Born to Love You

28- Ignoring

Aru's Pov:

I changed into my comfiest PJs, my face still blotchy from all the crying in the bathroom. God, why did I let him get to me like that? Simmi was waiting just outside my room, looking a bit sheepish. The moment I stepped out, she gave me this concerned look and asked, "Everything okay?"

"Yeah," I muttered, though my face probably said otherwise. I wasn't about to give Aryan the satisfaction of knowing I was still fuming. Simmi started to apologize, but I waved it off. This wasn't on her. Aryan was the problem.

I decided right then that I wasn't going to talk to him tonight. He wasn't worth the energy. But I had to let him know Simmi was staying over. Ugh, responsibility. So I found him sitting in the living room, probably pretending to read or something equally self-important.

"Simmi's staying for the night," I said flatly. Before he could even respond, I turned and walked away. I wasn't in the mood for his smug attitude.

We all settled down for the night in the living room. Dev showed up as well, which made things a bit more interesting. Simmi and Dev were already laughing about something, while Aryan... well, he was doing his usual brooding act. Except, I could feel his eyes on me. Every time I glanced his way, he'd quickly look somewhere else. Seriously? Was he trying to pretend he wasn't staring?

Whatever.

I ignored him and focused on Simmi, who was dragging me into some ridiculous game. "Come on, Aru! Let's see who can do the worst impersonation of Dev!" she joked, earning a mock glare from Dev, but he was loving it.

We played silly games, ate way too much pizza, and I tried my best to just relax. Simmi was killing me with her impersonations, and Dev was giving her fake compliments in the most exaggerated way possible. Meanwhile, Aryan sat in the corner, acting all uninterested, but I knew better. Every now and then, I'd catch him sneaking a glance.

But me? I was a master of ignoring him. Every time he looked my way, I laughed louder at Simmi's jokes or joined in the banter with Dev, making it clear I was having a good time without him.

It was a fun night, despite the tension lingering in the air. For a moment, I almost forgot about the mess between Aryan and me. Almost.

The night started picking up as we all gathered around the living room. Aryan as usual hesitated to join & decided to leave when Dev asked him to stop being a dick for one night to which Aryan sighed *internally*. At this point, I know him telepathically. Simmi, always the life of the party, decided we should kick things off with some games. "Let's do something fun! How about charades but, like, a twisted version where we can act out embarrassing things?"

I groaned, already knowing she had something wild in mind, but it was hard to say no when Simmi was excited about something. "Alright, alright, but no imitating me," I warned, narrowing my eyes at her. She just smirked, which meant I'd probably regret saying that.

Dev sat back on the couch, grinning like he'd been waiting for this all week. "Oh, this should be good," he said, rubbing his hands together like a kid about to open a gift.

We went through a few rounds of charades, and as predicted, Simmi did the most embarrassing imitations of everyone in the room. She mimicked Aryan trying to talk on the phone while multitasking — holding an invisible phone with one hand, pretending to type with the other, and pacing around with exaggerated seriousness. She could do that after all the ranting I did to her about him in the college. I couldn't help but laugh at how accurate she was, even though I wasn't about to give her that satisfaction. Aryan, on the other hand, just smirked and was with his poker face, but I could tell he was slightly amused.