Life went back to normal for the rest of the month. Sanam was drowned in studies and shifts at the hospital. Free time didn't exist. Even phone calls to Neha and Esha were made while she'd be driving. Not the smartest plan, but when you're stuck daily in traffic for anywhere between 30-45 minutes, you make the best of it and let people who care for you know you're alive.

As for Arjun... they would send a few texts every few days. She couldn't sit and have a back to back texting conversation with him as she was always one place or another. Whenever she got a minute break and she would check her phone, she'd answer back. He did the same since he was busy working on a new project which was very important for his family business. Neither minded that their messages were being responded to late as they themselves were busy.

Alas, spring break came around, and she never appreciated it as much as she did this year. She was exhausted. She desperately needed the week off. She was sure it would be spent well as Neha and Rahul had asked her to join them as well as few other friends at a beach house that Rahul's parents owned. It was getting warmer, so it was the perfect timing as well.

Neha couldn't stop texting her about it, making sure she was going to pack all the right kinds of clothes. Sanam didn't get too irritated by that. Between the both of them, Neha was always the one who was responsible enough to worry about outfits. Sanam would just pack the first thing she got her hands on, regardless of the weather, and she'd always end up regretting it if Neha hadn't gone back to repack for her. A couple of times, she hadn't repacked thinking it would teach Sanam a lesson. Ofcourse, it didn't work for the long haul. Sanam would promise she was going to care about it next time, but when next time rolled around, she'd do the same thing.

After all, patterns were hard to break.

Neha called at 5 in the morning, "You better be up."

"It's 5 in the morning, Neha," Sanam replied, annoyed for being woken up this damn early.

Neha's tone relayed that she least cared about her crankiness, "Yeah, get over it. We're going to be there in half hour to pick you up."

She groaned, turning in bed to rest on her back, working up enough energy to open her eyes, "Why do we have to leave so early?"

"Because. I want to beat the morning traffic." She answered in a 'duh' tone as if it should have been obvious. Well, perhaps, but Sanam didn't understand why they couldn't leave later around 10. The highways would have been clear of morning traffic by then.

"Bye Neha." She answered and ended the call, hoping to get five more minutes of sleep.

Ofcourse, five more is never just five more. The next she opened her eyes, twenty minutes had passed. She sprung up in bed. Neha was going to give her an earful. She rushed to the bathroom and decided taking a shower was going to have to wait. She had taken one at night as it was. She brushed, washed her face, and changed her shirt since she had worn one of the loose ones to bed.

Right on the dot, Neha rang the doorbell. Still cringing at how her eyes felt from just waking up, she went to open to door. With her, Arjun was standing as well. Sanam had no doubt that Neha made him come up with her to get the bags even though she could have carried it down herself. It was just one bag, after all, holding outfits to last a week.

She let them inside and then turned to walk towards the kitchen while putting her hair up in a loose bun.

Neha chided, "Well, good morning to you too." Sanam didn't understand why she still tried to make her feel bad for how she responded to people. She had known her for years now. She knew how Sanam could get in the mornings before she had coffee.

Arjun chuckled, "I thought she only did that to me."

Sanam opened a cabinet to get a coffee sampler to put in the machine, but Neha grabbed her hand, "Nuh-uh. I already got coffee waiting for you in the car. Just put your shoes on and let's go."

"I hate you, woman." She muttered under her breath as she pulled her away. She figured she would express her gratitude towards Neha for the coffee after she'd drink the coffee.

"Arjun, get her bag." Neha ordered him, used to Sanam's behavior after seven years of friendship, and then asked her, "Where's your coat? It's still a bit chilled out."

"You said it was going to be warm." She pointed out the reason she hadn't kept a jacket out ready to go.

"Yes, during the day. Not at 5:30 in the morning." Neha exclaimed giving her a hopeless look. "Seriously San, for someone smart enough to be in a med school, you can be a real dum-dum sometimes." She didn't wait for a comment from Sanam as she went towards her room.

Shrugging her shoulders, Sanam sat down on the floor to put on socks and tennis shoes aka sneakers. It was too early in the morning for her to be offended at anything anyone said.

