Heya! Really sorry, I know I said I was going to update on Friday. But the chapter got deleted and I had to write it all over again. for those following me on Instagram would have known this, because I gave them a heads up about the delay. Re-writing the entire chapter is  the worst thing that can happen. Plus this chapter was a long one, made it all the more hard. #FML. Anyways, here you go.

*Happy reading*

I heard the rich and proud voice from behind me, "Are you ready to be my escort tonight?"

I turned my head, meeting the same pair of black eyes. He appeared before me, in all his grandeur. A tailored black suit with a charming red tie. His chiselled jaw lifted with a cocky smile. His soft, feather-like black hair brushed away from his brow. Every word he had said this morning reeled back into my head.

It was the same conceited son of a bitch.

"Abhimanyu Raghavan?"

"I believe that's me." Can he get any more arrogant?

"You got to be kidding me." There were sparks in my brain desperately trying to connect the dots. How could this happen? Why did Reena not tell me?

"Are you my client?"

"Supposedly," a crooked smile played on his lips, one that indicated that he had won.

My eyes rested, not unblinking but slowed, as though news like that was impossible to absorb any faster.

"Are...are you messing with me right now, because it's really not funny." It really was not. His mere presence seemed to buzz around me like a fly that I could never swat, how was I to be his pretend girlfriend for an entire night? I don't see it happening.

"You can confirm with your sources," he offered.

"Oh yes, I am going to." Wrapping my long fingers around the phone, I pressed the speed dial. Reena's phone kept buzzing. Soon Reena would confirm that he was wrong. I anxiously waited for her to answer it. I glanced back at the phone annoyed with its silence. Like a cat on hot bricks, I kept trying to reach her. It was the same. The next three times I called, it went to voicemail. What on earth was she up to? Why was she not answering my call?

"No luck?" his voice was calm as though he knew this was coming.

Every word he spoke churned in my stomach, made me want to pump my fist against that gorgeous face he owned.

"Why did you book me?" my words erupted in a furious state.

"Because I-"

"Had the money?" I snorted.

He inched forward and grasped my shoulders. The warmth of his fingers crept into my consciousness and I wanted to pull myself away.

"No," he said.

"I cannot do this. I'm leaving." I shoved his hands off.

"But why?" He asked.

"Why? I think it's pretty obvious we can't stand each other."

He snaked his arm around my waist and drew me closer. He leaned forward while his beard grazed the most sensitive part of my cheeks, "that's not entirely true," he whispered, pressing a soft kiss on my earlobe. Every hair on my neck sat up straight screaming for attention. I swallowed the lump in my throat, "well, the feeling is not mutual."

"Your claws are so intact."

"Are we done here?" I thrust him forward using the force in my hands against his chest.

"Hey, relax."

"I can't do this. I need to get out of this place. Why did you even book me?" Without waiting for him to answer, I called Reena another time before I could take myself off from this place. He waited for me until I hung up after a call that went in vain. I sighed in defeat, "after whatever happened today, why did you bother? You have the money; you have women who fall at your feet. You could have made any woman your escort. Why me?"

"That's the whole point. After today, I wanted you."

My mind was a surging perplexity, "care to enlighten me?"

He took both my hands and enclosed it between his, "I wanted to apologise."

It was like I was in a parallel universe, when did clients start apologizing for what they did? They always felt like they can treat me however they wanted to because they paid me for it. But all they paid was for the sex, not to treat me like a piece of shit. This was the first time all through my life I heard someone apologize to me for their behaviour.

I knew I wore a puzzled expression.

"What?" He spotted the confusion on my face.

"No nothing, you were apologizing, go on." I would kill to hear that apology though.

"You're such a tease." His eyes sparkled with a smile one minute and grew earnest the next, as though he was sincere about this, "like I was saying, whatever I said this morning, I didn't mean it. I don't get turned down that often. You're the first woman to have turned me down. I didn't like how you were making me feel. When you left I realised it had nothing to do with you, but it had to do with how I was feeling. I was frustrated and I said whatever I said. I shouldn't have really hit that low," he paused.

"I'm still waiting."

The corners of his lips puckered up to a sweet smile, "I'm sorry I said all those hurtful things. I wanted to make you feel like how you made me feel. I shouldn't have done that. It wasn't your mistake, or even if it was, I shouldn't have told things I didn't even mean. I really respect you and whatever you do. You have your reason. I don't judge you. You're an amazing woman and you didn't deserve my words from today morning. I'm really sorry."

