Present day:15 June 2019

Ashu's P.O.V.

"Ashu?" I heard a voice coming from far away. I groaned and shifted myself into a more comfortable position.

"Ashu!?" The sudden high pitched voice made me jump. I pushed the denim jacket from my face. I rubbed my eyes and opened my lids slowly.

"Dad,what's wrong with you? You could have awaken your son more lovingly" I rested my head on the headrest and turned toward the right,facing him.

The ray of sunlight seemed to kiss his small greyish blue eyes that were lively, warm, and sparkled with bliss when he smiled. He had his dark brown hair flipped back and his white dress shirt tucked in. Needless to say he was a well-built man. The sleeves embracing his arm,forming the shapes of those biceps flawlessly. Even in his mid 40s with very faint wrinkles,he had a sharp jawline that could cut your finger.

His deep voice seemed to captivate your attention when he spoke.

"Oh yeah? You spend the whole night drooling over models and in this 30 minutes drive,you dream about them" one could say he was feeling amused by teasing me." What happened in yesterday Miss India contest?"

"Miss Rajasthan,Suman Rao became Miss India 2019" I added "She is an all rounder and she is a chattered accountant"

"Learn from her" he smirked.

I looked at him with a blank expression "Dad,I have to wake up at night like an owl to study their make-up if I wanna become a make-up artist"

He brushed his fingers over his hair "you know when I was your age,girls died for me"

I snorted "and mom lived for you" I said,trying my best to hide my chuckle."she told me you guys met through high school"

"You kno-" he was interrupted by someone knocking on the window.

"Hello Mr Mehta" she was my institutor,Ms Bianca "The director of the school wants to talk to you,so could you please come along"

"Oh sure" he smiled.He looked back at me "now young man,your class will be starting soon"

I nodded and grabbed my bag and head out "bye dad".

I stood in front of the Orane Beauty and Fashion Institute.I worked hard to get here.I wonder what will the director say to him.Will I be rusticated? My hands shook in nervousness.I shook my head and went directly to the class.

I couldn't focus on what the teacher was saying. My mind raced the images of my dad and the director talking. Out of a sudden,my phone vibrated. I fished out the device from my bag and saw Upasana had texted me.

*Texts*

"

At resto,Delhi darbar.6 pm"

"Ok!I'll b there"

*Ends text*

_

The rest of the day went by painfully.At around 5,I left the institute and directly went to Delhi Darbar. It was about six p.m when I was in the restaurant. My eyes scanned through the tables but never found the people I was looking for. A waiter approached me.

"How can I help you, sir?" asked the waiter.

"Yup,I have a reservation here by the name of Miss Upasana,"I replied half smiling.

He scrolled through his ipad and met my gaze "It's the table number 11,".He paused for a while "But sir, miss Upasana did the reservation for her friends".

"I know I am one of her friends", I exclaimed.

"I thought of four girls", uttered the waiter.

I rolled my eyes "Okay! Thank you! Can I go now? "

"Sorry sir" He said while avoiding eye contact,suddenly aware of what he just said. I really felt his nervousness for while.

I chuckled "It's okay,sometimes that happens" I said with a reassuring smile.

I made my way to the table while brushing hair with my fingers and then rolled my sleeves.

"Urgh!It's already 6:15.Where are they? I thought while my tracing my jawline. It's habit I have since my childhood. I do this whenever I felt impatient for something.

"Oh my gosh! Look at his jawline" I heard someone saying. Almost a whisper.

"I bet I'll get his number by 7" followed by giggles by some girls.

This urged me to turn around and my eyes landed a group of around 5 girls,at the bar, looking at me. One of them waved at me and bit her lip seductively.

I smiled mischievously and mouthed "hi"

Just after, Esha arrived and joined me.

"Heyya! Who are you talking to?" She narrowed her eyes and looked around.

She grabbed her seat.She tied her light brown hair in bun with loose strands on the side.She wore a long sleeved red floral crop top with black wrap shorts that went along her with her ivory skin.Her grey eyes were like wisps of cloud at twilight.Her voice souded like the birds chirping after a storm while her heart shaped lips moved.

"You're sure? Like I saw you showing your teeth at someone"

"It's no one really. Forget about me,where were you?" I said trying to change the topic.

"Well,I got stuck in the traffic. She smiled sheepishly.

"Me too" a voice uttered at back.

I recognised the voice in a snap "Pariii," I hummed.

"Hola, guys" she said enthusiastically and hopped on the sit.She filled the room with warmth with her smile.

