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After being pushed into the passenger side of her boss's SUV, all Kavya encountered was a cold silence from him. The breakneck speed at which he drove on the busy roads of Mumbai, it gave her at least a couple of mini heart attacks. But blame it on the last four months of hands-on training, except for praying to the God for safety and occasional shrieks, she could not utter a single word in front of him lest it makes him madder than he already was. And why was he mad in the first place was truly beyond her? What did she do now? But then when did he need a reason to get mad at her these days.

He parked in front of a very modern building complex, which was opposite the Arabian Sea, before again holding her wrist in his strong grip pulling her towards the building. Punching the PH button in the elevator, he left her wrist, closed his eyes and ran his hand through his hair. And Kavya, while rubbing her wrist in order to soothe it stared at his back, very curious as to where he was taking her. At this point, she salvaged a little courage from inside and stammered "Hum...Sir...I..," but instantly swallowed rest of what all she wanted to say in the light of one menacing glare that came her way. As they reached the top floor, he punched a few numbers on the electronic lock in front of the only door in the corridor. She was still new to the flat system of Mumbai and wondered why they were alone on this floor.

Swayam Aarti Raisinghania - the gleaming golden nameplate said. His home? She wondered as they entered the swanky penthouse.

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"You please take a seat. I'll go and call didiji," the maid informed a lanky nineteen-year-old Swayam. He sat down on a rather royal looking couch, which was placed in a palatial living room of the bungalow situated in the poshest area of Lucknow.

"Hi, are you Swayamji?" a sweet voice halted his inspection of the living room that was screaming wealth.

"Yes," he stood up but got confused seeing a very young girl in front of him. She did not look older than fifteen years, and she was not.

"I am Kavya. Keshav's elder sister. Maya aunty must have sent you. She highly recommends you," she said sitting down smiling, gesturing him to sit as well.

"Are you... I mean...I was expecting to talk to someone a little older'," he said skeptically.

An understanding smile graced the girl's face. "It's okay. I am in charge of his tuitions. I am authorized to talk about money as well. You see our father is always busy and our mother is no more," she replied.

"Oh," he mumbled.

"Keshav is a little young for tuitions but since our mother's demise, he is lagging behind in school. We need a competent tutor for him. Maya aunty's daughter, she told me, has started getting very good grades since you started teaching her," she said sounding mature beyond her years. "I would be very glad if you agree to teach Keshav as well. All subjects," she completed.

"How old is Keshav? What class?" he inquired.

"8 years old. 2nd grade".

Just then the curtains on the side door ruffled and Swayam saw tiny feet peeking from under it.

Kavya looked at the curtains too and lovingly called out "Keshav. Betu, come here. See your new teacher is here".

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Guts of this girl, he fumed. Flirting in his party, in front of him. BLOODY HELL!!

Saurabh Sharma. Of course. High society bred eligible Marketing head of Maharashtra zone Saurabh Sharma. The man she danced three dances with. Laughed with. Giggled with. When she knew he was in the party. Hell! It was HIS party and she knew it. What does she want? What did she think? That he would not notice? Or she wanted him to notice? The girl definitely knows how to string people along with her beauty, doesn't she?

For first several minutes Swayam did not trust himself to speak and hoped she would, but she did not. It must have been a few minutes that they were standing in his living room and she had maintained a dead silence. Bored her eyes, in fact, her whole being into the expensive wooden flooring. Her changed demeanor from a smiling chatting woman in the arms of Saurabh Sharma to an immobile statue in front of him did not sit well with Swayam.

"What the hell are you playing at?" Swayam threw a huge white vase, yelling, crashing it mercilessly against the floor, instantly sending Kavya in panic mode. She scuttled to a corner with her hands covering her ears and eyes tightly shut. He had thrown this vase in anger alright, but also because he knew that loud noises unnerved her. It was amazing how he remembered every small thing about the girl, no a woman now, he hated. After getting the desired result from his violence, he knew that it was time now to start the long overdue interrogation.

"Why have you come here? In my office? Of all places why are you working here? And when the hell did Alok Naath Jaiswal's daughter become so needy that she has to work?" he spat. Here. He finally asked the question he was dying to ask for the last four months. "WHYYY?"

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"WHYYY? Why can't you stay for dinner? Kavya jiji, please ask Swayam bhaiya to stay for dinner," little Keshav whined.

"Please Swayamji. Stay for dinner," Kavya complied with her little angel's demand.

"No Kavyaji. It's late. I should get going,"Swayam adamantly refused.

As much as he loved Keshav, Swayam knew his limits. He was a paid employee of Jaiswal's and staying over till late, especially when there was a young girl in the house and where their father wasn't generally at home, was a bad idea. He may be a bastard by birth, but his deceased mother had inculcated high values in him.

Keshav Naath Jaiswal, the cutest kid Swayam has ever seen, had taken an immense liking to his new tutor. Swayam adored the kid and the kid idolized him. It did not take much time for them to get along much to his sister's delight. Not only did Keshav look forward to studying with his Swayam bhaiya every day, his grades too were showing considerable improvement. In their father's long absences from home, Swayam had become someone Keshav looked up to and Swayam seemed to love him back equally.

Kavya had put in a good word for Swayam with her father who had immediately increased his remuneration. After his wife's death, Alok Nath Jaiswal relied heavily on his young daughter to take care of the household and her brother. And she did not disappoint. She was sincere and mature. She could see that her father was a broken man after their mother's death and thus did as much as in her power to ease his burden.

