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Surprised I'm updating this fic again?
Don't be. 😜😜😜

Will be soon starting with the updates of the other fics as well.

Anyways, Onwards!

"Words in double quotes" - Talking

'Words in single quotes' - Thoughts

(Words in braces) - Telephone conversations

Previously - Pragya and Abhi end up in a cave as they run from Nikhil and his men by sunset. Elsewhere, Aliyah and Purab, while running from the fake kidnappers(Commando and his men) fall of a slope. Purab ends up getting injured. Aliyah feels helpless in the dark, but a guy named Nitin comes to help her. He takes her and Purab to his village which is nearby. In the cave, Abhi's fever rises and in a daze he kisses Pragya, losing consciousness right after it. Elsewhere, Bulbul and Raj try to track them down with the camera footage.

Now -

Chapter 9 - Confrontations

Abhi groggily opened his eyes. 'I wonder why my mattress is so hard tonight.' he thought to himself. However, as he opened his eyes, an entirely different scene greeted him. 'Eh? When did I paint my room white?'

He saw a small fire lit near him, giving him warmth. He looked closely and noticed that he wasn't in his room, but a cave.

Soon, the events of the day came back to him. The last thing he remembered was hugging himself as tight as possible due to the cold. He remembered Pragya coming near him and giving him her scarf. But after that what happened, was blurred in his mind. 'Maybe that was because of my fever.' but Abhi felt better now.

Much better actually.

He took in a deep breath, enjoying his recovery. Suddenly, through the tiny hole that was left in the entrance of the cave, a strong gust of wind blew in, putting out the fire.

"Oho! How troublesome!" he sighed to himself. "Well, I already got a lighter in my pocket. Better light up the fire again." Abhi tried to get up from his position. However, he felt a weight on him. In the dark, he couldn't figure it out what it was and so, he tried to touch it.

He felt soft skin as he touched it with his fingers and knew it was Pragya's face.

He smiled to himself. 'I should make sure she doesn't wake up. She's sleeping so peacefully.' he tried to get up slowly without making a noise. However, as he moved his hand, he felt something poke him on the side. As he tried to move away, he felt more of the poking. He let out a loud squeal as he felt something get inside his shirt.

"The heck?!" exclaimed Pragya as she was rudely woken up by his shout. "Why are you shouting in the middle of the night!?"

"I f-felt something poke me on the sides. It's p-poking me as we speak! Something w-went inside my shirt as well!" Abhi spoke in a panicky voice.

Pragya couldn't see his face in the dark, but could imagine his frightened look. She chuckled. "Abhi, chill. Its just the leaves that I put over you."

"Leaves?"

Pragya nodded. When she realized he won't see it in the dark, she explained. "I found some dry leaves inside the cave. Don't know where it came from, but I thought they might help keep you warm." Pragya blushed suddenly. "I guess I fell asleep on you. Sorry."

"It's okay. After all Pragya, these leaves saved me from my fever." Abhi spoke in relief. "Um...can we light up the fire now? I kind of don't like the dark much. Here's the lighter."

Pragya rolled her eyes. "Don't you mean you're scared of the dark?"

"Not scared. Just apprehensive."

Pragya simply smiled and got busy in trying to light up the fire.

"So? What happened after....um...you know I...err...passed out." Abhi spoke in hesitation. He felt embarrassed to admit that he had fainted. 'Damsels faint. But here, it's me who fainted and Pragya became my saviour. Damn my male pride!'

Pragya was too busy trying to cover up her own blush to notice his embarrassment. She could still feel his lips on her. She tried to think of a way to start the conversation. "W-what was the last thing you remember?"

"Well, you were giving me your scarf and then..."

Pragya held her breath. "Then?"

"And then I..."

"And then you? Yes, finish your sentence." Pragya encouraged.

"And then I..." he looked directly into her eyes.

Pragya felt an excitement hoping he would explain why he kissed her.

"And then I....I..." Abhi made a sheepish face. "Then I went into the la-la land of sleep."

"What?!"

Abhi rolled his eyes. "I'm saying that then I don't remember anything after it. Probably because I passed out, right?"

