Chapter 4

A low hum began playing from a source Shanaya failed to locate in the scant lighting. In an instant, Dhruv’s arm slid around her waist and his palm pressed into her small back, pulling her closer. Despite the thickness of her dress's fabric, she felt his warm hand sending a shiver down her spine. As a reflex, her hands rose to his shoulders and settled there and soon they were lost in each other's eyes.

"What song is that?" Shanaya asked in a whisper, swaying slowly in his arms along with the tune. Her eyes remained glued to his. Stupid as it seemed, she was unable to take them away from his face. Up this close, he looked even more handsome. And tall. She failed to realise it earlier but she only barely touched his shoulder. Craning her neck to not lose sight of his eyes, she held her breath, waiting for an answer.

"I don't know. I don't care," he said in a husky tone. It may have been just a game her mind was playing on her, but she sensed him leaning closer as they moved their bodies along the song. His other hand slid around her waist, pulling her even closer until his breath fanned her face. As his eyes held her prisoner, Shanaya felt her chest twisting in a knot. 

What was he trying to do? Why were they in such a position?

Lowering her eyes forcibly, Shanaya pushed him away.

"I should've known it," she said, her voice breathless. A smirk settled on his lips as he watched her huffing for air. "Honestly, I knew it all along, Dhruv. You'll always be obsessed with me." The smirk flickered and faded away completely when she continued, "That's why you're here. Because even after eight years, you can't move on!"

Shanaya made herself laugh despite the situation and her words. She made herself sound convincingly cruel.

"Don't turn it around on me, Shanaya," Dhruv snapped, his jaw clenching. "You're clueless. This wasn't me trying to claim you again. This was me testing you. You failed. You still have feelings for me!" He reciprocated with a throaty laugh of his own but failed to sound even the slightest bit convincing to her.

"Wait, what you mean to say indirectly is that you have moved on? That you don't care about me anymore? That you don't feel anything. Anything at all for me? " Shanaya asked. The song continued to play over their shouts and barks.

"Yes." He bobbed his head and then grinned widely. "Does that make you sad?"

"It makes me want to laugh until I die! Look around you, Dhruv! Anyone who has moved on wouldn't care to do all of this." In the rage, Shanaya toppled a candle over but it extinguished as soon as it touched the floor.

He took an intimidating step ahead, his face twisted in an identical rage. "I said it already: I was testing you. And you failed." His eyes bored into hers and a short, snappy laugh left her lips.

"Oh, is that what this is? A test? To see if I've moved on? Tell me, Dhruv, do I get to test you as well?" Shanaya snapped back, her head and heart pounding equally. She clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth as she stood watching her with a gaping mouth. "Wait. Don't bother answering."

With two quick strides, she seized the collars of the dark shirt he was wearing, roughly enough to pop a button from the top before pulling him close—close enough to let their breaths mingle with each other. Dhruv tensed, causing Shanaya to smirk. She lowered her voice to barely a whisper and leaned into his side. Her lips touched his earlobe teasingly when she said, "Be honest with me. You still miss me, don’t you?"

"I don't," Came an answer with a growl. The smirk on her face only widened, enjoying her effect on him. She let out a disappointed squeal and leaned out, seeing his face through her long lashes. One of her hands reached up to his chin and pulled his face down so his eyes looked directly into hers.

"Look at me and tell me you don't want me. Look at me and tell me, Dhruv, that you don't think of our time together. All we did and how it felt. It's been eight years and it feels like yesterday, doesn't it? Look at me and tell me," she whispered over his lips. His throat bobbed up and down as his gaze continued to burn into hers.

Shanaya trailed her hand down to his chest, her eyes locked into his, and started playing with another button. "Tell me you don't think every other night of what it could've been only if..." Unintentionally, her voice lowered until she trailed off. However, she recovered soon enough. "Tell me you never dreamt of me on lonely, cold nights."

He held her hand, stopping it from going down any further, and said it with a calm that comes before a storm. "Shut up, Shanaya. Shut up!"

She gulped before the words left her lips, barely audible to her own ears, "Make me."

Within a second, Dhruv seized her, pressing his lips to hers with all the rage within. Shanaya’s knees buckled under him as an effect and she locked her arms around his neck for support. His arms resumed their place around her waist and pulled her dangerously close, pressing their lips together even more.

A while later, they parted, huffing out of breath, only to find each other back a while later. One of his hands reached to hold her neck from behind and he pushed her until her back touched a wall. She took her hand away from his neck and found the buttons of his shirt instead, unbuttoning them one after the other.

Dhruv pressed kisses along her jaw and slowly reached her neck. He paused and leaned back to say, "Shanaya." His eyes burnt into hers with a passion and she pulled him for a long, deep kiss.

"Dhruv," she breathed before they resumed their respective tasks. The song now played as a seducing hum, ignited their passions a little more. It helped her keep her mind away from thinking rationally and more on him, the man kissing her.

The last thing Shanaya remembered of that night was the sound of a cloth ripping apart.