They all glanced at him and then looked at the thing he was looking at with his mouth open. Armaan's mouth dropped open so did everyone's sitting beside him, except for Landon who hollered from his seat, "GO SISTERS!!".

Not only Olivia and Shruti, but Marissa and Brenna were also twerking in the middle of the floor. They were all grinding on each other's behind while twerking and hopping around. Olivia and Shruti turned around facing each other. Olivia's hand landed on Shruti's waist and she lifted Shruti's hand to her neck as they both glided against each other. Brenna came up behind Shruti, trailing her hand against her backside and matching their slither. Not being left out, Marissa also came up behind Olivia and began grinding her butt against hers, before Olivia's hand came to grab her waist from behind.

None of the boys could look away. Tristan had a line of drool along his chin, Joel had already grabbed another drink and gulped it down hastily. Brandon was lost in his own fantasy world where the only thing included were the two of them, without any cloth. Armaan was just staring and gaping at his wife, trying not to think about that butt over his lap. To say, the boys were back in their teenage phase, would be an under-statement.

On the other hand, the girls knew exactly what was happening. Purposely or not, they were doing it so that they could make the boys sweaty and bothered. They were enjoying watching the over-rated pentads gaping at them. Olivia whispered low enough for the girls to hear, "Let's give them a show. Oh boy...Brandon's gonna be crushed."

Olivia pulled away from the queue and stepped in Brandon's lined vision. The moment Olivia turned and let Brandon see her back, she knew Brandon was going to have a really hard time. She started twerking and dancing sensually.

The girls followed the same. They started moving towards the boys slithering like serpents.

Boys stilled on the sofa, waiting curiously for the girls to come up to them. When the girls were almost in their arm's length Olivia tapped on the girls' shoulder and said, "Come one, we should get something to drink, I am thirsty."

Marissa nodded and twirled around along with Olivia, purposely pushing out her hips.

"Me too", Brenna chirped and followed the girls.

Armaan looked at Shruti and gulped, knowing this was going to happen to him too. Still he waited for her to say or do something.

Shruti looked at him and faked confusion, "You don't want to dance? You want me to go too? ....Alright!", she smiled sarcastically and turned around, following the girls to the kitchen.

The boys sat there unmoving, listening to the girls giggle all the way from kitchen.

"See, that is what happens when you practice dancing with grandmas", Landon commented smugly, leaning back, crossing his ankle over his knee, sipping his drink.

"SHUT UP!", his friends or rather – very frustrated – friends barked at him, but it only made him laugh.

Few minutes later-

The couples were swaying to the slow, romantic music. The girls had come out merely ten minutes later, feeling guilty and sorry for their partners. The boys were unhappy, but they were excited for the long-term reward. So, they didn't hold it against them much longer. They almost immediately took up on the offer for a slow song couple dance. Landon had excused himself earlier saying, 'I am full and done with the sappy sh*t'. Also, he had announced that he was going to kitchen and will return once the dinner buffet was arranged.

The four couples danced in the dim light, giving them a romantic feeling, in the four corners of the room.

Problem was, the only honeymoon couple here was Armaan and Shruti. All of the others weren't.

Armaan had pulled Shruti up from her waist as her hands had looped around his neck. She was grateful to Landon for making her wear heels. She was still standing up on her toes to reach Armaan's height. Their forehead rested against each other as they swayed rhythmically to the breezing music in peaceful silence. He saw her closed eyes, lips rolled into her mouth, breathing heavily. It made his self-control shimmer.

"What are you thinking?", he whispered, making her look at him.

"Nothing."

"hmm...so, now that you have met them, what do you think about my friends?"

Shruti looked around at other three couples dancing, lost in their own thoughts. Her mind wandered on the inside and backtracked all her interaction with his friends. From the moment she had met everyone, till the moment when she was laughing with the girls in the kitchen. A smile had graced her lips involuntarily, and she replied, "They are cool. I can see you all have a great bond. I can't believe you never told me about your friends in Canada. I thought you only had friends in India."

