Ranbir and Prachi bowed down before everyone before moving towards Varun's table.

"What a dance man! You were awesome." Varun exclaimed thumping Ranbir's back.

"I haven't seen such a dance for a long time." Pragya too praised them.

"Thank you." both of them smiled and sat down.

In the meanwhile another music had started. Men and women were moving towards the dance floor. Varun seemed to be thinking about something and finally made his mind.

"May I have a dance with you, pretty lady?" he asked forwarding his hand towards Shahana.

Shahana was astounded and stared at Varun's forwarded hand and at Aryan's face. She could find any words to speak. An uneasy tension spread in the air.

Aryan felt a fire burning inside him. "Excuse me. I'll be back soon." he said and got up from the table. 

"Varun......Shahana is Aryan's girlfriend." Ranbir didn't want his cousin to create a problem in his assistant's love life.

"Oh! I'm sorry. My bad luck." Varun immediately drew back his hand. "Guys, can we just forget what happened? I didn't know that she is already taken. We can still be friends." he smiled. He went off with Pragya to the dance floor to avoid any further embarrassing situation.

Aryan wandered off into an empty hall way. He couldn't understand why he felt miserable when Varun showed interest in Shahana. It pained him to see her with someone else.

Am I jealous? Am I in love?

"Aryan.....Wait....." Shahana had come following him.

He turned around hearing her voice. "What are you doing here? How did the dance end so soon?" he asked bitterly.

"I refused him. I......I thought since we are pretending to be in a relationship, we should stick together." she said slowly.

"It's ok. You can live your life and enjoy. You don't have to stop hanging out with any guy you are interested in just because you are my fake girlfriend." he said with a heavy heart. Even using the word fake made him feel a pang in his heart.

"Are you ok?" she enquired.

"Yeah" he replied.

There was nothing more to be said, so Shahana turned to go back. She was walking away when a sudden thought came to her mind. 

Hadn't she cursed too many itv characters because they couldn't express their feelings properly and speak their mind out which would have saved them from a lot of trouble? Wasn't she doing the same now? She walked towards Aryan determinedly.

"I wanted to say that I'm not interested in Varun sir or any other guy." she said boldly.

Aryan was caught unaware by the sudden confession. He was happy as well as surprised. All he managed to say was "Oh.....It's ok."

Satisfied, Shahana turned to go once again. Aryan too followed her this time. Both of them had a wide smile lighting up their countenances.

They found that Prachi and Ranbir were ready to leave.

"It's late, so Aryan can go to drop Shahana if Ranbir doesn't have any problem." Prachi said.

"Of course. Why would I have any problem?" Ranbir agreed.

Aryan and Shahana left. Pragya and Varun made an excuse and went away, leaving Ranbir and Prachi alone.

"So, we are meeting again on Sunday?" Ranbir asked nervously.

Prachi nodded and walked towards the direction of her car. 

Ranbir was a bit disappointed. He had expected her to say something more. Wasn't she happy about the date?

Suddenly, his phone beeped. It was a message from Prachi!

Mehra Mansion
15/B Circular Road
XYZ Place

Ranbir was wondering whose address it was when Prachi's car stopped in front of him.

"That's my address. Pick me up at 9:00am." she smiled before driving off.

Ranbir grinned contently and walked towards his own car.

*****

Aryan and Shahana had booked a cab and were heading towards Shahana's apartment. It was raining outside. Shahana was looking out of the window while Aryan was busy staring at her.

"Stop doing it." Shahana said without looking at him.

"I'm doing nothing." he lied.

"I know that you are staring at me." she said turning to face him.

"I....I was not staring at you." He was caught in his lie.

"Don't lie to me." she said frowning bit.

Aryan could not take his eyes of her. "You look......." he stopped midsentence.

"I look what?" she prompted.

"You look.....Tired! You looked tired, so I didn't ask you for a dance." he said while mentally slapping himself because that wasn't what he had intended to say. He didn't know that complementing someone could be so hard.

"I had a lot of work, so I look tired. Still, you could have asked once." she said somewhat disappointedly.

"I'll keep it in mind next time."

They reached Shahana's apartment and she got off.

"Good night" Aryan bade her good bye though he didn't want to.

"Good night" she leaned in and planted a kiss on his cheek before running away.

Aryan could not react except placing a hand on his cheek where Shahana had kissed him and blushing. He wondered where his usually confident nature around girls had vanished.

Ok, ok, I know it's small and with almost no Pranbir scenes. That's because the next one will be completely dedicated to Pranbir and their date and this was important for the plot that I have in mind.