Aarohi And Dev

CHAPTER 40

Aarohi POV

Despite her threat, we stood our ground, unfazed.

"Bad attempt at intimidation," Dev sassed, holding my hand protectively, surprising me with his assertiveness. Rajveer broke the tense silence with a sneer, "Save it for someone who cares," placing a reassuring hand on Mayank's shoulder.

With a furious stomp of her feet, Taniya stormed out, leaving me to finally exhale a sigh of relief. It's over. It's over. It's over, I repeated to myself, trying to calm my racing heart.

I glanced at Dev, wanting to ensure he was alright, but before I could speak, he quickly said, "I came here for a business meeting and was about to leave when she stopped me by showing your photo." His urgent tone indicated he wanted to prevent any misunderstandings between us.

I smiled at his response and chuckled, "It's okay, don't worry about it. Are you alright?" He looked into my eyes and nodded like a child, his endearing gestures never failing to warm my heart.

"Main bhi hu yaha," Tara interjected playfully, snapping me back to reality with a mock-irritated tone. It dawned on me that while I was engrossed with Dev and Rajveer with Mayank, Tara had been left to her own devices, hence her feigned annoyance.
[ I am here as well ]

"You should find someone quickly so you can be occupied with your own man," Mayank quipped, eliciting a smile from us. Rajveer, eager as ever, asked, "Does that mean you consider me your man?"

Mayank scoffed, "When did I say that?" and gently nudged Rajveer away.

Dev leaned in and whispered in my ear, "Are they dating?" I whispered back, "Soon enough."

I turned to Mayank, eagerly awaiting his response. "How do you know her?"

Mayank glanced around, then quietly admitted, "We went to the same school." His tone conveyed that the memory was far from pleasant.

Hoping to steer the conversation in a different direction, I looked at Dev and asked, "Is this going to attract any controversy?" Dev glanced over my shoulder and replied, "We've already created one," gesturing for me to look behind.

As I turned to see what he was indicating, I realized the media had already swarmed the scene. My mind raced, Do they know I’m dating him? Am I already in the news? What about my father? Has he seen this? As I watched the photographers snapping away, a storm of anxious thoughts began to brew.

I quickly opened the internet, eager to see if there was any news about the incident. To my dismay, the headline read: "Ajay Malhotra's Daughter, Aarohi Malhotra, Seen at Cafe Arguing with Dev Raichand's Girlfriend." Aish! I am the girlfriend, I screamed internally. I opened another article, even more appalled by the headline: "Aarohi Malhotra Accused of Attacking Taniya Shukla." How can they get it so wrong? How can they blatantly lie about what happened?

"Are you going to be alright?" Dev asked, noticing my frown as he glanced at the headlines.

"Yes, I'm fine," I replied, forcing a smile. "I'm just baffled at how convincingly they can fabricate lies."

"Don't worry, I'll have Aman get this taken down as soon as possible," he reassured me.

I nodded, assuring him that I was okay, but internally I was dreading my dad's reaction, my mom's shock, and my brothers' concern. I could almost see the scene unfolding vividly, and the thought of going home was daunting.

Holding Tara's hand, we made our way out. After bidding Dev goodbye, we all went our separate ways. I had asked Dev not to accompany me home, not wanting to fuel headlines like, "Aarohi Malhotra Snatches Taniya Shukla's Boyfriend." I needed to return home peacefully and figure out what excuses I would give.