Armaan smiled sheepishly, "I know I should have told you. But I was kind of...nervous? Yeah, nervous, about telling you about them. Seriously, when Brandon and Joel had come on the stage for reception, I was scared they were going to embarrass me or themselves in front of everyone. And they are kind of...immature", he whispered, not willing to let his friends hear him talking about them behind their backs. Not that they would understand, the couple was talking in Hindi.

Shruti attempted to raise an eyebrow but just shook her head and looked at him with understanding, "Some friend you are. Ashamed of your very best friends. I would have hung my best friend upside down, If I had heard them saying anything about me."

Armaan coughed, "Okay, I get it. Enough talk about my friends. We can talk about us..."

On the other side of the room, Tristan and Marissa were swaying to the music like professionals, talking about the 'B*tch' Tanya, as Marissa always addressed her in her conversation. Tanya and her had finalised the materials from the short-listed materials. As much as hard it was to work with her, Marissa had managed to convince Tanya to use less amount of variety. It would only make the collection look over-filled and also the budget would be disbalanced. As much as Tristan wanted to stay out of the alpha-female drama, he didn't have an option. For the past five minutes that they were dancing, Tristan had hinted at her to talk about something else, but Marissa...Not listening, only talking.

Adjacent to them Dancing were Joel and Brenna. The ever romantic of the Pentad, Joel, was trying so hard to not let his wife seduce him to death. Up on that, being drunk, wasn't a good combination. Brenna had already told him that he could have one last drink and then Joel had gone ahead and had three more. Fortunately, Brenna hadn't seen the other two, she was in the kitchen.

"You know I can smell the alcohol reeking from your breath", Brenna asked him with a slightly annoyed and resigned tone.

Joel blinked his eyes clear to focus on his wife and replied, "I am sure you can smell alcohol Brenn. You know I love you right?"

Brenna sighed and nodded, "Yes, and I love you too. And your trick isn't working. You remember what I told you at home?"

Joel frowned, "What-oh...about embarrassing you?"

"Yep"

"Don't worry about that, babe. Everyone here know how I am. Now will you enjoy dancing with me, please?", Joel pouted.

Brenna slapped his shoulder and chuckled, before resting her head on his shoulder.

Although, same wasn't the case with Olivia and Brandon.

Hidden due to the dim room, no one noticed the stiff couple dancing awkwardly, not looking at each other at all. Oliva had her chin propped on his shoulder along with her hand, the other one resting on Brandon's, away from their body. The physical contact between them might look perfect, but the kind of ease they would have had any other time wasn't present right now. Brandon had been trying to talk to her, but she hadn't even looked at him for a long time now. This was a good time to talk to her, but for some reason, he was afraid that she would deny him this closeness too, if he opened his mouth.

"What were you going to say before we came here?", Olivia whispered in his ear softly, in the voice that was only reserved for Brandon and sometimes Landon.

Brandon was surprised by her move, but he was glad that she had finally broken the silence.

Instead of answering, Brandon said, "I thought you didn't want to talk to me...".

"Yes, I don't want to talk to you. But I am getting curious, what did you want to talk about?"

Brandon inhaled deeply in Olivia's ear before saying, "I...Wanted to say that...I am the biggest D*ck in the world. I am an emotionless b*astard. I am the stupidest guy in the world, who can't appreciate the fact that he has most beautiful girl in the world, inside out. I am really sorry for leaving like that, Olie. I want to explain what happened then", Brandon pulled her away from himself, still keeping her close, "Can I please explain?"

Olivia nodded and said, "Go ahead".

"Okay, thank you. Olie, in the morning, one moment you were talking to me normally, and then next moment, you were shouting and crying hysterically. I kept asking you on the phone 'babe tell me, babe answer me', you just hung up. I-I got scared babe. I thought something had happened to you. So I just drove my car back in half time. I crashed my phone on my way, I couldn't contact anyone. Then when I came home, you showed me the papers of your contract. As much as I was happy seeing that you were all right, I got...angry because I was stressed and-and I was scared. I was minutes away from having a panic attack", Brandon stopped and breathed deeply, looking straight into his love's eyes.

