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“I didn’t know it was you!” he growled, his frustration mounting. “I thought you were—”

He stopped mid-sentence, but she completed it for him.

“You thought I was…someone else?” she squeaked.

He didn’t deny it.

Didn’t say a word.

And that silence said everything.

Her stomach dropped.

Someone else?Really?

He’d kissed her thinking she was someone else. Someone he had planned to meet here tonight?

A date?

He had a date tonight?

Oh God! Her eyes widened. The dots connected way too fast.Shit.

That stung. More than it should have.

Nandini’s breath hitched, and she swallowed hard.

Outside, more fireworks erupted. The sky was on fire. And inside, so was she, though not from the kiss anymore. Now it was the humiliation, theacheof knowing what that kiss had meant to her… and what it clearly hadn’t meant to him.

And yet, even amidst the rush of emotions, the memory stayed. His hands on her waist. His lips against hers. The way she’d parted her legs and welcomed him closer without thinking. Without fear.

She had wished for a midnight kiss.

What she hadn’t expected was for it to feel like her entire universe shifted with it.

And now, she wished she’d never whispered that stupid wish to the mango tree at all. Because yes, she had asked for amidnight kiss. But nowhere in that wish had she signed up to besomeone else’s mistaken identity make-out moment.

Her lips were still tingling. Her body was still humming. And her pride was burning alive.

“I’m leaving,” she said finally, her voice shaking with fury and something dangerously close to heartbreak. “Before I commit actual murder.”

She turned to storm off but Shaurya immediately caught her arm.

“Murder forwhatexactly?” he snapped. “A consensual kiss?”

She blinked at him. “What?”

“Yes, I kissed you,” he growled. “I thought you were someone else. That’s on me. But you knew whom you were kissing back. And you didn’t exactly shove me off, did you? You didn’t even try.”

Her jaw dropped. “Are you seriously blaming me now?”

“I’m saying it takes two people to stay locked in a kiss that long!” he fired back.

“I didn’t get a chance to process what was even happening!” she yelled, tugging her hand free.

“When was I supposed to stop you, Shaurya Ahuja? Hmm?” She stepped closer, jabbing a finger at his chest. “When your tongue was halfway down my throat? When your fingers were gripping my waist like I was yours? Or when you moved in between my legs like it was your goddamn birthright?”

They stood there, panting, glaring, their bodies still humming from the kiss neither of them wanted to admit had meant anything.