Fitoor

41 | The Talk

Shehnaaz

The cool water feels refreshing against my hands as I keep them under the running water of the sink. As much as I would love to splash cold water over my face, I don't want to ruin my make-up.

I think I'm still in shock over what happened. As soon as Sidharth saw me, I quickly excused myself from Rajveer Uncle and bolted towards the powder room. For a moment I considered staying here until the dinner is served but the thought seemed quite ridiculous.

If someone told me three weeks back that I'll be attending this Gala only to avoid someone else instead of Sameer, I would've totally laughed my ass off. Now that I'm really in this situation, I don't even know what to do. If the circumstances were different, I would've probably ended up calling Anita to hear her wise words but now, I'm not so sure that I even want to see her face, let alone listening to her voice.

Great! Now I need to find a new therapist because I'm sure as hell not going back to my previous one knowing that Sidharth slept with her.

'Don't get too ahead of this Shehnaaz, you might be wrong too' The rational part of my brain tried to reason with me but I quickly shut her down knowing that I need to stop thinking about them right now.

Just when I'm putting my compact powder inside my purse after retouching my make-up, the door of the washroom bursts opens
revealing someone I'd never thought I'll be seeing again.

Hurrying over to the sink beside me was no one other than Nitibha aka Sameer's ex-girlfriend. I watched my face in the mirror turn wary with bewilderment as she washed her face on the sink, almost splitting some of the droplets over me. Her brown eyes were red-rimmed and her hair was disheveled as if she has been crying for hours. Before she recognizes me, I sprint towards the exit of the washroom unnoticed and release a huge sigh of breath when I'm finally outside.

See? This is exactly why I love dresses with slits.

Always comes in handy when you want to make a quick getaway.

I quickly pull out my phone from my purse to text Neha.

Shehnaaz - You won't believe who I just saw tonight at the Gala

She responds almost immediately as if she was already on her phone.

Neha- Who? Who?

Shehnaaz - Nitibha Agarwal!

Neha - Holy shit what?! Did she not see you?

Shehnaaz - Thankfully no, I quickly moved away unnoticed

Neha-I swear your life resembles a soap opera

Shehnaaz- Trust me, girl, I KNOW! Why do you think she's here?

Neha- Oh no, I forgot to tell you that she works at Malhotra's merging company, as their senior manager.

Shehnaaz- I'm not even going to ask how you know that...

Before I can send her a follow-up text saying that Sidharth is here too, a familiar deep velveteen voice halts me in my steps making me look up from my phone screen.

"Shehnaaz" His voice is like rich silk, warming me on the inside and sending goosebumps rising on the outside.

He looked handsome than ever as he stood in front of me with a lost look in his eyes. Before I can open my mouth, Anita strides over towards Sidharth looking pissed as fuck with her face angled towards her lighted phone screen.

"Can you believe the audacity of that asshole?
He literally to-" Her words halt when she sees me standing in front of Sidharth and on instinct, my name is out of her mouth, "Shehnaaz?"