It took me a second or two for his words to sink in even though it was right before my eyes. No one respected the life I had just because of the job I did. I sell my body for sex. That doesn't make me a bad person. Just like he said, I have my reasons. Most of the times, I am ushered silently to the client because he doesn't want anyone around judging him for banging a prostitute. What about the dignity I have as a woman? We are always seen as those people who wreck homes and families. We are not the ones who lure clients into sleeping with us. They come to us. It always takes two hands.

It felt different, like some happy kind of paralysis, that someone understood my life, respected it. The expression I wore on my face doesn't adequately measure up to how I felt within.

"It's okay," I said.

"Thank you," he said, still holding my hands between his.

"So if you're done, can I leave?" I asked.

"I still need an escort." This grip on my hands grew tighter.

"I really can't do this." I withdrew my hands from his. I was scared about how I was starting to feel.

"We are not breaking any of your rules. You're just going to be my escort tonight unless you want more." A small teasing smile crept upon his face.

"You really like yourself, don't you?" I folded my hands across my chest.

"Oh well, you do too."

"Oh, you have no idea." I rolled my eyes.

He chuckled.

"So are you in?"

"Of course not."

"C' mon. I bet being my escort is any day better than fucking another man. And I paid a lot of money too." He battered his lashes showing me his puppy eyes.

"Alright," I gave in. Reena wasn't answering my call. And he was right, I'd rather stay here than fuck another man.

"Shall we?" He held me by my waist and motioned us towards the door.

Just stepping towards the door made my breathing shallow and rapid. A soft panic grew inside me thinking about what I was going to do at the party. This was my first. I didn't know what happens at parties. I didn't know the people here. I didn't know what this party was even for. I grasped his bicep, "you picked the wrong person."

He stopped in his tracks, "why do you say that?"

"I can't do this. I have never been to a party before. I don't want to embarrass myself and you."

"Hey, don't panic. Just follow my lead. It's simple. Just smile, engage in conversations, but not too much, or they'll know you're my escort. Keep sipping on the champagne. You'll do good," he said. "And don't leave my side," he added.

"It's not as simple as it sounds."

"Trust me, it is. You'll have fun."

"With people I don't know?"

"You know me."

My heart pumped faster like it would run out of all the blood. "What do you mean?"

"I'm a good company to keep."

"We'll have that tested tonight."

Everything about him told my intuition he was a trap, yet I walked right in and let the door swing open. The party was a riot of creamy colours, everyone a little more hyped up than they should be. Everything about the flowing silks and rich people in rich clothes made me want to run away from this place. I totally didn't belong here. There was soft music in the background. Couples were moving their feet with grace on the dance floor. Over the resonance of music, I also heard hazy chatter, groups of people involved in conversations. The party had an open bar and also had waiters helping the guests serving them their drinks. My eyes ate up the scene like a hungry beggar's feast.

Abhimanyu stopped a waiter who walked past us, grabbed a flute of champagne, and offered it to me, "there."

"Thank you," I said and sipped on it. With a smile painted on my face and a glass of champagne in my hand, I spoke through gritted teeth, "What's our story, how did we meet?"

"I've got that covered up," he said while he flashed a smile at a man who was headed in our direction.

"Alright."I gulped the drink.

"Abhi!" The man embraced Abhimanyu in a warm hug. He was as tall and as built as Abhimanyu was except he had a thin pointed face. He sure as hell looked like a cricketer, at least his body did. Were all cricketers tall? Or am I meeting the exceptions?

"How are you? You've been doing exceptionally well for yourself. Hitting that ball so hard." He fist pumped Abhimanyu lightly on his shoulder.

"You're doing good for yourself too, Veer."

"Thanks, man. Just trying to recover from the injury."

"You're fine man. Where is Arushi?" He asked.

"Oh, she didn't come. She fell sick."

"Isn't your wedding in two weeks?"

"Yea, she should recover before that."

"So who is this beautiful lady we have here?" Both their eyes were now on me.

"She is Mehr, my -"

"Ah, she is your secret girlfriend," he teased. I beamed like a girl pretending to be in love.

