"Finally, it is evening," Dev exclaimed in joy.

He had completed the remaining part of the punishment that his Mia Bella had given him. Arjun had been making fun of him all day.

Dev growled in anger looking at Arjun. Sonakshi had warned him against laying a hand on Arjun for the whole day.

Tomorrow, Arjun would be buried six feet under!

Kids had never been Dev's cup of tea. He had very little patience. Kids always infuriated him. But today, he learnt something so beautiful from the kids. Their innocence softened them.

FLASHBACK

"Dev, this is the place," Arjun announced when he and Dev entered Little Hopes Orphanage.

"I have to babysit kids here?" Dev asked incredulously.

"Well, that is what Sona said," Arjun replied.

"Sona?" Dev asked raising an eyebrow.

"I mean Sonakshi said. You are not allowed to thrash me," Arjun saved himself.

"I know. Not today. Tomorrow, you would not even be able to call her Sona," Dev growled at him.

Possessive much Arjun thought and rolled his eyes.

"You can't survive without me," Arjun mumbled.

"I know Grandma. Stop mumbling. I am really happy that you are my best friend Arjun," Dev said with sincerity despite not meeting Arjun's eyes.

This man can never handle his feelings. All he had learnt was ruthlessness. Now, I can see him being at least slightly human. Thank you Sonakshi Arjun thought.

"Uncle?" A small kid called out to Dev, tugging his trousers near his knees.

"Uncle?" Dev scrunched his nose in annoyance.

He looked down at the small boy who was looking at him with awe. Dev could not help but smile at the innocence that the eyes of that child portrayed. He could see how naïve that child was. Dev bent down and sat on his knees such that his height was almost up to the child's height.

"Don't call me uncle kid," He said sassily, "Call me bro."

How many heart attacks are you going to put me through today Sonakshi? Arjun thought shocked witnessing Dev talking sweetly to a kid, Dev usually despised kids. And now, he is speaking to one so fondly. And smiling at him too. You are bringing out his humanity.

"Ahh. You must be Mr Devrath. Ms Sharma said that you offered to look after the kids this afternoon," An old lady said, coming up with a bunch of, no, an army of kids.

"Yes. This is my friend Arjun Rawat. We both will be here till you return. Your name?" Dev asked.

"My name is Maaya. I run this orphanage. Ms Sharma has been a great help to us," The old lady said.

"Nice to meet you, Maaya. How many kids do we need to look after?" Dev inquired as he eyed the kids. Most of them looked quite malnourished.

"Oh, actually most of them are coming with me. I am taking them shopping," Maaya chuckled.

"Whom do I have to look after then?" Dev asked.

He internally rolled his eyes. Sona! You are wasting a whole afternoon of mine for me to babysit kids who are not even going to be here at their orphanage.

"The kiddo at your feet and these two cheeky children," Maaya said as she gave a stare saying behave-yourself to the other two boys.

"Oh ok," Dev said, unsure of how he was going to handle the situation now.

"Dev uncle?" the kid who was still near Dev's legs.

Dev was going to yell at that child again. But the black orbs of the small kid observed him so cutely that Dev could not bear to raise his voice against him.

"I will get going. Thank you for being such a sweetheart Dev," Maaya said and walked out with the other kids behind her.

"Well then little guy," Dev said softly again kneeling near the child, "What is your name?"

"Meeee..." The child screeched pointing towards his own chest. The grin on the child's face made Dev ruffle the kid's hair and laugh at the cuteness of the child.

"Yes. You," Dev said, really slowly.

"Isaan," The boy said.

"It is Ishaan," One of the two other boys said.

"And you too?" Arjun asked the two comparatively older boys.

"I am Ashok," The boy who spoke before said.

"I am Kartik," The other boy said.

"Well then, I do not know how to babysit. How about you guys play by yourself while I and my friend Arjun have some man-to-man talk?" Dev proposed.

"You not play?" Ishaan asked with pleading eyes.

Dev internally cursed. This child is just overloaded with cuteness. If I say no, he might start crying. I wish I had seen such innocent days rather than seeing men shot by my father.

