"Have you decided what you're going to be for the Halloween party?" Shruti asked Simran as they were walking through the corridor.

"I don't know. What are you thinking?" She replied back. "It's not like I can do a couple's costume, I have no couple." She laughed.

"So back to being a boring nurse then?" She giggled, being pushed by Simran.

"You'll be a stellar grinch." She said laughing as Shruti stopped laughing and huffed.

-

"Shruti, this is Shreyas. Shreyas, this is the person who's going to help me inside the party." Meera introduced them to each other at Shreyas' house, Shreyas nodding at Shruti before turning back to his laptop, typing something.

"Helping you with what? Meera listen, I can't get into this more than I have, okay?" Shruti walked towards Meera, hoping to knock some sense into her.

"Look, you might be set on destroying everything but I have a life, okay? I really don't want to do this." She continued, not noticing Meera turning towards her.

"And you don't think I have a life?" Meera remarked, laughing coldly afterwards. "Get over yourself, Shruti. The day you spoke to me is the day you signed over yourself to me."

-

"For fucks sake." Shruti looked over the city, standing on the balcony holding a glass of vodka with coke. She knew it was too early to drink but if she was to survive this day, she had to survive it drunk.

"Too early, isn't it?" Shreyas walked in the balcony, holding his own glass. He walked to stand beside her, leaning on his front towards the open.

"Speak for yourself." She grinned. "Besides, it's evening somewhere."

"Spoken like a true drunkard." He smiled. "Cheers to our everlasting liver health."

"Cheers." They clinked their glasses and Shruti drank the contents of her glass in one glup, leaving Shreyas bewildered. She went back into the house and took another glass, then came back onto the balcony.

"Woah, you wouldn't want to fall down before the party starts." He smiled and pointed to the glass. "Maybe slow down a bit."

"That's the idea." She muttered. "I want to get so drunk I don't have to help Meera."

"Then why did she call you?" He asked, curiously. "I thought you were willingly participating in this."

"You might be." She snorted. "What do you say in Hindi - maine upne pair pe kulhadi maari hai."

"Huh." He grinned. "Cheers to that, then."

"Cheers, cheers." She grinned. "Unfortunately, I can't get too drunk, I've to still go back home, dress up for hell and come back. By the way, why are you helping her, knowingly?"

"She's my best friend." He smiled at her. "When she helped me through my problems, she did so without any complaints. It's only right I do this for her without any questions as well. One free pass."

"Huh." She muttered. "She's lucky then." She muttered and turned around to watch him as he moved inside, finishing his drink and keeping the glass on the table.

"She's real lucky." Shruti turned back around to face the city view, finishing her drink as quick as she finished the first. She kept the glass back on the table and moved out of the house, looking back at the house, dreading the coming evening.

-

"Anushka!" Shruti wobbled over to her, grinning wildly. In her other hand, she held a drink. She stumbled through the garden, the other person catching her as soon as she was about to take a fall.

"Jeez, if you can't handle your drinks, why did you drink so much?" Anushka looked bored, tired of this party. "Sit down here." She pushed the other girl onto the bench, gasping with the strain she took to pull the other girl.

"Thank you." Shruti smiled, her head paining with the next step she'd been asked to do. If anyone ever found out she did that, she'd been ruined. But she was more scared of Meera and what she'd tell Jasprit.

If only she hadn't spoken to Meera, taken up this justice project for Jasprit. Her life would've been much better, peaceful even.

She only had herself to blame.

"Could you take me to the washroom, please?" She asked, looking at Anushka who just stared at her with a disgusted look on her face.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Anushka snarled at her. "Go there on your own, or better yet do whatever you want here, I hardly give two fucks - OH MY GOSH, WHAT THE FUCK?!" Anushka screamed out, a few party goers stopped to figure out where was the noise coming from.

Shruti had just thrown up all over Anushka's dress, the alcohol that she'd been continuously drinking since she'd arrived at the party all over Anushka. She leaned back and shot a half smile at Anushka, who just looked more angry as the moments went by.

"My apologies." She drawled, looking at her dress. "I did ask you to help me to the washroom."

"OH YOU LITTLE FUCKING -"

"Anu." Hardik came through the crowd, making everyone else leave the garden. "Everyone else, your drinks are waiting inside at the bar, go on!" He shouted, watching Anushka trying to remove the vomit from her dress.

"Fuck my life." Anushka glared at her, knowing it was impossible to get any of the liquid out of her dress and herself. Her dress was ruined, she was hungry and whatever mood she had to party had all been doused by the drunken little rat sitting on the bench.

Sometimes, she'd really wonder where was she stuck.

"Come on, Meera has an extra dress. Change into it, you'll feel much better." Hardik coaxed her, causing her to glare at him.

"I'm not wearing something that she has." She scoffed. "I'm just going to go home, I've had enough of this party."

"Oh come on." Hardik pouted. "Atleast clean yourself up and how can you leave me at my own joint hosted party? This can't be."

"Okay fine. Show me to the washroom." She glared at Shruti, who had seemingly dozed off on the bench. Hardik turned around to check on her before being dragged off by Anushka.

Once they were gone, Shruti opened her eyes. She looked around before spotting Anushka's purse which she'd forgotten due to the incident on the bench. She quickly opened up the purse with shaking hands and took out her phone, quickly opening the back of the phone and taking out her SIM card, exchanging it with the one she had brought in her purse. She put the phone back in the bag and stood up, fixed her dress and walked two steps away from the scene when someone stopped her from behind.

"Shruti."

She froze in her place and slowly turned around, all her fears coming true. As she walked around, she saw Jasprit, looking at her with anger in his voice. She saw the sheer disappointment and sadness in his eyes as well, before he just shook his head and walked away.

"Jasprit, Jasprit!" She shouted, stopping him in his tracks as she wobbled towards him. She came in front of him and kneeled down, him moving back in surprise.

"I'm sorry, Jasprit." She sobbed, looking up at him. For one second, she could see him contemplating before kneeling down in front of her as well and hugging her tightly, pulling her close to him.

"I'm - I'm really very sorry." She gasped out in between her cries, tears wetting the front of his shirt. He just pushed her into his chest, the cries becoming muffled.

"You know why I'm here?" Jasprit spoke in a strangled voice. "I spoke to Rohit and Ritika. They know you're involved. They know it's all Meera's doing. They aren't guessing anymore, they know everything. I told them, my Shruti isn't involved in all this."

She cried harder, pulling his shirt between her fingers.

"They said she's the one that enabled all this." Jasprit continued, not having heard her cries. "I asked them, if nothing happens today could you leave Shruti out of whatever it is you're planning. They agreed."

"So Shruti." He suddenly held her face in between his palms and asked her with tears in his eyes. "What did you do with the phone?"

"I'm sorry." She cried, unable to speak anything else.

"Goddamn it, Shruti! I'm here trying to save you from your doing. Tell me why were you fiddling with the phone." Jasprit shook her body, only further increasing her cries.

"It's too late, it's too late." Shruti gasped out, sobbing further. "Meera's already got the video."

Here's another one! Happy reading :)