CHAPTER 19 #2
She scoffed at the thought and tossed the note aside. After unpacking, she kicked off her shoes and took a quick nap. The jet lag was already catching up to her and her thoughts were starting to spiral.
Trendy Pub – That Evening
The pub, packed to brim, pulsed with bass and neon lights, its interiors dark and moody.
As Aanya stepped inside, her senses were instantly overwhelmed by the loud music, the press of people, the hum of laughter and movement. The track playing was catchy and familiar. Wish she could dance too.
She recalled during their college reunion, Navya hadn’t made it that night, but Aanya had come here with a few friends from university. It was such a crazy, carefree night.
But where was Reyansh now? And why had he called her here?
She scanned the club, suddenly self-conscious of her outfit. Compared to the scantily clad women around her, she felt overdressed.
Just then her phone buzzed, vibrating against her palm. Think of the devil and the devil called. She stepped away from the dance floor to answer.
“I’m here. Where are you?” she shouted, barely able to hear herself.
“I’m here too,” came Reyansh’s voice.
She glanced around in confusion.
“Where?” she demanded.
“You’ll have to find me,” he replied with maddening calm.
She frowned. “What? In this crowd? Are you serious?”
“We’re playing a game,” he said. “And I know you’re good at this one. You won the last time.”
Her breath caught.
Her stomach flipped.
She won the last time?
Which game? And just then the flashes of the last time she was here flooded before her eyes.
The spinning bottle.
The dare.
Her friends showing her a photo of a handsome man and challenging her to find him in the crowd and kiss him.
Aanya who was half-drunk, was far too bold that night. She’d accepted the dare, found the man... and kissed him.
And now, the memory rushed back in fragments, blurry but undeniable. Her breath froze as she recalled the final bit of that challenge.
The man she had kissed that night… it had been him .
Reyansh Chopra.
Trendy Pub – The Flashback (Two Years Ago)
The music had been deafening, the crowd rowdy and wild. Weekend had just begun in Cape Town, and Aanya Malhotra, along with a few of her college friends, had landed there for a reunion they had been planning for months.
“I told you this place would be packed! Partying on the beach would’ve been a better idea,” Aanya shouted above the noise, a little tipsy and clearly annoyed.
“Chill, Aanya,” Tanmay, one of her old batchmates, chuckled. “You wouldn’t get to feast your eyes on men like this at a private beach.”
She paused mid-sip, squinting at him through the dim lights. “Tanmay, since when did you start checking out men?”
He burst out laughing. “Oh God, not me! I meant for you girls. I’m happily taken, remember?” He slid an arm around Neha, his girlfriend, pulling her close.
Joanna rejoined the group after a bathroom break, her energy unfazed by the chaos around them. “Enough drinking and dancing, people! Let’s spice things up. How about a game?”
“No,” Aanya had groaned. “We’re not kids anymore, Jo. Look around! We’re in a full-blown nightclub, not a school picnic.”
“Stop being a spoil-sport, Aanya. Come on, let’s play spin the bottle—truth or dare style.”
Everyone but Aanya had agreed enthusiastically.
Left with no choice, she sighed and gave in.
The bottle was spun, the game began. Neha chose “truth” and ended up spilling about her first crush, something even Tanmay hadn’t known.
He’d sulked for a minute before laughing it off.
Joanna picked “dare” and flirted outrageously with the bartender, earning a scowl and an eye-roll from him.
Then the bottle pointed to Aanya.
“Obviously, dare,” she announced boldly. “Come on, make it a tough one.”
Joanna smirked and pulled out her phone. “Kiss this guy,” she challenged, flashing an image of a man she’d apparently photographed outside the restroom minutes ago.
Aanya squinted at the screen. “Damn. He’s hot.” Without hesitation, she leaned forward and kissed the phone. “Done. That was easy.”
Tanmay nearly choked on his drink.
“She meant in real life, idiot,” he laughed.
Aanya’s eyes narrowed. “And you think he’s here?”
“He was outside the washroom just now,” Joanna insisted. “He’s definitely around. Go find him. Kiss him. That’s your dare.”
With the bottle of Champagne still in hand, Aanya accepted the challenge. The music vibrated through her bones as she pushed through the crowd. She could feel her friends’ eyes following her, waiting for the show. There was no turning back.
After weaving through the crowd, her eyes finally landed on the man.
He sat at the bar, his back to her, perched on a high stool like a king surveying his kingdom.
The tailored shirt clung to his defined shoulders and back.
His thick, dark hair was perfectly styled.
He turned slightly, revealing a profile that was almost too good to be true. His smirk. His lips.
Hot wasn’t the word. He was pure sin.
She approached him.
“Hi,” she greeted, breathless.
Reyansh Chopra turned. There was a slightest hint of irritation in his expression, as if he didn’t like to be disturbed.
“Yes?” he asked, his tone clipped.
“I... I want to...” she tried to explain, but her alcohol-fogged brain refused to cooperate. “You know what? Forget it.”
Before he could say another word, she wrapped her arm around his neck and rose on her toes, then kissed him. Hard.
It wasn’t just a drunken dare or a foolish whim. Her body moulded to his instinctively, and though her thoughts were blurred, one thing rang through clear as crystal—this kiss felt like the best damn thing she had ever done.
On the other hand, the kiss caught Reyansh completely off guard. His entire body tensed, his brows drew together, but he didn’t push her away. Not immediately. Something about her scent, her softness, the desperate way her hand fisted the collar of his shirt, held him in place.
Aanya kissed like she didn’t care what would happen next. Like she had nothing to lose. And maybe that’s what shook him most.
It only lasted a few seconds, but when she pulled back, both of them were equally breathless.
She blinked at him, the weight of her own boldness catching up now. His eyes glinted with restrained fire. She’d barely noticed the two guards who had taken a step forward, waiting for their cue, but paused only because Reyansh gestured for them to stop.
“You have guards?” she blinked. “Of course you do. A man that hot needs protection.” She giggled.
He didn’t say a word. He just stared, stone cold and infuriatingly handsome.
“I... I should go...” she mumbled. “And, thank you,” she added, touching her own lips. They still tingled from the kiss. “And... sorry.”
His expression remained steady as she staggered, losing her balance.
“I…I think I’m going to fall.” Saying that, her eyes shut and she was about to collapse, when Reyansh caught her in his arms.
He glanced around, scanning the crowd to see if anyone who knew her stepped forward. No one did.
“Take her to the security,” he told the female bouncers who rushed to him. “She fainted. Someone should come looking.”
As they took her from his arms, he pulled out a business card and handed it over.
“If no one comes... call me.”
The women nodded and led Aanya away. Just before they could disappear, a group of college students appeared, frantic and apologetic, explaining to them that she was their friend. Once confirmed, the bouncers handed her over to her friends who then left hurriedly from the pub.
Reyansh finally turned to his guards.
“I want the CCTV footage deleted. Understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
While one guard disappeared to follow instructions, the other escorted him out of the pub. He had come here for a break after a frustrating work day, hoping for some peace.
Instead, that one kiss from a stranger, the madness of the moment, was unlike anything he’d expected.
And for reasons he couldn’t explain, it was now seared into his memory.
Forever!