"Yeh mohabbat nahi, beintehaa nafrat hai"

Present Day, 3 Years Later

Mumbai, India

Kabir woke up at his own accord. He didn't require an alarm or any sun— he just knew that he woke up at the same time, every day. His room was still dark. He grabbed the remote from his bedside table and pressed the button, making the blinds open.

The sun was still rising as the rays of the nascent sun were scattered, slowly making its position. He sighed. He hated mornings. He hated everything about mornings.

It was sunny, so bright and so happy.

Unlike him. There was just darkness— in both his physical surroundings and within him. There was nothing bright in his life, everything was just black, just dead, just like her.

Kabir aimlessly stared up at the ceiling. His eyes were always lifeless, there was no spark, nothing that could give him the thrill to live. His hand went onto the empty side of the bed, a rude reminder that she wasn't there with him.

He was slowly separating himself from the world and loneliness was eating him. Even when he had such a loving family, he felt alone. The loss of a soulmate couldn't fill in the gaps his family had tried to fill.

But his work at least tried to keep him sane. His jest to become bigger and better kept him sane and going.

He closed his eyes again as he shed the sleep from his brain, allowing the visions of the night to go away. Funny how night used to be his favourite time of the day and although it still was, he felt the most lonely at that time of the night.

And maybe that was the reason why he lowkey liked his time at the office because he was constantly surrounded by people. And he didn't feel alone.

Maybe he was lying to himself.

Kabir Raizada waited for mornings to happen so he wouldn't feel lonely.

He pushed himself off his bed and headed to shower and get ready for the day. It was still early in the morning so he had time to go to the office.

After spending quality time in the shower, he got himself ready for the day. As he climbed down the stairs, he saw someone already occupying the living area.

"You are here again?" Kabir's annoyed voice rang out and his best friend, Maan, paid no heed to his annoyance.

"I got breakfast," Maan nonchalantly stated, as he scrolled through his phone. Kabir narrowed his eyes as he turned to his right and entered the kitchen. True to his words, Maan did bring the breakfast.

The food was still warm as he felt it through the paper bags. After unloading the freshly baked croissants on two plates, he moved over to the fridge and pulled out fresh strawberries and the Nutella jar to go along with it.

Oh, there was another reason why he waited for mornings— the annoying company of his best friend, Maan. It's said that we don't get to choose our family, but we could choose our friends. Unfortunately, Kabir did not enjoy that luxury.

Maan Rai came into his life as a rival but stayed as his best friend, the only constant in his life since school.

Deep down he knew that Maan understood him. He understood what he was going through and maybe that's the reason why he popped anywhere, anytime— even in the odd hours of the day.

After meticulously arranging the breakfast, he moved over to sit across from his best friend, not before handing him his food.

"Classic," Maan moaned as he took another bite of his food. Kabir, as usual, didn't reply. This went on for a while. Kabir was silent and Maan was speaking non stop.

After a while, Maan stopped eating and watched his best friend eating silently, lost in his own thoughts. He shook his head and muttered a few incoherent words under his breath as he thought of an idea to get him out of that zone.

When the idea struck him, he sent a mental prayer to the god for not getting him killed by his own friend,

He picked up his phone from the inner pocket of his blazer. Typing something on his phone, an almost chuckle escaped his lips before he could draw Kabir's attention to him without letting his plan sail.

He cleared his throat. "AV Group's heiress, Meher Mathur was seen on a very romantic day out with the CEO of Millenium and Co." And as he had guessed, Kabir's head turned to his direction, a familiar kind of distaste etching on his features when Meher's name was said aloud.

"What are you talking about?" He asked with sheer disinterest. Maan bit back a smile looking at his curious eyes. Funny how much he hated her but still wanted to know what was happening in her life.

"Seems like William and Meher are really hitting off. Look at these pictures. They are holding hands," Maan flashed the screen towards him and Kabir's eyes caught the picture for a moment but averted them, turning his attention back to his food.

"Kabir, aren't you going to say anything?" Maan asked him.

"Say what?"

"About this," he flashed his phone again.

"First thing," he put the half-eaten strawberry back on his plate, "I don't give a fuck on who does what. And as for her, I don't give a flying fuck on what she does. And as for my opinion, it doesn't look like they are in love. They don't have that look,". Saying this he returned back to his half-eaten strawberry. Maan inwardly chuckled hearing him give his answer.

Maan decided not to poke him further for he had an inkling that there might be an open discussion in the office when Akash and Vikas, along with Kabir would sit down for lunch later that day.

It was not a hidden fact that everyone, literally everyone who knew Meher, was interested in her dating life. How can a girl survive without crushes, dating and boyfriends? But apparently, Meher Mathur had survived it all.

Whereas Kabir on the other hand was miffed by the mention of her name. He outright detested her, something that was not really hidden from their family. No one understood nor did they ask them the reason, respecting their privacy.

He was glad that it was still a secret.

