A/N

So here is the update, will not bother you guys with my author's note this time... Excuse me if I did some mistakes regarding the places as I haven't been there before...

Enjoy reading!!!

And do give inline comments...

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Swayam's POV

"Bhaiya(bro), is this the route to Connaught peak trek???" Rey asked a roadside stall vendor showing the direction with his hand... Though we had Google maps, but it's always safe to ask some localite...

"Yes sir... Just take a right turn after nearly 2 kms for the parking" the person replied and  Rey drove the car off. After parking, we got down with our trekking backpacks and things required. We were going on a trek to the Connaught peak, the second highest peak in Mahabaleshwar. We heard that it is the most adventurous and the view from the top is marvelous, of the Pratapgarh fort, Rajgarh fort and beautiful Venna lake. After this trek, which would be till half of the day, as it is six in the morning now, we would go the Pratapgarh fort trek again which is a small one... A long day, but completely filled with adventure and thrill.

We had started the trek and there were other tourists too, here and there. There wasn't much crowd, as this trek was little rough and more of adventures than others. The route was crooked at places too. The trek was completely through the dense evergreen forests. It was a bit risky...

We were halfway up and when I was climbing a small rock, I saw Pia getting seperate and going on a different route, not even the trekking one, but one that leads to the forest... What is this girl upto now? Has she hit her head somewhere?? Where is she going??? I climbed up and went to Rey.

"Hey dude, I saw Pia going on some other route. You carry on with others, I am going behind her and guide her back..." I said eyeing the pathway where Pia took a turn, I hope I don't loose her track. I saw Rey smirking at me with wiggling eyes and he said...

"Why are you so concerned bro? She will come back! She is not a child!!! Or else is there any reason why you care for her so much?" He asked raising his eyebrows. God! Will he ever think of something else? Ever? I don't understand him sometimes. Here I am in a hurry and he is teasing me. Like seriously? I looked at him and gave a tight smile.

"I care, coz she is a member of a group and our friend!" I said and without waiting for response walked past him towards the direction where Pia went.

"Okay bro, enjoy!!!" I heard him yell at my back and I rolled my eyes.

The same thing happened what I was afraid of! Pia is nowhere to be seen now! What shall I do now!? Where is this Sid!? Doesn't he care for his girlfriend, that is she following or not!? What kind of a boyfriend he is! He got so busy in the company of Amar and Bharat that he forgot about his own girlfriend??? This is gross!!! Where should I find her now!?

I just kept walking on the path that is just a trail as walking many times. When I walked little deeper, I saw a human figure far away. I walked little faster on the crooked route and saw that the person was Pia! She sat on her knees in a corner, close to the steep and was eyeing something very keenly, with interest. Thank god I finally found her!!! Is she even aware of what would be the consequences of the stunt she pulled now??? This girl always gets me so worried for her!!!

I strolled towards her not making much of noise and stood behind her. I tapped her shoulders and she got up startled facing me. But in this process, her foot tripped and she was about to fall but I held her by her waist and jerked her close to my body. She clutched my t-shirt with a tight grip and shut her eyes tightly, anticipating a fall, but opened when she realised I held her. Even I had lost my balance a bit when she caught me forcefully, but regained it soon enough! She was breathing heavily and I can feel the rising and falling of her chest against mine, as they touched because I held her real close. I was on the edge too and I don't want to take any risk. Our faces were very close and I could feel her hurried breath fanning my throat area. She then tilted back glared at me and wiggled in my arms...

"What the hell do you think you were doing!?" She yelled at me and I frowned.

"Shouldn't I be the one who should ask that?" I mocked back at her and she frowned this time.

"What do you mean? What did I do?" She asked, anger lacing each line of her's...

"What did I do? What do you think of yourself? A superwoman? Who can find way, to anywhere or anything, anytime and just stroll around in the woods without getting lost? Do you even realise what could have happened???" I yelled at her without any control and jerked her further towards me to stop her wiggling

"It's my wish, whatever I do! It's none of your business!" She snapped and looked straight into my eyes...

"It is! In every way! Because if you are lost, we would be the one who would be worried and we would have to search for you everywhere" I snapped back.

