Few months later...

As the days rolled by, the fights between Naina & Arjun reduced, though they weren't great friends, but they did not fight on the petty issues like before...

Soon the exam results were declared and as usual Arjun became board topper in his school for class 12 and every kid in the colony was now now bombarded with what Sid used to call Arjun Puraan...

Naina scored decent marks in her exams, she was never a Braniac, but was a good student, her father was happy with her scores, but her mother being influenced by Arjun Puraan wave all over, was not happy with her scores...

The schools were about to begin with the new term, and everyone was busy in getting ready for the reopening, Whereas Arjun took break for an year to prepare for SATs as he wanted to join the NYU, for business studies...

However, things weren't good at Naina's house....

Abhimanyu failed in his 2nd semester of engineering (since he broke up with his girlfriend during exams & was not able to concentrate on his studies)

Mr. Malhotra was very furious, he thought it was due to his carelessness & grounded him, but the real issue was known to Naina... She tried to cheer her brother up, but he was very upset because of his marks and now was working hard for his additional exams preparation...

It was a rainy day....

Radhika & Naina were walking towards their house, they were returning from their school after collecting their books and buying other essential items...

'How's bhaiyya now..?' Rads asked

'Not good... He's really upset, for his low marks & for breaking up with Shrutika Di...' Naina sighs and Rads looks glum too..

'How is Di ?' Naina asks

'Same condition, she hardly talks to me' Radhika replies and Naina felt bad for her too

'Why did they break up ?' Rads whined

'I don't know.... I really liked them together..'

'Everything will be okay... Hopefully...' Rads sighed

'I really wanted them to marry you know, we would've been relatives if they did..' Naina whines

'I wanted the same... But fate has it's own plans....' Rads said, as they move towards the alley which was a shortcut for their house..

Since it was almost 7 pm and raining, surroundings were already dark, and as the alley was narrow, so it was darker in there, as Rads and Naina walked in they felt the chilly air on their body and shivered

'Wow we should've brought flash lights with us...' Naina chuckles

'Let's take the longer route, it's very shady....' Radhika shivers

'Rads we have used this route for like 100 times, it's perfectly safe... Come...' Naina drags her

'Okay... but what if a shady man starts following us...?' She asks looking around

'Then I'll protect you...' Naina says flexing her muscles and Rads chuckled

They walked towards their house, chatting about random things...

'I am glad that you and Arjun don't fight anymore...' Rads says

'Yeah he stopped annoying me by passing unnecessary comments, actually I feel he is avoiding me now a days, not that I am complaining....' Naina replies casually, but for the reasons unknown to her, she was actually affected by his behavior

'No he isn't... Rather I feel he is giving more attention to you than before...'

'Why so...' Naina asks

'Trust me, Aditi dislikes you even more now, because of Arjun's sudden interest in you...' Rads informs

Naina's heart fluttered at this, she frowned at herself for reacting like this....
'Arjun is not interested in me...' she says, trying to brush off the topic

'See, I told you what the other girls think, Arjun always wants to include you in everything now a days, and surprisingly you are his first choice will selecting teams, so we thought.... He might be... You know....' Rads smirks

This was actually true, Arjun who always avoided taking her in his team, wanted to include her in every games they play, that too along side him... But this not in anyway indicates that he is interested in her...

'You guys are crazy....' Naina rolls her eyes..

Naina and Rads were about to exit the alley when they spot 3-4 men sitting in the corner, behaving weirdly, one among them was staring at the sky, drenching in rain, other was singing songs with god knows what lyrics, while the other two were injecting something in their arm using a syringe...

Naina and Rads got curious, but Naina decided to avoid them, because her mother would always warn her about the shady people nearby the marketplace, but Rads being Rads walked towards their direction

'Rads no... they can be dangerous...' Naina hissed

'No Naina, look they are sick, see they are injecting the medicines to themselves, poor guys cannot even go a doctor to do that... Let's help them...' Rads says innocently, not realising what were they actually doing

Naina too got curious about why are they injecting the medicines themselves and not taking a doctors help, there was no way these 15 year olds knew, that they were intaking harmful drugs and were not some underpriviliged poor people...

As Naina followed Rads she found something odd about those men, because they did not look poor, they were just untidy and as they reached closer, they reeked of something very bad pungent smell...

'Rads... they are not poor people, I think they are drinking alcohol, let's not go near them...' Naina held Rads hands, stared at them briefly, and then nodded

As they were slowly moving away, one of the man turned and spotted them

'Look at these cute little munchkins, what do you want kids ? I have chocolates... come...' one of the man said

'No we don't want anything... we were going home...' Rads replied and another man turned at their direction as well, and grinned at them, and he had the worst teeth Naina had ever seen on a human being...

