Chapter 1 #2
Sheena shook her head. “Oh, please. My mom is so protective of me, you know that. She’d never agree to me going on a date with anyone until she’s vetted them properly.
And Kabier’s worse. In his eyes, no one is good enough for me.
Besides, now that he’s home, he’s always questioning my comings and goings.
Not to mention the fact that he thinks I’m too young to date anyone.
Also, this is my first date with Karan, and he’s asked me not to tell anyone about it, but you know I can’t keep anything from you two. ”
“I don’t like this secrecy. What is there to hide?” Raashi asked. “If he genuinely likes you, then he ought to tell the world, not hide you like a dirty secret.”
“Please don’t be so dramatic,” Sheena said. “It’s not a big deal. Now help me plan my date.”
Keya rubbed her chin. “Planning something like this, when it’s only your mother we’re worrying about, is one thing, but trying to do it while your overprotective elder brother is also in town is a completely different ball game.”
“Neither of them is home.” Sheena put her hands on her hips. “The three of us have sneaked out for late-night drives so many times in the past. Tonight, you just have to lock my room, pretend we’re all sleeping, and then sneak me inside the house when I return.”
“Uh…this is dangerous,” Keya said.
Sheena rolled her eyes. She couldn’t understand why her friends were making such a fuss. What was so dangerous about a date anyway?
Raashi clucked her tongue. “We were always together in the past when we did something that we weren’t supposed to. This, what you’re asking for, sounds like trouble.”
“And feels unsafe…” Keya added.
“Unsafe?” Sheena scoffed. “Why would you say that? Karan will pick me, and drop me back. He will wait at the corner of my house.” She looked at the clock on the wall across.
“He’s going to come in an hour. You need to help me choose something to wear.
He’s having a party at his house. His parents aren’t in town. ”
She moved to go to her dresser but found no movement from her friends. She turned and arched a brow.
Keya wet her lips, taking her time to respond.
“I’m not sure of him, Sheena. You hardly know him.
From what you’ve told us, he sounds like a man-whore.
You were the one to tell us how he’s never been in a stable relationship with any girl and moves through them faster than a bee moves through flowers. And now he’s targeted you.”
“Hey, he’s not targeted me. He likes me.”
Raashi shook her head. “Be that as it may, we don’t like you being alone with him.”
“I won’t be alone all the time with him,” Sheena argued. “Rohini and the others are all coming to the party. I’m going as his date, though.”
“Still, we don’t want you to go,” Keya said boldly. “Neither of us likes him. There’s something just…off about him. His vibe is all wrong.”
Her jaw dropped. She’d met Karan through her college friends.
He was a final-year student and the hottest, most popular guy in her college.
He had been asking her out for weeks. But she’d been rejecting him every time, until tonight.
He’d finally worn down her resistance, and she’d agreed to go out with him.
Agreed, her friends had met him just once, but they didn’t know him enough to judge.
She pursed her lips. “Why have you never told me this before?”
Keya pushed her long hair to one shoulder. “There was never a reason to worry because you always hung with him in a group.”
“Besides,” Raashi began, “You’ve been rejecting his advances since so long that we never had anything to be concerned about. We just don’t like the idea of you being alone with him at all. And that too in his house.”
“Yes, we know it’s a party, and your other friends will be there.
Still…” Keya rose from the bean bag and walked to her.
“Please, Sheena, think through this. Introduce him to your mom and brother. Let him meet them, then go on a date with him. You are the Sehgal Princess. Anyone ought to be proud and delighted to go out with you. Yet, he’s insisting on you sneaking out. I don’t like it.”
“Yeah,” Raashi concurred. “We just want you to be safe, okay?”
She looked at her friends, at the worry lining their faces. They were two of the most important people in her world, and they were begging her not to go out tonight. Her phone beeped in her pocket. She knew it was him.
She had to choose between listening to her friends’ advice or taking a chance on a boy she was beginning to like. She only hoped that whatever choice she made was the right one.
Chapter 1
10 years later
Mumbai
“The Sehgal Princess is here…”
“I love her style. Oh, that outfit…”
“She’s gorgeous. So unfortunate she’s such a snob.”