"Is it??? Why will you be worried for me!?" She scoffed and this left me with no answer... I thought for sometime, what to say next. It was like we were having a verbal fight!

"Because I care!" I said softly.

"Why!?" She asked in mere whisper. If I weren't so close, I couldn't hear that...

"Because you are part of the group and I care for you as a friend!!! Not like your boyfriend Sid who didn't even check on you once!" I mocked and saw her frown, her eyes showing disappointment and some unreadable emotion. She then looked away and I saw her clenching her jaw to control her anger...

"He is not! And whatever he does, you don't have to worry about that. It is between us!" She said looking up at me and I rolled my eyes...

"Whatever!!!" I said shrugging and looked here and there. We were literally on edge and one off balance move, we would fall in the valley...

"Leave me!!!" She spat and started wiggling again. Gosh! What's wrong with her!? Can't she stand still for few minutes???

"Shut up! Stand still! You will make us fall!!!" I said managing my balance, with her continuous movement...

"I said let me free!!!" She yelled and continued her work with extra force...

"Stop it! We will fa..." She didn't let me complete as she stomped on my foot and due to this, we lost our balance and my foot slipped into the steep...

We are now, skidding down the slope, rolling. Pia had clung to me while falling and I hugged her to prevent her from any harm... We were continuously rolling until we stopped, by a rock I held with one hand and even the slope was a bit easier now...

Fuck!!! What happened just now??? What are we going to do now!? God! Please help us... I layed down on the land, without thinking of the surroundings and tried to catch hold of my breath, leaning my head back. My head was really spinning like a top, hammering really hard. I heard Pia groaning in my arms, on top of me and I immediately jerked my eyes open and saw her pulling herself off me, sitting beside me...

She was in shock too and breathing really fast. After some while, we pulled ourselves against the base of a huge tree and rested our backs there with the support of each other, resting our shoulders together, catching our senses and recovering from the effect of our fall...

But this is all due to her! Only her! What was the need of wiggling so hard that I would loose my balance!? I am not some untouchable person to act like that...

"It's all your fault" I said, my eyes were closed and head leaned back onto the tree trunk. My body was paining at many places too...

"No! It's yours!!!" Pia snapped, not looking at me either, her position same as mine...

"Excuse me! You were the one who stomped at my foot" I scoffed.

"What was the need to hold me so tight, close to you even when I had said to leave me" she yelled at me again...

"Don't you tell at me! You were the one who came on a different path!!!" I yelled back.

"I didn't see this coming at all... I was just behind a rare specie of a bird!! And moreover, why did you follow me!? I didn't ask to." She said and I chuckled bitterly. Is she serious? Like, it takes only a bird to land us in this trouble!?

"Are you a crazy kid to just follow a bird irresponsibly!?" I yelled and turned to face her completely and she turned herself to me too

"Oh shit!"

"You are bleeding!"

We both said at the same time with widened eyes... I noticed that she had some scratches on her exposed skin and she had injured her left elbow and right knee. Blood was oozing out of them, mixed with the mud and dirt. She was completely dishevelled, hairs messy and her clothes dirty... Thank god that we had backpacks intact, and hadn't lost them.

"Oh my! Your head Swayam! It's bleeding, and your jeans are torn near your knees too, they are injured, your hands have scratches and rashes all over! Your elbow has a wound too! Oh my god!!!" Pia said, concerned, panicking and hypereacting to my injuries...

"Hey!!! Relax Pia, I am okay!" I said in a calm tone, holding her arms with mine. She hissed when I touched them and I saw that I held them close to the elbow. I immediately pulled my hands off from her and she checked her wounds, just as I did mine...

"No! You are not okay Swayam" Pia said authoratively and shifted little in her place. Even she is not okay, and she is injured but still she is concerned for me! Why!? She then extended her hands and featherly brushed her finger tips above my eyebrows, on the right side of my forehead which caused me to hiss in pain. She pulled away her hand panicked...

"Wait a minute!" She said instantly and got up in a blink. But groaned in pain when she walked further. She again resumed walking by taking support of the trees and went to the place we had stopped rolling down. She bent and took both our backpacks and limped towards me... She sat beside, in front of me and took the water bottle out and passed it to me, along with a sweet smile. The same smile of my Sharon to which I had fallen hard. I gulped the water, controlling myself not to take her as Sharon but it was becoming difficult day by day. She too drank some amount of water from her bottle. She took out her napkin from the bag and started to damp it with water.

