He hated it. He absolutely loathed it. He never did understand why she did that in the first place. Reyaansh was sitting on the last bench of the lecture hall, completely oblivious to what the economics professor was blabbering on about. His attention nowadays was held by only one tiny earthling, which had come into his life, and wrecked down every semblance of peace he had.

His object of attention, or affection, as he would gladly accept now, had done something that he did not find to his liking one bit. But then, when did she ever really pay attention to his likes or dislikes. He let out a cold sigh and again stared at the skin of her exposed nape, brought into view because she had tied her hair into a high ponytail. Oh how he hated it.

He loved those ebony colored tresses. They ended at just the right place too. Curving up into curls near the end. Brushing, kissing the places at her neck he could only ever imagine doing. How he wished he could just play with them once. How he would love to feel their texture in between his fingers. How he would love to kiss those strands. How he would love to inhale their fragrance. He could do that for hours. Hell, He could even dream of doing that for hours.

He felt his cell vibrate, indicating a new message, which broke his dangerous daydreaming for a bit. He already knew who would message him right now. And he already knew what the contents of the message were as well. Still, he fished out his cell stealthily from his pocket, making sure that the economics professor was as clueless about his actions as he was to his lecture.

"Stop staring for god's sakes! You look like a bloody 11 year old making googly eyes at Justin freaking Bieber!"

Yup, he received these threats on a daily basis now. Hourly basis to be more precise.

Vicky sat two seats to the left from Rey. The only reason he didn't sit next to him was, because then he would be in direct view of the professor. And Vicky wasn't one of the students who wanted to be seen and noticed by the faculties. He sent Rey a message in almost every lecture now. As if his whole and sole purpose in life was to stop Rey from falling for a weakling. Well, Vicky knew he was already very late. His best friend was a far gone hopeless case now. But then, he wasn't someone who lost hope that easily. Vicky wanted his best friend back in his senses. And he would get his Dazzler friend back by hook or by crook.

He knew him too well to wait for a reply, as now almost every time the reply consisted of some pathetic excuse or the other.

"I was staring at the crack in the wall"

"I was bored"

"I was listening to the lecture"

"I was choreographing a new dance routine in my head"

Pathetic… Pathetic… Pathetic…

No other word would suit them…

He worried for his friend too much nowadays. He knew he should be worrying about himself too. As he was fast catching the disease his best friend was a terminal patient of now. 'Being in love with a weakling.' If the word got out that Reyaansh Singhania had fallen in love with a weakling, apocalypse would follow. And the worst part of it was, Rey didn't even care.

Which led Vicky to think about her. Did he himself care? Did he himself want to hold on to his dazzler tag so strongly? Or would he lose it happily for her? Even give it up graciously for her. No, these questions were dangerous. He shouldn't be asking these to himself.

Vicky decided to divert his mind to something else, and he found just the message to do so.

Valentine's day was approaching. And Sharon being the diligent Cultural Secretary she was, had already doled out the different celebrations for the whole Valentine's week. And every one had received the message well in advance.

He forwarded the message to Rey, editing it a bit, writing out what all pranks he thought could be played on the weakling population of the college.

As soon as he messaged Rey, he himself got caught up in one of the days… 'Kiss Or Slap Day'

Kiss? His eyes darted straight to where she was sitting, on the first bench, like a goodie two shoes… Her head was bent down into scribbling everything that the professor said… He could only see her slight side profile, but managed to catch a small glimpse of her lips. Those glossy lips… He wondered what her lip gloss would taste like…

"Strawberry…." He dreamily blurted out loud… Making people around him jerk their heads in his direction… While he still had his eyes fixed in her direction..

He knew now. He didn't care either.

Rey was checking the second message Vicky had sent him, when he heard him say strawberry out loud. Dreamily looking at Neha. It took him only a second to figure out what Vicky was thinking. Even though the majority of people who heard him would think he was hungry and wanted food again, Rey knew what exactly Vicky wanted. Rey himself was on the advanced stages of that syndrome.

Thanks to Vicky, now that was all he was thinking about too. Peach? Mint? Bubblegum? Cherry?

*Ringggggggg*

The bell streaked. Announcing the lunch break. And collective sighs from the students at finally getting some free time.

Rey still had his eyes on her. It had not been long since last they had an argument. Just this morning only.

She was rushing towards the college gate from her auto rickshaw and he had to pull the brakes real tight, to save her from crashing into his car.

Instead of a thank you, she had accused him of plotting to murder her. Ridiculous.

He decided he wanted to clear it out with her. And this was the only time he could do it. He followed her on the way out, and as soon as nobody was watching, pulled her from one hand into the empty fire exit.

"What the…" She screamed out.

He put his free hand on to her mouth, stopping her mid-sentence. As that was the only way he could ever really say what he wanted to say. She would never give him a chance to speak otherwise.

But as soon as he faced her, he got lost. Yup, lost. No other word described him better. He couldn't remember where he was. He couldn't remember what he was about to speak. All he could see were the beautifully deep chocolate brown eyes. Strange, right, they had a really strange pull in them. A pull that made all his senses go haywire. He felt actual physical pain by the distance in between them. And he didn't know how many electric jolts his heart could take anymore.

"mmmhhhhmmmm…" Kria struggled. Shaking him up a bit.

He hushed her. And she felt as if he came to senses only just now.

She nodded. Making him realize that he could let go. She would listen.

"I wanted to say something to you..." He spoke. In that husky tone. Kria always felt Goosebumps when she heard that voice of his. She never realized why, but he always made her really conscious of herself, something which she despised a lot.

"What?" She asked. Irritated already. She wanted to escape from there as fast as she could. She knew her face would flush any moment now. Giving away how conscious she was getting.

"I… I…" He seemed lost. At least that's what he looked like. And he was getting dangerously close. She took a step back, to increase the distance. Damn, it already was hot in here.

Rey had forgotten already what he wanted to say. All his concentration was on the hair strand at the side of her neck. Somehow it had made its way out of the bunch. And was free. It lightly grazed her nape. And Rey's train of thoughts had reached a very dangerous station already.

"Reyaansh.. Kya problem hai? That's it.. I am leaving" She turned to leave.

His hands automatically went to her hair. Breaking them free from the shackles of her hairband…

" I hate it when you tie them up.." He uttered.

She stopped in her steps. Breathed in for a moment and turned around. Flushed completely red. And then giving him a final death glare, stomped her way out of the fire exit.

Rey stood there, completely bewildered at what exactly he had done just moments ago. And then stared at his other hand. The hand which shone a little bit. He smiled softly, and lightly kissed the hand, which had remnants of her lip gloss on it.. "Caramel…" He realized.. Quite correct… A little sweet and A little bitter.

But most importantly, Perfect.