Just when she was going to push herself up, she found a hand in front of her. She followed it to its owner. Arjun was staring down at her. When she glared at him, he simply offered a smile. He didn't withdraw his hand.

He stuck by the promise he had made at their last parting.

It was too early to argue with him.

She slipped her cold hands into his warm ones. He pulled her up effortlessly. Neha returned just in time to see that but didn't make a comment as she handed Sanam a hoodie. "Here you go." She took it without a word and put it on. Arjun was the first one out of the house, followed by Neha. They were already making their way down to the car. Once the alarm was set and Sanam pulled the door shut, she hid her hands in the pockets of the hoodie.

Neha sat in the passenger seat, and as Sanam slipped into the back. Rahul sent her a nod as greeting. She just gave a nod back, and he didn't mind. Even he understood it was too early to be awake and have a conversation. How Neha had such energy as if it was 2 in the afternoon was something they wouldn't understand ever.

After an hour when she had finished the cup of coffee and it had settled in, waking her up, she asked. "So, how far is this beach house?"

Neha answered, "About two and half hours."

A long ride. Sanam did the math, and concluded they still had an hour and half to go. If she hadn't had coffee, she could have gone back to sleep. "And you said others are coming too?"

This time, Arjun answered, "Yeah, two of my friends, and whoever else they're bringing, but they usually don't."

She nodded, assuming they were Parth and Josh, two people she had met that one time over dinner at his place. Josh seemed pretty cool, but she felt the need to be wary about Parth. He was quite an observant fella.

She turned in her seat so that her back was leaning against the door instead of the car seat and pulled her feet up.

Arjun raised his brows at her. She defended, "It's a long ride. I'm getting comfortable."

"Okay." He answered, but his face told her something about it was bothering him.

"What?" She pressed.

He didn't want to say it, not wanting to offend her, but he was too bothered. He eventually decided to ask, "Could you take your shoes off?"

She hadn't pushed them off. Holding back a smile, she slipped them off. He relaxed. It was a little thing, and she didn't mind his request. In fact, she learned one of the things that made him tick. Even though this was Rahul's car, and not his, he was bothered about the seats getting dirty.

She eventually gave him an 'okay-I'll-back-off-chill' look, and he went back to his phone. She too retrieved her phone and headphones. The probability of going to sleep was slim, but no reason she can't rest her eyes and listen to some calm music.

Ofcourse, it didn't last long. With her head against the window, it bumped when Rahul short-braked. She winced, her hand instantly going behind her head to rub the area. "Rahul." She scolded him.

"People don't know how to drive." He threw the blame on the car in front of him. He switched the lanes and sped up to overtake the other car. Boys. She shook her head and deemed it safer to return her head on the seat beside her instead.

~

Sanam gazed at the house that stood proudly in front of her eyes. She was aware houses as such existed. She had seen them in magazines, movies, and the internet. She simply had never thought she would see one with her own eyes, or even have the opportunity to live in it for a week during spring breaks.

She turned to the brothers to question, "Just how rich are your parents?"

They laughed, taking it to be a rhetorical question, and continued removing their bags from the trunk. Ofcourse, with their house and how lavish Rahul and Neha's wedding had been, Sanam should have taken a hint. And yet, at each turn, she found herself surprised. Looking at them, they didn't act the rich snobby kids at all. They were a well-settled family, almost down to earth. They traveled in luxury, their houses were adorned with some of the most expensive artifacts, had the fancy cars and the designer branded clothes. In the exterior, they followed the guide of rich people to the T. Yet, their personality could throw anyone off the tracks.

Rahul then took Neha's hand and pulled her to his side, "C'mon, you haven't seen anything yet." She sighed at his side and let him tug her inside.

They were couple goals for Sanam, sometimes. Then, she'd snap back to reality and remember that wasn't meant to be in her plan for a while, if ever. She was standing there, wallowing.

Arjun was already by the front door when he turned and called back to get her attention, "Coming?" She blinked her thoughts away as she walked up.

~

Arjun's friends had arrived shortly after she had roamed around the place. Almost all of the rooms had atleast one full length window as one of the walls looking over to the beach. Arjun had explained that at night, pressing one button would turn the clear window into an opaque. Sanam didn't see why anyone wouldn't want to fall asleep with a beach view.

