Chapter 235: Dinner Went Horribly Wrong
South Delhi — 12:30 a.m.
Rohit’s bike stopped outside a small street-side food plaza.
The restaurant’s front door was shut.
Still wearing his helmet, Rohit glanced at the closed sign.
"That’s three."
Behind him, Sheetal sat in her office suit, one hand resting on his shoulder for support. She stared at the locked restaurant and lowered her head in defeat.
"Who would’ve thought they’d close this early? At midnight, of all times. What a shame."
"Hey, it’s not your fault," Rohit said. "You just wanted me to eat somewhere decent instead of some random place."
Sheetal still looked guilty.
"I’m sorry, Rohit. Because of me, you’re starving. But these days, online reviews can’t always be trusted. It’s better to go somewhere you’re familiar with, especially at this hour—"
Rohit rolled his eyes beneath the helmet.
’I’m hungry, and she’s giving me a lecture on restaurant selection.’
Still, he kept his tone polite.
"I said it’s fine. Besides, if you hadn’t come with me, I might’ve ended up getting beaten by your lady boss. A little hunger is nothing compared to that."
Sheetal giggled as she remembered the scene.
"Seriously, that was too much. I still can’t believe Arya was about to beat you right there."
She shook her head.
"If I had a little brother like you, I’d spoil you rotten. Since this is my first time taking care of you, I only want the best for you."
Rohit’s expression softened.
For a moment, the sincerity in her voice caught him off guard.
’How many people have actually shown me genuine concern?’
Very few.
The thought made him feel strangely guilty about the plans he had already made regarding her.
Then his usual caution returned.
’Don’t judge a book by its cover.’
He glanced at the road ahead.
"Hey, you call me your brother, right? Then it’s only fair you decide what’s best for me." He paused. "I know a place that’s usually open this late. It’s a nightclub, but it has a restaurant section. Would that be okay?"
Sheetal smacked the back of his helmet playfully.
"You little rascal. Trying to take a married woman on a date?" She laughed.
Before Rohit could respond, she slid her hands down from his shoulders, wrapped them around his waist, and leaned forward slightly, letting her soft body press lightly against his back.
"Let’s go."
Rohit was surprised by the sudden closeness. He could clearly feel the soft pressure of her curves against him.
However, before he could start the bike, he noticed a police SUV passing by on night patrol.
Sheetal instinctively leaned closer and lowered her voice.
"Wait. Let them pass."
Rohit nodded.
The officers in the front barely glanced at them.
Rohit’s eyes narrowed as his gaze fell on the back passenger seat.
Harsha.
He was sitting in the rear, dressed in civilian clothes, wearing a mocking smile. His injured hand was still bandaged, but he looked far more relaxed than someone who should have been worrying about his situation.
Harsha had recognized Rohit too.
Yet with police around him, he made no move.
’What the hell is he doing out here?’
The man was supposed to be facing charges for kidnapping and drug smuggling. Yet here he was, riding around in a police SUV at half past midnight.
Rohit filed the question away. ’I’ll find out tomorrow.’
The SUV disappeared down the road.
Sheetal finally relaxed. "So, what’s the name of this place?"
"Backstage. Orion Tower."
Rohit started the bike. The Hayabusa disappeared into the night.
***
After twenty minutes, Rohit arrived at the familiar nightclub with Sheetal.
He left his helmet at the reception and walked inside.
Sheetal followed awkwardly, her eyes wandering across the room before quickly dropping whenever they passed a couple. She was still wearing her formal office suit, which made her stand out badly in a place like this.
Rohit noticed but said nothing.
He simply headed toward his usual corner table—close enough to the dance floor for a good view, yet secluded enough for a quiet meal.
Then he saw him.
Robin.
Sitting two tables down, deep in conversation with a woman Rohit recognized instantly — Priya, his girlfriend.
Robin had cleaned up well for the night, shirt pressed, hair combed back. Priya looked stunning in a blue gown that caught the low light every time she moved.
Rohit’s stomach dropped.
It wasn’t the surprise of running into them. It was where — right here, right now, with Sheetal three feet away.
If she so much as connected the dots on what Robin actually did for him, on the mess with the mafia last week, on any of it — the whole careful architecture of his double life would come down in one conversation.
He slowed, already angling to peel away before either of them noticed.
Too late. Sheetal’s hand closed around his elbow.
"Come with me, Rohit," she said, tugging him forward like it was the easiest thing in the world. "We’ve got a surprise."
He clicked his tongue but let himself be pulled, dread pooling in his chest as she led him straight toward the table — walking like she already knew them. Like this had been planned.
