Page 16 of Reckless Dare

“I thought you would say one of the Simhas too,” Nitya said with a laugh. “I’m glad you pointed specifically to Abhi.”

Pooja glared. “She’s just like everyone who wants to be a part of the Simha family too.”

Ava was confused. “What do you mean by the Simha family? Who are they?”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know!”

Pooja’s anger made Ava even more confused. “I really don’t. Who are they?”

Nitya and the rest of the girls in the group stared at her like she was a strange species.

“Oh my God, Ava. Don’t you really know who Abhi is?” Nitya asked in shock and excitement.

“No.”

“He’s Abhiram Simha. And his cousins Ved and Rana are Simhas too. They belong to the Simha family that built this university. All the girls want to date any of the Simhas because most of them aim to have it as their last name in the future.”

Ava was shocked. She hadn’t known who the student president was. She was simply drawn to him from the first sight.

“Oh.”

Nitya laughed. “Yes, oh indeed.”

Ava’s cheeks heated as she recalled all the instances she heard girls referring to the Simhas. She had assumed it meant all the students in the university. But the girls were actually talking about the three guys belonging to the Simha family. Even the party she was attending was hosted by the Simhas and not the university.

Abhiram Simha.

She now knew the name of the guy she had been crushing on since morning.

*****

The party continued on and the crowd began dancing to the thumping music. Ava was glad the alcohol was cleared up because she was worried about everyone getting back to the campus safely.

She joined the dance, but she found something odd.

Students were dancing together and most of them as pairs. Even the new students got asked and danced as pairs. At some point, she realized she was the only girl who was not dancing with anyone.

Each time a guy asked her for a dance, he was pulled away by someone immediately. She didn’t particularly care that she was dancing alone, but it just felt odd that her partners were gone, almost as though it was forbidden to dance with her.

She smiled at the next guy who came to her, but once again he was pulled away. The guy’s face paled when someone whispered something in his ear. Throwing her a strange look, he walked away to dance with some other girl.

The strange nagging feeling about something being off grew inside her.

Shaking the feeling off, she stepped away from the dance. She walked past the swaying bodies, the loud cheers and hoots, and the blaring music. She went in search of water.

The water bottles were kept at a distance and she walked towards them. While she walked, she saw several couples sitting by the bonfire and kissing passionately.

Her cheeks heated and she smiled, looking away from the couples. She finally reached the beverage area and picked a water bottle.

Taking several sips, she finished the bottle realizing how thirsty she was. She was about to reach for another one when she saw a shadow approaching.

She turned and froze when she saw who it was. Her heart began to thud, and her cheeks started to heat like they always did whenever she felt his eyes on her.

She smiled tentatively at him, feeling a little awkward now that she said publicly that she would like to go on a date with him.

Is he here to ask me about the date?

She recalled that he had asked if her weekend was free even before the game. Was he asking her out then?

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