The days following their shared, intimate moment in the heavy rain brought a completely new, thick, and undeniable undercurrent of tension between Diya and Professor Raj. It was not something they were doing on purpose, but every single interaction they had in the classroom now seemed to carry a very heavy, unspoken weight.

The air in the lecture hall felt different. It felt charged with a hidden electric spark. Every time Raj stood behind his large wooden podium and casually threw a glance her way, his dark eyes felt incredibly heavy, burning with a secret fire. And every single time their eyes accidentally met across the crowded room filled with fifty other students, Diya felt her pulse completely skyrocket. Her heart would hammer so loudly against her ribs that she was genuinely terrified the person sitting next to her would hear it.