Tanmayi's pov

I am at Swetha's house early in the morning just to take her shopping, this lazy girl called me yesterday and begged me to pick her up...i came running from Malabar Hills, and she did not even wake up....like...girl?

i go up the stairs after greeting aunties and uncle,  Parihar villa is almost my second home- i often stayed here because of Swetha and also due to my job nature -i work as an art director and designer at Parihar's company.

i got into Swetha's room silently, and i see her sleeping peacefully like a pig, i looked around the modern-trad, minimal, beach view room and sighed.....if i had a room like this i would sleep like a pig too, deeply relating with my  bestie...i went near her bed, smoothed out her hair and shouted in her ear " uthjaaa ...."(wake up) she did not wake up...i knew it! showing a patient om kind of expression...

"kanha uthjaa zaraa...ooo... kanha uthjaaa zaraa..." (kahnha wake up please)i started singing in my melodious tone and she woke up! yaay..

"kis janwar ne shor machaya?"(which animal is making sounds) she asked and i glared at her.

"utho meri maaa, bhook lagi hain mujhee" (wake up, i am hungry)but she fell asleep again. never mind her- i will  go and eat my breakfast.

i walked down slowly, imagining my tasty breakfast Mallika aunty(Swetha's mom) makes. i was so immersed in my imaginations that i did not see a shadow walking behind me, i was suddenly pinned to the wall on the staircase .my vision spanned and a hard chest came in to my view...i lift my head, taking in this man's handsome face.

"chirag?" i said holding my head with my other hand, then i pushed him away with the same hand "move... let go" saahan Chirag Parihar is my boss. CEO of parihar co. and my best friend's little brother, just two years younger than us but still..

"us raat toh let go nahi kaha aapne" he said mimicking and mocking my tone in between his deep voiced words(you did not ask to let go that night).

"bade bade desho mein aisi choti choti batein hoti rehti hain senorita! hahaha" i looked at him awkwardly trying to release his grip on my hand and he raised his eyebrows "senor?"  i looked in to his eyes and he evened his eyebrows after i called him senor.( in big countries , small mistakes like this often happen senorita).

"choti baat?, huh .. kitne logon ke sath kiya aapne, yeh choti baat?"(small mistake? with how many people did you make this mistake), i looked at him dumbfounded." kisike sath karu, tujhe kya?... ", i tried twisting my hand, he did not reply(why do you care?),

" fine what should i do? " i asked sensing his anger.

"aapke best friend ke bhai se aapne khilwad kiya hain....take responsibility"(you played with your best friends brother) he whispered  near my ear...."whoa.. khilwad? it was just a kiss ,senor?" i said rolling my eyes...."just a kiss?" he looked at me gritting his teeth. he wanted to speak more but we heard some ones footsteps and moved away from each other.

after i ran downstairs, i helped Parihar aunties with breakfast and sat down to eat it with the family, Chirag, uncles, other kids were also present while we were eating our breakfast swetha also came down.

"your are coming to the boutique today didi?" Chirag asked 

"yes saahas, i want to try some outfits for my engagement" swetha replied..."you can come with me, i will drop you off" he suggested ...we both nodded as it is better to go in his car, we were about to take family car anyway.  "are you wearing matching outfits? " second aunty asked swetha.

"i am not sure aunty, he will also be present- so i will ask him" swetha replied. "it is good that he is so active toward you now-a-days" Mallika aunty said, "hmm..i thought he was not serious enough but...... aaj kal ke ladke!  you know" mr. parihar sighed.(this generation boys)

"ladkiya bhi kam nahin hain papa, use karke baad, choti baat kehdeti hain" (girls are also like this father, they take it as a small matter after using others) saahas chirag bandar parihar said looking at me and i choked on my dosa , coughing painfully, i glared at him .(monkey)

we finished our breakfast and went to sit in saahas chirag bandar parihar's car....good thing his car is not like him, anger issues se dimak mat bharo, warna saahas chirag bandar banjoage tum bhi .(don't fill you brain with anger). he dropped us at the boutique..

"don't empty my card" he said giving it to swetha...she smiled and gave it back to him,(saying she doesn't need it)

"bye senor" i waved my hand and mocked him pulling my tongue out a little😜, we went inside the boutique, scrolled trough dress designs and  waited for Abhay Singh.

we waited for a whole hour and he did not come, even though my blood is boiling  with anger, i am trying to stay calm by playing a stupid game in my phone .

 i don't know how swetha was feeling. swetha is pretty naive and innocent girl, once she gives you her heart she doesn't go back, she always tries to maintain the relation, however hard it gets, but once you break her heart she will never look back. i thought this relationship would not last long because Abhay's cowardice and Swetha's character...but here we are.

 i was trying to stay sane but i could not this is too much, i was about to ask Swetha if we should leave... i mean..huh...you cannot even accompany your future wife for your own engagement shopping?- i personally would never even look at such guy....ungrateful bitch i cursed Abhay under my breath, then we heard someone calling swetha.

