"Why have you come here?"

"I wanna talk to you, Shreya. Please, just give me a few minutes at least."

"There's nothing left to talk about. Go marry that girl you talk to on the phone daily or find someone else. Just leave me alone."

"Fine, I will leave you alone if you want, but only after I've cleared your misconception. After that, it's up to you whether you want me to leave you or not."

"No matter what you might explain, I'm not gonna change my mind."

"You don't have to change your mind. But I'm not gonna leave you until you listen to what I have to say."

"Then, you might as well say whatever you have to say now."

"Can we talk outside? There's a small park nearby."

"No, I need to be here. So, let's just talk here."

"You can go, Shrey. I'll be here to take care of our studio," chipped in Swati.

Shreya glared at Swati, who was grinning. "Okay."

"Thanks!" Vishal glanced from Swati to Shreya, with a smile.

***

Shreya seated herself on a bench in the park. Vishal seated himself beside her and turned to face her.

"Shreya, I'm sorry. I really am. I made a mistake once. And for that, she's trying to exact her revenge on me now. I... I'm not so good at explaining so I don't know how to tell you this. But I want you to know that..." Shreya glanced at Vishal as he continued explaining about his darling like she was just his friend.

Tell him that you're his darling. Her inner voice commanded her. No, you know there's a reason I never told him that till now. Yes, but it's not gonna work anymore; stop trying to believe that it will. Should I tell him? Yes, you should. No, if I tell him now, there is no chance the reason I never told him till now will come true. He will never change or understand the reason why you never told him, so just say it! I can't... I can't get myself to say it.

"She is nothing but my friend, Shreya." Shreya was jolted out of her thoughts by the last few words he had uttered.

"Uh..." Shreya hesitated. "So, what am I supposed to do now?"

"It's up to you. But I hope you'll believe me now and forgive me for not telling you about her. I will never hide a thing from you again if you give me just one more chance."

"I already told you I'm not gonna change my..." Vishal interrupted Shreya before she could finish speaking. "If you were angry at me for other reasons as well, I would've accepted your anger and left in defeat. But just for the matter of a friend, how can you be this mad at me? Please forgive me and give me a single last chance, Shreya."

Shreya turned her face away. I gave you a light rejection so it wouldn't hurt you. But you've come back asking for a worse rejection? Fine, I'll give you a chance. I won't hurt you or reject you but I won't accept your love for me just yet. I don't understand why you seem to love me more than your darling but I'll give you one last chance. I hope that this time I'll be able to make you understand your darling's anger, realize that you truly love her and that your love for her is reciprocated too. "Okay."

"What?" Vishal's face lit up as he watched Shreya's face keenly.

"I forgive you."

"Thank you so much, Shreya! Thank you so much!"

"You don't have to thank me." Shreya remained silent for a moment, before deciding to prod him regarding his darling. "You know, your darling totally despises me. You have a problem with her, why should I be involved in your dispute? Please settle it between yourselves."

"I'm really sorry about it, Shreya, but I don't know what's gotten into her now."

Shreya narrowed her eyes as she stared at the ground in front of her. "One thing is for sure, she doesn't want us to be together. Either she will talk me into disbelieving you or she will create enough problems between us till we mutually call it quits." Waiting for Vishal to respond, Shreya paused, but Vishal remained silent. "She sounded like she's ready to do anything to get me off her path."

"Nah, she won't do anything to you. She's actually a very innocent person. Among my friends, she's the first person I wanted to introduce you to but I guess that's won't happen anymore. She's mad at me now because of my own carelessness. Had I agreed to meet the bride without having an arranged marriage in the beginning itself, she would've been living her life peacefully now without being disturbed by me."

Shreya smiled a bit. "But what is her problem?"

"She doesn't want us to get married. Things have been going smoothly between us and she's not happy about that."

"Wait, we are just getting to know each other, right? She's acting like as though it's decided that we'll be getting married."

Vishal shifted his gaze to the ground in silence. I had been about to propose to Shreya two weeks ago without knowing that this was what she thought....

"Okay, I'll give you a choice. If you choose her, I don't have any problem. I won't contact you or be a reason for your dispute. If you choose me, I won't care a thing about her. Let her do whatever she wants, but you'll have my trust no matter what she does."

Vishal just stared at her, his mouth slightly agape in shock. "That means, you've decided already?"

"Decided on what?"

"On me. I mean, you're okay with me? Uh... I don't know why I'm stammering right now but let me be frank. I like you... do you like me?"

