The Bachelor

Chapter 15: Betrayal?

3:00 pm, 25th February, Galaxy Villa, Madh Island, Mumbai.

I took a sharp breath as I fixed the chain of the skirt that the style team had chosen for me. It was to be my outfit for the activity that'd been planned for Manik, Aryaman and me.

Aryaman. I was still afraid to confront him after the incident in Manik's room. The whole crew had taken nearly a two hour lunch break after the shoot for the dance and I'd quietly returned to my room after collecting a doggy bag of food from the kitchen, too afraid to run into him.

His behaviour had been unacceptable. The way he'd let out his anger had been quite frightening and alarming.

Could he not see how uncomfortable I was? Had his rage and ego blinded him so much that my consent didn't seem important to him anymore?

However, if I were being true to myself, that wasn't the only reason I'd chosen to avoid him. My own conscience was guilty as well.

I should never have let Aryaman stay and watch me dance with Manik. Of course he'd be angry seeing us together! Which boyfriend wouldn't?

Besides, the fleeting sensations of warmth I got whenever Manik was kind to me, the fact that my nerves were a wreck whenever he was physically close to me-how could I ever explain all of it to Aryaman?

How could I explain to Aryaman that his touch didn't feel the same to me today as it did a month ago?

Quite frankly, I didn't know what it meant, myself. Or rather I didn't want to ponder over it, for its implications frightened me...

I knew that I couldn't avoid Aryaman forever. I'd have to speak to him at some point and clear things out. But first, I needed some clarity myself, as to whether I truly wanted to continue my relationship with him, or deem it irreparable and forget about him. For some reason, Chachi's doubts about his maturity or lack thereof made a little more sense now...

I decided that I'd just get through the activity with him and then speak to him at the end of the day.

Thankfully enough, the activity that Aryaman had chosen wasn't one where we'd be in close physical proximity.

Aryaman, Manik and I were to have a cooking contest among ourselves. The choice of activity didn't come as much of a surprise to me for Aryaman, unlike a lot of other guys his age, was actually a pretty decent amateur chef. He'd frequently cooked various dishes for me as well as Abhi whenever we hung out, as well as made some extra cash out of selling midnight snacks at the college hostel.

There was only one thing bothering me about the cooking contest. The kind of life that Manik had led so far-I was pretty certain that he had no idea as to how to perform any sort of household chore, let alone cook!

This meant that he'd lose to Aryaman pretty miserably! And I didn't want any sort of scuffle between them to be recorded on camera! Especially after today's incidents, there was an extremely high chance that tensions would run high!

"Nandini, you ready? You've been instructed to go to the back entrance, right?" An A.D's voice brought me out of my thoughts.

I turned around and said in response. "Yes. I'll be there in five, Rohit."

Over the last few days I'd learnt a few of the A.D's names, since they'd been pretty helpful and supportive.

"Cool." He said, before exiting the room.

I took one last look at the mirror before I mentally prepared myself to face Aryaman. I sniffled into a handkerchief and put it in my skirt pocket, just in case I felt a sneeze coming on again. I walked out the door and down the steps rather cautiously, trying to mentally practise my speech regarding what exactly I would say to Aryaman in order to put off our conversation.