Page 30 of Reckless Hate

“I eat at eight sharp. Don’t be late.”

At her curt instructions, the guy smiled, looking ridiculously handsome. “Sure. See you in the morning.”

***

On the next morning, she had just picked up food in the cafeteria and sat at a table when she saw Rishab Mathur.

He came to her table and sat across from her with his tray. For a moment she had almost forgotten about the guy. But seeing his handsome face with a dry smile, she was reminded that she agreed to have breakfast with him to discuss his proposal to work together.

“You said you eat at eight, but it’s only seven forty-five right now,” he said drily.

She usually ate at eight, but thanks to a certain bad boy and her memories of him, she once again could barely sleep.

Her eyes fell on Rishab Mathur. Once again, he wore his uniform in a perfect fit and his hair was neatly combed back in a slick style. Her mind compared the guy to her enemy.

Ved Simha wore his uniform in a casual, careless way with his tie loosened up deliberately and the top two buttons of his shirt opened. His hair was always styled in a deliberately messy way.

What the hell? Stop it!

She shook her head in annoyance and stabbed at her omelet extra hard. She hated her enemy, which meant she wasn’t supposed to be obsessing over his looks.

As though her mind had conjured him, she felt a sudden shift in the atmosphere at the cafeteria. The air felt charged. The students around her shifted, and all eyes turned to the entrance.

It was the Simhas. Her eyes fell on Ved as he and two his cousins walked into the cafeteria as if they owned it.

Even if the Simha cousins didn’t think like that, the people around them made them appear that way. Everyone treated those three like gods or the kings of the campus while the rest were supposedly their lowly subjects.

Ved Simha especially reveled in such attention. He was wearing his basketball jersey with the Tigers logo on the back along with the word captain. The sleeveless jersey showed off his muscled arms. A group of girls ran towards the Simhas, and one of the girls latched onto Ved’s arm.

Samantha felt a flicker of annoyance.

As soon as her enemy took a few steps, he looked around the cafeteria as though he was searching for someone. A moment later, their eyes met across the huge cafeteria.

Dragging her eyes away from her enemy, she looked at her breakfast before stabbing at her omelet again.

“What’s with you and Ved Simha?” Rishab Mathur asked.

Once again, she had nearly forgot about the other guy. She looked up. “Nothing.”

Rishab smiled drily. “Obviously, like everyone else on campus, I’ve heard gossip. It’s impossible not to, especially when it’s about one of the Simha boys.”

She took a bite of her omelet. “He’s an asshole with a God complex. I prefer to ignore him.”

“Hmm… but it looks like he’s not willing to ignore you.”

She looked up to see that her enemy was heading towards her with his group following behind him. While the group stopped and sat at a table next to hers across the aisle, Ved came to her.

He stopped next to her table. Citrusy cologne filled her senses.

“I know it’s you who sent the email last night,” he said.

She looked up at him. “You are disturbing my meeting,” she said evenly.

His mouth twisted. “You are the only one who knows my password.”

She shrugged. “Then perhaps you should change it to something else.”

His eyes flashed before he smiled darkly. “You know I won’t. But just so you know, this game goes both ways.”

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