||Shubman||

After I bid adieu to Anya's family I leave for Riya's. Abhay and Riya wanted me to stay at their place tonight. I text Dad while driving cause I know he must be waiting for me.

Staying at Riya's place tonight with Abhay. Don't wait for me.

I press the send button and continue driving. I reach her society in ten minutes. I go upstairs and ring the bell. She opens the door in no time.

"Hey" I say hugging her and she hugs me back.

"I thought you ain't coming, it's 12:45" she says leading me inside.

"Got stuck. Where is Abhay?" I ask her, "bedroom" she replies. Both of us go to her room.

"Hey" Abhay says flashing a bright smile seeing me. "Hey" I say returning the smile. Riya sat beside Abhay and I take the couch in her bedroom.

"So how was it?" He asks me. I just shrug.

"Let me guess, you messed it up, isn't it?" Riya asks. I nod. I tell them everything that happened in the restaurant and also that I dropped her home.

"Did she forgive you?" Abhay asks.

"I don't really know" I say shrugging.

"I don't think she did, he messed it up real bad this time" Riya says. "What's wrong Shub? I've never seen you doing this" she adds.

"You know what's wrong Riya, I can't get her off my mind, I'm not ready. I need time" I explain.

"I understand Shub, but just tell me what's Anya's fault? Do you have any idea how bad she felt?" Riya says, that's when realisation strikes me. She's right, it's actually not her fault.

"It's not his fault either, he isn't in the right state of mind" Abhay defends me. Riya nods.

"What should we do now?" I ask.

"Should I talk to her?" Riya suggests. "How'll that help?" I question her.

"C'mon Shub, I'm better than you when it comes to communication" she explains. She's actually right. Whenever I had a fight with Siya, Riya is the one fixes it.

"I like the idea" Abhay states.

"Okay" I say.

"Give me her number" Riya commands. "I don't have it" I reply.

"Then arrange it from somewhere, I need it tomorrow anyhow" she orders.

"But how?" I ask puzzled.

"That's your headache" she says. How am I supposed to get her number? We don't even have mutual friends.

"I'm going to sleep now, I've office" she says. "I'm joining" Abhay follows her. I went to the other room and laid on the bed thinking of ways to get Anya's number but soon felt asleep.

||Anya||

Once we went inside, I immediately rush to my room to avoid the the question-answer session about which I was certain. I don't want to lie to them about the evening, not because I let them down but for some reason I didn't want them to have a bad impression of Shubman. I was still made at him but he's helped me. I saw two sides of him today and now I'm confused which one is the real one.

I was way too tired to think about it so I immediately drifted off to sleep.
____________________

I shut the alarm I set last night and moved to the washroom. I did my daily routine of brushing and bathing and came out. I wore my official dress code, comb my hair and went downstairs.

Everyone was already seated when I reached. I took the seat beside Aryan.

"Good morning" I say settling in.

"Good morning sweetheart" dad replies. "Looks like you were really tired" he adds.

"Yeah I had a lot of work yesterday" I say.

"So how's it? The date with Shubman" he asks, eagerness evident in his eyes.

"It was really nice. He's s good guy" I lie.

"What did you guys talk about?" Mom asks. I expected his question so I did prepare myself a bit before coming down. I googled about Shubman, his personal and professional life, his interests.

"We talked about his life, our hobbies. He told me about his upcoming matches and many more things" I reply.

"That sounds cool" Aryan says.

I finished my breakfast in hurry cause I know if I stay longer, they'll bombard more questions on me for which I'm not ready.

"I'm leaving" I say getting up.

"How'll you go? You don't have the car" Mom asks.

"I'll take a bus" I reply.

I take my handbag and made way outside the house. It's going to be a long walk to the bus stand. As soon as I close the main gate, I felt a sudden pressure on my mouth and my hands. I realise someone locked my hands with his. I shut my eyes in fear and the person pulled me somewhere. After few seconds he released my hands and turned me.

"Don't shout okay" I heard a familiar voice as open my eyes.

"YOU" I say perplexed looking at Shubman.

"YOU SCARED ME!" I whisper shout.

"I'm sorry I know this wasn't the right way but I didn't have any other option" he says making an apologetic face.

"What're you doing here?" I ask.

"I had to talk" he replies.

"Like this?" I ask pointing at his attire. He had put on his black hood and was wearing black sunglasses. He looks like a burglar.

"If I didn't wear this people in your society could've easily identified me and called the paparazzi which neither of us want" he explains. I nod.

"What is it you wanted to talk about?" I ask him.

"I've parked my car in the second street from here, can we go there and talk?" He requests​ with pleading eyes.

