Chapter 17

Tuesdays were usually the most hair-pulling days at AR. Most of the major meetings were done on this day - The board met on this day to make most crucial of decisions. The CEO then met all his C-level executives to relay anything that needed to percolate down the food chain. The pre-sales and sales executives also usually picked this day of the week to start courting any new client or wine-and-dine the existing ones. But, the Tuesday this week was doing some serious ass-kicking of all the other Tuesdays in the history of AR.

The atmosphere within the ultra-modern and competitive AR was tense. Almost everyone seemed on edge. The toll that the days leading up to this specific Tuesday had taken on everyone was now glaringly visible.

Arnav leaned back on his chair. His eyes glued to the monitor in front of him, his fingers moving toward the front of his neck to flick open the top most button and loosen his tie - something that he never did in the first half of the day. But the need for additional oxygen was too compelling to give a damn about his professional attire.

"Ok", he spoke after several minutes, straightening his chair and bringing himself back toward his table. "I am happy with the number of people in each team. I need people to work round the clock. We don’t have any time to spare"

"Are you sure we are not going overboard with this though?"

His brows pulled together, and his gaze snapped up to connect with Lavanya's. "Umm, come again?". He replied, unable to keep the growing irritation out of his tone.

Lavanya shifted in her chair uncomfortably. "I am just stating my opinion ASR. We are installing three teams of fifteen people to run quality checks on the incoming fabric. I agree that we need to do that, but this level of scrutiny is unprecedented. Are we sure we want start a new partnership like this?"

He closed his eyes then, trying to keep the raging anger out of his voice. But the way last few days had been going, he was already running low on patience. Especially when his design head was saying such thing few hours before the damn delivery was expected. He opened his mouth, ready to tell Lavanya to just do her job, when the sound of a very deliberate clearing of throat made him pause.

Shayam was looking at him. He didn’t say a word, but Arnav knew him enough to understand that the expressions on his face were clear - rein in your anger Arnav. She has no idea why we have added so many layers of checks before Acme's fabric can even enter our main premises. Calm down.

Drawing in a much needed breath, Arnav looked at Lavanya again, who was now busy looking at her phone which if Arnav's count was correct, vibrated third time since their meeting started.

A soft curse fell on her lips, as she looked up and mouthed a soft 'Sorry' to him.

He nodded his head and exhaled loudly. "Lavanya, I understand what you are saying, and yes you are right, this level of scrutiny is unprecedented but, this is a unprecedented situation. Acme was not our first choice and I want to make sure that we are in a position to answer any and every question that the board might have about them. Especially about the quality of the product that until four days back we didn’t even know existed. So, I need you coordinate with Akaash on the distribution of the team members. I want it all to run smoothly and without any hiccup. The delivery should be here by three 'o clock."

She finally nodded her head, seeming to have accepted Arnav's reason. And that is when her phone vibrated the fourth time.

"It's ok La, go ahead with your call. I am sure whoever that is has something urgent for you. We are done anyways. I need you to keep me and Khushi in loop once the quality check initiates"

"Of course. I will talk to you later then", she gave a quick nod to Shayam too before standing up and moving out.

A tired and loud groan erupted out of Arnav as his fingers messaged his forehead, an intense headache ripping his temple into two.

"How are you doing Arnav?", Shayam asked worriedly.

Another sigh left his lips, as Arnav opened his eyes. "I don't know Jiju. I just want this damn day to get over"

"You are still not happy with this"

It was more a statement than a question, and Arnav knew it.

Taking a deep breath, Arnav tilted his chair back once again, bending it to its maximum reclining angle. Both his palms coming together on his eyes.

"I wish there was another way. Any other option. But with the time running out as fast as it is, this is the best case scenario. In fact these four days that Suraj took to get all of the fabric to us might end up hurting us in the end. Fuck! I wish we had options. This is not how I pictured this event to go down. This is not what I wanted"

"Arnav, you need to stop doing this. Every single exec in AR had voted in favour of your decision. Everyone knew this was the only option we had. We went through every possible alternative but we came back empty. This was the only way, and you were right to make this decision"

"I was selfish to make this decision Jiju. I thought about AR rather than thinking about that scumbag we are giving another chance to."