After she had hung her clothes in the empty hangers in the empty closet, she made her way down to the kitchen.

Josh whined, "Arjun, hurry up with the breakfast already."

Arjun turned to face his friend who was sitting on the high chair at the island. He waved a spatula at him and scolded, "Dude, if you ain't going to help, shut it."

Just as he was going to turn back to the stove, his eyes fell on her. She'd actually changed into a pair of denim white shorts and a tank top after taking a quick shower since she couldn't take one in the morning. She was never conscious of what she would wear because she was always comfortable in the clothes she wore. And yet, the way he was looking at her, she did feel conscious.

"So... what are you making?" She asked, trying to escape his hazel eyes.

"Grilled cheese. It seems to be my favorite thing to cook off late." He answered giving her a secret smile.

She shook her head, amused. Crazy.

That smile was wiped off when a girl she didn't know came out of one of the rooms. She went up to Arjun and kissed his cheek. Unintentionally, his hand went to rest on her side when she gave him a side hug. His eyes, however, didn't leave Sanam's.

What is he trying to convey by looking at me like that?

Neha and Rahul came out of their room as well. "Oh, hey guys. Hey Rashi, I didn't know you were coming."

The girl, Rashi, answered, "Yeah, I'm glad I called Aunty yesterday before coming. Else, I'd have been stuck at the house without any of you there." She then spoke to Arjun, "Why didn't you tell me you all were coming here for the breaks?"

"It's not like you had said beforehand you were visiting. Anyway, you are here now." Arjun said in an uninterested tone, going back to the stove and flip the bread.

"Yeah," She grinned and took a seat next to Parth.

Sanam went to the fridge to see if there was anything to drink. Finding a box of OJ, she took it out. She looked around for a glass and found them in the drawer above. She wasn't going to be able to reach it. Yet, she was stubborn and tried by going up on her tippy toes. A hand touched her side, making her lose balance. Their proximity dawned on her as her shoulder bumped into his chest.

She swallowed hard when he spoke, "Need help?" His eyes traveled from hers to how close they were standing.

She pulled her hand back as his reached above. His height allowed him to grab the glass with ease, but in the process, his muscles flexed. She told herself she needed to stay the heck away from him... maintain a personal space before her mind lost it.

Her throat felt dry, and she pulled her lip into her mouth to hydrate it. He blinked his thoughts away and looked away before he was tempted by her. He scolded himself to not let his thoughts go wild. He should have just kept his hand off of her as he reached for the glass. But, his mind seemed to have no control over his actions when he caught her reaching up, letting her lose tank top rise with her arm and expose a hint of her fair waist. He couldn't stop himself. She had already, unknowingly, took his breath away when she had come out of the room, dressed in what she had.

When he placed the glass on the counter in front of her, she turned her attention to it. He didn't think she was affected by how close he had been standing to her, but he would have been terribly mistaken to think that. She literally downed the glass of OJ after she had filled it up half-way in one go, as if it had been a tequila shot she needed to drink to take the edge off.

He wondered how he was going to spend a whole week around her when she was going to be tempting him without even realizing it herself. Not to forget, they had to be around each other for what they were planning to trick their families and friends into believing.

The only problem with that Arjun noticed was Rashi. He hadn't known she was coming with his friends. He had made it a point to scold his two friends for bringing her with them. When she had come over and kissed his cheek, his eyes hadn't left Sanam's to gauge her expression. It had been unreadable to him. He wanted to convey to her how he was sorry for Rashi being here, that he hadn't known, but he had quickly understood that she hadn't received the message.

Sanam hadn't been left alone the whole day for Arjun to talk to her. The group had stayed together. At first, they were just having beer lounging outside, and then had headed over to the beach for a swim. Sanam didn't swim, but she did go with them only deep enough for the water to rest around her thighs. After that, she wouldn't go any deeper.

Arjun would have stayed with the group, if not for Rashi. After a while of dealing with her, he had just walked back to the house and lounged around, watching through the glass running from top to bottom of the room, and listening to music.

