While Divyanshi danced with Mantra, her gaze remained fixed on Suraj, who had just entered the dance floor. The moment Suraj spotted her, he arrived on the dance floor with his secretary, deliberately trying to stay close to her. He had already told her earlier that he would prefer being around her at the party. Given that her entire family was present at the event, she couldn’t risk dancing with Suraj under any circumstances. However, just the fact that he was on the same dance floor with her made her feel a strange sense of happiness within herself.

Mantra, smiling warmly, continued dancing with Divyanshi, but for the first time ever, he noticed something different in her movements. Her dance lacked the usual enthusiasm and energy. It didn’t feel spontaneous or joyous. Instead, it seemed mechanical, as though she were dancing merely for the sake of it. His eyes carefully studied her expressions and body language. Then, while dancing, he gently switched their positions, catching her hand and spinning her away before pulling her back into his arms. In a low, concerned voice, he asked her,

“Is something wrong? Are you upset or worried about something today?”

Divyanshi couldn’t quite grasp his question at first. She spun back toward him, held his hands, and continued dancing as she replied with a light tone:

“No, nothing like that. Why would you think so?”

“Because you’re not dancing with your usual excitement today,”

He said, his voice still gentle, yet observant. Hearing this momentarily startled Divyanshi. But then she reminded herself that Mantra had known her for years, and it wouldn’t be easy to hide anything from him. So she gave him a faint smile and began to look around aimlessly, trying to avoid eye contact. She absolutely didn’t want Mantra to get even the slightest hint about Suraj. If Mantra found out, Devraj would undoubtedly be informed, which was something she desperately wanted to avoid. To cover up her unease, she quickly added with a soft laugh:

“No, there’s nothing to worry about. Actually, I was really excited for this evening. But now that I’m actually on the dance floor, I realize I might have been a bit too excited for this party. I spent so much time shopping, at the salon, and preparing for everything that now I feel a little exhausted.”

“In that case, let’s go sit down for a while,” Mantra offered. “We can have dinner and then head home. Our work here is done anyway. I don’t think Devraj plans to stay for too long. I’ll drop you all off and then return.”

The moment Mantra mentioned stepping off the dance floor, Divyanshi immediately turned to look at him, and then her gaze shifted sharply behind him. This time, Mantra caught the flicker in her eyes, the way she anxiously scanned the crowd behind him. He keenly observed her behavior. Trying to cover it up, Divyanshi gave him a quick smile and said,

“No, I’m not that tired… I can stay here and dance for a little while longer.”

Mantra, for the first time, felt a growing certainty that Divyanshi was hiding something from him. He continued to dance but began slowly changing their position again. As he glanced over his shoulder, he carefully surveyed the direction Divyanshi kept trying to look at. Meanwhile, she too tried shifting places on the dance floor to maintain visual contact with that spot. A strange sting pierced his heart, an unfamiliar ache rising from the thought that perhaps there was something or someone he didn’t know about. He abruptly stopped dancing and spoke in a firm yet calm voice.

“Everyone’s gathered over there. We should go and join them now.”

Before Divyanshi could respond, Mantra had already taken her hand and led her off the dance floor. Around a large table, their family was settling in. Mishthi, however, was constantly fiddling with her phone, lost in whatever she was doing, which annoyed Vibha.

Without saying a word, Vibha reached over and snatched the phone from Mishthi’s hands. Vibha wasn’t carrying a purse, as she usually preferred handing over her belongings to Varun. She had a habit of leaving her things here and there and forgetting about them, but she knew very well that if she gave the phone to Varun, he would immediately hand it back to his beloved daughter.

So instead, Vibha slipped the phone into Devraj's pocket, who was standing nearby. Devraj vaguely sensed that Vibha had done something, but at that very moment, he was busy with a call on his phone, so he didn’t pay much attention to it.

Mishthi widened her eyes in disbelief as she watched her mother slip her phone into Devraj’s pocket. She knew it would be impossible for her to retrieve it now. Vibha would barely take two seconds to firmly state that Mishthi should not ask Devraj for the phone, and he was the kind of person who treated every word spoken by elders as if it were etched in stone. There was no way he’d give her the phone back now. So, Mishthi figured it would be much safer to avoid upsetting her mother. She hoped that if she asked her nicely, Vibha might just give it back herself.

Soon, everyone’s food arrives. Mantra came and sat beside Mishthi. She smiled at him, and he responded with a soft smile. Noticing this, Mishthi immediately held his hand and asked him sweetly,

“What happened?”

“Nothing,” he replied. “Food’s being served. Just sit here and eat beside me. Otherwise, you’ll start your usual drama about not eating anything, and then later at night you’ll disturb everyone because you’re hungry.”

Hearing that, she burst into laughter. The sound of her laughter instantly reached Devraj’s ears. He had been on a call, but the moment her carefree laughter echoed, something about it froze him for a second. For a brief moment, he heard only her voice; everything else faded into the background. A few seconds later, regaining his composure, he quickly ended the call by saying,

“Please call me tomorrow... We’ll discuss it then.”

Devraj was sitting directly opposite Mishthi. She was chatting animatedly with her brother, as if she had an endless stock of stories. Devraj, not one for too much conversation, shifted his gaze away from her and tried to focus on the small talk happening around the table. But somehow, his eyes wandered back to Mishthi only to find her already looking at him.

