Parth answered his phone the next morning just shortly after he had woken up, "Sanam, hi."

His best friend's wife who had become a good friend to him as well greeted with a quick scolding, "Parth, are you trying to kill me?!"

Parth swallowed a groan as he knew exactly what Sanam meant. "I know. I know, Sanam. I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you. Promise."

Sanam exhaled a sigh to drop her irritation, "That you will." Then, with concern, she questioned, "What's going on, Parth? You were supposed to be gone for the weekend, not this long. And after two long months, Arjun was finally coming home in time for our anniversary. But now he is probably going to miss it. I want to mad at you but I'm also worried."

"Has anyone told you that you've certainly learned to ramble compared to our early days?" Parth tried to lighten the moment as somewhere, he himself didn't know how to share this with Sanam.

Sanam scolded knowing of his nature, "Parth, don't do that. I deserve a better answer, don't you think?"

He knew she did. Not just because he had asked her husband and his best friend, Arjun to stay in India a few more days and try to find some information on Sonu and his family, but also because together, they had went through things the last couple years of their lives and both Arjun and Sanam were a part of his extended family.

"I'm just trying to help someone get a divorce."

Sanam pointed out, "You're a criminal lawyer. Not a divorce attorney."

Parth said in agreement, "Yeah, I know. Just... I don't know, Sanam. I knew her. It was barely a day but still, I knew her. You should have seen her that night, Sanam, when I saw her and... and I just couldn't leave. I had to do something. Look, I really am sorry Arjun will be missing your anniversary. I know you guys already have it tough trying to have some time together but..."

Sanam interrupted his guilty conscious, "Hey, hey. It's okay, Parth. I don't understand a lot of what you just rambled, but I think I get it. You had to help her. You have that good a heart. I know that. Don't worry about us, okay? We've made it work so far. We'll have more anniversaries in the future."

He answered in a low voice, "Yeah," not knowing what else to say. He never claimed to be the guy who knew the perfect things to say in certain situations. All he knew in the moment was that he felt guilty that his friends were going to be affected. From having known Arjun his whole life, he did knew that in their friendship, they did things for each other without any reservations or second thoughts. Similarly, when Parth had asked him of this favor, Arjun hadn't spent more than a second to say yes and offer his help in any way it could.

Still, Parth knew that as they age and start to live their respective lives, things change. Sanam was never one to come between their friendship but he still understood that one to adapt to those changes.

Sanam got the hint from his tone and went on to further assure him, "I mean it, Parth. Don't beat yourself up over this. If you had to ask this of Arjun and you are putting a hold on your job, then I can only imagine how important it must be. So do what you gotta do and we'll see you when you get back?"

"Okay, yeah. Thanks, Sanam. That means a lot."

She chuckled, "Ofcourse, silly. Now go win that case and do us proud."

The simplest of words and yet they offered him such encouragement as it let him know he wasn't alone in the fight. That he had his friends backing him even if they weren't physically present. "I will."

"I gotta go to the hospital for my shift now. Call you later?"

He answered, "Yes, definitely. Go save lives."

She complimented back, "And you, mister, go put that S.O.B behind bars."

He winced in exaggeration, "Hmm, no, Sanam. You still can't joke. You shouldn't try."

She gasped in playful offense, "Rude!"

He laughed as he bid, "Bye now."

She quickly interjected, "Hey, Parth?"

"Yeah?"

"To make it up to me, one day soon, you are going to tell me the story of how you first met that girl."

He tried to underplay it, "Oh, it's nothing. Not much of a story."

Sanam rolled her eyes - not that he could see - but it was evident in her tone. "Please! I wasn't born yesterday. Yes, you have a good heart and you are the kind of person who'll try to help anyone whom he could, but I know you wouldn't be doing this much for some random girl. Now don't try to deny it again because I wouldn't believe it."

With that lump in his throat, he asked. "I love you, my friend, but can we skip this part for now? It's all complicated enough and I need to keep a clear head about this."

