I was working on my laptop when a colleague from the cubicle next to me asked me if I was going to go out with everyone for lunch. I had almost finished what I was doing, so I agreed to go with them.

Office was amazing. It helped me keep my head calm and collected. The work load distracted me from my non-exitent, super embarrassing love life, so it was all good. Moreover, the people at the office were great, so I had little or no complaints from them.

We had reached a small café very close to our office where we sat and ordered food. I had ordered some soup with thai green curry and rice. The others had also finished ordering and hence, we were chatting and waiting for the food to arrive.

While I was completely engrossed in conversation with a colleague of mine, I felt a small nudge on my shoulder. I turned to see what it was or more specifically who it was, and I was very pleasantly surprised.

"Arrre, Rohan? What are you doing here in Mumbai?" I cried almost as I got up and hugged him very dearly.

It felt so wonderful to see him after a while. After our trip to Coonoor, I had maintained good contact with both him, Isha and Jai until Zaid and I decided to not be together anymore. So, it was an absolute delight to meet him after so long.

"Aloo, I knew it was you, oh God, I've missed you so much yaar," he said, still hugging me.

"How's Isha, Jai?" I asked.

"They are fine, everyone is fine, Isha keeps asking about you," he said.

I had met him after so long, that it felt wrong to not go out with him for lunch when he asked. So, I apologized to all my colleagues, and moved to his table.

"How're you holding up after the breakup?" He asked.

I maintained a dignified composure as I replied,"Shit happens yaar, it's fine, we weren't being able to handle the relationship, so it's good that we went our separate ways."

"Yeah, but still, Bhai loved you a lot, and I know you felt the same way, so yeah," he said.

I just smiled and sipped my drink. We spoke about him and how he was doing. He and Isha were getting married soon and apparently Isha was driving him nuts. Rohan and Isha had also moved to Mumbai where Rohan was launching his new Bar.

"Bar? Chii, you're going to make people drink alcohol?" I teased jokingly.

"Hey, we're all adults here," he replied chuckling," moreover, the market is huge, so why not."

"Hmm baat mein dum hain," I replied, still chuckling.

We had finished our lunch and I was getting late for work, so we wrapped up and were getting ready to leave when Rohan asked," Alveera, Bar's soft opening is tomorrow night, I'll be expecting you," he said.

"Rohan yaar, I don't know, Zaid will probably be there with his new girlfriend and I don't want to bother them," I replied.

"Bro, relationship broke with Zaid, not with us, you are coming," he said," besides, Isha will kill me if she hears that you're not coming."

I laughed a little and replied," it's still going to be very awkward."

"Will not be awkward, I'll make sure of that, I've already invited Gia anyway. Kindly apna number dena? " He said.

I gave him my new number, got his and Isha's number, we hugged goodbye and then I left.

Rohan was such a sweetheart. It felt wonderful to see him. I knew it was going to be awkward, especially after that night at Wasabi, but Rohan was right, my relationship with them was still strong, so I shouldn't let my differences with Zaid change that. So I decided that I was going to go.

The Next Day

"Alveera, how much more time will you need to get ready?" Cried Gia from the kitchen where she went looking for something to eat. We were both supposed to go to Rohan's Bar's soft opening together.

She was already ready to get out and was waiting for me to get ready so we could start.

In my room, I put on the last coat of my lipstick, and then, I was done. I had worn a black halterneck top with an Aztec print short skirt. It looked casual enough, I think.

Gia and I got out almost immediately as she still munched on the granola bar she took from my fridge.

We reached the place in about 30 minutes. The place was very crowded, with people surrounding the entrance. Gia and I somehow got in where it was a little less crowded. We couldn't see anyone we recognized initially, but soon, I saw Isha almost running up to us to greet us.

"Alveera, Gia, guys! I missed you Alveera, Gia toh still keeps in touch, you've been MIA for so long," she said as she hugged me tightly.

"Ishaa, I missed you yaar, kaisi hain?" I replied.

"I'm fine, kindly come inside, everyone's here, aapka hi intezar thaa," she replied mockingly.

I lightly punched her as the three of us walked in laughing and chatting.

The bar was beautiful. The lights were warmer on the inside, the dancefloor was on the outside buzzing with people dancing away, the inside was more mellow, with bar cabinets and stools, spotlights etc. It all looked very nice.

As we walked in, I saw everyone. Rohan hugged me and told me how glad he was that I showed up. Jai was a little busy flirting with Gia (oh God those two) but then, he made his way to me and hugged me tightly.

"Aapko bara miss kiya maine," he said as he kissed my cheek to say hello.

"Jai, I love you yaar, I missed you too much," I replied as I spoke to him while he still had his arms around me.

We were all having a great time when I finally saw Zaid sitting. We had some eye contact, but I looked away immediately. To my surprise, he walked up to me and hugged me to say hello.

"All good?" He asked warmly.

"Yeah," I replied as the hug broke off and we went back to doing what we were doing.

We were all hanging out and chatting when Isha told us about how she and Rohan were planning on having a destination wedding at Udaipur. She even told me how she wanted me to be one of her bridesmaids. I was honored.

We had all ordered drinks that were definitely on the house, thanks to Rohan. I saw how Zaid still remembered that I liked Apple martinis as he ordered mine for me. I gave him a thumbs up indicating that he was right.

We were all having a great time when suddenly, I saw someone I had met very recently. I couldn't recall where I had met her until she went up to Zaid and hugged him.