"Why not talk here?" I question. He brings his face closer to my face which sent shivers down my spine, and said​, "that woman standing in the balcony" he said directing his eyes somewhere which I followed, "has been passing me glares since past hour, I'm scared she's going to call the police"

"Cause you look like a thief Shubman!" I laugh. "And she's a very bad habit of sneaking inside everyone's house" I add. "I already hate this woman" he says glaring at her which made me laugh again.

"Shall we?" He asks. I nod and followed him to his car. He opens the door for me and closed it after I sit. After this he took over the driver's seat.

"So tell me" I say.

"Actually I need your number" he replies.

"You came here for my number?" I ask furrowing my brows. He nods.

"You had my Dad's number, you could have called him and asked for it"

"I was scared" he said.

"Scared of what?" I question.

"I was afraid you might have told your family everything"

"I didn't. Actually I couldn't" I say.

"What does that mean?" He asked, "nothing" I reply. I don't want to tell him what I actually meant cause I actually don't care about him. I asked for his phone and I feed my number in it.

"Thanks otherwise Riya would have killed me" he sighs.

"Riya?" I ask confused.

"Riya is Abhay's girlfriend. Abhay means Abhishek Sharma" he says.

"That still doesn't explain anything"

"Actually I stayed at Riya's place last night and I told them everything that happened, she wants to fix everything that's why she wants to talk to you. She ordered me to get your number" he tells me.

"Oh" I say. "I think I should leave now, I don't want to be late"

"No wait I'll drop you"

"It's okay Shubman I'll take a bus" I tell him.

"Your number wasn't the only reason why I came here. I wanted to drop you too cause I know your car isn't fixed yet"

Really? Why does he cares so much? Like we don't even know each other. But I didn't feel like denying him anymore so I agreed. Our talk in the entire ride was confined to just me telling him the directions.

"You can drop me here, I don't want anyone to see you" I tell him as we were just about to reach.

"Sure" he said and stopped the car. I stepped outside the car and thanked him after which he left.

I walked to the building and took a lift to go upstairs. I greeted my colleagues and sat on my table. I was going through a file when my phone rang. The call was from an unknown number.

"Hello" I say picking up.

"Hey, am I talking to Anya?" It's a girl.

"Yes, who's this?" I ask.

"It's Riya, Shub's friend. I think he told you about me?" She asks. It's hardly fifteen minutes since Shubman dropped me and I received Riya's call. Looks like they really care about him.

"Yeah he did" I reply.

"So are you free this afternoon? We can catch up if you're"

"I'm not sure" I reply hesitantly.

"It won't take more than than 30 minutes I promise" she requests. She seems to be a nice girl. And may I add - she has a sweet voice too.

"Okay" I agreed.

"Great then! Cafe Seaview? Is it fine?" She asks and I agree.

"See you soon" she says before hanging up. We decided to meet at 2 and it's just 9:30 now which means a lot of time is left. I keep my phone aside and continue with my work.

||Riya||

(At Cafe Seaview)

I reached the cafe fifteen minutes early cause it was my plan to meet and it's not polite if I reach late. I took a table and called Abhay to inform him. After hanging up I scroll my Instagram feed cause waiting is boring. After few minutes Anya called me.

"Hey, I just reached the cafe, where are you?" She asks. I look behind and see a girl with her phone in her ear and searching for someone. I guessed it to be her.

"On your left" I say waving at her. She hung up the call and came towards the table. I stood up and hugged her saying, "hey"

"Have a seat" I add. She sits after which I order coffee for both of us.

"So you wanted to talk?" She asks.

"Yeah, should I get to the point?" I ask her. She nods.

"I know what happened last night, but trust me that's not him. He is really humble, it's just that he isn't in the right mental space" I explain.

"Is it cause of his break up?" She asks.

"Yeah, I know I shouldn't tell you this but you deserve to know. Shub asked Siya for marriage a week ago, she refused to marry and told him that she was using him and she loved someone else. He's completely broken after this" I tell her.

"Such a bitch" she says making a disgusted face. "I know right" I say.

"But you know I don't think we're fit for this marriage. None of us are ready. I mean we don't even know each other properly" she says.

"I know and I have a plan" I tell her.

"What plan?" She questions.

"Why don't we hang out this Sunday? Like the four of us" I suggest.

"We four?" She asks hesitantly.

"Me, you, Abhay and Shub. Trust me it'll be fun" I say.

"Umm.. okay, does Shubman know about this?"

"I'll inform him" I say, "will he come?" She asks. "Don't worry I'll convince him" I assure her.

"Okay" she smiles.

We talked about some other random things and at around 2:45 we left. I offered to drop her to her office but she said she'll take a taxi. I sat in my car and drove to my office.

Now I was just hoping for everything to go well this Sunday.