Hours later, I was still groggy as I stumbled into the hotel room. I'd slept through the entire flight and when the attendant had woken me up briefly to ask if I'd like to eat anything, I just gave her a bleary eyed 'no' and went back to sleep again. Fortunately, it wasn't just me who was this tired. Every one of the fourteen of us looked like we'd gone through hell. None of us bothered to fix our unkempt hair and puffed up eyes as we walked out of the airport like a horde of zombies and filed into the bus.

I had hogged an entire three-seater, leaving a grumbling Yash and an amused Akash standing. Unfortunately for them, there had been traffic on the way to our hotel so they spent thirty minutes trying to balance themselves whilst catching on some sleep, standing. I'd taken pity on them fifteen minutes before we arrived and pulled up my legs to my chest, gesturing for them to sit.

With a relieved sigh, Yash had plopped himself beside me and taken up the entire seat—leaving me squashed between him and the side of the bus. Akash had only groaned.

Now, as I sat on the mattress of the double bed, I let out a contented sigh. A bellboy brought in our luggage, walking in gracefully behind Rakhi and Mitali as he balanced our bags. I waited for him to leave after he enquired if we needed anything. Once the door clicked shut behind him, I fell back on the mattress and curled into a ball. Mitali and Rakhi followed suit.

I had just begun to drift off when an obnoxious knock sounded at the door.

Groaning loudly, Rakhi said, "We don't need anything."

For a second nothing happened and I relaxed back into the mattress. Then the door swung open, revealing Yash. Akash and Suraj were behind him, their faces apologetic.

I shot up and glared at him. "What do you want?"

"You should really lock the door." Yash smirked, leaning against the doorway. I wanted to smack him. Who the fuck did he think he was?

"Get out," I snarled. There was just something about Yash that pissed me off. I was exhausted and I could barely think before acting. I'd probably kick his ass if he didn't go.

"We have to meet our guides. They're arriving in a few minutes," he said instead.

"Later," Mitali groaned.

"Has to be now," Yash replied, amused.

"Why?" I asked.

"We have the whole afternoon and the evening with us. We need to get to know each other more." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "Anyway, I want you all to be downstairs in half-an-hour, no excuses."

"Akash," I groaned. "Tell your friend to back off."

"He wouldn't listen even if I did," Akash said.

"Get out then," Rakhi muttered.

The three of them backed out, Yash being the last. He threw me a complacent smile before shutting the door behind him. I glared at the door for a while, wishing I had strangled him. I barely even knew the guy, but he had a way of getting on my nerves.

"So, who's gonna shower first?" Mitali asked suddenly.

All three of us perked up before scrambling off the bed and running towards the en-suite. The blanket fell off the bed in a strangled mess, pulling all of us down with it. I squealed as I landed on my back. We looked at each other in shock before laughing.

I took advantage of the distraction and disentangled myself before running to the en-suite.

"That's not fucking fair Sara! Get back here!" Mitali screamed.

"Sucker!" I stuck my tongue out at her before closing the door behind me.

~

It took us a little more than an hour to get ready. I felt smug as we descended down the staircase to the hotel lobby. The hotel was clean—gleaming in fact, and I loved the ambience. It was located in the outskirts of the city. Everywhere, there were large windows and light coloured drapes. All in all, it was a perfect place for a peaceful retreat. I had to give Yash credit for that. He had good choice on this matter.

As we approached the foggy glass door that separated the dining from the lobby, Mitali grumbled, "He's gonna lose it."

I smirked slightly and replied, "I don't care. He can bitch all he wants."

I pushed the door open and stepped in. Most of the group hadn't bothered freshening up. They still wore the clothes they had arrived in and exhaustion was evident on their faces. The staff had arranged the tables on one side to seat all fourteen people, but I counted two extra chairs—for the guides probably.

No one was actually speaking, they were either busy fiddling with their phones or trying to catch on some sleep. Frowning, I approached Akash who was seated at the far end of the table by the large balcony and cleared my throat.

He looked up from his phone and threw me a bright smile.

I swooned.

He looked so good. His hair was messed up from a hasty shower and he was wearing a loose white shirt, identical to the one he was wearing the previous day.

"Did we miss anything?" I asked, still standing. Rakhi and Mitali sat down and assessed our exchange.

Before Akash could reply, however, I heard angry footsteps behind me. I was about to turn when Yash came and stood before me. "I said thirty minutes. Thirty minutes. Is that too hard for you to comprehend or did you lose all your brain cells being a self-righteous diva."