"Well, I do not know what to play and how to play," Dev explained hesitantly.

"We will teach you," Kartik said.

"Come on Dev. Relax and Enjoy," Arjun joked.

"I do not enjoy. You know that Arjun," Dev said grimly.

Arjun stayed mum. He knew Dev had a very difficult childhood. His father had been put in jail with murder charges. After coming out of Jail, Mr Dixit was busy getting things back on track and making Dev his heir both for business and his mafia.

Dev was made to practice shooting real people, the people who had wronged his father. The first time Dev had seen his father shoot someone, his father had yelled at him for closing his eyes.

In a world where everything runs on power and money, one cannot be soft-hearted. The only humanity in the person remains family. Over the years, Dev had lost his humanity and had become ruthless. But Arjun never ceased being Dev's friend.

"What do you mean by that Dev bro?" Ashok asked, his eyes curious.

"He means that he has so much work at the office that he never has time to enjoy," Arjun covered up for him.

"You know? Yesterday was Friendship Day," Kartik said "Will you be my friend?" The boy asked forwarding a red band to Dev.

"What is that?" Dev asked pointing at the band and then turned to Arjun, "Yesterday was friendship day bro. Happy Friendship to us."

"I say let's go and have some fun at a pub close by," Arjun said, grinning at Dev.

"Then, my Mia Bella would pick me up and throw me out of the category of the people close to her," Dev said sighing.

"Sonakshi doesn't drink?" Arjun asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Not much. She usually hates alcoholics," Dev replied.

"Sad for you, bro," Arjun put a hand on Dev's shoulder, mock comforting him.

"How about we play hide and seek?" Ishaan offered, not understanding the conversation spoken by the old men in suits.

"OK. Go Hide. I and Arjun will seek you three," Dev said to the three children.

The kids ran off to hide.

"What do you want to tell me?" Arjun asked.

"Thank you for taking care of me in every way possible, for being there when no one else was or wanted to be and when you didn't even have to be. Everyone has those friends who are close but not really; who you always feel kind of awkward and weird about asking for help and like you have to clarify you'll do them some kind of favour in return, but you're not one of those.

You never got mad when I didn't call you for weeks on end. You were and are there for everything, no bargaining or explanations are needed. Thank you for being a different friend than everyone else, different from the friends who are only there for fun things. Thank you for always being fun even when we're not having fun. I don't know how else to explain that.

Thank you for believing in me when I was too weak and exhausted to believe in myself. Thank you for pushing me, for repeating those affirmations that don't mean anything in inspirational films but mean everything when someone who cares about you says them. Thank you for not judging me when I did something really stupid, but also thanks for telling me I was an idiot and probably shouldn't have done the stupid thing. Thank you for always being honest.

Thank you for doing all the things a real best friend does; for letting me sob into your shoulder when I need to and handing me the flask when there aren't any more words. Thank you for always knowing who I am and reminding me of that when I forget. Thank you for being genuinely concerned with the outcome of my life and always listening, even when you're tired. Thank you for telling me the things no one wants to hear and sparing the bullshit advice. I can't think of many other people I'd actually take a bullet for," Dev spoke out his heart to his friend.

"Dev uncle, come catch us," Ishaan called out.

"I am coming to get you," Dev said and left.

"Emotional oaf," Arjun said, wiping a tear.

FLASHBACK ENDS

The rest of the evening was spent with the kids. It was 7 pm. Dev planned to call Sonakshi and tell her that he redeemed himself.

Suddenly, his phone started ringing. Thinking it to be Sonakshi, Dev smiled but then the smile turned into a frown seeing the caller's id.

NATASHA GUJRAL. 

Dev sent a quick message to Sona before accepting Natasha's call.

Meet you tomorrow Mia Bella. I have finished my punishment.

"Hi NG. What happened?" Dev greeted Natasha.

"Devil, I am in a big problem. I need your help," Natasha spoke with short breaths.

"I will be right there," Dev said and cut the call.

