Chapter 5 #2
Smoothly, as though nothing was unusual, she excused herself once more and crossed the room, this time joining a group near the bar.
All too soon, she drifted away again, moving easily from one cluster of guests to another, smiling, finishing her drink, taking another, and making polite conversation.
All the while, she remained acutely aware of him. Of his gaze following her across the room, watching her every move. And worse, of the fact that he seemed to be patiently trailing her from one group to the next.
She finally reached Sabrina and Aditya. Seeing them together always made her smile. It seemed so long ago that she and Sabrina had shared an apartment in Singapore. So much had happened during that time. And somehow, out of all that madness, Sabrina and Aditya had found each other.
Shauna couldn’t help thinking about the strange coincidence of it all. On the very same night she’d had her impulsive one-night stand with Akash, Sabrina had had one with Aditya. Only in Sabrina’s case, it had turned into something real, and now they were married.
“Hey,” Shauna said, slipping easily into their conversation. “How are you two?”
“We’re good,” Aditya said with a relaxed grin.
“Very good,” Sabrina added, her eyes bright.
“Tell me, how is married life treating you both?” Shauna asked them. “And how is Ahaan adapting to it?”
Sabrina smiled, explaining how happy her son, Ahaan, was with Aditya as his stepdad. Shauna listened with only half an ear. Her entire focus was on the man across the room who had somehow created this chaos in her heart and mind that refused to go away.
Akash’s eyes met hers from afar, and she quickly focused back on Sabrina and Aditya. Both of them were watching her.
Sabrina leaned closer. “So how are things between you and…” She tipped her head in Akash’s direction. “…him.”
“Fine,” Shauna said rather quickly.
“Fine?” Sabrina repeated, clearly unconvinced.
Sabrina and Aditya were the only two people who knew about her and Akash and that night in Singapore. And they also were well aware of her chaotic history with him.
Shauna shrugged. “It’s the same as always. Rarely good. Most of the time… not so good.”
Aditya lifted a brow. “And right now?”
She hesitated for a beat.
“Good,” she admitted. “I think.”
“Hmm,” Sabrina said. “Is that why you can’t stop looking at him?”
Shauna gasped.
“It’s… it’s not like that,” she said, fumbling for the right words. “It’s… it’s…”
“Complicated?” Aditya supplied mildly. He smiled. “It usually is.”
These two were far too observant.
“See,” Sabrina continued. “It’s very obvious to us that you’ve tried to keep your distance from him after that night. And then he went to Dubai.”
Shauna glanced to the side and found Akash walking toward her again, his gaze zeroed in on her. Her eyes met his, and her pulse leapt.
Aditya clicked his fingers in front of her face, and Shauna snapped her attention back to him.
“And now he’s back in your orbit,” Sabrina continued. “And you don’t know what to do about him, isn’t it?”
Akash reached them a moment later, saving her from having to reply. Which was just as well, because she had no answer to Sabrina’s question.
“Aditya. Sabrina,” he greeted easily, nodding to both of them before his gaze slid toward her.
Aditya grinned. “There you are. You disappeared to Dubai and forgot about the rest of us.”
Akash laughed lightly. “Hardly forgot. I’ve been in touch with you.”
“Barely,” Aditya said.
“Then I apologize,” Akash said, lowering his chin. “To be honest, Dubai was hectic. Dev had this whole plan for how to train me, and I only had a few months to learn everything I could from him. But it was good. Honestly, I fell in love with that city.”
“Yeah?” Aditya asked, curious. “That good for you, huh?”
“If there was any city in the world I’d think about living in, it would be Dubai,” Akash said. “The energy there… the pace, the ambition, the vibe of the place. It suits me.”
“That’s amazing,” Sabrina said warmly. “I like it too.”
Akash looked around the room before addressing her. “I met your brothers several times while I was living there. I’m happy to see they could make it here.”
Sabrina smiled in the direction of her brothers, the Oshnovs: Mihir, Armaan and Vedant. They were married to Rajiv’s sisters in Dubai.
“I’m happy they’ve found friends in this crowd,” Sabrina said, smiling. “They needed more people in their lives.” She looked at Akash. “I heard you and Armaan really hit it off.”
Akash chuckled. “He’s wild.”
“That he is,” Aditya said. “And so mischievous. Just like you. No wonder you both got along like a house on fire.”
Akash smiled lazily. “What can I say? Armaan clearly has excellent taste in people.”
A couple of months back, thanks to Aditya and Mihir’s wife, Ananya, Sabrina had been reunited with her brothers after many years. Shauna was aware about their sad history and how painful their separation had been, and she was genuinely happy they’d found one another again.
What surprised her, though, was hearing that Akash had become friends with the Oshnovs. Then again… perhaps it shouldn’t have surprised her. Most people liked him. He was relaxed, playful, and warm with everyone else. It was only with her that he became arrogant and cutting.
She let out a sigh.
But today had been different. Today, she had glimpsed the side of him he rarely ever showed her. And that, perhaps, was the real reason her heart had been behaving so strangely all evening.
Because that version of Akash was… appealing.
Far too appealing.
She quickly looked away, lifting her glass to her lips as though the champagne might steady the sudden flutter in her chest. God.
This was exactly why she needed to keep her distance from him.
She set her glass down on the table, the urge to escape him suddenly overwhelming, when the music picked up.
Aditya slipped an arm around Sabrina’s waist. “I’ll catch you both later. Right now, I want to dance with my beautiful wife.”
Shauna smiled as she watched them dance together, their arms around one another. When she turned back, Akash was watching her.
