Bangalore-Goa Highway, 11 am.

Shit! This is so boring! I thought making a pact with her would ease the tension between us. I thought that maybe she'd finally treat me like a normal person and indulge in small talk. But, no! Ever since we left the dhaba, all she had asked me was the condition of my wound-every single hour...like she was my nurse or something! What was with her? She didn't seem so quiet at the restaurant when I first met her.

I hadn't slept for hours and I was dead tired. If I continued to drive without engaging in any sort of conversation, I would definitely fall asleep! I couldn't take such a risk! I had to distract myself from my own exhaustion!

"Nandini!" I said, rather loudly.

"Huh?" She replied, shocked that I had spoken to her.

"Say something! Anything will do, really!" I said.

"Is your top floor okay?" she asked, in surprise.

When I gave her an angry glare, she continued. "You want me to talk? You're the one who told me not to ask any questions, remember? So I'm just following your orders!" she said with a sarcastic smile.

Ugh! How did this girl always manage to get under my skin?!

"Listen! I don't have any desire to listen to your whiny voice! It's just that I need to distract myself in some way in order to continue driving, or else I may fall asleep...and that will most certainly end with us getting into an accident. So, I suggest you talk to me, if you want to live to see your family once more!" I said in an impertinent tone.

"Such a monster all the time! You know when you were born na, tumne nurse ko bhi gusse se dekha hoga!" She shouted.

"What?" I said, unable to believe my ears.

"You know small babies na, they're so cute! But not you! If you want something, why can't you just ask politely? "

"Listen, stop lecturing me on manners! If you want to talk, then talk, or else I'll manage!" I said, frustrated.

Suddenly, it seemed like a light bulb had glowed in her head as she said. "I have an idea...let's play a game, how about something like twenty questions? But, this will be a slightly modified version...instead of guessing what's on the other one's mind, let's just ask each other questions! "

I gave her an irritated look again when she said, "Since we are going to be stuck with each other for the next twenty-four hours or so, don't you think we should get to know each other better?"

I still looked doubtful when she said with a sigh. "I promise I won't ask about Nyonika!"

"Fine! Let's play!" I finally gave in.

"Great, so I'll start with a simple one first. Tell me, what's your favourite colour?" She asked.

"Red and white- I like them both equally" I stated. I liked the question-extremely impersonal and generic. Maybe, this could be an effective distraction after all, and in the process I would come to know more about Nandini! I hated to admit it, but I was curious about her life...I knew nothing about her except what she had revealed at the restaurant. Why did she agree to an arranged marriage? The question had been eating me alive for hours! This was a great opportunity to find out!

As soon as I answered the question, I saw her face turn into a beautiful hue of scarlet as she realized that she was dressed in the very colours that were my favourite!

I smirked to myself when I saw her reaction and asked her. "What's yours?"

"Black" She replied in a quiet voice.

"Great, so my turn now, what's your height?" I asked with a slight laugh.

She gave me an annoyed look and said "I'm 5'3"! And may I ask, what's so funny?"

"It's just that, from your size, it seems like you're still in middle school!" I said, chuckling.

"Hello...my height is completely normal for a girl! If you're competing with a coconut tree to see who grows taller, it's hardly my fault!" She said with a cute pout.

She looked so adorable when she was angry, it took all my strength not to kiss her right then and there!

Control yourself Manik! Don't do something you'll regret later! I attempted to give myself a pep talk.

"So my height-it's 6'1", just in case you're wondering..."I said in a smug voice.

"I'm really not...anyway let's move on to the next question. So do you have any hobbies or interests apart from kidnapping innocents and beating people up?" She asked in a sassy voice.

Why was she asking a question she already knew the answer to? I told her how important music was to me!

"I'm supposed to take control of Malhotra industries when I'm twenty-five, and I've been training for that for the last two years or so. Apart from that, I told you, I love music...my friends and I- we have a band called Fab Five, and we're really good! We may get an album deal very soon! In fact, I'm actually surprised you haven't heard of the band! We're quite famous among the youth! Have you been living under a rock all these years?" I said, impatiently.

She gave me an annoyed look and said. "The whole world doesn't revolve around you, Manik Malhotra! When others were wasting their time fawning over how hot you are, I was busy studying and working towards fulfilling my dreams!" She said in a determined tone.

"So you think I'm hot?" I asked, with a sly smile on my face.

It took her a few seconds to realize what she had just said, and she seemed extremely embarrassed at her own words.

"What? Tell, me!" I said, thoroughly enjoying the sticky situation she had gotten herself into.

She contemplated her next move for a few seconds before finally replying. "Yes, objectively speaking you are what most women would describe as being conventionally attractive, so yes, Mr. Malhotra, in colloquial terms you are hot!" She said with a smile plastered on her face.

"Ye poori Ramkatha sunane ki koi zarurat nahi thi...you could have just said yes!" I said with a smirk. "Anyway, It's my turn now...so my question is, why did you agree to get married to Madhyam without ever having met him? Do you know how impractical and strange it sounds?!"

"That's none of your business!" She said, angry once again.

"Of course it's my business...you're the one who came up with this game, right? Deal with it now!" I said giggling.

"Fine! If you must know! I agreed to the marriage because my Amms had arranged it a long time ago...my Amms and Madhyam's grandmother have been best friends since school, so they made a promise to each other to get their grandchildren married once we were old enough!" She said in an annoyed tone.

"Are you kidding me? I thought you were better than that! You're just going to let someone else decide your future without protesting?" I said, angered by her explanation.

