buckle up your seats,
we are up for a rollercoaster ride!

“I feel so overdressed,” Samira commented towards her short black dress and glancing over the fact everyone were in casuals.

Apparently,  KL and Athiya's idea of party did not have any loud noises or alcohols like any other party. It sparked up an solace atmosphere with familiar tunes of Taylor Swift and several other artists in the background.

Shreyas noticed Samira's concerned expression and his face softened. “I have an idea,”

Samira's face perked up, “What is it?”

“I have some extra clothes in my car— would you like to wear it?” Shreyas asked with sincerity in his voice. “Nevermind the idea is stu—”

“No!” Samira suddenly said, “I mean— yes! I would like to wear them.”

Shreyas softly smiled at her, as he went up to his car to get them. Parvati who was watching the scene, went closer to Samira.

“Am I believing my eyes? Is my bestfriend finally making a move?” She teased, to which Samira rolled her eyes.

“Shut up,” Samira muttered back, a hint of pink appearing on her cheeks. “It's just clothes, nothing more.”

Parvati smirked, clearly enjoying herself. “Oh, really? Then why are you blushing like a tomato then?”

Samira scowled playfully and batted her hand at Parvati. “I'm not blushing, you're just imagining things!”

Parvati chuckled, not buying her friend's denial for a second. “Sure, keep telling yourself that love.”

“Oo, what are we talking about?” Athiya suddenly chimed in. “Are we having an another love story in brewing?”

“Well, it is a love story, Tia,” Parvati teases, “But our Samira here refuses to admit it.”

Athiya's eyes widened with interest, her lips curving into a smirk. “Oh, does she now? Do tell.”

Samira groaned, her blush deepening. “You two are insufferable, you know that?”

With that, Shreyas finally came back. “What is going on, ladies?” He greets, as he handed over a pair of t-shirt and jeans to Samira. “Hope they'd fit you,”

Samira took the clothes from Shreyas, her fingers brushing against his as she did so. A jolt of electricity seemed to pass through her at the brief contact.

She tried to act composed, giving him a grateful smile. “Thank you, I'm sure they will. Um, I'll be right back.”

With that, she rushed off to the bathroom to change, leaving Athiya and Parvati to exchange a knowing look.

The sudden sound of the door bell ringing, caught everyone's attention. “I wonder who that might be,” Shreyas mused.

“Well, it must our very own Shubman and Aaradhya,” Ishan said, throwing an arm around Parvati. “What do you think, love?”

“I think the same, Mr. Kishan.” Parvati laughed, “Always wants to make a grand entrance, these two,”

Athiya laughed, “I will go check the bell.”

As Athiya reached the door, there stood Shubman and Aaradhya. “Look who finally decided to show up!” Athiya remarks.

“Sorry,” Shubman said, “Miss Aaradhya here didn't know what to wear, hence made a chaos and I had to resolve it,”

Aaradhya glared at Shubman. “Don't believe him,” Aaradhya warns. “He's dramatising the situation, I just asked for a suggestion,”

Athiya let out a laugh, clearly amused by the duo's banter. “That's what I thought,” she said with a smirk.

“Come on in, you two,” she gestured for them to enter. “Everyone else is already here and waiting for you.”

As Shubman and Aaradhya entered the room, they were greeted by the familiar faces of the others.

“Finally, you two arrived!” Ishan exclaimed, pulling Parvati closer to him.

“We were starting to wonder if we needed to send out a search party,” added KL with a smirk.

“Well, excuse me for having my own sense of style!” Aaradhya retorted, rolling her eyes playfully.  “And blame it on Mr. Fashion Police here,” she pointed to Shubman, “For being so particular about my outfit.”

The night went on and Samira finally came back, in a much comfortable attire. Shreyas noticed her walking in, and couldn't help but steal a few glances at her.

Virat noticed this and held a smirk, “Got a little crush, Shreyas?”

Shreyas went pink at Virat's teasings, “Oh, she's just a friend, Virat Bhai,” He shrugged off. “I respect her and that's all,”

Virat raised an eyebrow, clearly not convinced. “Sure, just a friend, huh?” he teased. “I saw you looking at her just now. You were practically drooling over her.”

