Beautiful Infatuation

Chapter 22

The entire room fell silent.

"What?" Sneha almost whispered.

"Yes. Go and convince him to play with us. If you succeed, you win. Otherwise, you lose." Gaurav said playfully. However, Sneha wasn't excited about it. She knew, Viraj wouldn't agree, even if she begged on her knees, which she won't do anyway.

"He won't do it." Sneha asserted.

"That's where your diplomatic skills will come into use." Gaurav tried to encourage her.

"Let it go, Gaurav. Viraj bhai will only scare her." One of Ananya's cousins interrupted.

"He is right, Gaurav. Give her another dare...one that is actually possible to do." Ananya added with a chuckle.

Sneha internally thanked both of them.

"Nope. That's my dare...do it or lose it." Gaurav stated.

"If his sister and fiancee couldn't convince him, what makes you think I'd be able to do that?" Sneha asked.

'That's exactly what I want to see, Sneha.' Gaurav thought.

"Well, a dare is supposed to be challenging, isn't it?" He said in his defence.

"Don't do it. Just accept defeat." Jyoti whispered near her ear. Sneha nodded to her.

"Fine, I accept defeat. I don't want to do it." Sneha murmured sadly. She really wanted to win the prize, whatever it was.

Gaurav panicked. His suspicions about Viraj's feelings for Sneha had resurfaced when yesterday, Viraj insisted on visiting Sneha to give those signed business cards. Thus, he wanted to confirm it. If the need arises, he'd interfere in his feelings, just to save multiple lives...because that was his task.

"Are you seriously accepting defeat so easily? I thought you were a strong and confident girl! How could you accept defeat without even giving it a try?" He tried to motivate her by hitting some chord of 'feminism'.

"Don't make her do it, Gaurav. He'll only scold her or make her cry." Finally, Nupur interrupted, in her soft melodious tone. She very well knew of Viraj's anger. She had cried multiple times because of that. Even though Viraj won't scold her with words, his actions and his eyes were enough.

If Gaurav's words didn't motivate her, Nupur's words definitely did.

No one except her parents had the right to scold her. Sneha had that much self-respect to not let any random man scold her or make her cry. Not even Viraj.

"I'll try." She said before she could rethink her decision.

Gaurav grinned while Jyoti narrowed her eyes at her.

"Are you crazy?" Jyoti scolded her.

"There's nothing wrong in trying. I'll just ask him politely." She said.

"Where is he?" She asked Gaurav as Jyoti moved uncomfortably.

Gaurav pointed towards the glass windows. Sneha turned around and saw him standing near the pool, talking to someone on phone.

So, she gathered strength and walked in his direction, out of the hall.
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"Thanks, Eric. I really appreciate your patience. I'll let you know when I'd be able to get the clearance." Viraj spoke to one of his partners when he heard the faint sound of someone approaching him. He turned to his left slightly to see who it was, when, as always, his heartbeat accelerated and he couldn't remove his eyes from her.