POV :~ SAYESHA

There’s nothing quite like the feeling of escaping a whirlwind week at work and home for a night of unfiltered fun.

I leaned back on the plush sofa, savoring the buzz of Kritika’s (my bestfriend's) bachelorette party. The room, dimly lit with fairy lights, felt like a much-needed break from deadlines and demanding clients.

Kritika — is my bestfriend. Bestest friend. We met in childhood and immediately decided that we're going to be best friends for life. We had a LOT in common. Trust me when I say A LOT !

And this week? She is getting married to a richie-rich man, Kshitij Gupta, who is equally HOT and MUSCULAR, but hey, he is my bestfriend's fiancèe now. Sorry, Kri.

Kritika sat in the middle, surrounded by champagne bottles, confetti, and all the love in the room. She was glowing, not just because of the sparkly dress she wore, but because tonight was all about her.

We’d planned it that way—a small, intimate celebration in a hotel room, just us girls. No loud clubs or strangers crashing the vibe, just Kritika, Priti, Shreya, and me. Because, she needed it to be that way.

Talking of Priti, another bestfriend of mine.

We — I, Kritika and Sayesha are trio since school days. We're the kind of bestfriends, GenZ these days dream to fulfil the #bestfriendsforevergoals with, but sad, this world will never let them complete that dream.

World is nasty-nasty place.

I came to realize this when I turned barely four... three maybe.

I don't even remember.

Priti handed out the next round of shots, her energy infectiously loud as always. “Alright, bride-to-be, your turn. Drink up!” she chirped, her eyes twinkling with utter mischief. Go my girl !!!!

But our Kritika, Madam was lost in her dreamy own world. Not her mistake, love makes you fool.

Priti clapped twice infront of Kri's eyes and she finally came out of her dreamy- Kshitij's world.

Kritika groaned dramatically, but I could see the happiness in her eyes. She is actually happy. Well, she deserves this. She deserves all the happiness of the world. I have seen her struggling in her life at every single step. Even now, she is struggling the most between three of us. But still, she is holding up strong. And I'm so proud of her.

This is the kind of strength that I want in my life.

“You’re all the worst,” she said, downing the shot with a grin. “I swear I thought tonight would be all about last-minute wedding checklists and boring stuff.”

“That’s because you underestimate our sneakiness,” I laughed, raising my glass to toast with hers. “But come on, you know you’d hate a crazy nightclub scene.”

Shreya, Kritika’s sister-in-law, clinked her glass against mine. “This was such a good idea, Sayesha di. You guys know her so well.”

I shrugged, trying to play it cool, but I couldn’t help the small smile tugging at my lips. I like when someone praises me, nothing new.

“Kritika’s been stressing over this wedding for days. She needed something low-key.”

And it was true.

Kritika had always been the quiet one, the steady one who kept our group grounded when life felt like it was spinning out of control. Tonight was about giving her back some of that peace.

But even as I sat there, laughing with my friends, I wasn't able to fully detach from the world outside.

My phone buzzed, lighting up with emails and notifications from my assistant, reminding me of all the designs I still needed to finalize, the meetings I needed to reschedule.

My job as a fashion designer never took a break, not even for a night like this.

What else can we expect? I've responsibilities y'all. Serious ones.

I texted to Anyesha's caretaker,

Sayesha : Is she okay? She slept?

Within a minute, she replied me back,

Anita : Yes, Mam. She slept just five minutes ago.

Phew. Thank God !

I quickly shoved the back into my bag.

No work tonight. No tensions.

Just for once, I wanted to be present, to soak in the joy of being here, with the people who knew me best.

We were seriously enjoying until something seriously unexpected happened.

Two men, men, crashed inside our room in all their grace. For a minute, I seriosuly thought they were waiters or something, or any staff of hotel. But then, my eyes roamed on their body and their dressing.

Gosh.

I honestly thought that-

"What the fuxk, Priti? You called gigolos at our party?" I shouted at the top of my lungs.

"Hell no!!" Priti, equally shocked as me, shouted back at me, "Why would I? You didn't?"

"What? NO! I thought you did!" I shouted back at her.

Talking about the two men, they were tall and - undeniably handsome, guys! And they were looking at us in an equally shocked state.

One of them raised their hands defensively, "Whoa, whoa, calm down ladies. We're not gigolos, for fuxk's sake."

The other man nodded, "Yeah seriously. We're here for ... uh- Shreya?"

In an immediate reaction, we all turned to look at Shreya with our wide eyes.

