Author's note: I'm aware I'm super late w the update and I'm genuinely very sorry abt it, had many things drastically change in my life and later ended up publishing more fanfics, will definitely try updating sooner now, also do check out Phoenixlove09 's new Yashasvi book You are in love, its awesome and i just know its gonna slay!

" Aapko pata hai Dadi...."

Yashasvi watched as Eshanya began rambling off to Tanvi's grandmother, and he sighed, turning away.

They'd been avoiding each other after that party night, and when their managers finally forced them to meet again, insisting they were a supposed couple for the media, and had been away from limelight for quite long, and they needed to be seen again, he decided to drive her to Tanvi's house.

But that clearly wasn't enough.

" Yashasvi, I didn't think I'd see you here." Tanvi's soft voice snapped him out of his staring reverie as she descended the staircase.

He merely shrugged in response.
" I didn't think I'd be here either."

" I heard you've a reservation for Bastian today?"

He nodded.
" We do. What about it?"

" Either cancel it, or postpone it."

His brows knit in confusion.
" Why?"

" Because, Sharmin's gonna be there at the same time. And if the two of you can't manage to act well, and she sees through your act, you'd be doomed."

A hint of a smirk spread across his lips, much to Tanvi's amusement.

" Then, there's no way I'm cancelling or postponing this reservation. We'll play it off well, we plan to."

" And what exactly do you plan to do?"

" We fought, a full blown argument, and then I'd my matches and she had her album recordings, we were both busy. I terribly missed her when I was away, and now that I'm back, I'm hell bent on a reconciliation."

Tanvi nodded, clearly impressed.
" Was this your script or hers?"

" Mine." He squared his shoulders proudly and her brows raised in surprise.

" You can cook up stories too?"

" A hidden talent that was hidden from me too, till I'd had her company." He jutted his chin towards Eshanya and Tanvi chuckled.

" We can often discover new sides of ours hidden from ourselves with her around." She murmured, her voice twinged with fondness as she looked at her best-friend happily chirping away to her grandparents.

Yashasvi switched glances between his girlfriend and her best-friend.

" You really love her, don't you?"

" She's my oxygen Yashasvi, she keeps me alive, she keeps me sane, she keeps me happy despite the unhappiness in her own life. Her life ain't a bed of roses, at all. It's only Eeshan who cares about her in her own family. She's got no one she can call hers out there. My best-friend's suffered a lot, and yet, never shown it before anyone. And if there's anyone else out there who'll hurt her, I'll ruin them."

" Like you ruined Sharmin?" He arched a brow at her and she stared back at him, flabbergasted.

" You-how do you-"

" Do you think no one would notice how her followers drastically dropped, or how the articles on her were published out of the blue, or how, slowly, and eventually, she was out of public's eyes and no more one of the most loved content creators and influencers out there? C'mon Tanvi, not everyone's so oblivious."

" Why did you never say anything then?" Tanvi asked with an arched brow, she was beginning to grow exasperated, but she concealed it well.

" You hid it so well, I didn't want to expose you away like that." He shrugged.

Tanvi wanted to snap at him, but she bit it back.

" Y'know....I've heard, Prithvi Sinha's planning on approaching Esha for a new movie."

Yashasvi's eyes grew wide, and he gritted his teeth.

" He's not going to back off easily, is he?"

A smirk danced on her lips, for she knew, he was jealous.

" Prithvi and Esha'd been quite close once." She added slowly, well aware of what was about to come.

" So I've heard." He forced an imperceptible nod.
" What about it?"

" What about what?"

The two pursed their lips as Eshanya chimed, switching glances between the two.

" About...about Moony! We were talking about Moony, weren't we Yashasvi?"

" Yeah." He nodded.

Eshanya looked at them, her suspicion raising.

What were they hiding?

" Singhania, we gotta go. We've a reservation for Bastian, remember?"

" Like this?" She arched a brow and he looked back at himself.

" What's wrong with my outfit?"

" You look like you've come straight from practice Jaiswal."

" I look just fine."

" No you don't. We're either going home and changing, or, we're going shopping. Your call."

" Don't expect me to wear a three piece suit."

" I'm not! Just something more better but still comfortable."

He sighed, nodding his head.

" So where to?"

" Wherever you want to." He gave a tired sigh, but the answer was probably worth it, given the pretty gleam playing on her lips.

" Shopping it is then!" She clasped her hands delightfully, beaming with joy.

With a hint of a smile on his face, he followed her out and unlocked the car.

She was awfully quiet the entire ride, and it didn't sit right with him.

" Are you okay?"

" I am! What could possibly go wrong with me?"

" You're just...too quiet today."

" Well, I can be quiet sometimes." She shrugged.

" Are you upset? Do you not want to talk?"

" I'm not upset Jaiswal, and there's nothing as such." She assured, her gaze flickering out of the window, preparing herself for the paparazzi that'd crowd them soon.

" Then what's with the silence?"

" I'm simply tired."

" Do you want me to postpone the reservation? We can always do it some other day."

" You're being quite considerate today." She mused.

" Just trying to be human. It's okay being tired sometimes."

" Careful Jaiswal, had I not known you better, I'd mistake your humanity for love and care." She teased, and he rolled his eyes, a small smile playing on his lips.

" Whatever." He muttered as they reached the mall.