"You are right, you are selfish. I mean, how selfish is that CEO who thinks about his employees. Who loses his sleep over the possibility that several of his people would have lost their jobs if we really did had to cancel the event. I mean talk to about the selfishness of the CEO who thinks about the company which he had erected on his sweat and blood."

Arnav peered over at Shayam, who now had a warm smile on his face.

"Fine", he shook his head as he moved again, bringing his chair back up, "You made your point"

"Good! Now that you are done throwing another pity party to yourself, I will go and find Akaash. See you after the consignment is here?"

"Mhmm", Arnav nodded as Shayam walked away.

Shayam did have a point. A point that Arnav knew and understood very well. The morning after the blast, they all regrouped and discussed every single possibility for hours. Every existing vendor of the company was contacted, every single possibility of postponing the event by few weeks was explored. They even drew out the possible fallouts that they would have faced if they cancelled the event, but finally, Arnav had two crystal clear options glaring at him. It was either cancelling the event and jeopardizing AR in the worst way possible, with a possibility of closing down at least three small branches just to make up for the losses Or, give the contract to Acme, who as most of them suspected was somehow involved in this whole mess.

After two whole days of spending almost 18 hours in office and going over every single fact several times, Arnav made the impossible, but the only acceptable decision. He sealed the deal with Suraj. He knew he was doing the right thing. But, the nagging feeling of employing a person who might be behind the death of around twenty five people kept him awake every single night after that. Today was the day when they were set to receive the consignment from Suraj and Arnav was still in the process of hoping for some alterative. Something he knew didn't exist.

---

"Suraj, what's wrong? You have been calling me non-stop since morning. Is everything ok? Is there an issue with the delivery? Is there a problem with the delivery time?"

"Woah! Baby, calm down. I just called to check in. These past few days has been so crazy that we have hardly spoken to each other. I just wanted to make sure you are ok."

"Oh"

A loud chuckle came through the line, as Lavanya shut the door of her office behind her and dropped down on the couch that occupied one part of her small office.

"Now that the barrage of questions are over, can I ask how are you doing?"

"I am ok Suraj, thanks. As you know it has been crazy few days. I am sure we will all sleep better after this day is over. How are you though? We haven't seen each other since this whole thing started"

"I know baby. And I promise I will make it up to you. Now our delivery trucks are leaving our warehouse just after midday. Do you want to get together after that?"

"I wish Suraj, but I need to be here for the sign off and other formalities"

"Right, but the sign off shouldn't take more than an hour. Let's meet at 4 'o'clock? I can pick you up"

"Umm", Lavanya hesitated, "Suraj, I am going to be busy the whole day. How about tomorrow?"

"What's keeping you busy the whole day? Is there something going on I should know about?"

"I can't really talk about it Suraj, you know that. It is confidential."

Lavanya closed her eyes, knowing very well that her last sentences would have hurt him.

"Right. I am sorry La. I thought we had gone past the point in our relationship where words like confidential no longer existed. But obviously I was wrong. Anyways, you carry on. I will talk to you later"

"No, Suraj, come on. Look I am sorry. It's not that. See, you might not like what I tell you. And I don't want to hurt you"

"Come on La, nothing you say that can hurt me."

Lavanya sighed.

"Ok fine, it's just that, ASR has assembled multiple teams that I will be overlooking along with Akaash"

"OK, for what?"

"For inspecting every single inch of the fabric that we will receive from you today. See, don't feel bad about it. This is just like an unwritten policy of AR for the first time vendors. Don't take it personally. Ok?"

"Of course. Anyways, I got to go now. I will talk to you later"

Without even bothering to hear a response, the call went off.

---

He wanted to break something, no actually he wanted to snap someone's neck. He knew he was crushing the glass in his hand too hard, he knew he should let go of it, but the rage that he was feeling inside was just too dominant for him to think straight. And then, before he knew it, the delicate material snapped into pieces, blood oozing out of his hands in process. But, he felt nothing, anger coursing through his veins numbing him of any other sensation. He might have managed to let the remaining shards of glass penetrate his palm, when a familiar sound interrupted him.

