bestie!!! can I have ✧ everyone else in the friend group notices something is off between those two & ✧ trying to pretend like nothing happened at all for my beloveds Vika x Benny 🥰🥰💕💕
Winnie bestie!! Thank you sooo so much for this— apologies it took so long but… well, this one just wanted to keep going lmao 😅 Benny and Vika my beloveds, they’ve got quite a story ahead of them, and this is a bit of a sneak peek into the future of Pyaar Dosti Hai (yes, there is a future! there will be more chapters! …someday…)
after an almost-kiss prompts
✧ everyone else in the friend group notices something is off between those two & ✧ trying to pretend like nothing happened at all for my beloveds Vika x Benny
“Sorry, I can’t make it—”
“Mammi needs me at the hotel—”
“I have to cover a shift tonight for my auntie—”
Excuse after excuse as to why Vika hadn’t made it to any of their outings or book club meetings recently, and Juliet was getting the sense that something was off.
She didn’t even want to talk about her last date with Benny!
Vika usually loved gushing about an evening spent with Benny— usually in whispers so her mother wouldn’t overhear and all their efforts to keep it secret were undone— and with their last one being the weekend of Valentine’s Day— several weeks ago, now— she had been practically giddy at the thought of having someone to properly celebrate the holiday with.
She brings it up during book club that evening with the girls.
“Have you girls heard from Vika lately?”
“I’ve called a few times, lunch invitations or just chatting, but I haven’t gotten much out of her…” Olive frowns.
“Perhaps she’s just busy?” Jo ventures, “With the weather getting warmer I’m sure the hotel’s getting more business.”
“Maybe…” Juliet muses, “But… has she mentioned anything about her last date with Benny?”
There’s a collective murmuring, hummings of no and shaking of heads around the room.
Juliet sighs.
“That’s what I thought.”
When the boys return from their outing, they report back to their girls that they couldn’t get much out of Benny either— they all noticed that he seemed worried about something, though.
So is it really any surprise when they all show up on Benny’s doorstep— or rather, in the hallway of his apartment— a few days later?
“Hey! Uh, not that I’m not thrilled to see you all,” he stammers as they push past him into the apartment, “but maybe a call would be nice next time? Give a guy some warning?”
“No can do, pal,” Dougie says cheerfully, leaning down to pet Meatball.
“Something’s up with Vika,” Val says sternly, “She hasn’t been herself since her last date with you— we’ve hardly seen or heard from her— and I’m hoping to god it isn’t because of something you did, but if it is…”
Jules steps in to pull Val back.
“Woah there, tiger,” she laughs nervously, “I’m sure it isn’t anything like that… right?”
Benny shakes his head frantically at the two women now glaring daggers at him.
“No! No, I swear, I’d never… look, it’s…”
He huffs, gesturing to the living room.
“Sit down. I’ll explain what happened on our date.”
The gang’s eyes go wide as the story unfolds: the walk in the park, the secluded clearing, the almost-kiss cut short by the sudden appearance of Vika’s cousin— and when it was clear what was happening in front of him, the sudden disappearance as he ran off to undoubtedly report all he had seen to Vika’s mother.
“She’s on lockdown,” Juliet concludes, eyes wide. “That’s why she hasn’t been coming to see us, her mother’s likely keeping as close an eye on her as she can after… that.”
“Well,” Olive stands, Dougie scrambling to follow. “Just because she can’t come to us doesn’t mean we can’t go to her. Anyone feel like a trip upstate?”
It takes some convincing to get Benny to come along— “what if I just make things worse for her?”— but soon enough they’re all packing into cars and headed for the hotel.
Vika beams in surprise, a hint of guilt in her eyes when she sees the girls entering the lobby, and Jules is kicking herself for not thinking of coming sooner as she hastens towards the front desk. When Vika’s bright smile is replaced by an anxious look, eyes darting around the space for any sign of her parents, she knows she’s spotted Benny.
By some stroke of luck, the lobby is deserted of guests, so they have Vika’s full attention when Olive steps up beside Jules and starts rambling.
“So sorry we didn’t come sooner, chicken— Benny only just explained what happened, I promise if we had known—”
“Thank you girls for coming,” Vika cuts her off with a soft smile. “Benny, I—”
She falters for a moment when she meets his eyes, only continuing when she forces her gaze down to the wood of the desk.
“I appreciate you coming, but it might be better if you left.”
“Oh. I— of course. I…”
Benny turns to leave, looking back in an attempt to catch Vika’s eye.
“I’m sorry, Vika.”
And he walks out.
The girls can only stare at Vika, mouths agape.
“It was for the best,” she says, before any of them can say anything, “My parents won’t like him here, and knowing that I can’t—”
Brown eyes well up with tears, Vika blinking them back as quickly as they appear.
“It hurts.” She says softly, “So it’s best if I don’t see him.”
Jules steps around the desk, wrapping her best friend in a hug.
“What… what did they say, honey? Your parents?”
Vika nearly flinches at the memory, prompting the rest of the girls to crowd behind the desk for a group hug, wanting to comfort her however they can.
Vika draws herself up, strengthened by her friends surrounding her, and tells them softly of her parents’ reactions when she returned home from her date.
“Mammi was angry— so, so angry, but I expected that. Papa… he looked… he was so disappointed, and that hurt more than anything. That I had let him down.”
Her friends hold her as she spills out the whole sorry tale, her mother keeping her busy at the hotel so she has no chance of seeing “that boy” again, her father alternating between giving her disappointed looks that shatter her heart and asking her questions about Benny that only shatter her further.
“Wait, wait,” Val interrupts, “Your dad… asks about him?”
Vika nods sadly.
“He keeps saying he’s just disappointed I kept it all from him.”
“So… if he met Benny— as a sweetheart of yours, not just a friend— there’s a chance he’d approve?”
“I—” Vika blinks, “Well, he’s never quite said that…”
“But it could be worth trying?” Olive urges, hazel eyes wide.
Vika gnaws at her lips, unsure, as Juliet squeezes her hand.
“You’ll never know if you don’t try, Vika,” she gives her a soft smile, “I’m sure Benny could win even your mother over. We could help you convince her to at least meet him properly before banning you from seeing him entirely.”
She turns her gaze towards each of her friends in turn, still in disbelief even after all these months of friendship.
“You girls… you’d really do that? You think it would work?”
“Of course we would, honey,” Val says, fiercely kind.
“Well, what’s all this?”
Grown women though they are, the voice of Vika’s mother startles them all.
Though Vika recovers the quickest, it’s Juliet who speaks first.
“Hello, Mrs. Patel! Apologies for just dropping in like this, but it’s been so long since we’ve seen Vika… I was hoping we could whisk her off for a quick dinner?”
Mrs. Patel’s lips press into a thin line before spreading into her bright hostess smile.
“That’s very sweet of you, girls— I’m not sure if I can spare Ruthvika for quite that long, but I suppose it would be fine if you all had dinner here at the hotel.”
Her way, of course, of keeping an eye on her daughter even with her friends.
“We’d love to, Mrs. Patel,” Jean smiles, “I promise we’ll have Vika back before you know it.”
With her mother’s permission, the girls commandeer a table in the dining room off the lobby.
“Now,” Jo grins as she leans across the table— the smile of a girl who grew up alongside an aspiring lawyer.
“We figure out our argument.”