Pragya looked away. "Y-yes. That's exactly what happened." she replied, hiding the truth.

Soon, they descended into an awkward silence as they sat by the warmth of the fire.

#Hotel#

"Found something?"

"No sir. All of these cameras only seem to show nothing but greenery."

Raj sighed in frustration. He was getting worried for Abhi, Aliyah, Pragya and Purab. 'Please, please be okay kids!'

He and Bulbul had called the technicians and told them to show them the footage captured in the cameras. Till now, they hadn't found anything.

Raj looked at little Bulbul. She sat there in silence. Although Raj doesn't like her obnoxious nature, he didn't like seeing her so sad either. It was better when she was lively and energetic. Sorrow didn't suit her.

"Bulbul, we'll find them. Don't worry beta."

Bulbul looked up at him with hope. "Are you sure?"

"Of course beta."

Bulbul surged forward and hugged him. "I'm scared. Is my Di okay? Did Nikhil do something to her?"

"No Bulbul. Abhi went after them, didn't he? And I know my son. He will protect her no matter what!"

Bulbul nodded and hugged him tighter. "I...I hope you're right."

"Sir! Look at this!" came the voice of one of the technicians.

Raj and Bulbul at once moved towards the monitor and watched carefully.

"Sir, this is the footage from camera number 5."

They watched as a pair ran past the monitor.

Bulbul at once jumped down from Raj's hold. "That's Pragya di and that Skunk!" she shouted in joy as Pragya and Abhi came into view. "Nikhil isn't there! That means...that means you were right! Abhi saved my di from him!"

"See? I told you."

"Sir! Here's another." exclaimed the other one. Raj looked to find Purab and Aliyah running across the area.

"These two locations. Are they near?"

The technicians checked the locations. "It would seem so sir. They aren't that far. The forest may make it difficult to locate each other from within because of its density. But both the places are quite near."

Raj nodded. "I see. But in this cold night, I don't think they would be roaming around. Check if there is any safe place near this part of the forest."

The man checked over the area in the computer. "Yes. There seems to be a settlement near this area. It's a bit further into the forest. But it's the closest area of civilization I can locate from that part of the forest."

Raj nodded. "Then I guess they went there to seek shelter. I'll get my vehicle ready to go there."

"I would advice against it sir."

"Why so?" Raj asked in confusion.

"Because it's too cold out there. And the area is so sloppy, in the dark you won't be able to navigate through the forest."

"But I can't just sit here while the kids might be in danger!"

"Sir, we understand. But going out now, you won't be helping anyone. Neither will you be able to help them, nor will you be able to keep yourself out of trouble."

"But the-"

"They're right." spoke Bulbul.

Raj looked at her. "I thought you wanted to save your sister."

"I do. But going out now would mean you would be putting yourself in danger. You will create trouble for yourself and later, create more problems to worry about for them." she reasoned. "I know my Di. She's strong. And you said Abhi will protect her didn't you? And Puru bhai is there for Aliyah Di. Besides, if they are in some village nearby, then they are surely safe."

Raj let out a defeated sigh. He knew she was right. "Alright. But the moment dawn approaches, I'll get going with my men."

"Don't forget me! I'm going too!"

#Cave#

Abhi sneaked sneaky glances at Pragya's face. Ever since their last conversation, she seemed to have distanced herself from him. It was like he had offended her in someway. He cleared his throat, hoping to gain her attention and start a conversation. The silence was killing him!

However, on seeing her glare, he simply smiled and looked down. 'I think its better to die peacefully from boredom than get shouted at by her.'

Pragya's eye twitched in irritation as she watched him smile towards her. 'He goes onto kiss me without permission, not that I minded of course. But that's not the point! The point is that how could he just forget something like this! How how how?!' However, Pragya knew she was being unreasonable. After all, Abhi had a high fever at that time. He didn't know what he was doing. 'But why did he kiss me all of a sudden! He once told his mother that he doesn't want a broken person like me. And than this? Ugh!'

