Edited: November 06, 2020

| . . . C H A P T E R - 3 . 2 3 - D I F F E R E N T - L I G H T . . . |

Anjali decided she would rather attend the Valentines party hosted at AR with Aman. When Arnav confirmed he'd received an invitation from Sam, I asked him to bring Lavanya as his plus-one. And, given we couldn't leave Aarav at home since Kripa had a work obligation - though I'm sure that's Angad's doing, I solved the problem by saying I would bring Aarav as my plus-one. I was supposed to bring someone anyway and given everyone else were already taken, it would be perfect to bring Aarav. That way, all 4 of us would be there and Anjali would be enjoying in her own.

I was dressed in a red evening gown, keeping with the Valentines colors. A pearled border adorned around the waist that took it up across the chest and into a two-inch-wide shoulder strap. The other shoulder had a thinner strap in comparison. The gown only accented my curves up till the border. Rest of it flowed down till the floor.

It didn't make me uncomfortable and that's what I cared about.

Arnav was waiting downstairs with everyone else already. I needed to work on my timing. Since I never took longer to get ready, I hadn't started to change until half hour ago. Turns out, I was late because of that. Actually, I'd have to hate my gown for it. It was hard to zip it up on my own and I was too stubborn to call for help because then they'd all tease me over how I should have let Lavanya help me the first time around when she'd offered.

I made sure to get Anjali to take my picture with Arnav, but it turned into a half hour picture session as everyone wanted to get pictures taken with each other individually and into various pairings. This was the first event after our wedding, so no one really complained over the gazillion pictures being taken. At the last picture, Arnav placed the camera in timer mode and we all got together to have a group picture.

Afterwards while Lavanya helped Aarav into his shoes and Anjali returned the camera to her room, I stood in front of Arnav. "Well, here's to a night filled with distance." We were both going to be in a ballroom but separately.

He offered a smile as the back of his fingers brushed over my cheek. "Don't worry, you'll always have my first dance."

I smiled back, love erupting in my heart and leaning into his touch. The little things like this.

"Marvelous." He single-worded compliment had my cheeks blushing. That, and his scorching intense gaze from his dark brown eyes.

Lavanya cut in with her own sassy compliments, "Gorgeous. Check. Sexy. Check. All of the above. Check. Now let's go." She pulled at his arm, "Sorry Khushi, love you and all, but he's my responsibility for the night and this little one of ours is yours." She moved me to stand next to Aarav to back up her words.

I sighed a long one, "Just keep the other ladies at bay."

"You got it." She backed me up.

I smiled with nostalgia recalling the very first social gathering I had attended here in Mumbai where I had been pissed off at Arnav for dancing with Lavanya. I had said that he could dance with anyone but her. Fast forward half a year, and here we are. She was the one I now fully trusted with him. No qualms about it at all.

Who would have ever thought things would change as such for the better? I gained a wonderful friend in the form of this brilliant woman whom I've learned to look up to.

Aarav and I parted ways in my car while Arnav and Lavanya in hers. It was futile to take both cars, but we couldn't arrive together either. This was silly, but oh well. I made it there before them.

We walked inside the building's main door and then into the elevator, taking it to the very top where the party was held under the stars. It was quite of view of the cityscape standing on the terrace of the 25-story building.

Entering, I found my group. Avani gushed seeing Aarav in a button up and suit pants. Lavanya had tried to put on the blazer, but he wouldn't allow it. "Oh my gosh! Who is this little cutie?!"

"Everyone, meet my best friend."

Aarav demonstrated how he was still not on friendly terms with me, "She's lying. Her best friend is Riddhima. I'm Aarav."

We had to explain to him that tonight, he couldn't introduce himself as ASR as he usually liked to do. Tonight, that was reserved for ASR senior only. Arnav had eventually slipped in a harmless lie, saying they would play this as a game to see if he could spend the night on his own without having to go back to his parents.

Aarav, being a sport, had accepted the challenge.

"In your age group, you are my best friend." I countered his argument which he dismissed wordlessly.

The girls started introducing themselves to him and asking him questions like where he went to school, if he liked it, etc. Tarun stood next to me and complained, "I asked you to bring a guy."

