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She frowned. “Shouldn’t someone from Villa No. 11 be here too?”

The room fell silent for a second before Mrs. Mehra sighed. “Shaurya Ahuja is the only resident there, and well… he’s busy. He told me to just text him the final plans, and he’ll do what’s necessary.”

Mrs. Bhalla scoffed, shaking her head. “He’s always busy. I’m sure he is just finding excuses to ignore the party. Mark my words, he won’t even show up.”

The younger women at the table, especially Priya, exchanged disappointed looks. Nandini instantly caught on.

“Oh my God,” she whispered dramatically, leaning toward Priya. “Are you guys swooning over him?”

Priya flushed. “You would too if you see him. I mean… youhaveto see him, Nandini. He’s ridiculously hot.”

“But he’s always so… composed,” Kavya from Villa 7 added dreamily. “He usually attends the community meetings, but he hardly ever glances at us. And those suits? My God, the man looks like he stepped right out of a billionaire CEO calendar.”

“He does look dashing and intense, with or without suits,” Mrs. Bhalla said with a wink.

Nandini’s jaw dropped. Not just the young girls but even the middle-aged women of their community seemed smitten with Shaurya.

“Once, I dropped my groceries near his driveway,” Priya confessed as if sharing a secret. “And he just… picked up my bag, handed it to me, and walked away. No words. Just… effortless dominance.”

“Ugh,” Jyoti sighed. “The ‘mysterious, brooding’ type is always the most irresistible.”

Nandini blinked, feeling a strange twist in her stomach. What was happening here? So many women were already fawning overherneighbour? Seriously? Was she…jealous?

Nope. Not at all.

That was ridiculous. She had no reason to be jealous, even if the entire Serene Meadows community finds her neighbour hot and irresistible.

She forced a scoff. “Well, I saw him yesterday and trust me, there’s nothing that attractive about him.”

Priya and the others stared at her like she’d lost her mind.

“You should see him shirtless. Maybe then you would change your mind,” Priya teased.

“What?” Nandini was confused, although she did get the visuals of a shirtless Shaurya as soon as Priya mentioned it.

“C’mon, everybody,” Mrs. Mehra, Priya’s mother grinned. “Stop spilling all the beans at once. Nandini is just back. Give her time to adjust to her new neighbour and his hotness.”

Mehra Aunty too? Nandini thought she would go mad.

“Hotness, my foot,” she retorted, lifting her chin. “I witnessed his fight with Daadu, and let’s just say he’s as arrogant as they come. Like a very angry man with too much money. That’s it. I’ve seen men hotter than him in Mumbai. He’s no match for them. Like he doesn’t even count.”

The women exchanged knowing glances. Nandini crossed her arms, knowing she was lying. Because her brain was still very much replaying the entire scenario—the image of him shirtless by the pool, his muscles flexing, sweat dripping down his back…

Mrs. Mehra cleared her throat, snapping Nandini out of her wild thoughts. “Nandini, he’s gained a lot of female fan-following in our Serene Meadows despite all the trouble he’s given your grandfather. But anyway, now that you’re back, how are you going to handle this ‘tree war’ with Mr. Ahuja?”

“Handle it? Oh, oh, I’ll do a lot more than that.”

She flicked her hair back dramatically as she stood up from her chair and stepped back, ignoring Priya’s sudden panicked expression and Mrs. Bhalla’s widening eyes.

“That man thinks he can bully Daadu into cutting down a tree that has been standing tall for decades? That too, because of a few leaves in his precious swimming pool? Please! He has no idea who he’s dealing with.”

“Nandini…” Priya murmured, trying to stop her.

But she was on a roll.

“So far, he was only dealing with my grandfather. But now that I am here, I will shut down his baseless threats, his legal notices, and most importantly, his superiority complex.” She gestured wildly, taking a step back. “In fact, I’ll make sure the tree doesn’t drop just leaves and rotten fruits but thick branches straight into his fancy pool. Let me see what he does then! Can you believe he actually had the audacity to ask Daadu for pool maintenance charges? The nerve of that man—”

A sudden hush fell over the room as her back collided with a solid frame.