"Sunn, ye pastries ready hai. mai pack karke bahar le jaungi, tu ja." She asked Bindu.

"Ha, mujhe agle order ki tayyari karni hai." Bindu nodded, getting busy with the batter preparations. Shehnaaz was packing the pastries in cardboard and writing down its address for Vicky to get it delivered when her phone rang.

She slipped the device out to find it chiming with Sidharth's name. She was upset, she knew he had genuinely intended to invite her, he was in fact very nice to her since they had become acquainted and she was feeling bad for turning him down straight away like that and decided to talk to him about it.

"Hello?" She answered.

"Cake ka order dena hai." He was straight to the point.

She frowned, no Hi no hello? Was he that mad at her? But then she just couldn't bring it to her mouth to ask it directly. "Oh, okay. Bata." She obliged, grabbing her pen and started noting down everything he mentioned.

"Hmm, abhi address bata." She asked.

"Taj Wellington Mews-" he was answering when she interrupted.

"Spelling?" She asked.

"Wellington w-e-l-l-i-n-g-t-o-n, Mews m-e-w-s." He did as asked.

"Hmm, aage." She said.

"Parikh Marg, Cusrow Baug Colony, Colaba." He replied and she took her own sweet time to write down all of that.

"Han, likh liya. 25th ko dopahar tak delivery ho jayegi. Aur umm, tu abhi free hai kya?" She asked him then.

"Ha bol." He replied, already knowing what she'd talk about. He had been waiting for an appropriate answer from her side for why she had refused his invitation last night.

"I'm sorry, meko aise mana nahi karna chahiye tha." She said.

"Toh koi bahana bana de! You're not coming anyway, right? Just say it then." He replied, his tone made it obvious how upset he was with her.

"Dekh aisi baat nahi hai." She tried to ease him out.

"Toh?" He left his question hanging.

"I just, I'm just a waitress Sidharth. Aur waha teri party me sare business class honge." She bluntly answered, letting him know her apparent reason.

"What!?" He would have expected anything but that as a reason. It was such a baseless and stupid excuse to him.

"Tujhe aisa nahi lagta hai, I know. You're not one of those who show off their class and power among people, but- It's just me okay, mujhe bade logon ke beech uncomfortable lagta hai. I feel like I don't belong to that place." She explained, thinking it'd help.

"Yeh jo bhi tune bakwas abhi ki na, I cannot believe you think like that." His response came out like a whisper, unable to believe she was such a diffident person and a bubbly one at the same time. Where did this uncertainty come from? Why would he invite her to an event where she'd get uncomfortable? And why on earth was she comparing herself with anyone?

"Sidharth? Tu samajh nahi raha hai." She called out his name.

"Nahi! Mujhe kuch samajh nahi aa raha jo bhi tera reason hai. Why do you even think like that? Tujhe waha mai invite kar raha hu na, isse kya farak padta hai waha kaise log honge?" He asked her.

"Farak padta hai! Mujhe farak padta hai! Mujhe apna mazak nahi banana aisi jagah ja ke, jaha mai alag se point out ho jau! I just don't want to be eyed like I'm not one of them because apparently I am not!" She retorted, grabbing Vicky's attention who was leaving for delivery from the counter. She walked out of Sprinkles to talk to him through the back door.

"I- I'd never do that! Mai kyu tera mazak banaunga? I just invited a friend to a party I'd be throwing to celebrate something good in my life! That's it!" He justified himself, irately.

"You hear me?" He asked to check on her.

"Hmm." She hummed.

"I've a question." He mentioned.

"I'm listening." She replied, wondering if he was even getting her point or not.

"Why do you talk to me?" He asked.

"What do you mean why?" She asked him back.

"Nahi, bata mujhe. Tu kyu baat karti hai mujhse? We've this class difference right? Tu, ek waitress. Mai businessman. What's the point of you talking to me or hanging out with me, if we've this sick so-called divergence that is making you a comparatively lower grade person than me, right?" He bashedly asked, his volume raised by a couple of folds because her grounds felt like a humiliation.

"Sidharth! You're taking it all wrong! I talk to you, not to the businessman! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make it sound like that okay!" She replied, giving in and not arguing anymore because it'd only add on to the misunderstanding. If she knew he wasn't intending to make her feel low, she had to let him know too or else he was going to take her words to another tangent of misbelief.

"Toh kya matlab hai tera?" He was still there.

"I was just afraid. What if I embarrass myself there?" She replied in a calmer tone.

"You won't!" He assured her, even though he didn't know why. Why was he trying to dissolve her insecurities? It was her job to do, to overcome her inferior and delusional beliefs of self esteem.