"Suraj! What the hell is wrong with you"

And he let out a loud curse. The pain of poking glass, now making him almost scream with pain.

"It's ok Suraj. Here, let me help you"

As the antiseptic soaked cotton cleansed his skin, he hissed in anger and pain.

"Dammit Dad, do you know what that fucking Raizada is doing now? He is going to inspect our material. Fuck dad, how dare him. How many time is he going to test us. Argh!"

"Easy son, easy. Just hold this cotton in place. Let me get the bandage"

"How the hell are you acting as if this whole thing is no big deal? ASR still doesn't trust us dad! And if he is doing this, it means he still has his doubts"

"Well then he is what people say he is. He would have been a fool to trust us son. And let him doubt us. How is that affecting us? Without any solid proofs, doubts are just that, doubts"

"I know, but still dad, don't you feel insulted by all this?"

"Suraj, our aim is not to make friends here. We have AR exactly where we wanted them to be. There is nothing to worry about. Raizada is stupid if he thinks we will mess up their consignment. This event will help us enter the fashion world properly. Whatever projects we did until now was nothing as compared to AR. What Raizada doesn't understand is that we want this whole event to be successful. It is AR's success that will give our brand that boost which we have been looking for from so long. Once this is all over, our brand would have become so big that it will give us the launchpad to do whatever we want and that too under the radar. So let's not concentrate on Raizada and his attitude right now. It is time to get ready for the unlimited opportunities this one event is going to open for us. Can you do that?"

"Yea, fine. Fuckkk. You are right."

"Good. And get this anger under control. Snapping on this Lavanya woman will not really help. We still need her until this is all over. Can I expect you to behave like an adult from next time?"

"Yes dad. I am sorry"

"Great. Now call her again and say sorry. And then later let's celebrate the first step of our success"

---

Holding his laptop in one hand and bunch of printouts in another, NK annoyingly pressed the elevator button for the tenth time.

His eyes unwittingly falling on his watch as he jumped inside the elevator even before its doors fully slide open. It was around seven pm and he knew that AR had already signed off on the delivery from Acme. He also knew from Akaash that the preliminary assessment of the quality and quantity of their fabric came out positive. His investigative mind going haywire with several possibilities as to why Suraj didn't try to cheat them in terms of the material. But as he looked at the explosive discovery he made in last twenty-four hours, he knew that this man was way smarter and cunning than they all gave him credit for.

The elevator dinged loudly as 33 glowed on the screen in front of him and he jumped out, almost running towards Arnav's cabin, his legs not able to keep up with his racing mind.

"Yes, I want the production cycle to run for twenty four hours. Let's divide the team into three shifts. And.... "

Arnav's statement hung in the middle as his cabin door was blasted open by wide eyed NK, who was almost gasping for breath.

"Let me call you back", Arnav disconnected the call and catapulted out his chair as he took in the out of breath NK, his face pale like he has seen a ghost, "What's wrong"

"Bhai, I am really sorry for barging in like this. But, I need you to come with me. Now. Right now."

Arnav narrowed his eyes and nodded his head, sensing immediately that something was terribly wrong.

As Arnav followed the frantic NK, he saw him doing the exact same thing to Khushi, Akaash and then Shayam who all too immediately jumped out of their cabin, all eyeing each other worriedly. It was the first time they were seeing the cool and composed NK like this and they all could do nothing but pray that they were in the position to handle whatever NK had discovered.

They all entered the corner-most conference room where NK was already snapping his laptop to the docking station, connecting it to the projector. Securing the sockets, he snatched the remote control sitting on the table to first dim the lights and then to shut every single drapes in the room.

Satisfied with the privacy, he turned toward the others and taking a deep breath, he spoke with a heavy voice.

"There are few pictures I wanted you all to see. I received these over the duration of last two weeks. But due to lack of information, I thought these were not really important. But, yesterday, seeing the front page of all the newspapers, I finally found a link between these. So, anyways, let me show you this and then we can talk"

He then hit the play button on the remote and the first picture came to life on the huge screen.