Abhi, on the other hand, was going over the conversation he had with her in his mind. 'Nope! There doesn't seem to be anything offensive I had said to her. Could it be my bad breath? Nah! She wasn't that near to smell it. Besides, my mouth doesn't smell bad! It only smells bad if I don't brush after having chicken. Ooo yum! I really wish I could have biryani right now! That reminds me, Maa said she would send me some tomorrow. Would taste more delicious with the chutn-'

Abhi shook his head off his wondering thoughts. From thinking of Pragya's anger, he went to think of chicken meat. He chuckled to himself at his ridiculous train of thoughts.

However, this seemed to irritate Pragya further and set off her anger.

"Shut up!"

Abhi blinked at her, shocked at her outburst. "Eh?"

"Just who do you think you are huh!?" Pragya shouted.

Abhi looked on with wide eyes in shock and bewilderment at her behavior. "Um...Abhishek Mehra? Owner of Mehra Industries?"

"Shut up! That's not what I meant!"

Abhi simply blinked at her, cocking his head to the side, giving her a confused look.

"Why aren't you answering me now? Just what do you think of yourself huh!? Answer me!"

"Well, no offense, but you were the one who told me to shut up. Just decide. Do you want me to speak or shut up?"

Pragya got up in frustration and threw some leaves at him. "You headless ape! You don't care about others' feelings, do you?! Everything is just some joke to you!" Pragya shouted. She knew it wasn't his fault that her forgot about their kiss. But she couldn't help herself from venting out her frustration on him. "I'm a joke to you. A simple tool that you are using for your father's film!"

"Hey! That's not true. Pragya, what are you saying?" Abhi got up as well, now getting serious. "I never thought that way about you."

"Oh really now? Is that why you talk behind my back, laugh about how broken I am?!"

Abhi looked at her, shocked. "Pragya, I would never do such a thing! I would never make fun of of these things. How...how could you accuse me of such things!?"

Pragya let out a humorless chuckle. "Oh come on! Don't even try to act like you care. For you, I'm nothing but a broken piece of item. Just a poor orphan that you can use as you wish, talk to as you wish, kiss as you wish!"

"What!? I never did that!" he saw Pragya advert her eyes. "Pragya, you're not telling me everything. Tell me what happened before I passed out. Pragya, Tell. Me." he stressed, coming to stand in front of her.

Pragya looked away and tried to move past him. However, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her to his eye level. "Tell me the truth Pragya."

Pragya gave up and admitted the truth. "You kissed me Abhi. You kissed me!" Pragya shouted with her voice breaking. "You said that if you die tonight, there was one thing you wanted to do. And then...then you kissed me."

Abhi stumbled back with wide eyes, shocked at his own actions. Nevertheless, Pragya continued.

"But that's not what hurt me. What hurt me is that you hate me and already told your mother that you won't ever love me." she saw him look at her. "Yes Abhi. I heard you tell your mother about it. I know you think of me as someone who is totally imperfect and broken. And yet...yet, you kissed me? Why Abhi? Are you playing with me then? Am I just an object, a game to you?"

Abhi took in a deep breath and nodded to himself. "I see. I can see now where you've misunderstood me. Tell me, you heard me tell my mother that I hate you. Did you hear the rest? Did you hear the part where I admitted that I indeed like you?"

Pragya looked at him, shocked. "W-what?"

Abhi gave her a wry smile. "Pragya, I might smile and be joyful. But the truth is that a deep pain rests in my heart from what happened in my past. You all call me a prude. But that isn't the main reason I don't date or flirt with girls. My reason is far more intense than anyone could understand. Only my mother knows the truth."

"An explanation for the fact that you will refuse anyone just because they are hurt and broken? What could you have to justify that!?" Pragya shouted in anger.

Abhi simply smiled at her and sat back down. "Come here Pragya. sit beside me. Today, I'll tell you one important aspect of my past that only me and my mother know about. And now...now, you will know as well."

Pragya didn't want to listen to any explanations he might have. However, the sorrow that she saw in his eyes touched her heart. He did not seem to be faking it. She silently sat down in front of him.

Abhi looked towards the fire and began his tale. "This starts in my university days. It was when I was immature as any other rich guy would be. It was also the time I met the girl who impacted greatly on my whole life. The girl named...Tanu."

**********************************

To be continued...

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~ 🌹 Mona. 🌹