When Anjali reached the hotel, she was about to call Khushi to inform her that she had arrived, when she accidentally bumped into someone. Even before she could see the person she accidentally bumped into, she started chanting, "I'm so sorry... I'm really sorry."

When she looked up to see who it was, the features on her face softened as she calmed down, realizing it was someone she knew, Aman.

"Aman, you.. what are you doing here?" Anjali asked.

"We have a meeting to attend with the CEO of Kashyap Events, Lavanya Kashyap. Her team is responsible for the upcoming launch event for the new clothing line of AR. So we're having this meeting to check the progress with her team," Aman explained.

Anjali nodded, disinterested.

"Your best friend broke my heart today," Aman said with hurt tone.

"Why?"

"She has moved on.. I'm the one who is still stuck in our past.. she is over me.. and I'm the one still grieving and pining over her.. I don't even know if it's still worth it.. to fight for our love.. my efforts to redeem myself.. when she is already in a relationship with your brother. Why am I even doing this? Only to get my heart broken in pieces.. You know what.. there's no need for you to help me anymore, Anjali.. everything is over between me and Khushi.. I really thought we had a chance.. but she has moved on with your brother now,"

"Wait.. what?" Anjali gasped, "Calm down, Aman.. from where did you get this information that Khushi and Arnav are in a relationship? From what I and her brother Shyam know, Khushi is still single now."

"I saw it with my own eyes, Anjali. She came with him to attend this meeting in his private car. And she was wearing his coat. What do you understand by this?" he asked with 'It's obvious' look.

Anjali shook her head as she sighed in relief, "You got it wrong, Aman!" She started to narrate the whole incident to him and the reason why Khushi had to wear Arnav's coat.

Aman's blood boiled, hearing that a stranger like Arnav knows something so personal about his woman. Only he has the right to know when she gets her periods. Why did she let that good-for-nothing spoilt brat know that it's her time of the month? What's wrong with this woman? Doesn't she know it's inappropriate to share with other men that she's on her periods?

However, his words came totally opposite of what he had in his mind, as he looked at Anjali forcing a relieved smile on his face, "Oh! So this was the reason she came wearing his coat," he hit her forehead lightly, "And stupid me thought she had moved on."

"Yeah, silly boy!" Anjali shook her head smiling, "You almost gave me a heart attack by saying Khushi is dating my brother.. I was like, what.. this is not possible. How come me and Shyam don't know about this? Why didn't she share anything with us first? And that too, my brother.. seriously Aman.. Arnav and Khushi are two poles apart in personality and beliefs. There's no chance for them to be in a romantic relationship. So, don't jump to conclusions next time, okay?"

"You're right. I don't know what happened to me.. I guess it's the fear of losing Khushi that's making me overthink and act irrationally. I'm going mad without her in my life.. I just can not bear the pain of our separation anymore," he said painfully and helplessly with tears in his eyes.

"Aman, calm down.. don't speak like this. I'm here, na.. I will help you get back with Khushi.. I'm sure she still loves you as much as you do. It's just that she's hurt and disappointed with you.. it's not easy for her to forget everything you did and forgive you easily.. but you don't have to give up on your love yet.. be patient.. I will do something. She will come back to you only," Anjali patted his shoulder, consoling him.

He hugged her tightly and cried like a baby, surprising Anjali, who wasn't expecting this move from him. She reciprocates the hug, offering emotional support to him. Anjali's eyes moistened at the realisation that this is what it feels like to be an elder sister. This is what she would be doing to Arnav whenever he would be facing any problem in his life and would come to cry on her shoulder. But they're far from sharing this kind of bond. Arnav doesn't even let her near him. He's always busy in AR, and when he comes back home, then he's always locked in his room. It's the same scene with her parents. They're always busy with their works, friends, parties, and whatnot. Her family doesn't have time for her. This is why she finds family in her friends.

"I hope this time Anjali actually does something instead of saying kind and sweet words to me. It's been a month since my engagement ended, and she is still saying that she will do something. I thought teaming up with Khushi's best friend made me would benefit from wooing her back. But it's taking a long time," Aman thought in her embrace.