As much as Sanam wanted to press the matter, she silently understood what he was trying to do. He didn't want to make it harder for anyone by letting old feelings brew to the surface again and if he would talk about it, he feared that he would be raising his hopes and start imaginations things. Normally, that would not be things he would cower away from but right now, it had to be kept as simple as possible for all parties involved.

Thus, she let it go. "Alright, for now then. But one day?"

"Maybe," he cryptically answered before ending the call.

He had no idea if he could bring himself to talk about that one day that had changed many things for him. Repeatedly, he told himself that this was about Maahi. That he had to put her first and the mature self in him was aware of the fact that he could not start this with Maahi any time soon. Her life was a complicated mess and he had to focus first on his promise of getting her out of it.

༺༻ ༺༻༺༻

Maahi arrived at the address Parth had texted her of where they would be staying for the month, all four of them. It was only twenty minutes from where she was currently staying. Therefore, she only took a few clothes, some shoes, and other necessary items. She figured she could stop by her place if she needed something she hadn't brought along.

Sonu answered the door when she had rung the bell. "Hi." He said, and all she wanted for him to move so she could enter the temporary hellhole. Seeing it went unanswered, he tried to move for her bag, "Here, let me get that."

"I got it." She continued to hold on to it, forcing him to retreat and step aside. She entered the apartment and rolled it inside. Reluctantly, she asked him, "Where do I put my stuff?" She didn't see Parth around, and didn't know.

"There." He pointed to a room where he had his things.

Parth stepped inside from the balcony, hearing her voice and corrected, "Actually, the other room."

"But my stuff is in that room." Sonu countered.

Parth scoffed, "You don't think you can stay in the same room as her, or do you? Remember what the judge said, you two are allowed in the same room with supervision. I don't know about you, but I'm certainly not going to break a direct order from a judge."

"Is he serious?" Sonu asked Sanjana.

She shrugged her shoulders, "Yeah, he can do that. You'll be sharing the bed with him and I with Maahi."

"Just fucking great. I can't even sleep in the same room as my wife." Sonu muttered, but his comment was ignored by everyone.

Parth smirked and reminded, "I told you at the station a month ago, you'd be seeing a lot of me." He then nodded towards the room and spoke to Maahi, "Go ahead and settle in."

Maahi informed, "Actually, I have to get back to work. I already canceled my morning appointments. I'll unpack later." She quickly deposited her stuff in the room. She quickly noticed how Sanjana had already organized her things in one side of the room, the left side. She frowned, for she would have preferred the left side of the bed.

Just a month, Maahi. She reminded herself to suck it up and just somehow, survive this month with as little obstacles as possible.

On her way out of the apartment, she stopped by to get a glass of water from the machine. Parth asked, "Do you want to take some lunch with you since you're running late?"

Throwing away the paper cup, she shook her head. "No, it's fine. I'm not much hungry." Then she looked at him, really looked at him, and paused for a second to let everything sink in. "Thank you." She expressed her gratitude. He squinted, not understanding what it was for. She clarified, "the room situation, you know?"

He nodded, not seeing that to be as big of a deal. He was simply looking out for her best interests, and following through on his promise to her. "Don't mention it."

She turned to leave, but stumbled back finding Sonu standing right there. "Would you like to go out for dinner tonight?"

It surprised her to hear him ask her that. She couldn't remember the last time he had taken her out for dinner. "Uh..." She looked at Parth for help.

He simply answered, "Your call," leaving the choice on her.

"Not tonight." She answered, explaining, "I won't be back till 7-8 and then I also have to unpack."

The look of disappointment on Sonu's face was something else that she hadn't been that familiar with.

She added, "Maybe tomorrow."

