“No, no absolutely not nuh-uh no no no no not happening no absolutely not no way” Payal said as she walked around the room having a mental breakdown.

“I don’t care what you think you can’t tell me who I can or cannot date you are not my mom” Rayan said as he leaned back against his couch unfazed by Payal’s reaction.

“Wait…...do you take dating advice from your mom?”

“No, I don’t but I take her advice generally…. you know what it was a wrong statement, the point is you have no business trying to manage my personal life”

“You literally pay me to do that it’s my responsibility to make sure you don’t do something or in this case someone stupid”

“Aliza went to an ivy league she is the farthest thing from stupid”

If it was any other normal person they wouldn’t be considering asking out a girl he kissed once during a party to spite her ex-boyfriend but this was Rayan we were talking about, he has always taken the most craziest long shorts which had surprisingly worked out for him, yes he had missed a few times or maybe multiple times but that never seemed to stop him or even slow him down but asking out a girl like Aliza is a whole other ball game altogether even for someone as confident as Rayan especially when he knew that the first thing people are going to be asking is that why would somebody like Aliza khan would even go for someone like Rayan.

“I don’t care if she is the queen of England, people hate her and people love you and to be fair that’s the only good thing going on in your career right now do you really want to sabotage all that for a girl” Payal kept rambling on about how it was a mistake for him to even breath the same air as Aliza but for Rayan it felt like it was the only air he could breath or else he would suffocate, his thoughts were flooded by the memories of the kiss they shared and nothing else, how her hands were holding onto him she tasted like mint, the flavour of the gum she was chewing and if you think it was madness for him to think about a future with her just from one kiss it’s even maddening knowing that she was thinking exactly the same at the same time. 

Yes of course it all may have started as a way to make a crazy ex-boyfriend jealous but the minute their lips met they knew it was anything but, never had she had a kiss that consumed her soul like that one it was so much that frightened her for a bit she tried to pull away thinking its inappropriate and he would want it to end but when he held onto her chin and pulled her back in all that washed away. When they finally did stop, she was too flustered to even speak.

“Will......will you….” she somehow managed to blur out.

“I will call you…...I will call you” he said as though reading her mind she smiled as she walked away not because she wanted to leave but because if she would have stayed with him any longer she would have done something that she would have regrated, she knew what she had was special and that wasn’t the story she wanted it to be.

But as the day went on and she caught herself staring at her phone in between shoots willing it to ring she was beginning to regret everything and not just about that one night but everything.

One thing about Aliza that was the most well-kept secret is as confident as she might seem she was anything but that and why wouldn’t she be when you have grown up always hearing the people who was supposed to give you unconditional love shame you into feeling worthless and the when you finally better yourself and step into the world only for them to tear down even the little shred of confidence that you somehow managed to build up you got no choice but to stop trying to feel good about yourself, and when you feel rejected for what feels like a millionth time all that thoughts you kept in the back of your mind comes rushing back.

“You got to stop Aliza” her gym trainer said as she was overdoing on the pull-ups.

“I can’t, I have an important even coming up and I fell fat” Aliza replied not even stopping to look back at her.

“You are not fat you are bordering into becoming underweight”

She stopped abruptly dropping down landing on her feet as she turned around to face her trainer.

“I know I don’t look fat, but I feel fat what am I supposed to do about that?” She asked looking frustrated.

“You know that’s not normal right?” her trainer asked confused.

“I know but maybe if I workout a bit more……”

“Go home Aliza” Her trainer said before walking away. Reluctantly Aliza left and went back home. She was feeling awful, and it was not just about Rayan it was just everything the media constantly portraying her as the villain because she was privileged, the fans constantly putting her down and criticising her every aspect like whatever she did wasn’t enough, the media following her everywhere clicking pictures when she didn’t feel like she was at her best and didn’t wanted to get clicked, her movies not working out and her constantly getting blamed for it all the interviewers who just ask her about her personal life and not her work, the critics who call her a bad actress because she is too expressive with her roles.

Aliza loved her job, but she hated everything that came with it. She had put her personal life on the back burner for years as she worked hard to achieve her dream, she had left everything behind to come here and do this but now even though she wanted to have a personal life it was not easy for her. She was sitting in the car thinking about all this while her eye caught something.

“Stop the car” she said as she didn’t even wait for the car to come to a halt before jumping out and walking towards the front gate of her apartment complex. “Rayan…...what are you doing here?”