"Raaz ko raaz hi rehne dena chahiye"

~ Author ~

Mumbai, India

"So you mean to say that Meher Mathur has gotten feisty? Interesting," Maan dropped himself on the couch and looked back at his best friend with an amused expression.

Kabir glared at him and went back to watch golf on the TV.

"But she was always that way, especially with you," he added further.

Kabir narrowed his eyes in confusion and tore his eyes away from the screen to look at him. "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is, she has never taken up your shit. She did what she was always best at, ignoring," Kabir stayed silent and looked away as he knew what Maan had said was true.

Ever since Meher Mathur had come back from the States, all he heard was about her. Even the social media pages and the news were putting up articles about her- what she was doing, wearing, eating and what not.

If anything, Meher Mathur was the newest celebrity in the business world.

Her multiple degrees were certainly eye-catching, something that speculated articles about how the chances were high of throwing Kabir Raizada off the race to the CEO of the AV Group.

Meher Mathur wasn't someone whom you could trust with everything. She was the kind of person who would stab you in the most horrible situation ever.

His thoughts, not the others.

Others thought of Meher Mathur as an epic portrayal of a holy saint, who had done nothing wrong. She was all rainbows and unicorns.

Only he knew what Meher was like. That she wasn't like the way she portrayed herself. She had an evil side that only came out when he was around her.

"Lost in thoughts again?" Maan brought him out of the reverie. Kabir blinked his eyes and looked at his friend with a lost expression.

"Huh?"

"Meher again?" Kabir chose not to answer the question. Maan knowingly bit back his smile as he crouched forward to take the glass of juice. "For someone like you who hates this infamous lady so much, you think a lot about her."

Kabir glared at him. "That's because I have to keep a check on her every move."

Maan closed his eyes in frustration as he understood the meaning beneath his words. "It wasn't her fault, okay?"

Kabir scoffed at his friend's poor attempt to make him understand and looked away to watch the TV.

Physical scars have the capability to get healed and the inner scars are marked forever.

He hated it when he saw her living the perfect life- something that he had longed to have so desperately.

It was a mix of negative emotions, something that he couldn't shed all these years. If anything, those emotions only grew as they flamed the fire within him.

If only he knew that he wasn't the only one suffering.

* * *

Meher was at the restaurant sitting all by herself.

Or rather, she was waiting for a certain someone. Sahil Vashisht, the name was.

Sahil, unfortunately, was nowhere to be seen and Meher patiently waited for her buddy to come over any time soon. If anything, the job of a secretary taught her how to be patient. It was a trait that she once lacked, something that she couldn't tolerate.

But the job made her feel that patience is an easy trait to inculcate. Things may go really slowly but the probability of mistakes was really low.

So Meher was patiently waiting for him to arrive. She enjoyed eating the crispy corn she had ordered to keep her mouth running.

She scrolled through the latest news over her phone, ignoring the reporters who were watching her from the glass door for the past twenty minutes.

"Am I actually seeing Meher Mathur?" Meher sighed as she heard a familiar voice. Spitefully albeit playfully she turned to look at the owner of the voice.

"You two best friends can't go around without calling my full name right?" She scoffed not before getting up to give Maan Rai a giant hug.

"We are giving these paps a show right?" Maan casually whispered into her ears to which she just smiled, "Too much tea for gossip right? Not you two best friends ruining my everyday life."

Maan let out a boisterous laugh, making her almost roll her eyes at him at his over-exaggerated reaction. Even before Meher could say anything, Maan gleefully took a seat opposite her, which was originally meant for you know who.

Meher sat back, her eyes roaming at him, checking him from head to toe, scanning any kind of fishiness. The athletic guy now had a bustier figure, with broad shoulders, a gym body and what nots. For a CEO of a gaming company, he did not look the part. His face, he had a charming face, she would give him that.

Brown skinned, the ever bouncy shiny hair, those shimmery dark eyes and every bit of his appearance reminded her of the crush she possessed for this handsome guy when she was in school.

"You kept yourself well," she commented. Maan chuckled, "Glad to know that you still find me good looking."

Meher raised a brow. "I always appreciate the beauty. It's a good thing."

"Leaving all this aside," Maan straightened as he slightly leaned forward, "how are you?"

Meher warmly smiled at him. "I am fine," she answered. "The US has treated me well."

Maan smiled at her. Kabir was right. Something had changed. But not after coming from the US. It was since she was in college, a long time before she even left for the US.

But the only difference was that she didn't look sad anymore.

"Meher?" Maan turned to see a familiar face, his eyes slightly widened in recognition. Sahil gave him a momentary glance and ignored him, giving Maan the signal to how to act in the situation.

"Yaar, how much time does it take for you to come? I was waiting so long," Meher whined instantly, making Maan almost drown in shock. The casualness with which she spoke to him made him aware that they knew each other, probably for a long time.

