The hall was shimmering with dangling lights. Canopies of wild orchids garnered each and every corner of the huge hall. It felt like Christmas eve. Never in the whole twelve years of his school life, Randhir has seen such a beautiful arrangement of dinner that too by Father, apart from the Christmas week and more to add to his surprise, for THEM!

He has been feeling arch tired after the practice session. Sanyukta indeed gave him a rough time that afternoon.
Never in the wildest of his nightmare, did he ever imagine Sanyukta to be such a crazy being. It felt like, the more he was trying to avoid 'those' kind of thoughts regarding her, which, of course, have been haunting him since the time they got to know each other better, the more her wild antics were compelling him to think otherwise. His limbs weren't in his control when in front of her. He was doomed and he knew that! He had already made up his mind, that afternoon that he'd try to be as much as distant as he could be from her. Though he had already confessed about this sudden turbulence in his hormonal system to Sanyukta, He still didn't trust his heart anymore. His mind guided him to follow the path of success and achievement whereas his heart constantly played on the same tune, 'Sanyukta'. Poor boy, he never knew, his heart and mind were synchronized.

"So students..." His trance was broken by the hoarse voice of Father who appeared to have stood over a small podium to host the party for the countable number of students. Randhir was busy admiring the decorations that he didn't even notice the arrival of his fellow group mates. His eyes scrounged through the group to locate the single person, of whom, his eyes were dying to get a view of. He suddenly felt his heart beating against his chest as he imagined her all dolled up in a cute party dress, entering the venue with those appealing eyes strolling over his withering orbs. His hold over the glass which his hand held went tighter.

"Hey man..." He looked back to see Aryan standing behind him. Aryan's face adorned a vile smile.
Randhir frowned at the sudden friendly approach of his oponent while his mind alerted him of the cruel trick he was going to play on Sanyukta the other day and his fist clenched reflexively.

"Heard you got a new girlfriend?" Aryan smirked while he took a glass from the table, pushing Randhir aside a bit and stood leaning onto the table beside him.

"Where's she anyway?" He took a sip on his drink and twisted his lips devilishly while Randhir rolled his eyes and looked away, towards the other people, doing whatever stuff they could do in an 'alcohol-prohibited' and music less party being a bunch of hot blooded teenagers.

"None of your business, I assume?" He replied sipping on his own drink.

"Arrogance... Wooooo..." Aryan turned his face towards Randhir before making a dramatic expression of fear, while Randhir chose it to be better to ignore that irritating being. He has kept himself in control just for Sanyukta's sake. He knew how mad she went when he was going to thrash Aryan. Had it been otherwise, Aryan would have found himself heaped up on the floor.

"Dude.. Are we really going like this? You're gonna ignore me like one of your slutty ex girlfriends?" Aryan snorted.

"Shut it will you? I totally am not interested in conversing with you jerk.. So just piss off..." Randhir bellowed in an irritating manner as his teeth gnawed against each other while his eyes were still stuck on the entrance gate.

"Woah woah! Looks like somebody has gone through a terrible behaviour alteration! Is she that good?" Randhir shot up his head towards him while his fist clenched more tighter, ready to knock down that vile creature who has been getting on his nerves lately.

"You dare not speak a word about her from your filthy mouth Aryan.. Take it as the last warning.." Randhir gripped his tee and jerked him while voicing those, of course after making sure that nobody saw them messing up. His nose flared as anger rushed through his veins. The audacity of the boy to speak rubbish about HER! Aryan looked up with a murderous gaze towards him while he reciprocated his gaze with equal fervor.

"Now this is heights dude. Never in the craziest of my dreams, I could ever imagine Randhir Singh Shekhawat getting influenced by the mention of a mere silly girl's name!" Aryan smirked straightening his postion, dusting his tee shirt and led out a filthy chuckle.

"She is not a silly girl.. Get that fucking straight in your pea-sized brain.. And yeah.. I'd love to get influenced by her name because she is different.. You know what? I pity you.. Even after you tried such a nasty trick on her, she forgave you.. How can you even live with yourself after that?" Randhir spat venomously.
Aryan looked at him with rageful eyes while Randhir simply made an expression of disgust.

"And I don't bother what people like you say about me.. I really don't care. Losers rant many things you know.." Randhir huffed and walked away leaving behind a fuming Aryan who once again felt defeated.

