Author's Pov

The shock was getting the best of her as she stood blinking at them. "What is happening here?" Maya asked, unaware of how to react.

Her senses were paralysed as she saw them giggling and having a lot of fun. Ajay stood at a corner, trying not to laugh as Lina pressed herself behind the wall, not sure of what to say.

It looked like everyone in the room knew about this except her. As she kept blinking blankly, Ayushi spoke, "Maya, I am his to-be-wife." She chuckled and coughed a little, seeing their deadly look of Maya.

"So, you all knew?" Maya asked, looking at Ajay.

"I... just got to know when they came in together. I swear." He pinched his neck, swearing as he moved away from her, sensing her rising temper.

Her eyes moved towards Lina who voluntarily replied, "I don't know... I just got to know from Bhaiya." She shook her head vigorously.

"So, everyone knew..." She uttered, disappointment dripping down her words.

"Maya, we were going to tell you-" Pranav started to explain when Maya cut him off.

"When? When were you going to tell me, huh?!" She screamed, chasing after him and Ayushi when they ran like a scaredy cats. The others stood stunned at the situation in the house.

As Maya ran after them, jumping and making her way through the furniture around the room, Pranav along with Ayushi dashed inside Maya's room. He locked the door after him, leaving her outside.

"Come out quickly, you brat." She yelled, banging on the door.

She paused for a minute, panting hard, trying to catch her breath. She stood silent to see what they did. Maya walked away from the door, hiding behind it.

Ayushi and Pranav relaxed a little when they didn't see Maya from the little hole on the door. Even if they were hesitant, Pranav opened the door slightly to check, heaving a sigh of relief.

"You-" Maya was about to yell yet again when her mother and father came inside. "What's going on here?" Her mother asked, seeing the mess.

Maya stopped in her tracks on seeing her parents. Ayushi and Pranav too stood apart, silent as ever like nothing happened but the whole messed up room spoke volumes of what mess had happened.

★★★

"...So you are going to see someone?" Ayushi spoke, her eyes looking at the coffee in her hand. She didn't look up, much like she didn't trust herself to look up in his eyes.

"Yes... I might end up marrying that girl." His words stung like a bee sting, hurting her so much more than she can ever think.

"Ah... really? Who... is it?" It was too difficult for her to handle Pranav speaking about seeing someone when she was actually preparing to propose to him that day.

All night, she had been thinking how she must plan to show her feelings yet this had to happen after she gathered all her courage to ask him out first. Her heart broke in shattered as she kept listening.

"I... I don't know." He stuttered. He really had no idea who the girl was nor did he try to know. He too liked Ayushi yet his feelings remain buried under so many layers of his heart. He didn't know what to say or what would be compelling enough, so he never even tried.

Ayushi was shocked and more angry as she blurted out, "So, you don't even have an idea and you said yes? You must be really proud of yourself. Have a great day! I wish you all the luck." She took out her anger on him and dashed inside the room. Tears rolled down her eyes as she recalled exactly why she loved him.

She liked his nice behavior and fell in love with him and when she saw the same feeling in his eyes, she wanted to believe the feeling but now it feels that maybe he was just being nice to her. She knew that her attitude just now wasn't justified yet him being the nice one always confused her too much.

Her mind was messed up with random thoughts and didn't anymore have the guts to talk to him straight. To ask him if he was being just nice to her as well. To ask him if he was nice just because she was Maya's friend.

But she couldn't. She can't.

Her phone rang and when her mother once again told her that she looked into a guy for her. Before she could say no, her mother blackmailed her emotionally. "Please, think about your mother and father. We are old too and we would like to see our grandchildren too."

She was already going through a lot right now and as she was about to reject the offer, she thought it was the perfect time to know his feelings too. If he was just being nice or he really had a bit of love for her.

"Okay, mom. I will meet him. Send me the address. But don't expect a yes." Her mom was screaming in joy.

Ayushi wiped off her tears and came out. She faced him who was sitting near the door.

"Are you angry with me?"

Ayushi shrugged and chuckled a little to relax the environment. "No... why would I? I am happy for you. I might've acted up earlier. Sorry. Wish you good luck!"

Pranav looked hurt and shocked. He didn't expect her to say that.

"Are you okay, then?"

"Of course. Oh... and I am seeing someone too." She pretended like it had been pre-planned and went inside the room.

"... When we went to the meeting place. We came across each other. We didn't talk to each other and went to different tables. We called our mothers. Ayushi was told to look for a guy in a lawyer's suit and I was told to look for a girl in a white dress." Pranav laughed like a fool, narrating it.

Ayushi, who was all quiet, suddenly spoke, "When I looked around, I came across him again. Confused, we both opened our phones to check the photo and found each other's photo in our phones." She snuggled her hand around his arms, smiling at each other.

"I was so shocked!" He exclaimed after narrating the story.

"I swear." Ayushi shook her head, grinning like a bunny.

"Wow, what a tale!" Maya uttered after hearing the whole story of Pranav and Ayushi which was nothing less than a film. She looked at her mother and asked, "You knew it, right?"

Her mother stared back at her and spoke between her laughs. "Of course. When you talked about them in the morning, I thought it would be so much fun."

