"What is he doing here?!" Pragya whisper yelled as she was looking at none other than Abhi who was standing a few tables away from theirs.

"What is she doing here?!" Dev whisper yelled at the same time, as he was looking at none other than Amrit, who hadn't noticed him yet.

"Wait who are you talking about?" Both of them asked each other at the same time.

"I'm talking about that mannerless jerk." Pragya said annoyed, pointing at Abhi who hadn't seen her yet.

"I'm talking about that miss entitled." Dev said annoyed, pointing at Amrit.

"Good evening everyone." Greeted the host of the gala as he came up on the stage. "I hope you all liked the performances, the dance floor and the food court are now open, so enjoy yourselves, and make some donations because all of it will go to orphanages and hospitals."

"Come on." Dev said extending a hand to Pragya as everyone erupted in a round of applause when the host was done talking.

"What, where?" Pragya asked, confused.

"Oh don't even, I know you're going to slip out of this gala the first chance you get, especially after seeing that guy here, so come on we're going to the dance floor because we can't let those two spoil our mood." Dev said determinedly because he wasn't going to let 'miss entitled' ruin his night.

"I don't do dance." Pragya said blankly.

"And I don't take no as an answer." Dev retaliated.

"If you want to dance, go find a girl to dance with." Pragya suggested.

"Yeah, and let you leave the gala unnoticed? I think not. Plus the Mehras and the Khannas are here, if you leave, I will sign that deal with the Mehras, and then you can whine all you want." Dev threatened. 

"I don't whine." Pragya said defensively, but nonetheless took Dev's hand, walking towards the glowing white dance floor through the room that was dimly lit once again.

******
"Well at least someone's having fun." Purab said jokingly from the table as he watched Naitik and Akshara on the dance floor, swaying slowly with the music.

"They do that every time, I don't know how it can be fun anymore." Amrit said, looking at her parents curiously.

"It's not the dance that is fun, it's that they're doing it together even after all this time, which is what makes it fun because it shows that their love for each other is still the same." Purab said softly, a certain fondness in his eyes.

"Oye hoye, you're talking a lot about love, where's your Juliet, Romeo?" Neha teased, to which Amrit chuckled, and Purab made a face.

"As if he would have a Juliet, Bua. He can't even get a girlfriend." Amrit teased jokingly.

"At least I try, I'm not like you, who always like love doesn't exist, or love is a lie or something." Purab said imitating Amrit.

"I never said that, I just said that love is a waste of time, because it gets you nowhere, it won't help me sign deals, or run the business, all it would do is distract me, so why should I do it?" Amrit asked rhetorically, ever the realist.

"Wow, how do you think like that? Don't you see how much Mom and Dad love each other, I don't see them being a distraction to each other. I swear sometimes I think you were adopted or something." Purab said jokingly.

"Hey don't say that." Neha said sternly, an indefinable expression on her face.

"Yes, don't say that, because it was you who was adopted, I was even there when they brought you home from the garbage, right Bua?" Amrit asked jokingly, to which Neha chuckled, shaking her head at their antics, while Purab just made an annoyed face.

"You're garbage." Purab said in a whiney voice, to which Amrit just chuckled. "Whatever, I'm going to the dance floor, want to join me, Bua? We're not taking this garbage with us." 

"No, I'm good here, you kids have fun, go together." Neha said leaving no room for argument.

"Come on let's go garbage." Purab said jokingly as he extended a hand toward Amrit.

"Just for that, I'm going to step on your foot, several times when we dance, garbage." Amrit warned in all seriousness as they made their way to the dance floor.

******

"Aww look at them." Alia gushed from the table as she watched Neil and Ragini, swaying slowly with the music on the dance floor.

"Yeah, yeah, cute, now help me get this stuff out of my hair." Abhi said as he took a small chunk of mud out of his hair. 

"Tell me the story again." Alia said with a chuckle as she leaned over to take bits and pieces of dried mud out of his hair.

"Shut up." Abhi said with an annoyed face, to which Alia just chuckled some more.

"So do you think you're going to ever meet her again?" Alia asked curiously.

"God I hope not, not in a million years." Abhi hoped dramatically, making an annoyed face as he thought about the girl who had splashed mud water on him.

"Well don't be so sure about that, destiny has a way of making everyone meet." Alia said softly, a certain hope lingering in her eyes.

"Not everyone Aaloo, some people go and never return, even when they promised they would." Abhi said in a mere whisper, a broken look on his face.

"One day whoever you are looking for will come back, I'm sure of it, Bhai." Alia said softly in reassurance.

"Don't be so trusting Alia, one day someone will use your trust against you." Abhi warned gently.

"And I could say that you aren't trusting enough, one day this distrust might hurt you." Alia retaliated cleverly.

"I'm just cautious, while you are, on the other hand, are just reckless." Abhi said knowingly.

"Well being reckless is fun, you should try it sometime." Alia said jokingly.

"You'll never change, will you?" Abhi asked with a chuckle.

"No, not at all. And because I will never change, you know that I want to go on the dance floor, but I will not go without you, and let you be Devdas the entire night, so come on let's go." Alia said, extending a hand to Abhi as he took it with a small smile, both of them making their way to the dance floor.

And so everyone swayed with their respective partners to the soft instrumental music, until it was time to switch partners on the dance, all of them ending up with the least expected people…

*******
Please vote and comment if you liked this part!💕

Silent Readers please do vote!💕

Keep reading and stay healthy!❤

A.M.🙃