Chapter 4 I Am Not A Fool

I waited patiently as Harpreet took her time clicking pictures of the food we had ordered.

On the table we had, a cup of black coffee, for Harpreet, a cup of cappuccino, for Palak, a cup of latte, for me, a plate of three different types of donuts, and a plate full of blueberry muffins, for all of us. Sometimes being with Harpreet makes me feel that the main purpose of ordering food is not to eat, but to click their pictures. Harpreet had arranged the food in a very presentable way, in her language 'aesthetic' way, which did nothing but increased my hunger by tenfold.

The bowl of ice-cream that Abhi bought me would have been enough to fill my little stomach, if I didn't had to share it with these dumbheads.

"Are you done yet?" I said as I breathed in the tempting smell of food.

"Just a moment," she mumbled as she made sure to click pictures of the food from every angle. "And done," she announced before sitting back on her seat.

"Thank, God," I said before trying to pick up a muffin. I made a face at Harpreet when she slapped my hand away from the muffins.

"First tell us what happened at the Salt and Pepper Café," she moved the plate towards her, I sighed.

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"So tell me, what can I do for you?" Abhi said as soon as I took a seat in front of him.

I stared at him with a flat face. "I just got here. Let me breathe, maybe order something."

He nodded slightly. "Sorry, hungry bird," I looked at him as I removed my denim jacket. He tried to suppress his smile but failed miserably. "What would you like to have?"

I ordered French fries and a Diet Coke for myself before looking at Abhi, who was staring at me with anticipation.

"Okay, first of all, promise me you won't tell anyone about this,"

"You have my word," he crossed his muscular arms.

"Okay. So do you know my friend, Palak?" I asked.

"I think I do. The one who never smiles?" He said and I felt a little surprised that he actually knew her.

"That would be her," I said.

"So?" He questioned, urging me to explain.

"So, she has twin brothers who are in college, and I don't know how, but are extremely hot,"

"Okay," He said amusingly.

"Sooo.... I guess they like me,"

"They? As in, both?"

"Yes," I heaved a sigh. He made a face as if saying 'I'm impressed'.

"So, whom do you like?" He questioned.

"Both, but not like that. I mean, I don't know. They both are really sweet to me but I don't wanna come in between them. The thing that I like the most about their family is their friendship and bonding. I don't want it to ruin because of me. Palak, will hate me for that."

"Does, Palak, know?"

"Actually, she is the one who made me see that her brothers were acting too sweet to me. I just thought that maybe that's how they are. I don't know how she does it, but she always happens to know everything." I pondered.

"Well, she is weird. Like yesterday, she told me that she bought her shoes from Amazon, even though I didn't ask. I was just thinking about it," we both fell in deep thought.

Can she really?

Is she--

"Thank you," my thoughts were disturbed by Abhi's voice. I looked up to see the waiter keeping my order on the table.

"So you wanna show them that you are not interested in either of them, by being my fake girlfriend?" Abhi said as the waiter left.

"That's the plan," I replied.

"But how are we gonna do this? I mean, they are in college, we are in school?" he asked before stealing a French fry from my plate and putting it in his mouth.

I gave him a look before moving my plate away from him. "There is a thing, called social media," Abhi stared at me boringly as I continued. "Plus, they work at a café every weekend. We could go on a date to that café," I said before putting a French fry in my mouth.

"Hmm," he hummed, thinking. "So I need to act like I am in love with you in front of them?"

I played with the straw before taking a sip of my drink. "Pretty much,"

"Okay, so you better act like you are obsessed with me in front of, Shagun," he pointed at me.

"Done." I smiled.

"You know what we should do?" I raised my eyebrows at his sudden question. "Make a contract,"

"Contract?" I narrowed my eyes at

"A fake dating contract. Cause you know, there are things that we share only with our partners, and hey, we aren't a real couple. And, I also have some things that I want you to do to make, Shagun, jealous."

"Hmm," I hummed, pondering.

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"So, you were just pretending to be in love with him this whole time?" Harpreet looked surprised. Too surprised actually. And why wouldn't she? She knows me all too well to know how much I hate unnecessary drama. Yet I accepted Mr. Popular's proposal of being his fake girlfriend. Even I didn't understand why I did it. Maybe I was just too nice to say no, or maybe I just wanted a little thrill in life. Nobody wants a simple life, no matter how much they say against it.

"Sorry,"

"Jeez, you guys are good actors," she crossed her arms. "Or good liars, I'm not quite sure,"

"Thanks?" I said not sure if to take it as a compliment or not.

""I can't believe this. How come I didn't notice it?... Why didn't you tell us?"