Robin spotted them first. He half-rose from his seat, panic flickering across his face, until Rohit lifted a single finger to his lips. ’Not a word.’
Priya looked up next. Her eyes landed on Rohit and something in her face cracked open — shock first, then a wave of something warmer. Her eyes were already glassy by the time Sheetal and Rohit reached the table.
"Well, isn’t this something," Sheetal said, a teasing lilt in her voice. "You two ended up here together?"
Priya was already on her feet, pulling Sheetal into a tight hug. "Sheetal di(sis)! What are you doing here?"
"Fate, maybe." Sheetal laughed, patting her back.
The two women held onto each other a moment longer than necessary, clearly delighted.
Priya even offered to hold her coat so she could be more comfortable. Rohit noticed that Sheetal actually looked quite good in the maroon shirt and without her glasses.
Meanwhile, Robin flagged down a passing waiter and asked for two more chairs.
"No, no—" Rohit cut in quickly. "We don’t want to intrude. We were just here to eat. Didn’t realize Sheetal... di knew people here."
Priya shook her head."Please stay. We’d be honored. Besides... I still haven’t properly thanked you for what you did that night."
Sheetal’s brow furrowed, though the smile never left her face. "Wait! You two know each other?"
Priya nodded, glancing at Rohit with something close to reverence. "Right! He’s the one who saved me. That night."
Sheetal’s jaw fell open. She turned to Rohit, staring like she was seeing him for the first time. "So you’re that mysterious young master?.. Did Arya know about this?"
Rohit’s pulse spiked. He could feel every secret he’d spent weeks burying start to work its way loose, right here, in the middle of a nightclub.
He looked at Robin.
Robin’s face had already gone slack with resignation, the look of a man watching a car crash he couldn’t stop.
Well. Shit.
The waiter arrived and set the chairs down around the table. Nobody sat. All three of them were staring at him, waiting.
Rohit exhaled, dragged a hand down his face, and finally pulled out a chair.
"Fine. Let’s sit first."
He looked between Sheetal, Priya, and Robin, then back again, before settling on one question.
"Before anyone asks me anything else —" he paused, genuinely baffled — "someone explain how the three of you already know each other."
Everyone settled into their seats — Rohit beside Robin, Sheetal beside Priya.
A waiter appeared almost instantly to take their drink orders. Sheetal ordered a cocktail without hesitation. Rohit, deferring to her seniority, urged her to start first and simply asked for a beer.
She caught the gesture and laughed. "Still playing the mysterious one, hm? Fine. I’ll go first. I have nothing to hide."
Rohit only smiled as the waiter returned with their drinks.
Sheetal started with the easy part.
She and Priya had been neighbors since childhood, close enough that their families had practically treated them as sisters. They only lost touch after Priya’s family moved to another part of the city.
Then came last week.
Robin had shown up at Sheetal’s door with an injured, terrified Priya.
Her first instinct had been to call the police, but Priya stopped her and explained everything — the trafficking ring, the mysterious young man who had helped free her, and Dheeraj, her cameraman, who hadn’t made it out.
That night had shaken them both badly. Priya could barely sleep, and Robin had stayed nearby until she finally felt safe enough to close her eyes.
Robin’s ears went faintly red.
"It was nothing, ma’am. Honestly, what you did took more courage than anything I did that night. Letting a stranger stay in your home and trusting him with your cousin’s safety... that wasn’t a small thing."
Sheetal simply smiled and let the compliment pass.
Priya, however, went quiet at the mention of Dheeraj.
Rohit’s mind was already working.
Robin had once mentioned escorting a girl to her relative’s house. He just hadn’t realized that relative was Sheetal.
But something still didn’t add up.
"Didn’t your uncle say anything?" he asked. "And what about your cousin? Wasn’t anyone else home?"
Sheetal shrugged and took a sip of her drink.
"I was at my husband’s house that week. He was away on official tour. I was alone."
"Looks like brother-in-law’s hasn’t retured from the trip yet," Priya said with a sly teasing grin. "or else, we might never have had the pleasure of meeting tonight."
Sheetal swatted her arm. "You cheeky little brat."
Her eyes narrowed. "Speaking of which — how exactly did you end up with my boss’s brother?" Then she looked toward Robin. " Is this official now?"
Priya blinked.
"Wait. Boss? " She looked at Rohit with awe. " He’s whose brother?"
"Rohit Singhania," Sheetal said matter-of-factly. "Arya Singhania’s younger brother. Young master of the Singhania family."