*****************************************

Sometime later..

Khushi walked out of the bathroom after she freshened up and changed her clothes to a simple blue kurti and jeans.

She walked to sit with Anjali on the bed as Anjali was waiting for her. When she settled herself on the bed, she pulled Anjali into a side hug, "Thank you so much, Di, for bringing my comfort clothes for me. I really needed it. I feel so comfortable, relieved, and fresh now that I've freshened up and changed into these clothes. I'm just praying my stupid cramps don't attack me during the meeting. Aur meeting se yaad aya.. oh teri.. Khushi tu toh gayi.. Mr. Cold Light won't spare you for delaying his meeting.. "

Her hazel eyes grew wide in fear and shock as realization dawned upon her the moment she uttered the word meeting. The moment she saw Anjali, she was so excited to sit with her best friend and chit-chat for a while that she forgot Arnav had told her to be quick as they would be waiting for her to start with the meeting.

Khushi jumped out of the bed, running towards the door. She stopped in her track as she hit her forehead and came running back to Anjali, who sat numbly, still trying to process whatever  Khushi was doing and babblering in lightning speed.

Khushi quickly kissed Anjali's cheek as she spoke too fast, "Sorry, Di. Thank you, Di. Bye, Di. I'm getting late for meeting. We will talk later, okay? It's even better if you come to my home to meet me. We will get more time to spend together. Ok? Bye, Di. Love you."

When she turned to leave again, Anjali held her hand firmly and pulled her back, forcing her to sit on the bed beside her. She looked at Khushi and said scoldingly, "Khushi, take a deep breath and relax!"

Khushi followed her command as she nervously took a deep breath, still holding Anjali's hand. She sheepishly asked, "I did like you said, Di. Ab main jaun? (Can I go now?)"

"No. What's the hurry?" Anjali pouted, "Arnav gave you permission to come here, na. He won't scold you as he doesn't know how much time you will take to freshen up and change your clothes."

"But I know that I've I'm changed my clothes and I'm ready to join the meeting now, Di. I can not take advantage of the fact that my boss granted me this break knowing about my condition and stay here with you, Di. I don't feel good about this. I don't want to lie to your brother. He helped me. He was the one who stopped at the pharmacy store and went to buy sanitary pads for me, then he took me to the ladies' room in a restaurant. He gave me his coat so that I could hide my stained pants. He called you here to bring clean clothes for me. After doing all this for me, I don't feel good to deliberately sit here while knowing he's waiting for me," Khushi spoke against the idea, not wanting to do anything that would affect his work or cause him trouble in anyway.

"Khushi, you're talking as if it's a big deal. Arnav did what anyone in his place would have done to you. Stop giving credit to him for doing the bare minimum," Anjali rolled her eyes, shaking her head at the way Khushi described Arnav as her saviour when he did nothing out of the world. 

"I know that's what anyone ideally would have done to help a woman in this condition. But in reality, it's not what everyone does," Khushi said as her mind travelled to her past, "Aman used to get irritated whenever I asked him to buy sanitary pads for me. He used to feel embarrassed going into a pharmacy to buy sanitary pads or even hold them in his hands. He would buy it for me and then scold me so I wouldn't forget to buy it myself next time. This is why I even stopped bothering him. Either I bought it myself or bhaiya."

"I guess it's common for men to feel embarrassed.. like they say, it's women's thing.." Anjali commented.

"Then let me appreciate a man like your brother who helped me without feeling embarrassed, and most importantly, he didn't make me feel embarrassed about my periods," Khushi raised her brows, smiling in victory as she managed to win this argument from Anjali.

