Chapter 5

The sun rays passed through the window panes and kissed Shanaya's face, fuelling her annoyance. She barely slept the previous night. Dhruv wouldn't let her. The little time that he did allow her, she wasted away by thinking constantly of what had happened between them and what it meant.

Her head ached from the lack of sleep, making her frown as she lifted herself from the bed, covering her naked body with the white sheets. On the other hand, Dhruv slept peacefully on his stomach, snoring lightly. The sheets concealed the lower half of his body, keeping the other half on display for her eyes and she smirked. The smirk vanished as soon as she recollected moments from the previous night.

Dhruv provoked her and she reacted just as he wanted her to. With a groan, she closed her eyes, gathering her hair into a messy bun.

Her eyes darted around the room in search of her clothes—the striped dress she wore the previous night, but all she found were the bits and pieces of what remained of her expensive attire. Her frown deepened.

Giving the sleeping figure in the bed a nasty look, she got up and walked towards the wardrobe, pulling out a fresh towel and an oversized T-shirt.

‘You expected me to walk around naked in your house?’ thought Shanaya as she looked at his face, a solemn, innocent look plastered on it. There was no evidence there of what happened the previous night. Truthfully, Shanaya would think of it as a fever dream as well, had her dress not been torn to pieces.

Dhruv avoided the sun just right, sleeping like a baby. While a part of her wanted to hit him with a pillow, the other, kinder part urged to let him sleep some more with the veiled intention of escaping before he woke.

Shanaya’s attention was drawn to his phone, placed on the bedside table that started to vibrate with an incoming call. She tiptoed to it, feeling rebellious as she glanced at the screen.

The name ‘Anjali’ flashed across the screen over a picture saved with the contact number. Frowning, Shanaya studied the woman’s face carefully. She was beautiful, draped in a turquoise dress and a pearly grin. Her face appeared familiar to her but Shanaya could not remember where she had seen her before. 

The phone screen went black only for the phone to vibrate again with another incoming call from the same woman. 

Shanaya felt a strange tug at her chest as she chewed on her bottom lip. Who was this woman and why was she calling him over and over again? 

Dhruv stirred on the bed, startling Shanaya. She sprang away from the bedside table, her eyes peeking at him to make sure he was not awake. 

With one last glance at Anjali’s face, Shanaya walked away, deciding to take a shower.

When Shanaya stepped out of the bathroom, she expected to find Dhruv’s sleeping figure on the bed. But he was long gone—the bed made and the sheets all properly folded. He had woken up, despite her hoping that he would sleep some more. His phone was also gone which meant he had received Anjali’s call. 

Shanaya sighed, her mind drawing up the woman’s face, an unsettling feeling rising in her chest. Who was she?

Shanaya walked to the full-length mirror in the corner of the room. Dhruv’s T-shirt ended just above her knees, and once again she realized how tiny she was compared to him. That’s when she spotted Dhruv through the window.

He was in the driveway, the top half of his body bare, leaning against the window frame of a car. He was talking to a woman sitting in the driver’s seat. When Shanaya narrowed her eyes, she could not help but find semblance between the picture she had seen on his phone and the woman he was currently talking to.

“Oh,” Shanaya mumbled as the realization struck. It was Anjali Bhatt, their batchmate from high school. Shanaya recalled her having a huge crush on Dhruv even though he had never reciprocated any such feeling. 

Had something happened between them over the years? Then what was last night about? 

Shanaya felt her heart tremble at the thought of having gotten caught in Dhruv’s web. As much as she wanted to, she knew she could not flee. She wanted to know what exactly was going on.

On her way to the kitchen, Shanaya picked up her purse and sent a quick text to Shaheer, hoping he was awake.

When no response arrived even after five minutes, she decided to call him.

After two rings, her assistant received the call and answered with a sleepy, "Hey."

"Shaheer, where are you?" Shanaya said in an authoritative tone, one she only usually used at work to drive the sleep out of everyone.

It seemed to work because his voice changed the next time he spoke, sounding buzzed. "Yes, ma'am. I'm at home. Do you need any help?"

Shanaya was about to speak when she heard another female voice in the background, sounding suspiciously similar to Aliyah's.