Olivia wasn't looking at him, but her lips were pursed, and he could see the glossiness of her eyes. His hands tightened on her waist and whispered, "I am sorry, babe. It was just an impulse. Nothing else. You don't know how happy, and proud, I am for your accomplishments. Everyone knows you deserve it. And, I know how much it means to you, because you mean so much to me too. And, I know I am getting dramatic...so I am going to leave it to you..."

Brandon was waiting for her reaction, for quite some time. They had stopped moving to the music. Brandon felt stupid now, for not preparing a proper apology. By proper, he meant, buy her a new set of jewellery or book her a getaway trip.

Not a moment later, Olivia started giggling. Her giggling head fell lightly on his shoulder then she lifted it to look at confused looking Brandon.

Olivia leaned forward and kissed him. Leaning back, she said, "You are naturally dramatic, babe. You have to be, because that's going to help you in the movie."

Brandon snapped out of his momentary confusion and smiled in relief, "Yes, I hope that helps me in the movie."

A couple songs later, Tristan excused himself from his wife and ventured to Landon's room. He couldn't stand hearing any more about Tanya and Marissa's adventures. Also, because he wanted to check on the kids. And also, because he wanted to talk to Landon. Just yesterday, the young entrepreneur's magazine had been published. Landon had been mopey and glum all day. He wanted to know what he was thinking now. Did someone call him from his family? How did his family take the announcement? Although it was a party and everything was supposed to be gleeful, Tristan wanted to know his friend's mental health.

Walking up to the kitchen, Tristan saw Landon talking to the waitress and the hired bartender, while eating pasta. Landon saw Tristan coming in and he cheered, "Hey Tris, I was going to be out in few minutes. The food is ready, desert is ready, and this pasta....umm...yummy...you wanna taste it?", he lend his bowl forward and lifted pasta filled fork to Tristan's mouth.

Leaning away from the pasta, Tristan answered, "No, thank you. I am sure it tastes good. Lan, can you some with me for a minute? I wanted to check on the kids."

Landon nodded, gulping the pasta in his mouth, "Sure, wait a minute, lemme wash my hands."

Within next minutes they were in Landon's room, tucking in the blankets that had fallen off from the kids' figures.

"So, did you talk to your parents?", Tristan asked casually, not intending to make Landon feel obligated to talk to him.

Landon froze for about a second, then finished adjusting the pillows beside Bryan before turning to him. Tristan waited patiently for the answer, which he knew he would get. He knew the only people Landon actually talked to were Tristan and Olivia. There was a sense of understanding, peace and pact between them. Landon never held back from talking to Tristan and Olivia. Lately, Olivia was getting more troubled, so Landon had resigned himself from talking. Tristan wanted to break that resignation.

Landon sat on the couch, sighing and leaning back comfortably, clearly indicating Tristan to settle himself. Tristan sat down beside him, facing his direction and watching him.

'Gosh, is that a wrinkle?', Tristan asked himself mentally and leaned forward to observe the corner of Landon's eyes.

"What the hell man!", Tristan exasperated.

Landon glanced at him and jerked back seeing Tristan's face so close to his.

"What the hell to you man! I thought you were straight", Landon said and pushed him back, earning a nasty glare from Tristan.

"Shut up. I am talking about this. Did you know you've a wrinkle beside your eyes?", Tristan said with amusement.

Landon's eyes widened and he checked himself in his phone camera. True, the wrinkles were visible on the both sides of his eyes. He sighed and put the phone back in his pocket. Tristan was surprised that Landon didn't start throwing a tantrum like he does in case of his looks.

"You are not going to freak out?", Tristan asked cautiously, still sensing the on-coming outburst.

Landon glanced at him again and then turned his stare to the ceiling again.

"No. I am not going to freak out. I don't have energy to freak out", Landon said tiredly.

