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Isha's pov

The next day started like any other-until it didn't.

I had barely settled into my seat, ready to suffer through another lecture, when Professor Kapoor's announcement turned my entire morning upside down.

"The deadline for your business project has been moved up," she said, adjusting her glasses. "Instead of next Monday, it is now due this Friday. I expect all submissions to be ready by then."

The class erupted into groans and protests.

"What? That's impossible!" someone complained.

"We had an entire weekend planned for this!" another student whined.

I, on the other hand, felt my stomach drop. Friday? That was in three days!

I turned my head slowly toward Dhruv, who was already looking at me with a flat expression, arms crossed.

"This is your fault," I whispered.

He raised an eyebrow. "My fault? How exactly?"

I leaned slightly toward him. "Because we wasted so much time arguing instead of working!"

He scoffed. "You wasted time arguing. I was actually doing work."

I shot him a glare. "Yeah, sure. That's why you spent half the time proving that Ryder Gears is better than Phoenix Beverages, right?"

"That was important information."

I groaned, running a hand through my hair. This is bad. Three days were barely enough to finalize everything, let alone polish the presentation.

As if reading my thoughts, Dhruv sighed. "Looks like we're stuck together for extra hours now."

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Kill me."

"Tempting, but I need you alive to finish this project," he said, smirking.

I exhaled sharply, turning my attention back to Professor Kapoor, who was still giving out details. My head was already spinning with all the work we had left.

This was going to be a long week.

--

The moment classes ended, Dhruv and I made our way to the library, already bracing ourselves for the long hours ahead. With the submission deadline moved up, we had no choice but to work twice as hard.

We settled into a quiet corner, and for once, there was no unnecessary bickering. Just focused silence as we flipped through case studies and scribbled down notes.

Well, almost silence.

"This is useless," I huffed, shutting a book a little too aggressively. "If we keep debating between Ryder Gears and Phoenix Beverages, we'll be stuck in this loop forever."

Dhruv leaned back in his chair, looking at me with an amused expression. "Are you finally admitting I'm right about Ryder Gears?"

I shot him a glare. "I'm admitting that both these companies are making us fight like idiots."

He smirked. "So? What's your brilliant solution?"

I crossed my arms. "We choose a completely different company. One that isn't Ryder Gears or Phoenix Beverages. That way, we won't waste more time arguing."

Dhruv tilted his head, considering it. Then, after a moment, he shrugged. "Fair point. Which company?"

I opened my notebook, flipping to the list of businesses we had researched earlier. "How about Vortex Industries? It's not as mainstream, but their market strategy is solid, and they recently expanded internationally."