'What's so hurry, come talk to us...' the other man suggested

'Maa says don't talk to strangers and anyway we are getting late, let's go Rads...' Naina says acting tough, but inside she was scared to death..

'I like this tall one, what's your name cutie...?' The first man, who had a syringe in his hand asked Naina

Naina did not reply, she held Radhika's arms tightly and started walking away from them, but the men were in no mood to let them go...

One of the man who was very tall, blocked their way from the front, while the other fat one, stood behind, spreading his arms, preventing them to run from behind

Naina and Radhika were scared to death, and Radhika started crying, Naina wanted to cry too, but she took a deep breath, to prevent tears from falling, and glared at the tall man, trying to scare him

'Let us go...' Rads yelled

'Hmm... this kid is fiery...' the fat man said

'Didn't your Maa teach you not to yell at the elders...' the tall man sneered

Naina took a defensive position, pushing Radhika behind her, and held her arms tightly..

'Let us go, and we won't bother you....' this time her tone was low..

'Come Rads, let me show you something cool...' the fat man held Radhika's arms and she shrieked

'DON'T TOUCH HER...' Naina yells and kicks the fat man, who hold on Radhika's arms loosens and he hisses..

'You bitch...' the fat man growled

The fat man marches towards her, and Naina takes a step back, Rads stood their horrified, not understanding what to do, as Naina moved back, she collides with the tall man, whose vial of drug, which he was putting into the syringe, falls down due to impact, he gasps and catches Naina's arms

'You bitch, do you know how much did it cost....' he growls

'Naina...' Rads gasped in horror

'Run Rads Run ! Bring some help.... Run...!' Naina yells at Radhika who nods in panic and runs away from there, the fat man tries to catch her, but she runs away...

'Let me teach you a lesson...' the tall man sneered, and held both of her arms twisting them, and Naina cried in pain

'Leave me...' Naina shouts, and kicks the fat man who was about to catch her legs

'This one is really stubborn, let's pacify her...' the tall man says to his partner, meanwhile tightly holding Naina, who was struggling in his arms to get out

Naina continued kicking the fat man whenever he tried to hold her, shouting at the top of her lungs, after a while she felt a needle piercing through her skin and hissed, and as a reflex, she bit the tall man's arm, before he finished injecting the drug in her..

The tall man hissed and before he could do anything Naina got out of his hold and ran towards the end of the alley to get out...

The men followed her, and Naina ran as fast as she can, but after few seconds her body started giving up, she was finding it difficult to run..

She was breathing heavily, she couldn't understand why this was happening to her...

Normally she could run easily but something was wrong today, her chest felt very tight, she couldn't inhale the air easily, and when she tried to do that, her chest hurt very bad, her head started spinning

She eventually collapsed on the ground, she was panting, unable to breathe.. It felt someone has placed a huge rock on her head, her cheeks were red and blood was oozing from her forehead, she did not realise when did she hurt her head...

She looked behind, and saw the men approaching her, gathering her strength she got up and ran, but her body felt numb and Naina felt nauseous, she managed to run few steps, but her legs eventually gave up, she was about to collapse again, but someone prevented her from falling down

Naina held the person's arm tightly and stood up with their help, she looked up, her vision was blurry, but she recognised the person and a wave of relief washed over her face...

'Ar.. Arjun..' she managed to speak, her voice a mere whisper

Arjun looked at her worriedly, she was sweating, her eyes drooping, her face was red and she was finding it difficult to stand, there was a scratch on her forehead, Arjun had to use all his strength to hold her...

'Are you Okayyyy.....' before he could finish, she hugged him very tightly and Arjun stood rooted to his place, his heart was beating very fast... was it because of seeing her being chased by 2 grown men, or was it because she was this close to him, hugging the life out of him... he had no idea

'Oh Thank God....' she breathes, Arjun holds her properly now, his one arm around her waist, while the other on her shoulders, holding her upright, and then looked behind her to see 2 men taking their steps backward..

'Hey ! Hey stop ! Where are you running... stop right there.... Sash... call the police...' he yells and hearing this, then men ran away from there

'What were you thinking...?' Arjun scolds her, but she did not leave him

'They....  hurt... Rads... I...' she managed to say

Arjun sighed, and hugged her back...

'You are crazy, you know that...' he said, but then panicked as Naina's grip around him loosens, and within the fraction of seconds she collapsed on the ground...

'NAINA....!' He panics, and rubs her palms which were getting cold, when he observes a punctured wound of needle in her left arm and panicked

'Naina wake up... Please... What did they do to you...' he shook her and softly patred her cheeks to wake her up, but she did not open her eyes, which scared him to death

'Adi ! Call the ambulance...' Arjun roared...