𝙰𝚌𝚌𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚝 II A Shreyas Iyer Fan Fic II

⁘Chapter 4⁘

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Mridula froze with momentary panic, Shreyas stood behind her. The hopeful expression on his face began to die. Mridula's breathing steadied and she drew a breath to speak, Shreyas still kept a flicker of hope alive.

"Get out." Mridula's words crushed Shreyas's already low and quickly receding hopes.

"Mia-" Shreyas began an attempt for forgiveness, but Mridula interrupted.

"You lost the privilege to call me Mia, the moment you betrayed me and Alia." Mridula hissed under her breath with venom, the hate built up inside her began to bubble out. "You can call me Doctor Sharma."

"Alright, Doctor Sharma." He smirked and leaned on the wall, thankfully it was his good shoulder that he was leaning against the wall with. Unwillingly, Mridula's heart skipped a beat. Shreyas knew the effect that he had on Mridula. Mridula regained control of her frayed nerves and snorted.

"Look, I didn't want to see you ever again." Mridula huffed with annoyance, Shreyas winced knowing what was coming.

"You used Alia! Do you know how much she cried?" Mridula's rage was unfolding slowly. "You completely fooled her into thinking that you loved her! You hurt her-"

"This is where you're wrong," Shreyas chuckled bitterly, interrupting Mridula, his voice thick with emotion. "She was like my little sister, it was a plan. She liked Rakesh, and I... I-"

Shreyas looked up to meet Mridula's confusion clouded eyes and whispered. "I fell for you."

Mridula turned and marched away with a blush creeping on her cheeks, which she wouldn't allow Shreyas to see. Shreyas stood there like a wounded puppy. Mridula refused to believe that she still had feelings for Shreyas, but it was true. It was hard for her, she was worried that she might have been hurt. Setting her coat aside in the employee room, she excused herself for a walk. Rakesh wandered toward Shreyas, making sure that he was alright. His hands held his face.

"She hates me," Shreyas whispered, choking the two words out.

"No, she doesn't-" Rakesh attempted to console his friend, but a bitter laugh from Shreyas stopped him.

"Yeah, maybe a little," Rakesh admitted with a smile touching his tanned features.

"But, that doesn't mean that she doesn't like you," Rakesh added casually, Shreyas straightened up immediately and eyed Rakesh warily.

"What do you mean?" Shreyas was determined to not get any hope risen, Rakesh threw his head back and laughed.

"I'm pretty sure she's still... uh..." Rakesh trailed off looking at Shreyas's grinning face, Shreyas's emotions had soured sky high. Shreyas let out a happy noise, Rakesh tried his hardest not to laugh.

"It's Alia's fault." Shreyas clenched his jaw, and Rakesh tensed up at the mention of his former crush's name.

"What do you mean?" Rakesh asked in a disinterested tone, but he was very interested in what Shreyas was about to say.

"That brat," Shreyas grunted with venom dripping from his words. "The original plan had been us fake dating for a week. Trying to make Mridula jealous."

"Wait, wait-" Rakesh held a hand to pause the conversation, he was trying to digest the sudden confession.

"Yeah," Shreyas shook his head with disbelief and massaged his temple.

"I can't believe it." Rakesh was firm, after all, the Alia he knew was nothing but sweet.

"It's been three years since she passed away, stop disgracing her name." Rakesh stood up, anger rising in his tone. "Let her rest in peace!"

Rakesh stormed out of the hallway, muttering curses about his friend.

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Mridula sniffled tears prickling in her eyes. She stood up and sipped on her go-to coffee. Today was April 11th, a horrid day for Mridula and Rakesh. It was the day Alia had passed away.

"He just had to make an appearance and turn my life upside down," Mridula muttered under her breath with disgust, a woman passed by her. The hum of the city returned to her hearing, the honking of cars and the chatter of the pedestrians.

The woman was dressed in jeans and had straight hair that was slowly beginning to curl. She wore a logo white-tank top, Mridula couldn't read the logo since the woman had her back to Mridula. A set of car keys were jingling at the top of her purse. The set of keys had wormed their way out and dropped onto the cemented sidewalk.

Mridula brushed aside her tears and hurried toward where the keys laid. Picking them up with two fingers she looked around for the woman.

"Excuse me?" She called out to the quickly receding figure of the woman. The girl spun on her heel and revealed her facial features to Mridula.

"You dropped your keys-" Mridula started to say but upon closer inspection of the girl, the sentence ended with an audible gasp. The same small and halk-like nose, and the same large brown eyes.

"Alia!?"

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Ooof! Alia's alive-

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