"What are you doing!?" I asked eyeing curiously and she didn't reply anything and continued with her work.

"Will you say me!?" I asked again and she glared at me. I just kept my mouth shut after that and observed what she was doing... She then caught my leg below my knees and started cleaning my wound. Why is she doing these things to me??? What am I to her??? A person who insulted her!? Ofcourse yes! That's who I am...

"You don't need to do these things" I said sternly and jerked my knee away...

"Shut up and let me do it!" She pulled my legs in her hand and I hissed when she dabbed forcefully on it. Hearing me she uttered a sorry and continued gently.

"What was the need to hug me safe and take most of the injuries on yourself!?" She scolded me. She then leaned closer to me and came to my forehead and started cleaning there too. I looked away, not able to get my emotions under control and in a feeling of guilt. She finished with her work and I took the napkin from her hand into mine...

"What now!? Wh..." She was cut by my finger on her lips which shut her up.

"Sshhhh! You did your work, now it's my turn..." I said softly and she sat down beside me, stretching her legs, leaning her back onto the tree... I cleaned her wounds hearing her hisses at regular intervals, along with continuously feeling her gaze on me. I then checked her bag for something to tie, and I got a scarf. I tied it around her knees, to prevent the injury from spreading into infection...

"It won't cause any infection and keep it away from dust and dirt to some extent, I hope" I said tying the final knot...

"Thanks" she said and passed a weak smile, to which I returned with a smile too...

"Swayam! Umm..." She called for me, when I was to get up. I turned towards her and waited for her to continue.

"Wait a moment..." She said searched for something in both our bags. Then she sighed in defeat and started removing her scarf that I tied.

"Hey what are you doing?" I asked but again she didn't respond... She tore the scarf into half after untying it and grinned.

"Here you go, one for my knee and another for yours" she said and tied the cloth in a jiffy. She tied mine too, saying that this particular wound was dangerous than others. My luck, I didn't get any serious injuries, even the wound on my forehead is just a cut from something sharp and other wounds were just minor ones...

"Done! What now!?" She asked dusting herself.

"It's past 11 now and everyone would probably be searching for us!!! We need to find a way out of here" I said and looked around to find some hint of where to go. We had lost our mobiles in the fall but fortunately my watch remained intact with some cracks on the glass...

"Where to go? We don't even know where we are... There's no human trail anywhere near" she said disappointed and sighed getting up...

"Hey! Wait wait wait..." I shouted and she froze half the way up. I narrowed my eyes on her shoulder's back and saw there curiously...

"There's something here! Don't move!" I warned her and she stiffened.

"What's that Swayam! You are scaring me" she cried nervously and I scared her more by hushing...

"It's a... It's a..." I said.

"It's a what!?" She cried getting impatient.

"It's a... Leaf!!!" I said trying to control my laughter but burst out laughing...

"You are dead!!!" She yelled and turned to me. She then started hitting my upper arms fiercely. My laughter immediately turned in into a groan when she hit a spot where I had an injury. She immediately stopped her assault and eyed the place she hit, she blew softly over there to ease the pain and caressed it softly. Any pain would fly away on this cute and loving and caring gesture...

"It's okay. Now let's get moving. I just wanted to lighten the atmosphere a bit" I said standing up, with the help of the tree and extending my hand for her to hold on... She stood by herself at faked anger at me. Soon, we both fell into bits of laughter...

"Which direction to move in?" She asked as soon as our laughter died...

"Well, I think we need to find some place here around, through which we can have an overlook of the place and search for some huts or a human trail!" I said and started to move little diagonally down. Our body condition won't let us do strained climbing, up or down. Pia followed behind me as I made a way towards don't know where...

We were now walking from almost an hour, resting very frequently in between, coz of our injuries. And not to forget, her pointless blabbering about nothing in particular! Every place looks similar to others. I also have a doubt whether we have been roaming around the same place. I wonder what is the situation in the group up. I just hope they won't take too much of tension for both of us...

