"I need your help."

Maybe I was feeling a tad bit dramatic, but I could have sworn that I heard the words echo. There was no way that Yash would actually come up to me and ask me for help. So I shook my head to clear my thoughts. I must have imagined it.

"Sara,"

My gaze snapped up to meet his.

"I said," he began slowly as though he were explaining something to a deluded child. "I need your help."

The last part came out rushed, and sure enough, his eyes darted around us to make sure no one else was here. Snapping out of my initial shock, I settled back onto the chair.

"Are you sure y—"

"Yes, I'm okay. Now stop being so dramatic and tell me if you'll help or not," Yash glared at me.

"You're charming," I snorted.

"Well?" he asked impatiently.

"What do you need help with?" I asked.

"I-uh-I wanted to go over the plans for the next twelve days with you." He replied, rubbing his neck. "I may have miscalculated and messed up, so I want you to go over the plans with me."

"May have?" I emphasised. "Anyway, why do you want my help. Ask your brother or Akash."

Irritated, he shot me a glare and rubbed his face. "Just tell me if you're going to help or not."

"What's in it for me?" I asked, thoroughly enjoying his discomfort. It was rare to see a man of his calibre bowing down and actually setting aside his pride to ask for help. If he hadn't created such a horrible first impression, I may have even appreciated it. But I wasn't one to forgive and forget easily. It had always been a weakness—and a strength in some ways. Albeit it was more of the former.

"What's in it for you?" he repeated. His eyes were glazed as he sneered down at me with his jaws clenched. I could almost feel that anger ebbing and rising from within him—ready to erupt and obliterate anything in its path akin to a pyroclastic flow. His anger, I realized, was the worst thing about him. It could be a dangerous thing for him in the long run. Being prideful had never seemed to be a negative trait to me. Pride stemmed from self-assurance and resulted in confidence. But the mixture of pride and anger... it never went well.

I smiled innocently at him.

Yash sighed and rubbed his face. "Do you know Kalika Bhatia?" he asked after a pause.

I nodded.

"She's a friend of mine," he said. I smirked, finally seeing where it was going. "After the trip, I'll get you a limited edition from her latest collection."

I raised my eyebrows. "Are you sure?"

"Yes!" he hissed.

Chuckling, I replied, "Fine."

And we set to work. He quickly brought his laptop and files, handing me the itinerary before we delved into the work. I first began going through the details of the hotels he had booked and noticed a trend. He definitely seemed to have a thing for luxury despite his wild, rugged nature. I pointed it out to him. "I get that you want to make your clients happy, but look at the bigger picture—most people can't afford this. Next time around, just make sure you select mediocre hotels too," I said. "Or you could create two separate plans with different budgets. That'll help attract clients of different economic backgrounds."

Frowning, he mulled over my point before nodding.

Then I proceeded on to check the itinerary. He still hadn't given us a copy of it and I assumed that was because he wasn't sure of it himself. Firing up my laptop, I researched on the time of travel of each sight-seeing location from the respective hotels. I added suggestions and corrections ad hoc before handing it over to Yash again.

We spent hours on it and by the time we were done, I was tired beyond help.

I slumped on my chair, massaging my temples to relieve myself of the terrible pounding in my head. The hours had been productive, but painful. Although Yash had excellent taste in sight-seeing locations and hotels, he was a horrible planner. He had barely spent time to research on the travel time and resting time. We had to remove a lot of things from the schedule.

"You okay?" he asked suddenly.

I nodded in reply not even bothering to open my eyes.

"Uh.. Akash just texted me. The guides have arrived."

"Okay."

I made no move to get up from the chair. It was just so comfortable here. The cushions were fluffy and soft.

"Are you coming or not?" he asked, irritated.

"No."

"What?"

"I said no, I'm not coming. I don't have the energy and I don't see the point of this." I opened my eyes, shooting him a glare.

"You're fucking annoying," he grumbled.

I smiled at him—although, I was certain it resembled a grimace at this point. "I aim to please."

Yash stood up and picked up his laptop and files. "Come on. Get up!" he hissed.

"No," I protested. "What part of 'no' do you not understand? It's a bloody two letter word. Not rocket science."

"Listen," he started. His eyes were squinted in a loathsome glare. "Just because I asked you for help doesn't mean I'm going to start bowing and scraping and it certainly does not mean that you get the privilege of skipping events as and when you please."

"Why is it such a big deal anyway. I've got to spend two weeks with these people. One evening isn't going to make us best friends. And you listen, just because I helped you, it does not imply that we're friends. I put off finishing my work to do something I'm literally paying you for. So forgive me if I don't feel particularly excited about doing as you say."

With that retort, I stormed out and all but ran back to my room. Slamming the door shut behind me, I locked it before he could barge in. Taking a deep breath, I leaned against the doorway for a few seconds before dumping my bag on the nightstand, almost knocking over the fancy nightlight.

Mitali and Rakhi probably hadn't returned from their shopping spree, and honestly, I didn't think I could handle Mitali's excited squeals at the moment.

