'Where am I? Why is it so dark in here?' I was surrounded by pitch darkness making it too difficult for me to discern my surroundings. Nothing was visible to my eyes but even so, I could get a glimpse of some worn-out wood-plated walls. Through which it seemed like an abandoned warehouse. I wasn't scared of darkness but something about this place and its ambience were concerningly peculiar, and it scared me.

Most importantly, how did I even get here in the first place?!

Wasn't I with the Puris?

I found myself running aimlessly just for the mere sight of light. Suddenly, my feet stopped moving as if they were being held tightly by something or someone. No matter how much I struggled, I couldn't break free. And in a flash of a second, I was drowning in the dark waters when my fear of deep water triggered.

"Somebody help!" I wanted to scream but my voice never came out of my throat. 'What's happening with me? What is this place? Will I ever be able to break free from here? I want to see my family and friends,' my chest hurts so much that it made it almost impossible to breathe, 'Is this it? Is this... the end?' My eyes felt too heavy to be kept open, they began to shut off slowly.

. . .

. . .

. . .

"Arpita!"

I heard a faint voice calling my name. I fought to open my eyes and that's when I discerned the glimpse of light falling upon me amidst the darkness.

"Arpita?!"

The voice sounded a bit more familiar this time. and it was drawing closer now.

"Arpita! Are you awake?!"

My eyes shot wide, I woke up with a jerk, sweat beading off my forehead, I gasped heavily as if someone was choking my throat, " It was a dream. . ." I mumbled to myself in reassurance, inhaling sharply to calm my pounding heart. I heard a knock on the door, recognizing the source, abruptly the moment I heard him calling my name.

"Arpita? I'm coming in-", came his anxious voice. I heard the silent creak of the door and saw the curly-haired guy peeping in, gingerly.

His eyes shot wide when he saw the petrified look on my face, he gasped rushing towards me immediately, "What's wrong? You're sweating like you ran in a 100 meters marathon!" He sat facing me, his eyes scanning my eyes for an answer.

"I... saw a... t-terrible nightmare..." lowering my gaze, I answered him. Honestly, I can't deny the fact that I was deeply relieved to see his face right after waking up from a such horrible dream.

I heard him sigh softly at me before he spoke, "Hey," he held my chin making me look into his eyes. "It's okay. It was just a dream. No need to feel embarrassed about it." his tender eyes offered me comfort. "Ho jata hai kabhi-kabhi (Happens sometimes)."

It takes sheer courage not just in facing your fears but also to help out others going through the same afflictions. Before me, was a man who faced it in a tougher way, not just for once but every single day. My eyes filled with immense admiration for him which took the form of water and rolled down my cheeks.

He brushed them off gently and stroked my cheeks before he pinched them making a funny face. I scowled slapping away his hand, soon my lips tucked into a short smile. "There!" He exclaimed. "There's that smile I'm fond of." He smiled warmly making my heart thump against my chest. "No more crying, okay, Dr Psycho?"

Twitching my lips, concealing my blushing face I spoke teasingly, "Why do I have a feeling that you are going to mimic that famous 'I hate tears' wala Rajesh Khanna ka dialogue any second now?"

"You are a witch!" widemouthed, he stared at me. "Always foretell my thoughts like I'm some cliché romance novel written by a teenager on Wattpad."

"Yes, I'm a witch straight from Hogwarts. Nice meeting you, Mr Vam-Puri?" I flashed a toothy grin at him.

"Sure, Ms Psychic," he flicked my forehead with his thumb and index finger just like they do in animes, scowled as I rubbed my forehead. "I came here to wake you and now that you are, ... freshen up fast and join us downstairs. We have to leave after breakfast so be quick, Princess."

"Will you stick to one nickname?" Deadpanned.

"Nope." he replied nonchalantly, "Come down in 10 or we are leaving without you." Warning me, he walked out.

Pouting angrily at the doorframe, "What's up with this guy today?" I mumbled to myself and went to get ready knowing I can never get done in 10 mins.

The second I saw that petrified look on her face, it reminded me of myself. How I used to wake up each morning, breathing heavily, traumatized and scared to fall asleep again; scared of those dreadful nightmares. It was the same look on her face and my instincts just worked on their own later on.

Though I didn't have a clue about her dream, but by her expressions, it was pretty much obvious that it shook her deeply. What relieved me the most was that I was able to distract her from it at least to some extent.

Once I saw that pretty smile of her, I knew she got over it already. So, I came back to the dining room where Bhabhs was prepping the table for breakfast.

"Need some help?" I asked, tossing a papaya cube in my mouth from the bowl.

"Nope. I guess you already helped me by waking her up." She answered with a smug grin.

Kinda choking up on the tiny cube, I looked away from her and spotted Keshu and Samar walking in.

"Good morning, Sanam", Samar wished me, who had just returned from loading all our luggage in the SUV along with Keshu.

"Good morning, guys", I greeted them both, enthusiastically.

I wasn't sure whether it was my assumptions, or he looked kinda unhappy. "You alright, mate? You seem exhausted."

Slumping down on the chair he answered tiredly, "I'm alright, it's probably because of the workout and luggage that we carried."

I've known Keshu for so many years that I can discern his lies quite deftly. I could notice how he avoided even looking at me. Although the pensive look on his face worried me, but I decided to keep it down for the time being.

Soon the two chipmunks aka Mannat and Amaya scurried down the stairs and ran straight to their respective chairs while singing 'good morning' synchronously making us all laugh. Following them came my sleepy-head therapist who sat beside me after greeting us.

"I thought I told you to freshen up." I muttered so only she could hear.

"What do you mean? Don't I look like I bathed?" dubiously she whispered back, serving oats for herself.