"I can't... I can't walk any further..." Pia said suddenly, gasping for breath. I know how painful it is to walk in this condition. Even it is hurting me while walking, but we don't have any choice...

"Okay, 5 mins rest..." I said and she sat on a rock, I sat beside her. I took the water bottle and gave her the last sip of water. Great! We even ran out of water now. I have no idea what to do now. We are lost! And we don't know a way out... I felt weight on my shoulders and saw that Pia was taking a nap, making my shoulders her pillow. I just couldn't take my eyes off her. I watched her sleeping peacefully, for god knows how much of time. A loose strand of hair fell on her face, disturbing her. I placed it back behind her ears and she woke up startled. Shit! You woke her up Swayam! I looked away, blinking back my tears that started to form, I didn't even realise that I was about to shed tears. She stood up quickly and stretching her body...

"Come on, let's move... I will be walking first now, you follow me!" She said and started to move again. I followed her...

"By the way, I still can't believe one thing!" Pia said while walking.

"Hmm, go on" I replied.

"I still can't believe that you had played a prank on me, an hour or so ago..." She said and I stopped walking...

"What!? You are the one who always be like a 50 year old, arrogant, rude, jerk, wierdo! With no fun at all. Anyone would not believe that you actually have this side too" she said turning to me, giving a tight smile with hands on her hips... I just glared at her.

"Come on now! Don't give me that look. I don't get why you don't be like this all the time. What's wrong in that!?" She asked frowning. Okay, now she is invading my personal space and getting to my nerves...

"You are a sweetheart and a car..." She was about to complete but I cut off saying...

"Enough! Shut up!"

"Oops, okay! I was just wondering..." She shrugged her shoulders and frowned, deep in some thought!

"It's none of your business!" I snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Oh great! The old Swayam is back!" She huffed and turned to move forward but as she was taking a step forward, without seeing, I saw a weird, huge, spider kind of insect on a rock, which she would disturb if she keeps her foot down. I immediately pulled her in my arms, in opposite direction and in order to balance, I myself placed my foot there, uncontrolled...

"Ahhh" I yelped as something bit my ankle. I just kicked my leg in the air to get rid of it...

"What happened!? You fine!?" Pia asked panicked. This is paining as hell! But I can do nothing, atleast for Pia! I have to control my pain or else she would panic even more.

"Nothing, it's just some ant or maybe a small insect. I am fine!" I said and passed a small smile at her...

"Okay, be careful" She said and I rolled my eyes. Look who's saying that! We walked for another fifteen minutes or so when I heard her excited squeal!!

"Look there, we found a desire path! The land is tampered and it looks like a man-made route" she said excitedly, looking forward towards it...

"I can see that, and now let's not waste time and follow it... Let's see where this leads" I said taking the first step and she following behind. It was afternoon by now, the sun shining bright, but we were protected by the huge rainforest trees. We were completely exhausted, with dry mouth quenching for water from last one hour! We were hungry too, but that could wait a little. My right ankle, where the insect bit, was hurting too much by now, but I didn't tell anything to her. The only hope of finding some localite in this maze is what is motivating us...

Suddenly something came in front of me and I froze at spot! Pia behind me, hit my back and groaned...

"Now what Swayam!?" She asked lazily, tired but her expressions changed as soon as she saw what was in the front, along the curve of the mountain! A huge grin spread across her face and I smiled seeing her so happy...

"Yes!!! Finally we did it! We did it Swayam!" She squealed, jumping, clapping her hands, just like a little kiddo, seeing the hut it front of us. She then suddenly hugged me, out of excitement and I froze again. She let go of me after few seconds and smiled awkwardly at me.

"Hello! Is anyone here!?" I shouted as soon as we were in front of the hut and I saw a kid of around 13-15 years of age, peep out. He then came out and grinned seeing us...

"Bhaiya - bhabhi, me, Raju!" He said excited and forwarded his hand to shake. I and Pia looked at each other in surprise and I shook his hand...

"You know English?" Pia asked

"Yes! I go school, 9th std" he said and Pia ruffled his hair...

"Any elder in house? Mummy? Pappa?" I asked him.