There was Suraj, sitting at a coffee shop, seeming to be in deep discussion with another man. NK, hit the next button and second picture materialized. This time Suraj was getting out of his car, and the same man from the first picture emerging from his car behind him. Third picture came on the screen next, which had Suraj and that man again sitting at a restaurant, only this time, there was another person accompanying them. And finally the last picture zoomed out on the screen with Suraj handing over some kind of manila envelope to the second man from previous picture.

An eerie silence presided over the room for few seconds the moment the screen finally went dark.

NK heaved, as he turned the lights back on. Horrified and ashamed that he missed these things, he looked at the people in front of him. Akaash was still looking at the dark screen with wide eyes, Shayam was shaking his head, disbelief etched across his face. Khushi had one hand on her mouth, her eyes unblinking as if trying to allow the full weight of the situation to crowd in on her.

Nervously, NK finally chanced a look at Arnav and visibly flinched as he took in the expression on his face. His jaw was set, his brows narrowed and his palms gripping the end of the table so tight that NK could see was turning his knuckles white.

NK cursed under his breath. He knew he messed up. This slip of his may as well have been the reason behind the shit they were in now.

He cleared his throat, his palms going around the back of his neck nervously, "Bhai? I….", he exhaled loudly, "I am really sorry. I screwed up. I should have caught this earlier. I would have too, but none of these made any real sense until yesterday."

Arnav closed his eyes. He knew that this was nowhere NK's fault. If none of this mess would have happened, then even for him these pictures meant nothing. He knew that. But the anger that had been bubbling just beneath the surface of last few days, finally found something to latch on. His sanity rubber band snapped.

He opened his eyes again, his mouth ready to spit out every shred of anger on NK, but before he could do that warm hands came resting on his knuckles that made him pause. Khushi tentatively moved her fingers on his stiff knuckles, her eyes silently telling him to let go. She could see the war raging behind his eyes and the filmiest of sanity he was hanging on to. She also knew that if he opened his mouth now to say what he was really feeling, he would regret it later.

He closed his eyes once again feeling the warmth from her barely their fingers seeping in. The vice grip around his lungs loosening. He let go of the edge of the table he didn’t even remember grabbing. Few more minutes ticked by, the only sound in the room of the nervous breathing. Eventually, finding some semblance of control on his anger he gave a small nod to Khushi, wordlessly thanking her and then cleared his throat as he looked up at NK.

"This is not your fault NK. Anyone of us could have missed this."

"But, I should have showed these to you earlier"

"There was no way of knowing that these had any significance NK. Stop blaming yourself. This is no one's fault. Now tell us everything from the beginning"

Giving out a shaky breath NK nodded his head and moved to occupy the chair at the other end of the table and opened another file on his laptop, projecting it on the screen for everyone else.

"This is the kind of file I receive every day. Every single picture and voice recording has a date-time stamp. And this small block at the corner tells me the location of the picture or video. Last week, when I came across the first picture I showed you all, I thought there was nothing noteworthy about the casual meeting between the owners of two companies, especially when I found out that Suraj and Wasim went to the same university. Even the other pictures hardly made much sense. That is until yesterday, when I saw the picture of the man arrested for the blast in the newspaper. He just looked so familiar, so I opened the archive folders and went through every single files I had again until I found these four pictures. It took me few minutes to actually come to terms with what I was seeing" Akaash clawed his fingers though his hair in irritation and spoke angrily.

"I still cannot believe this. Wasim was one of the oldest and most trusted vendors of AR. Fuck!"

"But this doesn’t make sense. Why would someone do this to their own company?", came from Khushi.

"Yeah. It is bit of a mind-fuck! Either Suraj and Wasim sitting with the man arrested for the bombing is a huge freaking coincidence or this whole disaster was planned to the T. With the information I have so far, I just cannot draw any sensible conclusion", NK bit out

"This is over. There is no way AR will work with a terrorist. I am ready to bear any loss that comes our way, but we will not work with this scum. Akaash, contact all our sponsors and stakeholders, this event is cancelled. And Jiju, I want to submit these proofs in court"

"Umm, Ok. But don't expect much out of it"

"What do you mean"

"Arnav, look at these pictures, in two of them Suraj is seen having a chat with Wasim who is his old university pal. And in the next two pictures, Wasim is sitting with the alleged bomber and a man who looks like Suraj from side."