Tristan's lips turned grim and he asked, "What happened Landon? Did someone say something to you?"

"My mother called this morning, just after I talked to the Reflection mall's agent."

"So...how did it go?"

Landon huffed, "How did you expect? My family would welcome me with open arms and say 'I am so proud of you, you are a gay'? Because, clearly, that did not happen.... You know how I cried that day in the college? When the professor caught me..."

"Yeah, I remember. You cried buckets and buckets, for almost a week. But what about that?"

"Well, I made a promise to myself that day, that, I won't cry for the people who can't care for me. And, after all these years, I broke that promise today", Landon said with shaky voice, letting Tristan see a glistening in his eyes.

Tristan's heart broke into pieces. His own eyes become watery and looked away to hold it together. He still remembered that day, when they had all seen Landon breaking down completely. He was a mess. He ate less, talked less, slept lesser. Just kept crying and staring at the wall. His friends and his sister had to threaten him to pull him out of that state. Olivia had gone to different length, crying herself and threatening him to do the same to herself as he was doing to himself. And that had worked. Landon had come out of that trauma slowly and emerged much stronger than he was before.

"After all these years, after building my core stronger, after becoming resistant to all the hurtful things...she broke it all down. I-I feel like I am that old Landon again. She broke it down, all to pieces. How am I going to fix this all Tristan? I don't think I have so much energy", Landon said and shook his head grimly.

"Landon, don't say that. You know you are stronger than that. You are stronger than all of us. If you weren't, you wouldn't have overcome that terrible memory and build a successful company-"

"This isn't about my strength Tristan", Landon argued, "I know I wouldn't have reached the place where I am if I had not worked hard. But, this, the feeling, it's totally different. It's like, I couldn't care if I become a billionaire tomorrow. Like, I know that's achievable, but what she said to me...that shattered my pride and I feel like, even if I put all that back again will I ever be able to look past all cracks? I am lost...totally lost. I am just trying to smile and laugh because Manny and his wife are newly married. I don't want them to worry or spoil their vacation."

Tristan wasn't the one to be easily scared, but this scared him straightaway. It had been too long since he had seen Landon like this. The last time he had seen him like this was the time when the terrible incident happened with Landon during their college years. It was too long after that, now. And after all these times, everyone had begun thinking that Landon was past all that and he was tougher. But was it really like that? Landon was good at hiding thing. Could it be that he hadn't overcome all this time?

"Lan...can you tell me something. Why did you decide that you could come out now and not before this?", Tristan asked, carefully assessing his reaction.

Landon looked at him confused and answered, "You know why I did it Tristan. You all have already asked me this question before we went to the interview."

Tristan looked at him sternly and said, "Answer my question."

"Fine. I didn't want to live in façade anymore. It felt like I was barricading myself from actually accepting who I was, because I thought people would judge me, my family would judge me...And they did. It's nothing I hadn't expected. Only I hoped that the probability of things going positive would be more-"

"So, you remember it, your reason."

"-yeah, of course I remember-"

"So, now can you tell me why are you letting anyone affect you? Even if it's your family...", Tristan asked.

Landon understood where he was reaching, he sighed and said, "Tristan, I know I decided I wouldn't let anyone affect me...but, she is my mom. The one that took care of us and loved us-"

"Loved, Landon. The day they looked down up on you because you didn't want to become what they wanted you to, that day, became the day where the love faded and their need for social respect increased. It was a cycle after that, wasn't it? Talking to them, getting reminded how you aren't doing what they want, and, it's not the right thing to do?"

Landon stared at him like he had grown up extra, 'shrewd', head. This was on the next level. Tristan hadn't talked to him so deeply and bluntly since past half decade. Even when the decision of the company's face was to be taken, the Tristan that had talked to him was the diplomat Tristan. This Tristan was the blunt and on the point Tristan, the same that had threatened to put his hair on fire all those years ago in his dorm room, when he was having a nervous break-down.

