« AHANA »

From that day onwards, Vansh and I started dating. There were no restrictions, no distances, no delays. We met each other whenever we could, and departed even if we didn't want to. What surprised me is how we were doing it. If you look at us, we wouldn't seem like a couple who had known each other for a long time. Quite on the contrary, we behaved as if we were in our honeymoon phase. We messaged, talked on phone, met each other twice a week (sometimes even thrice). We didn't stress much about the things we did. Just sitting cuddled on the sofa next to him, watching TV in his apartment was a cool enough date for me. Infact, most of our times were spent in his apartment (for obvious private reasons). Although that didn't mean we never had more- than- normal dates. We still fooled around. We still pranked people. Being crazy was in our genes. In the end, I didn't care what normal or upnormal things we did, as long as it was with him. It was him that mattered. Maybe this was the consequence of staying far away and the many fallouts between us.

Since I was dating my favorite person again, obviously I was thrilled to share this news to the world. I thought of posting a scandalous picture of us together— either us embracing each other, or me kissing his cheek— but Vansh rejected it. He instead proposed the idea of doing a joint video call with the college group, breaking the news there and then. Vansh tried to convince them but with different time zones and work schedules, it wasn't easy. I told him to encourage them by making up a fake- ghost- in- the- room story. About a week later, when the video call finally commenced (thank God!) Vansh entertained everyone by keeping up the fake suspense, until finally he gestured me to show myself. They weren't shocked at his story as much as they were to see me, coming in front of Vansh to peck firmly on his lips. Some said they expected it while some were genuinely shocked. I could almost sense Lisa's envy through the screen, even though she didn't word it. Despite their different reactions, they were happy for us and told us not to screw up again. I posted a picture of us later on for the rest of the world to know. Vansh specifically
suggested to accept Shreya's friend request that she sent me on Facebook long back, and tag her on the picture, just for the bitch to see it.

Besides getting his sweet revenge, Vansh had other things taking place in his life, too. Let's just say that I, Ahana Mishra, became his lucky charm. Good things have been happening to him, ever since I re- entered his life. It started with his transfer to a different department in the same office. Vansh shamelessly bid farewell to his fake collegues and got transferred to a higher and better department. Not only his salary increased but the collegues he encountered were far better than his previous. Within a month, he became a part of a gang who were dedicated, both inside and outside the office. The downside being, he became busier and more involved in his work life. Our dates cut down to one day a week. It was difficult adjusting to his new schedule at first, but eventually he found time for me and we got used to it.

Two months into his new office, something that never happened in his two year stay in Delhi, happened. He got himself a roommate. He met that person through a colleague of his. The roommate was in his early thirties and currently working as a civil engineer. Said he wanted to change flats since the one he rented was unhygienic. Vansh and him, sort of interviewed each other to check whether they were potential serial killers or not. That person managed to click all boxes required for a decent roommate. All except one.

His name was Piyush Agrawal.

‘The whole universe must be laughing at me.’ Was what Vansh said to me. He was actually going to reject his offer just because of a name he loathed but somehow I convinced him to consider.

Piyush Agrawal was the total opposite of Vansh. If Vansh was a hyperactive bunny, Piyush was the calm one. If Vansh was a dirty mess, Piyush was a cleanliness freak— you get the picture. Vansh thought that maybe Piyush was going through a tough phase or something since he rarely spoke, but Piyush defended saying he had always been this way. Since Piyush was reserved and Vansh didn't have much time to spare, they didn't interact much. Which was fine, actually. They weren't close friends but didn't act like total strangers either. They just minded their own business more. Piyush would even go as far as leaving the house, when I showed up.

“It's okay. I had these days with my ex, too,” he said to us one day, then added with a small voice, “Besides I'm not a big fan of hearing certain noises.”

Never mind that I was blushing red, Vansh was laughing instead, “Seems like my character is finally rubbing off of you, man.”

Regardless, I was happy for Vansh. He was finally leading a good life in this city.

~

Just like that, those two months turned into six.

Oh, don't worry, we were still happy and going strong. Nothing major happened.

Yet.

It was a normal Sunday afternoon in his apartment. The sound of TV could be heard from the living room. Piyush was sprawled on the sofa in the living room while Vansh and I were resting in the bedroom. We were playing a MMO game together with our respective mobiles, when I told him to log out and listen to me.

“I'm bored.” I nagged him.

“Fine, remove your clothes. I'll follow right after.”