Maya shook her head. "Why would you play with their hearts? I bet they were so upset." Her father expressed his concerns.

Her mother nudged him lightly and remarked, "Hey, it's fun."

Pranav and Ayushi couldn't stop laughing and neither could Maya and the others stop themselves from laughing.

"Everyone, who wants sweets?" Ajay's mother came in with a box of sweets.

"First, give the sweets to the new couple. '' Ajay's father remarked, patting Pranav, making him go all shy. His cheeks flushed red as he covered his face with his palm.

For Maya, it all felt so good to be together and to live it together. She stared at Ajay who was hesitantly looking at the sweets in front of him.

" Have it if you want," Maya whispered into his ears.

Ajay was caught off-guard as he stuttered, "Oh... no... no. I don't want to."

"Eat it."

"What about my diet?" Ajay asked her, looking at her like a puppy waiting for his master to speak.

"Drop it for today." As Maya spoke, Ajay came closer to her so much that there was only an inch gap between them. Maya pushed him, punching him right in his stomach.

She punched him lightly or rather she thought she did but it was pretty hard. Ajay fell back due to the force. He held his stomach and hissed in pain.

Maya, who thought he was acting, pushed him again just to see him still holding his stomach. "Are you... okay? I didn't even do it hard." She replied in a whisper with all innocence, a pout adorning her face.

"You are really... going to kill me." He whispered back, sighing.

"What? I didn't even do anything. What kind of person gets hurt that easily?" Maya retorted.

Her retort caused serious injury to his heart as he said, "Are you sure you were not my enemy in the past?"

Maya looked speechless on hearing that unbelievable logic. She grimaced and shook her head. While they were bantering, his phone vibrated inside his pocket.

Shruti ma'am calling...

He got up and excused himself. He walked a little away from the main door as he spoke over the call.

After receiving the call, he came back inside the room. His expression went dark and his grin vanished like it was never there in the first place. Maya noticed the change in his attitude but didn't say anything.

Maya finally got the time to relax and collect her thoughts as she laid on the bed beside Lina. She enjoyed the company of Lina and talked a lot with her, so much that she didn't even notice the time.

It was around midnight when her phone vibrated. As she was still not sleeping, she opened her phone to see a text message from Ajay.

Are you asleep?

Can you meet me once? If yes, come to the park.

Maya sat upon reading that. She wondered what was so urgent for him to call her at midnight. She snuggled on her shoes and quietly and quickly sneaked out of the room.

She tapped on the floor silently, pulling the door knob. She took a glance at the room to check if someone was there or not and stealthily crept out of the house.

Maya flashed the torchlight in the pitch dark night to look at her steps and soon, she came into the neighbourhood park. She switched off the flashlight as it was way better in the park with the moonlight shining on her path.

She could hear the winds sighing between the trees and the branch tops rustling making eerie noises. Anyway, she just had to ignore them.

"Where is he?" Maya mumbled, looking around the empty park when she felt a hand around her wrist. In the moment of defence, she quickly knocked her other hand on his stomach, pushing the person just enough to leave her wrist.

She was about to scream and wake up all the neighbours when the person grabbed her and whispered in between his cries of pain. "It's me... Ajay."

Maya, as if she came back to her senses, stepped back. "Oh shit! That scared the crap out of me." She sighed and ruffled her hair. "Are you okay?" She asked him who didn't seem okay at all.

They both stared blankly at each other before Ajay sighed. "I... I have something to say."

Maya stretched her arms and yawned, feeling drowsiness taking over her. "You really need to talk at this time. Let's do it tomorrow."

"Tomorrow... I have a flight." On hearing that, Maya looked shocked. All the sleepiness seemed to have drained away as she stared at him with wide eyes.

"What? When? How? Why?" She couldn't even blink as she was too confused.

"I have a workshop. You remember Shruti ma'am wanted to talk to me. She is doing a new film and wants me to do the lead role. I loved the story so I immediately agreed. There will be a workshop in Kerala for a month and a half."

Ajay saw the moisture in her eyes. He continued, "Maya, should I stay back?"

Maya sat on the bench. She couldn't speak anything. She was not sure if she could handle sending him off for such a long time. She looked up. "If I could, I would have kept you with me. But it's work, I can't say no."

He came closer to her. He sat beside her and held her hand. "I am sorry, Maya. Maybe, I should drop it, right?"

Maya turned to him. "Why would you? Come on, don't be silly. Shruti ma'am is the best director and her films are always a treat to watch. I would love to see you in it. Do your best and don't worry about me, okay? And I am always just a call away."

Ajay was still not sure. He was already suffering because he didn't inform her earlier and he too didn't want to leave her behind. He would have taken her with him if possible but she also had to stay for the engagement of Pranav and Ayushi that would take place in a week.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course." She smiled widely with tears pooling in her eyes. She was trying hard to hide all her sadness and fear inside the deepest space of her heart.

"Thank you, Maya. I promise that I will come back on the trailer launch day." They both smiled at each other. He bent and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead as tears threatened to fall down any moment. She hugged him tight and spoke in a voice muffled with silent sobs, "I will miss you."

Ajay held her tight in his arms as he said, "I will miss you too."

~•~

Finally back again with another chapter!

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