Anjali sighed, "I wonder how you always manage to find something positive about my brother. But you can't do the same for Aman. You always speak against Aman since you broke your engagement with him. Is it so easy for you to forget your first love? You judge his past actions now based on that incident. You do know that we're not perfect human beings, Khushi.. Aman isn't perfect, too. He has his flaws like every one of us, but we can't ignore his good qualities, too. That's what made you fall for him, right? Please think about this, Khushi. Aren't you being too harsh and judgemental towards Aman? He truly loves you. He made one big mistake. But was it really necessary to punish him by pushing him away from your life forever? Don't you think he deserves a second chance? At least he didn't give up on you. He's being patient and waiting for you. He's ready to redeem himself.. he truly regrets what he did that day. At least he's fighting for you. You're his love, his life, the woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with Khushi. You're a lucky girl. You have people like Shyam and Aman in your life. Look at me. My family and my brother don't even care for me. Arnav doesn't even make any effort to talk to me. If they do anything wrong or they hurt me, they don't even care to say sorry. Think about this, Khushi. You will come to the realisation that you're being unfair to Aman. Give him one chance. That one day doesn't define the man he is. Don't forget the man you were in love with just because of that day.. I'm sure he didn't mean what he said to you that day.. he blurt those words because he wasn't in his right mind." 

Khushi wasn't surprised, shocked, or even hurt to hear these words from Anjali. She was used to it already. In the past month, the news of her broken engagement circulated through her neighbourhood and later spread like wildfire to her far relatives. Ever since then, she has been contacted by elders, especially women, to advise her not to act impulsively when it comes to this sensitive topic. They think she's a young, immature girl who broke the engagement because of a stupid childish reason. They think she is cruel and unfair to Aman. They think she has changed after joining AR, and seeing a glimpse of the lavish lifestyle of people there made her think after dumping Aman, she will find another rich man to get married to. They think her bhaiya is at fault for supporting her childish and immature decision. They think her bhaiya shouldn't have agreed to let her work in AR. They think she will suffer the consequences of a broken engagement as everyone will point fingers at her character, and no one would want to get married to a girl like her. They think at least she should be grateful that Aman is possessive about her, unlike their husbands who don't even care for them. They think what Aman did is normal because that's how men are. They're possessive for the woman that belongs to them.

She has been facing this for a month now. The accusations, opinions, advice, judgments, character assassination, people speaking in support of Aman from people around her only. So it came as no surprise that Anjali shared the same opinion as others. Her brother had already warned her, this will be a tough phase in her life and she will have to be strong enough not to fall for third people opinion who will try their best to bring her down if she believes she made the right decision. And she was prepared for it.

"Di, you know that you're my best friend, this is why I'm politely requesting you not to interfere in this matter, and respect my decision. I know you've an opinion of your own. You think Aman truly loves me. He regrets his mistake, and he's a changed man now, and I should give him another chance. It's okay. It's your opinion and your way to look at this situation. But please don't force your opinion on me. I know what I went through when the man I was engaged to pushed me away from his embrace and questioned my character. I know what I went through when he asked me if my boss is paying me to sleep with him with disgust and anger in his eyes and I saw his changing colors in no time when he realised I wasn't going to forgive him so easily and he would lose me. I was the one who went through that fear and trauma when he resorted to emotionally blackmailing and physically hurt himself to leave me with no option other than to forgive me. His desperation made him claim that I won't find any better man than him in my life in front of my brother. It may come across as 'not a big deal' to you and others Di. But for me, it's not. I don't want to go through that fear of my own life partner, I don't want to look at my life partner and question myself if he's actually the person I'm love with. At that point, I picked up on the red flags in my relationship with Aman, and I realised that I didn't want this kind of love. It's my choice and end of discussion," Khushi spoke determinedly as she ended by shrugging her shoulders with a confident, 'My life, my rules, my choices' look to Anjali.

"And you said why I always tried to find something positive in your brother, right? It's because I feel some sort of a special connection with him. It's like he came into my life through a divine intervention of DM and my parents. He is always present when I'm in trouble. I know it's hard to believe.. even Bhaiya thinks I'm being dramatic and filmy.. but it's something only I feel.. I believe in it. And this is not the only reason. There are many things I've discovered about him. And I want to share everything with you. But not now.. if you come home tonight, we'll talk. And if it won't be possible for you, then weekend pe milte hai, Khushi said. Her features softened while talking about Arnav, and a light faint smile was visible on her lips.

