The sun was close to set but she still hadn't called her driver. Bunking her dance classes already had gotten her worried but it was all worth it as she wanted to make him so much happy.

This day, he brought his brother's car. She was shy and warm to him.

"So, how was your day?" She asked with all her hope that he had loved all her gifts.

Shaking his head, he gave her his genuine smile. Still that growing man inside him urged to scream at her that he was bored with her stupidities. She was a kid for God's sake!

When he didn't reply for long and was just staring at her, she got worried. "Shrey? You didn't enjoy? My gifts?"

She gulped and observed his face fully, searching for a bit of appreciation. But he smirked evilly at her.

"The day has been great, Sakshi. I feel like a Prince, getting adorable gifts, dancing, hanging out and everything. But something is missing."

He saw how her face had fallen. "What? Did you want something else?" She bit her lip in embarrassment. "Oh! I will bring it to you, tomorrow. Just tell me what it is. I thought you would like these."'

"I love all these things, Sakshi. Every single one. But that something is special."

She pursed her lips. "What is it, Shrey? Just tell me-"

"Your first kiss."

Her heart fluttered so hard as a shy and nervous smile curved her lips. She lowered her eyes and looked back at him.

"I. . ."

"You don't have to be shy. This is what happens when two people are in love, in relationship, Sakshi. I am your boyfriend and you are seventeen. I can surely demand a sweet kiss from my girlfriend. On my birthday?"

Sakshi gulped and breathed slowly. Her throat had dried and whole body was on fire. She didn't know what to do. Put her arm around his neck or pull him by his shirt, hold his face or just pout her lips ahead.

"Urgh, I don't. . ."

"You don't want to!"

She was startled by sudden raising of his tone. She smiled nervously. "I want to kiss you, Shrey. But will you initiate it?"

The bad boy had finally breathed. He clicked his tongue. "You initiate and then, leave it on me." He whispered while putting his gifts on the back seat, leaning closer and putting hands on her waist.

She squirmed at his touch. Feeling too shy to even move, she didn't look up at him. He chuckled but hummed slowly. Leaning closer, he breathed on her lips making her exhale too.

"Give me my birthday gift, baby. Please me."

Within the next moment, he could feel a soft pair of lips touching his spreading their warmth. He felt light and weak. His hands moved on their own on her waist, making circles as he parted his lips for her to involve more.

She moved hers, sucking on his, feeling too shy and unknown to do anything. Once, she had turned frozen when he had too moved his lips, capturing hers in his hold.

He smiled at her purity and increased his pace and passion, hugging her more, bringing her closer to him that made her putting her hands on his chest. He caressed her sides and held her cheek with another hand. He kissed her deeply, biting her lower lip and warming them instantly by licking them softly. The ache in his groin was increasing. The goosebumps we're rising. It was a kiss that held her emotions. Even when he tried to teach himself that it was his way to take advantage of the fun going in his life, he was involved passionately in this moment.

He couldn't ignore the fluttering of his chest.

Pulling away, he breathed and pulled away, looking at her closed eyes. He saw her smiling to herself and finally opening her eyes. She touched her lips and glanced at him. He could imagine her heart beating faster. She was blushing so deeply. She was happy.

"Now that is my birthday gift." He whispered to her.

She smiled while wiping her red cheeks full of shyness. "I love you, Shrey."

He smirked at her.

"I love you too, baby."

Liar. Cheat. Fraud. Player.

He breathed heavily, feeling scared to get back to sleep again. His eyes went to the window in his hospital room. It was still the night.

Rubbing his eyes, he gulped. He knew what it meant. He knew why someone would just show up in his dreams all of a sudden. Not just dream. It was a memory of a real incident. A great moment between them. A special one for her.

When his time was bad, fate was cursed, and everything around him turned too dull to lure him to him. He had read this fact somewhere.

You watch someone in your dreams all of a sudden. Maybe, the universe tries to remind you how this person is remembering you, thinking about you from days.

It was a true fact, he felt.

