Mehul had texted me first.
That fact alone had completely ruined my night.
Not because I was upset.
But because I had spent an entire hour overthinking it.
Are you free tomorrow?
That was it. No explanation. No details.
Just a simple question.
And yet, my brain had turned it into a life crisis.
I stared at my phone, my heart doing weird, unnecessary things.
This could be about work. Right?
Maybe he needed help with another project.
Maybe he had a question about the report.
Maybe he just—
No.
That didn't make sense.
Because Mehul didn't do unnecessary conversations.
If this was work-related, he would have said so.
Which meant—
This was something else.
And I had no idea what to do with that.
After staring at my phone like an idiot for a full five minutes, I finally forced myself to reply.
Vihaan: Yeah, I'm free. Why?
I hit send before I could overthink it.
And then I proceeded to overthink it anyway.
Did that sound too eager? Too casual? Should I have waited before replying?
I groaned, dragging a hand down my face.
Get it together, Vihaan.
A few seconds later, Mehul responded.
Mehul: Chai. 4 PM. Majestic.
I blinked.
That was it? No extra words. No context. Just… chai?
My heart did a stupid thing again.
I took a breath, trying to act normal.
Vihaan: Sure. See you then.
I dropped my phone onto my bed and stared at the ceiling.
What the hell was happening?
The thing was—this shouldn't have been a big deal.
It was just chai.
I had gotten chai with him before.
Except—this time, I wasn't sure what it meant.
Was it just… casual?
Was it because he actually wanted to talk?
Was it because he noticed something too?
I had no answers.
All I knew was one stupid fact that I refused to say out loud.
I wanted tomorrow to come faster.
And that?
That was the most terrifying part of all.