*   *   *

Walking towards the private elevator area, he passed a nod as people wished him on the way. The elevator opened and he stepped in and pressed the button for the fiftieth floor. In no time he stepped out of the elevator when he reached his desired floor.

Just outside the elevator stood his secretary/personal assistant, Aanchal Rohatgi.

Aanchal who was about to yawn quickly straightened herself and mumbled quick greetings and bowed. But Kabir, like no other day, paid no heed to her and marched towards his cabin.

Aanchal, annoyed by her boss's usual attitude, gritted something under her breath and ran behind her boss.

If only she wasn't paid so handsomely, she would have left the job long ago.

"Miss. Raizada has sent the finance report of AV Fashion. Also, she has asked me to specifically mention to you that she has quite a few objections with the finances that have been settled for the summer lawn fashion show," she started speaking out one after the other as she followed him to his cabin.

Kabir pushed the door open and entered his cabin. Loosening his tie, he went over to his seat to sit whereas Aanchal stood across him, the large table separating them.

"Tell her to send me a detailed report on it and then I will decide on it," he answered. "What's next?"

"The power plant is ready with the steel that has to be manufactured. Also, the continuous annealed products are ready to be sent to the Automobile companies," she read out from her notepad.

"I will discuss this with Dad and Uncle and then come up with a date of manufacture," he told her.

"Okay," she noted it down. "There's an invitation for the Annual Charity Gala—"

"Who's hosting this time?" he cut her off.

Aanchal pressed her lips in displeasure. "It is hosted by the Marigold Group of Hotels."

"Say yes to that invitation then. The Agarwals are known to host the best galas unlike Raisinghania's, who hosted the most pathetic gala last year," he mumbled a reply as he picked out a file from his table to read.

"Noted. And last but not the least, you've got a meeting with Mr. Sinha in the afternoon to finalise the deal," the last bit caught his attention. Kabir looked at his secretary, squinting his eyebrows in confusion.

"That deal was supposed to be finalised by Vikas Uncle, why the sudden change?"

"That sir," she drawled, "Meher Ma'am isn't picking up her phone for quite a while and Sir has been worried for her. He asked me to tell you that he isn't in the right state of mind and may end up messing up the deal, hence asking me to inform you that you've to go to their office to finalise the deal. And even Akash sir said that he cannot do it since he has to be there with him."

Meher Mathur, again.

Kabir shut his eyes and leaned back against his chair. His insides flared, raged by the fact that even when she wasn't here, she hadn't really left.

She was always the present in someone's talks, in someone's memories, always trying to mock him that she won't leave him that easily.

Her name was something that was constant in his life even when his life had completely fallen apart.

At least it was good that he stayed at his penthouse and not along with them in the AV Villa to hear more about her.

Aanchal observed her boss silently getting pissed over the mere mention of the name. Although she had never met the woman, she had enough of an idea about what she was like and also that her boss did not like her at all.

What could Meher Mathur have done to get hated by someone with this passion?

Kabir ran his tongue around his lower lip, wetting it and tried to calm himself down.

"Where is uncle now?" He asked her. He knew that it was best to avoid him because if he did not, he would have to eventually end up listening to more about her which he didn't want.

And he did what he felt was right at that moment.

Leave the office.

*   *   *

Walking mindlessly through the rose garden, Kabir's mind drifted toward his past. This place was historical, well at least for him.

Who knew that a field trip to a rose garden would make him feel what first love felt like?

This was where it all began.

And now years later, he was there, this time alone, remembering his lost love. It was the last place where he could have come but then again, love made him do anything that his mind was against doing it.

He stood there staring at the black rose, the odd man out of all the roses there in the garden. Like any other rose, each petal hugged around the rosebud, protective of its sweet centre. They were bigger than the average size that people usually see, making them more attractive.

It might have been deemed as the ugliest of the lot, but only a few could notice the speck of blur in between the petals, accentuating its beauty, and making it a unique flower.

Everything in this world was beautiful.

For there was hope in everything.

But sadly, that very hope won't bring Radhika back.

Kabir quickly recovered from the daze he was in by looking at the flower and returned back to his car.

He didn't know whether spending an aimless amount of time at Maan's office until his afternoon meeting was fruitful or not. He would go to any lengths to avoid talking about her and if wasting time was a thing, he would gladly do it.

He looked back at his watch. It was over five in the evening. He thought about going to the office again and completing his work and then leaving to go to AV Villa to offer his grievances over Meher being MIA.

As he hit the road, the sun was still bright in the sky. It was the time when the sun shone the brightest, bringing heat, humidity and lots of sweat. There wasn't much traffic on the road even though it was a working day and there was still time for people to start returning back to their homes.

Right when he was thinking about the less amount of traffic, his car stopped along with the other cars in a long traffic jam. Kabir groaned at the long line of cars ahead of him and cursed his luck today.

Mumbai was known for its long line of traffic. The traffic could make you late anywhere and anytime.

