This society is just this realistic; once someone becomes famous, classmates who haven't contacted you in eight hundred years suddenly pop up.
To be honest, Rahul didn't want to bother with these people. He would rather spend that time at home rushing to finish editing the video. While the traffic was high, he needed to boost the popularity even further.
"Kabir, I don't have time, I need to edit videos."
"Reply for me in the group, just say I'm busy right now."
After saying this, Rahul directly hung up the phone. He glanced at WhatsApp, which had been a quiet, single-user version just a few days ago, but now the messages showed 99+. All sorts of people he knew, or people he wasn't very close to, had sent Rahul messages. He had only just gained a little fame, and people around him were already flocking over, drawn by the scent.
Rahul simply muted several groups and even set his status to only show posts from the last three days, completely eliminating useless social interactions. After doing all that, Rahul went into the bathroom to wash up. He needed to go to the bank branch to replace the debit card he had reported lost.
Just as Rahul, fully disguised with a mask, was heading out to run errands, a scene was unfolding in a corporate financial office in Mumbai.
In a cubicle, a female employee slacking off was scrolling through Instagram Reels. Suddenly, she scrolled across a blogger named "Rahul: Citizen of the World," and her eyes immediately lit up.
"Wow, he's so hot!"
The female colleagues in the surrounding cubicles heard the commotion and immediately leaned over to look. They happened to see Rahul's handsome face on her phone screen.
"Wow, he really is handsome!"
"Even better looking than a Bollywood star!"
"No wonder these beautiful girls are willing to spend money on him!"
"If it were me, I would be too!"
The colleague who was scrolling through Rahul's content replied sourly, "I'm afraid he wouldn't look twice at you. At the beginning of the video, a rich young lady from Bangladesh offered him over 1.5 Crore Rupees as a dowry just to marry her!"
One of the girls heard this and immediately rolled her eyes. "I can accept spending some money on dating, but for me to give the man a dowry for marriage? Impossible."
"It's only right for the man to give the woman a massive gift; if the woman spends money on the man, she'll have bad luck for a lifetime. The gold and the house after marriage are a woman's security—how can that be lacking? And he's so handsome, I wouldn't feel any security at all. I'd want to collect even more from him just to keep him."
At this moment, another younger girl wearing glasses and sporting a bob cut retorted, "Since he's handsome, I wouldn't ask for a huge marriage settlement. Waking up every day looking at that handsome face, how happy would that be!"
This statement immediately provoked verbal attacks from the surrounding women.
"You're still young; you can't just look at looks when choosing a man."
"What good is being handsome? It can't pay the EMIs, nor can it give you any real security. Only a high salary and assets can give us women enough security."
"Yeah, Neha, you'll understand when you reach our age. A man's looks are useless to us; you can have fun with one, but for marriage, you must find someone rich. The best kind is someone you can control."
"Exactly, Neha, isn't it easy to find a handsome guy? After marrying a rich husband, you can use his money to find younger handsome men on the side!"
At this, the group of older office women burst out laughing, each thinking they were incredibly clever. But the girl named Neha frowned deeply. She couldn't agree with their views.
Since conversation was pointless, just as these women were about to return to their seats, Ananya, returning from the restroom, appeared behind them.
"What are you all talking about?"
The oldest female colleague held up her phone, pointing at the screen, her face full of infatuation: "We're looking at a handsome vlogger! This guy is truly too handsome! And there was a Bangladeshi girl willing to offer over 1.5 Crores just for him to marry her! I've never heard of such a thing!"
Ananya became interested and casually asked: "A woman gives a man a dowry? There's such a thing? Is that woman crazy! Let me see."
Ananya took her colleague's phone, and when she saw Rahul's face, she was instantly struck as if by lightning, freezing on the spot.
This... how could this be?! How could this guy look so much like Rahul? No... it couldn't be him, definitely not! Rahul couldn't possibly have become this handsome in such a short time!
But when Ananya saw the blogger's name and the familiar room in the background of the vlog intro, her breathing became rapid. It really is Rahul! Why has Rahul changed so much in such a short time?! He's become so striking! And he looks several years younger! Did he go to Dhaka during the time he disappeared? That detestable Kabir, not saying a word to me!
At this time, the colleagues noticed Ananya's strange reaction and asked curiously: "Ananya, what's wrong? Can't take your eyes off the hero?"
"No!" Ananya shouted, ignoring that it was working hours. "He's my ex-boyfriend!"
Upon hearing this, the surrounding colleagues all looked at Ananya with confused expressions.
"How is that possible!"
"Ananya, didn't you say you broke up with your boyfriend because he was a loser who couldn't even afford your 50-lakh security deposit?"
"You broke up with such a handsome guy, and then immediately went to a concert with an old man only to make a fool of yourself on the big screen? I think you're just greedy for money, to reject such a man."
The colleague who had just been saying a man's looks were useless was now using this incident to mock Ananya, simply wanting to see her embarrassed.
"I think she's just hallucinating. How could such a handsome guy ever like her?"
"No, he must have had plastic surgery; he wasn't this handsome before! And he couldn't even afford my marriage gift!" Ananya started spreading rumors without hesitation.
But as soon as she said that, it immediately caused the surrounding colleagues to burst into laughter.
"Heh heh, let's not discuss whether he had surgery or not. Go watch the video; the young lady from Bangladesh offered the blogger over 1.5 Crores as a dowry for him to marry her. And she even gifted him a watch worth over 5 lakhs! It's a good thing he broke up with you; otherwise, he would have had to waste his entire life on you. Exactly, what kind of princess are you to be worth 50 lakhs?"
This comment caused another burst of laughter. All the colleagues in the office looked at Ananya as if she were an idiot. Under those gazes, Ananya felt utterly ashamed, as if her dignity had been trampled underfoot.
She immediately turned back to her seat, grabbed her small bag, and left the office without clocking out. She hailed a cab and headed straight for Rahul's apartment.
In the car, she carefully watched every video Rahul had posted. Seeing so many girls prettier than herself throwing themselves at him, Ananya was so jealous she was about to go insane! At the same time, she was filled with agonizing regret!
Expert Guide Follow-up:
Ananya is in a taxi heading toward Rahul's home, fueled by jealousy and the realization of what she's lost. Rahul, however, is on his way to the bank to fix his finances. Should the next part focus on their high-tension encounter at the apartment building, or should Rahul successfully sell his house and clear his debts before she can even find him?