Sanam made her way to the washrooms. She locked the main entrance door once she was inside, wanting some privacy. She walked to the sinks and looked at herself in the mirror. She did not realize there was already a person in one of the stalls. She inhaled deeply to calm herself when she heard the flush. A girl around her age walked out of the stall a second after and smiled politely at her before proceeding to wash her hands.

When Sanam just stood there, the girl started to get the impression that she wasn't there to touch up her make-up or use the restroom. Glancing at her through the mirror, she asked, "Are you alright?"

Sanam's eyes traveled to her as she forced a smile, "Yeah, just... lots of people outside, you know?"

The girl pulled tissues out of the dispenser and started to dry her hands. "Yeah, I know what you mean. I haven't seen you around. I'm Tanisha."

"Sanam." She introduced herself, finding the name familiar and it instantly clicked.

The person Rashi was talking shit about.

She couldn't understand it at all. The girl standing in front of her, Tanisha, was beautiful. She had short shoulder length straight hair, brown eyes, a great body... not thin as Rashi or even petite as herself, but definitely on the healthy side. More than looks, Sanam noticed her personality. She didn't even know her, and yet asked if she was fine. If Tanisha wanted or was one of the rich snobs, she could have easily just left the washroom minding her own business.

Tanisha asked striking a conversation, "So who are you here with? Your name sounds familiar but I haven't lived here in long so I'm sorry if I don't recognize you right away."

Sanam waved it off, "Oh, not at all. I'm not... I mean my family isn't one of the more prominent names. I'm just here with Arjun."

Her smile widened, connecting the unsaid pieces. "Ah! You're Sanam. Nice to finally meet you, girl. You have no idea. I kept on hearing your name the whole night. You're kind of a celebrity right now."

Sanam's eyes widened at the news, "Say what now?" Celebrity?

Tanisha chuckled, finding it sweet yet amusing, "Well, ofcourse! You're the latest addition to the Mehta's. Their youngest daughter-in-law. No one believed Arjun would be the one to settle down young. I'm sure you know his past. We all do. It's natural that people are curious about you, especially since no one really knows anything about you or your family. And a little sneak peek into the minds of the elites? They do not take well to the newest mysterious person on the block. They dig for ever dirty little secret to use as a weapon. They can be highly insecure."

Sanam laughed nervously, "If you were trying to make me feel better, you're failing miserably."

Tanisha realized her unintentional blunder and quickly apologized, "Oh God! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to startle you at all! Trust me, you have nothing to worry about. I don't know Arjun recently but the guy I do know would never let the society trample you down, especially not when he loves you. Besides, I'm going to take the liberty to pass a quick judgement and say you're one of the kind ones and beautiful, which is a given. Arjun wouldn't marry you otherwise."

Sanam started to smile at her ability to quickly comfort someone after she had just raised a cause of alarm, "Thanks, you're pretty sweet yourself."

"Aww, see. You're just proving my point. Anyway, how long are you planning to hide in here?"

Sanam answered with uncertainty, "A couple of minutes more?" If it were up to her, she wouldn't want to go back and face the crowd. But, she knew that wasn't practical.

Tanisha stood next to her, leaning back on the counter behind them, "Alright, couple minutes. Then I drag you out with me. Capisce?"

Sanam asked to break the awkward silence in between, "So... how do you know Arjun?"

Tanisha said, "I used to be friends with Anaya. I know, she's younger than me but we were still good friends until... So yeah, we've come across a few times when we were teens. Then I moved away with my family to Cali. Now, we're back."

Sanam suggested, noticing the abrupt pause she had made before continuing, "Why don't you come by the house then? I'm sure Anaya would love to see you again."

"Maybe," She said with uncertainty before announcing, "Alright, two minutes are up. Let's go." She took her elbow to pull her out.

Sanam exclaimed, "Hey, slow down woman. Sprained ankle."

Tanisha instantly stopped, "Sorry! I didn't know."

Sanam was quick to dismiss it, "It's fine, Tanisha." This time, she wasn't pulled and the two quietly walked back to the venue.

Samar found them, exclaiming. "There you are! Arjun's going crazy thinking you wandered off again. Like seriously, the dude needs to chill out." Then, his eyes traveled to the person beside Sanam. "Wow. Hey. Tanisha?"

Tanisha chuckled at his surprised expression, "Yeah, don't look that surprised."

Samar adjusted his expressions, ashamed, "Sorry, it's just..." He didn't mean to offend her.

She waved it off, "I know. Anyway, it's good to see you but if you'll excuse me now, I have someone I need to find." She turned to Sanam, "It was great talking to you, babe. See you around I hope?"

