My Summer Love Story | ✔️

ch. 26 ✰ Reeya vs. Akash

"I hope you know that my love is very unconditional for you because you truly mean so much to me, babe."

"Aww, babe! You're the best."

"No, you are!"

"Aw, stop, babe! You are!"

"C'mon, babe! You are—"

"Okay, Romeo and Juliet!" Neha lashes out, jabbing her finger at Manav and Ayushi. "We get it! You guys love each other!" I chuckle as Manav and Ayushi share guilty looks.

I sit in the middle row of the Jeep, gawking at the view as Neha continues to rampage about Manav and Ayushi's continuous flirting that is sort of annoying, but amusing at the same time. Annoying because it reminds me of how drastically single I am, and amusing because I just love seeing the expression on Neha's face whenever Manav and Ayushi recite their dramatic love for each other.

My hair flaps around my face while the sun seeps into us from above. Today we are going to be traveling to San José, which is a thirty-minute drive from where Ayushi's villa is. All of us had decided on this one-day trip just this morning actually, when we were all gathered by the kitchen for breakfast. And considering the late night talk I had with the girls, which also consisted of watching sappy rom-com movies on Netflix, and the tireless video gaming session the boys had... well, it was pretty safe to say that we were exhausted.

Obviously not exhausted enough, since we were on our way to San José!

Tall city-like buildings tower above us, and I feel a little bit of nostalgia occurring, mainly because all my life I was surrounded by urban areas. Also, I can't help but gaze out and enjoy the scenery, which is the city-like surroundings hovering around us and huge mountains and even volcanoes soaring in the back. Peppy music plays in the streets as I see various people dancing along, some with their families and some alone. A smile grows on my face, and I have a feeling that today is going to be a very amazing day.

"Enjoying the view?" I hear a deep and familiar voice speak up behind me.

My ears turn red as I nervously bite my lip. Well, I might have to reconsider on the amazing part.

I roll my eyes and turn around, making eye contact with the man himself, Akash Tailor. His lips are marginally coiled into a smile, and his blue eyes glimmer indistinctively. He has black glasses perched on the collar of his shirt, and he wears shorts at the bottom, revealing his thighs.

"Um, yes I am, actually," I breathe out, sending him a cool gaze. "You?"

"I was before, but not so much now," he winces. Ouch! I growl at him. "Well, that wasn't very nice of you!"

Akash laughs, throwing his head back. "I was just joking! In fact..." he takes a deep breath in as his eyes quickly flicker to my cleavage that spills out of the top of my sundress. "You look quite nice today."

I feel my cheeks turn bright red, and I force a smile on my face, which wasn't too forceful at the same time. "Why, thank you for that wonderful compliment."

"Of course," he winks.

Before Akash can say anything that manages to make my entire body turn into the shade of a tomato, I abruptly turn around. Besides me, I see Neha and Suhana staring at a nearby Gucci store, so I decide to join them as well.

"Whoa!" Neha gasps. "I didn't know they had Gucci here!"

"And Prada!" Suhana yelps.

"Of course they do," Ayushi sing songs from the front, while Manav drives alongside. "San José is basically the fashion capital here in Costa Rica! Why do you guys think we came here?"