For herself, she tried to forget the absence of her mother in the most crucial phase of a girl's life and the pain that comes with being motherless, in two twinkling eyes of Keshav. He was her life, who had bloomed back to life in Swayam's shadow.

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"Papa is no more," she said in a whisper, taking her hands off her ears. "It's just me and Keshav now," she suddenly looked drained out.

Swayam's eyes narrowed. So Alok Naath Jaiswal is dead. But that still did not explain her sudden appearance in his office. About losing her father, he had seen far worse losses in his life and still sees them on daily basis in his line of work.

"So? Why are you here? What do you want? A husband like Saurabh Sharma to take care of you like daddy dearest?" he spat.

"I am here to work and earn my own money," a long doused fire flared up in her huge eyes.

"And that can be done only in my office in this whole world' he lashed out.

"What happened to their inheritance?" the lawyer in him couldn't help but wonder in spite of everything.

"I did not know it was YOUR office. I was not even your secretary. You got me transferred," Kavya knew that today was her only chance to speak up while she was being given a chance to speak.

"Now you know," he looked into her eyes. "Resign," he said icily.

"Fire me," she retorted.

"Oh! Jaiswal princess prefers to be fired by a lowly bastard rather than resigning. That's some development," he jibed.

And Kavya flinched, like some has slapped her.

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"Swayam, you never told me about your family," she rested her head on his shoulders. They were sitting on the banks of Gomti River, where Swayam had come to meet her after his college.

"There is nothing to tell. My parents are dead," he stiffened. He longed to talk about his mother but his past was a Pandora's Box which was best kept shut. He did not need anyone's pity. Neither for himself and most definitely not for his mother.

"But still, I want to know about them," she persisted.

"WHY? Why the hell do you wanna know?" he snapped, partly in anger, partly because of helplessness.

"Because... I am your... I mean... never mind. Let's talk about something else," she gave up sensing his discomfort. He as it is stayed high strung, and she did not want to agitate him further.

Somewhere while taking care of her little brother, Kavya's care got extended to his handsome tutor as well. She was drawn to this intelligent and self-respecting boy, whom her little Keshav adored. On his part, Swayam resisted those shy smiles, those beautiful kind eyes, those concerned gestures and those sweet words with all his might till the last vestiges of his self-control gave up. He tried his best to dissuade her from this relationship. Never the one short of practical thoughts, he knew that this thing between them was anything but practical. Swayam loved kids, and Keshav was no exception and he did not want Kavya to get swayed by that.

But Kavya was sure that her feelings were not limited to her brother's equation with Swayam and refused to let him be. Packing food for him as he never agreed to dine at their place. Taking care of him when he fell sick. Showering unbridled affection and admiration whenever he seemed low, which was often owing to juggling his life between studies, part-time jobs, tuitions and fending for himself on daily basis. He eventually gave in. Hungry for attention and love, he was just a young boy after all. Forced to grow up before time just like Kavya, much more cruelly albeit. His lonely soul found solace in her embrace, and she found her home in his arms.

But Swayam knew that he cannot hide his dirty past forever. He will have to tell Kavya someday soon.

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Swayam stood there, infuriated and yet affected, by the stream of tears that was making its way down her pale cheeks. Her eyes were downcast, her figure was defeated and the defiance that had cropped up in her voice a while back was lost in muffled sobs. Eleven long years he wished to see this regret, this helplessness on her face. Eleven long years he had cursed her and yet pined for her. Eleven long years he has lived with her betrayal.

Time has brought her where he so wanted her to be. Out of her rich respectable society to onto her two knees in front of him. At his mercy. All that he had wanted to see was in front of him. But happiness still eluded him.

"Get lost Kavya," he hissed. He still did not know what to do with her. God only knows what power she still held over him that he was not able to relish her pain after being treated like dirt by her.

"Please... Listen to me.. just once," she managed to croak. It was clear that he was still stuck at that moment for her enormous error. And if her words were still so badly stinging at his heart, then he should know the whole truth.

Eleven years was a lot of time. She had thought, and thought a million times, had agonized over about what happened and what she did. And she had long figured that what was supposed to be her selfless gesture, it actually fell in the cowardly category. That in order to save herself from feeling inadequate in front of the boy she had loved to death, she has hurt him badly. But she thought he would move past it, which he clearly hadn't. And her reappearance in his life must have made matters worse if anything.

"I want to tell you the truth," she said

"What truth? There is only one truth and whatever you said that day IS the truth. It is the truth I have lived all my life with Miss Kavya Jaiswal," he said wryly.

"My version. I had lied then," she confessed.

"No, you did not. IT WAS THE TRUTH!" he closed his eyes in anger.

"NOT MINE," she cried.

"Nothing you would say would change anything," he spat.

"Not even if I say I did it for you? For your happiness? For your sake?" she pleaded.

"SERIOUSLY? Like ... F**KING SERIOUSLY? MY SAKE? Dammit ... are you for real woman?" he was shivering with rage now. "TELL ME. Did you play with my feelings for MY sake? Or did you break my trust for MY sake? Or did you destroy the very last shred of my dignity for MY sake? No... Wait... you made me feel like trash FOR MY SAKE? RIGHT?" he bellowed.

'Y...Yes'.

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