Crawling onto the bed, I pulled the blanket over me after decreasing the temperature. I adjusted my headphones and switched off the lights—letting my mind succumb to the music. Sighing, I curled up and before I knew it, I fell asleep.

Pulling my robes closer to my body, I approached the railing of the balcony. Jack was still asleep, spent from our tumble in the sheets. I couldn't fall asleep—not as that day approached. Jack had sensed that something was wrong. He had asked me, but he hadn't pushed me on it when I had choked on the words.

The night was serene—or as serene as it could be in the city that never slept. The sound of cars honking was distant, and for a moment I felt like I had been transported to some place else.

I loved Jack's penthouse, loved the openness it provided. If I looked hard enough, I could even spot stars twinkling in the night sky. Blowing out my cheeks, I held onto the railing and tilted my head up to fully glance into the darkness beyond our world.

The universe was supposed to resemble infinity, but was it really? How could the universe be infinite if we were caged in a finite sphere—unable to reach beyond the boundaries set by our world. But I could see the allure that came with the concept of infinity. It resembled eternity, something that most people longed for but couldn't have. In this, I agreed with Stephen Hawking; 'People tended to believe in eternal truths and they found comfort in the thought that though they may grow old and die, the universe is eternal and unchanging'*.

I was shaken away from my thoughts when strong arms wrapped around me from behind and pulled me towards a hard chest . I leaned back and rested my head on Jack's shoulder as he dipped his head to kiss my neck softly. "You weren't in bed," he accused.

"Couldn't sleep."

"Wanna talk about it?" he offered.

I shook my head. "Probably. But not at this moment. In a while, maybe."

"So what do you want to do?"

"Stare at the sky."

"You do that a lot. I've noticed." He licked a sensitive spot on my collar bone, making me shudder. I felt him smile against my skin as he kissed it softly.

"Yeah," I started breathlessly. "It's just that sometimes, when I look up at the sky, it feels like that darkness is going to come and eat me up. And other times, I feel like it's pushing me down and can't help but feel like I'm actually falling. Is that weird?"

He chuckled softly before saying, "Yeah, it is. But it's also you."

I turned back and kissed him softly—playfully., nipping at his lower lip before pulling away. "Tease," he growled. Then he took my face in his hands to kiss me again. I lost my breath as he kissed me softly and his lips moved in sync with mine. We kissed like we had all the time in the world. This wasn't a possessive marking of territory, this was something deeper and scarier. Something I wasn't sure I wanted to face, but it was addicting all the same.

I loved how soft and silky his hair felt in my hands as I tugged at the strands softly. I couldn't figure out whether I wanted to kiss him till the eternity we craved for or if I wanted to pull back because it honestly hurt to feel this way—as though my chest would burst and I would cease to exist.

Being with Jack was supposed to be simple, but more often than not, it felt like more. And maybe it was something in the air, or the way the clear night sky enveloped us into a cocoon to create a phantom world of our own, or maybe it was the soft kiss that had left me off-balance, but I found myself clinging onto him.

He pulled me down onto the cold marble floor—kissing me all over; my cheeks, my forehead and soft recurring kisses over my lips.

Finally, when I felt like I'd combust if it went on, I pulled away from his embrace slightly and turned to face the sky again. "I feel like a tiny bacteria," I said.

"We are tiny bacterias," he laughed.

"It's so weird that every moment feels so important, but we're just so insignificant to the universe itself. It wouldn't matter if we suddenly disappeared. We'd be remembered for a while and then forgotten like we never existed."

"Where's this coming from?" He asked, leaning over to face me with his head on his palm.

I shrugged.

"Does it have something to do with the thing you don't want to talk to me about right now?"

"In part."

I faced him again and closed the distance between us, hugging him tightly and hiding my face against the crook of his neck. Jack was familiar, he was comforting, and in that moment he felt like home.

I mumbled into the embrace causing him to hum in question.

"It's m—"

A loud scream cut me off. "Sara!" The voice seemed to be screaming. Eyes wide, I pulled away from Jack and opened my eyes—

Only to see Mitali leaning over and peering at my face. I squealed; spooked out of my mind. What the hell was happening? My mind felt fuzzy from my sleep and it took me a moment to realise that it was a dream, a reverie of sorts.

"What the fuck Mitali!" I yelled, throwing the pillow at her.

I really wanted to throw her off a cliff in that split-second. I was this close to Jack. It had been way too long since I had felt the familiarity of his presence. Sure, the new and unknown things excited me, but Jack—he had always felt like a roller-coaster ride, like a series of wild and free adventures that left my heart hammering hard against my rib cage. And yet, his presence was always calming in the end. It had always felt like home.

~~~
A/N:

*the quoted lines are actually taken from Stephen Hawking's 'A brief history of time'. I've just altered the lines to fit into the novel. I'll repeat—The quoted lines DO NOT belong to me. I've only tweaked it to suit the paragraph.
I have never and will never support plagiarism. So this is just for those of you who might think that I've tried to reproduce it as my own. I have not.