Somewhere, she believed his words over her own set of thoughts and there she was. Dressed up in a solid black A-line dress, making sure she looked formal and dolled up on the 25th. She checked her hair last time before walking out of her cab and inhaled deeply one last time before making her way in. The entrance was pretty simple and when she entered the hall, it was quite chilly because that was all one could make out of place.

There was soft music in the background and a few distinct people talking among themselves very sweetly, every face had a smile adored and who knew who was real. Her gaze darted towards a tall guy in a rich black suit and hands inside the pockets, she recognised it was Sidharth when he ran his fingers over his hair out of habit. He was looking tremendously hot in the outfit and ruling the black colour in his own way. With that handsome face, he was a head turner himself among the people.

"Hey!" She gave a small pat
on his back.

"Hi! Thank you for coming!" He grinned, sounding all sugary like he had been talking to all his guests.

"Aha! Itne pyaar se toh tune kabhi baat nahi ki!" She chuckled and he followed her suite.

"Idhar aa." He guided her towards a corner and showed her the headphones his company had launched.

"Congratulations sabse pehle, I'm sorry thoda late ho gaya traffic ke karan." She replied.

"It's alright. Ye headphones launch huye hai market me, isi ki party hai." He said, pointing at the stage that had a big screen connected with the projector.

"Abhi thodi der pehle hi maine speech di, introduced people to my headphones. Mera part ho gaya hai, abhi jo ad shoot hua hai wo dikhayenge." He added and stopped a passing by waiter to offer her some drinks.

"These are cocktails and please have something, ha.." He told her.

"Thanks!" She smiled, taking a glass for herself but she couldn't have it when her eyes came across a familiar face.

"Yeh, Sidharth ye banda? Yeh Ankit Khanna hai?!!!" She gaped at the actor she spotted around. For a moment she felt like the glass would slip out of hand because she couldn't believe her eyes.

"Ha wahi hai, he did an ad shoot for our headphones." Sidharth chuckled, watching her stare at the actor like a crazy fan.

"Haaye! Meko toh vishwas nahi ho raha teri party me Ankit Khanna aaya hai!" She was still in her dreamland when he pinched her to get back her attention that had suddenly shifted.

"Ouch! Kamine!" She winced at his audacity.

"Hua vishwas?" He chuckled and heard his manager calling for him.

"I'll be back." He excused himself with that.

"Sir, Mr Rathore's wishing to have a word with you in private." Disha informed him. He nodded, walking up to the particular guy and following him inside.

"I'm impressed, Shukla. You've done a commendable job here." Mr. Rathore complimented, while Sidharth thought what was there to talk in private until the realization dawned that now that Mobitechtron was doing good, people seemed to have taken interest in working with them and he was so against having them as his partners in the business.

The men walked out when the ad shoot was being aired. He looked around for Shehnaaz, to accompany her, knowing she might feel out of place only to realize she was already talking to someone.

"Out of all the people, why did it have to be the playboy?" He muttered, gritting his teeth when she laughed at Ritwik Singhal's words.

Sidharth felt a pang inside him, as if something that wasn't supposed to take place had happened. He failed to understand what she could be talking to him so animatedly, the sight irritated him because Ritwik was infamously known for sleeping around. He smiled, tapping her nose with his finger and making her laugh about God knows what.

"Talk of the devil and the devil's here!" Ritwik chuckled when Sidharth joined them.

"Um hm, I'm glad you guys were talking about me." He replied, standing next to Shehnaaz in fact right next to her.

"You had something?" He whispered to her and she nodded in reply.

"So you were saying?" Ritwik asked, continuing their conversation.

"Haaye, mai bhool gayi mai kya bol rahi thi." She mumbled to herself, making the guys laugh.

"You're cute!" Ritwik chuckled saying that.

"I know right!" She gave him a wink and sipped her drink she had switched from the cocktails.

"Food!" He reminded her their topic.

"Oh ha, I was saying I am a big foodie. Itna ke matlab, ek jagah hai mere ghar ke paas, more like a dhaba it is and it makes the best Desi chicken. Mai waha bohot jati hu." She chuckled.

"Aha, and where is this place? Try karna padega tumne bola hai toh." He curiously asked.

"It's actually in Andheri and-" she was replying when Sidharth interrupted.

"Shehnaaz, do minute aana." He said.

"Kya hua?" She asked him back.

"Kuch yaad aaya abhi, excuse us." He replied, taking her along with him to stop her from spilling her address to a mere stranger.

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Hey there beautiful people.. I'm here with another chapter..

What do you think made Shehnaaz agree to come to Sidharth's party?

Isn't it very sweet of Sidharth looking out for her in his party?? A penny for your thoughts 🤌🤌