But he was right. It was like that in between his family after he had denied obeying his parents and taken business course. He had obviously noticed all the changes from the beginning, but never took it up on his heart, until it all began piling up, making the burden on his chest sink him deep. Those morning kisses from mother became 'help yourself with the breakfast', those random hugs became 'time of lecture', those 'you'll always be my baby' became 'what will people think'. In spite of that, Landon had ignored those bitter moments; ignoring the fact that the more he wanted to make peace with them, the more they became distant.

"Lan, I know Your family means a lot to you, everyone loves their family. But we are old enough to live our lives on our own terms. We don't need to let our parents interfere with our lives, that we are living. You understand?", Tristan explained.

Landon discreetly rolled his eyes discreetly at Tristan's 'Papa' mode, but replied affirmatively anyway. Landon had already thought about all the things Tristan told him now, but it still managed to push him in a positive direction, somewhat.

"That doesn't mean you don't love your family", Tristan continued, still staring at him in the eye, "It means you will live your life according to you and still love your family...how much ever they want to take. Lan, we all love you and we will always be there with you and for you. Even if it's against your family. Okay?"

Landon's lips tugged up at the affection in Tristan's voice. It reminded him of the college times when they all had sworn to life long friendship.

"Awww....I love you too.....daddy", Landon said and launched himself at Tristan, engulfing him into a bear hug.

Tristan shrieked at the uninformed attack.

"WTF! Tristan! Open the door, what are you two doing in there?!", They heard Marissa shout from outside the door.

"We Are Making Out!! Go Away...", Landon shouted from inside and then fell down from the sofa laughing his guts out.

"WTH! Landon!!", Marissa exclaimed, laughing at the antics.

Tristan opened the door with an annoyed expression, which turned more annoyed after seeing Marissa and Olivia laughing while clutching their stomachs.

"Did you all forget? There are kids sleeping in here. Shut it!", Tristan snapped at all of them.

"It's time to wake them up any way, we are having dinner now. What were you guys doing anyway?", Marissa asked Tristan as she stepped over Landon's legs and reached the twins' cribs.

Olivia helped – not really, she smacked – Landon to get up and reached the giant bed in the middle of the room to take Bryan with her.

"Nothing babe, we were just having a heart to heart conversation. Boy talks", Landon replied, wiping his tears – which he didn't know were happy or sad – and sitting on the sofa again.

Olivia gently woke up Amber and handed her to Tristan, before going for Pearl.

"I hope not too much. Landon, this is a party for god's sake. We can't party with cry babies...right babyyy?", Marissa said lifting Pearl and smiling at her back.

Landon chuckled, trying to supress the overwhelming emotions, "Yes, sweetheart. But don't forget whose house you are in. I can kick you out right now, talk to me with respect."

Marissa raised an eyebrow at him and then smirked at him before turning to Olivia who had come to stand beside her with Bryan in her arms.

"Olivia darling...what to we say to over-arrogant people?", she said and caught Olivia smirk before they both turned their backs to Landon.

Looking over their shoulders they jutted their bum out and patted it mockingly. Landon's jaw dropped at they Ladies' reaction, but the ladies only laughed and left the room before he could say anything.

Tristan laughed out loud, which in turn made Amber laugh and she mumbled the word 'bum-bum' clearly, making Tristan laugh louder.

"I will not tolerate disrespect in my home!", Landon yelled behind all of them.

one hour later-

The party had cooled down. Dinner part was over. Dessert part was over. Only they were waiting for the people to get sober enough to reach home. Brandon had already called Dan. Brenna was the Fernandez family driver. Landon had volunteered to take the Flemington family home, although he had had a drink or two, his conversation with Tristan had brought all his fuzziness down.

People were waiting for Dan to come so that they all could get going together. Every one was sitting in the same spot as they had all had their dinner, talking and laughing at random things.

"Oh god! I forgot to give you guys your gift!", Marissa exclaimed, and rushed to take out the small box from her purse.

The newlywed couple smiled and Shruti spoke, "You didn't have to bring us a gift-"

"Oh hush hush, of course we had to bring a gift. It's your wedding! Come on, take it!", Marissa said and thrusted her gift in Shruti's hand, receiving a 'thank you' from the couple.

