I walked to the receptionist and inquired about which floor and room the reception was being held. I got into the elevator and pressed '3'. I exited the elevator and walked to the Grand Ballroom. I stepped in and I was instantly hit by a wave of socializing. Everyone was talking to one another and seemed to be enjoying themselves. It was nerve wracking but I decided that I needed to let go of my fears and try to make this a good time for myself. I went and grabbed some iced tea before I started to talk to fellow students.

I saw a tall Indian-looking girl who seemed like she had nobody to talk to and so I decided she was my first victim for the night. I walked up to her and introduced myself.

"Hello, my name is Jasmine Patel. I am here for a semester abroad from UC Berkeley. What is your name?"

"Hey girl! My name is Neha Malhotra. I study at University College London amd I am actually here with my cousin, Sidharth. He goes to Princeton University and we decided together that it would be interesting to do a semester abroad. It seems like we can unearth a lot more than we expected."

"Yeah, I am hoping to find a lot of friends here since I am very hesitant with delving into friendships."

Neha raised her eyebrows and smirked before saying,"that is until you meet Sidharth Malhotra".

"Why do you say that Neha?"

"My cousin is the epitome of socializing. There is not a moment where he is not surrounded by someone and if he isnt, it is truly a miracle. But first, let us go meet him."

She grabbed me by the hand and started looking around for her cousin. She finally spotted him turned away speaking to a bunch of people. We walked up to him and she tapped him on the shoulder.

"Sidharth, I want you to meet someone. Turn around."

He turned around and I am awestruck to see him once again.

"YOU? What are you doing here? I mean not to be rude but I thought I'd never see you again after the airplane incident."

He smiled at me and said, "well surprises do happen." I was secretly thrilled to see him and I don't know why. I shouldn't feel this way after everything that happened last year.

"So have you stopped vomiting yet?"

I glared at him and said," at least I don't take advantage of sick women."

"Woah guys, do you remember me, Neha ? I am still alive and very confused as to how you know each other."

We all went and sat down at a table to talk things out. Sidharth and I explained our first meeting to Neha and she just laughed at us.

"So Jasmine, for someone who is not a people person, you certainly entertained Sid."

"One, call me Jas. Two, I did not do anything of that sort. It was fairly cordial considering I was puking my guts out."

"Well, I don't remember it as puking your guts out because you had enough energy to fix your makeup."

"Oh my god, will you let that go."

"Of course not my lady, it would be no fun if I didn't mention it. After all, you wanted to fix your makeup, no need to be ashamed now."

"You know what Sidharth? You are so frustrating. You complimented me on the plane and now you're showing me your true colors."

Sidharth got up out of his chair and whispered quietly into my ear that he still thinks that I am beautiful before walking off. My face flushed a crimson red and I started to mumble something before Neha asked what Sidharth said.

"He said nothing..."

"Oh come on, he already left. Just tell me."

"He said that he still thinks I am beautiful."

"Wow, Sid has already hit on you and it seems like he has an effect on you."

"Oh god, of course not. He has no effect on me whatsoever."

"Jas, don't deny it. Okay, well let me tell you that Sid will never have a long term relationship. He goes on casual dates and flirts quite a bit but he is weary of any long term material."

"Wait, why is he not into long term stuff?"

"Just 2 years ago, he was dating this girl from his school for almost 3 years by then. She cheated on him with his rival. One day, his girlfriend told him that she was auditioning for a community play, so he went to the theater to support her but he found her kissing his enemy. When he confronted them, his girlfriend and the guy ran out into a car and drove off. Well, that evening he found out that the girlfriend and guy had gotten into a car crash because of reckless driving. They had both died in each other's arms. Even when the girl was dying, she chose his enemy over him which put his 3 year love story to a waste. He never felt so betrayed in his life and he used to cry all the time. There were days where he refused to get out of bed because he was in so much pain. His marks started dropping and his weight started dropping. He stopped eating and he weighed only about 90 pounds. He was extremely sick and he was on the verge of life or death. He had to be pulled out of school for 8 months and he went through therapy. He finally realized that it was in no way his fault that the girl chose someone else. He started immersing himself into academics, and athletics. He socialized with everyone to hide his pain and soon people started ignoring his past. He puts up this forefront of carefree behavior but he is still hurting. "

After talking about his past, Neha and I continued conversing about other things and we got really close over the 4 hours we were sitting together. I got a call from Mira asking me where I was as it was midnight. I told her that I was going to head home soon with Neha and Sid in their car.

"Hey Makeup girl, are you ready to go home?"

"Hey funny guy, have you finally gotten a brain?"

"Excuse me, the last time I checked I was not the crazy girl who went to fix her makeup after puking her guts out."

"Sidharth Malhotra, atleast I don't pretend to be a great mind reader. Whatever the hell your tactics were."

"Shut up Sid and Jas. You are acting so childish. Let us just get Jas home."

We gathered our things and exited the hotel to go to the car. I told my address to Sid and he put it into the GPS. We reached my place and I thanked both of them for bringing home. Mira opened the door for me and asked for all the details but I was too tired to tell her everything that night. I quickly wiped off my makeup and took a shower. I went to sleep thinking about the events of the whole night.

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This chapter is not edited so please ignore all the errors.  I know its choppy in flow and all over the place but hopefully, its still readable. If you like this chapter, please vote for this and add this to your library. Any feedback is welcome as well <3 Thank you lovelies!