Falling Softly

BITTER TRUTH

Aaryan's POV

The tension built up as everyone looked at me, awaiting my answer. I thought for a moment, discarding couple of ideas because Nishit knew pretty much everything about me-we used to spend a lot of time together and share our stories. Although I had few things that might not be known by anyone else, I decided to go with one and said, "I have a degree in cooking, basically a Bachelor of Culinary Arts."

The room went from silent to a busy crowd as they began talking all at once. I couldn't grasp everything they were saying because they were speaking together.

"No wonder your cooking tastes way better than mine," Kavya said excitedly, looking at me.

"I didn't even know this," Nishit exclaimed, a smile visible on his face.

"You'll have to prepare dinner for us next time for sure," Natasha demanded.

A small chuckle spread across my face as I calmed them down. "Okay, okay. It was a side degree and there's a long story behind it. Anyway, I didn't pay much attention just managed enough to graduate and I know very few dishes, as you already know some of them," I said, looking toward Kavya. I knew very few dishes, and I wasn't giving full attention to the degree-it was just for name's sake, to be honest. Although there are a few things that I picked up that help me cook the few dishes I know.

"Okay, let's move on," I said, and Natasha spun the bottle, which landed on me.

"Truth or Dare?" Natasha asked, looking at me. She continued, "You'll have to choose dare because I have something spicy lined up for you." It felt like a trap, and I wasn't ready to do something crazy just yet.

"Truth," I said.

Natasha looked disappointed that I hadn't picked dare. Her face resembled that of a child whose ice cream had accidentally dropped. A sudden smile appeared on her face, which only added to my worries. She must have been thinking of something worse or completely out of the blue.

"Tell us about the day you guys met," she said, pointing at me and Kavya. She gave a sweet smile, and I braced myself for the worst.

I thought for a moment before answering. I was about to mention the day we met during the arranged marriage setup, but the memory pulled me back-one I wanted to forget but couldn't. I closed my eyes as the memories flooded back, including the slap from my father in front of everyone.

"Don't tell me you don't remember," Natasha said, her face quickly turning red.

"No, no, I remember," I said, coming back from the spiral of memories.

"We were very young..." I looked at Kavya, who smiled at me. I smiled back and continued, "We participated in a school-level competition..." My eyes went back to Kavya, whose expression showed confusion; her brows were furrowed. "She was with her father. I remember him. He motivated me that day with his words. I came in first, and Kavya came in second." I glanced at her again, noticing the sadness on her face as realization dawned on her. I wasn't sure if she remembered that day, probably not, since we were total strangers back then.

"So you guys knew each other from school?" Natasha asked, looking a bit shocked.

"It was you," Kavya spoke, her eyes fixed on the floor.

"But... how?" Kavya asked again. "How did you know it was me?"

Ah, I'm such a buzzkill. I should have just mentioned the day we met during the arranged setup, but I had to ruin this too. I felt a pang of regret, thinking I might have overshared.

"Well, I recognized your father. He still looks the same," I explained.

"Can we just stop the stupid game, please?" Kavya said before I could say anything more.

"Okay, let's call it a night," Natasha agreed, and we exchanged hugs before they left the house.

I walked with them to the door and closed it after bidding them goodbye. My mind wandered back down memory lane, recalling that our school interactions weren't limited to that one day. There was another day we had interacted, and it was one I'd rather forget. Oh, what have I done...

Really sorry for very short chapter, until next time. Don't forget to add star.