Randhir ran his sweaty fingers through his perfectly gelled hairs turning them messy. He was highly angered at that point, not because of Aryan, well he was accustomed to his rantings. They randomly had such heated arguments which eventually led Aryan to get marked as a loser in front of him. He was eagerly waiting for Sanyukta to arrive but there wasn't a single sign of her arrival. Several thoughts invaded his mind. What on the earth was taking her so long to reach the party? He thoughts diverted towards her family. Was she even alright? He fished out his phone from the back pocket of his jeans as he felt his heart beating rapidly due to the intuitions he was getting at that point of time. He haven't heard from her since the afternoon and felt the utter need to punch himself for letting her go ny herself in that scooty of her. While scrolling through his contact list, a sudden thought popped up in his mind. Why was he even doing that? Why was he even getting restless? Chucking down his 'now-frequently-asked questions-to-himself', he dialed her number and impatiently tapped the glass he was holding while he managed to get out of the crowd. Crowd! Like hell that was a crowd! He mentally snorted while on the other side of the phone, the ring continued till it got cut by itself. He felt something suspicious but chucked down the thought thinking that she must be driving.

He kept on gazing at the entrance just for a glimpse of her and took a sip from probably the tenth glass of the cold drink he was having that night. He felt his heart burn. Where the hell was she?

Randhir felt a tap on his shoulder from behind and on gazing backwards, he saw Father standing there with a questioning gaze.

"Is something bothering you Randhir? I have been noticing you since the time you entered.. You look lost.. What is it my child?" Randhir thought it was better to get a check up of his sense organs, especially his ears because he just heard Father speaking so sweet and soberly to him. Something was definitely wrong he felt at that moment! Why the hell were all the weird things destined to be experienced by him?
He snorted to himself yet again.

"No.. It's completely alright Father.. I am fine.. It's just that I was feeling a bit worn out due to the practice session..." He spoke with utmost generosity while the actual reason kept on snooping around his head. That girl will be the death of him, he could surely tell! Months ago, he wasn't even bothered about her presence anywhere, at anytime but look at him now! Hell! He never even acknowledged her being anywhere with him, he felt her to be another unimportant being surrounding him. Keep aside talking, they wouldn't even spare a glance on each other, or rather he didn't feel it to be of much importance to notice her putting aside the exceptional days when he had noticed her practicing in those extra swimming classes and of course during their clashes! He has been going all jumpy and nervous and restless for her arrival then! He felt like being in another world! Was he in Mars? Okay chuck.

"I hope you'll be alright.. Aren't you enjoying the party my boy?" Father exclaimed patting his shoulders lightly while he smiled, of course a fake one! Only he knew what havoc was going on inside his system then!

"Of course Father, I am honoured to be here tonight.. It's a great party..." Randhir looked towards his fellow group mates, some of whom were sitting idly on the couch and yawning while others sipped on their cold drinks, eyeing each other with weird expressions. He mentally chuckled at their state while some of them threw daggers at him by their stares as he tended to laugh at a poor joke of Father. After what seemed like a year to them, this happened.

"Well I guess it's already dinner time.. Let's not keep you guys more hungry.. Come on.. Your supper is ready..." Father suddenly exclaimed enthusiastically, clapping his hands. Sanaya at once jumped up from the couch at the mention of some food. At last! She thought.
Vidhushi and Parth were busy coochie-cooing, sitting in a lone corner of the room, away from Father's sight and they immediately straightened themselves as Father called everyone to follow him till the banquet. Tanya and Aryan were sitting beside each other, while Aryan was sulking, Tanya sat beside him, totally clueless to what was happening in her surroundings. She even tried several times to strike a conversation with her partner, Aryan, who kept on ignoring her until the call for supper and walked away towards the banquet without even sparing her a glance. She felt bad indeed.
Dhruv, who was being pulled away by Sanaya, gazed back at Randhir and made a questioning gesture.

"Nothing.. I.. You guys carry on.. I have to make a call..." He showed as if he was busy on his phone.

"Come soon buddy.." Dhruv waved at him, smirking, as if he caught his excuse while Randhir rolled his eyes at him. Till then Sanaya has almost pulled him out of the room.

Randhir sighed sitting on the couch while his fingers impatiently tapped the call button for the umpteenth time. It kept on ringing till it got cut. Frustratingly, he threw his phone on the couch and clutched his hairs tight in his fist before dugging his face between his palms. What the effing hell happened to her? Why wasn't she picking up the phone! Has there been any mishap with her? Was she even alright? He felt his mind cloud with an intense feeling of hollowness as fear overtook his conscience. His genius mind couldn't think of any idea, he felt helpless. He knew she wasn't well, though she might have been trying to show that she was high-spirited and cheerful. He knew she wasn't fine, not atleast mentally. What must have had happened with her, that she couldn't even attend Father's supper party even after agreeing to the invitation wholeheartedly, given by Father himself! He felt his heart beating rapidly against his chest and he at once made up his mind to ditch dinner and visit her apartment. He frantically caught hold of his phone and straightened his frame before standing up.

"Is everything over? Am I late?" He heard her voice and turned around breathlessly.

And Holy heavens! He felt the surrounding world stop around him.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

TBC

Some real passionate scenes ahead. I hope I could compensate for being so so so so so so so so late! Readers, pretty please pardon me!