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"Unrequited love does not die-it's only beaten down to a secret place where it hides, curled and wounded."
-Elle Newmark
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"Won't you introduce me to your-"
Avni sucked in a breath. Her eyes briefly bore into the obsidian beneath the transparent glasses as they stared back at her, equally aghast and confused, before a second bout of realization flickered in them and he swallowed past the sudden lump in his throat.
She blinked. Once. Twice. Thrice. But it didn't jar her out of this hallucination. Neither did it magically vaporize Samarth out of her sight.
Various questions clawed up her throat-yet none of it broke out of her mouth. However, they weren't soundless to her. They kept pounding against her mind, growing louder and more perennial with each passing second. It did not surprise her when a stint of pain riddled her muscles, covering her head and neck.
Thud.
The lively chatter in the air died down faster than the speed of light soon after the serving tray razed the cool shingles of the restaurant.
"Vyas? You, okay?" Viransh asked, his tone unreadable and his clean-cut face etched with worried lines as he flicked a glance between Samarth and Avni.
Viransh's voice seemed to be distant and dulled as if he was anyhow calling the other man from the other end of the tunnel. But it effectively broke their trance, and they both whipped their head at the young CEO.
"Huh. Yeah." Samarth replied, daubing a smile before casting his eyes down and assimilating the mess he made. "I'm sorry for the dessert." He gestured toward the tray lying upside down on the ground, with crumbs of afters dispersed beside it. "I'll quickly prepare-"
"Leave the dessert. You hurt?"
"Physically, no." Samarth looked at Avni for a beat, his smile disappearing briskly and his lips thinning in a straight line.
Avni vaguely shifted in her seat, catching the sight of a small frown crimped between Samarth's thick brows.
The brief minute didn't go unheeded by the sharp amber stares. Viransh cleared his throat, slicing the jittery moment and rounding the table. He held out a hand for Avni, who eyed it a little while before laying her cold palm into the warmer ones, and standing up on her suddenly shaky legs. She smiled as he squeezed her hand momentarily, the warmth from him radiating up her arm and easing some of the restlessness and uneasiness in her chest.
"Samarth, meet my lady, Avni Desai." Viransh introduced, his bright eyes lighting up and his mouth cutting into a wide grin.
My lady.
Avni's head whipped at Viransh, his visage a beauteous savoury to her eyes, tugging the strings of the fragile organ behind her rib cage, which thumped louder than it should've at that moment. She didn't correct him. Her own lips quirked upward at the insertion, a strange tenderness sluicing through her veins.
But the moment was short-lived.
Viransh clapped his hand on Samarth's back. "And Avni, meet my friend, Samarth Vyas."
The colour drained from her face when she broke her gaze from Viransh and looked at the young man before them.
A strange quietness followed soon after. Samarth said nothing. He just looked at her with an unidentifiable expression. It was then she realized he was waiting for her-to correct Viransh. Because apparently, they don't need any introduction. They both know each other.
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The Blazing Heiress
عاطفيةᴛʜᴇ ʜᴇɪʀꜱ' ᴄʜʀᴏɴɪᴄʟᴇꜱ ʙᴏᴏᴋ - ɪ 𝐀𝐯𝐧𝐢 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐚𝐢 is like a crimson rose, a captivating allure to gaze at from afar, yet with thorns that can prick if touched. To the world, she is an enigmatic and vaguely threatening heiress, relentless in pursui...