I wanted to slap him. I really did, but it would do no good. I opened my mouth to snap at him, but heard Akash speak on behalf of me. "Stop being such a stereotypical asshole, Yash. You don't even know her."

His voice was quiet, but held a slight edge to it.

"Well, this isn't her stupid studio where things work her way. I'm not going to just stand back and take her shit." Yash retorted, rolling his eyes.

"She's the one standing back and taking your shit, dickhead. Is this the first time you're organising something like this?" Mitali smirked, standing up behind me. "No wonder it's so... amateurish."

Yash stepped forward, his gaze predatory and fixed on Mitali. I frowned and placed a hand on his chest before pushing him back. "Since you've been so kind to tell me what you think of me, why don't I return the favour?" I asked sweetly, then dropped the smile. "Judging by how your brother dressed and was typing away at the laptop the entire way here, I'd say he works at a prestigious firm. IT, law, take your pick. And his position is pretty damn important because while you're here wasting your time and judging people, he's sitting over there and speaking to someone on the phone and his call seems pretty important judging by the fact that he keeps checking those papers he's brought with him and his laptop that's opened.

"Now, what does that make you? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure you're the black sheep of the family. Most of your cousins are successful and your parents probably favour working at big corporate firms. Hell, I'll make a wild guess and say that they probably have their own company, or they're doctors, lawyers, or hot-shot engineers. But you don't like that stuff, do you? You'd rather be on the wild side—travelling, getting high, and all that crap. But you want to prove your parents wrong and show them that you can do something on your own too."

I paused before taking a deep breath. Mitali and Rakhi were still behind me and Akash stared at me with his mouth slightly agape. Yash seemed right about ready to murder me, but I wasn't done. Not even close.

"So," I continued, "You decided to do this. But judging by how cranky and annoyed you are all the time, this isn't what you actually want to do. You're out of your element so you're stomping around demeaning other people just to feed your goddamn ego.

"I'm not fucking stupid, Yash. I can read people's faces and look at these people around you," I waved my hands. "They're bored out of their minds and are only here because you bullied them to be here. They're tired and they'd rather take a nap and then get on with the bloody meet and greet with the guides. But since you insisted, they're here. But where are the guides? Probably still in the station or stuck in the traffic. So when they get here, they're not going to want to delve into the job immediately. They're going to go upstairs, freshen up and then introduce themselves.

"So get off your high horse and stop acting like you own the damn world, 'cause you don't. And stop trying to demean me by stereotyping me. I am who I am, and I'm proud of it even if I haven't got a brain cell to spare. At least I'm good at what I do. You've put yourself in a fix so now you've come here to talk to me like my job has no value just to make yourself feel better because you damn well know that no one in this room is satisfied."

I was breathing heavily at the end of my monologue. No one spoke as Yash and I stared each other down. He was simply glaring at me with hatred evident in his eyes and I couldn't figure out how I was supposed to spend two more weeks in his company without snapping at him like I did today.

Throwing him a look of utter distaste, I stepped back and took a seat. I waited a beat for him to say something—do something. I wouldn't be surprised if he tried to snap my neck.

But I was left surprised when he whirled around a few moments later and stormed out of the dining hall.

Releasing a breath I didn't know I was holding, I finally met my friends' gazes.

Mitali looked at me with fascination and awe. "Damn, this is what I was actually missing," she sighed, leaning back on her chair.

"That," Rakhi began. "Was freaking awesome, but he's going to murder you."

"Not if I can help it," Akash muttered from beside me. He shook his head before looking up at me. "But your predictions were spot on. His dad's a lawyer and his mom's an architect."

I smiled smugly and scanned the room. Some people looked pretty annoyed to me, and the others looked way too hungover to even look pissed off. Frowning, I glanced at Akash. "Do you have the guides' numbers?" I asked him.

"No, Yash does. But we can always look it up online on their website," he replied. "Why though?"

"Has Yash even tried to contact them?" I raised an eyebrow in question.

"He called them when we arrived here and they said that they were going to arrive at the station in fifteen minutes. Apparently, their train was delayed," he informed.

Nodding, I checked the nearest station from the hotel. It was pretty far. There was no way they could arrive fast with all the traffic. Was Yash really that stupid?

"Can you look up their numbers?" I asked Akash.

"What are you planning to do?" Mitali asked, leaning forward.

"Just checking when they're coming so everyone can freshen up." I gestured towards the rest of the group.

"Fair enough," Rakhi agreed with me.

After ten minutes, Akash, Mitali, Rakhi and I ushered everyone else to their rooms. The guides were still on the their way because of the train running behind schedule, so we scheduled for the introductions to be done well after sunset which would provide everyone—including the guides—sufficient time to rest.