Maan set his face back to the way as if he didn't know the guy. He awkwardly stood beside him, looking at the lady to introduce him to the guy.

Meher caught on to his actions and jumped in to introduce the two men. "Sahil this is Maan, a family friend and Maan, this is Sahil, a close friend from college."

Close friend, Maan picked up the term and Sahil understood but nothing was shown on his face.

He straightened his coat and faced Meher. "I must take my leave then. It's good to have you back, Meher."

"It's good to be back."

Maan was about to leave but halted on his steps as he turned to take a look at the duo. "Go upstairs, no one will see you," he suggested. Meher nodded and Sahil led the way upstairs without trying to get noticed by the paps.

"That guy, a family friend? You never spoke about him," Sahil pointed out as they took a seat on the vacant table.

"He's Kabir Raizada's best friend. And I don't like talking about anything that is related to that man," she scoffed at the end.

Sahil had a lingering look in his eye. He just had to wait a little more to achieve the bigger goal.

* * *

Meher was at the office, slowly settling in with the office environment. It was fun to be finally a part of something that she had been studying for so long.

She was currently working in the Biz department and with regard to that, she was in the conference room, waiting for her boss to start speaking.

"We're honoured that AV News is one of the two media houses that has been selected for covering the annual charity gala that is supposed to be held by the end of this week. So, you know the drill- get all the equipments ready and keep your eyes and ears open all the time. You're all the representatives of AV News," Krishna Saxena, the senior director and the head of the Biz Department said and loud claps erupted in the entire meeting room.

"But Sir," one of the members in the room interrupted the celebration. "The other media house, it isn't exactly a media house, is it?"

Krishna Saxena swatted his arms nonchalantly. "It's a bunch of college going rookies playing journalism. We should not feel threatened by them."

"And anyways they are infamous for putting out false news to create noise in the public. I don't understand why the Marigold Group has invited them as one of the prime media groups to such an essential event," another person commented.

Meher wanted to scoff at the discussion. They were all rookies at some point in their lives. Funny how people conveniently chose to forget where they came from, after tasting a little spoon of success.

One should never challenge rookies. They have the margin to make mistakes and learn from them. They notice your tricks and techniques and do it themselves even better.

That's why they are scary.

That's why one shouldn't underestimate them.

Because they have one thing that most experienced and successful individuals don't - heated passion and love for their work.

"Meher?" Krishna called her out, bringing her out of her thoughts.

"Yes, sir?"

"I know you are not going there as a media representative but as the newly entered businesswoman representing the AV Group. Your main task in the entire gala is to talk to different people and observe who they are talking to and what they are discussing about. Get information on what kind of business investment they are looking for and anything that you think would make it on our news. Make some connections," Meher politely nodded and made a mental note to prepare herself for her first task beforehand.

The meeting was dismissed soon after and it was finally time to go home.

* * *

"Bhai is often coming home these days," Arya whispered to Meher as they ate dinner. Meher sneaked a glance at the brooding man, speaking to her father and her uncle while giving her best friend a small nod.

Meher glared at Kabir as she knew why he was constantly around the house, what his ulterior motive was.

No matter how much she tried to convince him, he would never understand that she was not going to threaten his position in the group. She was not that shallow.

"I mean, Meher is scary," Aryan whispered from the other side of her which made the duo look at him. Aryan shrugged as if he stated the obvious and went back to eat his food.

The trio, instead of eating their food, watched Kabir and his shenanigans. They scoffed together and bit back a chuckle as their like minds did the same action.

Dinner was over and they were lounging in the theatre room, lazily watching Talash for some reason.

"I think we should stay over for a few more days in Jaipur, what say?" Arya broke the silence, looking over the two who were seriously engrossed in the movie.

"Can't. I just joined the office," Meher rejected the idea.

"Me too," Aryan followed.

"You also joined the office?" Arya asked him. Meher and Aryan let out a groan before the latter stated, "I have pending cases, idiot."

"God, don't look at me like I have no work geez," Arya scoffed in bewilderment, looking back at the screen.

The trio silently watched the movie as they did not hear the door creaking open behind them. Kabir entered the theatre room and noticed the three of them sprawled lazily on their seats watching the film. Kabir threw his coat in a corner and dropped himself beside his brother.

Feeling the seat dip beside him, Aryan looked up and saw his brother. In a dramatic response, he closed his mouth in shock, not before letting out an exaggerated squeal.

Arya and Meher turned their heads together and looked at Kabir who very conveniently ignored the three pairs of eyes and focused on watching the film.

But it wasn't something new. So, they turned their heads back to the screen.

They knew that Kabir had a habit of pushing himself in whenever they hung out together in the house. They never knew why.

Kabir, Aryan and Arya didn't share the kind of sibling relationship like most of the people do. Maybe because Kabir always felt the gap between he was the eldest and the two were twins, always stuck to each other by hip or maybe it was because of one and only Meher Mathur.