Those two words seemed to light up his eyes as she nodded and let the topic go for now. As soon as the words had left her mouth, Maahi questioned it in her mind. Why had she said that? It wasn't as if she wanted to go, nor should she have cared for this disappointment of his. After all, they may be together so he could make amends, but that didn't mean she had to make it this easy for him, right? She hadn't forgiven him, and she knew she wasn't going to in a long run, if that. By saying this, she had a feeling that he would start to think he actually had a shot.

She realized she needed to be careful with her reactions. The wrong ones would only encourage him.

༺༻ ༺༻༺༻

Maahi knocked three times on the bathroom door the next morning. Parth opened it and after seeing it was him, let him in. "Did he see you?"

Maahi shook her head, "No, he's still sleeping."

"Good." He answered, then went to turn on the shower so the sound would cover their conversation. Maahi waited for him to tell her why he had called her. He'd only said in text that he needed to talk to her, but not the topic. "I'd asked for his phone records, to try and figure out who the other girl is."

She urged for more, "Okay, and?"

He handed her his phone where he had pulled open the email, "Any of it familiar? I tried, but there wasn't any unusual activity like calling a certain number too many times."

She zoomed in at the documents to see if any of the numbers on the call list looked familiar while he leaned back against the sink counter with his arms crossed over his chest. She went through the whole list for the last three months. It was almost five pages. She exhaled, "No, I don't know. They all look normal. I mean, without the contact IDs, I can't tell."

"And you don't remember her name?"

She shook her head again, returning his phone, "No, he never said it."

"Okay, well, I should have his text messages history soon. Maybe you'll be able to tell something from that."

Before she could reply, the door knob rattled. They waited in silence, getting alert, and hoping that whoever it was would leave. Then there was a knock. "Who's there?" Parth asked, motioning at Maahi to remain quiet.

"Man, open the door!" Sonu yelled in an impatient tone.

"I'm in the shower." Parth answered.

Sonu continued to bang on the door, "Have you seen Maahi?"

Parth motioned for her to get behind the door so she wouldn't be seen through the mirror. He quickly pulled his shirt in one swift motion over his head. He reached for his pants, and Maahi sharply turned her back to him. Realizing he was about to strip naked in front of her, he muttered, "Shit," under his breath and stepped into the tub to give the impression that he indeed had been taking a shower. Once inside, he took off his track pants and held a towel around his waist with his hand.

He then stepped back out, and opened the door. "No, I haven't." He lied, and then tried to irritate him so he would go away, "You do remember you can't be..."

"Yeah, yeah. I get it. Now move."

"I'm trying to shower, you know?" Parth commented, maintaining his cool.

"And I badly have to go." Sonu said to hint that he needed to use the bathroom urgently.

"Go use the other one."

"I think Sanjana is taking a shower too." Seeing that Parth wasn't too willing to move, he commented further, "Come on, man, don't be such a girl."

From behind, he made a motion for Maahi to go, and she tried to walk behind him and hide in the shower. She glared up the ceiling as soon as she started to get wet. Parth moved aside to let Sonu inside. When he continued to stand there, Sonu questioned with narrowed eyes, "Now don't you have to shower?"

Parth was conflicted, but he also couldn't risk Sonu finding Maahi. "Whatever. Just hurry up." He muttered and reluctantly stepped in the shower. 'Sorry' He mouthed to Maahi as the two of them stood at either ends of the tub, the water drenching them. She tried to keep her eyes at his face or past him, careful to not let them wander too much.

"You shower with your towel on?"

"What's it to you? Just do what you need to and leave." Parth snapped at him, now starting to get irritated himself.

Maahi decided to have some fun. It wasn't always that she found Parth out of balance. She picked up a bottle and forwarded it while mouthing, "Shampoo?"

Rolling his eyes, he snatched it from her to put it on the side stand, almost dropping his towel. She took a step back to inch away and stifle her laughter as he fumbled to grab hold of it again. Her back hit the wall and accidentally turned off the switch for warm water. With a gush of sudden cold water falling on her, she gasped and tried to get away from it. Instinctively, his palm covered her mouth to hush her, once again, forgetting about the towel. Her eyes widened and she grabbed it before it would fall. His head dipped, his eyes following her arms to his waist.