"Looks like Suraj??", Arnav's voice raised by few decibels, unable to keep his barely contained anger in check, "We can see that person is Suraj"

"Right, we know that but do we have any proof that he actually is Suraj? Pictures can be doctored and these pictures have been obtained as part of a private investigation which no one from AR's legal board is even aware of. These are the first few things their lawyer is going to say and the case will be thrown out in ten minutes of entering the court"

"Ok, fine then we will hand over these proofs to our sources in CBI, they will dig up more details"

"If CBI could find anything beyond the signed confession of this Raju guy, they would have found it by now. One thing that has become clear in past few days is that Suraj has very deep connections. And in my professional opinion, to make these pictures fly legally will be an uphill battle"

"Great. So you are saying that even though we can see clearly that Suraj was wining and dining with the bomber 24 hours before the freaking blast, we can do nothing about it"

"Arnav, I am just trying to... ", Before Shayam could finish though, Arnav's patience gave out. He stood up with such a force that his chair swung back with a tremble and he stormed out of the room.

---

Never in his life he felt this helpless. It was one thing not knowing the details, but not able to act what was appropriate even when he knew the truth was eating him up.

"Fuck!!", Arnav screamed furiously, his hand raising to punch the wall next to him.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. It's almost 9 pm and finding a doctor at this time would really be a pain"

And Arnav cursed again.

"How did you know I was here? Better yet, how did you get the elevator codes to get up here"

"I didn't know, I guessed. And I asked Akaash Jiju for the codes"

When he didn't reply immediately, Khushi moved further inside. Her eyes moving around to take in the beauty of the terrace. "So, this is the famous man cave of yours that everyone keeps raving about"

She hoped to induce some lightness in the air, but instead got an irritated growl in response.

"Khushi, please. Just leave me alone. I really don't want to talk right now"

Khushi nodded her head but continued to walk towards him.

Resting her back on the banister, she folded her arms around her midriff and looked sideways at Arnav, who had his clasped hands resting on the cool metal, his bloodshot eyes trained on the moving vehicles below.

"What are you thinking Arnav?", She asked softly

"What do you think I am thinking Khushi?"

"I can deduce it. But I asked the question first"

Giving a painful laugh he answered to her in a cold tone. "I cannot do this anymore. I cannot work with a terrorist. This is over. There is no way in hell this event is going to happen. I am ok to bear the losses, but I am not ok to give that man any chance after he murdered so many people"

"Alright, so we cancel the event. Whatever loss AR will go through we will handle it, and knowing you, I am sure that AR will recover within a year. And in the meantime, we hand over the proofs to the CBI and lodge a FIR against Suraj. What do you think will happen after that Arnav?"

Frowning, his head turned towards her, not understanding where she was going with this.

Taking a deep breath, Khushi continued.

"Shayam said very clearly that those pictures does not stand a chance in court. It can be labelled as doctored and the whole thing against Suraj will disappear in thin air. I know once AR goes back on this deal, whatever happens with Suraj won't affect us. But tell me Arnav, what happens later? We have enough frauds in corporate world, do we really want terrorists there too? Because that is what is going to happen"

"And how will that happen Khushi? Once we withdraw from our deal, even if the courts can't do anything, their brand would be fucked. No one will work with them"

"You really think so? They did pretty horrible things earlier and they managed to get all of us to believe them. Initially even we had no real clue as to what these people were involved in. Do you really think they won't do that again? Do you think, Suraj won't be able to enter in the corporate world again with someone else's help? AR will recover and flourish like always and for now, the moral burden that we are feeling because of working with this asshole will disappear too. But tell me Arnav, if after five years, we hear another blast going off somewhere or we hear our economy going down because of some terrible fraud somewhere, all because of Suraj, will you not, even for one second think that we had a chance. We had a chance to put his ass behind bars forever but, we let that go because we all choose ethical high ground"

"And how do think we have a chance to stop them? Didn’t you just say that these proofs are not enough"

"Yes, but we are also the first and I think the only ones who have managed to get this close to finding these holes in Suraj's company. We saw what kind of connections he has and if we go back on this deal now, he will get more cautious. And the possibility of finding anything anymore will be gone"

"So what are you suggesting?"