“Not everything has to be answered with sex. And we just fucked an hour ago, stupid.” I whispered, slapping his arm. Besides, the idea of having Piyush breathe in the same floor as us while having sex didn't exactly make me comfortable.

“What else, then?” He sat up straighter with his brows slightly furrowed. “I'm not in the mood to go outside if that's what you're suggesting.”

I lay on my back, groaning. “I don't know. Lately, I've been in the mood of something crazy. Something grand that would outweigh everything we have done so far.”

“Something grand, huh?” He repeated my words then said nothing. But I knew him well enough to know that I got his creative juices churning. I smiled hideously.

Afternoon eventually turned into evening but nothing crazy seem to be hitting our doorstep yet. I was busy scrolling through the wedding pictures of my ex classmate in high school while Vansh was asking Piyush about dinner. I showed the pictures to Vansh as he sat besides me. I began commenting something about the saree, the bride was wearing while Vansh listened. It was a scene, not even worth filming on YouTube, forget movies. There was absolutely nothing romantic about this. Why do I say this?

Because the very next moment, Vansh proposed me.

“Let's get engaged.”

“Are you out of your stoned mind?!”

“Damn, that escalated quickly,” Piyush whistled, coming out of nowhere. “Your rejection, too.”

“Where the hell did you came from?! Please go back to your beloved TV,” I told Piyush who was beginning to enjoy our show. When he was out of our sight, I whispered loudly. “I suggested for something grand level crazy— not a life changing decision!”

“You're not getting my point, are you? Okay, listen—” Thereafter he recited his plan. As I listened to it with interest, I finally understood his point of view and what he was trying to say. My insides were kicking with excitement. I could hardly wait for it. A day later, we began searching for the venue in the internet, the people we would invite, and the total money burning from our pockets.

A perfect plan for our fake engagement.

It would undoubtedly be the biggest crazy thing we have ever done. Just imagining everyone's priceless faces after they would know the truth had my brain cells turned on. The only person we wouldn't be able to fool was Vansh's beloved roommate. Vansh told Piyush himself and made him swore our secrecy to his grave. There was still one problem though— our parents. We had to make sure that they wouldn't get an inkling about this prestigious occasion. We eventually came up with a fake story as to how our parents were constantly changing their opinions about us. We told our guests not to give them even the slightest clue about our secretive engagement. Our friends readily agreed.

The day of our fake engagement was fast approaching. The preparations were in motion too. The venue we booked was the same bar where Vansh and I role- played as Amandeep and Vernika. Also because it was cheap. This wasn't even a real engagement but with a real venue and a real dress, it sure felt like one. I couldn't tell whether I was more excited about fooling everybody or the engagement altogether.

The first victim to grace our presence that day was surprisingly the one who lived the farthest. We didn't invite Lisa initially, since we didn't want to waste her time and money for a fake occasion but then, she found out from Pragya. ‘There's no way I'm going to miss the fairy tale engagement of two closest friends.’ She said and thus invited herself. Well, her loss.

Lisa reached India yesterday so naturally she became the first guest in our party. The second line of victims were Nisha and my bro- friends. One hour went in Vansh interacting with my bro- friends or rather, they interrogating him. It was the their first time meeting Vansh face- to- face. It went unexpectedly well. By the end of, the room that was peaceful with jazz music before, became noisy with their uncharacteristic laughs. 

Still surprised, huh?

Because the object of Vansh's jealousy, that is Piyush (the one who proposed me), was not present. Only Vishal, Xander and Aman had showed up. Now why wasn't I surprised?

“You did this on purpose, didn't you?” I told Piyush the second time, over the phone. When I told him previously, he told me to be grateful that he wasn't present. Either it would be Vansh beating the shit out of him or Piyush loosing his cool. In one of our rare conversations in the past, I told Piyush about Vansh being slightly jealous of him to which he laughed out loud. He couldn't understand why Vansh was, when it should be the other way around. Boys, I tell you.

“Maybe yes, maybe no,” Piyush gave his half hearted answer as usual and I groaned in annoyance. “Look, I'm seriously not kidding about me being busy here. The deadline is due in a week so you can imagine how work is right now. Not to mention how far Delhi is from Bangalore. I can't just fly away in a day and return, without spending ample time with my family. I hate those kind of long- distance- short- time journeys. Really, really hate it.”

“Yeah, you hate everything. Even me.”

