"So, tell me" he was trying to get me to answer his question with his stupid heart stopping smile.

What was I supposed to tell? I didn't want to answer his dumb question and the only thing I could do was stall.

"No, you first. Then I'll tell you."

"But I was the one who asked the question"

"And I am asking you now, so you tell me. How many?"

"That's not fair"

"Who said I played fair? I don't" I answered with a smirk. He lifted his ice cream to his mouth and looked at me and then narrowed his eyes and sighed.

"Fine I will go first but you need to answer too."

"Fine"

He said "four" paused a little and added "teen"

My eyebrows by now reached my hair line. Fourteen?

"You had been in fourteen relationships before? How many did you go out with at the same time to be in so many relationships? Oh god! Don't tell me that you were seeing all of them at the same time," I asked him in a surprised voice.

"What no. Do you really think that low of me? Of course, I did not go out with all of them at the same time," I heaved out a breath of relief.

"Five tops. There was my neighbor, the girl at school, my mother's friend's daughter, a girl from my gym and her sister," he reminisced this, counting his conquests with his left-hand fingers. Then he looked up at me and smiled.

Is he for real?

"You were in relation with sisters? You were never caught? That is cheating, that is..." I could not for the sake of anything on earth come up with an adjective that described this guy's bonding patterns here. And that only seemed amusing to this real-life Jonny Bravo.

"That is nothing. I was just messing with you. I was never in a serious relationship, not one." I somehow found that hard to believe. I mean look at him he was mixture of Chace Crawford, Theo James and some original pieces of THE WEIRD HOT NICK. How is it possible for him to NOT have a girlfriend?

"What is that supposed to mean, mister? You are serious about Sasha, aren't you? Listen here: you break her heart, I will break your face." I said it with the most serious look I could muster at 3 am on a Saturday morning, pointing my ice cream in his direction as we sat there on the bonnet of his Audi.

It is legit if you want to ask me what I am doing here.

Well simple: I don't have the key to my apartment. Initially the plan was for me and Mini to come back to my apartment and she was to stay the night. So, she locked the door with the spare key I had given her, before, and kept it with her even after she left me at the dinner. And if you haven't figured it out by now, you should know: I have very bad memory.

So here we are, the two of us sitting on the hood of his car eating ice cream, which I bought on my way back home, this early in the morning playing twenty questions while we waited for my keys, which Mini is sending with someone.

"Is that supposed to be a threat?"

"Oh, I don't do threats. I make promises." He faked a shiver and said

"Ooo I am scared now"

"You should be, if I were you I would be."

"Riya, you should know with that ridiculous ice cream all over our face and the messy hair and that dress and well... in short just being you, it is a little hard to take you seriously. You look anything but scary," he said with a smile.

I huffed.

"Anyway, what's with never having a girlfriend?"

"I don't know. Girls and their incessant rants and all the emotional drama, I was never really into that. I think I have never really liked a girl so much to tolerate all that."

"How very original," he wanted to protest but I interrupted. "But you know what? It is really a horrible thing you guys do. You generalize. Not all girls are like that. If only you can bother to look a little closer and deeper, you might be surprised. There are all kinds of girls out there, each different in their own way and it only you can take out the time to actually know her, she a different person all together," it is true. All of us are put into the same category of nonsense-believers and useless babblers.

"I know" Nick stated with a nod "at least I am starting to understand," Good that Sasha could prove him wrong.

"Your turn. Now you tell me, how many?" and we were back. Argh

"One" I whispered. I didn't want him to hear it and I didn't want to talk about it. For a second I actually considered playing dumb, but that would stir more interest and I did not want that.

I carefully lifted my gaze from the ice cream to him and saw him looking at me like he was reading me. What was there to read? I didn't want him to come to any conclusions that were wrong so I continued,

"And you can hardly call it a relationship. It didn't even last for a week"

It didn't last for a day.

I know.

Stop being pathetic... No wait stop being dramatic. You don't care about that stupid relationship anymore, so you can put a break to all those cell that are turning all mushy and acting like a heart broken damsel.

But it hurts sometimes.

It doesn't hurt. You can't get hurt. Remember you are not capable of feeling these things. You are not going to fall in that emotional pit again. No one can hurt you. No one can control your emotions and definitely not some trashcan from the past.

Thank you, brain. Sometimes I really appreciate your presence.

There you are again, getting all mushy. Shut up and concentrate on the hunk in front of you. Doesn't he look just hot in those rolled up sleeves and without the jacket? If I were you...

Ok that's it. Shut up now.

"Ok my turn. What is the most ridicules thing that has ever happened to you?" I asked him trying to very discreetly move away from the previous question.