"Because it was on the contract,"

"Oh yes, the contract. How could I forget about it? Show me," she extended her hand. I took out the contract from my bag and handed to her. "Wow. This is unbelievable. You made a freaking contact! You guys went all out, huh," she seemed amused.

"No kissing? Seriously?" she looked up at me with dissapointment. "You got a chance to kiss, the Abhimanyu Sinha, and you let it go!? How stupid can you be?" I smiled at myself, shaking my head.

"Back hugs allowed. Kiss on the forehead allowed. God, I used to be so jealous of you when he did that. But who knew, it was all fake." Harpreet seemed disappointed and I felt a little bad for her. In her mind we were this perfect couple but to find out that it was all fake must be hard.

"Cute couple stories on Instagram. And here I thought love turned you into a instagram obsessed maniac," Harpreet shook her head. "Aashna, must go to parties and football games with, Abhi."

"Aashna must go to movie dates with, Abhi, every weekend. How romantic," she mocked me.

"Abhi must break up with, Aashna, before final exams." she raised a finger before continuing. "Let me guess, you came up with this because you couldn't let your grades fall because of this fake relationship." I sighed before taking a sip of my latte. She knows me too well.

"Under no circumstances, Aashna and Abhi will tell the truth." If you know where this rule came from then you know.

"Wow.... Is it weird that, I'm not pissed at you right now?" Harpreet narrowed her eyes.

"Of course. That's ominous."

She chuckled. "Chill, I'm not gonna break up with you. I'm actually really impressed. At least now you have something interesting to tell your grandchildren about," my face went flat. "I'm serious," I shook my head before taking a bite of the blueberry muffin.

"You know what, I'm so dissapointed. I was planning a trip to Mussoorie. I bought us spa tickets. I thought you were going through a hard time. You totally fooled me."

"Well considering you already are one, it wasn't difficult." Harpreet gave me a nasty look.

"You wouldn't mind if I ate this last piece of muffin, right?" Palak caught our attention.

"Last? You guys ate all the muffins!?" Harpreet questioned. Palak and I exchanged a look before shrugging.

"So mean," Harpreet said before picking up the last piece of muffin quickly. She stared at us angrily as she ate.

Harpreet took a sip of her coffee, pondering before looking up at me. "I wanna ask you something, and I want you to be honest,"

I narrowed my eyes at her. "Sure,"

"How are you feeling? I mean, after the break up,"

"Break up? Well, considering it wasn't even a real relationship, I'm perfectly fine." I smiled.

"Fine? I mean, don't you feel... wretched or something? Empty inside, like you are missing something? Like you lost something precious?" I knew what she was trying to do but I wasn't up for it.

"No. Why would I?"

She did not seem satisfied with my answer as she exhaled a deep breath. "Tell me honestly, you spent so much time with him, did you never had even a little bit of feeling for him?"

"No," I shook my head.

"Seriously, not even a little bit?" She didn't seem convinced.

I rolled my eyes. "I did." I finally confessed. "But it was just a crush. The whole time I knew he was in love with, Shagun, and I am not that stupid to fall for someone, who is already in love with someone else. I think it's stupid and the people who do it are even stupider."

"It's not stupid. You do not choose who you fall in love with, and you cannot stop yourself from loving someone you are destined to fall in love with, given any situation." Harpreet claimed.

"I don't think so. I think you need to have a control over your heart. I mean, if you know that this person isn't for you and it's only gonna hurt, then why go after him in the first place?" I said.

"Oh what would you know! We'll see how you control your heart if something like this happens with you." Harpreet took a tissue to clean her mouth.

"I'm not a fool. I mean, I can have a crush on someone like that but I would not let myself fall for them after knowing that they love someone else," I took a tissue from the tissue holder lying on the table to clean my hands.

"99% of the time, when people say they wouldn't do something, they end up doing it." Harpreet said.

"Who says?"

"Me!" I scoffed.

"You know what, I kind of wish he would have fallen for you. At least I would have gotten an opportunity to witness a fairytale like love story, just like To All The Boys I Have Loved Before." Harpreet said.

"Stop reading those novels, and watching those movies. Nothing like that happens in real life. This, guy asking a girl to become his fake girlfriend, then spending time with her and falling in love with her in the process is all bull shit. It happens only in movies or novels, not in real life. Yeah maybe, if he had opted to make someone pretty his fake girlfriend, then he might have fallen for her. But look at me, neither am I pretty nor interesting, who would fall in love with me?"

"Me."

"Except you."

"Me." Palak joined.

I clicked my tongue. "You too."

"Your Prince Charming, who's desperately waiting for you in Hazelynn," Harpreet answered making both of us giggle.

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