True love never dies, it just gets stronger with time.

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3rd Person's POV

Aarushi had reluctantly gone with Ayaan. She sat behind while Ayaan drove the jet ski. Once or twice, he increased the speed, just to see how Aarushi reacted. To his delight, she wrapped her arms around his torso and clung to him tightly.

Ayaan liked this and smirked to himself. After knowing Aarushi's outlook on their relationship, he was more determined to be with her, to woo her. And till now, to some extent, he was succeeding.

His reverie was broken by a loud, piercing scream. "Kavya!" Aarushi shouted almost immediately," That's Kavya."

Their heads snapped towards the source and they saw Kavya almost drowning. Ayaan quickly changed the direction they were going to and proceeded towards Kavya.

Kavya wasn't seen yet, and Tanay steered his ski faster towards her.
Rohan too reached there, and searched for her at the place she was last spotted. Not finding her near the surface, he swam underwater. After searching for a few minutes he finally found her. Grabbing her by her waist, he brought her on the surface of the water and then lifting her bridal style, carried her to the shore.

The others too, moved towards the shore and Tanay was among the first ones to reach. Kavya was unconscious and Tanay felt as if air had been sucked out of his lungs. He stood there motionless, trying to digest the view in front of his eyes.
Till the other group members arrived, a crowd had gathered over there. After all it was not everyday that you see a girl drowning.

Being a lifeguard, Rohan knew what to do in situations like these. He first pumped out the excess water which had entered her body. Receiving no response from her body, he swore under his breath. Looking at this, Tanay's heart beat so loudly that he was sure that even a deaf guy would have heard it.

Rohan concluded that the only thing which could be beneficial was cardiopulmonary resuscitation , aka CPR. At this moment, Tanay's hands were fisted into balls at his sides to stop him from doing something aggressive. If looks could kill, Rohan would have been dead. The only thing that kept Tanay under control was the fact that Rohan was saving Kavya.

Performing CPR, Rohan felt Kavya's breathing rate rise. Some moments later, she coughed vigorously, slightly opening her eyes. All of them present there heaved a sigh of relief. Though there was one person who wasn't very happy.
'Would've been better if she died,' Veronica thought.

As soon as Kavya regained her consciousness completely and sat up, Tanay rushed forward to hug her.
Taking her in his tight embrace, he muttered," You scared me Kavya, please , please don't ever do that again. I can't bear losing you even for a moment. I'm so sorry I left you alone." His voice full of concern and fear.

He held her face between his palms and kissed her forehead, trying to assure himself that Kavya was now safe. He again took her in his arms, afraid that something may yet again happen to her.

Ayaan and Aarushi smiled at each other, thinking that the two would forget their past instance and reunite then and there.
But to their dismay, Tanay's fate had something else in store for him.

"I'm okay now," Kavya had replied awkwardly, not sure what to say. She had not even hugged him back, which made him loosen his grip on her.

He stared at her, as if trying to decipher something.

Freeing herself from his embrace, she stood up and took a step forward, trying to leave from there, only to stumble back. Tanay quickly caught her and helped her stand.

"Aarushi, can you please accompany me till the room?" Kavya asked.

Aarushi nodded a quick yes and left from there with Kavya, sharing a helpless look with Ayaan.

Tanay looked hurt after Kavya's departure. 'How can she be so indifferent to me! ' He thought.

Dejected, he too walked away towards his room. Upon entering, he slumped back on the bed. His mind was repeatedly playing the morning incident. He placed his hands on his face, sighing heavily. A thousand what ifs' revolved in his head.

What if she had drowned?

What if Rohan hadn't reached there on time?

What if something would have happened to her?

What if she had suffered some major injuries?

He opened the bedside drawer and took out the torn picture kept in it. The day before, after Ayaan had left, he had picked it up and carefully placed it in the drawer.

He clutched the picture to his heart, trying to ignore the negative thoughts running in his mind.
'I would have never forgiven myself if God forbid anything had happened to you, my angel.. I left you alone, it was my fault I didn't accompany you. It is due to me that you are in this state. It's - it's all my fault....' His eyes were glazed with tears.

Tanay felt his world stop when Kavya was unconscious. At that moment he realised that whatever may happen, however distant they may be physically, he won't stop caring for her. Loving her.

At that exact moment, Ayaan graced the room with his presence. Somewhat during all these things, his patience had worn off and made him irritated. He could clearly see love in both, Tanay and Kavya's eyes, but still, he couldn't understand why were they not sorting out their problems with each other.

"Tanay, bro, this is enough! Are you both dumb? Can't you two see how much you both love each other. You'll always love her, no matter what the circumstances are and the same thing goes for her. Look at you! Going all devdas since yesterday. And don't you dare deny it. All of us saw what happened there. I don't understand why the f*ck are you guys hell bent on fighting! " He lashed out.

"No. Its nothing like that. I was just worried for her......like a friend...," he replied looking down, denying whatever Ayaan said.

"Friend?" Ayaan exclaimed raising his eyebrows," Then what a f*cking good friend you are Tanay! I saw the daggers being thrown at Rohan by you almost all the time. When Kavya was unconscious, you looked so pale that we feared you'd pass out any moment. We all saw that look on your face when Kavya practically behaved like a stranger to you. Friend my foot! Saale uske pass kyu nahi jata!"