"You can open it now", Marissa urged her to go on with her hands.

While Shruti opened the small box of gift, Olivia had also stood up to bring her own gift out.

Shruti gasped and took out the shining bracelets. They looked expensive, with rose gold finish. They looked real which had the couple stare at it and its giver.

Marissa merely laughed at their reaction and told them, "It's not all real. It's only the polish. It's stainless though, don't worry about it fading. Our friend's in the business have their own jewellery shop. I think these are called as imitation jewelleries, aren't they?", she asked Tristan who nodded his head, "Yeah. And the thinned one is for Ellie and the bigger one is for Manny. Your welcome."

Shruti grinned at Marissa and then turned her attention to the bracelets again. She handed the one for her husband to him and wore her own herself, thanking Marissa once again.

"Oh god there is my letter on it...", Shruti exclaimed and then showed Armaan the letter 'S' on her bracelet.

"I have one too", Armaan said.

"Okay now time for my gift!", Olivia exclaimed up on returning to the room.

Olivia on the other hand, had had too many drinks after Brandon and her had settled their feud, out of happiness. Her voice was awfully giggly.

"I hope you like it, it's one of my favourites", Olivia said and gave her paper bag to Shruti.

Shruti thanked her and peeked inside when Olivia told her to go ahead and take it out. Olivia settled herself clumsily beside Landon and giggled as Shruti's cheeks reddened.

Olivia had gifted Shruti a two-piece Victoria's secret lingerie, which was see through. Only imagining herself in it, she flushed and shifted herself on her seat too shield her embarrassed face from everyone. She didn't take it out all the way but every one saw what it was before Shruti abruptly put the not-so clothes back inside the bag. There was a light laughter from people but Armaan groaned and asked Olivia, "Where is my gift? This is for Shruti..."

"Your gift is in the bottom of the bag buddy", Brandon said and smirked which popped a tinge of suspicion in Armaan.

He put his hand inside the bag and fished out the box at the bottom. Unlike his wife, he pulled it out all the way and froze as he saw the label.

"Wtf! Why would you give me this?", he exasperated looking at Brandon and then glancing at his wife who was hiding her laughter behind her hand. Armaan threw the box of condoms on the table in front of him and made a face, "who gives this as a wedding gift?!"

Brandon's grin became smug as he said, "Well I did say about settling it later at your reception, didn't I?"

"Wha- idiot, this is what you call as payback?! Wasn't funny, at all!", Armaan snapped playfully and hid the box with the table cloth so Shruti couldn't see it anymore, "take it back, we don't need it! In case you didn't realise we are on our honeymoon, so obviously we will bring more than just a box!"

"Actually-", Shruti spoke to gain Armaan's attention, "we do need the box."

Armaan frowned, "Shru...I do have some packed with me...", Armaan said slowly not knowing how to proceed with this awkward conversation, "trust me...they will be enough. Unless your stamina is-"

Shruti's eyes widen but she replied with a laugh, "God not like that-", she leaned forward and whispered into his ear, "-your mother has poked holes in the ones you packed."

Armaan jerked back with horror and stared at Shruti to look for any seriousness.

"You are joking."

"Nope. She told me that. She thought that it would be hard for me to talk to you about having kids so early – which I don't want now, by the way – and she 'helped' me."

"You couldn't have told me this earlier?! It's good we didn't do anything-"

"Can you both please talk ENGLISH. In case you didn't notice, that all we know here", Olivia said from her comfortable position. She was leaning back on her back rest and her hands folded under her chest, legs crossed from knees, as if she was watching a movie.

"What? You want me to reveal my embarrassing moment, nah, I don't think so", Armaan said sulking, still disturbed by the fact that his mother had the audacity to go through his things to find condoms and poke holes in them.

Olivia leaned forward and clapped her hand chirpily, "What happened! What happened! Tell us!"

