We enter the pool and I shiver slightly at the coldness.

"Cold?" He asks with a smile

I nod my head. The last thing I wanted to do was shiver with sound effects and all in front of the world's best bowler. I still couldn't believe he had just asked me to swim. Is this a dream?

We submerged ourselves in the pool, and then I noticed a few more fellow cricketers coming to join us.

"Hey guys! Bum, who's this?" They pat him on his back. Some whisper in his hear.

"No yaar, she's my - friend. Shanaya." I hear him say. That pause made me think whether he was going to say girlfriend.

Shanaya what are you thinking?

"Nice to meet you."

"Yeah, great meeting you Shanaya" the other cricketers say, although I have no idea who they are.

I smile. "I'm sorry I have no idea who you all are" I say honestly.

"Haha, it's okay. Isko to koyi jaanta hi nahi hai. Btw I'm Rohit✋" Rohit teases Shikhar.

I laugh at their banter.

"Haan - yeh bada Michael Jackson hai." Shikhar gives Rohit a friendly punch.

We all laugh and then I see Shikhar nudge them.

"We have to go, Captain's calling." Rohit says quickly and they swim away.

"The Indian cricket team." Bumrah says in a presenter voice and laughs.

"You all are like family." I say.

"Yeah, but they have their own families now. They're here too, the wives."

"Oh that's nice."

We stand silently for a few minutes until I here Shalu's voice calling me.

"Wait I'll be back." I say to Bumrah.

As I turn to go I feel my foot slipping in a tenth of a second and just as I think I've embarrased myself yet again, I feel a pair of strong hands gripping my waist. His hands, which were surprisingly soft from handling the ball so often, sent an electrifying sensation through my skin. My core heated up and I thought if he held me for a second more I would melt. His chest smelt of his cologne and made me place my arms on his chest long after he has caught me.

We stare into each other's eyes for a short while before he helps me up back onto my feet.

I realise my hands are still on his chest and I quickly take them off, realizing what I'm doing.
I blush and tuck the lose strands of my hair in embarrassment.

"I.." I begin.

He looks around the pool area as we stand in silence, running his hand through his hair. I also just stand there awkwardly, secretly longing for his hands to be on me again.

Can I slip again please?

"Shalu..." is all I manage to say as I point towards her, trying to tell him I'm going.

"Oh.. yeah." He nods.

I swim to the steps, not daring to look back at him however I just know he is still there, watching me walk out the pool and put my dress over me. I don't dare to look at him as I take my rubber band off and my long hair swivels and falls to waist height. I gulp and go over to Shalu.

"How was it!" She grabs my hands and shakes them.

I still look elsewhere.

"Look drama queen, I know you had a lot of fun, how was the fall?" She winks and I realise that she had seen it.

I try to talk past her but she stops me.

Suddenly I see Hardik appear out of the corner of my eye.

"Btw, meet my boyfriend, Hardik." Shalu pulls him by the arm towards her and he hugs are from behind.

"Anyways I gotta go do gym, Virat's waiting." He quickly thrusts his lips onto hers as they share a kiss.

"Look Shanaya, Jaspreet loves you. I can see it. The way he asked you to go to swim, when he looked away on purpose so you could feel comfortable to take your dress off..."

I look at her suddenly.

So he looked away on purpose so I could take it off?!?!

She continues. "The way he saved you when you slipped."

"Alright alright, I get that he's a gentleman." I cross my hands over my chest and look away.

"You can deny all you want but you know deep down that you love him, and he loves you too."

Shalini's last 4 words send a current through me. Could he really love me?

Shalu goes to the bathroom for a shower.

I stand there, thinking.

~💗~

The sky is painted a light shade of purple with a few hues of yellow and orange tinting the beautiful display. A warm summer wind is blowing as my family and I enter the Shard where my dad promised us dinner today.

We make our way over to the table and I take a seat.

An hour later we are on desserts, a beautiful brownie sizzler with some berries tucked neatly onto the smooth scoop of vanilla ice cream that sits on top of the warm crusty brownie.

Adi has gone to a kids play area nearby, so it is just me my mom and dad on a table.

"Ladies, I have something to say."

"Why so formal Rajesh?" My mom questions humorously, taking a sip of her wine.

"Because what I'm about to say is very special."

I wipe my mouth with a tissue and look at him, waiting for him to finish chewing.

"As you all know I have a partnership with this new company I am working with."

My mom nods, motioning him to continue.

"This partnership means everything to me right now. And to maintain it, we need a stronger relationship between Mr Chopra, the CEO and us."

I wonder where this is going.

My and my mom are confused.

"So I would love if Mr Chopra's son, Abhishek Chopra and our beautiful daughter get married."

My ears turn numb.

Did I just hear this or something else?

My and my mom exchange glances. She picks up my nervous and irritated vibe but she signals with her eyes for me to stay calm.

"But dear, don't you think it is too early for Shanaya to get married? She's only just in her last year of college?" My mom attempts to sway his plan.

"Oh come on Manju, you know I would never get my daughter married to such an orthodox family where you can't work or finish studies after marriage? Chopra's family is modern and updated. Shanaya can finish her studies after marriage too. So it's a win-win situation. What do you say?"

I'm raging as till now no one has even asked my opinion.

"Dad." I blurt out.

Both my parents look at me with curiosity.

"I have a boyfriend."

I expect there to be an uproar from my dad, but instead he stares at me with his lips apart and suddenly goes into a laugh.

I don't reciprocate.

My mom is worried as hell at what I'm saying.

"Don't worry darling. Everyone your age has boyfriends, girlfriends, hook-up friends and what not. So did I."

My mom understands how grave this situation is, so does not respond with her sassy answers as usual.

"But in life you must move on from distractions, like I did, to be this successful. You'll have one or two boyfriends, maybe even 3, but you'll learn to recognize and grow out of it after you have some fun and...."

"I slept with him."

Did I just say that