Gehraiyaan.

Chapter 33

"Who are you? Why are you here? Who let you in?", questions get thrown at me, while my eyes restlessly hunt for that one person I've been hiding behind a fake identify for.

After a brief search, our eyes meet.

The same old eyes that I fell in love with seven years ago. We look at each other for a long moment, without even blinking. I could tell by the look on his face that's he's more than just shocked. He stares at me absolutely bewildered, as though he's convinced he's dreaming or something.

Moments later, I drag my gaze away from him and look down, calming my frantically beating heart down. I swallow hard and look down at my fingers, playing with a ring. Don't cry, Navya. Just don't cry. This is really not the time to lose it.

"Who are you?", an older man demands, standing in front of me. "I need to talk to the restaurant owner. The event is about to begin; the food truck isn't here, the food isn't here! Didn't Darshan make it clear that we cannot afford to mess things up?", he scolds and I take a look at Darshan, who still looks frozen.

"Where is your owner? I need to talk to her!", he continues to demand. "What's your name?", he bombards with another question. "Navya", my voice quivers. "Where is your owner? Call her right now!", he asserts.

"I---", I take a pause, picking up some nerves. "I--I am the owner!", I vomit out and slowly, take a glance at Darshan, whose expression intensifies. He definitely has had the shock of a lifetime.

"That's not the name, right, Darsh? You said some other name. Some Sasha, or Susane?", the annoying old man turns around to face the frozen Darshan Raval. He doesn't even blink, let alone respond to the question.

"Darsh, what's the name of the owner? I forgot", he takes a dig and Darshan still stares, expressionlessly. "Darshan!", he snaps, shaking Darshan out of his thoughts. He shudders and looks around, taking deep breaths in.

"The owner's name is not Navya, right?", he reconfirms. "It---it might've been a misunderstanding", Darshan's voice is low, and he simply looks at me with so much in his eyes that I cannot understand, nor read. He feels so distant. As though we'd never met.

"I mixed up the names. She's the owner, she's the one", Darshan clears his throat and rubs the back of his neck, covering up for me.

"Navya, make sure the food truck arrives in thirty minutes, okay?", Darshan briefly looks at me. "Let's go ahead with the celebration", Darshan tells everyone, and they clear the space around us. He walks away, too, without sparing a moment to turn back. I honestly don't know how to feel about that. I abandon my feelings and thoughts and drown myself in some work.

Throughout the function, I stand in the extreme corner in the open space, miles away from Darshan's sight. I wander around the buffet area, talking to the duffer Sid because of whom I'm standing in front of Darshan, in the first place.

At around dinner time, I decide to sneak out of the dining space. "Handle things from here at least. I need to go", I hiss at Sid and make my way out to the parking lot.

Squeezing through the crowd, I walk out through the entrance, praying that no one would notice but just then, a voice stops me.

"Navya!", a deep and familiar voice reaches my ear, holding me back from taking another step. My heart begin fluttering and the moment I hear footsteps inch closer from behind me, it begins pounding against my chest, as though it's seconds away from breaking my ribcage apart.

A second later, the brush of his shoulder against mine forces me to turn my head in his direction, slowly. He stands alongside me, looking in my direction, wearing a small fading smile. The sight of him makes me want to cry, and I nearly tear up but silently take a breath in, fighting my tears back.