Renamed the book to Once Upon A Night.

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Kashish woke up later than usual the following day. She observed her reflection in the mirror as she brushed her teeth. Thoughts, of various colors shooting across her mind. 

Last night had given her a reality check. She couldn't stop wondering about what would happened with Tanya. She couldn't stop thinking about the kiss last night. It was almost like a spell had been cast upon her. She had never felt a temptation so strong. She wondered what would've happened if she didn't stop. Blinking out of her thoughts she quickly finished brushing her teeth.

After a quick shower, she headed down for breakfast. 

She felt stupid for holding on to the small things that had upset her in school days. No one cared after all. Why did she have to be so sensitive? 

She had worried so much about what would be everyone's reaction on seeing her. Would they be envious of her, would they still end up ignoring her, or would they pass sneer remarks... so on and so forth.

What she realized was... she was the only one giving damn. No one cared of what the past was. Most of them seemed to have moved on and left their school days behind. Why was she stuck then? Why did she pretend as though she didn't care what others thought of her but somewhere deep down it mattered to her?

Kashish was surprised to find Virat, her fiancé at the dining table. Her gaze drifted to her parents. Something was off. They all looked serious, lost in their own mind space. Was it about the wedding? 

Her heartbeat dropped a little wondering what was going on. She began to worry as she took slow steps towards the dining table trying to look for hints. Her parents had invited Virat and his family two months back. 

Kashish wanted to lay a stronger foundation for her career before she was ready to take the responsibility of a marriage on her shoulders. She had just begun to work with her father who owned a chain of retail and wholesale garmets shop. She was slowly transforming the business. She was working on taking the business online, tying up with designers, working on their own brand. There was a lot she wanted to do.

However, the affable,charming and intelligent Mr. Virat Chauhan had won her heart. Even her parents were charmed by his personality. The only thing she had heard after that night from her parents was that she shouldn't let this wonderful man go, men like him were rare and she shouldn't let go the chance to being his wife.

Frankly, Kashish wasn't sure if he'd say a yes. He was handsome, hailed from a good family, filled with scholars and had a good career. Generally, guys of that kind would want nothing less than a model like wife. Much to her surprise the next day a yes had come from his family. 

Good proposals are sealed quickly, and that's exactly what happened. They had conducted a small engagement ceremony and fixed the wedding date on a day in the month of December. It was still not on the cards, but a tentative date.

Kashish and Virat had amicably decided to utilize the long gap between their engagement and wedding to know each other. It took Kashish time to accept people into her close circle and she was glad that she had the time to get used to Virat.

"Hi, Good morning!" Kashish wished with a smile looking at the three faces around the table.

"Good morning, beta!" Her mother rquickly gave her a side hug, and walked off to the kitchen asking her to take a seat.

"Hey, good morning!" Virat wished.

She smiled looking at her father and then her fiancé.  "All okay?"

They exchanged a look and then glanced back at her. Kashish wondered what was cooking. Her mother appeared with a cup of steaming tea. 

"Thanks, Maa!" Kashish smiled, taking the cup. She raised a brow asking her question silently.

"How was last night? Your reunion?" Virat asked.

Kashish couldn't avoid the wave of guilt that washed her as the only thing she recollected at the moment was kissing Ishaan. She managed a smile, "Okay-ish!"

He smiled, closing his hands together on the table.

"Beta, would you like to have some juice or coffee?" Her mother asked him.

Kashish sipped on her tea switching her gaze between the faces. 

* * * 

It was only after she had her breakfast did Virat express that he wanted to talk to her in private. One gaze at her parents and Kashish knew why they were behaving odd. She led him up to her room. 

He shut the door and took a deep breath.

Kashish stared at him. Any other day she'd probably take a few minutes to admire how good he looked in the light blue colored shirt with its sleeves rolled up meatly, paired with regular dark faded denims. But right now she was panicking because of not having an idea of what was going on.

"How was last night?"

Kashish's eyes widened a wee bit and she looked at him carefully trying to read through his expression. Did he know what happened last night? But how would he? Unless he had put a spy on her. Shit! 

"Okay," she mumbled.

"Sit," He said pointing to the bed. 

"All okay?" She asked as he sat beside her.

"Yeah, everything's okay. Just that... wait. It's best we don't tell his to your parents. Alright?"

Kashish satred right back at him, with curiosity filled eyes.

"A murder was committed last night," He revealed cautiously, "at your school!"

Kashish's jaw dropped. "What!" She gasped.

"Yeah, we got a call early this morning. The only thing that struck me at the moment I heard the name of the crime site was... you. My team's on it. As soon as we have some data about the victim ready we may call for the people present at the school last night for questioning and stuff. It may also be just a subset of people present last night."

"Wow, that's..." Kashish's throat went dry. 

"I know... it can be too much to take in." He said placing his palm on hers. 

"If... I am allowed to ask... who was it?" She fumbled with phrasing her words.

"A guy who looked like in his early twenties, he was umm, shot dead. The team's working on getting the details on the vic."

"Wow." Kashish muttered terrified. So far she had only heard of murders in crime based movies and shows or read about them in newspapers or books. They were all so exciting. But at the moment, it was the most terrifying that could have happened to anyone.

His phone rang and he excused himself towards the balcony picking up the call at once.

The last night seemed to be way more eventful than she thought it was. There were a lot of people at the cool last night. Her gaze drifted to him as he stood in the balcony with his phone held against his ear. What was she thinking last night? How could she kiss another man? Her fingers timidly roasted her engagement ring and she glanced at it. 

He returned with formal smile. "I am sorry, you had to hear this. But ..." He looked at the floor, hesitantly. "I just.. was worried." He breathed out.

"You didn't happen to see anything odd last night, right? No fights or anything, right?" He asked quickly not waiting for her to respond to his previous few words.

"No, not at all. If anything... the atmosphere was happy." She said thoughtfully.

"Hmm, is this news too hard on you?"

She glanced up at him, managing a little smile. "I should probably get used to hearing stuff like this. This is what your everyday loos like?"

He smiled, "well, maybe you should." 

"I need to report to the SP, I should get going."

"Yeah, thanks." She said, quickly rising. "I mean... it was easier to hear it from you..."

"You look disturbed, I hope you don't back off from marrying a IPS Officer." The smile was back on his face.

She smiled at him. It was intriguing how he could have a rough and tough look and yet manage to win a heart with just the curl of his lips.

"Have a good day! And, let me know if I can be of any help."

He nodded. "Make something up to tell your parents. I don't want them to worry." 

"Or reconsider their choice of son-in-law." He added rather nervously.

Kashish smiled, "I'll tell them you wanted to talk about your career... that you may soon be a SP. And you wanted me to know."

"Well, sounds okay... but I'd easily catch that lie." He chuckled. "I will get going then..."

"Yeah,"

His phone rang as they made their way out of the room.

He picked dup the call, speaking. "Yes, Tanisha I know, Sujoy had called few minutes back. The name is Ishaan Trivedi, Ashok Vihar. That's all I know as of now. I will forward the deets as soon as I get them. Yes, the school building has been sealed, the forensic team is heading over to the crime scene as I speak."

Kashish was dumbstruck when she heard that name. Ishaan, was no more. He was the one murdered last night! Sweat drops formed on her forehead and she quickly wiped it. Her phone rang. It was from Sana, a designer.

"Virat, I'll see you later. Got to take this call." She said quickly and turned around halfway through the steps and made it to her room. 

"Shit!" She mumbled wiping the sweat off her head. "Shit, shit, shit!" Things couldn't get worse, could they?

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Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Would love to know your thoughts on it. What do you think?

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