Page 36 of Reckless Hate

She could guess the locker code, since she had seen him using it during their encounter in the men’s shower area. It was his mother’s birthdate. She was glad that he had the same code for all his lockers. After she had hacked into his email, she expected him to change all the codes and passwords. But he didn’t. Apparently, he loved his mother too much to think of using anything else.

“Seriously, what’s up with you and Simha?”

“He hates me.”

Rishi frowned. “But why?”

She was quiet. She wasn’t ready to share the past with anyone yet.

Rishi didn’t push her either. “Hmm… I don’t think he hates you, darling. And even if he does, I think he wants you more than he hates you.”

Samantha was taken back. “No, he just hates me. He wants me gone from the university.”

Rishi was amused. “Darling, you don’t know how we boys think. That Simha guy wants you like crazy. I could literally smell his lust when he came on to you a while ago. Each time he looks at you, I’m surprised your clothes are not on fire.”

Samantha felt her cheeks heat and shook her head ignoring the feeling. “No. You are wrong.”

She didn’t want to believe it. She would be the last girl Ved Simha would ever want or desire. He hated her almost as much as she hated him. And the strange awareness and feelings she felt towards him weren’t desire. It simply cannot be.

CHAPTER 18

The war between Ved Simha and her was on at a full swing, and everyone in the university seemed to know, including the annoying newsletter that went out each week with the gossip that happened on the campus.

Samantha knew about the newsletter, only because of Rishi who gave her the blow-by-blow update of what was being written.

“I especially love the part where the writer says the other side of hate is love and whether the hot-headed Simha boy found love with the new transfer student from France.”

“Will you stop with the gossip,” she snapped.

She wasn’t snapping at Rishi. She was more irritable that her enemy was making her the center of attention, which she hated.

Rishi was beyond amused. “But the writer is not wrong, darling. The amount of time you and Ved Simha spend in each other’s heads while trying to one-up each other, it’s got to be love.”

It wasn’t love. It was hate. Pure unadulterated hatred. And it would never change.

Rishi grinned. “I support you wholeheartedly, but I’ve got to say I’m impressed with the Simha boy’s ideas.”

Samantha scowled. Ved had managed to hack into her email as well. Her passwords weren’t easy to guess like his, but he still broke into them. He sent out ridiculous emails with weird challenges to the guys at the university.

Just last night, she had a dozen or so guys under her bedroom window singing love poems to her until the morning ‘to win a prize.’ She had to call campus security to get rid of the howling guys.

She had changed her password many times, but her enemy could still hack into them. It was then she discovered that Ved Simha was supposedly a computer genius.

She didn’t understand why he didn’t change his passwords, especially when she continued sending emails from his account. The last one she had sent was to some of the girls professing Ved Simha’s undying love to each of those girls. When she saw him the next day, he looked more amused than annoyed.

With an annoyed sigh, she got up from the cafeteria chair. “I’m running late for tennis practice. See you in the workshop later.”

Rishi had a knowing smile as he nodded.

She was a bit early for tennis practice. While she waited for the coach and the team to join, she practiced using the ball machines operated by an intern. She was practicing her shots when someone interrupted her. The intern operating the ball machine had to pause.

Samantha turned to see it was Keya Gupta, along with her sidekicks, who stepped into her court.

“Ved hates you,” the other girl snapped. “If you think your cheap attention-seeking stunts would win him over, you are wrong. He is mine. You are nothing but a loser. Stay away from him!”

The girl sounded like a broken record with the same repeated words over and over again. After yelling out the words, Keya Gupta turned away to leave.

Samantha’s annoyance grew. She hated being interrupted during practice. And being interrupted by her enemy’s hook-up buddy, who constantly kept harassing her, was even more annoying. She raised her hand, indicating the tennis ball intern to start the machine.

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