There were the two guys you will least expect to see in each other's company.

Nick and Jay were standing a little far from the elevator facing each other. If we considered only the looks they were giving each other, they looked like two boxers standing in the middle of a ring waiting for the other to strike.

Oh god! What now?

"Nick? Jay? What are you guys doing here?"

The two of them were shaken from their kick-boxing stance. It was so clear from Nick's fake smile and Jay's absence of eye contact that something happened. I slowly walked to where they have been standing. Nick was the first to talk.

"I just came to check on you and I met your " Nick said while looking at Jay,

"I just wanted to make sure you are fine and I bumped into your boyfriend." The two of them were looking at each other when Nick's phone rang. He excused himself and walked away while answering his call. We were both looking in Nick's direction when my father called from somewhere behind me,

"Riya, why are you standing there?" he walked and stood beside me and looked at Jay. Then suddenly his eyes narrowed and asked

"Is this him?" I nodded. I felt bad for bringing Jay into this, but it was necessary. The poor guy stood there confused. My father looked at Jay and had an unbelievable expression that read 'HIM?'

"Riya he is short" and yes I had to control my laughter at this. Jay was not short, he was around 5 feet 10 inches and according to my father all true men were tall. Hence why, all my childhood bed time stories had heroes with above 6 feet height.

"Listen here midget, what is your name? Where do you live? Where are you from? What do you do for a living? Who do you work for? How do you know my daughter? Where are your parents? Do you have any criminal record? When was the last time..."

"DAD. This is...," think, think, think of something "Nick. He owns a company, it's called Nlogics. And he will answer all your questions, but some other time. Not right now. I told you, it is nothing serious." I added the last part in a whisper, trying to calm down my father who was in CSI mode.

My father held out his hand to a bewildered Jay and said, "I will meet you soon." I am pretty sure dad crushed Jay's hand but Jay was too shocked to react. I walked behind my dad to his car and looked back to see Jay still watching us with a confused look.

"Riya..." he got inside the car and paused "just don't do anything stupid" and drove off. Why did I get a feeling that my father added 'like me' very quietly?

I was looking at the fast disappearing car,

"Your father called me a dwarf. What the hell? You are short."

"I am a girl, what is your excuse?"

"Well I... I ... I am not Nick. What were you telling your father?"

"I am so sorry, I had to lie to my father about having a boyfriend, who is not , and just then he saw you. I jumped at the chance and introduced you as my boyfriend."

"But why did you say I am Nick?"

"Trust me; it is for your own good. If I told my father who you really are, he will track you down and burn the life out of you with his cold stare."

"That was the most scaring two minutes of my life and he called me a dwarf."

Nick was nowhere in sight. Jay and I went back to my apartment and all the way up Jay did not let go of my dad's 'midget' comment.

"Argh Jay, why are you here?"

"Oh, yaa Sara sent me here to check on you. She is scared that you might end up in jail if left unsupervised. Now get rid of that home-less look and get ready. We should actually be on our way to meet her right now."

"Fine" I huffed and started to get ready. Today was going to be a long day.

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

"I will not allow that"

"But why? Don't you trust me?"

"No, I don't. With all you anger lashing out like free fire from a dragon I won't be surprised if you chop off Ryan's limbs. I am not telling you where he is and I will never allow you to meet him alone."

"I swear I won't chop off his limbs, I just want to talk to him," I said in the most innocent voice I could muster.

"RIYA. Answer my questions first."

"No. I want to talk to my sweet boyfriend first," I told Sara with a scowl. Nick was nowhere in sight when we came out of my apartment and I tried calling him. He was not answering and it went straight to his voicemail. Jay and I came to our office and Sara had already been there by then. She told me that Jack and Kira were with Ryan trying to control the situation. From the minute I got here I have been begging Sara to tell me where Ryan was and she isn't giving away anything. She even went as far as checking me for any kind of sharp objects I might be carrying to kill Ryan.

For all I know Ryan could be half way to Antarctica. What she doesn't know is no matter where Ryan is, I will find him and set his jacket on fire.

"Riya, you must understand. He was in a bad position. A girl came rushing to Ryan claiming to be pregnant with his child and Robin looked smug. He patronized Ryan and poor Ryan had to come up with something. I am actually proud of him; he thought on his toes and said he has a girlfriend. I know the bad part is he said it was you. But he didn't have a choice."

"Of course, he had a choice. He could have said your name or maybe Kira's or Stayce's name. But no, he had to say mine. Couldn't that idiot just come up with some fake name and feed the media with some story of her working on the life style and living conditions of aliens on Pluto? That way they won't be able to question her whereabouts. He had to go ahead and say . I am sure, by now my mother is finalizing the names of her grandkids and my father is axing half of the trees back at home because I am in relation with a guy who's love for a bar is more than his love will ever be for me."

When I looked at Sara's bewildered expression I added "his words not mine."

"Riya, I am sorry you got involved. But I am here to help you. We will get through this together. I will make some calls and maybe arrange for an official statement after talking to Ryan. You just stay here. It is a mad house outside. Just stay here."

It was true. The media and press were having a celebration, a celebration that included a lot of mikes, cameras, their best anchors and talented people who could come up with catchy story names, all of them standing in front of VR Holdings Building. I have dealt with their stories before but I have never been the story. The good part was, none still realized that I was the Riya in question. So, so far it so good.

"They still don't know it is you. If you go out now, their suspicions may rise and they will be convinced it is you and then we will be in even bigger trouble. So just stay here."

Like hell I will. As soon a Sara left me alone, I fished out my phone and called the one person who could tell me what I needed.

"If it isn't my favorite future daughter in law," Mr. Vesh answered the phone with a chuckle.

"Not you too, please. You know there is nothing like that between your son and me."

"I know, but it was entertaining to watch my son propose to a girl he doesn't love."

"While the whole world was watching," I added.

"I know. Now what is that you want from me?"

"I want to know where Ryan is. No one is telling me. I just want to talk to him and clear this up as soon as possible."

"Just talking? Can I trust you?"

"Of course, you can. How can you even ask that? It really hurts to know that you of all the people doubt me."

"Then can I take it that, you won't harm him in any way?" that was something to be thought about seriously. Can I live with not harming Ryan? No.

"I will not kill him or do any lasting damage. Plus, he is stronger and devious. So, I don't think I can do any kind of considerable damage, even if I wanted to."

"Fine, I will send you the address and Riya just so you know, he is already beating himself for dragging you into this."

"Thank you so much. You are the first one to believe or trust me in all morning. I owe you. When are you coming back?"

"In about a month. However, if I watch some channel announcing the dates of my son's wedding then I will have to be there sooner. Don't you think?"

Or a call from a hospital informing about Ryan's bleeding eyeballs. Because I am going to rip them out.

"I will make sure you don't hear any more controversial news about your son."

"Thank you. I don't expect any less from you. Good day, Riya."

"Good night, Mr. Vesh."

Few minutes later Mr. Vesh sent the address to Ryan's hiding cave. I sent back a thank you along with a pleading note not to inform his son about my visit.

Ryan here I come.

~*~*~*~*~

Until next time, stay happy!