"Ha let's see, there are many actually," he looked away for a minute or two and then suddenly his face split up in a grin.

"So, there was this one time my cousin and I went to a friend's house. At least that was what we thought until we got there. My cousin knocked the door and a girl opened and let me tell you, this cousin of mine was a huge player back then. Even if it wasn't the person we were expecting at the door he made small talk and she asked us to come in. once we were inside there were around 10-15 girls all in party clothes and the room was loaded with drinks. We asked for our friend and they just giggled. One girl walked to me and smirked. I really thought it was odd, you know, she was wearing a dress that was shining like the sun and even had a tiara on her head. They pulled us in and chanted slowly first and then yelled, STRIP"

"What? They asked you to strip? ?" I was listening to his every word like a child listening to a fascinating fairy tale. Only his tale was adulterated. He started laughing and nodded

"We actually striped. Those girls had been waiting for strippers and we just knocked their door and the girl with the crown was the bride." It was like he wanted to say something else but stopped.

"My cousin thought it was wrong of me to not oblige the request of a bride, when I showed resistance. I only stripped a respectable amount of my clothes unlike my partner."

We continued to laugh and talk a little more.

That was the thing about him; there was no need for me to ransack my brain for topics to talk. I could say something, anything and he wouldn't mind.

All thanks to him I carved a check mark in front of: tall, handsome, great voice, silky hair, understanding, respectable, good hearted, fun-loving, adventurous in my list.

But there were also negatives in this perfect specimen.

One, he made sure things happened his way. Second and most importantly HE WAS RICH. NO, HE WAS A RICH BUSSINESS-MAN.

And the Hot Nick falls down by 15 points. Cheers everyone cheers. So far all he has been doing was climb up the ladder and for the first time there was something I could not accept.

I hated rich business men. All they thought about was money and nothing more. I can really see future Nick expending his Nlogics all around the world, travelling a lot, making deal after deal, counting all the money he was making and thinking that he had everything in the world.

Only he didn't and before he realizes it, it will be too late.

But it doesn't matter to me. Why should it? I am not a part of that future so it will not affect me.

Then why the hell are you thinking so much about it?

"You are quite all of a sudden. Did I say something wrong?" his voice startled me.

"Oh no, I was just thinking about our future."

"Our future?" no no no.

"Yaa I mean yours and mine "

And just like that the smug smirk was back. Trust me, knowingly or unknowingly I am doing a perfect job in pumping his ego.

It was like God heard my prayers, when someone approached the car we sat on and asked if I was Riya. When I nodded he gave me my key and said that Mini had sent him and left.

"So, thank you very much for driving me home, stopping for me, waiting here and eating ice cream with me. Drive home safely. Message me once you each home. Do not doze off while you driving. Bye, good night."

I got down the bonnet, smiled at Nick and extended my hand. He looked from my hand to my face and to my hand again and finally accepted it.

"Bye good night" he said it with a smile. And once he let go of my hand I walked in the direction of my apartment thinking why the hell did I hold his hand for that long?

Few minutes later I turned back to find him still standing near his car watching me leave. Maybe, he was going to wait till I got inside.

"Do you want something? Maybe coffee?"

"Is that an invitation Ms. Riya?"

"Gaaaaa Nick got to hell." The last I heard before I turned and walked away was his laugh and that had my heart thumping.

I really needed some sleep, for my heart's sake. It did stupid things when I did not eat or sleep properly.

Keep telling yourself that.

*************************

The sudden sound of glass shattering and a loud sound followed by Taylor Swift's voice singing 'coz baby now we got bad blood' woke me up from my sleep. I jumped and sat upright on my bed in daze for few minutes, disoriented, then realized that it was my current ring tone and few minutes later my brain gave signals to my hand, to pick up the mobile and answer it.

"Hello" I said in groggy voice and narrowed my eyes to see what time it was. My digital clock blinked 6:54 am, as if sniggering at me that I couldn't even get 3 hours of peaceful sleep.

"Riya, were you sleeping? Listen I have..."

"No, I was just working on my woozy voice and how to react should someone get the exceptional idea of calling me at this ungodly hour."

"I really don't have time for this Riya. The main reason why I called you is" she drew in a heavy breath and asked in a more calculated voice "is it true?"

If only Sara was somewhere within my reach, I would have choked her to death. I have had three hours of sleep after a horrible day and she calls me now to ask me riddles.

Silence, I was not going to answer her stupid question. Also, I was more than sleepy and my brain was not in its full ability to supply my mouth with some sarcastic comebacks.