"I did."

"No. You brought a kid."

"Still fits the male category." I countered with a grin and pushed him towards Aarav, "Go talk to him. He doesn't bite. Just glares." As if hearing that, Aarav faced me and gave proof. "See! What'd I say?"

Avanti exclaimed suddenly, "Everyone! He's here! ASR."

"What?" Aarav questioned, thinking he was being called. But when no one answered, he followed our line of eyes and noticed they were talking about Arnav.

Avanti made the decision, "I'm going to go introduce myself."

"Woah, whoa, hold up." I stopped her by the elbow, "I thought you wanted me to introduce."

"I'm deciding to take the initiative." She answered and then stuck her tongue out. "Y'all are more than welcome to tag along."

Avani muttered, "Let's go before she makes a fool of herself." Knowing Avanti was capable of that, we followed, excusing ourselves through the crowd of people scattered everywhere.

Before we reached him, however, Sam did. Arnav's eyes flickered away from me in the distance to the outstretched hand of the person in front of him. Being in earshot, we could hear Sam's greeting. "ASR. Glad you made it." He then turned his attention to Lavanya who stood next to Arnav with a hooked arm. "You must be his fiancé?"

Lavanya chuckled, eyes briefly settling on me while slipping her hand into his outstretched one. "Best friend. His girl is someone a lot more beautiful."

Her eyes traveled back to him when he lifted her hand tenderly to press a kiss over the back of her hand. "If I were you, I wouldn't underestimate."

I have never seen Lavanya off balance, or even a hint of color touch her cheeks. We have teased her plenty, but she has never been flattered. I had to grin to myself at that. I was certainly not wrong in thinking Sam would be perfect for her. I also never knew Sam could have been this charming.

Arnav definitely noticed this as well, for his eyes traveled to mine questioningly. Without so much as a word, he had read my mind. Still, he sided with his best friend and helped pull her out of the limelight by shifting it to me. "Miss Gupta, how are you?"

I arched a brow. Miss? Never in his life has he been this polite and formal towards me. I plastered a grin on my face as we took a couple steps to join the three. With my words, I let him know that it would never matter where we were or who was around us. He'd always be Arnav to me. Just Arnav. "Arnav, I'm doing great. How about yourself? I didn't think parties were your scene."

Behind me, I heard my colleagues whispering.

"Did she just call him Arnav?"

"He let her."

"No one calls him by his first name!"

He held back a mischievous smile on his lips, but it was quite glimmering in his brown eyes. "You'd be right. See what I have to do to meet you? Are you sure you don't want to come back and work with us?"

Sam interjected, "Your loss is certainly my gain."

Eyes fixated on mine, Arnav countered. "Is it? No matter where she goes, everyone will still remember where she started off from." His words were meant to say it would always be his gain.

I cocked my head to the side, wondering what game he was playing at here. Yes, I did start it by calling him Arnav, but I should have known he was always a step further. I did not stand a chance against him.

"Sam, you'd never win an argument against Arnav." I said on catching him opening his mouth to answer.

Sam bobbed his head, "I almost believe you."

"Anyway, Arnav, meet my friends and coworkers..." I started to introduce them all and Sam excused himself when he received a phone call.

Arnav gladly offered a handshake to all of them, though they looked a mixture of excitement and a nervous wrecking ball to be standing in the same vicinity as him. I would never understand what about Arnav intimidated others since I knew him in a whole different light.

. . . ∞ . ∞ . ∞ . ∞. . .

Richa, Sam's secretary whom I had first met on the day of interview and instantly had frowned upon for her lack of professionalism, came up to me somewhere during the party when I was in a group with my friends and Arnav and Lavanya had parted ways to exchange words with the other heads present at this celebration.

"Drink?" She forwarded a glass of champagne.

"No, thanks. I don't drink."

"Ah, loosen up, newbie. It's a party." She insisted, and I assumed from her stance that she must have downed atleast two glasses before she had come up to me.

"I'm not stopping you, am I?"

Tarun came to the rescue, swiping the glass off Richa's hands. "I could use that more. Thanks, Richa."