~

*Imagine this to be the seating arrangement in the back of the house*

Arjun stirred awake when he felt someone remove one of the ear buds. He opened his eyes to find Sanam in front of him. She gave an apologetic look, "Sorry, I just thought..."

She hadn't meant to wake him up. She had been ready to go call it a night herself, when she had found him sitting outside. She was only going to remove his ear buds and then leave, for it wasn't healthy to fall asleep with them on.

He rubbed his eye as he asked, "What time is it?"

"Around 10. Everyone is already asleep, seeing they were either drunk or too tired from having woken up too early." She answered taking a seat next to him.

He sat up properly, and removed his headphones from his phone and put them aside, "Dang, the day went by too fast. You seemed to be enjoying."

She nodded, bringing her feet up to hug her chest, "Yeah, it was nice to just relax and not have anything to worry about for atleast a few days."

"True, you do seem to always have a lot on your plate." He spoke the observation. She nodded again but didn't say anything. After a few seconds of silence, he said what he had wanted to since morning, "Hey, listen, I'm sorry about Rashi. I didn't know she was going to be here."

She answered, "Hey, this is your house and she is your friend." Her point of saying that was to express indirectly that she had no business in being upset over it.

He let out a "Yeah," though what she didn't catch was his detachment.

She remained silent, simply looking ahead. It was dark, so she couldn't look out to the horizon stretched with blue, but she could hear the crashing of the waves. She could feel the wind against her face. Everything about this place was peaceful for her.

"Do you want to play twenty questions?" He asked, bringing her out of her solace.

"Um, sure?" She turned her head in his direction as she answered, taken aback by his sudden request. "Why though?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "Why not? With what we are planning, wouldn't it be nice to know a little something about each other?"

With that, he had surprised both of them. She had felt multiple times that he kept an emotional wall, and yet, he was the one offering this. And, he was surprised because he wanted to get to know her. He wanted to understand what she thought about, what went on in her brain, and who she was.

"Alright, let's go." She was quick to agree.

He laid out the rules, "Though, let's steer away from the basic questions like favorite song, movie, actress, etc. Ask questions that actually mean something. And, whatever question one asks, both have to answer it."

She chuckled and nodded, "Okay, sounds good." She didn't mind how it was played. She didn't have all too many secrets to hide. It was all in an open book for her. "I'll start. When you are upset, what do you like to do? What comforts you?"

He didn't have to think too much for that answer, though he had to give her the fact that she went right into the game based on what he had drawn it out as. "My personal space. I prefer to be left alone whenever I am mad or upset. I like to think and gather everything straight in my head before facing the crowd again." When he looked up to meet her eyes after he had answered, he found her looking strangely at him. He didn't understand that look. "Uh, you?" He asked, trying to shift the attention away to her.

"Same, I guess. Though, instead of wanting alone time to think, I just listen to sad music." She chuckled, as if embarrassed, "I know, I should probably listen to peppy songs, but the sad or soft tunes actually calm me down. You know what they say... the kind of music you listen to comes back to affect your mood."

"You must have a pretty good collection of songs then." He commented.

Her smile was mysterious, "Maybe. Your turn."

"Right. What is your biggest regret?"

She took in a deep breath before answering, letting him before beforehand itself that it was a personal question, but she followed through and answered, "Not doing anything to help my parents' relationship. Now... they are just two people living in the same house, same room... but barely having meaningful conversations." She paused, realizing she had said more than the question had asked. She forced a smile, "Yours?"

"Giving my family a hard time when they didn't deserve it."

"What scares you the most?" She asked, not forcing him to answer the specifics on his answer.

"Losing my family."

She had to think for that answer for a few seconds. "Falling in love."

He raised his brow at her, "Why?" He asked before he could stop himself. He was the one who was afraid of commitment, though it wasn't his biggest fear.

"I... I haven't seen a stable relationship with my family growing up. I've seen what it can do to people. I couldn't handle just seeing it... I don't think I can handle it if it actually happened to me." She was pulling out scars she hadn't thought she was hiding within her. She thought she had nothing to hide, but she was wrong. She hid a lot of emotions inside of her.