"So, is it? It is fine. Please tell me. You know I will support you right? You should have told me before. It hurt a little to know that you don't trust me enough but I understand that you might have had your reasons. So, it is alright, we can clean up this mess together. I wanted to talk to you first before I spoke with anyone else. I wanted to confirm because you know... no one would have ever guessed. Like it is said, there is a very fine line between love and hate. So somewhere the line was wiped, I guess."

Hmm, ok. I got it. I DIDN'T UNDERSTAND A WORD OF WHAT SHE SAID.

"Sara? Did you call me in the middle of the night to read me a high school calculus problem? . If it is really that serious you might want to explain it to me. And also, I am mathematically-challenged."

"What? I... you...Ryan...interview...wait a minute. So, you don't know?" I was vigorously shaking my head like she could see me.

"Oh GOD! Riya, listen to me. Take all small things within your reach, things which can be thrown easily, and place them far away from you. Just end the call and switch on your TV to any news channel and then place the remote also somewhere far away from you. After half an hour or so call me and only me. Most importantly stay away from your kitchen, ok? Now I am going to disconnect the call. Go now, do as said and please call me back."

"Sara what is this about?"

"You will know. If you don't listen to me and deviate even a little from what I said, I am sending the cops after you. I might love you but I will not let you be a murderer. Ok bye."

Strange but what is going on?

Forget it and just sleep

Yaa that's a good idea.

I twisted and turned for five minutes but every time I tried to sleep, Sara's voice would ring in my ears. So, I slowly staggered to my living room, plumped on my sofa and switched on the TV. Again, I did as told and placed the remote on the floor and pushed it somewhere with my feet.

This was the channel Mini worked in and after a few commercials the current program resumed. The program had a dolled-up host with tight clothes and fake extensions. It was halfway in the program and the screen behind the host blazed with the words:

'Now the real question is, is it true? Is Ryan, our very own famous billionaire bad boy and the dream boy for many young women like me' she has the audacity to blushed at this 'really in love like he claims to be? If so, who is the lady who stole this heart-stealer's heart? I am sorry ladies but our sources tell it is true and we have proofs. Let's have a look'

Ryan, as in my BOSS Ryan? And love? And heart-stealer? What the bloody hell is going on?

The channel started showing a video that had two men facing each other. By the looks of it Ryan and the quaint faced Robin were in the middle of an altercation. Ryan's fists were clenched with a scowl on his face. On the other hand, Robin had an evil smirk.

"Stay the fu*k out of this Robin." Ryan said in a low threatening voice. I could see anger coursing through him and it was bad. Ryan was hardly ever angry. Even when he was, he retorted to smart answers or threw a few punches and walked away from the crime scene. This was different. Something was really wrong.

"Ryan Ryan Ryan, my man. Why lie? From whom are you hiding the truth? All of us know that you are a player. Always have been and always will be. Now don't go around telling you are not anymore. Once a player, always a player. No one will believe you my friend." Robin said with a satisfied grin.

"That's not true. I am not a player, at least not anymore. I have changed and I have a girlfriend whom I am very loyal."

A girlfriend, I didn't ever know of? Ryan is really secretive when he wants to be. He should have said me. I mean I am he only friend/enemy. I have a special place, right?

"Really? Who might this 'girlfriend' of yours be? Is she a part your little drunken brain's imagination?"

"She is very much real you dips*it and I am not telling you who she is." Ryan started walking away from Robin, when all the reporters surrounded him and where asking a never-ending list of questions. It looked like it was only now Ryan acknowledged the presence of media.

"What an excuse Ryan. Good one. Why in a hurry though? Do you have an 'imaginary' meeting with this 'imaginary' girlfriend of yours?" Robin shouted and everyone turned in his direction with curiosity and Ryan with annoyance and apathy.

"I don't need fakes or imaginary characters Robin, I have mine. Unlike you" Ryan hissed.

"Then let everyone know who it is. I am sure everyone is dying to know who is the girl is."

"I don't want to disclose her identity because I haven't asked her to be my girlfriend yet"

"And how do you plan on doing that? Take her to heaven, fill it with clouds and unicorns and ask her? That is very imaginative Ryan, great going. Your lie my friend is as white as snow."

"I don't have to lie. I had other plans for the proposal but I have changed them. Now I am going to ask her when the whole world is watching" Ryan initially looked smug but then he inhaled loudly and looked straight at the camera and said

"I love you very much. I do and I know that I haven't said this enough. Please be your forgiving self and forgive this idiot one last time and love me back. It's hard to imagine my life without you so..." for a minute Ryan actually seemed nervous and uncomfortable. He first looked to his left and right and then he back at the camera and said "Riya, will you be my girlfriend?"

~*~*~*~*~*

Sorry for the late post! I am travelling posting is a little difficult.

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