"You just said the reason...," he said shrugging his shoulders ,"She behaved like a stranger."

"Effing shit !" Ayaan threw his hands in the air.
'Give some brains to this guy here,' he thought sighing in defeat.

He said," Uske pass jaa. Mana usse. How can you lose hope so easily!" 

"You think she'll understand?" Tanay asked hopefully.

"I know it." Ayaan assured him.

"Hmm...let's see.." Tanay trailed off.

"Aur agar tu uska haath nahi pakdega na, toh mai pakad lunga," said Ayaan in all seriousness.

"Saale try toh kar, haath tod dunga." Saying this he lightly punched Ayaan.

"Chal jaa ab." Ayaan patted his shoulder.

And just like that, Tanay went out of the room to Kavya.
Somewhere, even he knew that whatever Ayaan said was actually true. No matter how much he tries denying it , the truth remains the same. He just needed the confirmation or rather the motivation to act further. And now he was sure, sure that Kavya was his and he was hers.
'I'm coming to win you back, my angel,' he lovingly thought.

Meanwhile........

Kavya sat on her bed awkwardly, still under shock.

As soon as they had entered the room, Aarushi had bombarded her with question after question, without giving her a chance to speak.
"Tu thik toh hai na Kavya ? Aurtu giri kaise? Ham sab ki jaan nikal gayi thi yaha tujhe aisa dekh kar. Thank god for Rohan !" Aarushi exclaimed in a go.

"Yaa...... I'm okay. Aaru, why's he doing that?" Kavya asked, looking lost.

"Who? Rohan ? What did he do? He saved you!" Aarushi asked, scrunching her eyebrows in confusion.

"Tanay..... why is he doing all this? Acting to be concerned and all even after being with Veronica."

'God...not this topic again!' Aarushi groaned inwardly.
"Because he loves you God-damn-it! And everyone, every single person can see that, except for you. Can't you see he was genuinely and actually worried for you. You, out of all people, know him better. But you......, just-just forget it." Aarushi lashed out.

"But he's with Veronica," Kavya said sulking. Just the thought of Tanay and Veronica together made her cringe. "And you can't deny what I saw with my own eyes. And that tattoo, why would he get a T and V?"

'Tattoo, tattoo, tattoo! To hell with you Ayaan. Only if you hadn't made me swear not to reveal this to anyone. Gosh Kavya! You are so wrong about it! You'll be so happy when you know the truth!" Aarushi thought to herself, mentally cursing Ayaan.

After Ayaan had got to know the truth about Tanay's tattoo, he had immediately told all that to Aaru, on the only condition that she wouldn't reveal this to anyone. Collecting her thoughts, she calmly said," Kavya, did Tanay ever accept being with her? N-"

"Veronica did," Kavya replied, cutting her mid-sentence.

"Tanay?" Aarushi asked raising her eyebrows. When she got silence as her answer, she continued, " No right? Do you even know what happened to him after your accident, when you lay unconscious? He literally died seeing you like that. He was damn angry after you broke up with him. And you very well know what follows when something like that happens. Even now, he has practically locked himself up in his room, doing god knows what!"

Kavya's hands flew towards her mouth and she gasped at the mention of Tanay being angry. He was usually very calm and composed, but when he lost his cool, no one could handle him. He wouldn't have control over his own actions. In their relationship of almost six years, Kavya of course knew this! In these situations, only she could handle Tanay.

She was very tensed and recalled the old times. Once, Tanay had badly injured his hand by repeatedly punching the wall. Her mind went haywire and she couldn't understand what to do.

"Aaru, what should I do now?" She asked confused. She was afraid; afraid that her Tanay would have done something bad to himself.

"Nothing right now! You just encountered a drowning incident and you wanna go out! You need rest ma'am," Aarushi said bossily.

"No. I want to do something now. I'll rest later. I need to see him now Aaru, pretty please," Kavya said, making a puppy face.

"Promise?" Aarushi first asked and after receiving a positive reply from her, said," Then what're you waiting for, go get your ass out of here girl!" And she gave Kavya a slight push and shook her head at he friend's innocence.

Kavya frantically took long strides towards Tanay's room, worry evident on her face.

'Oh God! I just hope he's fine. Please, let him be okay,' she prayed.
With her thoughts revolving around Tanay's current state, she failed to notice the person coming from the other direction.

The two of them collided with each other, and Kavya involuntarily closed her eyes in anticipation of greeting the floor. But to her surprise, two arms snaked around her waist, steadying her.

She slowly opened her eyes to see what happened and gasped looking at the person who saved her.

"Tanay!"

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Hola people !!
How are you guys doing ??

Welcome all the new readers !!!

Phew! Rohan saved Kavya... And she's safe.

Now that Tanay and Kavya are heading out for each other, what do you think will happen next?
Let me know what you guys think...

And hey! What's your favourite song at the moment?
Mine's -  'Tu Jo Mila' from Bajrangi Bhaijaan and 'Deewani Mastani' from Bajirao Mastani.
I absolutely love Deepika in that song. She's so graceful, and the music and all is just fab !!
Did you all see it?

Happy Halloween !!

Until next time,

~ Manasi ❤️