Chapter 12 : Wait... What Did I Do?

Hazel groaned as she buried her face deeper into her pillow, her head pounding like a drum. Her mouth felt dry, and her entire body ached.

"Ugh… never again," she muttered.

Just as she was about to force herself up, her blanket was yanked away.

"Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty," Naina’s overly cheerful voice rang through the room.

Hazel let out a strangled noise, blindly reaching for the blanket. "Naina, I swear—"

But then Naina dropped the bomb.

"So... had fun last night? You were pretty wasted. Oh, and Arav dropped you home."

Hazel’s eyes flew open. "WHAT?"

Naina smirked, leaning against the bedpost. "You don’t remember?"

Hazel shot up so fast she instantly regretted it, clutching her head. "Arav dropped me home? No, no, no. This can’t be happening. Why did that happen? Did I—oh my god, did I say something stupid?"

Naina shrugged. "No idea. He just brought you home, handed you over, and left. You were mumbling a lot, though. Something about loving puppies or pizza, I don’t know."

Hazel let out a breath of relief. "Okay. That’s… not terrible."

Naina narrowed her eyes. "Wait. Did you say something stupid?"

Hazel froze for a second before shaking her head way too quickly. "No! Nothing! I mean, I don’t think so. Probably not. Hopefully not."

Naina hummed suspiciously. "Uh-huh. Anyway, get up. You have class today… with Arav."

Hazel flopped back onto the bed, covering her face with a pillow. "Kill me now."

Hazel sighed in relief when she checked her phone and saw the notification.

"Human Psychology class is canceled today."

Thank god. That meant she wouldn’t have to face Arav. Not yet.

She still had no idea what exactly happened last night, but just the thought of being in the same room as him made her stomach twist. What if she had said something really embarrassing? What if he brought it up? No. Nope. Not today.

But, of course, the universe had to make things difficult.

Instead of her usual schedule, they had an extra maths class today. Hazel groaned as she gathered her books. Numbers weren’t exactly her best friend, but right now? She’d take calculus over awkward eye contact with Arav any day.

She sat through the entire lecture, barely paying attention to the professor’s words. Her mind kept flashing back to last night—the party, the drinks, the almost-kiss—

No. Focus.

The good thing? She didn’t see Arav the whole day.

The bad thing? She didn’t see Arav the whole day.

She shouldn’t be thinking about it, but a small part of her wondered… was he avoiding her too?

Hazel wasn’t thinking about anything—or anyone. She had enough on her plate already. With her math notebook open on the bench, she tapped her pen against the page, staring at the numbers like they were mocking her.

The campus garden was peaceful, a soft breeze making the leaves rustle. It was the perfect place to clear her head, or at least try to. The last thing she needed was to get stuck in last night’s embarrassment.

She sighed, pressing her fingers to her temple. “Why do they even need to complicate math this much?” she muttered under her breath.

Just then, a coffee cup appeared in her line of sight. She blinked up in confusion, only to see Arav standing there, looking amused.

“Here,” he said simply.

Hazel raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t ask for coffee.”

Arav sat down beside her, casually leaning back. “No, but you need it.”

She scoffed but took the cup anyway. As soon as she took a sip, she frowned. “Wait… this isn’t my usual order.”

“Obviously,” he said. “It’s strong coffee. Thought you might need it after last night.”

Hazel froze. Her grip on the cup tightened. “What… do you mean?”

Arav’s lips twitched. “You don’t remember?”

Her stomach sank. She had a feeling she didn’t want to know the answer.

Arav leaned back, his gaze flickering over her notebook before settling back on her. “Thought you might need it. To recover from last night.”

Hazel stiffened. She looked at the cup, then back at him. “What… what exactly do you mean by that?”

He smirked, clearly enjoying her unease. “You don’t remember?”

Her heart sank. “Remember what?”

Arav took a slow sip of his own coffee, dragging out the suspense before finally saying, “You were… very talkative.”

Hazel’s stomach did a nervous flip. “Define ‘talkative.’”

He tilted his head, as if thinking. “Let’s just say, you were very open about your opinions.”

Hazel felt a mix of relief and panic. Opinions? That could mean anything. Did she say something stupid? Embarrassing? Worse—did she say something about him?

She carefully sipped the coffee, hoping the warmth would somehow ground her. “And what exactly did I say?”