She pushed her wavy hair on the side and said "Sorry for the lateness"while drumming her fingers the table.

"By the way guys, good excuses"

"No,Ashu! I really got stuck in the traffic"Esha said while putting the best puppy face.

"Esha, please don't lie when you can't", I said with a smirk.

"Ok I give up! I was in the library!", she exclaimed. "I got an interesting book named "Christmas with Bodyguard". The author did a fabulous job. The story included a boy and a bodyguard"

"Okay!"

"And what bout you Pari?", asked Ashu.

"Actually, I was showing some of my friends how to do rampwalk", said Pari by biting her nails.She is planning to enter the contest of Miss India soon,so she spends her practising.

"Where is Upasana?"

"I'm here".

"Why are you late Miss Upasana ?", asked Ashu.

" I was stuck in the traffic".

Everybody bursted out of laughing.

"What happened? Did I cracked a joke?"said Upasana while pulling a chair. Just then someone tapped on Ashu's shoulder.

"Heyya..remember me?" That was one of the girls I saw at the bar. She was curling her hair with her finger and looked at the girls.

"Oh..you deserve better" she said looking at me apologetically. "Come on, let's have some fun and we can start off by exchanging our lucky numbers" she said while handing me her phone.

Anger started boiling in me. No one insults my friends. No one.I opened his mouth to respond her when Upasana cut me off.

"Oh well, Varun let help you" she said while faking a smile and made eye contact with that girl.

"Actually,Varun doesn't always remember his number,right Varun?" She paused waiting for me answer.

"Ye-Yeah"I said trying to hide my confused tone. She's surely up to something.

The next second she was tapping random numbers on the phone "Here you go"

"Sweet! See you anytime soon" she said while giving me a flying kiss.

"Whose number did you give?" Pari, Esha and Ashu said at the same time.

"Well" she said while tapping her shoulders,showing how she is of her herself."Mr Matthew"

"What!?"

"Are you serious, babe?", screamed Esha.

"You mean the mathematics teacher, the strict one, who always yelled at us for no reason",I said.

"It's his number", said Upasana.

"Oh man,that's gonna be fun to watch," added Pari.

"Hey,I think she's trying to call you" she air quoted.

Her jaw dropped when heard the voice on the other side.She immediately stood up and stared at us. She came toward our table and put the phone in loudspeaker.

"You moron! Stupid! Bloody asshole! You must be ashamed of yourself. Bloody sick girl," uttered Mr Matthew angrily.

"You idiot,"said that girl by staring at Upasana.

"Nenenene", Upasana teased her. She left the restaurant without paying the bills.

"Okay, let's order, I'm hungry", cried Pari.

"Waiter?"

"Yes sir! How can I help you?"

" Four noodles and cokes for the ladies and one beer for me" I ordered.

"Yes! For the dessert, we will like to have hazelnut ice-creams and make it four.", added Pari.

They started their dinner.

"Why did you call us here Upasana?", asked Esha.

"Guys, I have a plan."

"What plan?", I asked .

"Ok, Ashu , when are you getting your holiday?", asked Upasana.

"Next week", he replied.

"Me too", said Esha and Pari in unison.

"You see my next project will be on wildlife photography.So...we can all go  for a trip in the jungle", said Upasana excitedly.

"Oh that'll be nice!Besides ever since we left high school,we guys rarely get to hang out" said Pari.

"That's gonna be awesome" said Esha."Guys, I need to ask my parents about this"

"I can solve that prob" Upasana took her mobile and dialled a number and put in on loudspeaker.The latter picked up the phone call.

"Hello uncle, it's me Upasana"

"Hello dear!"

"Actually uncle , next week on Saturday, we have decided to go for a trip in the jungle", exclaimed Upasana." So, we want Esha to come with us and for that we need your permission".

"Okay dear! It's a good thing. Ashu will be with you guys, right",

" Of course uncle , Ashu will be there. Don't worry! Ok, bye Uncle!".

She disconnected the phone.

"Problem solved", said Upasana while clapping her childishly.

"Oh thanks!" She blew a flying kiss toward her.

"By the way Ups,which jungle it will be?" Pari said before shoving a spoon of ice-cream

"We'll be going to..Madhya Pradesh", said Upasana.

" Omg! That's the largest in India", replied Pari.

"We got to leave now", said Esha. " It's quite late".

We shared the bill and left until we'll meet next week,unaware what will be awaiting for us ahead.

Thank you for reading! <3

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