A/N: Sorry for disappearing for so long, real life got very busy 😢 But I'm back and so is tea spilling kitty (just in time out prison for this chapter).

***

The next morning, the house was in slight disarray as they gathered their things for a two week stay at Shreya's place.

Kavya's room looked like a tornado had hit as she mulled over her choices. She had almost emptied out wardrobe to bring it with her until Shreya noticed and put a stop to it.

Suddenly, her phone chimed, indicating someone had messaged her. She flopped on her bed, abandoning her task at hand to read the text.

Romil Patel:
Hey! Just checking in. Hope you're doing fine today.

A wide grin spread over her face as she replied his text.

Kavita Kapoor:
I'm ok. Thanks :)

Romil Patel:
That's great! See you in school.

Kavita Kapoor:
See you.

Romil Patel was checking up on her. Suddenly, she felt as if her current outfit no longer suited her. She was in the midst of digging through her pile of clothes when her father knocked on the opened door.

"Kavya?" Rohit called out.

"What do you think looks better? This dress or this top with my current jeans?" Kavya assaulted verbally.

Rohit could only stare at her in confusion. What was going on?

He looked around to see if Shreya could help him out in this situation but unfortunately, he knew that she was downstairs having her breakfast. He didn't want to call for her as she would have to make her way upstairs with a sprained ankle.

"What's the occasion?" Rohit settled with instead.

Kavya huffed in disappointment. Her dad was no help. Instead, he is going to interrogate her.

"It's nothing," she sighed.

"Then you might want to hurry up if it's nothing," he told her, oblivious to the situation. "You're going to be late for school. Are you sure you don't want a day off?"

After Romil's text? Hell no!

"I'm fine," Kavya quickly replied. "I just need to finish cleaning this up."

Rohit nodded. He was about to leave when he saw Kavya trying to choose between the two outfits again. A sudden realization dawned upon him.

"Hey Kav," he spoke, which caused her to whip her head around. "What you're wearing is fine. I like it."

Rohit then have her a reassuring smile then left. He had to talk to Shreya about this. Does she know about this crush?

After cleaning up and a hurried breakfast, Kavya made it to school with less than 5 minutes before the bell. Days like these were days she wished her school was a bit smaller. She silently cursed as she ran down the hallway.

"Kavya!"

It was Aarav.

"I'm going to be late for class Aarav," she announced. "This better be quick."

"Err..," Aarav hesitated.

"You have 10 seconds," Kavya rushed. "I have English and you know how the teacher can be. 10, 9, 8..."

"Meet me at the music room at lunch," he spouted out. "We need to talk."

"Ok!" Kavya replied hurriedly. "I'll see you later, bye!"

Just as Kavya made it to the classroom, the bell rang. She noticed both seats next to hers were filled and both of them looked at her expectantly. She quickly decided to entertain Nayara first since they were tablemates.

"Aarav was looking around for you," Nayara informed. "Where were you?"

"I had something to do," Kavya answered. "But we ran into each other earlier."

"What did he want?" Nayara asked.

"I don't know," Kavya responded. "He asked me to meet him in the music room later at lunch."

Nayara shrugged it off and returned to whatever she had being doing earlier. Kavya then turned to the other side to face Romil.

"Hi," she spoke.

"You made it," he cheered. "How's things at home. Have you sorted out out yet?"

"The situation's complicated," she revealed. "It's not something that can be fixed overnight. Thanks again for your help."

"It's nothing," he returned with a smile. "Just don't run away again."

Before another word could be said, the teacher entered the class. Romil flashed her another smile before paying attention to the roll call.

***

It was unlike Rohit to ask him to deal with security without him. When Aman heard of a commotion happened last night, he couldn't help but review the tapes. What he saw both shocked and made him feel bad.

"Delete it," he commanded the security team. This can never be leaked to the public. Now he understood why Rohit couldn't do it himself.

As if on cue, his phone rang. It was Rohit.

"Hi Rohit," he greeted. "I've taken care of the recording just like you said."

Silence.

"Rohit?" Aman spoke, this time louder.

"Thank you."

Shreya Kapoor.

"Shreya, where's Rohit?" Concern laced his voice. "Is everything alright?"

"He's fine, everything's fine. Rohit's helping me with some things. Rohit wants you to bring over the documents on his desk."

Aman let out a sigh. "I'll do it, is there anything else?"

"No, that's all. Erm... We're at my house."

What were they doing there? Didn't they just move to Rohit's place?

"Your place," Aman confirmed. "Got it."

Without another word, the line went dead.

Talking so casually to Shreya after years was weird. They used to be friends in what seemed like another lifetime.

Aman left his office to pick up the documents as requested. When he was about to leave, he saw Tania at the doorway.

"Is Rohit around?" Tania asked. "I was in the neighborhood so I thought I'd just dropped by."

"He's at Shreya's," Aman revealed. "Thanks for checking up on him."

A confused expression crossed Tania's face but it was quickly replaced by a wry smile.

"In that case," she announced. "I'll get going."

"Tania," he called out. "I'm going over in a bit. Do you want to come along?"

Tania nodded and let Aman lead her over to his car. They were silent until they were in the safety of Aman's car.

"I'm guessing you're here for more than a social visit?" Aman asked.

"You sure are perceptive," she responded. "No wonder Rohit praises you all the time." She took a deep breath before continuing. "When we got together, we were both somewhat in a bad place. He just got bested by his own father and I... Well, you know the story. Newcomer model bags India's most eligible bachelor."

"It's unfortunate they don't know the real story," he sympathized with her.

"It's all in the past," she shrugged.

"A word of advice," he offered. "Fix it. You've seen what it's done to Rohit, don't let it haunt you. You don't have the luxury of a car crash to say you've forgotten about you life before your modeling days."

Life before her modeling days... That was a whole different life and a whole different time. Aman was right, she was unfortunate that she could recalled what life was like for her back then.

"You know Aman," she sighed, slightly altering the subject. "If I could have prevented the car crash, I would. I had always wondered how different things would be of it hadn't happen."

"For you?" Aman noted. "Not a lot. For Rohit? His entire world."

"Thanks for the assurance," she laughed. "But I guess you're right."

"Trust me when I say there's nothing in the world you could have done to prevent that car crash," he informed her. "Deepak was gone too far."

She hmm-ed in response as they pulled up at Shreya's house.

***

A/N: Anyone interested in finding out more about Tania's past with the two boys? Also, how cute is Kavya and Romil? AND! Rohit's response 😂😅