April, May and June were the times when the traffic was subsequently the highest— for it was the time of vacations, end of the year audits and what not. People were the busiest these days and children had days full of free time. Thousands of horns synchronised together to cause an awful noise and Kabir grew impatient with each passing second.

The traffic started to move. As he drove, the cars slowly started to move away from his vision. As the highway came, the sound of cars was gone and quietness had followed. Even though he didn't admit it to himself or to others, he was lonely. He felt lonely.

Ever since he was young, he had learned how to walk alone, how to solve his problems alone. All that was needed in his life was a partner— someone that could understand him, comfort him, and become his emotional support. But when that happened, she did not stay for long and was gone with the wind.

And it's been three years, yet the wounds are fresh.

He pulled his car into his office premises and handed it over to the security for them to park. Taking brisk steps towards his cabin, it took no longer than five minutes to reach his cabin.

But before he could go for the door, his eyes went on to the small cabin beside his, which belonged to his secretary.

And what was she doing?

Sleeping with her mouth hung open. Papers and files were sprawled over her table and her head lay over one of the piles, making Kabir shake his head in a sigh. Taking a small detour towards her cabin, he knocked over her door.

And as he had expected, she haphazardly got up and stood up in attention at his sight. He opened the door and entered her cabin, and stood by the door looking at her for a solid thirty seconds.

"You are fired," he said and went back to his cabin. Aanchal shook her head and sat back on her chair, sighing over her boss's usual dialogue to chuck her out of the office. When she had heard the words for the first time, she had gone back home and bawled the whole night over losing her job. But then the next day, she was hauled back into the office as if yesterday had never happened.

And that's when she realised.

She was too efficient for him to lose.

So by now, she was used to him firing her at least ten times a day and nothing really has happened.

Assembling all her paperwork, she stapled them and strutted towards the door that connected her and his cabin. Knocking over it a few times, she entered his cabin.

"These are the details of the last few cases that AV Law Firm has fought for the clients. Aryan Sir has himself drafted the list and sent it to me," she informed him as she kept the papers on the table.

Kabir took a brief look at the papers. "I will keep these with me. Where's Dad and Uncle?"

"They got a call from their home. They have just left," she informed him.

Kabir pressed his lips in displeasure. Just another day where Meher Mathur would become the hot topic of their discussion. He wondered what she must have done this time to get their attention.

He checked his watch. It was a little over six. "Get me the yearly reports," Aanchal dashed out of his cabin to get the thing and when Kabir saw her leaving, he slumped back into his chair, pinching the bridge of his nose.

It seemed to him like Meher had really gone MIA.

*   *   *

Kabir thought that it was the worst decision he had made by deciding to go to the AV Villa. All the way he cursed himself for being an idiot and that he wasn't required to be there to offer his grievances over Meher going MIA.

But what if she was really missing and he did not offer any kind of help?

Kabir hated to drown in guilt. Missing or not, he was sure to go and visit them for a while, just to show his face. He did not care what would have happened to her.

The night sky was up now and the roads were busier. Taking a right, he drove his car into the AV Estate. It was a large secluded land on the outskirts of the city, a perfect location for peace and silence. Driving past the large lawns, he had finally reached the gate.

Noticing that the guard was inside his booth, busy with something, he pressed the horn to get his attention.

Kabir rolled down his window. "Why are you inside the booth at this hour?" He scolded the guard.

"Sorry sir," he heavily apologised as he came out of the booth. I will get the doors open. The guard opened the gates and right at that time, a few deliverymen came from the inside and passed his car.

That seemed like a food delivery, Kabir thought. It was rare to have food delivered at their place because they had their own staff to prepare food. They only ordered if they had any small celebration going on in the family.

"Hey listen!" He called the guard. The guard on hearing his voice ran back to him.

"Yes sir?"

"Why are those delivery men coming from the inside? Is there any celebration?" He asked him.

"Maybe," the guard answered. But then, his eyes shined. "Oh yes! Meher ma'am came back this evening. I think that's the reason why Arya ma'am had ordered the food from outside."

A wave of shock had fallen upon Kabir. He rolled the window up and stared at the open gate. His fingers tightened around the steering wheel, his veins popping out at the back of his palm. His breathing had become ragged and his nose flared.

With one swift move, he turned his car and drove opposite from the direction of the villa.

Damn you, Meher Mathur.

Dun dun dun! The hatred runs deep from Kabir's side. Kabir is a character that I wanted to explore and experiment with which I couldn't with Vihaan because he turned into a cutie pie.

Update on life: Started with my college and it is extremely hectic but I am pretty much excited for the fest that is coming up this week. Not to mention the handsome South Bombay boys...

Anyways, let us pray that I can put up with one bonus chapter by tomorrow. It's almost done, I hope you like it.

And that's about it! Give this chapter an UPVOTE and comment down below what you enjoyed the most in the chapter.

With Love,

Akii.