It had happened once. He had tested it. An old friend had called him years aho, telling him how he missed him because he had seen Shrey in his dreams the previous night. It was awkward for Shrey and equally surprising, since he himself had seen his friend in his dream, the same night.

As if God was giving some sign.

He rubbed his forehead again. "God is reminding me, how of a fucker I was."

I love you, baby!

He cringed. For the sake of his cousin's crazy obsession, he had lowered his dignity and played with a girl's heart. A teenager who hadn't done anything bad to him, yet he ruined the first-most, the best experience of her love life.

Every girl values her first kiss- her love and what he did to her!

He leaned back on the bed while remembering those words in that secret letter.

"I know you enough to say that you are too strong to give up your life just like that."

He blinked slowly.

Could anyone really know so much about him? Was someone really thinking so high of him when the rest of world around him was calling him a rapist?

The mere flash of those incidents made a quick dash in his mind.

He was there with his friends, in their home. Then the next moment, she was yelling at him.

He touched me. This bastard-he forced himself on me.

The eyes he didn't even look more than two times, were filled in fake sorrow. She blamed all of it on him. He couldn't comprehend earlier about why something so brutal would happen to him.

But now he knew.

"Karma," he whispered. "Karma, it is."

Breathing slowly, he closed his eyes. Feeling a great urge to rush to the bathroom, slit his wrists or just bang his head again and again on the wall until he wouldn't remember hurting her.

"I had played her. Now, someone played me."

He scoffed to himself. "Strong?" Imagining the girl who wrote him the letter, he sighed. "I am not strong. I am not."

Again, his mind worked for guessing the girl's identity. He was sure that he had never been in a real relationship with anyone ever. It was crystal clear.

Just that Sonia was a thing when he was in high school. They got intimate and she might have felt more towards him.

Then in college, it was Sakshi. His vacations in Chandigarh and his whole motive changed.

"I am sorry, Sakshi. I am so-" His eyes opened all of a sudden as he straightened and sat up.

Looking for his laptop, he got up from the bed.

"Dammit!" He was still in the freaking hospital.

His jaws clenched as a strong restlessness spread through his chest and legs. It was a torture being so oblivious.

She was in Delhi that night at the club. If by any chance she was studying anywhere here, he could know her college or University's name from her profile.

But he had to wait for the dawn.

Because he was ninety nine percent sure it was Sakshi, and he wanted her to be. He needed to apologize to her and thank her heartily for being so pitiful when his own loved ones had turned heartless monsters to him.

That one percent still feared for her being his first play, Sonia. He had known that she was abroad after her engagement. He had no excitement for her to be this admirer. It would only ruin his life since he had never really liked her. On top of all, if she was here, there must be some problem in her life or who would help him when she was engaged to someone else, that even returning from Australia.

He wished her to be Sakshi.

He wanted to meet her, see her gain. But still that one percent was bugging his mind. He nodded to himself, deciding to meet that nurse in the morning, tomorrow.

After all, he couldn't just let go this little positivity from his cursed life so easily.

_______

"We are missing something. We are missing something, very important for this case." The lawyer said while leaning back on his chair.

"H-How?" asked Rishabh while glancing at his watch. It was eight in the morning. He had to meet Alisha's father who had fallen sick. After then, he needed to take Shrey home and visit his father too. "How do you mean that?"

The lawyer sighed while opening his file, he showed it to him. "See, we have no clue. No proof to show that Shrey is innocent. All the proofs, situations are going against him. We have only two weeks, Rishabh."

He pointed at a paper which was his own rough note. "I have noted down here some things. Shrey had explained it in his first enquiry that he had gone Kaushik's flat because he had invited him for a little party of his anniversary."

The lawyer pointed. "But we have our first sign here. We could have Shrey's calls history which they all deleted. So, I got it from the police during the investigation. I heard the calls in which Shrey is very casual. He just says Yes as a good friend would say when being genuinely happy."

Rishabh clenched his jaws in defeat. "If only, he hadn't trusted those monsters."