"You think I didn't try? I didn't know it would get so serious so soon! I thought I'd convince Amms eventually and as time passed she would see how unreasonable it was! My career is everything to me! I argued with my Chacha-Chachi for hours because of this, but they told me that it was too late! Besides, they had a point when they said that I probably wasn't going to get a proposal from such a respected family ever again! After all, look at me! Who else would want to marry me anyway?" She gave a humourless chuckle.

This angered me even more...how could she think so little of herself? She was one of the most beautiful girls I had ever met in my life! More importantly, her heart was so pure!

"How can you say that? You're beautiful, you know that right?! Anyone would be lucky to have you!" I said in a soft voice.

She immediately started blushing due to my compliment and the atmosphere grew awkward between us once more.

In order to lighten the atmosphere I said. "Oh, I know what must have happened! You must have driven the guys away with your bossy attitude!"

"What? How rude!" She exclaimed. She continued softly, "Besides there were no guys anyway..."

Wait! What? What did she mean? She had never gone out with anyone before?

"Wait a second...you're telling me that you've never dated anyone before? Are you messing with me?" I asked in disbelief.

She shook her head in the negative and said. "No! I've never dated anyone! Like I told you, I was always focussing on my academics and later my career...so I never really had time to date anyone." She stopped for a few seconds and hesitated before finally speaking. "Actually, there was someone..."

"Who?" Her statement had piqued my interest instantly.

"His name's Aryaman. He was my childhood friend. In fact, he was the only friend I'd ever had! When we were in eleventh grade, he finally confessed that he had feelings for me. I was shocked! I had never thought of him in that way. Obviously, I didn't reciprocate his feelings, so I told him that I was practically engaged to Madhyam anyway, something that very few people knew! After all this, we couldn't be friends anymore and it saddened me a great deal. It was just too complicated..."

"So you're not in touch with him now?" I asked.

"No, he left for the U.S in order to complete his undergraduate studies, and I haven't spoken to him since then." She said.

I nearly breathed a sigh of relief when I heard that Aryaman was no longer in the picture. On the one hand I was jealous of him. After all, he had the privilege of knowing Nandini all his life! However, on the other hand I was ecstatic to know that she had no feelings for him.

Why did I feel such relief?

"Enough about me...tell me, any friends or relationships of yours that are noteworthy?" She asked batting her eyelashes cheekily.

"My whole life I've just had four best friends-that is the members of Fab Five apart from me. They are Dhruv, Mukti, Cabir and Alya. Dhruv-he's the nicest and the quietest among all of us! Yet, he has some superb dance as well as music skills! He's almost like a little brother to me. Mukti-she's the most badass girl you'll ever meet! She's gruff and rude to others but she's actually a really sensitive person...she's our band's bass guitarist. Then we have Cabir, Fab five's very own prankster! He plays the drums in our band and puts a smile on our face even when we're at our worst. And finally, we have Alya-a total fashionista and our band's keyboard player. She's an orphan, but she never let that get in her way. She's one of the strongest people I know..." I ranted on about my friends.

I quickly caught a glimpse of Nandini as I turned to the side to see her reaction and I found her smiling. I guess she never expected someone as overtly hostile as me to have such close friends. In fact they were almost like my family!

"And any relationships?" She asked in a meek voice.

"Alya and I dated for a few years when we were in school and later in college, but ultimately we realized we weren't right for each other. We had an amicable break-up and now she's still one of my best friends. In fact she's dating Dhruv now and they are really happy together! I'm really happy for them as well!" I said. "After Alya, I did try dating others...but it took me very little time to realize that all girls were after me only for my money or my looks. Nobody wanted to know the real me!" I said with a sigh.

"Well, I think those people are missing out on quite the adventure!" She said with a playful smile.

My heart immediately filled with warmth upon hearing her statement.

She continued and in a cautious tone asked,"Manik, who's Harshad? Why was he after you at the restaurant?"

Her question irked me yet again. Why did she have to ask about that bastard?!

Taking a deep breath, I replied carefully, telling her only half the truth. "He's actually Alya's brother. Believe it or not, I actually thought him my friend when I was a child! As we grew older, he grew jealous of me and only then did I find out about his true nature. He did everything he could to destroy me and everything I care about. He scarred Mukti for life, he made her fall head over heels in love with him, and then cheated on her...Mukti was depressed for months because of him! He always ignored Alya and treated her terribly! And he's so homophobic that he insults Cabir all the time just because of his sexuality! Do I need to continue? Or have you understood what a jerk he is?" I asked.

"I've understood, Manik...you can stop now." She said, in a stunned voice.

It seemed like she measured her words carefully before posing her next question. "Manik, did you really kill your father?" She asked in a voice which was barely audible.

My heart clenched once again. She still wasn't sure of my character? Even after, coming to know so much about me? I'd never shared so much with anyone before and this was the result! I wasn't angry...I was just sad. However I knew, that honestly I didn't have a right to feel these emotions.

"Would you believe me if I said that I had nothing to do with it? That I absolutely loved my father and would never do anything to hurt him! Would you believe me if I said that I was being framed?" I asked in the most sincere voice.

"I don't know what to believe Manik...after all, you did lie to me about your identity! So how can I be a hundred percent sure that you're being truthful now? According to the authorities, all the evidence seems to point towards you!" She said in an uncertain voice.

"That's just it! I lied to you about my name...I never lied to you about who I was." I said with a sardonic laugh.

"To make a lie believable, kuch baatein real rakhni padti hain, par I guess tum ye nahin samjhogi..." I said with a finality in my voice.

She fell silent soon after. Whatever game we were playing, my pained expression conveyed to her that I was no longer a participant.