Bade Sapne

◇ Part 4 ◇

Vira's POV

As I dried my hair, I attempted to formulate thoughts of what I would say, what I would do, trying to make sense of the situation. Fuck. Shubman was standing outside, Priya was trying to stall, and Abhishek was absolutely clueless. And me? I was fucked.

I looked at myself in the mirror, and to my dismay, I looked better than usual. I was hoping to scare off Shubman with my bhootni appearance. Urgh. I threw on the dress that Priya had left out for me, and haphazardly chucked my towel across the room, tempted to Google Search "how to jump out of a 7 storey window without hurting yourself".

The dress was a flowy, pastel thing that Priya had forced on me earlier, saying something about how I "needed to look cute in case Abhishek's friend is cute too." Cute, my ass. Priya, at the time, hadn't known that the friend standing outside would be Shubman-the last person I wanted to impress, let alone be in the same room with.

I could hear voices from the living room, Priya trying to keep the conversation going. Abhishek was laughing at something she said, completely unaware of the tension bubbling underneath.

I took a deep breath and stared at my reflection again. "You got this," I whispered to myself, though I didn't believe it. My mind kept racing back to the last time I saw Shubman, the insults, the accusations. And now, he was here, about to walk into my apartment like we were all supposed to play nice and pretend none of that ever happened.

What the hell was I supposed to say? "Oh hey, Shubman, remember when you called me a gold digger?" No. Absolutely not. I couldn't do this. Maybe if I faked a stomach ache or... fainted? Yeah, fainting seemed like a solid option right now.

Another burst of laughter from the living room snapped me out of my thoughts. I couldn't stall any longer. It was now or never.

With one last look in the mirror and a silent prayer, I turned the doorknob and walked out into the lion's den.

Priya shot me a quick glance as I entered the room, her eyes wide with a silent "sorry." Abhishek, still grinning, was mid-conversation, his face lighting up when he saw me. "Hey, Vira! There you are!"

And then, there was Shubman. Standing right next to Abhishek. His smile froze the second our eyes met. For a moment, the world seemed to stop, and the tension between us filled the room like a suffocating cloud.

I forced a smile, my heart hammering in my chest. "Hi, Shubman."

He blinked, his expression unreadable. "Vira."

Abhishek clapped his hands, completely oblivious to the awkwardness. "You guys know each other? That's great!"

"Yeah," I said, my voice tight. "We go way back."

The tension was suffocating. Shubman's presence was overwhelming in a way that made my palms clammy, but I forced myself to stay calm.

Priya was doing her best to act like everything was normal, giving me a subtle nudge as if to say, just get through this, and I'll buy you pani puri afterwards. Meanwhile, Abhishek was all smiles, completely unaware that his best friend and I were locked in an invisible battle of wills.

"Well, this is perfect," Abhishek grinned, leaning back on the couch as if we were about to have the most chill evening ever. "Small world, huh?"

"Yeah... small world," I muttered, my gaze flicking briefly to Shubman. His jaw was tight, his eyes distant as if he was fighting to keep it together.

"So," Abhishek clapped his hands again, "what's the plan? Priya mentioned pizza. I'm starving."

I managed a laugh, though it felt forced. "Yeah, pizza sounds good."