Pihu opened the door, squealing in delight as Sakshi came in her sight.

"Oh my God!"

She hugged her tightly while Sakshi reciprocated the love by rubbing her back. "I missed you, Bhabhi."

Pihu giggled while looking at her. "I missed you so much." She chuckled while hugging her again. "I am so happy to see you, Sakshi."

Raghav rolled his eyes. "Now, will you both come inside or shall I play some emotional background music?"

Both the ladies chuckled while getting inside. Raghav took her suitcase and bag up to Sakshi's bedroom. While his mother came out of her room along with her husband.

Sakshi's smile faded.

Pihu watched as her father-in-law walked ahead, with his arms open, making Sakshi smile sadly. He hugged her laughingly. "My child has return. Alert the media, please. We need to celebrate."

Both of them chuckled while Pihu wiped the corner of her eyes. She didn't know how much worried she was for this girl. Now, that she was in front of her, she was overwhelmed.

Sakshi pulled away from her Tau ji, now looking awkwardly at her Tai ji.

"Namaste, Tai ji." She mumbled while going towards her, hugging her softly when she had started to sob lightly.

"I am sorry for making you feel depressed, baby. You shouldn't have left like that, so early. Now, I won't let you go until your college staff starts calling in concern."

Sakshi chuckled, smiling to herself. She missed all this drama, she missed her family. It was bearable than the real mess that she had left back in the Delhi.

"Wait! Your eyes looks swollen. What is the deal?" Her Tai ji asked worriedly. Pihu too reached them, observing her when Sakshi shook her head.

"Exams are over now. I slept till late, in the morning-"

"Bua!" Rian screamed while running towards her, hugging her legs.

Sakshi gasped, and excitedly carried him in her arms. Kissing her cheeks and hugging her tightly, she made a face that was close to choking out a sob. She controlled hard, smiling when Pihu looked at her adorably.

"When I told him, you were coming. He has been waiting since then," told Pihu with a smile.

"How are you, baby?" Sakshi pouted, moving her head back to see Rian quiet and hugging her. "You missed me?"

The boy nodded with a grumpy face still hugging her, making everyone laugh.

Pihu looked through the window and noticed, "It's dark already. Now, go and freshen up. I will bring something for you. You can rest and have dinner later. I have made your favourite dishes. Halwa too."

"Oh! Come on, Bhabhi. I have been avoiding sugar since months."

Pihu nodded her head in humour. "Yes. Yes. You have to maintain that zero figure. You look all skinny to me. Exams did work on you enough-"

"Pihu!" Raghav's voice came from the first floor, making her jump.

"Coming," she mumbled, leaving the hall already, climbing stairs.

Sakshi laughed along with others, still holding Rian in his arms.

"Thank God for making families," she whispered to herself, taking Rian with her towards her room.

_______

Aditi walked from left to right, frowning at the words she was listening.

"I tried to stop her, but she didn't listen. Now, what could I do? I told you the first moment she left. Anyway, she didn't make up with her boyfriend. He was here in the morning," she answered.

The bell rang immediately.

"Now, I can't do anything. She is gone. It's best if he think about it on his own. You don't have to interfere. He can maybe send that picture to her brother."

The bell rang twice.

Aditi twitched her lips, sighing. "Look, there's someone at the door. I'll call you back. Bye." She hung up without even hearing the response.

Rushing towards the door, she took a long breathe, calming her nerves, praying that it was neither Aarush nor Shrey.

She opened the door, only to gulp in disappointment as Aarush smiled at her. "Hey, babe."

She smirked, grabbing his collar. Pulling him inside, she closed the door and shut after him while she smooched him passionately.

Aarush pulled back smiling at her. "Where's the other musketeer?"

Aditi rolled her eyes when her back was facing Aarush. She sighed and looked at him. "Gone to Chandigarh."

Aarush was stunned. "No. She said, she would leave tomorrow."

Aditi chuckled, sadly. "Why couldn't she leave now? She was in hurry."

"I'll call her," Aarush had already started looking in his phone when he heard her snorting.

"Shrey came in the morning while I was away jogging. Something happened because when he left, she started crying and packing things. She left immediately."

Aarush frowned, "Oh!" He blinked looking around and suddenly sighed. "Leave it! But thank God, you are not gone. Because I need your phone. I need to call mom."