"I genuinely forgot the family name," Priya admitted with a small laugh. "I only ever think of him as the man who saved me."
She reached over and touched Robin’s hand across the round table.
"And yes. We’re official now."
From there, the story finally came together.
Priya explained how she’d first met Rohit outside a police station while covering a protest over a land reform bill.
He’d been there searching for a missing friend, but had somehow managed to turn the entire station upside down, forcing the release of an entire crowd of protestors the police had detained on flimsy grounds, and using the resulting chaos to widen his own search.
Rohit raised an eyebrow.
He hadn’t expected her to figure out his real motive so accurately. Though, given her profession, perhaps he shouldn’t have been surprised.
Then she also filed Robin’s side of the story — how he and his friends had been caught up in the same mess, wrongly accused of kidnapping their own friend Jyoti, and how the chaos had eventually brought them together.
Later, with help from Rohit’s bodyguard and his connections, they’d staged a fake protest to storm an MLA’s resort and force Jyoti’s release.
Priya hadn’t realized until much later that most of the chaos had been orchestrated by Rohit from the beginning.
Rohit shot Robin a look sharp enough to cut glass.
Robin suddenly found the tablecloth extremely interesting.
Fortunately, there had been no mention of the mafia or the violence underneath it all.
For now, he could contain it.
Sheetal sat with one hand half-covering her mouth, the story becoming more absurd with every new detail.
Then Priya’s face suddenly lost its color.
She fell silent.
Sheetal noticed immediately and smoothly took over.
She knew next set of events -— as how Priya had been kidnapped during another assignment. Then how these two men had appeared and rescued her.
"And then," Sheetal added, glancing knowingly at Robin, "came the whole police drama. And the news agency mess."
Rohit frowned.
"Wait. What police? What news agency?"
Robin answered carefully.
"Next morning, the police came after me while searching for priya and investigating the Dheeraj’s death. They nearly locked me up over it until Sheetal di invoked her uncle’s name. The whole thing disappeared."
He hesitated.
"Priya’s news agency also kicked her out over the fallout too. She only found another one recently."
Rohit slowly turned toward Sheetal.
Something clicked.
"Right. What exactly does your uncle do? Because the last time I saw the police near your old man, they looked terrified of him. Before you and Arya even showed up, the DCP herself called ahead, practically begging for a release."
Sheetal’s eyebrow lifted.
A flicker of memory crossed her face — the day her uncle, whom she’d affectionately called father, had been arrested over the petrol-pump violence.
"Well... that’s—"
The food arrived before she could finish.
Rohit had ordered enough for three people. Everyone else had gone lighter.
Sheetal immediately reached for a chicken nugget.
"Forget Dad. We’ve heard everyone else’s story. You still haven’t told us yours, Rohit. How did the two of you actually end up rescuing Priya and the others?"
"Yes, baby," Priya chimed in, looking at Robin. "You always dodge the details."
Sheetal nearly choked on her drink.
Priya’s face turned scarlet.
Even Robin chuckled.
Rohit’s glare silenced him immediately.
"That’s not fair, Sheetal di," Priya protested. "I can call my boyfriend whatever I want."
"I didn’t say a word," Sheetal replied innocently.
Priya clearly didn’t believe her.
"Besides," Sheetal continued, "don’t you want to hear Rohit’s version first?"
Rohit took his time with a spoonful of chicken masala.
Every eye at the table remained fixed on him.
Finally, he sighed.
"It’s really not that big a deal."
What followed was the sanitized version — the same story even his own family believed.
His bodyguard had handled most of the danger, taking a near-fatal hit while pulling Akhil out of harm’s way. Rohit himself had simply gotten lucky, using the chaos to get Akhil to safety while Robin went after Priya.
A much smaller, gentler story than the truth.
Even that version moved Sheetal.
She reached over and placed her hand over his.
"So much trouble at such a young age, and you still kept fighting."
She shook her head.
"Arya really doesn’t know how rare you are."
The words were simple.
Almost casual.
Yet Rohit’s composure slipped for just a second.
The sincerity caught him off guard.
Crash.
A glass shattered somewhere behind them.
The sound cut through the rooftop’s chatter.
"You fucking bitch! So this is where you’ve been hiding, cheating on me?"
A young man stood several tables away, half-drunk and swaying slightly. His shirt was rumpled, his expression furious.
A striking woman beside him had one hand on his arm, trying to pull him back.
He shook her off.
Sheetal’s face drained of color.
"Virat..."
Priya’s breath caught.
"Brother-in-law?"