Ayaan woke up in the afternoon feeling strangely refreshed for once.
No headache. No chaos. No emotional damage.
Just peace.
He stretched lazily on the sofa and turned his head to the side—
—and immediately lost that peace.
Aarshi was still sitting on the floor beside him, holding the iPad in her hands like a detective obsessed with unsolved crimes. And yes, that same cursed photo was still open on the screen.
Ayaan groaned dramatically and covered his face with one arm.
"Please let it go already," he complained. "The more you stare at that picture, the more uncomfortable you'll feel."
Aarshi ignored his suffering completely.
Instead, she narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
"Who even took this photo?"
Ayaan's expression instantly darkened.
"…Aditya."
Aarshi's face twisted in disgust.
"That demon seriously needs to disappear from Earth."
Ayaan nodded with deep pain in his soul.
"That's true. He's an actual demon with a disgusting mindset."
Aarshi nodded in agreement.
Then Ayaan suddenly asked curiously,
"Are all your classmates like Aditya?"
Aarshi immediately answered without hesitation,
"Most of them are scumbags. They spend their entire lives trying to trap girls in their webs."
Ayaan smirked and suddenly poked her nose.
"And you?" he teased. "Did you get trapped too?"
Aarshi instantly grabbed his nose back aggressively.
"What do you think?"
Ayaan burst into laughter.
Aarshi crossed her arms dramatically.
"There are so many idiots in our school constantly roaming around girls. Most of them follow my friends around all day. Me and Ishika ignore them, but then they try on Shanaya… and somehow she gets convinced every single time."
Ayaan sighed like a disappointed old man who had seen too much of society.
Then he suddenly looked at her carefully.
"What about you?"
Aarshi blinked innocently.
"About me?"
Ayaan nodded.
And honestly, from his tone alone, it was obvious that Ayaan was in an unusually good mood today. Which was honestly dangerous for public safety.
Aarshi shrugged casually.
"I never cared about them. But if I'm being honest… there are probably around ten or fifteen boys trying on me."
Silence.
Ayaan stared at her for two seconds.
Then he exploded into laughter.
Not normal laughter.
This man was fighting for oxygen.
Aarshi frowned in confusion.
"What happened?!"
Ayaan pointed at her while laughing.
"Either all those boys are blind… or you're lying."
Aarshi's jaw dropped in offense.
Then, without saying a word, she stood up angrily and stormed toward her room like a furious storm cloud.
Ayaan watched her nervously.
"…Why do I suddenly feel like I'm about to get evidence thrown at my face?"
A few moments later, Aarshi returned holding a SIM card and memory card in her hand.
Ayaan blinked.
"What's this?"
"My tablet SIM card. And memory card."
"…Okay? So?"
Aarshi shoved them toward him dramatically.
"Let me prove that I'm not lying."
Before Ayaan could escape, Aarshi inserted everything into his tablet and quickly accessed her data.
Then she handed the iPad to him proudly.
"Check it yourself now."
Ayaan looked horrified.
"Why would I willingly check another person's dangerous message section?"
Aarshi glared at him so hard that Ayaan immediately surrendered out of fear.
He carefully opened the messages.
And instantly froze.
Twenty-one unknown numbers.
TWENTY-ONE.
None of them were saved in contacts, yet messages kept arriving nonstop like job applications.
Ayaan's soul briefly left his body.
"She wasn't lying at all…" he thought in complete disbelief.
Still shocked, he asked,
"Then why don't you block them?"
Aarshi sighed tiredly.
"Many of them are blocked. These messages are recent. I couldn't block them because my iPad wasn't with me."
Ayaan immediately grabbed the tablet like a soldier entering war.
"Fine. Give it here. I'll block every single one of them."
"WAIT."
Aarshi stopped him instantly.
Ayaan narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
"What? Do you secretly want to chat with them?"
Aarshi looked deeply offended.
"Obviously not. I just want to check whether any of my friends are among them."
Ayaan leaned back dramatically.
"Personally, I think none of your friends are trustworthy."
Aarshi instantly defended one person.
"Ishika is! She's my best friend and she's amazing."
Then she paused awkwardly.
"But Shanaya… me and Ishika are still not sure whether she even considers us her friends or not."
Ayaan answered immediately with suspicious confidence.
"She doesn't."
Aarshi frowned.
"And who are you to say that?"