"Why my phone?" Aditi was scared because of her carelessness now. She had forgotten to delete the number.

"I didn't take new pack. My talk time gone. Now, give me. She would be worried since I didn't call her back from last night." He twitched his lips, looking at her desperately.

Aditi gulped and took her one from the couch. She picked it up, and instead of handing him, she tried to unlock it.

"I can unlock it," Aarush said while snatching it from her.

"What the hell! Aarush!" She gasped, while he stepped back and checked the unsaved numbers in recent call logs.

His jaws clenched when he found the latest one just two minutes ago. He called the number while glaring at her. "Who were you talking to?"

Aditi was frightened to the core. "To the president of a debating society, I am planning to take part in this winter."

Aarush smirked, shaking his head when he put the call on speaker.

"Hello?" It was Mihir's voice. "Aditi?"

His eyebrows raised at seeing the horror on Aditi's face. He cut the call and put it in his pocket.

"Who else you are talking to behind my back, Aditi?"

She gulped, looking at him. "Are you doubting me? He was Mihir, not a stranger. He has a girlfriend."

"With whom he broke up a month ago. Since then, you have been giving him that look like you want to fuck him despite having me by your side," he said, calmly.

Aditi shivered, blinking rapidly. "You are taking it all wrong."

Aarush laughed humorlessly. "I did take it all wrong," said. "That you liked me. You loved me. And I was lucky to have you crazy about me. Damn! How could I be fooled by a girl like you? You were my best friend before everything. Right?"

"What happened to you? Why are you talking like that?" She whispered, staring at him in disbelief.

"The truth happened to me," he sneered. "How could you do this to a girl when you are one yourself?" He yelled angrily.

Aditi was stunned, terror crossed her features and it gave Aarush immense satisfaction that he had caught her.

"Why did you do it?" He asked, his voice tired from disbelief. "Why? She has been your flatmate since forever. She trusted you. She has done nothing to you."

"Nothing!" She shouted back. "Nothing? Everytime I see you both, it shows what she has done to me. What she has done to you that all this time you are always thinking about her! It's never me. But always her. Always. Sakshi, this. Sakshi that. I am tired of being the third wheeler despite being the one titled as your girlfriend."

Aarush was not just shocked. He was deeply disturbed. It was a friendship of more than three years.

"How could you not understand me when I have told you again and again? I love her as a best friend. I care for her but it was all platonic." He confirmed, his heart aching from this betrayal.

Aditi laughed, her eyes filling up. "I tried to give you both space. But it was always a mistake. Because you were closer than ever. I wanted the attention from you Aarush. But it was all for her. Your eyes were always on her."

Aarush smiled sadly. "You were bold. She was innocent. She needed our care. I never thought that I was alone. You were with me, looking over her. She is our best friend."

"Best friend is a myth in today's world."

She sobbed, looking at him. "She never told me things. She told you. She never trusted me. In the end, she was taking you from me. I see the way you looked at her, Aarush. Like you wanted her to be your lady, not something platonic."

Aarush chuckled, "Even if it was, I never considered it true. Because I valued our friendship. Sakshi cares for me. I care for her. She was the one who suggested me to propose you because she knew, you loved me. Too bad, we both were wrong. You never loved me."

"You were just jealous of her. Her innocence, her purity. Her background, her family. You were jealous of her because Ronnie liked herm. You are jealous now because it her who is being stalked by Mihir and Kabir, not you. You are an attention seeking whore! I should have known," he said, glaring at her.

Aditi stared at him in disbelief.

"No matter how much you hated her, a true lady would never bring down another. As a man, I respect my competitions, but I would never humiliate them, for no reason. You booked a lifetime of shame and insecurity for Sakshi by clicking those photos and sending it to Mihir."

Aditi's mouth parted in shock. She shook her head.

"A student has access to my email ID, uses it to send the pics to Mihir. No one has access to my IDs, my laptop, my phone except for you. You took her pics to impress Mihir. Didn't you even realize how he was forwarding it to Kabir? They both could be jerking themselves off seeing her nudes?" He spat, feeling disgusted by the girl in front of her.

"You don't believe this person whoever told you about it!" Aditi whispered. "I love you, Aarush. I was jealous of Sakshi but I never did that."