“I think I see Raashi calling me,” she said quickly.
“Raashi is busy dancing with Keya and Sheena.” Akash tipped his head toward the dance floor, where the three women were laughing and dancing together. “I doubt she’s even thinking about you. You’ll have to come up with a better excuse to run away from me, Shauna.”
“I’m doing no such thing,” she replied.
“Then why have you been switching groups every time you see me approaching?”
“You’re imagining things.”
“Perhaps you’re right, and my imagination is working overtime.” His lips curved slightly. “In that case, I suppose you’ll have no problem staying right here and talking to me.”
She rolled her eyes. Why did he even care if she stayed or left? Why did he always have to challenge her? Ugh.
But now she was stuck. If she walked away now, he’d know he was right. That she was running from him. And worse, he’d know why. That something about being around him unsettled her. And that was the last thing she wanted Akash to realize. She had to escape from him as soon as she could.
Amusement flickered in Akash’s eyes as he watched her.
“What?” she asked, immediately defensive.
“Nothing,” he said lightly. “You just suddenly look very tense.”
“I am not tense.”
“Shauna.”
God. The way he said her name—drawing it out, splitting it into two soft syllables and stressing the second—sent a small, unwelcome tingle down her spine every single time.
Finding his eyes on hers, she asked, “What?”
“Relax.”
She huffed out a small breath. “It’s hard to relax around you. Historically, whenever you and I are alone, we end up arguing.”
“This morning seemed to prove otherwise.”
“That was a one-off.”
“Or,” he said mildly, “it was proof that we’re capable of not fighting.”
She studied him for a moment, trying to decide if he was teasing her. “So, what are you suggesting?”
“That we continue the truce from this morning.”
She hesitated. Then she dipped her chin slightly. “Alright. Truce it is.”
His smile softened, and the tension she hadn’t even realized she’d been carrying slowly eased from her shoulders. Well… if she was going to spend some time with him, she might as well satisfy her curiosity.
She let out a quiet breath. “So, Dubai, huh?” she asked, trying to sound casual. “Are you thinking about moving there?”
His eyes flicked back to her, a teasing glint appearing in them. “Are you trying to get rid of me?”
“If only it were that easy.”
His expression softened, the humor fading just a little. “No. Even if I wanted to, my destiny is waiting for me in Mumbai.”
Shauna frowned slightly at that, the words sitting oddly in her mind. What did that mean? What destiny? But before she could ponder on that, Keya suddenly appeared beside them, her eyes sparkling with mischief.
“Alright, that’s enough standing around and talking,” Keya declared, looking between the two of them. “You two have done plenty of that already. Now it’s time to dance.”
Before either of them could protest, she grabbed each of their hands and tugged them toward the dance floor. The DJ switched to a trending Bollywood number that had several people already moving across the floor.
Her brother, Rishi, caught her hand just as she reached the dance floor. He bumped his hip to hers, clearly enjoying himself. She started to sway with him.
“Where’s Mehak?” she asked.
“My wife has gone to check on our baby girl,” Rishi said. “Dance with me until she returns.”
Rishi exaggerated a dramatic dance move, and she laughed. She fell into step with him, matching his moves with ease. Smiling, she glanced to the side, her gaze drifting toward Akash. He was dancing with Keya, but his eyes were on her. And the look in them made her pulse skip just a little.
As the final beats of the song faded, the DJ seamlessly switched tracks. Another popular Bollywood dance number burst through the speakers, the change in tempo instantly lifting the energy on the floor.
Armaan caught Akash by the arm and pulled him toward the center of the dance floor.
Akash laughed but went with him, already falling into the beat as the two of them began dancing together.
Within seconds, they were moving to the rhythm of the song, laughing as they kept up with the fast pace.
The crowd naturally shifted around them, giving them space.
Akash looked completely at ease as he moved to the music. There was something effortless about the way he followed the rhythm, every movement perfectly timed with the beat. She hadn’t realized when she’d stopped dancing and simply stood there watching him.
As the song changed, couples began to move back together on the dance floor. Armaan’s wife reached them, pulling him away as they both began dancing together. On her side, Mehak had returned and was already dancing with Rishi again.
Akash stepped away from the center and slowly drifted across the dance floor toward her. She barely had time to react before his hand settled at her waist and he pulled her closer. She placed a hand lightly on his shoulder, aware of the heat radiating from him even through the fabric of his shirt.
A feeling of absolute rightness settled in her chest, confusing her. Her body moved almost instinctively, completely in sync with his, as though they had done this countless times before, even though that wasn’t the case.
His hand tightened slightly at her waist as he turned her smoothly, the movement bringing her back against him for a brief second before she faced him again. The proximity sent an unwanted awareness through her.
Her heart stumbled and then began to race.
Suddenly, she became acutely conscious of how close they were. A memory struck her without warning. Of Singapore, and how close they’d stood that night. How easily he had stepped into her space, the same quiet intensity in his gaze, the same pull she had never quite been able to resist.
And now, they were standing just like that again.
Her pulse hammered in her ears. Her emotions tangled into something she couldn’t sort through—confusion, anger, something dangerously close to longing.
Her eyes lifted to his. And froze.
The look in Akash’s eyes was too intense. Too focused. It felt like standing too close to a flame. Suddenly, it was all too much. The feelings he stirred in her. The memories he dragged back to the surface. The painful reminder that he had hurt her once before and could do it again just as easily.
A shaky breath escaped her lips. God. She couldn’t do this. Not again.
Without another word, she stepped back abruptly. Then she turned and hurried out of the hall.