Smiling gratefully, they cleared the room. Moments later, Yash stalked in, grabbed a packet of biscuits and then stormed out again.

Shaking my head, I laughed at his stubbornness. He would never admit that he'd made a dumb decision.

"Can we go shopping?" Mitali asked suddenly. The room had cleared out save for Akash, Suraj, Rakhi, Mitali and me.

"Good luck with that. The nearest shopping complex is pretty far and there's a lot of traffic. It'll take you hours to return," Rakhi said.

I nodded in agreement.

"But I have to go shopping. I need to buy new shoes. The ones I have are going to tear, I know it. And we're going trekking." Mitali exclaimed, tugging at her hair.

"Borrow a pair of mine. I've got two," I offered.

"Uh.. no thanks. You've got freakishly large feet and long toes. They'll be too big," she groaned.

"Ask one of the hotel staff, they'll arrange a cab. And it doesn't matter if you're not here before time, Yash just wants to boss everyone around," Suraj chirped.

"Okay, then!" Mitali clapped her hands and stood up. She looked pointedly at me and Rakhi. "Come on."

Rakhi stood up and grabbed her sling bag from the table, but I shook my head. "I don't feel like shopping right now. Plus, I've got some work to do. I doubt there will be proper cell reception once we go for the trek, so I need to finish everything before then."

Mitali pouted, then said, "I thought you were on a break."

"From modelling," I drawled. "I've got to finalise some shit for my clothing line, update my blogs and contact a few people. It'll take up time. I'd rather do it now."

Nodding, Rakhi and Mitali waved us off and left.

"New clothing line, huh? You design them?" Akash asked curiously. Suraj leaned forward to join in on the conversation.

"Occasionally. I'm more of an advising board really. I suggest my ideas and I've got a team of designers who sketch them up for me. Then I look through those and decide whether I want them or not," I replied.

"But have you ever designed one?" Suraj asked.

I nodded. "I have, but I've never really put my concept to reality. I've got sketches, but... I don't know. I'll decide later if I'd like to add them. Anyway, I better get started. This is going to take a while."

Huffing, I stood up and smiled at the two of them before heading off to my room. On the way, I spotted a small pool—more like a koi pond, really, with little wooden chairs decked on the side along with glass tables. Deeming it to be a peaceful place to work, I quickly picked up my laptop bag from our room and went back to the koi pond.

As I stepped in through the open doors, I realised just how beautiful the place was. Sunlight streamed in through the glass windows on the roof, illuminating the room. The water glittered under the light, and I spotted tiny little fishes steaming about in it. The walls had been tiled with beautiful black stones on which creepers with tiny red flowers had taken up residence.

I spotted fairy lights, but they were switched off. This place would look breathtaking at night. Setting my laptop on one of the tables tucked against the wall, I sat down. I pulled out my sketchbook and fired up my MacBook.

I was so absorbed with my emails, that I jumped up when I heard someone clear their throat.

"What are you doing here?" I asked Yash once I regained my composure.

Yash stood before me, his hands buried in his pockets and with a weird look on his face. He looked like he was pained as he asked me if he could take a seat.

I nodded slowly and assessed him. What did he want?

He didn't say anything as he settled down and stretched his legs out. Pulling out a cigarette, he lit it before putting it to his mouth. I cringed as the smoky smell hit me. I hated the smell cigarettes.

"Do you mind?" I gestured towards the deathstick.

Yash simply ignored me and continued smoking. Annoyed, I moved to pack my things, but he stopped me. "Sara."

"What?" I snapped.

He shook his head before snubbing out the cigarette against the glass and tossing it in the bin. He turned to face me and then straightened his posture.

He looked contemplative—possibly caught in an internal war with his conscience.

Huffing, I stashed my sketchbook back in my bag along with my pencils. I seriously had no time for his bullshit. I suppose I'd have to make do with the hotel room. But it annoyed me to no end that I would have to leave this beautiful place because of Yash.

I zipped up my bag, grumbling under my breath, and stood up.

"Sara," he called out again.

"Are you going to get past that?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

Yash took a deep breath before closing his eyes for a second. When he opened them again, I noticed his resolve. He'd finally come to some conclusion. What, I didn't know.

"I need your help."

~
A/N:

I really loved writing this chapter. Honestly, writing the part where Sara basically hands Yash's balls to him in a platter was so much fun, lol.

I hope you guys like it! (:

Also, please vote and comment. I'd love to know what you think!