Shreyas rolled his eyes playfully, trying to brush off Virat’s teasing. “You’re just imagining things, Bhai. She’s just a friend. Nothing more.”

Their conversation ended there— when everyone decided to play a game to keep them all entertained.

“Truth or Dare, maybe?” Natasa suggested, to which rest of them nodded and agreed to play.

Everyone gathered in a circle, a mix of excitement and curiosity in the air. Parvati rubbed her hands together.

“Alright, who's going first?” she asked, grinning.

“Me!” Rohit jumped in, taking an empty wine bottle in his hand and placing it in the centre. “Whoever this bottle lands on, I will ask them the question, fine by everyone?”

“Yes, captain!” Everyone chorused.

The bottle was thus spinned— and it landed on Hardik.

“Guess, I am the first victim,” He joked.

“Well here I ask: Truth or Dare,” Rohit asked, to which Hardik seemed to answer with a playful smirk—

“Ofcourse, there's only one answer— Dare.” He replied bravely, “Shoot the dare away, Rohit Bhai,”

“Well,” Rohit seemed to think a little bit. “How about— you dance on the table and one of us records it and you should it post it in on your Instagram Story,”

The room erupted in laughter and cheers at Rohit's daring suggestion. Hardik smirked, clearly up for the challenge.

“Alright, Rohit Bhai, you're on,” he said, rising from his seat. “But I'm warning you— I'm a terrible dancer.”

Hardik soon entertained the group by his terrible dancing skills— the room echoed with laughter and mischeivuosness.

Soon, Hardik finsihed his dare with a quick click on 'Post on Instagram Story', and he sat back to his seat. He held the bottle again, and spinned it for the second time of the night.

This time— it landed on Ishan. “So, my dear Ishan, what do we want, Truth or Dare?”

“Dare obviously,” Ishan said.

“Well,” Hardik pretended to think for a moment. “Your dare is to— be someone's slave till the bottle spins again.”

“Let Ishan be my slave!” Parvati chimed in.

“Nope,” Shubman said, jumping in. “He's mine for the night, isn't that so, Ishan?”

Ishan rolled his eyes, “Guess I am your slave tonight, Shubman.”

“Betrayal!,” Parvati pouted, beating Ishan, who was sitting next to him all this time.

“Sorry! But bros before anything!” Ishan replied cheekily, everyone except Parvati laughed at his response.

“Well—” Shubman began. “Here comes your first order of the night,”

After a few rounds of making Ishan bring him a drink or get him a cookie, Shubman was satisfied with Ishan. “Let's spin the bottle again, shall we?”

The bottle then was spun and spun multiple times, like Parvati being on Ishan's lap for the rest of the game, Virat being dared to recite his love for chole bhature and Shreyas being dared to hold hands with Samira.

This time, the bottle landed on Aaradhya.

“Well, Finally!” Athiya, who spun the bottle, exclaimed. “Truth or Dare, Aaradhya?”

“Truth, I'd rather not risk it,” Aaradhya told. The group groaned at her reply, but Athiya's smirk lingered.

“So, you two never told us much about your relationship—” Athiya began.

Oh no, Aaradhya thought to herself.

“So, I ask you to talk about you and your relationship with Shubman,” Athiya told.

Aaradhya gulped, exchanged nervous
glances with Shubman. “Well.. we met on a party where Ishan and Parvati were invited,” She gave her normal, scripted answer.

“And— He splashed his wine into me,” Aaradhya told. “He was apologetic and was stubborn on buying me a new dress and got my number,”

Virat chuckled, “Bet it was not only to get you new dress, Aaradhya!”

Anushka joined him — “Our Shubi must've fallen for you in the first sight and wanted a reason to be with you,”

Shubman laughed, “How do you know me too well?”

The night continued, as everyone shared their funniest experiences and entertained the others.

However— Aaradhya noticed that Ishan and Shubman slowly head off to the kitchen. Curiosity took over her, as she stood up unnoticed and followed them.