Ever since Mishthi had come off the dance floor, she had been caught in a strange emotional swirl that she couldn’t shake off. All she wanted was to keep looking at Devraj and replay in her mind how he had held her so tightly in his arms. The feeling was bizarre and completely unexplainable. She wanted to push that thought out of her mind entirely.

To distract herself, she pulled out her phone and started chatting with her friends. That seemed to be the only option available for her. While texting, she kept glancing in Devraj’s direction. He was busy with his phone, as usual. She had often seen him like that, instructing people or giving commands with complete authority. Her eyes stopped on his lips as he spoke, and she felt an odd flutter rush through her. Her heart raced uncontrollably. Her hands trembled, and she quickly lowered her gaze back to her phone.

But before she could focus, someone suddenly snatched her phone. Startled, she looked up, only to see her mother sitting right in front of her. She hadn’t even noticed when Vibha had walked over to her side. Without hesitation, her mother placed the phone into Devraj’s pocket. He glanced briefly at Vibha, unaware of what she had done. Mishthi looked at him too, her eyes lingering, and then she quickly looked away, swallowing hard.

A few minutes later, her brother came to sit next to her. Mishthi noticed that something was off about him. She could easily tell he was troubled.

“What happened?” she asked.

“Nothing,” he replied. “Food’s coming. Sit here and eat. Otherwise, you’ll throw your usual tantrum about not eating and then bother everyone later at night.”

Hearing her brother tease her, Mishthi laughed again. But she felt something different this time, something strange in the way Devraj looked at her. He often looked at her like that before, but today something had changed. She didn’t want to look at him at all. But just then, a strange realization hit her he wasn’t even looking at her.

That unsettled her more. It was as if her eyes wanted to force him to look at her. She found herself repeatedly glancing his way. And suddenly, he did look at her. Their eyes locked. She couldn’t look away, and neither could he. Just then, a waiter arrived and began serving their food.

Mishthi was engrossed in her conversation with her brother, and Mantra, too, was trying to push away the strange thoughts swirling in his mind, especially what he had observed a few moments ago. He didn’t want to trouble himself unnecessarily without knowing the full picture. He resolved to have a direct conversation with Divyanshi to uncover the truth.

Meanwhile, Devraj was eating quietly, his eyes scanning across the group. Eventually, his gaze landed on Mishthi again and stayed there. A wave of frustration washed over him. Abruptly, he stood up. But just then, his phone rang. He quickly answered it, and after a few seconds of conversation, he handed the phone to Mantra.

“Mantra, please deal with this nonsense, see what rubbish he’s talking.”

Mantra took the phone and began discussing the matter seriously, offering detailed input. Mishthi kept watching Devraj as he walked away. She sighed and waited for her conversation with her brother to finish.

Divyanshi was eating but kept stealing glances across to the front table because Suraj, sitting directly across from her, was smiling at her incessantly. That made her increasingly self-conscious. She felt like she had to constantly hide her reactions to avoid anyone in her family noticing. She immediately began searching for her phone, just as Suraj gestured to her with his phone, signaling that he was messaging her. At that moment, she suddenly realized that her phone was not with her.

Her eyes widened. Suraj, noticing her anxious expression, became tense too. Divyanshi leaned toward Mantra and said,

“Mantra, can I please use your phone? Actually, I really need to talk to someone urgently. I think I left my phone in the car.”

Mantra, who was still on a call, quickly handed her his phone without hesitation. Divyanshi dialed Suraj’s number and began speaking to him softly.

“You’re really troubling me now. Stop staring at me like that. My entire family is here. If you keep doing this, we’ll get caught right here, right now. What am I supposed to tell them?”

“I want us to get caught,” Suraj replied boldly. “I’m planning to go straight to your family and tell them I want to marry you. So no, I’m not backing off.”

“Fine. Don’t back off. I’ll just stop meeting you altogether. I went through so much trouble just to find a way to see you… And now you’re making everything worse.”

Mantra ended his call, placed Devraj’s phone on the table, and turned toward Divyanshi. Her smile seemed different today, oddly radiant. Just then man approached him from behind. It was a client. Mantra immediately stood up to speak to him. Mishthi’s eyes fell on Devraj’s phone on the table; it was unlocked. She smirked and mumbled to herself,

“Even his phone is as old-fashioned as he is.”

Just as the screen dimmed and was about to lock, she quickly placed her finger on it to keep it awake. Glancing at her brother to ensure he wasn’t looking, her fingers instinctively tapped in her number in Devraj's phone. A name popped up on the screen:

"MANTRA'S SISTER..."

“Who saves names like that?” she muttered to herself. “This man is seriously weird.”

She was still staring at the screen, whispering to herself, when her finger accidentally tapped the number, dialing it. Her eyes widened in horror. She tried to cancel the call, but it had already rung two or three times. Panic rising in her chest, she quickly looked toward Devraj. He was standing at a distance, still talking to someone, but the phone in his pocket began to ring loudly. Startled, he pulled it out and glanced at the screen. The name flashing across the display read:

"MAFIA DON..."