Alia glances at everyone in the car, her eyes lingering on Fawad and Varun. Both are silent, their minds somewhere far away. The driver stays quiet as well and no one dares to break the silence.

Fawad is busy cursing himself in his head as he takes secret glances at Varun. His thoughts are cut off when Alia faces the back. Varun and Fawad are sitting beside each other, eyes facing the front instead of where they desire it to be. "Do you guys want to go to the beach?" Alia's voice seems like a knife cutting through the awkward silence.

Varun starts nodding, his finger hovering over the volume button as he wonders if it's already to early to block out Alia's voice. Fawad repeats Varun's actions but instead yanking his ear buds out. "Sounds good," he replies, his eyes shifting to Varun quickly then looking back at Alia who broadly smiles.

Alia gives instructions to the driver quickly, telling him to go to her dad's private beach instead of the hotel. As the car goes on, the scenery seems to blur into each other always consisting of people and buildings.

The car stops quickly causing Fawad and Varun to jerk out of their seats quickly. On instinct, Fawad grabs Varun's idle hand which lay on the seat beside them. The driver mumbles a sorry and carries on driving but Fawad's eyes still refuses to drop from the intense eye contact that him and Varun hold.

As soon as the moment came, Fawad drops his hand from Varun's despite the fact his heart is beating faster that it ever has for any girl he's been with. His eyes quickly move to the window as his cheeks burn. Varun however boldly stares at the back of Fawad's head, his hand still lying on the seat as he wonders what's up with Fawad.

Varun ignores his thoughts along with the pang in his heart. No words are spoken but it's enough to slowly distance them apart. To Varun, Fawad is obviously not interested in him or his gender. All the past incidents are most likely nothing more than accidents.

Alia turns around, oblivious to the moments that just past and smiles widely at the pair. "We're here!" She informs them, opening the door quickly. Varun begrudgingly gets out, averting his eyes from Fawad the best as he can. Fawad does the same, trying his best to keep his brown eyes just on Alia.

The car drives off leaving the trio alone. "I don't have my togs here," Varun states grumpily, his minds still on a Khan that will never like him. "I'll sit out."

Fawad nearly sighs in disappointment along with Alia. The only difference is that Alia does sigh while Fawad controls himself, cursing at himself for being disappointed. Alia does nothing to hide her disappointment at the idea of a world without a shirtless Dhawan.

"I don't either," Fawad realizes. Alia nearly cries out this time but controls herself by biting on her lips.

"I can't just swim by myself," she sighs, her eyes scanning the beach's side shops. Far in the distance, a shop stands with a proud sign advertising their swimming shorts. Alia grins, "guys, look!"

Fawad and Varun follow the direction her finger points to, quickly reading the sign. Varun nearly sighs, he's tired and to top it off, his feeling feel jumbled and all he wants to do is to ignore them. But at the same time, he seems to like the butterflies that arrive in the pits of his stomachs every time he sees Fawad.

Alia starts walking towards the shop, letting Fawad and Varun awkwardly stand across each other. Varun maintains eye contact with Fawad, a blush lurking up on him as he remembers how close their lips were. Varun starts panicking when his cheeks start burning and he quickly looks towards the floor.

All his thoughts are telling him is to get rid of Fawad's attention. His body felt hot and he quickly takes off his shirt, fanning himself with it. The action is so casual that Fawad doesn't get confused, instead he just admires the view, even if he only got a second before his mind starts nagging himself to look somewhere else.

Alia turns back, drinking in the sight of a shirtless, blushing Varun and Fawad who is blushing as he glances towards the floor. She ignores their bright cheeks as she speaks, "hurry up!"

The pair avoid eye contact after that despite the sparks that flew and follow Alia. The shops is ridiculously bright and Alia giddy walks towards the bikinis. Fawad and Varun exchange a look of disgust at the extremely bright purple swimming shorts. They happily move on from the disgrace of shorts towards the plain black ones.

□

After shopping, they change into their swim suits. Alia chose to wear a pink togs, Fawad chose a white one while Varun wears simple black shorts. The trio walk at the beach, their feet sinking in the sand as they watch the waves crash on the sand over and over. The water licks their ankles as shells crash beside their feet.
Fawad can't help but to look at Varun who laughs at something Alia says, his eyes dropping towards his chest and dimples. Meanwhile Varun can't help but to sneak some looks at Fawad who walks by himself. An idea snaps in his head and he smiles as he steps behind Fawad. Fawad is oblivious, lost in his thoughts when Varun quickly sweeps Fawad's figure off the sand.

"Varun! Put me down," Fawad protests, his eyes becoming wide. Alia cheers on Varun who carries Fawad towards the water. Fawad grab Varun's neck as he panicks. With a smile, Varun lets go of Fawad.

As soon as he does, Fawad grabs his back, causing them both fall down into the water. Varun quickly rises from the water, shaking his hair as he laughs along with Alia. However, Fawad remains in the water.

Varun's laughter dies as soon as he looks around to see Fawad missing. He turns around, and even that fails to show a sign of Fawad. Varun starts to panick, diving into the water as he forces himself to open his eyes in the salt water. Despite his efforts, Fawad is no where to be seen.

When Varun couldn't hold his breath anymore, he swims to the surface. "Alia, where's Fawad?!" Varun asks, his eyes still scanning the beach for any sign of the brunnete. His heart feels as if it'll jump out of his chest any moment now and strangely, he feels as if he'll never forgive himself if doesn't find him.

"Right over here," Fawad laughs, smiling behind Varun. Varun sighs in relief and grabs Fawad to pull him in a tight hug. Varun tightens his hold on Fawad as if he couldn't believe that he's here, in the flesh.

Fawad returns the embrace loosely after a few seconds of shock. "Don't you ever do that to me again. I swear, next time you won't even live to see the day," Varun mutters angrily to Fawad. Fawad nods subconsciously, his hands still embraced around Varun.

"I might even start shipping you guys if you guys don't stop," Alia jokes, causing the boys to separate. They didn't bother to tell her that they wouldn't have minded if she did.

□

How was the chapter?

This is Maya by the way, of you guys didn't guess by the irrelevant amount of detail. I should stop adding so much detail :/ thoughts?

Tommorow, school officially starts for me and Meghu. Rip to us. Idk how updates would be like after that lmao.

Vote?

- Maya.