[RCF]

You make it sound simple but in reality interpreting this is not so simple unless one is attuned to the character deeply. This I can surely say from my own perspective. I have been re-reading chapters to find clues on why she is behaving this way and raking my brains over it till your comment on acceptance came through. I mean we can see her actions (running half-naked, wondering whether Jay had dinner, breakfast ordering through Tharun, clearing his name in the company, making him good in the village). All these we see as love and wonder why the hell she is not expressing her love. Unless you think that her mind once committed, its committed and she will not think(even internally) contrary to that commitment is an excellent insight that wouldnt come easily.

As a segue, writing the last sentence above actually triggered something in my mind. There is a telugu move called Pokiri in which the protagonist has a dialogue which translates to "Once committed, I will not listen to myself". we can probably put Nikitha's mindset to that dialogue 

We probably would have needed "Evadu kodthe dimma thirigi mind block avuthundo vade Jay" to make sure she gets it but Jay being Jay never tries anything but sex lol 

~ RCF