanshu. Why would anyone do something for him? That too, a girl like Priya?

​Just to save his pride and avoid the awkwardness, Himanshu spoke up in a slightly louder voice.

"Next time... next time I’ll pay the whole amount."

​Saying that, they both walked a few steps and stepped out of the store.

​The moment they stepped out, Himanshu’s eyes immediately went toward the cafe. But Rahul wasn’t there anymore. The relief of his absence and the cool breeze outside hit both of their faces. Bathed in the golden rays of the setting sun, the entire city looked even more beautiful and just perfect.

​Only a few moments were left before the sun went down completely. And... only a few moments were left before their paths split ways.

​Kicking his cycle stand up, Himanshu was just thinking about how wrong he had been about her.

Who knows what all crap I had assumed about her. I thought maybe she makes all the guys buy manga for her like this, uses them to get a discount, and then just dumps them. And if someone refuses to tag along, she probably just stops talking to them.

​Getting mad at his own trashy thoughts, he kicked his cycle stand hard again.

But the good thing was, the stand didn’t break this time. It just flipped up with a loud clank.

​They kept walking together for the next few moments. Priya kept talking about the newly bought manga books in that plastic bag with so much excitement, and Himanshu just listened to her voice in total peace.

​And a few moments later... that time finally came.

They reached the turn in the alley where their paths split up, just like always.

​They both stopped at the exact same time. In his head, Himanshu was just prepping himself to say a nice ’bye’. Just so he wouldn’t do anything stupid.

​But little did he know he was about to hear something else today. Something... that would force him to toss and turn in his bed all night.

​Priya gripped her school bag strap tightly with one hand and tightened her grip on the manga bag with the other. She lowered her gaze to the ground.

​A heavy silence hung there for two seconds. And then, hesitating a lot, Priya spoke up.

"I believe in you... that you won’t disappoint me like the rest."

​For a second, Himanshu just stared at Priya. His brain went totally blank.

He couldn’t even figure out what to make of that sentence.

​Himanshu had never seen Priya look down like that before. And secondly, he had never heard so much hesitation in her voice either.

She said the stuff about rejecting Vaibhav in front of the whole school, and even that stuff about the terrifying demon, so casually. Then why is she hesitating so much to say something this simple?

​Himanshu couldn’t hold back and just asked.

"I... I didn’t get you?"

​Priya slowly lifted her neck and looked at Himanshu.

And the moment she looked... Himanshu’s heartbeat stopped for a second.

​Her eyes had that same spark... those same wide, big eyes, looking like they were expecting something from him. These were the exact same eyes that had made Himanshu cry tears of joy in the washroom earlier today.

​After looking at Himanshu with those beautiful eyes for a few moments...

Priya suddenly stole her gaze away. She quickly brought her tone back to normal, putting on a fake smile, and said.

​"Ah... the manga! I was talking about the manga." Running a hand through her hair, she tried to change the topic. "The thing is... people don’t really like the manga I recommend."

​For a moment, Himanshu didn’t say a word. He just closely noticed her body language, the way she was talking, and every little detail.

His gut was screaming at him from the inside— there is something here that I’m missing. This wasn’t just about the manga!

​But Priya’s next words didn’t let Himanshu’s mind stay stuck on that thought for too long.

She spoke up again.

"Hey... you never gave me your number."

​Only half a word managed to escape Himanshu’s mouth.

"Huh...?"

​A second later, Himanshu’s entire face, from his ears to his cheeks, turned beet red.

And who knows when, out of pure panic, his hands lost their grip on the cycle handle.

​Crash!

​And until the loud sound of that heavy cycle hitting the ground echoed... Himanshu just stood there in shock. He didn’t even realize his cycle had fallen.

​Snapping back to reality, he grabbed the cycle handle with trembling hands and quickly picked it up.

​"Yeah... um... I... uh..." Himanshu was stuttering badly.

