FAMILIAR SCENT

My Nightmare Is Now My Classmate

I was 100% sure college would be peaceful.

No drama. No crushes. Just me, my books, and my strict parents on video call every night at 9 PM sharp.

That was the plan. The perfect, obedient girl plan.

Wrong. So, so wrong.

Because God has a terrible sense of humor. And he decided to drop my childhood trauma... I mean, my childhood friend... right into the middle of my college.

Library. 3 PM. Second week of college.

I was fighting with a book on the top shelf. I am 5'3", the shelf is 6 feet. You can imagine who was winning. Not me.

I was jumping, trying to reach it. My college ID card was bouncing, my bag was falling off my shoulder. I must have looked like a complete i***t.

"Need help, shorty?"

That voice.

That stupid, cheerful, sunshine-like voice that I had not heard in six years.

My whole body froze. My hand was still in the air.

Before I could even turn around, a hand reached over my head. Easily. Like the shelf was nothing for him. He took the book I had been fighting for ten minutes and placed it right in front of me, in my hands.

And then came the scent.

Sandalwood. Old books. And... mango toffee?

No. No, it can't be.

My brain screamed - ETHAN?!

I turned around so fast I almost fell over my own bag. And there he was.

Taller. Much taller. At least 6'1" now. His messy hair was still messy, but now it was that intentional messy that girls love. Same dumb smile that says "I am innocent" when he is clearly, definitely not innocent.

Ethan. The boy who once fell asleep drooling on my shoulder during a thunderstorm in my relative's balcony. The boy who cried because he missed his mother.

Now? College heartrob. Every girl's crush. The basketball team captain. And apparently, my new nightmare.

He looked at me, and his smile grew wider.

"Oh wow, it's you! The two-words girl from my class!" he said, grinning like he had won a lottery.

Two-words girl?!

My reputation in college so far was that I never talk more than two words. "Yes, ma'am." "No, thanks." "I'm fine."

And this i***t just announced it in the library.

"My name is Emma," I said, glaring at him with all the anger of a 5'3" girl.

"Yes, yes, Emma Two-Words," he said, as if he did me a huge favor by remembering my name. He said it so casually, like we were old friends.

Old friends? He doesn't even remember who I am!

I wanted to hit him with the book he just gave me. Really hard.

He must have seen my murderous expression because he laughed. That same childish laugh.

"Relax, Two-Words. I'm just kidding."

And he walked away, leaving me there with the book and the scent still hanging in the air.

From that day, my peaceful college life was officially over.

He started calling me "Familiar Girl." Because on the first day in class, when he sat behind me, I blurted out without thinking - "You smell familiar."

Stupid, Emma. So, so stupid. My first full sentence in college and it was that.

Now it was his favorite joke.

He would shout from the canteen line, which was like 50 people long, "Hey Familiar Girl! No extra cheese today? Still on a diet?"

He would pass my bench in lecture and whisper just loud enough for everyone to hear, "Familiar Girl, did you do the homework or were you busy counting your crushes? I heard you have many."

I swear, I tried so hard to study. I really did. My parents call me every day to ask about my grades. But how do you study when your childhood friend who is now 6 feet tall and looks like a K-drama lead keeps calling you Familiar Girl in front of everyone?

The worst part? I couldn't even tell anyone that I knew him before. That I knew the real Ethan. The one who was scared of thunder. The one who ate mango toffees and saved the wrapper for me.

Because he clearly didn't remember. Or he pretended not to.

But then... yesterday happened. And everything changed.

It was raining. Super heavy rain. The kind of rain we used to watch from that small shop in the countryside. And our classroom window was making that loud thak-thak sound because it was broken.

Then - Loud! Thunder. So loud that the lights flickered.

The whole class screamed for fun. Everyone was clicking pictures of the dark sky, making videos for i********:. The teacher was also laughing.

Except one person.

Ethan. Near the window. In the last row.

His hands were tightly over his ears. His eyes were closed shut. His lips were pressed into a thin line. His whole body was tense. He was shivering slightly.

The same small boy from that dark night in the balcony. When the power went out and his aunt was not home and he thought the thunder would eat him alive.

My heart forgot that I was angry at him. My feet moved on their own.

I stood up and went and sat next to him. The class was too busy with the rain to notice the obedient girl breaking her bench rule.

I slowly, gently pulled his hands down from his ears and held them in mine. His hands were cold. And big. So much bigger than that night.

"It's okay... it will be gone soon. I'm here." I whispered. Same line. Same soft tone I used when I was twelve and he was ten.

He opened his eyes. Slowly. He looked at me like I was some kind of magic. Like I had just done something impossible. His fear was gone, replaced by pure shock.

"How... how do you know that works on me?" he whispered. His voice was hoarse, shaking. No one had ever seen the heartrob like this.