Sonakshi sat in front of her best friend Tangent. Jatin would arrive later. Sonakshi had plans of leaving before Anurag arrived. Her brother was not going to come. He was busy on a forgive-me date with Aahana.

"Well then, Happy Late Friendship Day Sonakshi," Tangent said raising a glass filled with wine.

"I don't like drinking, Tangent, " Sonakshi said.

"Stop calling me Tangent. Say my real name," Tangent spoke back.

"As you wish Tanya Saberwal," Sonakshi revealed the name of her best friend.

"Well, then 7 years is a long time. Right Sona?" Tangent asked pouring out a bit more wine for herself.

"Well we were both wronged at the same time," Sonakshi said grimly.

"When is the wedding?" Tanya steered the topic away from their haunting past.

Sonakshi faced Tanya and raised her eyebrow in anticipation.

"Yours and lover boy's marriage Sona," Tangent clarified.

"After he proposes and after I tell him the truth, " Sonakshi said resolutely.

"When exactly?" Tanya queried.

"Right after he proposes," Sonakshi said with a sad smile.

"He deserves to know, " Tangent spoke.

"I know," Sonakshi said looking out of the window.

"I heard Valldari's wife was a traitor, " Tangent started a new topic.

"Well yes. She was involved with my current love in a plan to expose my identity to the whole world, " Sonakshi explained.

"You killed her?" Tangent questioned.

"She is alive," Sonakshi said.

"Why don't you kill all the traitors Sonakshi?" Tanya asked annoyed that despite being a mafia, Sonakshi was always so human-like.

"Because those who sin are supposed to be punished not those who themselves have been wronged," Sonakshi said.

"Are you going to spare the people who destroyed us?" Tangent asked.

"Never Tanya. They do not deserve to live," Sonakshi replied

Tangent was checking her messages on her phone. Sonakshi's phone suddenly got a notification. She saw it was from her Casanova.

Meet you tomorrow Mia Bella.
I have finished my punishment.

Sonakshi smiled at the message. Tanya caught her friend blushing while looking at her phone.

"Message from lover boy?" Tanya asked her.

"Yes, No, I mean no," Sonakshi fumbled blushing even more.

"Oh, God Sona! You are blushing as red as a Tomato," Tanya teased.

"Shush. And don't call him Loverboy! He is my boyfriend," Sonakshi said possessively.

"Okay, jealous lady! I won't snatch your love from you. Tell me how you feel when you are close to him," Tanya asked.

"I already told you. I feel safe, protected, and loved," Sonakshi said.

"I meant a bit more intimate. You know kissing and more than that. Did you two have a go at it?" Tanya asked.

"Oh, God! Tanyaaaa! No. You know my panic attacks. We have kissed a few times and that's it. The remaining things after marriage," Sonakshi said flustered.

"Such a bore Sona! You should explore him," Tanya said.

Sonakshi closed her eyes. She picturized the time when he was shirtless in front of her in her office cabin. She could feel butterflies in her stomach even though Dev was not in front of her. She could feel her cheeks getting warmer when she remembered the kiss in front of the whole crowd at the fashion show.

Suddenly, Sonakshi's phone rang. Dev was calling her. Sonakshi gave a wide smile and lifted the call. He felt she was thinking about her.

"Hello, Casanova!" Sonakshi greeted with enthusiasm.

"Sona! I am really sorry. I swear I did not do anything wrong," Dev said in a tone filled with apology.

Sonakshi scrunched her face in confusion. He hardly called her Sona. He would always say, Mia Bella. She did not understand why Dev was scared. She did not know what Dev was talking about.

At that moment Tangent dropped her phone. Sonakshi could see that shock was written completely over Tanya's face. Sonakshi walked to pick up Tanya's phone to see what had shocked her bestie. Dev was still on the call.

Sonakshi bent and picked up the phone and her heart skipped a beat when she read the headlines and saw the picture

NATASHA GUJRAL ENGAGED TO DEVRATH DIXIT

WORD COUNT: 2390 Words

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