"No fear when Raju is here! I see you both are lost and injured too... Come in" he said and took us in. Then we saw a women near the cooking place. She frowned then smiled seeing us. The boy talked something with her and then turned to us...

"You go, fresh up, I will arrange food!" He said handing us glass of water each. I was amused on how mature and understanding kid he was.

"Where is the toilet?" Pia asked giving a sheepish grin to him...

"Outside bhabhi, left side" he replied.

"Actually we are not..."...Couple, I was to complete it but Pia cut me off coughing.

"Okay, thank you" Pia said and we both moved out of the hut. I looked at her, but she was acting as if she did nothing... It would be a play to her, but not me!

We got freshened up and washed our wounds nicely. I removed my shoes and noticed that the sock on my right ankle was covered with blood, due to the bite. I checked the place and found a weird mark. I couldn't figure out what insect was that. I washed it too and came and sat with Pia on the wooden log.

"Look, we are not couples and..." I started but she cut me again...

"Shhh, be quite for sometime!" She said and turned away. I can't see this, us, being addressed as husband n wife, without actually being even anything nearer to it. I checked the time, it was past 2 in the noon. Shit! The situation must be gross in the group by now, because we hadn't return yet...

"Bhaiya, food is ready" Raju shouted and called us in. We ate our food quitely. Only we knew how much hungry we were and tired too.
The food never ever felt so delicious, not even in the 5 star restaurants...

"We have to go, to the Mahabaleshwar city, how can we?" I asked Raju.

"Village is five minutes far, we can go by walk" he said and I smiled at him. After sometime of rest, we got ready to leave and thanked aunty for the delicious food. it is really very hard to find these kind people nowadays. Raju was guiding us to the village and as said by him, after five minutes, we saw a small bunch of houses, occupied by people of the locality.

"There is he, chachu! Wait here!" Raju shouted and ran across the small road. He talked to a man mostly in his 40's and ran back...

"He is my chachu, he will take you to the city down, from there you can go to Mahabaleshwar easily..." He said

"This is not Mahabaleshwar?" Pia asked confused...

"No no bhabhi, this is a village, 2 hours away from it" he said and we were shocked a bit. Because the trek was something just 30-40 minutes away from Mahabaleshwar...

"Thank you so much Raju, you helped really lot!" I said and I was really grateful to him.

"Koi nahi (it's okay) bhaiya, bhabhi, you will remember me right!?" He asked eyeing both of us, we knelt down and hugged him, together...

"Forever!" Pia and me, both said it together and chuckled a bit. We bid bye and went towards his chachu...

"Welcome ji welcome, I will take you down" he said appearing amusingly energetic for his age. We nodded and sat in the old rickshaw that was parked. There were somethings packed and kept inside too, but had enough space to hold us both...

"You know what!? You shouldn't have agreed that we were couple" I said after sometime we got on the road...

"Oh yeah? Then what would we say to these villagers? Start explaining our complicated friendship? Oops, I think we aren't even that" she scoffed and looked out onto the valley...

"It's not a game Pia! It might be for you, but not for me at all" I said seriously and looked away the other side...

"It's not for me too" Pia whisper yelled at me...

"Then you wouldn't have lied" I said shrugging and she took long breaths in and out...

"I don't have any energy to argue with you Mr. Shekhawat" she hissed and turned completely away from me. I heaved a sigh, nothing is gonna happen talking to her. She doesn't know my past, she doesn't know me...

We reached the small city in the valley after a while and thanked Raju's chachu. He had dropped us at the bus stop, but there was a taxi stand nearby. Fortunately or what all call, I don't know, but I had my wallet with me. It was in my backpack, because I was afraid of it falling off while trekking... We talked taxi to the card I showed him, of the farmhouse. He first denied seeing our condition, but agreed when the fellow driver recognised me, that he had seen in a magazine and all...

We sat in the taxi and the engine came to life. I heaved a sigh in relief! Finally, we were heading back. Pia beside me dozed off resting her head on my shoulder, as soon as we sat and now, I too leaned back and closed my eyes, finally finding some peace...

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A/N

How was the chapter guys??? This is the longest one I wrote till date...

What do you think will happen now!? *wiggling eyebrows*

Do let me know your views...

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