FF: Unloved (Complete) - Page 26

Rudra walked into Sengupta's class the following morning very nervous. It was the day of the exam. He had been studying for the last two weeks with Paro, and he although he had covered all the important material, he was still anxious. He even studied all his notes over again last night, a task that kept him awake late into the early morning. Now, as he walked into class, dressed in his usual white shirt and black leather jacket, Rudra searched for the one person who could offer him positive assurance. He saw Parvati, dressed in her white salwar kameez, sitting in her usual seat, reading her notes. Rudra rushed up to his seat next to her and practically stumbled into it, startling her as her gaze met his. She took in his worried state, from the manic stare in his gaze to the unusual ruffle of his hair.

"Rudra wha-," she began.

"Are you sure we covered everything?" he asked.

"What?"

"Did we cover all the important material for the exam today?"

"Yes, but-."

"And the test won't have any surprises? Like new chapters?"

"No it-."

"And there won't be-."

"Rudra!"

He stopped talking, and looked at Parvati, surprised that she raised her voice at him. A few students glanced in their direction, but then turned back to their notes, knowing that this exam was much more important than the conversation between Rudra and Paro. Parvati didn't pay attention to them. She was focused on Rudra, who seemed to be having an anxiety attack. It was typical, since everyone was going through the same thing, but she needed to calm him down or else he his nervousness could get the better of him and he could fail.

Parvati placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, "You are going to do fine. We went over everything. There will be no surprises. Your worrying yourself for no reason. Just take a deep breath and relax."

Her words did manage to calm him down. She was right, after all. Rudra was just nervous, but he was going overboard with worry. He nodded, letting her know that he was calm now, and Parvati dropped her hand from his shoulder. Just as she did, Professor Sengupta walked into the class with the tests in his hand. The class, which was quite loud just moments ago, was now filled with pin-drop silence. The professor spoke a few words about the test, reiterating what it was going to cover and that everyone had the entire class period. Once finished, they were free to leave. With that, Sengupta handed out the tests and signaled for them to begin.

When the test came into his hands, Rudra felt his anxiety increasing again. He peeked at Paro from the corner of his eye and saw her already writing away. She calmly ran a hand through her open locks before pulling it to one side of her face. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Rudra felt himself calm instantly, and knew that he would just have to take his time and he would be fine. He looked down at the test and began. Surprisingly, it wasn't as bad as he had originally thought. There were some difficult questions, and some he just had to skip over and go back to later because he had no idea what the answer was. But overall, he felt confident that he was going to do well.

Two hours later, Rudra handed his completed test in and exited Sengupta's class. He left with a smile on his face. The test really wasn't that bad, and he realized that he was overreacting for no reason. He would have to remember to thank Parvati once again for helping him so much. Rudra knew that if it wasn't for her, he would not have known any of the answers. Just as he turned the corner and walked out of the building, he heard a familiar voice call out his name.

"Rudra!"

He stopped and turned and was surprised to see Parvati walking up to him. Rudra had seen her leave the class ten minutes before him, so he thought that she must have already left. So finding her here, in front of him, made him wonder if she had actually waited for him. The thought broadened his smile. Parvati held her notebook to her chest as usual, and brushed a flowing strand of hair out of her face. They looked at each other.

"So was it as bad as you had originally thought?" she asked him.

Rudra laughed, "I think I did well. Much better than I thought I would have."

"I told you that you were worrying for no reason."

"I know. Listen, I wanted to say thank you once again."

"For?"

"For tutoring me."

"I told you that you don't need to thank me. We are friends, right?"

"Yes. We are."

"No I mean..." her voice softened, but Rudra heard her clearly as she finished. "...are we still friends? Now that I've helped you?"

He looked at her both stunned and confused, "Of course we are still friends. I'm never going to stop being your friend. I didn't just say that so you would help me and then just break the friendship there. That's completely against who I am."

"So we're still friends?"

He nodded. Rudra watched as a small smile came onto her lips, making his heart beat accelerate. Even though he wanted to tell her that he started liked her, he simply couldn't do it. In the little amount of time he had gotten to know her, Rudra knew that there was so much about Parvati that he still failed to understand, like her past. He knew that telling her how he felt about her would definitely force her to build her walls up. Not only that, but she would push him away, and Rudra didn't want that. So, he had come to the conclusion that remaining friends was better than losing her altogether. And clearly, his friendship seemed to matter to her, even though she never really said it. Her questions and actions said as much.

"But I can still thank you for all your help," Rudra stated.

"You don't need to. Rea-."

Parvati's sentence remained incomplete because, without warning, Rudra had pulled her to him and picked her up. The action completely caught her off guard. He began spinning her around and around in his arms, something that no one had ever done with her before. The absurdity and hilarity of the moment washed away her immediate discomfort and caused her to let out a laugh as she held on to his shoulders. A few seconds later, he stopped spinning and put her back down on the ground. She took a step back. Rudra smiled as Parvati laughed a little while longer. He couldn't stop his insides from heating up as he watched her laugh, for the first time, because of him. As her laughter died down, a tiny smile remained and Parvati didn't bother to hide it.

"Thank you," he said in an earnest voice. "For everything."

"You are welcome," she replied.

The moment came to a screeching halt as another female voice called out, "Rudra!"

Rudra and Parvati both looked in the direction the voice came from and found Laila walking up to him. She gave Parvati a smug smile before stopping and giving her full attention to Rudra, a flirtatious smile accompanying it. Rudra had seen the look Laila had given Parvati, and how Parvati looked away without saying a word. He furrowed his brows as he didn't like what he had seen. Unconsciously, he took a side step closer to Paro. It was similar to the protective stance he had taken once before.