I smiled. For the first time in this college, I spoke more than two words, and I didn't care who heard.

"Because, you i***t, you once fell asleep in my arms saying I smell like home. You said my smell makes the thunder go away."

His eyes went wide. Wider than I had ever seen. His hand tightened around mine under the bench. He was not letting go.

"Wait... the orphanage girl? The balcony? The night you... you are THAT Emma? The one who left without saying bye?"

And before he could complete, the teacher's voice boomed through the whole class, "Emma! Ethan! Are you two holding hands during my lecture?! In front of everyone?!"

The whole class turned. Sixty heads. Sixty phones taking video.

Silence. Then whispers.

My face? Tomato red. I tried to pull my hand away.

Ethan? He just held my hand tighter, laced his fingers with mine, and shouted back with that stupid, charming grin that made every girl fall for him,

"Ma'am, it's thunder therapy! Very educational! She is saving my life! You should give her extra credits!"

The whole class burst out laughing. Someone shouted, "Get a room!"

I wanted to disappear. Again. Just like I wished every night at home.

But under the bench, hidden from the teacher, he didn't let go of my hand. In fact, he held it even tighter.

And then he leaned in, his familiar scent of sandalwood and mango toffee surrounding me completely, and whispered words only for me to hear. Words that made my blood freeze and my heart stop at the same time.

"Familiar Girl... you remembered my thunder trick after six years. But you forgot your promise. You promised you would come back to the countryside next summer. I waited for you every single summer. Why did you never come back?"

The teacher was still staring. Sixty phones recording. But all I heard was his question.

Why did you never come back?

I wanted to shout. You think I didn't want to come back? I begged my parents every summer. They said extra classes. They changed my relative's number. They locked me inside their perfect plan.

But I could not say that with sixty people watching and our hands tangled under the bench.

So I whispered, "I did come back. In my dreams. Every summer. You were always at that old shop, waiting."

His fingers tightened. The basketball captain disappeared. My Ethan came back.

"Emma Carter, detention. Both of you. Library duty after class," teacher snapped. Someone whispered, "Ma'am, this is better than Netflix."

We nodded, still holding hands under bench like idiots.

When bell rang, rain was heavier. Class ran out, giggling, glancing back. One girl said, "Familiar Girl is finally familiar."

He let go, but only to pull my bench out.

"You didn't answer," he said quietly as we walked to library. Corridor empty, only rain and footsteps.

"I waited," he repeated. "Every summer, I went to that shop. The aunty kept my toffees for you. Mango ones. I told her my friend will come. She kept them till they melted. Next summer, I brought new ones. They melted again. For six years."

My throat hurt.

"Ethan, I didn't know you remembered. When I saw you in library that first day, you called me Two-Words girl. Like you never knew me."

He stopped in middle of corridor, under flickering tubelight.

"Emma, I did remember scent. I remembered balcony. I remembered a girl saying it will be gone soon. But I did not remember your face clearly. I was ten. You were twelve. You changed. Your hair, uniform, cold attitude. I thought if I call you Familiar Girl, your brain will click and you will remember me first. It was a stupid plan. My plans are always stupid. Remember I planned to catch thunder in a bottle?"

I laughed, wet and teary.

"You did. And you fell into the ditch."

"And you pulled me out and said I smell like wet dog."

We both laughed.

We reached library. Librarian gave us pile of old books to arrange. No one else was there. Just rain outside, old books smell inside, and us.

He took top shelf, I took bottom. Like that first day, but reversed.

"So, Familiar Girl, are we still pretending? Or should I tell everyone that the two-words girl once let me drool on her shoulder and called me her brave mango boy?"

"Don't you dare!" I said, throwing paper chit. He caught it.

"Then what should I tell them? That you are actually my childhood home?"

My breath caught.

Rain hit windows harder. Another thunder rumbled, far away. He did not cover ears. He just looked at me, waiting.

So I did it again. Stood on my toes, because he is still too tall, and covered his ears gently, like when we were kids.

"It's okay... it will be gone soon. I'm here," I whispered.

He closed his eyes, smiling. That same childish sunshine smile.

"You know, I never needed thunder to go away," he whispered, holding my wrists. "I just needed someone to stay while it was loud. And you always stayed. Even when you left village, you stayed in my head. For six years."

I wanted to say so many things. That I missed his toffees. That I missed his laugh. That I was tired of being perfect obedient girl. That with him, I wanted to talk in paragraphs.

But before I could, library door burst open. Librarian shouted, "Why are you two so close? This is library, not your balcony!"

We jumped apart, both red.

Ethan shouted back, "Ma'am, thunder therapy part two! Practical class!"

I buried my face in a book. It was upside down. He turned it right side up.

Under the table, his hand found mine again. This time, I did not pull away.

And I knew, my peaceful college plan was officially ruined. Because my nightmare was back. And this time, I was not letting him go.