Shit! It was the girl I met on the plane. Anousha! She was Zaid's girlfriend? What game was fate playing with me? Was this for real?

I realized that she hadn't met anyone of Zaid's cousins when Zaid brought her over to get her introduced to us. She saw me and immediately recognized me.

"Alveera, HEY!" She said as she walked up to me to say hi.

I got a little awkwarded out as I realized Zaid still hadn't told her about me and him. What was really funny was how Jai reacted when Anousha hugged me. He was about to cry with amusement. This guy, could never be serious.

Everyone else was a little surprised and amused as well. Everyone except Zaid. He looked apathetic.

One by one, Zaid introduced her to everyone. Everyone was really nice to her. Anousha was a nice girl in general. What I didn't like was how she always fell into Zaid every time anything amusing happened. I know I was just bitter, but I didn't really appreciate the PDA.

After a while, we started talking about our trip to Coonoor and how it was possibly the best and the creepiest weekend of our lives. We were all pretty drunk and wasted to be honest. Except Zaid. He was always so responsible.

"You guys all went to Coonoor?" Asked Anousha," not fair yaar, Zaid, take me na?"

Zaid just smiled at her and put his arm around her waist. I didn't really like that, so I conveniently looked away.

I know I was drunk, but it still hurt a lot. We were laughing about something that had happened in our trip when I blurted how I saw Jai and Gia make out on the couch. Everyone burst out laughing as more or less everyone knew about it but kept quiet until now. Then, Jai blurted out how he was surprised I got out of my room given how much time Zaid and I spent in his room during the trip.

All of us had strted laughing as we were drunk and we didn't understand how big a news he had just dropped on Anousha. Zaid realized that and immediately looked at her. She wasn't laughing. She just sat there quietly as she sipped her drink.

Anousha got up and Zaid followed her. I noticed that, and let them be.

Soon, I felt all nauseous again as I had drank too much and as I had eaten too little that day. So, I excused myself and almost ran towards the loo.

As I made my way, I heard Zaid and Anousha arguing.

"You guys dated? You should've told me before inviting her," I heard the muffled voice of Anousha.

"I didn't invite her, she is Rohan's friend, can you please calm down, everyone can hear us," Zaid said.

"They are all too drunk to care," she said as she moved away from him.

Zaid seemed pretty pissed off and he was probably going to yell at a very drunk Jai when I went into the bathroom and puked my guts out.

I came out and saw almost everything was normal. Anousha seemed alright. Everyone was still laughing about something as I sat down.

After a while, everything was spinning. I blacked out twice when suddenly, I fell off my bar stool and fell on the ground.

"Alveera, Alveera," I heard a familiar voice yell, as I finally regained consciousness.

I saw how I was on Zaid's lap as he tried to bring me back to reality. He seemed quite concerned as this was probably the second time I fainted in front of him, after drinking obviously.

I heard everyone around me speak as I still lay on Zaid's lap.

Zaid and Anousha had to drop people as they were the only two who weren't drunk. Anousha dropped Isha, Rohan and Gia off, whereas Zaid planned on dropping me and Jai off.

Zaid dropped Jai off in his apartment and then, we were the only two left in the car. Still pretty weak, I tried to move from the front passenger's seat to the backseat to rest. Zaid pulled over and carried me to the backseat instead. As we reached my new house, I got out of the car and walked towards the door. I dropped my keys as I was too drunk. I was looking for them, when I realized how Zaid had come out of the car and was helping me look for it. He finally found it and asked me which key opened the main gate.

"Zaid, it's fine, you go, I'll get the door," I said, as politely as I could.

"Shut up Alveera, kaunsi chaabi hain?" He replied very annoyed.

I didn't like the way he spoke to me so I ignored him and tried opening my gate. Unfortunately I felt too weak to do that. I was still pretty adamant, so I kept trying.

Zaid snatched the keys from my hand and opened the door. I was quite pissed off at him, so I snatched my keys back, pushed him and got in. To my surprise, he got inside my house as well.

"What do you want?" I asked impertinently.

He went into the kitchen and grabbed water and some left over Mac and cheese.

He came inside my room and tried to force feed me.

"Zaid, I can eat on my own, I don't need your help, please jao," I said, as I tried my best to just push him away.

He looked angrier than before and yelled,"Why do you drink when you can't handle it?"

"I don't owe you any explanation Zaid, why are you even here?" I replied, yelling.

"Shut up and eat," he said as he forced a spoonful into my mouth.

I had had enough of him, so I tried to push him away, I was failing to do so as the alcohol left me weaker than I was in general,"what do you want from me, I've had enough of this, get out of here before I faint again," I said as I tried to free myself from him.

He still hadn't let go and was hugging me tightly right now.

"Zaid, please jao yahan se," I pleaded as I started to bawl this time.

Being so close to him and knowing that he wasn't mine killed me, I didn't want this, I needed him to leave.

Zaid just hugged me, easing his grip this time as he tried to soothe me. This felt better. I was still crying as I calmed down. The tears weren't stopping for some reason, I didn't understand why, I was still sobbing. He finally succeeded at feeding me the food and water.

I was lying on my bed, sobbing when I saw him go out. I thought he had left, but he had just gone out to lock the main door.

Then, he took his shoes off, got into bed, and hugged me tightly as I still cried my heart away.

He just lay in bed with me, hugging me as I wept. He didn't try to stop me or anything. He was just there for me as the night ended.

LOOONGEST CHAPTER EVER! guys! Tell me what you think about this in the comments and please please please vote. ❤❤❤