Sanam smiled and answered with a nod before turning to Samar who was still gazing at a leaving Tanisha. She shook him gently, breaking his trance and teasing him, "She's gone."

Samar blinked, "Hmm? I wasn't..." He started to deny, focusing on Sanam.

She laughed, not believing him for a second, "Sure."

Samar frowned, "Whatever. Let's get you back to Arjun before he loses it. Were you in the washroom the whole time?"

She replied as they walked at a slow pace towards where Arjun was, "Yup, found Tanisha and we were talking."

With a surprised tone, he asked, "You two were talking?"

"Is there something wrong with that?"

He concluded, "Okay, she really has changed. Back in the days, she barely talked to people. It's like she had social anxiety or something and she'd run away at the mere thought of having to interact with people."

Sanam wondered if they knew each other as friends or he was just commenting on something he might have observed. "People change." She offered, not knowing much personally about Tanisha but knowing enough that generally if people have a startling difference in their personalities, then something just as drastic had to have happened that changed her. Or, better yet – she evolved.

Just then, they had reached Arjun. Samar padded Arjun's back to get him to turn around, "Found her with Tanisha."

Arjun too was surprised, "You were talking to her?"

She felt the need to defend her newly made friend, "She's not an alien, you know?"

He retracted, "Yeah, I know, but it's just... never mind."

Their conversation was pulled to an end as Parth at the front sparked an announcement, which was more of a toast to his parents and their 25 years of marriage. After that, his parents had the first dance. Sanam's foul mood was forgotten, seeing the couple dancing. Even after years of being married to each other, they looked so much in love. She was aware that couples can fake happiness in public. Her own parents were the poster example. But she was sure that Parth's parents weren't. Their eyes claimed that they were still very much in love. One just can't fake that much adoration for each other.

She didn't realize when she leaned her head back on Arjun's shoulder as they stood by the side. She felt conscious of her action only when his hand came around her, resting on her upper arm. She found herself asking in a soft whisper, "Do you think we'll have that?"

Arjun didn't need to ask questions to know what she was talking about. Love, a happy married life. "One day, yes." He answered with confidence.

She didn't know if he was talking about the two of them together, or the two of them having that separately with different partners since them being together currently was just an arrangement.

Yet, a part of her begged for her to admit that none of what had been between her and Arjun recently was part of an arrangement.

If she would let herself admit, she was falling for him. Her feelings were no longer just platonic.

While one side of the room started to fill up with elder couples dancing, the other was filled with the young couples. Neha tried to get Sanam to join, but she denied, "I'm going to go sit." Arjun started to walk with her, when she stopped him. "Go have fun with your friends, Arjun. You've been by my side the whole night."

She looked towards his friends, and because they don't have girlfriends, they were dancing with each other, making others laugh at their antics. Parth and Samar seemed to be fighting over who gets to be the girl and who was the guy. Drake and Josh didn't really seem to care about that, but Josh did keep on stepping on Drake's foot, making him mutter curses every now and then.

"Go!" She gently nudged him in their direction, convincing him. Finding an empty spot next to Tanisha, she sat with her.

"You should be on the dance floor." She pointed out, but welcomed Sanam nonetheless.

Sanam shrugged, "Like I said, sprained ankle. I need to sit right now if I am going to survive the day at the hospital tomorrow."

"Oh yes, I heard you were studying to be a doctor. How's that treating you?"

She answered honestly, "It has its perks... and then there are setbacks."

Tanisha answered with a laugh, "You don't say." She could never imagine putting herself through medical school. She could call that torture on the mind, body, and soul. They turned their attention to the boys. Arjun was trying to get Parth and Josh to stop their bickering. She shook her head at them, amused. Then, Rashi walked over to them, pressuring Arjun for a dance. Her smile wavered a bit and she felt Tanisha look at her.

She asked, "What?"

She shook her head and returned to watch others. A song later, she spoke up unable to hold it in, "You're going to let her dance with Arjun?"

Sanam asked, "What's wrong with it? They're friends."

Tanisha chided, "Oh, come on Sanam. You should very well know what Rashi's intentions are. I didn't take you to be stupid."

Sanam said, "So what do you want me to do? Arjun is not a kid that he can't deal with it." She didn't want to be the person in his life that dictated which girl he could be friends with. We aren't even in a real relationship after all.

Tanisha rolled her eyes, wishing Sanam would buck up, "Look, I used to be just like you, okay? So trust me when I say you don't just ignore a girl like Rashi. She's too spoilt for her own good. Arjun won't say anything because her parents are like close family to him, but you should definitely not just sit here!"

