In case you haven’t noticed already, this story takes place in a world that looks like our own but is different from that of our own, the world of the rich-which has always been different from the land of the poor and, as a key member of the world of the rich, everything Aliza Khan does was page three news, and so was her little encounter with Rayan. The very next day after her encounter with Rayan at the club, the newspapers were plastered with headlines of ‘Rich heiress / actress Aliza Khan being caught on camera getting all cozied up with A-List actor Rayan' just hours, after news of her boyfriend cheating on her came out, and with the nasty headlines accompanied a picture of the moment where Aliza leaned into thank Rayan which was grossly misunderstood as a picture of them kissing. Meanwhile, this was going on back at Aliza's house. Her manager, Parth, was pacing around nervously.

“Parth, would you stop phasing around like a crazy person it’s not that big of a deal” Aliza said.

“Not that big a deal? You just created a full-blown scandal.”

“Calm your tits Lady Whistledown, I just danced with a guy once. I didn’t even know he was famous and even if he is famous what is the big deal?”

“The big deal is we are trying to run a smear campaign on your cheating ex-boyfriend and now all the attention from that shifted to you getting all comfy cozy with this guy who, for your information, already has a girlfriend.”

“Firstly, it’s not a smear campaign, it’s an exposé, and I wasn’t getting cozy with him. I just danced with him to a Taylor Swift song, and it wasn’t even romantic, it was Shake it off”.

“Well Taylor Swift, don’t have to reply to your haters who will now say you lost all credibility in your situation with your ex because you are doing the same thing he did by hanging out with a guy who already has a girlfriend.”

“I have just started my career. How do I already have haters? Plus, I am just living my life without doing anything wrong. It’s not my job to worry about my public image.”

“Yes, but it’s still my job to worry about your public image, no matter what you are doing.”

“So, what are you going to do, Parth, make me put out an apology for dancing with Rayan?”

“No, that would just make you look more guilty; I am just going to call up his team and tell them t make him get spotted with his girlfriend or something. If people think they are fine with it, and she was okay with what happened, then they won’t come at you much.”

Parth said, getting on the phone.

“Why do you have his team’s contact information?” Aliza asked, as Parth stepped out to make a call. He came back a few minutes later with a disappointed expression on his face. “What happened?” Aliza asked.

“So……. Rayan and his girlfriend just broke up”, Parth said.

“Oh, fuck my life” Aliza said, laying back on her sofa.

***

Even though Aliza thought at the time that it was going to be a career-ending scandal, it worked out pretty well for her as, instead of getting hated on for what had happened between her and Rayan, people started shipping them together as a couple. As it turns out, the world of fame was a bit more twisted than they had thought. You see, Raya’s girlfriend was just a moderately famous model and nobody really knew of her existence, so the beginning and end of their relationship was quite silent without much media buzz. It was like her lack of publicity made her relationship and feelings not worth talking about. Meanwhile, a steamy affair between Rayan and Aliza was gossip media gold. And as scandalous and rocky as it maybe it was what kick-started one of the most talked about public relationships of that time.