Vashti was never the kind of girl who waited quietly in corners, especially not for a boy.
But with Shabd, everything was different.
She started hanging around the science lab more. Not obviously—she wasn't some shy admirer in a romance novel. No, she was Vashti. Loud. Brutally honest. A walking spark with fists ready to fly.
But with him, she was... softer. Almost.
Over the months, she found excuses to talk to him. Asked about brain parts she already knew. Borrowed books she could've easily downloaded. Pretended not to understand things just so he would explain them—with that calm, serious tone that somehow made her heart sit very still.
Shabd didn't talk much, but he never ignored her either. And that was enough to keep her coming back.
By the time she was fourteen, she was in love.
Not crush-level. Not silly, dramatic puppy love. Real, frustrating, heart-deep love.
And she told him.
The first time, she was fourteen and trembling, holding her biology notes in one hand and her pride in the other.
"I like you," she had said, standing outside the school library after hours.
He looked at her like she'd just confessed to liking math.
"You're too young," he replied, voice as flat as his heartbeat on a monitor.
She didn't cry. Just glared at him, threw her notes at his chest, and stormed off.
The second time, she was fifteen.
Same answer.
"You should focus on school, Vashti."
The third time, sixteen.
Still no.
The fourth time, he didn't even answer.
He just walked away.
Ghosted her.
No texts. No glances in the hallway. Just nothing.
Like she was air.
Vashti had never begged for anything in her life. But for him, she showed up again and again.
Even when it hurt.
Even when it broke pieces of her.
Even when her heart screamed, "Enough," her soul whispered, "Just one more try."
Because deep inside, she believed something crazy.
That someday, somehow, she wouldn't just be good enough.
She'd be his.
And she would prove it.
One textbook at a time.
One scalpel cut at a time.
One year closer.
To becoming a neurosurgeon.
And standing beside him in the O.T., not just as a colleague...
But as the girl who never stopped choosing him.
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