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☑️ ▶️ PROMISES AND LIES
*PART 13*
("Unveiling Artav's Transformation: )

It was a glorious day. Seza was in the corridor of her class. Students were slowly gathering in the class. Seza saw Artav in the classroom; she hadn't noticed that he was already in the class. He signaled for Seza to come inside, and she went in, mesmerized. Artav asked her, "Did you complete your assignment?" For a few seconds, she couldn't speak. The words just died in her throat. All she could manage in her small voice was, "Do we need to submit it today?" Artav said yes, within the third period. She panicked because she hadn't started. She was helplessly thinking about what to do next. She was so deep in her thoughts that she didn't realize Artav was asking for her notebook. "What?" Seza turned to him. Artav yelled at her, "Don't you want me to help?"
"Umm, no... I guess you're kidding, right?" came Seza's dumb reply.
"No, pass me your notebook fast," said Artav. Seza hadn't expected this from Artav; she was shocked. The one who used to deny, even after begging a lot, today came up with his kind behavior without pleading and begging. Seza was completely lost. She looked at him with disbelief, surprise, and shock written all over her face. But when Seza realized that he was absolutely serious, she smiled. He smiled back. For Seza, it was a small smile, but still enough. He started doing her assignments as if they were his own, neatly and clearly. After some time, he handed her the completed assignment. Seza started checking it; it was completed neatly. She felt relieved and grateful to him. Artav smiled and said, "Anytime for my future wife." Seza, for the first time without being aggressive, smiled at him shyly.
Seza was lying in bed, still surprised by Artav's strange behavior these days. She couldn't figure out the exact reason behind Artav's kind behavior. She had noticed that he wasn't even flirting with girls these days. He used to spend all the free classes talking to Seza these days. They started to have a close bond.
The next day, in class, she was finding it difficult to draw the picture, and even Arshana was struggling. Meanwhile, Artav entered the class. Arshana called out to Artav to draw a picture for her, and he said, "Seza told me earlier to help her in drawing." Seza was shocked because she hadn't said anything to him about helping her. She was dumbstruck with confusion. Without a word, Artav snatched Seza's notebook and started to draw. Seza was lost again; she was unable to speak. Arshana was hitting Seza with her elbow, saying, "What have you done to him? He's been so lenient with you nowadays." Even Seza was speechless about it.
Artav used to drive his car to school, but he never used to give girls a lift. One fine day, while Seza was rushing towards school, someone kept honking the horn from behind—it was Artav. He stopped his car, rolled down the window, and asked her to get inside the car. Seza refused initially, but since it was in the middle of the road, she thought it would be best to get in without creating a scene. For the first time, she was in his car. He was playing lousy music, and Seza felt completely bored, so she asked him to change the song. Surprisingly, he changed the song without arguing with her. When Seza got out of the car, a group of boys from her class saw her getting out of Artav's car, and they were even more shocked because Artav had never allowed anyone to sit in the front seat beside him before. It was a shocking scene for them, as Artav had always been strict about this. When Seza entered the class, everyone stared at her with teasing eyes. She started blushing because of their behavior towards her. Seza told Arshana and Parav about all these incidents, but they couldn't help but giggle.
These drastic changes in Artav were mysterious. He started behaving kindly and generously. He wasn't as standoffish as before, and he frequently brought chocolates and toffees for Arshana and Seza. Everything had changed. He was no longer the flirty, arrogant guy he used to be. He started giving lifts to Seza and Arshana frequently. Everyone thought there must be some reason behind Artav's drastic behavior, and they were on a mission to find out the reason behind it.