"No?" I ask him, highly disappointed. He nods his head in a yes. My shoulders drop and I immediately look down at my lap intertwining my fingers.

I feel stupid for narrating my story to him now.

"Was that all?" He asks.

"Yes. Is there no way I can convince you to agree to this?" I ask, trying to persuade him one last time.

"What do I get in return?" He asked me.

"I'm sorry, I don't quite understand." I told him.

"What I am trying to say is that Miss Arora, if I do agree to pretend to be your boyfriend how will it benefit me?" He asks.

"Uh well, I can help you whenever you need any help from me." I told him.

"What kind of help can you provide me with?" He asks, a sly smirk forming on his lips.

Dog!

"Excuse me? I am not talking about that..that kind of help." I told him.

"Which kind of help?" He asks me in a cool voice.

"Whichever kind you mean." I answer.

"Let me guess what kind of help do I mean?" He asks and taps his index finger on his chin. A few seconds pass and he still doesn't say anything causing me to grow more and more impatient with each passing second.

I eye my watch.

7.48 p.m.

I have to get home. Ma is going to kill me. Ugh.

"Can you hurry up a little please?" I ask him.

"Twenty-four hours. I'll tell you whether I'm ready to pretend to be your boyfriend in twenty-four hours from now. By that time I'll also be able to think of the help I'll be taking from you."

I cannot believe this. Now I'll have Arjun Mehrotra on my mind for the next twenty-four hours. Whole day tomorrow. Could this guy not answer me right now!?

Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in Breathe out.

That doesn't help me calm down.

"Okay." I manage to say with the last bit of patience in me.

"Okay." He replies.

"I will take my leave now." I tell him and stand up from my seat.

"Wait, I can drop you off." He tells me.

"Thank you very much, but no. I'll be fine on my own." I told him. No extra favors from this guy. I make a mental note. I am sure he's going to refuse as it is when twenty-four hours end. I don't want to get my hopes high.

The one thing I am happy about is that I at least tried. The rest, God above, will handle.

"Is this about twenty-four hours? Has that pissed you off?" He asks scrutinizing my face.

I pull the strap of my bag higher up on my shoulder and look at him, straight into his eyes.

"No. I just realised that you are a stranger to me, if you so much as even considered pretending to be my boyfriend you did me a huge favor. You have absolutely every right to refuse to do this tomorrow, it'll be better if you just say it right now. It will cause no hard feelings between us. I entered into this mess by myself and no one but I am responsible for making my way out of it. Thank you so much, Arjun Mehrotra, for at least giving me a chance to speak." I told him.

I received no response from him. He just continues to stare back at me, his gaze pining mine.

With much difficulty I remove my gaze from him and look at the floor.

"I'll leave now." I mumble and turn around quickly.

Without waiting for a response I walk towards the door of his office and open it.

I hear him calling my name from behind but I pay no heed to it and continue walking.

"Hey, Shravya, listen to me." His voice seems closer now and it is only a matter of a few seconds before his fingers wrap around my wrist and he stops me from moving further.

"Arjun leave my hand." I told him.

"All I want is to make sure you reach home safely. It's a deserted road. Let me drive you please." He answers.

"Shravya Arora can very well take care of herself." I told him.

"I know. I know you can, but you came this way just to talk to me. This isn't the way your house is on right? So I feel it's my responsibility to drop you off. Please just consider this as a compensation for wasting your time? I'm sure that's what you think meeting me did, right?" He asked me.

"Okay. But it wasn't a waste of time for me. Meeting you I mean." I told him. The guy has been nothing but polite to me the least I can do is behave the same way with him.

"Let's get going then." He tells me and I nod my head at him.

"Just give me five minutes to lock my office and speak to a few workers, yes?" He asks.

"Yeah, sure." I told him.

•

"Address?" Arjun asks me as he fastens his seatbelt.

I tell him the address and then the car becomes silent once again.

A few seconds later he breaks the silence.

"Why don't you just tell your mother you don't want to marry? Why make such stories?" He asked me.

"Only if it was that easy. She's hell bent on getting me married." I answer.

"Why so?" He asks.

"I'm an only child. All of our relatives live in Delhi and we came to Mumbai when Papa's company transferred here twelve years ago. Ma always says that she wants to see me have a family of my own before something happens to Papa or her. I tell her I'm not letting them go anywhere but she refuses to listen to me." I tell him, trying to lighten the tension with a chuckle.

"Things don't always go the way we want to." He comments.

"Saying from personal experience?" I ask him.

"Let's not talk about that." He tells me and I immediately go silent.

I focus on the road and see that we've almost reached my building complex.

"Hey, I'll get down here. You can stop the car." I told him.

"But I can drive you inside." He tells me.

"I know you can, but if the security guard or my mother sees us, then unnecessary fuss will be created." I told him.

"Oh okay." He says and immediately halts the car.

"Thank you so much for giving me a ride." I say and take out two eclairs toffees from my unicorn pouch.

"Here take them." I tell him placing them on my palm and moving it towards him.

He chuckles as he takes them.

"Standard five kid, does that ring a bell?" He asks me with a mischievous smile on his lips.

"Shut up and return them back if you don't want them." I tell him annoyed and try to reach for the toffees in his hand but he immediately moves back his hand.

His face is an inch away from mine and his minty breath fans my face.

For a few seconds we just stare at each other but as soon as I come back to my senses I move back.

"Keep them, eat them, give them to someone else but you dare not throw them." I tell him before unfastening my seatbelt.

"Of course I won't." He tells me.

"You better not." I say and unlock the car door after which I come out.

"Bye and uh well drive safe." I say and he nods his head at me in response.

I start walking towards my complex.

When I reach the gate I turn around and find his car still there at a distance.

Once he sees me entering inside he starts his car and drives away.

•

"Where were you?" Ma asks me as soon as she opens the door.

"Out with Sneha. I texted you." I told her.

"Mrs. Batra of flat no. 34 (B) saw you coming out of a car." She tells me and my heartbeat quickens.

"She must have seen someone else. Who's car would I be coming out of?" I ask her deciding to play it cool.

"Your boyfriend's and who else's?" She says.

"What!? Ma, no." I told her.

"Hush, and now get inside we don't want to have the entire conversation on the threshold now, do we?" She asks me.

As if I was the one who started an interrogation session at the threshold. Ma sometimes really makes me want to act out the abbreviation - SMH.

[SMH - Shaking my head] and so I do it, I shake my head as I enter our flat following her inside the kitchen.

She hands me over a glass of water before speaking again.

"You don't know how happy you have made me." She tells me.

"Really? How so?" I ask her.

"Shravu! You're finally going out with someone and paying attention to something other than your work. I'm so so happy." She tells me with a big smile on her face.

I let out an awkward laugh. These are the times when I feel really bad for lying to her.

"Ma, can we talk about something else please? Where's Papa?" I ask her.

"Taking a shower." She replies.

"Oh, okay, give me something to eat please I'm super hungry." I told her.

"I have made your favourite Paneer butter masala for dinner, mera baccha. Go freshen up while I get the dining table ready." She tells me.

[ Paneer butter masala : It is a North Indian delicacy that translates to cubes of Indian cottage cheese cooked in a rich and creamy onion-tomato-cashew sauce.

Mera baccha : My baby]

"Ma, I love you. You're the bestest!" I tell her as I plant a kiss on her cheek.

"I love you too, my Shravu!" She tells me.

I then leave the kitchen and make my way to my room.