She scowled at him but didn't attempt to take it back either. Instead, she leaned in closer to seethe. "Stay away from my Sam."

Before I could as much as blink, she turned on her stilettos and walked away. "What just happened?" I asked the girls, who told me to pay no attention to her.

Still, I couldn't believe she thought I had my eyes on Sam or that Sam was hers to begin with. Someone needed to tell her I'm not the threat. Lavanya is. Atleast she will be after what I am planning. She couldn't hold a candle in front of Lavanya. She wasn't even in the same universe.

Speaking of... I looked around to find her. I needed to create a circumstance so Sam and she could interact. Until, I noticed I didn't need to. God was already in on the plan and conspiring on my behalf. Sam was crossing the floor to reach her where she stood by herself, looking over the night light.

I nudged Aarav to come with me, and we tried to discreetly overhear the conversation just as Sam reached her from behind and said something close to her ear that had her turning to face him. He had two glasses of champagne and forwarded one to her. She pressed a smile and accepted it. It was a polite smile, but that's okay. Things take a while to turn. I didn't think she's melt at just the sight of him anyway.

Sam asked, "Is my party that boring that you are standing by yourself?"

Lavanya chuckled, "No, not at all. For the first party you've thrown since taking over as CEO, it's not bad at all."

"Then?"

She eyed his sincerity in asking that before giving an honest answer. "I would just rather be home. If not for ASR..."

Sam looked past Lavanya where in some distance, Arnav was chatting up with someone whose name I didn't know. "You're quite loyal to him, aren't you? In the last half hour, I've heard a thing or two about you."

"Checking up on me, are you?" She teased.

He owned up to it, "Something like that. You've been with him pretty much the last 4 years. That's some dedication."

She didn't point out that she'd been by Arnav's side for far longer given their personal relationship was away from the business spotlight. "Anyone would be a fool to not be loyal to him. He treats his people right. There's a reason he has only one office when he's capable of expanding all over the country. If he put his mind to it."

"You're not just his employee though, are you?" He was observant, I'd give him that. "You're more than his right hand. He only ever takes two girls as his plus-one to any event: his sister or you."

A waiter came by to offer me drinks. I went for the only glass filled with coke instead of champagne, keeping one ear glued to Lavanya's response, "Yes, you're right. Best friend first, employee third."

"You mean second?"

Lavanya kept up the mystery. "I mean third."

"What would second be then?"

"Sorry, Sam, but I do not know you well enough to tell you that." She began to leave with the half-full glass, having had a few sips during their conversation.

He slipped his hand around her elbow, "Then how about you get to know me?"

Lavanya turned to him again, startled. "Sam..."

He nervously chuckled while withdrawing his hand, "C'mon, I promise I am not boring company."

Lavanya smiled at him, but this one was a sad, distant smile, "I'm sorry, Sam. I am flattered, but I just don't have the time for that in my life."

I sighed to myself. Come on, Lavanya. Why do you have to give him a hard time?

Instead of accepting that resignation, he suggested. "Think about it. You have a month."

I grinned. Way to go, Sam. I knew I wasn't wrong in thinking he'd be good for this new stubborn hearted friend of mines. I took a sip of coke and instantly cringed at the taste. Something was off.

Out of curiosity, she asked. "What happens after one month?"

He trapped her in with that mystery, "Call me sometime and I'll tell you over a coffee date or something."

She arched a brow, as if to ask if he really thought that little mystery was going to kill her curiosity enough to warrant a phone call. He simply winked and walked off.

I took another sip, thinking the first one might have felt off simply because my taste buds weren't used to the cold drink as I rarely would have soda to drink. My eyes widened as I started to feel my chest tightening. I glanced up to find Richa's gaze already on me, smirking.

That bitch!

I dropped the glass and it shattered on the floor. "Khushi?" I faintly heard Aarav call my name, but I could only focus on my head pounding with blood rushing to it at the lack of oxygen.

"Purse." I mumbled, praying he could hear me over the noise. But suddenly, there was no sound as I felt myself falling and just before I'd hit the floor, I was caught in a pair of familiar arms.

. . . ∞ . ∞ . ∞ . ∞. . .