Now it was Piyush who groaned, “Ahana, instead of worrying about what I think, worry about how you're going to be chained into binds of marriage in a few months. I remember how you used to complain about it. My sincere condolences.”

After some time of our back- and- forth conversation, I bid goodbye and wished him luck for his project. Just then, he added. “No, wait, I forgot to mention something.”

“What?”

“You look absolutely dazzling tonight.”

That's what I intended for when I chose to wear a silver lehanga- blouse with intricate designing, wrapped in a light blue dupatta. My gaze flickered to Vishal, Xander and Aman who were talking loudly amongst themselves. “Did they send you a photo of me?”

“Not at all. I need no photo to validate my statement.”

“But you can't—”

“Knowing that it's my cutie- pie we are talking about, there's no way she won't look beautiful, that too, on her special day,” He said and I fell into a stupor. He cleared his throat. “Now stop blushing and go to your man. Goodbye.”

Was it pathetic that I was actually blushing? Hand it over to Piyush to flatter a woman. Not like Vansh didn't compliment me often. He had his own teasing ways too, but perhaps Piyush was a little better at this. He should seriously consider writing a book about it.

I returned to my boyfriend and smiled seeing him and my best friend getting civil. Things were quite uncomfortable between them in the beginning, considering how their previous encounter went. I had to pamper each with good things about the other before this meeting, just so they could avoiding loathing, especially Nisha. Glad my efforts bore fruit in the end.

“You sure took your sweet time, huh.” Vansh wriggled his eyes at me. I teased him about how hardworking and dedicated Piyush was, just to get a reaction out of him. I chuckled when he grumbled something under his breath and reverted talking to Lisa as if he was unfazed. Aw, jealous Vansh is my best Vansh.

“Piyush's right, though. You should worry about marriage— coming soon to wreck near you.” Aman, who was sitting on table next to us mocked after overhearing our conversation. Vishal joined in, joking about how my career would be ruined since I would be too busy taking care of my baby bump after marriage. My eyes flickered to Vansh, who turned to look at me, too. Two hideous smirks erupted in the midst of barbaric laughs. Just wait and watch, suckers.

The party got more chatty as more guests arrived. Most of them were collegues. The ones we were furiously waiting for, also graced us with their royal presence eventually. It was nostalgic meeting Dhruv, Pragya, Lisa and Tripti after months. It made the Orai trip seem like yesterday. Of only Chad and Mark would be here too. It was precisely one reason why Vansh and I held such a grand fake party. The smiles we shared together made it worth our efforts.

Though it still sucked how we couldn't spend much time. We had other guests to babysi— attend after all. Vansh and I took a breather after engaging our guests with sweet talk. My eyes swept across the room, observing my poor victims when I spotted two people sitting on the bar stool, talking cautiously. I patted Vansh's shoulder and he followed my line of sight. A look of surprise crossed his face as well. Those two were none other than Dhruv and Lisa. We stepped a bit closer, shamelessly trespassing their privacy.

“You know that senior I mentioned in our group chat earlier? Well, she's been getting quite chatty with me these days. We even have lunches together. I asked her to watch a movie with me next week.” Dhruv told her with his head held high.

“Oh, good luck with that. I hope it goes well,” Lisa replied, giving away a plastic smile. She then continued looking ahead. “I have been on dates before but it wasn't anything remarkable. More than that, I liked touring around the headquarters of RCMP. Since my male friend is a police officer in RCMP, it was fairly easy to get in there. It was spectacular. He even showed me the training grounds...”

A while after overhearing their conversation, we grimaced. Dhruv was behaving like a perfect man who was unfazed by her presence and her tales. Like he didn't care she was there talking next to him. Even my ears knew his laughs were fake. While Lisa, her face was too easy to read. She looked close to blowing up. But then, I wondered why. Why they were insisting on talking when it was clearly uncomfortable for them? Why they were wasting time with each other? It wasn't like anything would change now.

“It's their pathetic way of dealing with each other. Let them be,” Vansh whispered after I voiced out my thoughts. “They will be fine after a while. Remember how we were when you came to my apartment after months? Pretty awkward right. I think deep down they are aware of their foolishness but they just can't help it. Dhruv— he was pretty wrecked after the breakup but now, he's okay. I don't know if he has moved on or not but atleast he's better. He fools around these days.”

“Fools around?”

“You know, flirting with girls and such. He's not looking for love right now. Just some fun as he says.”