"Guys!!" He called out to a group of people chattering. I couldn't hear every word they spoke. Veer's voice was subdued with the roar of the music and their laughter. "Guys!" Veer called out to them again. All of it came to a pause, their attention was now directed to me. "Abhi has finally brought his secret girlfriend. Come here, you guys!"

Now that's too much attention. The group's energy shifted towards us. A man with a lean frame, thick eyebrows, commented "What?" He had his hand thrown over a girl who looked as young as I did but only more poised. All of them had a woman in their arms, be it a friend, girlfriend, or even their wives, but all of them had a woman, except for one man, whose hair was dishevelled, he was not engaged in the conversations that were going on, he had his thin lips tight and grim. His eyes were dark and looked only browner in these party lights, they were scanning me, every inch, it stopped exactly on my hands that held Abhimanyu by this arms. It seemed like he was trying to contemplate what was actually going on between Abhimanyu and me.

"Man, why did you not bring her before? I'm Harshit Malhotra," the man with the thick eyebrows extended his hands towards me.

"Mehr Dubey." I took them for a handshake. I was then swamped by over twenty people introducing themselves, of which I barely recalled ten. All of them either were on his team or his extended team like how they called it.

"So how did you guys meet?" a question was thrown.

He paid me to have sex with him.

"We knew each other from school," Abhimanyu said. I almost choked on my champagne. He was natural at this.

"Aww, childhood sweethearts," the woman in Harshit's arms looked at us with awe. I tried to put a name to her face. Yes, she was Payal.

"After school, we bumped into each other while we were on the Australia tour, it all just rekindled."

I wanted to hoot on the ground and laugh. I haven't crossed the boundaries of Mumbai. What was he rambling?

"Australia tour happened two years ago," I heard the man who had been eyeing me all night comment. He was strange. He just didn't mix up with anyone in the team.

"Yes. That's when we met, Ansh," Abhimanyu replied.

"Hmm," he drank his whiskey.

"So isn't Dhruv bhai here yet?" Abhimanyu implored.

"We're celebrating his book launch and he's not here yet," Yash commented. He was a funny guy. He made everyone laugh with his witty comments all the time.

"I read his autobiography, it was fantastic. He really shouldn't retire from captaincy this early on." Abhimanyu said.

"C' mon. You're the one who's next in line for captaincy. We all know you're dying for him to give that up." Yash chuckled.

"That's not true," he laughed, taking a sip of his mocktail.

Oh, so Abhimanyu Raghavan was going to be the next captain of the Indian Cricket Team. Now that's some news. Way to keep his arrogance tamed.

"You didn't tell me that," I muttered under my breath just enough for him to catch on my words.

"You didn't even know I played cricket."

That was true.

Time flew like a magician in a hat. But I was there, sitting static, shifting my eyes between the empty glass in my hand and the time in my phone. Cricket jargons were thrown around. I didn't understand one bit. I suddenly felt like an illiterate. Abhimanyu was still involved in a deep conversation with Dhruv. Dhruv carried the aura of a captain. He was liked by everyone. He was tall, humble, wise. He acknowledged everyone's presence, had an endearing smile on his face. He didn't demand respect, but everyone respected him. They spoke to him like they also saw a friend in him. I just couldn't envision Abhimanyu in his shoes. It was a fucking difficult job.

"Bored?" I heard Abhimanyu.

I averted my gaze to him. Dhruv was gone.

"I'm so sorry. I got caught up," he apologized.

"It's fine."

"You aren't having fun," he carefully read my face.

I looked around the place; people were caught up in their own conversations. It felt like I was in a business meeting, except that they served alcohol.

"Want to get out of here?"

"No." But he had already hauled me out of the party, now darting me down the exit.

Where was he taking me?   

Heya! So how was it? Did Mehr forgive too quickly? I think any person in her shoes would have done the same. For a person who has never received an apology from anyone would jump to forgive, because they have finally tasted how it would feel to be respected and be apologised to. You guys are open to feel how you want to.

And where do you think Mehr and Abhimanyu are headed to? Is it all too good to be true for Mehr? What is going to happen next? Keep your guesses coming.

I would love to know what you feel. Please don't forget to leave your votes and comments. The NEXT CHAPTER will be updated on MONDAY.

For quotes and spoilers to 'The Client', you can follow me on Instagram @rainbowlovie