"swetha?", a man, 6'2, with green eyes, golden ratio body walked towards us and swetha stood up nodding her head.

she introduced us "umm, this is my best friend Tanmayi chenas and this is Mr. Verma", "hello tanmayi" his baritone voice sounded so heavenly..."hello mr. verma" i shook his hand back and looked at swetha raising my eyebrows...while she blinked...we both know with one look what's in our minds  'the hot boss'... but he had a friend with him.

"this is my cousin sister, Chaitra- she is an actress", he introduced her to us and swetha said "the juhu one?"...he nodded.

"how do you know that?" Chaitra asked and swetha replied "we met outside your apartments one time". "oh, wedding shopping? i have a good fashion sense , should i help you?" she exclaimed.

"thank you, my best friend here is a designer ...she is here to help me" swetha implied 

"yaa, we are selecting her engagement outfit! do you want to see?" i asked....chaitra nodded, but mr. verma, the  hot boss had a scowl on his face ...hmm interesting...then  i showed them her outfits catalogues,  we talked a little, took chaitra's number ,she is such a pretty, kind girl by the way.. i love her....but the hot boss guy had something to do and they left...we waved them goodbye sadly.

Abhay called at this moment and swetha answered, she spoke very little, i guess that kamina is not coming today,😒 i sighed not knowing what to do.

Swetha's pov

i don't know why abhay is avoiding me like a plague, i guess i pushed him a little too much asking for this engagement...i feel stupid, as i remember the last time Abhay avoided me like this ...it was under similar circumstances, i asked him to register live-in papers at least, if not marriage certificate and he disappeared from the face of earth for a month.

i laughed at myself...i feel tired waiting for him to come to me....it is as if he is clinging to me just to have me in his life, in any form but he will not commit or be in my life...this familiar feeling, how many times did i go through this? only i know....

i just want a normal family and he cannot even grant me this?...tears filled my eyes as i sat  here in a place full of couples,  excited brides, caring grooms .....waiting for him to come but i could not even see his shadow, they say when pain becomes immense/ routine, it just feels numb ...i feel that numbness through my body, but i did not show it on my face... as tanmayi was here.

i bet tanmayi already knows how i am feeling as she is looking at me with a pitiful gaze, i don't want to be here i want to go home... i don't want to be the only person giving my everything...right at this moment.... i heard a baritone voice pulling me out of my trance.

my boss/collogue-anand was here with a girl, she is very pretty, i thought she was his girlfriend until he introduced us to her, she is his cousin and we became friends easily...i guess everyone in his family looks like this . they left and i got a call from abhay, finally i though and picked up the call excitedly.

"sorry meri jaan, i am still shooting for pre-production ...i told you right, new movie..his voice trialed off

"okay" i replied, this is not what i wanted to hear- i closed my eyes feeling overwhelming sadness. 

how should a person that is going to be engaged in 2 weeks behave? do i have to explain this to him, and ask for a certain treatment my whole life? i contemplated ......is this even a relationship? is he even interested in this engagement? avoiding the issue like this does nothing and it is not my style to run away from problems....i have to get to the bottom of this, i though while pulling tanmayi out of the store with me.

"don't feel sad sewthu.."she said stopping me.

"i am not sad....i am just numb" i replied and she hugged me, 

"don't worry, lets go to his house and beat him up tomorrow, i will kill him" she said balling he fists and looking determined . i shook my head "i have a business trip , you remember, they called me yesterday?"

"what? when".

"i have  flight tonight....to gujrat", i informed and she let out a frustrated groan.

"koi nahi ...take a break...gujarat ghoomo, and don't think about things here! we will discuss about this whole kand after that! hmm?"(no worries, go and take a break, rest for a few days...we will discuss this mess after you come home?), i obliged and we went shopping near by to buy supplies for my trip.

 while we were in the car..." by the way tera boss hot hain yaarr...sweet types bhi lagta hain...tu usse pata le" she said trying to distract me from my bad mood(your boss is hot, sweet-seduce him)

"ewwww, brothaaerr" i said laughing," tu patale tujhe hot, sweet lagta hain toh.."i teased her nudging her hand beside me in the car.

"mera type nahin hain naa....mujhe hot and hot pasand hain not hot n sweet"(not my type, i like hot and hot guys , not hot and sweet)..."banda ho to garm hona chahiyee"(a man should only be hot_) she started singing with her one hand to her ear like gazal and we both laughed out loud.

i called my family lawyer while travelling, requesting the document's of  my recent will, assets-also called a friend -a reporter - to investigate Abhay's scandal, this scandal seemed too personal.

normally outsider's are not allowed in to Abhay's apartment complex  without permission as it is home for so many celebrities- the culprit should have guts to target Singhs family son, maybe the culprit wants something out of this scandal! but what is it?.