“Hmm...” I linked my arm with his and leaned slightly towards his shoulder, making him divert his attention to me.

“What?” He asked with a laugh.

“It made me wonder what would have happened if we were in their place right now? If one of us had actually moved on. I—” A lump formed in my throat and I buried my head onto his arm. My voice was quiet, very quiet. “I can't imagine.”

“That's because it didn't happen. If it did... we would have been lot worse than them, trust me.” He kissed my temple. “Come on, let's go. The show has just started.”

“Roger!” I smiled, feeling lucky than I have ever been.

Everyone we invited had arrived by now. Everyone congratulated us with blessings and gifts, unaware of the prank we were pulling behind the curtains. We were almost done with our mini preparations. The stage was set. Everything was perfect.

Until that happened.

It started when a doorman, who was previously standing by the entrance of the bar, approached us, looking troubled. “Sir, Ma'am.”

“Yes?”

“There's a young lady at the door. She claims to be one of your guests but she doesn't possess the entry pass so I can't let her in.”

“Must be a regular. Tell her to come to the bar tomorrow. It's already booked for the night.” Vansh told him absent-mindedly.

“I did but, uh, she...” The doorman hesitated. “She claims she knows you, Sir. Please check yourself to make sure. If she's not someone you know, I'll get her out myself.”

“Strange. I think we invited everyone we wanted to, haven't we? Maybe she's one of your collegues you forgot to invite or someone from your previous department. Hey, you listening, right? Vansh?” I called him who was thinking hard on something so trival. He seemed like he received a minor shock when I called him again. “Vansh! What happened? Come on, let's check.”

“Ye- yeah. Okay,” He let out a nervous laugh, “I just hope she's not what I'm thin—”

“You disappoint me, Baweja.” A sensuous voice, cut through his rambling from behind and we froze. More like Vansh did.

Gradually we turned towards the direction of the entrance, facing the owner of that voice. She placed a hand on her hip, appearing offensive. “You prepared this glorious occasion to cater to your happily- ever- after fantasies, yet you couldn't hire a decent doorman who can distinguish between a drunk and a guest. I mean, look at me— I came all dolled up for this occasion, yet this man doesn't let me in because of a piece of paper that I don't fuckin' possess. Are you what, a prime minister now?”

I couldn't bother to hear the rant till the end. My senses were far too busy gazing at the familiar woman before me. Familiar in the sense of knowing so much about her. Recognizable in the sense of having her glamorous pictures slapped right into my face. Adorned in a traditional, black- orange, front slit kurta that revealed a bit of her stomach, dark orange palazzo pants and a pair of golden stilettos, all of which hugged her perfect figure— she looked every bit of stark beauty that her pictures defined, if not more. And that wasn't even the most alluring part. It was her sharp grey eyes that seemed to say- 'yes, notice me and get mesmerized'.

“Natasha?”

Hearing her name from the lips of my lover pierced a metaphorical arrow through my heart. My jaw clenched. My hand clenched. In that moment, I couldn't think of anything. Not the fake engagement, not the guests but just her and her scandalous past with him. Hell, an all out war started between us because of her. My eyes moved to Vansh. How sweet? Apparently, I wasn't the only one checking her out.

“Ow, ow!” Vansh flinched when my hand reached behind his back to pinch him. His gaze flickered to me for a split second before he got interrupted by the doorman who was long forgotten. The doorman left after Vansh clarified that she was indeed one of our guests. Guests? That made my blood boil.

Everything was normal. I was as usual. Natasha had finally calmed down from her outburst earlier too, yet Vansh was frantically exchanging gazes between the two of us, like it was the end of the world. Fear crossed his face. Why he was looking at me as if I was about to do something dangerous? I looked perfectly harmless.

It was then I realized, that my lips had curled up into a devious smile on their own. Things were about to get very interesting

I finally got to meet you, buttface.

⚫⚪⚫⚪⚫

A u t h o r s   N o t e

Ha, ha, ha! 😈😈

You thought you wouldn't see Natasha ever again, didn't you? As if! 😹😹

Jokes apart, how was the chapter? Did you like Vansh and Ahana's stable, developing relationship so far? How do you think their fake engagement will fare up now that Natasha's here? Or will it go as planned? Do comment down below. I would love to hear your thoughts (pretty please)

Meanwhile you can check up on Natasha's story. I have started updating it.

Until next time. 😁😁