CHAPTER 35: CHAPTER 35: PALLADIUM MALL, MUMBAI

Palladium Mall, Mumbai

After talking for a bit, Alex discovered more about Riya.

Her background is not simple at all.

She Graduated from a leading Mumbai university, currently interning as a doctor in a renowned hospital.

She typically like to enjoy cosplays and the two-dimensional world stories.

Most importantly her father is a big businessman in Mumbai!

She had brains, beauty, money— a complete dream package for all boys!

Having such a chic rich girl in his arm, Alex swept across Palladium Mall like a storm.

Riya had an amazing sense of style, she is able to recognize all the high-end brands, and most of all she greatly take pleasure in dressing up Alex.

She knew Alex wasn’t low on money so be it clothes or luxurious watche, she gave them all to him!

They shopped the entire night at the luxurious shops that many don’t dream of even entering, not missing a single shop.

Be it Rolex watches, Imported clothes, Armani suits nothing was left untouched!

They purchased not a few watches.

But she also purchased a number of leather shoes for Alex.

Seven or eight sets of suits in varying fashions.

Riya let her trending fashion sense loose, choosing high-end items that suited Alex’s personality to the core.

Fashionably speaking, clothes do make the man.

Riya’s transformation turned Alex’s already dashing face into an even brighter one just like a filmstar!

The new Alex emerged from Palladium Mall, accompanied by Riya, his newly acquired style exuding undeniable confidence.

Salesgirls in high-end shops turned red, casting frequent glances at him and chatting amongst themselves.

"Wow, that guy’s so handsome!"

"He is tall, rich, and stylish.. I just saw him drop thirty grand without even blinking."

"Ugh, why can’t I find a boyfriend like that?"

"Forget it, look at the beauty beside him. Do you think we even stand a chance?"

Even after Alex and Riya left, the chatter lingered in the store, full of envy.

Riya grinned with pride, her eyes sparkling. "Whee! You’re looking so different now, so cool! Some people are just born to look good in everything and you’re definitely one of them."

Alex smiled weakly. "Thank you for today’s effort."

As a gesture of appreciation, Alex purchased Riya a $68,000 Patek Philippe. Her eyes grew wide in shock, her heartbeat faster as she grasped the box in shaking hands.

Alex had never been miserly with those who belonged to him. Earlier, when he purchased a $30,000 Rolex, Riya had immediately offered to pay, stating that it was to return his favor in the parking lot. In his eyes, presenting her with this watch was only a formality.

But what Alex did not know was that someone had been keeping tabs on him the entire time none other than Priya, the university belle.

When she witnessed him present Riya with the luxurious watch, her face paled with jealousy.

"Why did I not push him harder in college?" she cursed inwardly, regret began sprouting in her heart. "If I had. perhaps it would have been me walking with him today."

The giggles between Alex and Riya stung as a vicious reminder of her lost opportunity.

—————

12 o’clock at night.

Having dropped Riya off at the villa complex, Alex drove back to his own house, the night air still retaining a whiff of her perfume, and once he reached his home took a fast shower before sleepingly getting ready to call it a day.

As he was just going to set his phone down and relax, the phone vibrated on the bedside table, the screen glowing with an incoming notification—someone had sent him an Instagram follow request.

Alex’s hand went out, and he read the screen, watching as the name danced in front of his eyes: it was Priya.

"Hey?" He arched an eyebrow, his initial reaction being to decline the request outright, but then he paused, recognizing that turning down a past classmate who had previously shared the same campus would be unnecessarily harsh.

He thought for a moment before tapping Accept, letting her follow request pass through without any real emotion, as though it was just a flash on his screen.

At the same time, a number of kilometers away, within a small apartment, Priya was on her bed with her phone gripped tightly in her hand, her heart pounding as she refreshed the screen again and again, hoping anxiously to see if Alex would respond to her request.

To her, Alex was no longer the quiet college classmate he once was now he was the epitome of the ideal man, rich, handsome, and unattainable, her first choice for a husband in all fantasies she deigned to consider.

As the notification finally popped up—Follow request approved!—Priya’s eyes grew wide with incredulity before she sat bolt upright on the bed, her lips twisting into an uncontrollable grin as a wave of excitement swept through her.

"He accepted! He actually accepted me!" She breathed, trying to suppress her excitement, her fists clenched like she had just won some great fight, her heart soaring with expectation of what might be next.

With one such acceptance, Priya’s imagination started running wild with lavish fantasies plans of her living in luxurious villas, dressing in designer clothings, and eating from tables where every meal was worth more than her current rent for a whole year.

She had witnessed Alex’s casual extravagance previously, the manner in which he threw hundreds of thousands about like they were worthless change, and the prospect of marrying into all that kind of money ignited a fire of desire and remorse within her at the same time.

"If only I’d gripped him tighter in college," she sighed in resentment, recalling the moment when she had propose to him and drawn back too soon when he did not react at once.

Now, observing from afar as Alex shone more brilliantly than ever before, Priya could only fantasize about redoing her past blunders and walking into the dazzling future which she so urgently desired.