"You are finished."

Ria woke up with a start. She turned to look at the time. It was just midnight; she had gone to bed sooner that night. She wiped the beads of sweat on her forehead and got out of the bed.

From inside her room, she could hear sounds­­–sounds of fighting. They were at it again. She didn't go out to check it. She didn't want to. Instead she went out into the balcony hoping to block it out.

It had been 5 days since the incident but her brother's cold words were still echoed in her head. They bothered her more than even the shoving. His cold voice. She quickly rubbed off the goose bumps that had erupted on her arm.

5 days. She hadn't been sitting quiet. She wanted to know what was happening–and why? But she had nothing to go on. Not one thing.

Her talk with her mother resulted in a tirade over Kapoor name being a bane for the family; it seemed to making her children crazy. Ria was soon captured in that avalanche and declared to be the next one going her brother's way. Ria had gotten away from there but one thing was clear–her mother was now a danger zone!

Ria's next source of information wasn't all that pleasant either. While she did have sort of a warm relationship with Shikha as her Bhabhi now, in reality they had been walking on egg-shells around each other. Going to Shikha meant trading that in.

Shikha had gone on her own rant of how Lav was too stubborn to listen to anyone and too ambitious for his own good. There was no turning her back from that path once she had made up her mind. Ria hadn't expected otherwise. It would have been better to come out of that conversation empty handed. Ria had, instead, come back with a headache.

Her sources of information after that had progressively become worse. The last one she had gone to–her own brother–had thrown her out of the study and slammed the door on her, last night.

She was desperate. So desperate that she had spent the entire day pondering over the last name on her list of potential sources. It was the worst one of them all. The worst one ever!

She had exhausted all her avenues. If there was any morsel of information that could help her now, it was with the other side–the dark side.

But reaching out to him would be nothing short of crossing over herself.

He wasn't exactly her number one enemy now. He had helped her out of a mess once. True.

But equally true was that he was the one who had humiliated her–opened her up for humiliation from others! Some memories are etched too deep within the heart for their marks to go away with time.

They may have worked together in that one situation, but there was confusion that they were very much back in their mode of rivals–biggest rivals.

She was the one who needed help right now. Only her. It wasn't the deal of equals. It would come with consequences.

It would mean disregarding the past. The pain. Her self-respect. Forever. Because once she asked for his help–and she knew he would make her beg for it and take great pleasure in it–there would be no going back.

He would never stop rubbing her face it. It would be something held over her like a sword all her life–with no way of knowing how and when he would want to make it even.

Then there was her brother. Nothing would hurt him more than her going to his enemy for help–even more so if he was for him. To him it would be surrendering to the enemy. To him it would be biggest betrayal of his life. They would never be the same.

On side there was the well-being of her brother–probably his survival, his marriage and happiness of her family which was getting torn over the worry for Lav.

On the other side, there was the reality of losing her self-respect, of being in debt with someone who had she hated, of losing her brother forever over the betrayal and breaking the family.

Could she go on after losing her self-respect? How would she even be able to look at herself in the mirror?

Could she live with seeing his kill himself slowly though?

Could she live with losing her brother because betrayal though?

At least he would be alive.

What about her family? They will break up if she and her brother split.

And what is happening to them now? What will happen if they lose Lav for good?

Ria stood still letting in the silence of the night wash over her. She opened her eyes after a while and walked back to her bed. She picked up her phone. It showed 1AM.

She bit her lip. Was it too late?

She stared at the phone for a minute before pulling out his number. She had it from when he used her phone to call his own.

No harm in trying.

She messaged him. It was a simple 'Hi'. She threw the phone on the bed even as she stood staring at it.

There was a ping after a couple of minutes.

She was dreading this. There was no good way of coming out of what she was doing. None at all–even if he didn't help.

She checked the message. It said 'Who is this?'

Her response was just two words. 'Ria Khanna'

There was no response from him. She waited. When nothing happened for 10 minutes, she couldn't wait anymore. He messaged him.

'Can we please meet tomorrow? I need to talk to you. It is private.'

It was a few minutes before he responded.

'Are you asking me out on a date?'

Ria slammed her phone on her bed. "Argghhhh!"

She was louder than she meant to be.

A minute later her mother had charged in. "What happened? Are you okay?"

"It was nothing." Ria said quickly

"Then why did you scream?" Jaya asked.

"I...I thought there was something by balcony wall. Some animal."

Jaya narrowed her eyes at Ria for a second before turning to her husband who had followed her into the room. "Please check what it is."

Sharad nodded dutifully and went out while Jaya kept a close watch on Ria.

Her mother was suspicious. All the recent fights with her brother meant renewed attention even on her, to ensure that she wasn't the next on in line.

"There is nothing there now. Might just have been a bird," Sharad said.

Jaya didn't look away from Ria until Sharad pulled her away. "Lets go to bed. Let her sleep now."

Jaya didn't seem happy but complied. Ria knew her mother wouldn't give up until she found out what was up.

Sharad walked over to Ria. "Riyu, be careful"

Ria nodded.

"Don't do something if your heart is telling you not to," he said quietly before walking away.

Ria was left standing there long after the door closed.

'What if my heart doesn't know which one it shouldn't do? What if it doesn't matter what I choose because I will lose either way?'

Her eyes prickled. She took a deep breath and walked over to her bed, picking up the phone.

'No.' It was too short and she wasn't sure it would help. Against her better judgement, she sent another one. 'It is about our brothers.'

She wasn't sure if she had made her case worse. Would he even talk to her now that he knew it was about his brother? She was after all a rival.

It was couple of minutes before he responded.

'5:30pm at Café-by-the-bay?'

She looked at the message wide-eyed. Her heart thumped in her chest. He had agreed. He was meeting her tomorrow. To talk about her brother. Their brothers.

She went off to bed feeling anxious about the next day.

Would she know what she needed? Would it help?

She was lost in questions when one stuck her and stood out.

Why did he agree so quickly?

Thanks for reading. Please do let me know what you think of it.