He reached for her hand, getting the feeling that she was flashing back to her hard times. She looked down at it and forced a smile on her face. She didn't let him say anything, "It's okay." She smiled and returned to her previous mood, "I guess it's your turn?"

"What do you want in life?"

She looked at him confused, believing he knew the answer to that, "You know that. I want to be a doctor."

He shook his head, "No, that's a career. I'm asking what you want in life, something that has nothing to do with your major."

"That's tough." She answered, and he understood that. From what he had noticed about her so far, her life revolved too much around school for these kinds of things. He was willing to bet that her days involved school, hospital, library, and back to school.

He nodded, knowing it would have to be. She had never thought of it. "Let me know when you have an answer."

"Okay, what do you want then?"

"I'll tell you when you give me your answer." He answered, and she took that to be fair game.

"Alright, um... oh, I got one. If you could go back in time, what would it be?"

He didn't have to think too hard about this one because he already knew it was one of his regrets in life, "I'd go back to high-school... eleventh grade to be specific. I'd apologize for how I treated my family then, and change how I treated girls then."

She didn't fail to notice that a lot of his answers were related to his family. She really did wonder what could have happened when he was younger. "I'd go back to when I first became friends with Neha."

She said, making him laugh. He knew she didn't truly mean it. She loved Neha. No one could have asked for a better best friend.

"Your biggest rebellion?" He asked, wanting to know if there was one.

"The only one... I sneaked out once to go to this party." She laughed, remembering that time, "I don't know why I ever thought I wanted to experience a typical high-school party. Yours?"

"There was this whole month... I was 16 or 17. I don' know. I did everything the opposite of what my parents said because I'd gotten into a car accident and they were pissed at me. I know now it was my fault, but I was a stubborn kid then."

"You still are." She said to tease him.

He narrowed his eyes at her, "Funny. Your question."

"What's your biggest secret you wouldn't want the world to know?"

He took in a sharp breath at that. She didn't realize the question she had asked was a huge one. Yet, he answered it for her. She had been totally honest with him about her answers after all. "Once a week, I go to counseling."

She nodded, biting the corner of her lip to not ask the question that instantly came to mind. "My secret..."

He offered, "Having your parents find out about our deal?"

She shook her head, "No, that's a secret I'd like to keep from them, but I don't think it would matter much to me if they did find out. I wouldn't want them to know..." She paused to ask, "Don't judge me, okay?"

He answered right away, "I would never."

She nodded, believing him. She hadn't thought he would, but she still felt the need to say it. "Neha took me to this party, first year of college, and forced me into playing 7 minutes in heaven. I guess, to make it more interesting, we had the lights turned off, and we separated into circles of boys and girls. Music was played, and we passed around pillows. Whoever it ended on when the music was stopped had to go in the closet. I know, it was stupid because we were in college... but it's Neha. You can't stop her when she makes up her mind. If my parents had found out about that night, they would have locked me up and gotten me married right then."

He held back a chuckle, knowing she was being serious. "So, who was the guy?"

"I don't know," She answered, "I told you. It was dark."

"Wasn't there anything he said or did that told you who he was later on?"

"Not that I remember... why, you seem very curious."

"I'm surprised you don't seem curious to find out who stole your first kiss."

She raised her brow, challenging him, "Who said anything about a kiss?"

"I'm aware of how the game is played, sweetheart." He answered right back.

She didn't cower away, "So? The guy could have been decent and not kissed me."

He grinned, taking her hand and pulling her towards him, making her eyes widen at the sudden move and hold back a breath, "7 minutes and neither of you say or do anything? That's next to impossible."

She frowned, knowing she couldn't fool him. She pulled back, tugging her hand out of his, "Alright, fine. I did think about asking the guy not to, but then I figured he didn't know who I was and no one was going to know. I was bold in that moment, so yeah, we kissed."

"Was that so hard to admit?" He questioned, continuing to grin at her embarrassment.

"If I didn't have a thing against cursing, I would curse at you right now." She muttered, crossing her arms over her chest. She was a bit irritated at him, having a laugh at her expense.

"I still think you know something about the guy to know who he was."

She remained adamant on that part, "Nope, it was well over five years ago."

"If you say so." He answered, and then paused to think of a question. Only, she stood up, "What, are you not going to play the game anymore?"