His eyes traced back to her, but she was no longer looking at him. Well, she was, but not into his eyes. She was avoiding them. It was hard for him to tell if she was looking at his shoulders, or past them. She gulped before daring to move her fingers. They lightly brushed over his skin as she worked to tuck one of the ends of the towel under the layers so it would stay and she wouldn't have to hold on to them. He clenched his jaw, finding it hard to not let his eyes wander. Alas, wander they did, traveling to her lips, the droplets of water on her face that trickled down her neck.

Sonu's voice caused him to blink and snap out of it, "Where's the soap bar?"

Parth noticed it was inside, but before he could say anything, Sonu slightly pushed the curtain aside. "What the hell?" He snapped and pushed himself to the other end of the tub, hiding Maahi with his arms around her head. Since the soap bar was at the edge of the tub, Sonu hadn't pushed the curtain open completely.

"Chill, jeez." Sonu muttered, not understanding why he seemed to be on edge. For him, it was just him and Parth, two boys. He didn't get why Parth was reacting as strongly to the invasion of privacy in the bathroom.

He let go of the curtain. Once convinced that Maahi hadn't been spotted, he proceeded to move, and that was when he realized their position. In a rush, he had hid Maahi's head in his chest and given their height difference, she had fit perfectly to his body. Consciously, he removed the arm around her head while she made all effort to not look up at him, once again. There was already something hot about his damp hair and naked torso. It was why she had tried to hand him the bottle of shampoo and joke to lighten the moment and distract herself.

She awkwardly lifted her hands off his chest. It was already well-built, and the feeling lingered under her fingertips. He could only stare at her, avoiding his gaze. Her top was sticking to her skin, completely damp by now. He removed his palm from over her mouth. His fingertips trailed over one side of her forehead and behind her ear, pushing back her hair. At the gesture, her eyes snapped up to his. Realizing what he had done without intending to, he awkwardly let his hand hang in mid-air, leaving her skin.

She clenched her jaw to stop her teeth from clattering at the chilling water. He forwarded his hand past her to turn on the warm water again. It may have barely been ten to fifteen seconds standing that close to each other since he had placed his palm over her mouth to stifle her gasp, but it seemed to do wonders on them, firing up their skin.

Maahi couldn't help but flash back to the one kiss they had shared all those years ago. She wouldn't have thought she could remember it, but in the moment standing as close to him, she could. She almost missed the feeling of having his hand around her the way they once had been. She knew it was silly. She also knew it was wrong. She was still in the process of getting out of her marriage, and here was her mind, losing its reasoning the second the personal space was breached.

Noticing the intense look in his eyes, it confirmed for her how it had affected him too. None of it was intentional. It was situational, and they would have to fight it as it wasn't the right time for any of it. She also followed it down to her top and how it was sticking to her like second skin. She was glad it was dark shirt, not see through. But another fact was also that the cold water was... well, cold. She had goosebumps all over her skin and her nipples were hard. Closing her eyes, she crossed her arms over her chest and rubbed her upper arm. The return of warm water was certainly helping.

One day, one of the two was going to give in to the sexual tension between the two. Parth was firmly holding on to the last of his self-control when a voice snapped them out, "You two going to continue standing in there or come out?"

Maahi narrowed her brows, connecting the voice to Nikita. How had she gotten there, and when? And the better question, how did she know they were in the shower?

Parth carefully pulled back the curtain to ensure it was only her and Sonu was nowhere in sight. Nikita had even closed the door. Letting out a sigh, he stepped out and Maahi followed. He started to ruffle his hair as Maahi reached for the towel Nikita forwarded. "How did...?" She began to question but was stopped by a sneeze.