The lawyer took a breath and continued, "Exactly. Despite being so awkward from past month, this Vikas guy calls him as the best friend he was months ago. Shrey should have been suspicious. He could have but we can't blame his innocence. No would expect their best friend to get so low."

Rishabh rubbed his eyes and shook his head. "I don't know, man. My father's sick, brother's keen to die, whole family is crushing down, company too and now, if this case goes against us, my fianceé would leave me."

The lawyer stared at him in sympathy and lowered his eyes. He smiled nervously. "It would be stupid and very unsuitable for me to say this but I think you should place your stars in the right place. Make your God's happy. Do some Jagran, kirtan or Ganesh puja. Someone's evil eyes had fallen on your sweet home, Rishabh."

Rishabh chuckled humorlessly. "Of course, yes. Vikas always seemed creepy to me. Even when he was in college with Shrey, I used to warn him. But he never listened. Look, how he is suffering now. We all are suffering and going to suffer more if this case-"

The lawyer put his hand on his and smiled in understanding. "I will do my best, Rishabh. Shrey is innocent, I can see. Whoever I have inquired was startled at knowing that someone charming like him could do this. He was never that dirty."

Rishabh nodded desperately. "I tell you. My brother is very badly trapped. He cannot just go to jail for being a great friend, a great human. I will do anything. Any kind of sting operation or stalking or anything. But don't let an innocent get into trouble. He fucking-killed himself. Almost!"

The lawyer could feel goosebumps rising on his arm as he remembered how blue the guys' lips had turned that day when he had visited the hospital.

"I will save him," he promised.

_______

Aarush's voice had started irritating her as now, she groaned loudly. "Aarush, let me sleep. It's not even-"

"It's fucking -eight, Sakshi. The professor? What about him? You can't miss his lecture. You will lose one hour of seeing him and also, it's about the syllabus. You have to be a great student. Don't you?" His voice seemed to tear up the speakers of the phone.

Sakshi cringed. "I know. But I have to go to my relatives this morning. Something urgent."

Aarush whined lazily. "Really, Sakshi? Now, you are going to lie to me for this long?"'

A strong guilt surfaced her mind as she sighed heavily. "Aarush," she murmured while opening her eyes. "Don't think like that. I really have to go somewhere."

Aarush hummed in the phone. "But not at your relatives."

Biting her lip, Sakshi thought deeply. Could she trust Aarush for this? She had already been regretting telling them about Mihir's cousin.

She gulped, "You won't tell someone about this. Not even Aditi-"

"I swear on Miss Khanna."

She smiled but warned again. "No, swear on your favorite locket."

He sighed. "Anything for you, Sakshi. I swear on my favorite locket, I won't tell a single soul. Now speak! Because I have to go the lecture too which I was actually calling you for."

Sakshi took a long breathe before finally blurting it all out. "I have to check on an old friend." She thought better to involved some lies so mastermind like him won't catch th exact person. "He. . . He tried to kill himself but thankfully, he is saved. He still is very sensitive and doctors are calling him suicidal."

An old friend

Aarush could feel his eyes getting narrowed. "What the hell? Which friend? Is he a guy? Is he your ex-boyfriend? Why would he do that? If he is suicidal, you shouldn't go near-"

Sakshi cut him off, "I will just check him from far because we aren't friends anymore. We kind of had fought before we parted. So, I can't just show myself up in front of him. It is just a meet to the hospital. The nurse there is my friend. She is helping me in check-"

"What if this nurse tells him?"

"No. Akriti won't do that," she confirmed.

Aakriti

Aarush took a great notice of the name. He noted it on the paper, he was reading his notes from. "Alright. But why are you seeing him from far? You should meet his family and directly ask him. And if it had ended on a fight between you guys. Then, why do you care seeing him? Was it your fault that time?"

Sakshi shook her head. "God, Aarush. No. It was his fault and this fight went to our families. That is why, I can't visit his parents too and because I am such a good human with a big heart, I can't breathe without knowing if he is breathing finely."

Breathe?