"No-"

"His mother Poked holes in all the condoms he had packed, we might need that one", Shruti said nonchalantly, side glancing at Armaan and allowing him to see the side smirk on her face.

The group erupted in laughter, the boys guffawed, slapping their knees in hilarity. The ladies doubled over their seats laughing their guts out. Shruti felt sorry for her husband but not that much. She turned to him discreetly and mouthed 'sorry', but Armaan just blinked at her exasperatedly and then leaned his head on his palm. It only made people laugh more.

"That-that's f*cking hilarious! Y-your mother? Ha ha...", Landon spurted and continued laughing.

"Oh gosh...what the hell!", Brenna said aloud.

"HA HA, VERY FUNNY! It's Enough!!!", Armaan yelled loudly and leaned back, pouting.

The ladies sobered up a little although it took boys some time to get themselves together.

Brandon's phone beeped informing him that Dan had arrived. He stood up motioning at Olivia and said, "Dan's here. Come on. Stop laughing Olie", Brandon said laughing himself too.

Olivia stood up, clutching and balancing herself with Brandon's hand.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll stop - ", Olivia giggled and stumbled into Brandon's form, much to Brandon's displeasure. Olivia was drunk again, even after they had all those fights. He didn't try to stop Olivia much tonight, he had barely managed to make up for his stupid mistakes. Grimacing, he hauled Olivia towards the door.

Others also started making their way towards the exit and saying their goodbyes. The honoured couple hugged everyone, Shruti with smile and Armaan with grunts, still being embarrassed by the revelation earlier.

The goodbyes were loud, but that was the group's signature forte.

As Marissa moved on from Shruti to Armaan to hug him goodnight, Olivia stumbled up on Shruti to hug her. Almost hesitantly, Shruti returned the hug.

"Manny! Come here my friend!", Olivia said aloud and flailed her arms around, gesturing him to hug her. It seemed like Olivia had lost her sense of guessing the amplification of her own voice. Armaan laughed and hugged her.

While pulling away from him, Olivia said aloud to Shruti, leaning towards her, "Babe, you are going to have one hell of a ride tonight. I would suggest, you let him have the control once you are in bed, and he will make you feel like you are on the ninth cloud. Trust me, I know, speaking from experience. Although, it's been years so he must have grown much more...", Olivia said wiggling her eyebrows at Armaan, ignoring how the group had gone into shock.

Armaan himself was staring at her in shock. Shruti didn't know how to react to it. All the gleeful feeling from whole evening just drained out of her within the frame of Olivia's speech. She didn't look up from the ground she was staring at, it felt too vulnerable.

While everyone else was glancing between the staged people, Armaan's gaze found Brandon's stiff form against the car. His hand on the door lock was frozen, his fist was clearly clenched around the handle.

"Oh! I do remember that day now! What are you staring at Manny? Don't you remember? You lost your vi-mmphhhmhh"

"Stop talking Olivia-", Armaan told her while one hand sealed her mouth from speaking and destroying things more than she had already done, "-go home, now!"

Olivia yanked away from his hold and grumbled before kissing rather pale looking Landon on his cheek and stumbled towards the car.

"Come on Brandon, get in, I want to go home, I feel like I'm gonna puke..."

Brandon didn't reply, he just lifted his eyes to meet Armaan's and something broke in the moment. Armaan felt it. The betrayal overlapping their bond.

He could clearly see Brandon's eyes asking him questions, wanting a hint of the truth in the words that had left Olivia's drunken mouth. Armaan couldn't lie again like he had done all those years ago. He couldn't look at him. All those years of having trusted each other, it felt like hanging on thread. He didn't even remember the days before he met the boys. The moment with Olivia was one of the moments he had forgotten for few years now, but he clearly remembered why he had forgotten. Because he had acted like nothing ever happened. Now, he can't.

He looked away, clearly indicating Brandon that what he was thinking was entirely true.

The car's door slammed shut, Dan drove them away from Landon's house, leaving a teary new Bride, a distraught Armaan and disappointed friends standing on the porch.