"I know Parth's tactics all too well. Brother, remember?" She answered and then further explained as Maahi went on to damp out her hair, least she get sick. "Growing up, whenever we wanted to pull a prank, have a secret meeting hiding from parents or anything, both of us would lock ourselves in the bathroom, run the shower, and talk so our parents couldn't hear. When I came and didn't find you anywhere else in the apartment, I pieced it together. Figured bathrooms would be the only place where there's no cameras so you'd have the privacy to talk."

"Seems like genius runs in the family." Maahi complimented, but a bit sarcastically.

Nikita chuckled, "Let's go get you out of here before both of them notice." She went ahead to check if the coast was clear. Maahi was ready to follow when he spoke up.

"Hey, sorry about..." He trailed off, not finding the right words for what he was apologizing for.

Nevertheless, she was on the same page as him. She nodded and left from there as quickly as she could. There was only so much she could hold back on when he was still standing there in a towel, without a shirt.

༺༻ ༺༻༺༻

In the room Maahi was sharing with Sanjana, she started to change out of her wet clothes in the closet while thinking back to the moment in the shower. She didn't know what to make of that, and neither could she brush it out as quickly. It was still fresh in her head. "Maahi?" Nikita called her out when she walked about the room mindlessly. "What are you doing?"

Maahi looked down to realize she was about to comb her hair with the back of her comb. Nikita bit back a smile, starting to see what was happening between Parth and Maahi, but how they were trying to fight it.

"What's the plan for today?" Nikita started the conversation in hopes of distracting her friend. While she would have loved for her friend to actually be falling in love, she could understand the reasons for wanting to fight it for the time being.

Maahi answered with a frown, "Unfortunately, it's Friday." She didn't work on Fridays, so she was stuck at home having to spend time with Sonu.

"We could go somewhere." Nikita suggested.

Maahi dismissed it, "He'll only tag along."

"Shopping? Just the two of us can go. Say you need some girl time."

Maahi wasn't convinced, "I don't know."

Nikita sat up from the bed and pushed her towards the washroom, "Leave it to me. You just get ready."

Maahi sighed and decided to take an actual shower while Nikita went out to inform the others that she and Maahi were going out for a girl's day out.

Sonu said, "Where? We'll come with."

Nikita rolled her eyes, "It's not very well a 'girls' day out if you tag along too. Anyway, since my anniversary is coming up, we're planning on doing some lingerie shopping. You're not needed there."

"Right." Sonu commented, though he wasn't a fool. He understood what they were trying to do. "Just remind my wife that we're going out for dinner, so have her back by then." Nikita's stomach churned hearing him still call Maahi his wife. She was always far from it. "And if she wants to buy something, it's on me. It's been a while since I saw her in..."

"Just shut up, you asshole." Nikita snapped at him and walked back in the room, past Parth who had come out, dressed and heard the conversation.

Parth followed her and asked, "You okay?"

Nikita leaned against the door and sighed to control her anger, "Yeah, I guess. He's just... ugh. Such a jerk. I don't know how Maahi kept putting up with him. I swear, he has no respect for her." After her ramble, in a calm tone, she expressed, "I just feel so bad for her, you know? She's always had bad relationships, with no fault of hers. She deserves much, much better."

He put his arm around her shoulder and assured her, "She does, and I'm sure one day it'll happen." Nikita nodded, praying his words would come true.

Parth wasn't speaking about himself. From knowing her before and now, he was starting to slowly learn the kind of person Maahi was. He believed that even if the two of them didn't get a chance, she'd get her happy ending one day. It's not possible that one person does everything right, and not get it. If she didn't, he wouldn't know what to believe in anymore. Growing up with his parents' admiring marriage, and then Nikita and Blake, he did have faith.

༺༻ ༺༻༺༻

【author note】

Hi guys! So sorry for not having updated this in a long time! Things have been so crazy busy I hadn't been getting the time. Even though I had a draft of the chapter ready, I wanted to add the beginning conversation with Sanam and I kept not finding the time to write it. Hope you liked the slightly spicy chapter! I'll be trying to update a few more pretty soon to make up for the wait in between :D