Chapter 1 Cold Eyes, Familiar Face
I hadn’t seen him in seven years .But the moment he walked into that room, time didn’t just stop. It glared.
The air changed before I even turned around. Like the molecules remembered him before I did.
He entered the party late .Of course he did .It was Aarav Malhotra—he made an entrance just by existing.
Black shirt. No tie .Suit fitted like it was stitched out of shadow. And those eyes—Storm grey. Unreadable .The kind of eyes that didn’t blink when the world burned.
“Vanya.”One word. One word, and my spine turned to ice.
I turned slowly, keeping my expression somewhere between court-room neutral and funeral chic.
“Still pretending to be human, Aarif?”
He smirked. Not the cute kind. The kind that digs under your skin and plants a landmine.
“Still overthinking every second of your existence?”
I hated that he still knew me. Hated it more that my pulse spiked just standing near him.
“What are you even doing here?” I asked, sipping my drink like I hadn’t just swallowed a memory.
“Same reason you are. Pretending we’re not broken.”
His voice was smooth. Dangerous. A low flame on gasoline.
Then he leaned in—too close, too fast—and whispered:
“You’re going to be my fake girlfriend, Vanya.”
I choked. Literally choked.
“Excuse me?”
“For a month. To keep my relatives quiet.”
“Why me?” I snapped, stepping back.
He shrugged, eyes sharp.
“Because you’re the only one I can stand for more than five minutes.”
A pause. A deadly pause.
“Barely.”
And in that second, I hated myself. Because instead of walking away—I said yes.
Chapter 2 preview(just a taste):
Game on, I’d said .But I didn’t realize I was playing chess with a man who never followed rules—He created them.