"I think, we should carry on with this deal. The fabric is already here. We follow through with our production cycle. That should relax him and give us a chance to find some real proofs against him. I am sure we will be able to nail this man"

Arnav ran his fingers through his hair. He knew what Khushi was saying was absolutely right. If only his mind could agree to working with a terrorist.

They stood in silence for few minutes, Arnav lost in his thoughts and Khushi lost in looking at him. Finally, after going over what Khushi said umpteenth time in his head, Arnav once again turned his head towards her.

"Fine."

”Fine what?"

"Fine, let the things progress. But I want to speed up our investigation on Suraj. I want to get to the bottom of this before our main event"

"Sure. Let's talk to NK tomorrow. I am sure he already has several people in place for it"

Releasing his breath he didn't knew he was holding, he then turned toward her completely and then whispered softly, "Thanks"

She nodded her head, his eyes arresting her movement. She knew, she should leave then. She knew that she had no more reason to be standing there.

"It is really late. I will see you tomorrow then"

She barely moved when the rasp in his voice floated across the distance between them,

"Why are you here Khushi?"

She froze. Eyes wide, she looked back at him. "What". She whispered

"You heard me. It is a simple question Khushi, why are you here?"

She visibly swallowed. Hasn’t she been asking herself the very same thing since the moment she asked for the elevator codes from Akaash, to the point she entered into the elevator and then all the way up to this spot she was standing from last few minutes. Why was she here? Wasn't she the one who made a point to remind herself and the man standing in front of her, over and over again that they were just colleagues and nothing more. Wasn't she the one who asked him to step back? Then why couldn’t she leave him alone? Why did she just had to make sure that he was ok? And why the hell she couldn’t seem to find an answer to these questions haunting her day and night.

"Khushi?". Her internal debate came to a screeching halt and she glanced up, finding Arnav's eyes set on her. It was a cold night, but the moment their gaze connected, a blast of heat covered her entire body. And then he took a small step toward her, his eyes having mind of their own moving down her entire body at leisurely pace, and then with the same intensity, retracing the path it took until he found her eyes again. She swore she could hear the echo and pulse of his heartbeat, which matched her own.

She felt her breath going choppy. Heat radiated from him, saturating the air between them as he grew closer still with slow decisive steps. The magnetic power that he always seemed to emanate rooting her to her spot. And then he was right in front of her. Just a hair breath away, "Khushi", he whispered again, his husky baritone caressing her skin.

She reared back, knowing that she wouldn’t be able to handle his touch and then sidestepped to get away from the gravitational pull he was exerting over her. But before she could do that, he set both his hands on the banister on either side of where she stood and leaned in. Still not touching her, but also not giving her any space to run, something he could see in her eyes was her plan.

"I can't do this anymore Khushi"

Her eyes closed in a long blink as she took another gulp of air, only to breath his familiar scent in. "What"

"I tried a lot. I tried to fight you, argue with you. I gave you what you asked of me. I stayed away from you. But, I just realised I don’t want to do that anymore. These last few days makes no sense. And I am done trying to prove whatever I was supposed to by staying away from you". He inhaled loudly, and leaned in some more, his body still not touching her, "So, you want to fight me, dig a gaping hole between us, scream how we are colleagues and nothing more, go ahead. But I am done helping you with it. You are welcome to take how many ever steps back, but you will still find me right next to you"

His warm breath fanned her face and she felt another tremor ransack her body.

"Arnav please"

"Please what?"

"I… I told you before, you need to stay away from me. I don’t want anything to do with you outside these AR walls"

"Alright"

Her eyes snapped up and narrowed. Did he just agree to her?

"What?"