Sanam sighed, not liking that she was having an argument with someone she had thought she could be friends with – especially because of Rashi. "It's just a dance, Tanisha." Everything Tanisha had said was true, but Sanam simply felt that she had no energy to waste on Rashi of all people.

Tanisha spoke, "You're still encouraging her to put you down like that by letting her parade around with your husband." She added in a sad expression, "Don't let her walk all over you, babe. It's not a good feeling once she's done with you."

Sanam thought for a few passing seconds. About Tanisha. About Rashi. About Arjun. About their equation. Finally, she stood up. "Fine, but only if you dance with Samar." She had made up her mind to walk over to the dance floor and stop this nonsense regardless, but recalling how Samar had been smitten, she decided to use this as an advantage.

Tanisha was about to object at first glance, but she took a second to think. She stood up as well, "If that gets you to dance with Arjun, gladly. And the sight of a raging Rashi is always a plus."

Sanam chuckled at her later comment and the two crossed the dance floor. Arjun's back was towards her, and he hadn't seen her walking over. She tapped his shoulder and he slightly turned. His face brightened up as he smiled and that's all the encouragement she needed to get Rashi away from him.

"Mind if I steal my husband for a dance?" She spoke to Rashi with her eyes still on him but didn't really wait for her to give permission. She wasn't asking for it, after all. She took a step closer, and intimidated slightly, Rashi stepped aside.

"Ofcourse." She tried to keep her confidence but Sanam had caught her rattled. Rashi hasn't expected Sanam to stand up for herself. She never had at the beach house over Spring break.

Sanam quickly acknowledged their friends, 'Samar, dance with Tanisha. Parth, please save Drake. And Josh, you should dance with Rashi since she doesn't have a partner right now." She tried to make it as if she were being nice to Rashi but the truth was different. This was a harmless payback. Well... it would be a bit harmful considering how many times Josh was about to step on Rashi's feet.

At the mention of Samar dancing with Tanisha, he had looked at Sanam wide-eyed. Catching it, she winked at him to let him know this was his chance. Then, she turned to Arjun, standing in front of him. "Hi."

Arjun softly chuckled. He told himself he should by now stop being surprised by her unpredictability. He whispered back, "Hi" while putting one hand on her back and holding the other. She put her left hand on his shoulder. Gazing into his deep hazel eyes, she let him lead the dance.

She loved that he was one of the guys who could dance and didn't shy away from it. If possible, it made him all the more attractive. If she didn't like dancing before, she was surely learning to love it now. It had to do only with the partner she was dancing with and not the dancing itself. But hush, she wasn't about to tell him that just yet. Or, for that matter, she wasn't about to admit it to herself either.

After swaying for a few seconds, he led her to a twirl before outstretching their arms and reeling her back in. Straight away, he went for a dip and she inhaled sharply at the unexpected move. While they were learning a routine for a dance for the engagement party slash Anaya's birthday, they had practiced this move but it had been a while and it somewhere startled her.

Her eyes snapped at his. There was a soft smile playing on his lips as he securely held her in the dip a second longer. She couldn't look away but she was also a bit nervous. As if catching on to that, he helped her to her feet.

Leaning in, he whispered in her ear, "What was that?"

He was talking about the way she handed Rashi and called him her husband. "Your welcome." She answered shortly, conveying she was saving him from Rashi and got his friends to stop bickering.

"Thank you."

In that second, she didn't think twice before slipped her hand out of his and wrapping it around his neck. "What are you doing?" He questioned to remind her they may be 'together' but they weren't a couple. He didn't want her to start something and complicate things if she weren't ready for that. Though, he thought he might have already started to complicate things earlier today when he had been a second away from kissing her.

Her cheek rested against his as the space between their bodies decreased and they swayed to the slow and romantic number. His hands came to rest on her sides. She felt it was better for her to not have to look into his captivating eyes that always caused her to feel things she hadn't known she was capable of. She felt it would be better to just dance while almost hugging him, but ofcourse it wasn't 'better'. Their proximity was dawning on her. His body heat had been radiating to hers, a fact she was desperately trying to push to the back of her head and not overthink.

She asked the question she needed an answer to in order to clarify a lot of her doubts, "If Neha hadn't interrupted... would you have kissed me?"

~

author note;

Don't you love cliffhangers? I do! }:') 

I like this Sanam who takes charge. Anyone else? And who loves this Tanisha? I sense a new couple in making...

While you wonder what Arjun will say to her question, leave behind some votes & comments!