"No, we can continue. I just thought we could walk a little." She spoke, and he got up. It would be nice to stretch his legs for a bit. While he continued to think of a question, they walked up to the beach.

"What would be the perfect day for you?"

"A day where I don't feel any pressure to be someone... to behave in a certain way, no responsibilities of any kind... a day where I can be free to just be." She answered, a smile playing on her face. Freedom meant a lot to her. He couldn't look away from her since she had started to speak without much thought. It was obvious she was speaking from the heart. He didn't blink away when she asked, "What about you?"

"Waking up next to someone I love... and I know they love me back and that is enough for both of us... spending one day where I am not some rich guy, but just a guy..."

"Then why don't you want a serious relationship?" She stopped walking as the waves kissed the bottom of her feet.

"It's scary." He answers, picking up a shell and throwing it back in the ocean as if it were a pebble. "It's hard to find someone you can be totally vulnerable around."

"You did it with me." She pointed out. Ever since they started asking each other questions, he hadn't shut off on her.

His opinion differed, "Yeah, but it's just a game."

She let out a soft smile and then stood in front of him, "Life is a game, Arjun. Everything that happens is because of the choices we make in this game. You chose to answer my questions, even if they were personal. Look at everything in life the same way. If you want something, you have to make the choice to roll the dice and trust that wherever it falls, you'll be able to keep going. Take me, for example... I want to not be tied down to a family, so I asked you to marry me – something I would never have been bold enough to do if it wasn't something I really wanted. I didn't know if you would have agreed. Heck, I didn't even know if you wouldn't go tell my parents, but I took that chance."

"You're amazing, you know that?"

She laughed, to lighten the mood. "I know."

When she turned to continued walking, he grabbed her hand and spun her around. "No, I'm serious. You make up your mind and you go after it even if you are scared shitless for it. At first glance, anyone would think you are simply a reserved girl who is satisfied with her life and simply into studies, focused. But... you are so much more. I would have never thought that you would have been brazen enough to propose this arrangement. Just because you have never done something in life, you don't let it stop you from never trying it. You... you have such an open mind that you open yourself to any opportunities that present themselves, and yet, you have your priorities straight. I don't think even you truly realize your own potential. I..."

He stopped when a drop fell on his arm. "Are you crying?" He asked, unable to see it in the dark, but able to see enough to know where her face was. He lifted his hand to rest it on her cheek, and surely, felt it wet.

She used her free hand to wipe away tears from the cheek he hadn't cupped. "No, just..."

He used the pad of his thumb to wipe it off, "Sweetheart, I didn't say any of it to make you cry. I just wanted you to know..."

"I ... can we just... walk?" She requested, not wanting to talk right now. Her head was filled with his words, and she felt overwhelmed by it all.

She knew who she was, but she would never have thought someone would see her for it... figure it out in just a few meetings. Others never really bothered to.

After a silence of few minutes, he asked, "Are you okay?"

Her voice croaked as she answered, "Yeah." It didn't sound as convincing as she had hoped it would.

"Can I say one last thing?"

"Hmm."

"Thanks, for not asking the questions I didn't want you to ask." She understood he was talking about him going to counseling.

"Arjun... I already understood you have your story. You don't have to thank me for respecting your space... but, yes. I would like to think we are friends, so if you do ever want to share anything, know I'll be here. No matter where I am or how busy." She told him what he wanted him to know. She wasn't simply saying it. She meant it. She didn't make too many friends, but when she did, she followed through with it.

People could say that she seemed shallow at times, and didn't care, but once that caring switch was turned on... it remained as such. It's not easy to stop caring about someone. When she had asked Arjun to marry her, she had figured they would be mostly in their own two worlds. She hadn't counted on all of this to happen when they were hanging out before they announced it to the families. She hadn't counted on becoming friends, but, it had happened.

And that, she accepted.

~

authors note;

Longest chapter ever! (probs because I combined two chapters - I felt that without the second part of the chapter, the first part wasn't contributing much). After rewriting the last scene so many times, I think I'm finally satisfied with it... lemme know your thoughts as usual!

And happy thanksgiving weekend everyone! :) <3