At present, in the flight..

I shut my laptop and leaned my head against the headrest. My eyes dimmed a little upon remembering all the past happenings.

Even though Raghunath and Anusha were closed chapters in my life, I could never forget the pain they had inflicted on me. How helpless I was when Anusha broke off the engagement!

Long gone was the naive Arjun, the heartache I went through made me the person who I am currently. I became a person who intimidated people, anyone has to think twice before so much as touching me.

Did I miss my father? The answer was sure, a big yes. How could I not miss him? I missed his soothing presence. I missed his guidance. I missed his support. I missed everything about him. Losing him was such a huge heartbreak for me.

If it weren't for my grandfather and his continuous support, I didn't even know what I would have done and become. My grandfather and my friends were a great support to him.

My friends still felt guilty as they couldn't be there for me when my father died and I needed them the most.

At that time, they couldn't make it as they were busy with their studies. After settling in their careers, they were always there for me to provide their support.

I was always grateful to my grandfather and my friends. My grandfather went back to his village after I got settled in my career, and he would often call me to know about the progress in my career and would give me suggestions.

Under the management of my friend, Dhruv, the Empire Corporations reached new heights. Dhruv was surely a great businessman. Very rarely I needed to interfere in the management and that happens only when Dhruv would not be available.

That was what had happened because of which I was sitting inside the aircraft. Dhruv had some previous engagements lined up in his schedule. He was busy closing off a deal with a company that had its headquarters in Melbourne.

He had worked very hard to crack that deal. They had invited him to Melbourne to finalize that deal. As he couldn't make it because of his schedule, I went on his behalf two days back.

Even though I, myself, had a very tight schedule, I managed to squeeze five days out of my schedule and went to Melbourne to finalize the deal. I was scheduled to stay there for five days and first-class flight tickets were booked accordingly for two days later.

But immediately after closing the deal, I received a call from my assistant informing me that the hearing of a case which I was handling recently, was preponed to the following day.

That case was a very important one. So, I had to take an immediate flight back to India. That was how I landed in the economy class.

Sighing tiredly, I closed my eyes, intending to take some rest as the following day was going to be a very long and tiring one.

I woke up to see that there was still an hour left for the flight to land. So I tilted his head to the other side only to be greeted with a sight of a girl who looked like she was in her twenties, with a mesmerizing smile adorning her face. Being captivated by her smile, I couldn't take his eyes off her.

She was smiling, seeing the banter between a baby and a man. I was observing her keenly. Suddenly, the smile on her beautiful face faltered and her face became completely blank. Sometime later, she shook her head as if to bring herself out of her thoughts.

I was observing all of it like a hawk. She stood up, suddenly, and most probably went towards the restroom.

After she returned, she again looked at the baby and smiled to herself. She took her seat and turned to the window while I could not see her face anymore.

Seeing her slumped shoulders from the back, I could feel that she was very lonely as if she had been abandoned by the entire world. She appeared so weak and completely powerless in front of this cruel society.

I had an urge to hug her but was immediately shocked by my thoughts.

"God," I drawled. "Arjun, since when did you start caring for others, and that too, a stranger? Have some control over your thoughts. Haven't you already suffered enough? Once bitten, twice shy," I reminded myself.

After that, I diverted my attention by completely immersing myself in reading the details of the case which I was supposed to attend that day.

The flight landed safely, and I started walking after I was done with immigration formalities. I took out my phone to call my assistant to know whether he reached the airport yet or not. I came to know that he was already waiting outside for me.

I was walking while talking to my assistant, holding my phone to my ear with one hand and my luggage with the other hand.

My assistant was urging me to come out quickly as the court session was going to start at 11:30 a.m.

While talking to my assistant, I saw a girl who was coming towards me with her head bowed down, while muttering something under her breath with a hot chocolate in her hand.

As her head was bent down, I could not see her face, most of it being hidden behind her hair. She was not looking where she was going and had no clue that someone was standing in the middle of her way.

I wanted to move away and give her some space so that she would go past me, without bumping into me but I was too late to do anything as she already dashed into me and protectively held on to her hot chocolate.

Seeing her protecting her beverage like a hen protecting her chicks, a flicker of amusement passed through my eyes, but I masked it quickly with a blank look.

She looked up at me and became dazed. Looking at her face, I instantly recognized her as the same girl from the flight who had attracted my attention from the first sight itself.

I had an urge to pinch her cheeks as she was looking very adorable in that dazed look. Realizing my thoughts, I shook my head and gave her a cold look.

She came out of her reverie and muttered a quick sorry. How much ever I wanted to acknowledge it, I didn't have time as once again I was reminded by my assistant to come out. So, ignoring her, I immediately marched off.