But today Kabir was here for a different purpose. To snoop around the quintessential Meher Mathur. He wanted to know if she was hiding something. Something that could unravel a secret. Because never in his life he had imagined that Meher would be friends with the guy he was working on a project- a crucial project on top of it. Any leaks and it would be a mess that can't be cleared.

He wanted to know the kind of relationship she shared with Sahil Vashisht.

"Is he cheating on his wife?" Arya asked aloud but was shushed by the Meher as they focused on the film.

"I think so," Aryan mumbled, "what a douche."

"I don't think so," Meher said, "let's see what's next."

"Kareena Kapoor is a ghost," three heads snapped towards Kabir in shock who smugly looked at the screen after ruining the film for them.

Arya immediately switched off the screen and stomped out of the room, followed by her twin. Meher stayed back and looked at Kabir in disbelief, the audacity of him to ruin the entire film for them.

"You can't really tolerate people, can you?" Meher sneered as she walked over to him.

"I can't tolerate you, Meher Mathur," he answered and Meher shook her head in pity.

She tsked, sighing for the guy. "Years passed but your attention seeking ways haven't changed still, Raizada," Kabir was almost dumbfounded. Meher had hit him where it hurt him the most, scraping old scars and making new ones.

"And you are the reason for that," he spitted the words like venom and this time it was Meher who was taken aback. The guilt was always there, but she never showed it on her face. She felt bad, even worse now that Kabir had accused her of something that she hadn't heard in a while. Kabir Raizada was now finally back, bringing the past issues up and blaming her for everything.

It wasn't her fault, though she felt responsible for it.

"You're disgusting," she whispered and turned on her heels to get out of the room when she felt a strong tug on her wrist. Kabir pulled Meher in a harsh draw, his fingers digging into her skin. They stood too close to each other, a little too much into each other's personal space. They could hear each other's breaths, not too harsh and not too slow but enough to hear it.

Realising their closeness, Meher tried to step back but was pulled again by him.

"You're invading my personal space, Kabir," she told him.

Meher turned her face away when she felt his face coming too close to hers. It made her extremely uncomfortable. "The moment you stepped into my issues I don't think there is anything that could be termed as personal space between us," Kabir mumbled to her and held on to her tighter than before. Meher tried not to hiss as her wrist started hurting over his tight hold.

"I don't understand you, Kabir," Meher was tired of his jabs, wanting to end this painful conversation.

"How do you know Sahil Vashisht?" Her ears perked at the mention of her friend and looked at him in surprise. But then she recalled the meeting a few days ago.

"Seems like your babysitter told you already, huh?" Kabir had never seen her with Sahil but some little birdie had obviously seen her the other day and even had a conversation with her.

"I asked you something Meher," he huffed, "How do you know Sahil Vashisht?" he gritted each word, emphasising over the seriousness of his question.

Meher didn't know why Kabir wanted to know about her relationship with Sahil and why he was so serious about it. But she was aware of one thing- anything associated with Kabir Raizada was never a good thing.

"He's my friend from college, didn't your babysitter relay this bit of information to you?" she mocked at him. Kabir closed his eyes in frustration over her not so accurate answer and he was on the verge to go ballistic.

"I checked, you never had friends in college," Kabir spat which made Meher smirk as the information wasn't really true.

"You should take the money back from your private investigator Raizada, the boy isn't doing a great job," she tutted, looking at him in pity. Kabir was almost pale as white as he had not imagined the twist in the situation. Out of every reporter in the world, the one he was working with turned out to be Meher Mathur's friend.

Kabir loosened his hold on Meher and the latter immediately jumped on the opportunity to get her hand out of his hold. She softly rubbed her red wrists and looked at him in anger.

Before she made her way out of the room, she looked at Kabir with a steely gaze. "I don't know why you are asking me about Sahil but mind you, if I ever find you messing with my friend, I swear I will make you pay," she left the room in anger leaving Kabir alone in the room.

If only Kabir could make Sahil speak of his relationship with Meher. The kind of person Sahil was, no power or money would make anyone an upper hand over him.

And Kabir Raizada needed this guy more than anything in the world. And even if it meant swallowing his pride, he would do it in a heartbeat.

But the question was, did Meher know what he was doing?

Thank heavens I finished with another chapter. An early birthday update I guess. Can't do an update on my birthday which is on Sunday because my semester starts the very next day. Pathetic, I know. But anyways, here's a special treat for you all.

As you might have guessed or not, the updates are slow. For numerous reasons of course but I will try my best to be consistent. Also, the story is being developed side by side so I am continuously making changes in the plotline. So, I have to tread really slowly and carefully in the initial chapters. Once the story marks its 15th chapter, we can go on a consistent phase.

What did you guys think of this chapter? Please let me know in the comments below.

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