"Ok, I would agree to you if you can answer my original question. Why are you here?". Without giving her a chance to respond, he then continued, "In fact, why is it that every time I have a crisis, I always find you next to me - helping me? Why is it that when my anger is ready to break out, you are the only who is there to calm me? Why is it that you are standing here when half my family is sitting few floors down and hasn’t yet ventured here? Tell me Khushi? Is this because you are part of AR? Because for the life of me I cannot remember mentioning 'caring for me' as part of your job description"

She gasped in shock, as finally his fingers left the safety of the banisters to cup her face, removing the barely there distance between their bodies.

"I can't Arnav"

His thumbs caressed her cheeks as he dropped his forehead against hers. "You can't what sweetheart"

"I cannot do this. I don’t even know what this is. I am not the kind of person you get close to. You need to walk away Arnav. Please", her soft plea ripped something inside him and instead of moving away, he tightened his fingers on her.

"Don’t you see Khushi, walking away is no longer an option for me"

"Why?"

"Because I am falling for you. And I don’t seem to or want to stop"

Tears now streaming down her face, her head dropped in defeat. Only to meet his chest which was right there. She meant to pull back, wanted to even, but his hands moved from her face, slipping under her silky hair to cup the back of her neck and squeezed. As though wanting to take away some of the tension from her body which was wound tight like a rope. And just for a moment, Khushi let herself stay still. Hoping to absorb his strength.

After few seconds, she pulled back, feeling slightly steadier that before. Her sight still fuzzy with tears, she took a deep cleansing breath, "I…." another inhale, "I am scared of you Arnav", she whispered, hating the wobble in her voice.

And he froze. She quickly moved her hands on his arms, "No, I don’t mean it like that. I…..", she blinked back her tears, "I am scared of hurting you. I am scared of being hurt. I am scared of falling for you"

His brows slanted and he brought her forehead back to rest against his. "Then let me show you that there is nothing to be afraid of". Roughness in his voice skating over her skin.

"I can't", she knew her tone was weak and unconvincing but she had to try.

"You can Khushi. You already are. You wouldn’t be standing in my arms if you didn’t. Just let it go Khushi. Just for a second, let go of all the memories of past and thoughts of future. Just for a second, think about us, in this moment and tell me you don’t think fighting for what we have, what we can have is not worth it? I can't speak for you, but I don’t think this happens too often. What lives between us, I think it is something unique. Don’t we owe it to ourselves to at least explore whatever this is? So, let me ask you again sweetheart, right here, right now, no one and nothing but us - take a leap with me?", he ended it with a question, his eyes watching her. Her chest rising and falling. Her eyes closed, her lips quivering.

He continued looking at her, when finally she opened her eyes. For the first time allowing herself to take that tiny step. She still wasn’t sure at all. But as Arnav said, in that moment, looking at him, breathing him in, she couldn’t not take that leap he just asked her of. And so, after deliberating it several times in her head, with unknown and uncertainty still rearing their ugly heads inside her mind, she nodded her head in a yes.

"God!", He exhaled urgently and pulled her to him, clutching her with desperation that was unknown to him. He then dropped his lips on her exposed shoulder. He commanded himself to stay put and not move anymore. He knew the huge wall that surrounded her had lowered slightly, but he still had no idea how to crumble it completely.

He almost let her go, when he felt her lips rest against his neck as she burrowed herself further into his embrace. And something snapped inside him. Threading her hair in his fingers, he tilted her head slightly back to get access before moving his lips from her shoulder to her jaw, to her cheek, and then her long neck, not once leaving the contact with her skin. His mouth then opened before he could stop himself, his tongue and teeth moving, sucking that one spot right below her jaw that elicited a loud groan from her. Or was it from him. He knew he was seconds away from kissing her the way she deserved to be kissed, but he also knew it was too soon. So, stomping on his desire that was threatening to break free, he eased his fingers on her, and then with a soft curse brought her close to himself, swearing to never let her go.

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Note from Author

Hello my dear readers! First of all so sorry for being late with my update again. Have been drowning in work to find any time for writing. Will try my best to reduce the time between each update as much as I can!

Second of, and most important of all, a huge thank you to all you lovelies who took time out to write few words on previous chapters.🧡

Until next time - take care!