"You don't look 'Fresh'."

"Geez, sorry I didn't refrigerate myself overnight."

Is it just me or was she always this savage?

Feeling eyes on us I maintained the relaxed expression on my face and continued to eat.

"You guys seem to have gotten a lot closer. . ."

My eyes fled wide, and the apple slice I was munching almost got stuck in my throat when I heard these words roll out from Keshav's mouth. Glancing at him I could see amusement all over his face (fake amusement, precisely). "W-what do you mean?" I chuckled lightly gulping down some water.

"Exactly what you heard, Sanam." An unadorned smile pasted on his lips while his eyes seemed. . . hurt.

Suddenly my conversation with Keshav about Arpita flashed right in front of my eyes when he confessed his feelings for her. I felt a sharp pang in my chest recalling those memories. It was a real dilemma to pick out what saddened my heart, the fact that Keshav was in love with her or that he considers Me a threat; probably both.

There was a moment of awkward silence before Soumya spoke, "Well, I like this Sanam-Arpita version 2.0 better. Watching you guys being so hesitant around each other in the name of 'friendship' was kinda a pain in the neck." She breathed out as if she was completely relieved now.

Arpita laughed at her remark, "Of course, you'd say that. After all, if there's someone who knows how amiable I can actually be, it's you!" winking at her, "But we weren't being all stiff." she turned to me, beaming, "Haina?"

Confirming with a nod, I masked a thin smile, agreeing with her statement although my mind kept thinking about Keshav's comment previously. The rest of the breakfast went off like mist, for my thoughts were in the clouds and everything that they were chatting about seemed entirely vague to me.

"What a bizarre sight to see you on the last seat all alone?!" Soumya had a sceptical look when she saw me sitting in the SUV all by myself as she returned after handing over the spare keys to the caretaker. The conversation with Keshav was the reason why -my all-energy-to-have-a-sane-conversation-with-anyone was drained, as a result, all I wanted to do was to keep my mind off the topic and sleep until we reached home without bothering anyone.

"Don't you worry! Main hoon na inhe company dene ke liye," came her vibrant voice from behind and soon the empty seat beside me was captured by Ms Therapist. She winked at me leaving me to stare at her dumbfoundedly. A mild smile threatened my lips, so I shifted, facing the window hiding my face from them.

Soumya took her seat in front of us with Mannat who was already half asleep, resting her head on Soumya's lap. As it was previously decided that Keshu would drive us back home, so he was in the driver's, with my brother and Amu in the passenger's seat. I saw him shifting the angle of the rearview towards Arpita who was as always oblivious of anything he does and was texting someone on her phone. I looked at her and my heart felt heavy all of the sudden.

The journey back home began peacefully, the morning breeze and the melodious chirps of birds made the surroundings tranquil. Had the kids not been sleeping, the car would be blasting with music. Although it seemed like not just them but even Arpita was ready to dose off any moment as I noticed her head bobbing sideways as she struggled not to fall asleep.

I chuckled. She caught me giggling and flickered her tongue at me in annoyance as she looked away making me laugh even further at her adorable instincts.

At that moment, I forgot all the thoughts that were messing my mind and a gentle feeling settled in my heart.

"You know what's the wisest thing to do when you are sleepy?" I whispered to her. Resting my head on the headrest.

Holding a peripheral gaze she spoke, "What?"

"Sleep", I shrugged. A deadpan expression passed on her face before she broke into a toothy grin.

"But I can't. Don't wanna bang my head against the window." She pouts like a distressed puppy.

"You won't," I assured her.

"How can you be so sure?" She narrowed her big brown eyes.

"Cuz I won't let my therapist get a head injury on my watch. You still got mine to repair, remember?"

Listening to my explanation, she laughed aloud but then grabbed her mouth abruptly to not disturb the sleeping ones. Although she was loud enough to catch others' attention. We quickly looked away holding back our laughs pretending.

"If I hit my head on the window, it will be on you!" She whispered to me once they all looked ahead.

"Manzoor," I whispered back.

With a soft smile, she finally closed her eyes. I took the moment and adored the child-like expressions on her face as she was fast asleep, or so I thought.

"You don't need to glue your eyes on me," she mumbled. "I can't sleep like this."

"Just making sure you don't dent our car."

"Rude." She sighed and turned her head away so I can't look at her face anymore. Soon her breathing got lenient, and I knew she was sound asleep.

The road was clear with no bumpers on it. She slept just fine until Keshu took a left turn for the highway. I quickly shielded her temple using my palm against the window. Her head bumped right over my palm and not on the glass. I was stuck in a pretty awkward position. If I removed my hand. she's bound to bump her head again.

'But you can't stay like this, she'll wake up!'

Heaving a silent sigh, I mustered the courage and shifted an inch closer to her, cupping her temple I made her head rest on my shoulder slowly without interrupting her slumber. She slept just like a child on her mother's shoulder. Won't lie cause' it was straight-up an endearing scene.

Tucking that -always -loose- strand behind her ear, I watched her smile a little. Her tiny hands wrapped around my forearm as she snuggled for comfort, probably imagining me as her teddy. I found myself wishing to stay like this. For her to have a sound sleep. Till we reached home? Probably longer than that.

Do I sound insatiable?

I guess, I do. Cause the more I try not to, I crave her company every time she's around or even when she isn't.

Do I feel embarrassed about it?

Maybe, or maybe not.

My eyes won't move from her sleeping figure although they began to get heavier. Unconsciously, my head rested against hers before I was embraced by absolute darkness.

'This time, have a good dream, Dr Psycho. . .'

🥲

🤧

🥹😭😭😭

🤡

🌚