Rishi kept on gulping alcohol like water.

"Enough Rishi. You won. Now why are you getting drunk like a loser?" Ajay asked angrily as he snatched the glass of whiskey from Rishi.

Rishi glared at him and snatched the glass back and emptied the content of it in a go.

"What's your problem now? You won the challenge without much effort. You should be happy." Ajay said sarcastically/

Rishi kept staring into nothing. He was feeling confused.

He hadn't expected a proposal from Chaahat so soon. In fact, he hadn't expected a proposal from her at all. He was all prepared to lose the bet.

And when she had said those magical words in her icy cold voice, his first thought was to pull her into his arms and kiss her senseless.

But then the ego kicked in and he didn't want to lose the opportunity to win the bet.

And now it's all done and dusted, he is feeling lost for the very first time in his life.

"Rishi? What's wrong now?" Ajay asked in exasperation. Ajay was freaking mad at Rishi for humiliating Chaahat so publicly.

"I am confused" Rishi confessed and Ajay frowned in confusion.

"Confused of what?" Ajay asked without much interest.

"Chaahat" Rishi said.

"You don't have to think about her anymore. She proposed. You rejected her publicly. It's done and dusted. Now leave her alone" Ajay said.

"I don't think I can" Rishi said softly and Ajay looked at him with a confused frown.

"What the hell do you mean by that?" Ajay asked.

"Honestly? I have no idea." Rishi said.

"Did you by any chance fall in love with her for real?" Ajay asked hopefully.

"Love? Rishi Verma? No freaking way!" Rishi said and Ajay rolled his eyes and left from there, leaving Rishi alone with his own crazy thoughts.

***PRESENT DAY***

Mithran clenched his fists angrily at what Rishi did.

If he saw the bloody jerk again, he would definitely rearrange the bone structure of Rishi Verma's jawline.

"Bloody bast**d." Mithran muttered as he took a gulp of chilled beer from his bottle.

"Watch your words, Mithran. You don't know Rishi." Ajay said in a warning tone and Mithran frowned at that.

"What I don't understand is, why Chaahat looked so heartbroken when seeing that picture. And she looked so in love in those pictures. It doesn't make sense." Mithran said, nursing a bottle of beer as he sat next to Ajay, his old school friend, on the terrace of his home.

Chaahat had fallen asleep after her emotional breakdown earlier and Ajay's fiance Ishitha, who happened to be Chaahat's best friend, took her home, much to his annoyance.

Ajay chuckled.

"The story didn't end there, Mithran. It was only the beginning." Ajay said, reminiscing his college days and the beautiful friendship he shared with Rishi Verma.

"What do you mean by that?" Mithran asked.

"By the next day, Rishi was convinced that there was a foul play that happened which he was not aware of," Ajay said.

"What foul play? You mean what that woman Ahaana did?" Mithran asked in disgust.

"Yeah. Something of that sort. He was so damn sure that whatever nonsense Chaahat spouted there meant nothing. There was no emotion when she confessed her love. It all confused Rishi." Ajay said.

"How does that matter? He won the bet. He should have left it at that." Mithran said furiously.

Ajay chuckled, sensing the jealous streak in Mithran.

"Not so easy when he was halfway in love with Chaahat." Ajay said.

"What?" Mithran asked in shock.

Whatever story he learned until now didn't show anywhere that Rishi felt anything for Chaahat genuinely.

"The next day, he was determined to get answers from Chaahat. And we overheard her conversation with Isha." Ajay said.

"What did she say? Why did she do that when she clearly knew it was a challenge for him?" Mithran asked curiously.

**PAST**

Rishi was going around the college in search of Chaahat. Ajay was with him, not wanting him to do anything more stupid.

He stopped some freshers and asked if they saw Chaahat.

"Chaahat and Ishitha are in the fabric store." One of them said and they rushed towards the fabric store.

As they neared the store, they heard the conversation going on between Chaahat and Ishitha.

"Chaahat? Why the hell did you do that? I couldn't talk to you properly yesterday because you refused to talk. Not anymore. I need answers. Why did you do that when you clearly knew it was a bet for him?" Ishitha asked. Rishi and Ajay were shocked at that piece of news.

They knew about the bet.

"I just wanted to get him off my back, Ishitha. And the best way for that is for him to win the bet." Chaahat said.

"What nonsense! Now people are looking at you as if you are a fool." Ishitha said.

"I don't really care. What they think of me doesn't matter to me, Ishitha. My single goal is to finish my degree and earn a respectable job and live a peaceful life." Chaahat said.

**PRESENT**

"Well, ofcourse, she is Chaahat. She will definitely think in a way different from others" Mithran said, shaking his head in disbelief.

"And that was the start of an epic love, Mithran." Ajay said softly.

"Epic love? After which he ditched Chaahat and got married to that woman named Ahaana? Rishi is nothing but a bastard who used Chaahat, broke her heart and left her for another woman." Mithran asked sarcastically.

"Enough Mithran. Don't speak of things you don't know." Ajay said furiously and Mithran took another angry gulp of beer, not understanding why Ajay is defending someone like Rishi.

"Rishi is the man who, even while dying, did everything to protect the woman he loved," Rishi said, shocking the hell out of Mithran.

Even while dying..

Those words echoed in his head making him dizzy for a moment.

"Dying?" Mithran asked in shock and Ajay had a sheen of tears in his eyes.

A/n

Here goes the next update...

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