"You don't have to pretend to be defending yourself," he chuckled humorlessly. "I had logged your drive with mine. I know what you are hiding and updating. Not to forget you just sent her and Shrey's photo, two hours ago. All of this to impress Mihir? Take revenge on Sakshi?"

Aditi's eyes filled with tears as guilt surfaced her mind seeing disgust in his gaze.

"Not just that, you did two years ago too. Ronnie wanted Sakshi and to tease him more, impress him for your mean motives, you sent him her nudes without even him asking you. You are sick," he announced, glaring at her, kicking the couch in anger. "A slut!"

Hurt surfaced her features, Aditi let out a sob.

"Do you even realize what you have done to a girl who had only taken care of you all these years? From your laundry to cleaning this flat, she never took it upon her the burden but did it for you. You passed all these semesters because of her?" His jaws clenched in utter anger.

"And I thought, I was falling for you. I am disgusted by these act of yours. I hate you. You don't exist for me anymore," he confessed, his eyes showing pain. "Our friendship, it's all tainted now. You just didn't betray us. You tainted each memory of these years. I will remember you and I will feel sick. And you know what, I and Sakshi will forever be friends because I am going right now, telling her the truth. So her brother will deal with you, those two brothers."

Aditi looked at him in horror. "I was not in my senses, Aarush. I am sorry."

"What if those men upload the photos? Leak them. What will Sakshi do? She will die on your name," he whispered, telling her the truth. "How could you do this? I don't understand."

"I never took her face. I hid her face," she tried to reason, making him twitched his lips in disgust.

"Damn! You are sick." He stepped back when she tried to hold his hand. "Don't you dare touch me, or I'll slap you hard. I swear I am thinking about slapping you, forcefully taking your nudes and leaking them on internet."

He stepped ahead, trying to touch her shoulder while she stepped back in fright. "What? Now you aren't loving me." He caught the hem of her top, pretending to remove it, making her wail loudly.

He stopped and felt ashamed already. He couldn't get low like her.

"I'll apologise to her, Aarush. Please don't hate me." She whispered, staring at him hopefully with tears in her eyes. "I was jealous and couldn't stop when Mihir gave me attention. He lured me into giving him pics. He made me believe that Kabir was right one for Sakshi. And for that they needed something to blackmail her."

Aarush couldn't believe his ears.

"I hid her face. I swear, I was scared. I even stopped it since the day, Shrey started coming here."

"Because you couldn't get the chance to see her changing clothes. How creepy you have been? That poor girl is living with you ghost, I feel bad for her." Aarush was highly disturbed.

Aditi stared at him, tiredly. She had lost her friendship. Her friend. The person who respected her the most. She realized how foolish she had been.

"I'll give you the screenshots of Mihir and my chats. Take my phone, take all the proofs. I'll help you get them. They are planning to blackmail Sakshi," she told him.

It was no surprise for Aarush. "Of course, they are. Now, you have even involved Shrey in this. I can't believe I called you my love. I swear, I want to vomit."

"Aarush, please." She sobbed, "Please forgive me. Slap me. Beat me. But don't hate me."

Aarush looked at her, his eyes filled with hurt. "I'll hate you." He said, taking her phone with him. "I will parcel this to you, since I can't afford seeing your face and do vomit again."

He turned around, opening the main door.

"Aarush," she called him.

He bit his lip, turning sideways.

"Kabir's ex-wife had ran off with a businessman. His mom was hospitalized. His own son, a two-year-old child is not in his custody but his wife's since her new husband is a rich guy and they had won the custody in divorce considering the man's good reputation. Kabir was devastated. Sakshi was a new hope for him. When Mihir told me about it, I felt pity for him and couldn't resist helping him in getting closer to Sakshi the way he tried."

Aarush smiled sadly.

"If only you had suggested him to win Sakshi's heart, not her nudes. He doesn't deserve her. No one will live with a creep like him. Glad to hear, his wife ran off and now living happily." He said, his shoulders loosening.

"I am leaving while you go to the mirror, and recognize what you have become. You are no less than a woman who runs brothel for me now," he said, walking away, leaving her staring at his back in defeat.

______

"What do you think?"

Please vote and comment.

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I have taken advantage of a free weekend because I wasn't in a mood to study. Now that I have update 3 chapters, I'll study free of any tension. And I enjoyed writing these chapters. Can't wait to write the upcoming ones. *Giggles excitedly*