"What are you doing here?" Laila asked. "Come on, let's hang out."

"No thanks. I'm talking to Paro," he rejected her flatly.

Laila flinched slightly realizing that he was denying her request again. This was the second time he had done so because of Parvati. She smirked and looked over at Parvati, who glanced up at her before looking back down. She fixed her gaze on her, but spoke to Rudra, "Talking? To Parvati? Oh, Rudra. Why would you waste your time talking to someone who isn't worth talking to?"

It was Parvati's turn to flinch. She looked up at Laila, hurt clear in her eyes. The cruel words, the taunts, the harsh slanders of the past came flooding to the forefront of her thoughts. Someone who isn't worth talking to. Without worth or value. Unwanted. Cursed. Unessential. These words and so much more were embedded into Parvati's mind. They were just a few words that had been slammed in her face. No matter how many times people had said those things...no matter how hard she tried to forget... life had a cruel way of torturing and reminding her of it once more. And it still hurt. Parvati held her notebook tighter to her chest. Her breathing quickly became uneven, and she glanced at Rudra before quickly looking away. She used all her strength not to let the tears that formed in her eyes to spill. What she hadn't noticed was that Rudra had seen her change in demeanor. And when he saw the tears in the corner of her eyes, something in him had snapped.

Rudra took a step towards Laila and growled, "Apologize."

Laila was taken aback by the sudden change in him, "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Apologize. Now."

"No."

"You were rude."

"Whatever. I don't need to apologize to her."

Rudra roared furiously, "LAILA! Apologize! NOW!"

Seeing such an angry side of Rudra, Laila jumped as he yelled at her loudly. Even Parvati was surprised to see him shout at someone. He was usually so calm and collected. Laila had quickly relented and turned to Parvati and mumbled a half-hearted sorry'. Rudra's anger didn't vanish from his face as he backed away from Laila. His gaze never moved away from her, not even as he moved back towards Parvati and took her hand in his. Laila's eyes widened in shock as she watched him intertwine his fingers with Parvati's.

"If you ever...EVER say something about Paro again I will forget that you are a woman," Rudra threatened in his deepest, coldest voice.

Rudra didn't release Parvati's hand as he turned around and left Laila standing there dumbstruck. Parvati followed behind him, completely taken by surprise by what had just happened. Parvati couldn't believe that this was the same Rudra who had been so nice to her. She never believed he had such a temper. It frightened her for a moment. She continued to stare at him as he led her away from the scene. Rudra took her to his motorcycle and stopped right in front of it. By now his anger had calmed down. He had to get away from Laila because he knew that if he stayed a moment longer, it would not have been good.

He took a deep breath before turning to face Paro. It was then he noticed that he had been holding her hand. He was surprised. Firstly, because he didn't realize when he had done so. Secondly, because she hadn't pulled away. Rudra let go of her hand, which caused her to snap out of her trance. He stood right in front of her, concerned about whether or not she was okay. The sight of her tears had sent him in a blind rage and he hoped that he didn't scare her.

"Are you okay?" he asked, concern dripping in his voice.

"I'm okay," Parvati replied.

"I'm sorry for pulling you. I just knew that she would continue saying mean things to you if you stayed."

"It's okay," her gaze met his. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For defending me."

"Oh. You don't need to thank me. She shouldn't have said what she said."

"No, I do. No one has ever stood up for me like that before."

He stared at her stunned, "No one?"

She shook her head.

"Well I am here for you."

"Why did you stand up for me?"

"...Isn't it obvious?"

She searched his eyes for an answer. Parvati didn't know what he was trying to say. Rudra, on the other hand, wanted to say it was because he liked her, but remembered his earlier thought that she might not feel the same right now and would push him away.

Rudra took a small step forward and said, "I care about you, Paro."

Parvati looked at him, frozen in silence.

"Don't worry. No one will say anything bad about you ever again. Not while I am around."

She looked at Rudra as tears stung her eyes once again. She couldn't believe how he was willing to defend her, even after she had kept him in the dark about herself. How could one person be so nice and not expect anything in return? Her hazel eyes became glassy as they filled with tears. Rudra cared about her. He genuinely cared about her. She was overwhelmed with a wide range of emotions. Rudra immediately began worrying as he saw her eyes brim with tears again.

He extended his hand out to wipe a tear away, "Paro, what's wro-."

Rudra stumbled back as Parvati lunged herself in his arms, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck. The impact was so sudden that both of their notebooks fell out of their hands. He regained his balance and stood like a statue, trying to understand if this was really happening. But as the delicate fragrance reached his nose, Rudra realized that Parvati was really hugging him. His hands were still at his sides, unsure of what to do. He felt her dig her face in the crook of his neck as she forced herself up more on her tiptoes. Her hands held fistfuls of his jacket.

Then Parvati spoke, "Thank you, Rudra. For everything."

It was then that Rudra relaxed and wrapped his arms around her waist. This hug was more than just a normal hug. It was a comforting embrace. It was an attempt to seek solace. And Rudra felt himself drowning in it. He held her close and savored the moment as he closed his eyes and buried his face against her shoulder. He knew that Parvati would back away once she realized the position they were in, so he was going to be selfish and take in as much of her as he could before she moved away. The entire time Rudra couldn't help but note how she fit perfectly against him...almost like she was meant to be there.

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Wow, I came back with a bang now didn't I? I know internally we are all cheering "Yeah Rudra! Way to go! You defend your woman (even though she technically isn't your woman yet)!" But still! Anyways, let me know what you think by leaving your comments and feedback below!

Next update: Parvati meets the Ranawat family!

Thanks for reading!