AUTHOR'S POV

Despite the nagging of the paparazzi for the perfect picture, she walks into the bakery and looks around the place. She walks to the empty table in the corner sits on the chair and starts scrolling her phone.

Both Sahil and Diya are awestruck along with the other customers seeing her in their bakery.

Upon hearing the commotion in the bakery, Alia walks out of the kitchen and asks Diya, "What's wrong, D?"

Diya points her finger towards the corner of the bakery and says, "She's here!!" Alia takes time to recognize the person but when she does, she nudges Diya to go and take her order.

Diya nervously walks up to her and asks, "Would you like to order something or are you waiting for someone?" The person looked up from her phone and shook her head. She replies "I'm waiting for my friends, will order once they come." Diya smiles and mouths 'okay' and leaves from the table and starts her work.

Sometime later, the door to the bakery busts open and three girls walk in, all of them perfectly dressed, starting from their perfectly done nails to extremely expensive Louis Vuitton bag that speaks about their class and status. All three of them walk to the corner of the bakery where their friend is sitting. After their usual greeting all four of them take their seats.

After a while, seeing them settled Alia walks to them to take their order, "Would you like to order something now?" and then smiles at them. They individually place their order for three almond milk coffees, a cappuccino, a Crème Brulé, a croissant, and some cookies.

Alia then prepares their order and takes it to their table, upon reaching their table she hears one of the four speak, "Is Dhruv coming to this year's Business Ball?" the other asks, "he must be, didn't you read today's blog?" Alia places the order at their table walks away and remembers the incident earlier this morning.

-flashbacks-

While she was reading her phone vibrated with a notification.

@missknowitall has made a post.

When she tapped the notification it flashed with a picture of a couple, one being the famous and youngest CEO of Malhotra Industries, Dhruv Malhotra along with a renowned model Natasha Sharma. With the headline, THE HOTTEST AND YOUNGEST, DHRUV MALHOTRA, CEO of MALHOTRA INDUSTRIES to attend this Business Ball with his recent rumoured girlfriend and model, Natasha Sharma this year. Yikes!!!

After seeing this she walks into her kitchen while eating ice cream and sitting on the floor she starts thinking, "He is linked to a new girl every three months, is he really with them or is it all rumor? Is he not a serious type?"

She walks up to the cupboard and takes out the book inside it. Before she could flip the book open, she heard the commotion in the bakery and walked outside keeping the book back in its place.

-flashback ends-

The bakery seems to be quiet now since the four girls have left the bakery. Diya and Sahil are about to leave since it's almost lunchtime and they have a lecture to attend after lunch.

Once they leave Alia digs into her lunch TURKEY & AVACADO Sandwiches, and turns on her Spotify playlist playing Taylor's song and singing along:

"We were both young when I first saw you

I close my eyes and the flashback starts

I'm standing there

On a balcony in summer air"

MALHOTRA INDUSTRIES

Time- 10.30 am

"Come in", says the man from inside his cabin hearing the knock.

"What is it, Shreya?", he asks his assistant.

She informs, "Sir, there seems to be another post made by @missknowitall a few minutes ago", while holding the iPad from her hand. He scrolls the post picks up his phone and calls someone.

"Hello, good morning, sir", Says the person from the other side of the phone.

"Good morning, Dev", he replies to the head of the Social- media Manager. "I want the post down immediately before my family members see them, do you understand that Dev?" he strictly commands Dev.

"Yes, sir", replies Dev.

After disconnecting the call, he enquires his assistant about his schedule. She informs him about his important meetings and leaves his cabin.

-time skip-

At 5 pm

"Hello, Mr. Malhotra", a man greets with his British accent.

"Hello, Mr. Saltzman", he replies.

"My flight got delayed because I was late for the meeting, I am extremely sorry", Mr. Saltzman said.

To which, Mr. Malhotra replied, "It's fine, Mr. Saltzman", and smiled and they commenced their meeting.

50 minutes later the meeting the meeting ended, and he received a positive reply. They finalized their deals and were discussing their general life, when his phone rang, flashing his mother's number. He excused himself from the conference room and headed towards his cabin.

Picking up his call and responds, "Hello, Maa"

"Hello, Dhruv, when will come back home?" his mother replied.

"Maa, I'll be back by 8", he replies.

"Okay, come soon, I need to talk to you about something", she says.

"About what--", before he could ask his mother cuts off the call.

Dhruv Malhotra, a 28-year-old, eldest son of Mr. Viren Malhotra and Mrs. Seema Malhotra, the CEO of MALHOTRA INDUSTRIES and among the youngest CEO in India. He is rude, arrogant, and a complete workaholic. He has no time for fun and entertainment but he always makes time for his family. He is strict and tolerates no mistakes in his work.

-Time skip-

Malhotra Mansion

At around 8 pm.

Dhruv's car stops in front of his house. He gets out of the car and walks inside his house.

After getting inside he sees his parents in the living room, both of them are having a conversation and abruptly stop seeing him enter the house.

Ramesh Kaku, the house help, brings Dhruv a glass of water from the kitchen. After drinking water, he sits beside his mother kisses her cheeks, and greets his father.

"How was your day, beta?" Viren questions.

"It was good baba, we locked the deal with Mr Saltzman, we just have to go through the legal paper now, I'll talk to Vishal," he explains to his father.

"Good work, How is Vishal these days? We haven't seen him a lot since he got married?" his father asks.

"He says he is quite busy these days", he replies and climbs up the stairs to his room.

After taking a shower, he comes out of the bathroom wearing a white t-shirt and grey jogger and dries his hair with his towel. After drying his hair, he goes to dinner to have his dinner.

As he sat down to have dinner with his parents, he didn't find his sister there, so he asked his mother, "Maa, Ish kidhar hai?"