Page 108 of One Hellish Wedlock
Her breath caught.
Her stomach flipped.
She won the last time?
Which game? And just then the flashes of the last time she was here flooded before her eyes.
The spinning bottle.
The dare.
Her friends showing her a photo of a handsome man and challenging her to find him in the crowd and kiss him.
Aanya who was half-drunk, was far too bold that night. She’d accepted the dare, found the man... and kissed him.
And now, the memory rushed back in fragments, blurry but undeniable. Her breath froze as she recalled the final bit of that challenge.
The man she had kissed that night… it had beenhim.
Reyansh Chopra.
Trendy Pub – The Flashback (Two Years Ago)
The music had been deafening, the crowd rowdy and wild. Weekend had just begun in Cape Town, and Aanya Malhotra, along with a few of her college friends, had landed there for a reunion they had been planning for months.
“I told you this place would be packed! Partying on the beach would’ve been a better idea,” Aanya shouted above the noise, a little tipsy and clearly annoyed.
“Chill, Aanya,” Tanmay, one of her old batchmates, chuckled. “You wouldn’t get to feast your eyes on men like this at a private beach.”
She paused mid-sip, squinting at him through the dim lights. “Tanmay, since when did you start checking out men?”
He burst out laughing. “Oh God, not me! I meant for you girls. I’m happily taken, remember?” He slid an arm around Neha, his girlfriend, pulling her close.
Joanna rejoined the group after a bathroom break, her energy unfazed by the chaos around them. “Enough drinking and dancing, people! Let’s spice things up. How about a game?”
“No,” Aanya had groaned. “We’re not kids anymore, Jo. Look around! We’re in a full-blown nightclub, not a school picnic.”
“Stop being a spoil-sport, Aanya. Come on, let’s play spin the bottle—truth or dare style.”
Everyone but Aanya had agreed enthusiastically. Left with no choice, she sighed and gave in. The bottle was spun, the game began. Neha chose “truth” and ended up spilling about her first crush, something even Tanmay hadn’t known. He’d sulked for a minute before laughing it off. Joanna picked “dare” and flirted outrageously with the bartender, earning a scowl and an eye-roll from him.
Then the bottle pointed to Aanya.
“Obviously, dare,” she announced boldly. “Come on, make it a tough one.”
Joanna smirked and pulled out her phone. “Kiss this guy,” she challenged, flashing an image of a man she’d apparently photographed outside the restroom minutes ago.
Aanya squinted at the screen. “Damn. He’s hot.” Without hesitation, she leaned forward and kissed the phone. “Done. That was easy.”
Tanmay nearly choked on his drink.
“She meant in real life, idiot,” he laughed.
Aanya’s eyes narrowed. “And you think he’s here?”
“He was outside the washroom just now,” Joanna insisted. “He’s definitely around. Go find him. Kiss him. That’s your dare.”
With the bottle of Champagne still in hand, Aanya accepted the challenge. The music vibrated through her bones as she pushed through the crowd. She could feel her friends’ eyes following her, waiting for the show. There was no turning back.
