It was not only Riya and Lucy who recognized the name.
Khushi hearing that name felt like a bucket of cold water thrown directly at her face, and for a moment she genuinely forgot how to breathe properly.
Her mind, which had been quietly processing Meera's story with the appropriate sympathy of a good friend, had now completely derailed and was racing backwards at full speed toward a very specific night several months ago.
A security guard named Alex.
Khushi's eye twitched.
Because she remembered that name very well.
She remembered it far more vividly than she would have liked to.
She remembered standing in the bathroom of the bar for twenty full minutes, touching up her already perfect makeup, telling her reflection that she was doing all of this for Riya's sake and that it was absolutely necessary and completely selfless of her.