Khushi got up again and disappeared from there like a butterfly.

Anjali didn't register what Khushi talked about, Arnav, as she was tensed and worried for her future now.

"Khushi seems firm on her decision to move on in life. She doesn't want to get back to Aman. I thought after six months, she would get married to Aman. And Shyam would ask my hand in marriage. I would start my life afresh with him away from my parents and my brother. I would finally get to live in my happy and little world with my husband. But now that Khushi broke her engagement, Shyam won't agree to get married to me until he gets his sister married. I will have to wait for God knows how long to get married to him. It's getting difficult and suffocating to live in RM. I can't wait to escape this nightmare and start living my life on my own terms," Anjali thought tensed, her eyes brimming with tears of helplessness.

*****************************************

Aman saw Khushi coming towards their table. He quickly stood up and rushed to push a chair for her to sit. Khushi pretended she didn't see that he pushed a chair for her and walked to the chair next to Arnav's. Aman shut his eyes tight momentarily, clenching his jaws. He hates this attitude Khushi is showing to him. Still, he needs to be careful and control his anger in front of her. He already made one big mistake that led to their broken engagement. He can't afford to show her his anger and spoil his efforts to get her back in his life.

Arnav gazed intently at Khushi, who was opening her laptop, ready for the meeting. She felt his gaze on her and turned her head to meet his eyes, raising her brows to him, grinning at him, "What? I know I look different when I'm dressed in kurti. But don't worry, sir ji, I'm the same Khushi Kumari Gupta, your PA."

(Khushi's look and hairstyle)

Arnav rolled his eyes, "I already saw you in a traditional outfit."

"Oh yeah!" Khushi bit her tongue, realising the man has already seen her in modern and traditional look, "Then why are you staring at me like that?"

"Nothing," Arnav cleared his throat, sitting straight as he signalled Lavanya and her team to start reporting the progress they've made with the launch event preparations, averting his gaze from Khushi.

Khushi looked at herself consciously now. Was there something wrong in her look? Was she looking weird to him in this plain kurti and jeans?

However, she pushed these thoughts out of her mind, brushing it off the moment the meeting officially started. She focused on preparing the minute report as they kept discussing the details of the event.

During the meeting, Arnav briefly looked at her as she hissed in pain after accidentally biting her cheek while chewing her pen cap. He shook his head and scolded her like a typical Desi dad, "Stop chewing your pen cap. Throw it away right now."

Khushi pouted like a little kid and kept her pen cap aside, caressing her wounded cheek from the outside. Arnav sighed and shifted his attention back to his meeting.

Aman passed his bottle of water to her, to which Khushi denied, shaking her head in no. She quickly looked back at her laptop, avoiding any kind of interaction with him during the meeting.

*****************************************

Sometime later..

After the meeting ended, Khushi and Arnav were walking towards his car when they heard a voice behind. Arnav didn't stop as he got in the car, strictly ordering Khushi to follow suit. Khushi quickly got in the car while looking behind to see who was calling him. Once she sat in the car, Arnav started the car and insanely sped out of the hotel, making her gasp and widen her eyes when she saw Lavanya running behind his car, trying to catch up with the speed but eventually giving up.

"Bichari (poor girl). She was calling you, and you were acting as if you didn't hear her. Why?" Khushi looked back at him accusingly.

"Meri marzi (my wish)."

"Haila! That's not the right way to treat a woman. You made her feel embarrassed. Everyone was staring at her. What wrong did she do?"

"Shut up, Khushi!"

"Can I say something to you as Khushi, not your PA?" Khushi asked hesitantly.

"No!"

"Please suno na.. it's for your good only.. don't push people when they try to get close to you.. you know that Lavanya ma'am is interested in you.. she was trying to take the first step.. you also try to take another step.. this is how relationships start.. you can't like your life like this.. you only interact with other people for business purposes and then shut down when it comes to personal life," Khushi said. She is aware that she's risking it big time by poking her nose into his personal life. But she wants to help him, the same way, he helped in tough times of her life.