Like? Not love, huh? Of course I know that you don't love Shreya! You'll have my trust doesn't mean that I'll be yours forever. You'll have my trust but whether you'll have my love or not, you ought to ask. This is not the time for me to answer that question of yours, Vi.... Shreya's hand unlocked her mobile phone's screen; her mobile was still in her hand covered by her shawl.

As Vishal was waiting for her to answer his question, his mobile rang. Vishal drew his mobile phone out of his pocket and grimaced. Darling was calling....

As Vishal was about to press the red key to cut the call, Shreya asked, "Must be her, your friend, calling to interrupt us again, right?"

Vishal glanced at Shreya, pondering for a moment. "I've chosen you. I will tell her enough today to make sure she won't think of disturbing us again."

As Vishal was about to answer the call, Shreya suggested, "Why don't you block her number if she's really of no importance to you?"

"That's a good idea. I'll block her number right away."

"Who?"

"Darling."

"Darling?"

"Yeah, my friend who called you and tried to create troubles between us."

"Wow, anyone hearing you speak would think Darling is your sweetheart, someone very beloved to you. The way you say her name, really. I have a question. Why do you call her 'Darling' when she's not your girlfriend or fiancée or wife?"

Vishal remained silent for a minute before he finally spoke. "I don't know. It just happened. But I wish Granz had.... Urgh, never mind. Let it be, why are we talking about Darling now? Let her be; she can't create any problems between us anymore."

Shreya remained silent.

"Shreya, may I have your number?"

You just blocked it. "Umm..." He didn't see me holding my mobile till now today. "I... I actually don't have a mobile right now. I lost my phone a few days back."

"Oh, didn't you try to trace it?"

"No... I'm not so sure exactly where or when I misplaced it."

"Ooh... what phone were you using earlier?"

"Samsung mobile."

"Okay, can you spare an hour of your time for me?"

"Sure, but why?"

"Come, I'll tell you."

***

Twenty minutes later, Shreya was standing inside a mobile shop beside Vishal.

"Why have you brought me here? I can buy a new phone on my own."

"I know you can buy a phone on your own but I want to buy you one as a gift."

Shreya glanced at him, dumbstruck. She had not expected this from him.

"I know what you're thinking. We are still getting to know each other. What if our relationship doesn't work out? It doesn't matter. I wanna buy you a phone today and no matter what happens, it will always be yours. Please choose a mobile here so I can buy it for you... at least as a gift from a friend if our relationship doesn't work by any chance."

Shreya was speechless.

"How about an iPhone 6S or a Samsung Galaxy S7 edge?"

"No, they're too expensive. There's no need to spend so much money just for a phone."

"You don't have to worry about the cost. It's my gift for you."

"I'm okay with any phone."

"Fine, then I'll buy you an iPhone 6S. No excuses about the cost, I'm getting it for you."

A slow smile worked its way across Shreya's face and into her eyes. Vishal's really trying to impress me. You came back for me though I thought you wouldn't. Although I like it, it hurts that you're not bothered about your darling. Had I not asked your Granz to choose me, it would have been any other girl standing here in my place now. But I'm glad I asked her to choose me though my intention was different then.

You have seen the two sides of Shreya. One as your chirpy, frank and loving darling; one as the reserved and serious Shreya. I don't want to show you that side of me as your darling or reciprocate your love for Shreya until the day you might realize how much your darling loved you. I hope that day won't be too far.

***

Half an hour later, Shreya was standing outside her fashion designing studio again with her new mobile in hand.

"I don't want anyone to be able to cause any misunderstandings between us. That's why I got you this phone and made you save my number in it right away," explained Vishal.

"Yeah, I understand," replied Shreya.

"I guess I'll leave now?"

"Sure."

"Okay, talk to you later." Vishal turned to go, reluctantly. I've spoken to her about everything openly, yet she's being reserved to me. When will she open up to me? When will she show me a sign that she cares?

"You've come all the way to my studio, would you like to come and have a look around inside before you go or maybe some other time?"

Vishal spun around with a slight smile. Shreya was waiting for me with a small smile. That was a good sign from her side. "Sure, I'm free right now. I won't mind having a look around your studio now."

Shreya smiled a bit before leading Vishal into her studio.

"Oh, wow! I just thought about you and you're back, Shrey. I gotta go but before that tell me what did he–" Swati fell silent upon noticing Vishal, who was walking into their studio behind Shreya. A mischievous grin broke out on Swati's face. "Actually Dev just called me and I gotta go. See you later, Shrey!"

"Wait–" Shreya started but Swati interrupted, "I'll catch up with you later at home. Bye!"

"Okay, bye." Shreya watched with a slight frown as Swati left.

"Wow, these dresses are really pretty." Shreya turned back to face Vishal as he spoke.