[shes just a girl 🎀 ]

“I don't understand her, sometimes,” Aaradhya overheard Shubman. “One day— she speaks like I am her sworn enemy, the next day the total opposite.”

“She is impossible to understand, Ishan—” Shubman seemed to go on, “Aaradhya is unpredictable. I don't understand her at all,”

Shubman continued on his rant, his voice filled with frustration and confusion. “It's like she changes her attitude towards me every other day. One moment she's all friendly and laughing at my jokes, and the next she's giving me the cold shoulder.”

He sighed deeply, running a hand through his hair. “I just can't figure her out, Ishan. It's maddening. It's like she has a thousand different personalities and I never know which one I'm dealing with.”

Aaradhya felt her cheeks reddening at his words — her heart yet again started carrying an heavy lump. She immediately left the place, as she could still hear the rants of Shubman Gill from afar.

Anger boiled beneath her and guilt of ever deciding to trust him again.

How could he? How could he? How could he?

“You are home early,” Aaradhya heard Rathi say. Aaradhya looked up to the clock— 9:00 pm.

“Yeah,” Aaradhya muttered, trying her best for her voice to not crack. You have done this before, Aaradhya thought, walking towards her room. Breathe in, Breathe out.

“But, which is best anyway, we need to talk about something, Aaradhya.” Rathi exclaimed, making Aaradhya stop walked.

Aaradhya finallu faced Rathi— from her expressions and body language, Aaradhya could tell that it was something important. “Yeah?”

“Well,” Rathi's voice shifted to something more formal, “Your sudden popularity and the upcoming Eras Tour made the management come up with a new plan—

Your fake relationship with Shubman, may escalate to something else amidst the media and public if it continues.” Rathi went on, “The target set for both of you had been succeeded too, which led to us and Shubman's management think—”

“The timeline of contract of your PR Stunt with Shubman may end soon,” Rathi released a sigh, “Right after your Eras Tour performance, in fact.”

As Rathi's words continued, Aaradhya felt her whole world shut down. I should be happy, Aaradhya thought. That this suffering is finally ending. But a feeling of incompletion still lingers.

“So— it's best if you try to cut contacts with Shubman and his friends,” Rathi concluded.

Aaradhya listened to Rathi with a heavy feeling in her chest. Her mind swirled with emotions— relief that the contract would soon end, yet a sense of incompletion and a strange emptiness.

But as Rathi finished her statement about cutting contacts with Shubman and his friends, Aaradhya's heart sank. The thought of no longer spending time with Shubman and the group suddenly hit her like a cold wave.

She tried to mask her feelings, keeping her face neutral, but her eyes couldn't hide the turmoil within.

“I understand,” Aaradhya managed to say, her voice betraying a hint of vulnerability. “So after the tour, everything officially ends, right?”

“Yes,” Rathi confirmed, “You're fine with that, right?”

“Yes,” Her typical answer to every question. Aaradhya tried her best to put a mask on, trying her best to stay neutral and not just breakdown.

Rathi nodded, and their conversation ended there.

Aaradhya reached her room, as she finally felt she could breathe. She pulled out her phone, thinking that informing her friends about this may help her relax.

A sudden notification flashed on her screen, which caught Aaradhya's attention.

S. Gill

S. Gill
my manager just
told me about all
the contract getting over
thing. and i am glad and
happy of all the things
that had occurred
during the times
we had with eachother.

but, i am also glad things
are ending soon. we don't
have to pretend that we
like eachother and are in
love anymore! isn't that great?

i hope we do stay in contact after
things get over, aaradhya!
Seen.

ABHI SPEAKS!

so. how was the rollercoaster?

aaradhya was having the time of the night— but there came the moment she dreaded the most.

it's ending soon. or is it?

we will just have to wait, guys.

(anyways, ill be delivering you guys ur tissues soon enough.)

did we like this chap?

i might post an article tomorrow [ like a trailer for the next chapter ]

but let's see <3 ive been pretty busy lately, i will try my best to update chaps!

Yours,
abhi 💌