"Just because Mohan Kaka told you about my past, it doesn't give you the right to advise me on what I should do about my life," he narrowed his eyes at her, "Aur bolne ka itna hi shauk hai (If you like talking a lot), then I'll stop the car and you go back and stay with Miss Kashyap."

"Ok. Ok. Ok.. sorry.. sorry.. sorry," Khushi held her ears instantly.

Arnav glared at her before he looked ahead at the road.

Khushi dropped her hands, sighing in relief, muttering to herself, "Aaj toh bal bal bach gayi main . (Today, I had a narrow escape)" 

He drove for a few minutes, and Khushi couldn't control herself anymore. She wasn't someone to keep quiet for long. It was like she had an allergy to silence and sitting idle.

"Since you don't like to talk about yourself. I want to speak my heart out to someone. Can I speak to you?" she asked innocently.

"Do I have any other choice?" he asked sarcastically.

Khushi giggled softly, "Ye hui na baat (That's more like it)."

"Di talked to me today about Aman," she started narrating her conversation with Anjali and what she had to listen from her neighbours and relatives for the past one month because of her broken engagement, "I've my bhaiya by my side. So I really don't care about what others say or think about me. But I'm hurt and disappointed with everyone. Why is everyone blaming me as if I'm the culprit and Aman is the victim? Why suddenly I'm wrong and cunning woman when he's the one who questioned my character and manhandled me? I see it in everyone's eyes when they talk to me about my engagement.. they look at me as if I'm the one being unreasonable, cruel, and unfair to Aman. It's like Aman is the innocent, poor man who got ditched by his fiance when there were only a few months left to their wedding. No one supports my decision. Everyone is trying to bring me down. I feel like everyone is conspiring together to make me get back to Aman. Sometimes, I feel so scared to fall weak and give in to their constant pressure on me," she sobbed.

Hearing her sobs, Arnav abruptly turned to his left and parked the car on the sidewalk. He looked at her crying clueless for a moment before taking a bottle of water from the backseat and handed it to her silently.

Khushi shook her head, refusing to drink water. She covered her face, still crying.

"Don't cry, Khushi!" his husky tone reached her ears, "You're not wrong," he added.

Khushi peeked at him through the gap between her fingers, "Sacchi?" she asked like a little kid, wanting reassurance for her decisions. 

"Haan. Don't get influenced by what others say," he said.

"Is this you or my boss talking to me?" Khushi asked cutely, her face still covered by her palms.

"What the.." he frowned slightly.

"You.. voh.. you.. aap.. Ar.. aap" Khushi stammered nervously. She didn't know how she would call him by his name.

Arnav looked at her weirdly, "Unfortunately, I don't understand the language you're speaking right now."

"Offo simple si question hai.. Are you my boss or.... (gulps) Arnav ji right now?"

Arnav resisted the urge to smile at her antics as he replied sarcastically, "Arnav.. mere naam koi 'Ji' nahi hai (there's no Ji in my name)."

Khushi withdrew her hands from her face as she looked at him, "There is no 'Ji' in anyone's name. We add it as respect to people who are older than us."

"Accha.. mujhe toh pata hi nahi tha (I wasn't aware of this)," Arnav said with a fake sarcastic realisation tone.

Khushi chuckled, staring at him with teary eyes twinkling.

Arnav gave the bottle of water to her again. This time, she accepted and took the bottle from his hand, whispering a 'Thank you' to him.

He started his car while thinking how he and Khushi had different ways to deal with pain and heartbreaks in their lifes. While she is quick to mask her feelings, it's takes a lot to break this woman's spirit, she breaks down and the next time she finds a reason to smile while he resorts to shutting down, leading to his detachment and apathy towards people around him.

"Thank you for listening to me. I really needed to let this out with someone," she said, and before he could say anything, she mimicked him, "Shut up, Miss Gupta!"

She made a locking her mouth and was about to throw the invisible key out of the window when he stopped her, "Think about it.. you won't be able to unlock your mouth until we reach the office."

Khushi's eyes grew wide like her smile. Was she dreaming? Was he teasing her? Was he actually granting permission for her to talk on their way to the office?