"Oh, those are some of the dresses we'll be presenting at the expo in Goa."

"Goa?"

"Yea, there's a fashion expo there next weekend."

"Wow, that's nice. I've never been there yet."

"Me too. This will be my first trip to Goa."

"Oh, okay. Talking about Goa, I have a friend, a colleague at office, who's a fashion freak too. She was planning to go to Goa next weekend but she can't. I guess she must've been planning to go for the fashion expo."

Shreya smiled. That must be your friend, Rhea, right? You've told your darling about her, so I already know Rhea. But you don't know that I know her. "Oh, what's up next weekend? I thought you only get a single day off during the weekends."

"Next weekend, we can take three days off if we want to since we'll be done with two major projects."

"Ooh, nice. So, what's your plan during that weekend?"

"Nothing much. I was planning of going over to visit Granz or call her over since she's been gone for almost two months now. But she just told me this morning that she has a wedding to attend this weekend so she'll be busy. I guess I might just chill here."

"Oh, okay. Next weekend will be a busy one for me. My friend was supposed to accompany me but she's not since her boyfriend met with an accident and got a fracture in his leg."

Vishal remained silent for a moment as he reflected on what Shreya had just told him. "I'm free next weekend; I could actually accompany you to Goa. Shall I?"

Astounded, Shreya glanced at him. No! "Sure." What in the world did I just say? "No, I mean, you might be bored. I'm going there just for the fashion expo. You will surely be bored."

"That's fine. I've never been to a fashion expo before. Let this be the first time. After the expo, we could even go sightseeing together if you want. We could spend some time at the beaches too; I think it will be a good idea."

"Okay." Shreya started to smile a bit.

"Alright then, you'll have me with you. So, you won't be alone in Goa. I think it will be fun."

"Yeah."

"I guess I should go now. It's getting late. Talk to you later."

"Okay, sure." Take care, Vi. Shreya smiled as Vishal turned to go.

Shreya watched from the entrance of her studio until Vishal's car had driven out of sight. As soon as he had gone, she turned back to face the interior of her studio and squealed with delight as she hugged her new mobile phone. The more I hide my feelings for you, the more I fall for you, Vi. I never expected this change you have brought into the course of my life. When you first came to meet me today, I almost regretted rejecting Abhay for no reason, but no, I did the right thing that day. I rejected him because I already had you in my heart even though you had left me since I was just a wrong number. I hope our trip to Goa will be good for us.

What are you thinking, Shreya? Vishal loves you? No, he doesn't. A tiny voice spoke from the back of her mind. If he really loved you, he would have loved the real you, his darling. If he could leave his darling, then obviously he never loved her. That means he never loved you. Now, the only reason he has come back for you is because you are his Granz's choice. What if he finds someone else someday and realizes that she is the one who he truly loves? Leave him now before it hurts even worse when he realizes and tells you that he doesn't love you.

Shreya frowned. That's true; he didn't love his darling though his darling was the real me. He has come back for me only because I'm his Granz's choice. He is not mine. I don't want to ruin his life by forcing him to marry me when I know that he doesn't love me, his darling, though he knows me so well. I should let him go so he will find the real girl who can win his heart. But how will I leave him now? I told him that I forgave him and he's very thrilled about our trip to Goa. I can't disappoint him now. I'll wait until after the trip. As soon as we return from Goa, I'll tell him the truth that I am his darling. Then, it's up to him what he wants to do.

As Vishal drove out of Shreya's fashion designing studio, he smiled. Perfect. Our time together in Goa will be the best time for her to know me so no one can ever cause any problems between us. I won't let myself lose you again by any chance, Shreya. I've never found a girl more perfect than you. A girl more perfect than you surely can't exist... unless she is frank and speaks her thoughts to me, unlike you. I will try my best to do anything I can to make you happy so that our relationship will work; I hope it will.

Vishal walked into his apartment, full of excitement. I'm going to Goa with Shreya next weekend. Lemme inform Darling.

Vishal took his mobile but froze when he recalled that he had blocked Darling's number. How could I block Darling's number? She is my best friend. She caused problems between me and Shreya once but she is surely still the best friend I've ever had. Let me unblock her number. I'm sure she won't cause any more problems for me. She cares for me too much that I know she won't want to hurt me anymore. Should I call her now? No, I'll call her the day Shreya agrees to marry me. No matter how angry she might be, I'm sure Darling will still be happy for me on that day.

To be continued...

A/N: Please don't forget to vote and comment.. How was this chapter? Vishal and Shreya seem to be back together though Shreya has her misgivings. How do you think the trip to Goa will be for them? Do you think it might mend or break their relationship?

Next update on Sunday or next Thursday.. :)