SEAL THE DEAL

chapter 19

"Oh my god, he is so hot!" Ashika gushed, earning a laugh from manisha.

Kritika nodded, "He is!" she agreed as she discreetly stared at Abhishek speaking to his friends,"Even his friends are hot," she sighed, putting her hands on her cheeks and leaning her head to one side as she watched them interact.

Riya was about to share her opinion but then her eyes fell on a certain cousin of manisha and her face lit up like a kid on holiday morning.

"Vishal!" she called out excitedly and the boy in question looked up with wide eyes,
startled by the sound of his name being squealed rather loudly, but his face burst into a smile when he spotted the source of it approaching him.

Ashika, kritika and manisha watched with raised eyebrows and amused smiles as riya rushed to vishal's side without even looking back even once, and manisha smirked because even though she was pretty far from vishal, she could see that the tips of his ears had turned red when riya skipped the formalities and pulled him straight into a tight hug.

"There they go again," kritika said with a roll of her eyes, wondering when one of them was actually going to pluck up the courage to confess to the other.

Manisha glanced at Abhishek and saw that he was already looking at her. He beckoned her over, partly because they both been instructed by their parents to stick to each other like glue but mostly because he wanted her to meet his friends too.

"I'll catch you two later, but can one of you do me a favour and shove riya and vishal into a closet and lock them in there in the meantime?" Manisha requested, earning chuckles from Ashika and kritika and a promise from the former that she'll try her best to fulfil her wish.

A few moments later, she was back at Abhishek's side, a place that Manisha was growing accustomed to alarmingly quick.

Abhishek introduced the two guys to Manisha and she smiled in greeting.

Harsh and karan swiftly exchanged glances, both of them instantly understanding why
Abhishek had accepted the marriage without putting up a bigger fight than he did. She was literally the sun personified and she was incredibly charming and she had this way of looking at a person like they were her whole world. It would have been hard to say no to her.

Harsh:-"Harsh gupta," the taller of the two males introduced himself with a bright smile,

Mani:-"Lovely to meet you,"

Karan:-"I'm karan, and I've heard a lot about you. Abhishek is terrified of clowns, pigeons and machines," the second male supplied as a mischievous grin played around on his lips.

Abhishek's eyes abruptly widened as his embarrassing fears lay exposed in front of her, "Oh my god, shut up!" he protested violently, forcefully putting his hand over karan's mouth before he could even try to spill any more horribly humiliating facts about him. He knew he should have listened to his gut and kept his stupid friends - or at least karan - away from her for as long as he possibly could.

Manisha burst out laughing, and seeing Abhishek groaning and whinging made her giggle even more, "Thanks for the classified info," she bit her lip to keep her laughter at bay.

Manisha hadn't seen this playful side of Abhishek before and she found it quite endearing to see his cool and untouchable self being babied for once. She spoke to harsh and karan for a little while longer, both very well-spoken and very welcoming, and she decided that she really liked Abhishek's friends.

Manisha watched Abhishek laugh at one of karan's one liners, his eyes disappearing into crescents as he slapped the older man's arm playfully, and she wondered whether she'd ever be able to make him smile like that.
She could only hope that she would.