**Winner 2024 Amby Awards**
Fiza has everything planned-medical school, a respectable future, and an engagement she never wanted. Determined to escape a loveless match, she creates a checklist to find the perfect husband her father will approve of.
...
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"Mownika... is expecting me," I said, almost automatically.
For a second, I saw something flash in Fiza's eyes. But then she shifted, and her expression lightened into something playful. "Want me to talk to her?" she winked. "Tell her you're spending the night with me?"
My breath quickened and my voice came out unsteady. "You want to..." I started, surprised at her offer.
But she just laughed. "No, da! I've told you. I'd have to be in love, to do that." Her gaze drifted past me, out the window, like she was looking at some distant dream.
Then she looked back at me, and her voice dropped to a whisper. "You know that feeling when someone you're crushing on touches you and you feel your heart racing and your skin tingling? Well, imagine if that person kissed you. Imagine feeling that kiss all over, from your head down to your toes. And imagine looking at them, knowing deep inside that they're yours, forever. That's what I want."
I could only stare at her. "You're something else," I finally said, a real smile touching my lips for the first time all night.
Later, when I settled into my bed, something felt different. The usual anxiety in my chest was just... gone. I felt almost safe. And then, to my utter shock, Fiza lay down beside me, pulling the covers over both of us. She turned on her side to face me, and her hand came to rest gently on my chest.
My heart beat loudly under her palm. I felt emotions and sensations that confused me—things sex had never, ever made me feel.
Softly, her whisper broke the silence. "You know why I decided to be friends with you?"
I looked at her, my eyes questioning.
"I saw you pay for the samosas Abhishek had stolen from Mahajan's shop," she whispered with certainty. "You are a good person, Alan."
Her fingertips traced my jawline, and a cascade of goosebumps spread across my skin. I turned fully toward her, our faces so close our breath mingled. Almost without thinking, I gently twisted a strand of her hair between my fingers.
"I'm not," I whispered back. My eyes searched hers, desperate for her to prove me wrong.
She just... ignored me. Her gaze held mine with an intensity that felt like she was seeing straight through all the walls and right into the mess inside.
"Do you know what else I see when I look at you?" she continued, her voice steady, unwavering.
A shiver, half fear, half desperate hope, ran down my spine.
"Someone smart. Kind. Honest..."
Each word was like a gentle touch on an ache I thought would never leave.
But then, cutting through it, came the echo of Aarthy's voice. "You are rotten on the inside, and if you let someone in, they'll see it too."
Overwhelmed, lost, I did the only thing I could think to do. I turned and buried my face in the crook of her neck, hiding from her gaze and the ghosts in my head.
