As soon as I came home from Ashi's house, my Mom greeted me 'Good morning' and asked if I had breakfast. I told her that I would be heading back to Ashi's place and went to my room to pack my things. Just when I was packing my dresses I got a call from my Dad who was at the office saying he was sick and I had to pick him up. I felt stuck, I did not want to leave Ashi alone after she had asked me to stay nor I could leave my dad even though he was sick and Mom was there to take care of him. I knew my dad needed me more than her so I called Ashi and told her about my situation. She was the mature one and As always she told me to take care of my dad as family is first and mentioned not to worry about her.

 As I was in a hurry, I told her a quick thank you and bye and hung up the call.

Later that evening Ashi only called me to ask, how my dad was.

I was so caught up with work that I did not know how time flew and also I did not get time to call and check on her.

'My dad is all fine Ashi, he took tablets and he is asleep. Mom was busy taking care of Dad and I had to do all the cooking and my office work. It was quite a busy day' I replied.

She started telling me about her day. I was listening to her and doing my work simultaneously.

While we were talking, Ashi mentioned 'Kishan'.

I suddenly froze on call hearing that name.

All of a sudden the morning incident flashed in front of my eyes, and without my knowledge, my face turned red all over again.

I guess I had forgotten about the whole 'Kishan' incident amidst my busy day.

'Are you ok with what happened to you in the morning Appu? You didn't talk about it at all' asked Ashi with a worried voice.

'I'm fine Ashi, what was there to worry about? I thought his car would hit me and I screamed, that's it' I replied coolly.

I knew exactly how her face would be right now. 'Confused'.

'But you left so abruptly, it was odd Appu' Said Ashi

'Yeah. I was late, and I was not interested in staying back after being so embarrassed Ashi.' I replied.

'Come on Appu, He was such a sweet guy. You could have at least acknowledged him right?' She asked me with a longing voice.

'You know me Ashi, First of all, I don't like to speak to strangers, especially guys' I said

'Whatever!! You know what, he lives right opposite my house, he is our Neighbour Appu!!' She screamed with an excited tone and I knew exactly how she made her smiling face with a glee.

For a second I was in shock and did not reply.

Ashi kept saying hello, hello on the phone

Finally, after about a minute, I said 'Ya, Ya I can hear you Ashi, Network issue I guess'

'Oh okay. I thought I lost you said Ashi

'No no, so you were telling?' I asked even though I had heard every word she said clearly.

She decided not to mention him anymore and left the topic about him there. I was relieved.

For some odd reason, I did not want to speak about him or the incident. It almost was related to my dream.

'Guess I was too embarrassed'.

As usual, our conversation ended after an hour.

Before disconnecting the call I asked Ashi if I had to come over. She said she was fine and also the rose incident was almost forgotten by us and nothing unusual had happened the whole day, so I also decided to let go and stay back at my place as I had to look after my dad.

After disconnecting the call I had my dinner, brushed my teeth, and came to bed. I lay on my bed and started staring at the stars on the ceiling of my room. Those were my favorite little things, they calmed me as always. Soon I was lost in thoughts about nothing in particular.

After some time I put on some light music to distract myself from my thoughts.

I tossed and turned on my bed as I was not able to sleep.

To my surprise, I started thinking about 'Kishan'.

There was something off about him and I wondered what it was.

My 6th sense was telling me that something was going to happen.

I chose to ignore that feeling as usual.

It was a cold night so I tugged myself under my blanket concentrated on the music and slowly drifted off to sleep

                                                 x--x---x---x---x---x---x---x---x---x--x

'Why do you look so shocked, I'm here to protect you' said Kishan with concern in his eyes and a big smile.

I had a very confused look on my face.

I smiled shyly and took his hand. He made me sit inside his car and took me to an ice cream parlor. WHAT? seriously? Why was I sitting in Kishan's car?

Which place was it..? Never mind. I got up and went to the counter to order our favorite chocolate ice cream. After paying for the order I look up and I see Ashi inside the counter preparing ice cream.

 I was shocked and I froze. By the time I called out to her, Kishan came and took me back to my seat, I guess.

Sitting next to Kishan I wondered 'When did Ashi become a server in an ice cream parlor?'. 

'why am I with Kishan?'

Then the weirdest thing I saw, A guy was stalking her and eyeing her like he hadn't seen a woman in his life. By the time I got up and went shout at that guy, 'Puff' Ashi, and that guy had vanished into thin air.

Then I turned to my side, and all of a sudden it was only me and Kishan.

Kishan was talking to me nonstop, and then he paused to ask me if he could feed me. I just stared back at him unable to talk.

I turn towards the counter, and out of nowhere I see Ashi again, this time she is somewhere far behind the counter, but from where I was sitting I could see her.

And then I see her taking flowers from the same guy who was stalking her. I recognized his blonde hair.

'I have to warn Ashi that he isn't the right one' A voice in my head shouted.

I tried to get up but I couldn't move.

Seeing me so worried, Kishan turned towards the direction I was looking.

He noticed Ashi and that guy I guess.

 He turned towards me smiling and said 'Isn't this common nowadays Appu? Why do you look so worried?

'How did Kishan know my pet name 'Appu', the name only Ashi knew and called me' I wondered in shock.

That was not important now, I must save Ashi at any cost a voice in my head screamed again.

But what was happening to me?

Why can't I talk?

I tried my best to get up and move, but I couldn't, and then suddenly I heard a familiar loud music.

I tried to concentrate on where it was coming and just like that my eyes were wide open. I see the stars on my ceiling. My heartbeats have had a spike. I am sweating. My breathing is loud and fast. I take some time to come back to reality and process my dream.

I turn off my alarm and take a sip of water from the bottle which was on my nightstand.

It was only 6 am and my mind was a complete mess. Chaos.

My head was aching and filled with thoughts:

 'Firstly, why was Kishan in my dream? I had forgotten about him after that incident and secondly, why was Ashi taking flowers from a stranger and that to a guy with bad intentions?'. Even in the dream, it was weird to see Ashi taking flowers from a stalker.

Anyway, I tried to console myself by saying 'This was all just a dream'.

Also, all this felt so strange and not normal.

I rarely get dreams, and usually, the dreams I get are way too fantasy that they will not have any connection to the real world.

Why is this the first time I've had a realistic dream? this thought was stuck in my head.

Maybe I was thinking too deeply about everything around me.

But one main thing that disgusted me was Kishan feeding me ice cream.

'Yak' I thought to myself. Guys were never a part of my dreams and this was a first too, and that too a guy like Kishan had to be the one. 

Maybe I did have a fantasy of a guy feeding me my favorite ice cream, but that guy was nothing like Kishan.

By the time I came out of my thoughts and went to freshen up, it was about 6:30 am. I had to go check on Dad. Hope he was feeling better.

More than my Mom, I was a dad's girl. I could not stand it if anything happened to him. He was still sleeping peacefully when I went to check on him so I came down to prepare some breakfast for us. I badly wanted to call or meet Ashi and talk to her about all of this. Just when I was about to call Ashi, I remembered she was going to the office today and she had mentioned that she had an important client meeting today which was important to her as well. She had prepared for this for a long time. I did not want to distract her by telling my dream, hence I messaged her on WhatsApp 'all the best' and continued prepping breakfast.

I finished preparing some Chapatis and sabzi and went to wake up my dad.

He woke and freshened up, so I gave him breakfast and tablets and came to my room to start my office work.