​Before he could spit out an answer through his dry mouth, Priya pulled her phone out of her pocket. Just looking at its pink back cover, anyone could guess it was a girl’s phone.

​Himanshu had figured out by now that he wasn’t supposed to take the phone, he just had to dictate his numbers.

But the funny reaction Himanshu had in that moment... anyone in the world could’ve guessed that a girl was asking for his number for the first time in his life.

​"Six... five... five... eight..."

​Priya typed the numbers into her phone keypad and stopped.

She stopped because Himanshu had stopped talking. He was awkwardly moving his neck around, staring up at the sky.

​6558... what was after that? What was it, man! Shit!

Himanshu’s brain had completely frozen.

No, no... I remember it perfectly. I just... I just need to focus.

​Gripping his cycle handle tight, he cursed himself with a dirty word in his head again.

Wait... let me try saying it in a flow. That’s the only way I’ll remember.

​"Six five five eight six eight..." Suddenly, the rest of the number slipped out of his mouth in a single breath.

​"Yeah! Yeah, I remember now... I remember," Himanshu said, letting out a sigh of relief.

​Priya was just watching his panicked, clueless face with a hidden smile. She was enjoying seeing Himanshu in this state.

​"655868****..."

She gave a sweet smile, dialed the number into her phone, and saved it under the name ’Himanshu’.

​Seeing this, Himanshu took a really long, deep breath.

Saved! Man, I would’ve just murdered myself out of panic today.

​Flashing a smile, Priya waved her hand in the air to say bye.

"Bye... see you tomorrow."

​Himanshu just kept staring at that waving hand and her face... kept staring until his eyes slightly narrowed again.

And then, two seconds later, a bulb lit up in his brain: You idiot! You’re supposed to say ’bye’ back to a ’bye’!

​Panicking, he quickly waved his hand in the air and blurted, "Bye!"

​While crossing the road, Priya gave a really cute smile at all this and turned back one last time as she walked away.

"I’ll call you once I get home."

​The relaxed, happy smile had finally appeared on Himanshu’s face, and there was no hiding it now. He replied with that exact same smile.

Saying that, Priya walked away.

​He just stood there... watching her until she turned the corner of the alley and disappeared a little further down.

​She’s going to call me... she’s actually going to call me!

​Resting his cycle on its kickstand, he looked up at the sky and let out a deep, peaceful breath.

I’m actually going to talk to a girl on the phone.

Now I just have to wait for her call on my phone.

​And... the very second that last line crossed his mind.

All the color instantly drained from Himanshu’s face.

​That peaceful, lover-boy smile of his warped into pure, terrifying shock.

​Without wasting a single second, he kicked the stand back up, and in the blink of an eye, slammed all his strength onto the cycle’s pedals.

​No no no no no... please! Please! Don’t pick up the call!

​God only knows what kind of panic Himanshu was going through right now. Racing his cycle down the street, he didn’t care about his heavy, gasping breaths, his hammering heart, or his aching body anymore.

​His legs were moving so fast that his cycle’s chain was making a loud ’clack-clack-clack’ sound, rattling so badly it felt like it was going to snap any second.

​He didn’t even know how fast he was riding. The people walking on the road were just stopping and staring at him, probably thinking he was some crazy kid pulling a cycle stunt.

​ took every single shortcut he knew. He didn’t skip a single one. He was cutting through every narrow alley and every sharp turn like the wind.

​Because of the speed and the sheer panic, sweat was pouring down his forehead and his entire body, stinging his eyes, but he didn’t raise his hand to wipe it even once.

​ didn’t even sit on the cycle seat until his building came into view! For the entire ride, he was just standing on the pedals, pushing with all his life until he finally reached his apartment block.

​Dumping his cycle right there on the ground, he bolted straight inside.

​But his luck... his luck was so incredibly bad that the elevator just refused to come down! It was stuck on some random upper floor, while down here, Himanshu’s heart was stuck in his throat.