Yashasvi had never seen anyone as excited about shopping, that too, for someone else, as much as he'd seen Eshanya.

He'd often heard from Shubman, girls loved to shop, but he'd never seen him take Sara out for shopping dates.

Although, he'd heard, before they started dating, he lost to her in uno, and as per the conditions set, took her out for shopping and dinner, and was willing to empty his wallet for her.

And he claimed to hate her, Yashasvi chuckled, shaking his head, attracting Eshanya's attention.

" Did you just chuckle?" She blinked at him, a surprised, amused lilt in her voice, earning an eye-roll from him in response.

" I'm human Singhania."

" Act more like a robot though. The happiest I've seen you is on field. I don't think anything or anyone makes you as happy as cricket does."

You do.

" Cricket's my first love." He hummed in agreement.
" Like music's yours." He added, and her face lit up, indeed agreeing to his words.

" Alright Mr.Jaahil, here's what I've chosen for you!" She thrust a bunch of hoodies and sweatpants in his hands, and his eyes grew wide.

" You want me to try so many of them?"

" Of-course! The reservation's of eight forty-five, we've an hour!"

Groaning, he walked towards the trial room.

And by the end of an hour, Yashasvi claimed, Eshanya Singhania was annoyingly adorable.

She scrunched her nose at the pairings of hoodies and sweatpants she didn't like, nodded vigorously at the ones she approved of, with wide grins, took a few pictures as well.

She grabbed the hoodie and sweatpants he agreed to wear to Bastian, got the billing done, thrust them back in his hands, and took him along for the rest.

" The total is twenty five thousand Ma'am. Card payment?" The man at the billing counter looked up at her and she pushed forward her card.

" Card payment." She nodded her head, grabbing Yashasvi's card from him almost immediately.

" I was going to pay!"

" Well, now you're not! Consider it a gift Jaiswal!"

" But..." his lips parted to retort and the man, having watched their exchange, cut him in.

" Let her pay Sir, it's nice to get spoiled by your girlfriend sometimes. And yours is nice."

" See? He gets me! Let me be a nice girlfriend Jaiswal."

Yashasvi sighed with a smile, letting her have things go her way.

Once they were done, they loaded the bags in the car's boot, and drove to Bastian.

This time, although the ride was a shorter one, it was definitely not a quiet one.

And although he wasn't going to admit it, deep down, Yashasvi was aware he enjoyed it.

Making their way towards the VVIP lounge, Eshanya suddenly held Yashasvi's hand as she saw someone she'd not run into for a year, with the same old person she chose Eshanya over.

The bitter memories of the past began blurring her mind, and Yashasvi stepped closer to her, his gaze dropping down towards her as he forced her to face him.

" Singhania, look at me."

She did not hear him, her gaze still lingering on Sharmin.

" Eshanya." This time, he took her name, gently tipping her chin and she looked at him.

" I need you to breath. It's okay. It's the past. They're not worth your anxiety, or tears. You're okay, you're fine. And y'know what? If it were me in either of their places, I, infinite times, would choose you over anyone-in fact, there wouldn't even be a choice to begin with, for me, it'd only be you. They were both plain stupid to have chosen dirt over diamond, so don't shed your precious tears over them."

His slender fingers brushed across her pale cheeks, pushing back a few loose strands.

" Esha!" Two voices echoed in union, and Yashasvi stepped out of her sight, and stood next to her, possessively sliding an arm around her slim waist, pulling her in.

Both Sharmin and Prithvi's gaze flickered towards his hand on her waist, and they clenched their jaws.

" I see you're here with....your boyfriend." Prithvi forced a smile as he forced himself to say the last word.

" I am. I'm here with my boyfriend Prithvi."
She responded calmly, concealing her emotions well.

" On a date." She added, and the two went pale, forcing nods.

" I didn't expect you to be into cricketers." Sharmin said.

" And I didn't expect you to choose a guy over your boyfriend. But then, here we are." Yashasvi shot the woman in front of him a cold glare.

Sharmin gulped.
" I-I can explain that-"

" Save it Miss Bhatt. I'm not here for your explanations. I'm here for my girlfriend."

" I thought you broke up." She said bluntly and Eshanya scoffed.

" Broke up? I don't think you're hearing yourself Sharmin."

" I mean...you'd not posted about each other for over a month, weren't seen together-"

" Relationships aren't about social media Sharmin, but you wouldn't know that. We had our own schedules, he had his matches, we were busy, that didn't mean we broke up. Posting about each other on social media constantly does not mean being in a happy relationship. So many couples, despite posting each other on their accounts daily, have broken apart, and later everyone found out they had their own issues, and everything was not like the facade they put up on social media. If you do want an example, then, we've got Shubman Bhai and Sara Bhabhi, they're extremely private about their relationship, but they're still so happy. That alone, says a lot."

" There were rumours..." She made a weak attempt to retort, this time, being cut off by Yashasvi.

" And? Rumours don't always have to be true."

" But people said you fought-"

" We indeed fought Miss Bhatt, that doesn't mean we broke up. Fights happen everywhere, what matters is how big a fight it is, and how you resolve it. If there's love, you're willing to do anything to stay and make the other one stay too. And we love each other far too much to let each other go, don't we Anya?"

Eshanya nodded in agreement.

Didn't they?