Don't tell me Shreya called them?

Oh wait, they said they aren't gigolos, right?

Are they - I mean - one of them her boyfriend?

Suddenly, the door of our room opened once again and then fianlly Kshitij Jiju stepped inside to save all of us. I looked at Kri and as always, she was looking at him with her heart eyes. This makes me feel so single all of a sudden.

"What's wrong? I heard someone shouting?" Kshitij looked at Kri, his fiancee with caring eyes, and walked towards her, "Are you okay?"

She nodded her head, "I am fine," then both of their eyes moved towards the two men standing in between us. Two unknown extremely handsome and hot men.

To my surprise, Kshitij's eyes widened too but unlike us, there was a hint of happy smile on his face.

"Dhruv!? Rohan??! What a surprise men?" He walked towards them and the three HOT men, except Kshitj - not calling him HOT, shared the tightest bro-hug.

"Damn, you guys. You guys would have given me a hint at least," our Jiju said to both of them, breaking their hug.

"Come-on dude! What's the fun of surprise then?" one of them said.

He seemed to be in his late twenties, had a lean and toned physique, standing 6 feet tall. He had jet black hair, neatly styled with sight wave, dressed in a casual, yet fashionable manner, wearing a well-fitted navy blue polo shirt and khakhi pants.

But he wasn't the one who grabbed my understand. The one beside him, was looking at me with intense eyes. REALLY INTENSE EYES.

He was wearing a fitted, casual blazer over a crisp white shirt, paired with dark jeans. He looked like he was in his late twenties too. He had a tall and athletic build., standing at about 6'1. He had a short, tousled dark brown hair that fell effortlessly in place, giving him a slightly rugged yet polished look. His sharp well-defined jawline was stark.

To be straight forward y'all, he seemed to be straight out of fiction and movies.

My heart pounded fastly inside my chest because GOD, his gaze was so hard that I was able to feel goosebumps arising all over my skin.

"Kritika," my attention shifted towards Kshtij but my mind unknowingly remained on him, "He is Dhruv, my bua's son," he pointed at the polo-tshirt guy, "and this one is Rohan, the one about whom I was telling you yesterday, remember?" He pointed at the 6'1 fictional guy.

I don't know what Kshitij would have told Kritika yesterday, but now I know this guy's name is ROHAN !

"Yes, I do," Kri said to Kshitij with a smile on her lips.

Then I noticed the polo tshirt guy who was staring beside me. Beside me. Priti.

I exchanged glances with her and said in our mind, FUCK THEM.

"Friend? Cousin? Really?" I crossed my arms. All the gazes from the room shifted towards me and Priti.

"Yeah! Call us gigolos again and we can show you what's the actual meaning of gigolos," Rohan smirked. SMIRKED. The fucking capability of this man.

"Behtar hoga ki tum thoda kam bolo, samjhe? Mujhe achhe se pata hai jyada bolne walon ke daant aur haddi todna kaise hai."

"You better speak less, okay? I know how to break one's teeth and bones who speaks more," I replied to him, smirking back with full on attitude.

Dhruv, Kshitij's probable cousin jumped into our argument, "Excuse me! Yow two  were the one to call us with that word. Not us," his eyes shifted down towards Priti's dress and that was the moment three of us realized that WE WERE WEARING A PRETTY FUCKABLE DRESS.

I was wearing a fiery red dress which was shouting loudly in capital letters, TEAR ME APART. My dress was really-really short and extremely tight around my bust.

I immediately looked at Priti and mouthed, "Let's go out." She gave me a frequent nod and immediately we moved out of the room, but the gaze, that strong gaze never left me. Never.

Priti didn't leave the chance at any cost and shouted back on Dhruv's face who was staring her too,

"Agar abhi ke abhi nazar nahi hatayi toh tumhari aankhein noch lungi."

"I'll pull out your eyes if you don't look away right at this moment."

We quickly moved to our room that was luckily just beside Kri's room and started changing our clothes into decent one.

"The fucker was looking at me like shit," Priti muttered under her breathe.

I sighed and my eyes flashed the image of the men in white shirt and blazer staring at me. That was real tough. His gaze. Why was he looking at me in that gorgeous fucking way? And why is his gaze effecting me? Just why?

You cannot lose your focus, Sayesha !!

You've responsibilities.

You're strong.

You're not allowed to let a strong gaze from some random man effect you.

You know your past.

You know your life.

MEN ARE TRASH. Please, please, please. (don't prove I'm right)

♡

Hope you liked the first chapter.