Aria

'.. that is the end of my paper. Thank you so much for the opportunity.', I finished presenting and got off the podium. The doctors in the panel clapped and I was happy. Do you know how difficult it is to impress these guys? They are like a bunch of hyenas ready to pounce on you at any minute.

'That was so good. The amount of research you've done Ari, that was amazing.', he gave me a bear hug.

'Thank you. You did really good too sagar. I could see that judge drooling over you', I laughed while he smirked.

They announced the results and turns out both sagar and I were into the final round to be held in Melbourne! This is it! I was on cloud nine. We made it to the finals. 10 out of 100 papers and I'm glad I got in with sagar.

'Im so fucking happy we made it ariiii. Now I hope we kill it in the finals too. It's in 3 days and we have to shorten our paper', said sagar.

'3 days is enough time. We can probably go out today and then we have enough time to prepare. What'd you think? Ready to party?', I asked sagar who was already grinning.
I swear this boy gets excited on every single thing in life.

'Yes, yes and a yes! Let's do this. Hey maybe you should invite Sky and the rest of the boys too. Your darling also can come', he said nudging me as we were going back to the hotel.

'Ill ask bhaiya and no he's not my darling', I said.

'Not yet!', he winked and ran off.
Such a child.

After going back to the room I called surya bhaiya to ask where he was. He said he was in his room and everyone else were there too and he asked me to come there.
I felt those butterflies in my stomach knowing shreyas is going to be there too.
When I knocked, shubman was the one to open it.

'Hey Aria, come on in. Everyone's been waiting for you to come back', he said as he stepped back to let me in.

'Oh really. That's so sweet of you guys', I said as I went in and saw everyone sprawled across the bed. Surya Bhai and deepak were on the bed playing pubg, rahul was on the floor with his legs up on the wall and shrey was on the chair trying to read a book? Since when does he read.

'Aria!', deepak ran up to me and hugged me. Boy did he smell good.

'Hello to you too deepak', I said laughing as he let me out of the hug.

'How did the conference go?', surya Bhai asked.

'It went really good bhai. Both sagar and I got selected for the final round! I can't believe we actually made it', I said jumping up and down. Even before anyone else could wish me shreyas ran up to me, lifted me and twirled me around.

'I knew it. I knew you'll do amazing', he said still twirling me around.

'Thank you shrey. You can let me down now', I squealed.

He finally let me down and gave me a hug.
Everybody gave us weird looks and Surya bhai stood there, smirking. I looked down and blushed. He was followed by everyone else.

'So the final is in Melbourne and we get to take a plus one with us. There's going to be a gala night after the finals and whoever gets the best presenter award gets a 3 day vacation sponsered by them.', I explained to them after they settled.

'I'm so proud of you Ari', surya Bhai said ruffling my hair.

'Guys let's party! I mean it's such a huge achievement for Ari and we haven't partied in a while too', said Rahul.

'You partied yesterday Rahul', shubman said laughing at Rahul.

'Well nobody knows how much party is too much party so let's go you losers',he said waiting for us to answer.

'Actually bhai I came here to ask you the same thing. I have to leave to Melbourne in 3 days so I thought maybe we could all go out today', I said.

'Lets gooooooo', Deepak said as he came and stood next to me pulling me into a side hug.

I could see shreyas burning holes through Deepak's head. Geez he needs to stop glaring at deepak like that.

Shubman immediately jumped off the bed pushing shreyas down with him.
'What the fuck!', shreyas got up now glaring at shubman.

'Language', shubman said laughing,' I found this dance/karaoke bar near by. It'll be fun guys let's go there. I haven't danced in some time'.

'Yeah that sounds good. You're okay with it Ari?', asked Deepak.

'Yes I'd love that. I will tell sagar too. We'll leave at 7?, I asked as I started going back to my room.

'Yes that's perfect we'll leave at 7. We'll meet at the lobby', surya bhai said. I quickly waved bye to all of them and went up to my room. I couldn't talk much to shreyas but I'm hoping we can later on in the evening.

'okay so we're leaving at 7, until then I'm gonna take a long bath. Don't annoy me', I told sagar as I went up to my room.

I was anxious for the evening. After all those long years I'm gonna be hanging out with shrey and surya bhai today.
With this in mind, I filled the bath tub with hot water and dipped in.

Shreyas

I knew Ari will kill that conference. She is so smart. I've been waiting all day for her to come back. I missed her already.
When it was 7pm I quickly got dressed. I wore black ripped jeans, a white t-shirt and a leather jacket. After finishing it with some perfume, I went up to Ari's room. I know we decided on meeting at the lobby but I wanted to spend more time with her.

As I stood at her door, I felt light. Everytime I see her she makes me feel some kind of way. If only she was my girlfriend instead of layla, how beautiful life would have got.
I sighed and erased all those bad memories and knocked on the door.
After a few seconds she opened the door looking like a goddess. I scanned her up and down. Everything about her is beautiful.
Her plump lips, her shy smile, the way she tries to cover them up by letting her hair fall to her face.
I know she was checking me out too and when she noticed me looking, her cheeks became even more red. I love it that I have this effect on her.

'Hi', she squeaked out. Oh my heart!

'You look beautiful', I said lifting her head up to look at me.

'Thank you. You don't look so bad yourself', she said looking everywhere but my eyes.

'Look at me', I said looking into her eyes.

'Shreyas!!!! Let's go buddy! We're late', sagar came out of his room.

Great! He spoilt a special moment. I'm gonna kill this guy.

I faked a smile and looked back at Ari as she was closing her door.
I wonder what this night has in store for me.

Aria's outfit

Next one up.
Happy diwali everyone ❤️✨
I hope you have a safe and prosperous diwali.
Love,
S❤️