Arav just smiled, the kind that told her he was enjoying this too much. “Figure it out, Roy.”

Hazel groaned, burying her face in her hands. This was going to haunt her, wasn’t it?

Arav sighed, running a hand through his hair. His teasing smirk faded, replaced by something more serious. “You asked about Meera last night.”

Hazel froze, her coffee cup halfway to her lips. “I… what?”

“You asked if I love her.” His voice was calm, but there was something in his eyes—like he was waiting to see how she’d react.

Hazel felt her face heat up. She immediately looked away, pretending to be deeply invested in the garden’s flowers. “And… what did you say?”

Arav exhaled, leaning forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “I didn’t answer.”

Her head snapped toward him. “Why not?”

“Because I didn’t want to have that conversation while you were drunk,” he said simply. “You were saying things you wouldn’t even remember in the morning, and I didn’t want you to regret it.”

Hazel swallowed. That… made sense. But it also made her wonder—what else had she said?

She hesitated before asking, “So… what’s the truth? About Meera?”

Arav stared at his coffee cup for a moment before answering. “Meera and I are family friends. Our dads were best friends, so we grew up knowing each other. She knows a lot about me—more than most people.” He glanced at her then, as if gauging her reaction.

Hazel processed his words carefully. It explained why Meera acted like she had some claim over him, but something still didn’t sit right. “So, are you close?” she asked, keeping her tone neutral.

Arav’s jaw tightened slightly. “We were. At some point. But things changed.”

That answer only gave her more questions, but she didn’t push. Not yet.

Instead, she took a slow sip of her coffee and said, “So, you really saved me from embarrassing myself last night, huh?”

Arav chuckled, his lips curling into a small smirk. “Oh, don’t worry. You still managed to embarrass yourself plenty.”

Hazel groaned, nudging his shoulder. “I take back my gratitude.”

.

But deep down, she was still stuck on one thing—Meera might know everything about him, but Hazel had a feeling there was still a lot Arav hadn’t said.

Hazel bit her lip, debating whether she should ask. But curiosity won. "Okay, but… what else did I say?"

Arav tilted his head, a lazy smirk playing on his lips. "You sure you wanna know?"

She narrowed her eyes. "That bad?"

He leaned back against the bench, stretching his legs out. "Let's see... you challenged Vivhan to a drinking game because, and I quote, ‘losing is not in my blood.’ You almost fell twice while walking to the car, told me my arms were ‘suspiciously strong for a guy who just drinks black coffee,’ and—"

Hazel groaned, burying her face in her hands. "Stop. That’s enough."

Arav chuckled, clearly enjoying this. "Oh no, the best part? You made a whole dramatic speech about how I should ‘loosen up and admit’ that you’re the best thing that ever happened to me."

Hazel's head shot up, eyes wide. "I did not."

"You did." His grin widened. "It was very passionate."

She gaped at him, trying to process the sheer level of secondhand embarrassment crashing over her. "And… what did you say?"

Arav simply shrugged, taking a sip of his coffee. "Guess you’ll never know."

Hazel groaned again, shaking her head. "I hate everything."

He nudged her foot lightly. "Nah. You just hate that you don’t remember."

She glared at him, but deep down, a small part of her wondered—if she had said all that, did it mean she had admitted more than she realized? And if so… what was Arav thinking about it now?

Hazel’s phone buzzed on the bench beside her. She absentmindedly picked it up, assuming it was Naina complaining about something, but when she saw the name on the screen, her fingers hesitated.

Meera.

Frowning, she opened the message.

Meera: I’m just saying this as your friend, Hazel. You should be careful with Arav. He isn’t who you think he is.

Hazel stared at the text, her grip on the phone tightening.

What the hell was that supposed to mean?

She had a strong urge to reply right away, to demand an explanation, but before she could start typing, she felt a shift beside her.

Arav’s eyes flickered to her screen. Just for a second.

He didn’t say anything. Didn’t ask.

But Hazel knew he saw it.

The easy smirk he had a moment ago was gone, replaced by something unreadable. Instead of addressing it, he simply leaned back, stretching his legs out. "You gonna finish your math, or are you too busy overanalyzing?"

His voice was casual, but Hazel could sense something beneath it. A quiet tension.

She locked her phone without replying to Meera and forced a smile. "Right. Math."

But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t focus on the numbers in front of her.

And she had a feeling Arav couldn’t either.

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