She pretended to not hear her and said, "I need you to pick me up. I'll text you the address as soon as I cut the call. The place is twenty minutes away from the office. Also, er–I need you to first stop by my apartment and fetch me a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. Will you be here in about thirty?"

The hesitation appeared again in his voice but he agreed anyway and with a sigh of relief, Shanaya ended the call before proceeding to send him the address.

Her stomach rumbled and as a means of passing some time, she cracked open an egg on the pan. The scent filled the air quickly, accelerating the rumbling. However, when she heard someone clear their throat behind her, all her appetite vanished into the same thin fried-egg scented air.

"I was hungry so I made myself a coffee and a fried egg," she said without turning around.

The sound of footsteps fell on her ears, forcing her to turn around. For a moment, Shanaya feared that Anjali was in the house too. But then a sense of relief washed over her. Dhruv stood a few inches away, a white towel wrapped around his waist. Water dripped from his hair as he ran a hand through it. 

When his eyes landed on her, they raked up and down her body and his eyebrow lifted while his lips formed a tiny frown. He wasn’t smiling anymore like he was earlier with Anjali outside.

"What are you wearing?" he asked, tilting his head.

"Your t-shirt," said Shanaya and rolled her eyes.

"And who gave you the permission to wear it?"

"You did yourself when you tore my dress into two pieces."

His lips curved in delight at her words but returned back to normal soon enough. "Did I? I don't remember it." He shook his head.

"Hmm, blame your rusty mind. What was your intent anyway? To have me walking naked around your house?"

He pressed his lips together, attempting but failing to keep the amusement out of his voice. "Maybe. That'd be a nice sight, I must admit."

"Too bad for you. Your plan failed."

"So," he said, taking a step closer. "What's your plan for the day? Walking around my house in that?" His eyes slid down to where the cloth ended above her knees. "I don't mind, honestly. And I have no plan of dropping you off elsewhere." He took another step.

Shanaya held her breath, her mind wary of his attention. She wanted to know what he was up to. "As much as you'd love that-no. I'm leaving in another ten minutes. You see, you aren't the only one in the world with a car."

"Who's coming to pick you up?"

"A guy. Not a jerk like you. Quiet polite. And good looking."

He lifted his brows. "Let me guess... Neil?"

"Wrong," she said, folding her arms as he got closer.

"Shanaya, I'm too distracted by you to think of another guy right now," Dhruv confessed, his voice lowered to a whisper, audible only to her ears. 

She wanted to scream ‘liar’ to his face but she held back. His hand reached up to her face and he stroked a thumb down her cheek. Despite not wanting to, her eyes lowered at the proximity, settling on his lips. His eyes were dangerous to look at up that close. They held the ability to persuade anyone to do anything. Even someone like her.

He leaned down closer to her face but before their lips sealed, Shanaya pushed him away.

"No," Shanaya objected, earning a frown from him. "Whatever happened last night was great. But it won't happen again. I don't want it to happen again."

Dhruv smirked at her, but he moved away. "You're a bad liar."

"Does it even matter? We probably won't see each other again for months, years perhaps."

Dhruv gave her a look like he'd seen an alien but then his brows furrowed and he chuckled. "You really don't know, do you? Oh, and here I thought he told you. I thought that was why you refused to ask me the reason why I returned. Because you knew. But you don't. I'm not going back to America. Not soon. But that's a different thing altogether."

"Who are you talking about?"

He snickered, running his hand through his hair. "You'll find out. In some time I hope." He winked.

"No. You'll tell me right now," Her voice turned out calm but even she sensed herself losing it.

"Will I? Hmm."

‘Tell me,’ She wanted to yell in the tone she used on her employees but controlled the urge somehow. ‘Tell me how you’re still smiling while talking to Anjali when I assumed you had left everyone in our country behind!’ 

It was true. No one had heard from Dhruv. Not for the past eight years. At least none of the people she knew he was close to back then. Whatever they had heard about him came from headlines. Every now and then he managed to brace the news with some new contribution he made to the tech world.

"Dhruv, I'll... " Shanaya's voice trailed off when the doorbell rang but as she walked towards the sound, all she thought of was how he had succeeded. Ultimately, he had her begging for the answer. At least, in her mind.