Aarush's lips parted in amazement. He swallowed, "Well, is it safe then? Going to see him hiding like this? What if the hospital staff gets suspicious?"

Sakshi smiled at his concern. "No. Aakriti is a smart girl. She informs me and helps smartly. Today, he is going to discharge. I don't know where he would be after that. His home, I don't know anything. I can't reach him after that. That is why, I will see him today without him knowing. If he is fine, then great." She closed her eyes, feeling her heart breaking at the thought of not seeing Shrey again.

"I will be able to breathe then." She whispered.

Again that word.

Breathe

Aarush nodded while grasping to all the information. But he still didn't know the name of the hospital. He scratched his forehead and laughed nervously. "Um, but which hospital has such poor security that you are able to pass through the wards. I can imagine, he must be in ICU or some other VIP ward after being almost dead. His family would be there."

Sakshi chuckled at being happy that she was able to reach her Shrey at worst of his times. "Actually, this hospital has good security obviously. I am talking about the one that lies near South Extension. I am always unable to remember it's name. I had found it in through the newspaper when the news about the suicide came. Actually, this is all was possible because of Aakriti. We were in the same batch when I was doing an internship in my graduation. She remembers and helped me. . . "

Hospital near South Extension

Aakriti, the nurse from her internship batch

The guy's news is in the freaking newspaper

Aarush was listening to each and every word of hers. That guy was either famous or it was randomly reported, he thought.

The fact of Sakshi blurting about an old friend, that even male was very interesting when she had a rowdy brother like Raghav Singh Rathore.

But the more he was listening to her, the more things were getting weird. Blaming his sharp mind, he bit his lip. As she explained more of the way in which she was able to see her old friend, the more he had starting feeling suspicious of Sakshi's wish to see him.

"Sakshi," he hesitated to warn her as her best friend. "You should know, hiding is not easy. This guy tried to kill himself. The guy who has the guts to do something like this, you shouldn't be near him. It's dangerous. What if he catches you and brings out the old fight?"

Sakshi smiled at his concerned voice. It was so sweet of him. "Aarush, you don't have to worry. He won't see me and he is not that crazy to hurt me. Old topics can't be poked because they were over. I am only seeing him for my own satisfaction. I want him to live and be happy because at some point of time, he was the most important person in my life." He still is.

Aarush raised his eyebrows while looking around. Students were talking and enjoying the early morning rays on to the campus. But here he was, worried for his kind best friend whose kindness might put her in trouble someday.

"Alright. But you could have taken me with you for safety?"

Sakshi wanted to blew him a kiss. She giggled in adoration. "I love you for being so caring, Aarush. But, I have to do this alone. I wasn't even sure if I could tell you about this. You don't know how much judgemental people can be. I have faced it in my past a lot."

A spoilt-brat sister of Raghav Singh Rathore! She closed her eyes while remembering all of it that Shrey used to think about her.

Aarush sighed heavily. This girl was keen on going and do this hiding and peeking. "Okay. Just take care. And return to the Uni only. We have more lectures today. You can't miss all of them."

His eyes caught Mihir walking towards the ground with his girlfriend, Mahi. Suddenly, a thought entered his mind.

"Hey, Sakshi! Wait! What if the secret admirer, this Mihir's cousin is stalking you for real? What if he finds out about you meeting this guy? Will it create problems?"

He didn't hear anything for some seconds. He knew that she was either scared or was thinking. But then, he heard a gasp.

"I haven't thought about this before, Aarush." She sounded scared. "If he is really my tai ji's friend, Mrs. Bhatia's son and he gets to know about it. Gets curious or even jealous. Things might get wrong. Because, Mrs. Bhatia visits my home every second day. My brother will know and I must tell you, Aarush, he cannot just see us together. He must not."

Aarush gulped at realising that he had really tensed her. "Why so serious? What will happen? What will your brother do?"

He heard exhaling heavily.

"He would kill one of us."

_______

"What do you think about Aarush and Sakshi's friendship?"

Please vote and comment.

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