“Have you heard how because of her…”
“One of her friends…”
“Ten years ago…”
Heads turned, whispers abounded, and a general buzz followed her wake as Sheena Sehgal made her way down the living room of her house.
By now, she was used to the comments that followed her everywhere she went.
Ten years had passed, yet the crowd in Mumbai’s elite society hadn’t forgotten the past, nor did they let others forget.
Gossip continued to follow her, including inside the doors of her own home.
It was her destiny, so it seemed. Thankfully, at least the media frenzy had dissipated over the years.
At one time, that had been too tough to handle.
Sheena flicked a glance at the faces of the people studying her, nodding at the ones she knew and ignoring the others, especially those who made it evident that they were talking about her.
She loathed these events. However, as the daughter of Mina Sehgal, Mumbai’s prime high society hostess, she had to smile and pretend everything was perfect in her world.
Pretend that none of the inquisitive glances and whispered comments affected her any more.
These events tended to be long and tedious, especially when she stood at the periphery of this group of Mumbai’s who’s who.
She was not an insider like her mother or even her aunt, for that matter.
The thing about high society was that once a scandal erupted in your name, no one forgot it.
Yes, newer scandals came up and took center stage, but no one forgot your past misdemeanours, even if you were a Sehgal.
She scanned her surroundings. Her mom had outdone herself as usual.
The setup was par perfection. The cream and white décor was a sight to behold.
Tiny droplets of crystals floated from the ceiling and glittered like diamonds.
White flowers strategically placed in large cream urns, gold accessories, the food, the champagne, the caterers—everything was fabulous and top-notch.
The who’s who of the film fraternity were in attendance tonight, along with the rich and the famous of India.
Reporters lined Sehgal Mansion’s gates, waiting for a glimpse of the celebrities.
The invites for Mina Sehgal’s annual July soiree were coveted by one and all.
But Sheena just wanted to take a break from it all.
And while she had learned to expertly navigate this crowd, she hated any sort of attention on herself, especially from the media.
She let out a deep breath, surreptitiously making her way out of the living room. She sneaked a glance at her mom. Fortunately, her mom was surrounded by a bevy of her friends, and her aunt was busy with another group. Neither of them was paying her any attention…for the moment, at least.
Keeping her steps calm so as to not draw any more attention to her, she snagged a champagne flute from a passing server and escaped to the kitchen.
It would be the quietest place in the house right now and the last place someone would come looking for her.
Entering the spacious room, she perched on the breakfast bar and exhaled.
Thankfully, her mom had a separate outdoor kitchen in the house, especially for the caterers to do their setup.
It was an extravagance they could afford and was much needed considering how social her mother was.
It also gave Sheena a place where she could get a brief respite from whichever event her mom was hosting.
And there were plenty of smaller events held across the year.
This kitchen was like a safe haven when the whispers, comments, and glances became too much.
She’d figured out this trick of escaping to the kitchen several years ago.
Since she deliberately didn’t carry her phone to the parties held at home, her mom and aunt couldn’t call her.
And if either of them went searching for her, they’d go straight up to her bedroom first. No one bothered to check the kitchen.
Hence, she could always pretend that she’d been out in the garden or chatting with someone while they’d been busy.
This trick had worked beautifully so far.
Since Sheena categorically refused to attend high society events, her mom kept hosting parties at home in the hope that one day, Sheena would enjoy the socializing and come out of the decade-old box she’d locked herself in.
Thus, whenever an event was held at her own house, Sheena had no choice but to make an appearance for her mom’s sake.
However, no matter how hard her mother tried, Sheena couldn’t be the extrovert her mom wanted her to be.
She was no longer the loud and boisterous girl she’d been a decade ago.
To the people outside, she came across as a social recluse, an enigma, a snob, as they called her.
Only when she was in the company of her two best friends did she let loose and allow herself to be the girl she really was.
Only the two of them knew her, the real her, and not this facade she showed to the world.
A decade had changed so much… One night all those years ago had changed everything.