Ayaan placed a hand proudly on his chest.
"I'm your friend."
For one second, Aarshi stared at him.
Then she waved him off dramatically.
"Forget it. Let me talk to Ishika first."
"Is that really important?" Ayaan asked.
"Yes," Aarshi replied shamelessly. "I just want to show your face to her and prove that I wasn't wrong about you being Shanaya's crush."
Ayaan looked personally attacked.
"Crush? MY FOOT."
Aarshi burst out laughing and immediately called Ishika.
The call connected within seconds.
The moment Ishika picked up, she shouted loudly,
"IS YOUR IPAD FIXED?!"
Aarshi casually replied,
"Actually no. This is Ayaan's iPad."
Silence.
Then Ishika scoffed.
"You're joking."
"Video call then."
Without wasting another second, Aarshi started a video call.
Ishika picked it up immediately.
At first, the two girls casually started talking about random daily life nonsense while Ayaan quietly stood up from the sofa, planning to escape peacefully.
Unfortunately for him—
Aarshi suddenly grabbed his arm before he could leave and dragged him directly into the camera frame.
The moment Ishika saw him—
She froze.
Completely.
Her brain stopped functioning for a full five seconds.
Then suddenly—
"AARSHIIIII?!"
Her scream almost destroyed the speaker.
"How did you get him?!"
Ayaan immediately corrected her with full confidence.
"She didn't get me. I got her."
Ishika covered her mouth dramatically.
"You two actually look so good together! Forget Shanaya at this point!"
Ayaan looked horrified.
"What the hell is wrong with you girls?! Why do you keep connecting me to Shanaya?!"
Ishika pointed accusingly through the screen.
"Because she literally ships herself with you without even knowing your name!"
Ayaan looked spiritually offended.
"That is genuinely the worst thing I've ever heard about myself."
Aarshi laughed proudly and looked at Ishika.
"See? Now do you trust me?"
Ishika nodded aggressively on the call.
Then suddenly she leaned closer to the camera with evil energy.
"HEY CHAMPION!"
Ayaan blinked.
"…Who are you calling champion?"
"You!" Ishika grinned wickedly. "You can totally try on my friend. She's single, and honestly? I'm sure she won't reject you."
For one second—
Absolute silence.
Then Ayaan burst into uncontrollable laughter.
Not because it was funny.
But because his heart had quietly started celebrating with joy.
Meanwhile, Aarshi's face instantly turned red.
Without warning, she shoved Ayaan away violently and glared at Ishika like betrayal had entered her bloodstream.
"What nonsense are you even saying?!"
Ishika laughed shamelessly.
"Oh please, I'm not dumb. It's painfully obvious he's interested in you. Why else would he agree to every single one of your conditions?"
Aarshi immediately defended him.
"He's just flexible!"
Meanwhile, Ayaan had already left the hall—
…but not completely.
The man was literally standing halfway on the staircase secretly listening to their conversation like a criminal investigator.
Because after hearing Ishika's words about him, he had suddenly developed great interest in the discussion.
And honestly?
If Aditya didn't exist, Ayaan would've been blushing like an idiot by now.
His heart was silently dancing with joy after hearing:
"My friend is single. You can try on her. She won't reject you."
That sentence kept replaying in his head like his favorite song.
Meanwhile, Aarshi and Ishika continued gossiping endlessly.
They talked about everything that had happened over the past few days. Aarshi even told her about Aditya and yesterday's incident—how he had secretly mixed alcohol into her juice to make her intoxicated.
The moment Ayaan heard that topic, he immediately paid full attention.
Because there was only one thing he desperately wanted her to mention.
The kiss.
He waited patiently on the stairs like a man waiting for exam results.
But Aarshi never mentioned it.
Not even once.
Ayaan felt personally betrayed.
Instead, the girls suddenly switched topics and started discussing vacation shopping, dresses, skincare, random accessories, and twenty-seven other things Ayaan had absolutely no interest in.
At that point, his soul gave up.
So he quietly returned to his room.
But honestly?
Ayaan had absolutely no problem with people shipping him with Aarshi.
In fact…
He secretly enjoyed it.
A lot.
He just didn't want anyone else to realize that.
Especially not Aditya.
Because the moment Aditya got involved, even Ayaan started feeling embarrassed instead of happy.
And unfortunately for him—
that embarrassing happiness was becoming harder and harder to hide.