Author's note: The chapter is not edited. If you find any mistakes, please let me know. I'll fix them ASAP. Thank you!!❤❤

Also, the number of votes have gone down. Is there something that I can do better to help make your reading experience better? Are you guys not enjoying the story?

~~~○●○♤○●○~~~

That night

"Dhara, I swear to God." Soumya hissed as she tugged at her sister's arm in an attempt to drag her further. "Stop acting like a child."

"And you stop trying to act like my moral studies teacher." She whispered loudly and tried to hold her ground. "I am not going to apologize to Monkeyface and his brother Grumpyface."

Soumya let out an involuntary laugh. "Where do you come up with these names? And Dr. Rudra is not grumpy; he is just reserved."

"You know earlier, I was just teasing, but now I am seriously beginning to doubt if you actually love him or something."

"You already don't have a lot of grey matter, and you are using it all up cooking these idiotic theories and finding different ways to fight with people. Use your brain in your studies, and maybe this time, you'll get good grades... They are our guests. You saw how happy Dadaji and Dadi are with them here." Soumya stopped pulling but didn't let go of Dhara's hand. However, most importantly, they are so busy with their friends that they are not talking about my marriage at all.

"I am not doing it." Dhara stomped her foot and tried to leave, but Soumya tightened her grip and began pulling again. Despite the difference in their physical fitness levels, Soumya managed almost to drag Dhara to her bedroom door.

Both the sisters began tugging at each other while trying to stay as quiet as possible because they didn't want to wake the grandparents who were getting ready to bed downstairs.

Dhara's bedroom suddenly opened, and Rudra appeared in the doorway. He looked as confused and surprised as them at their unexpected appearance. Soumya immediately let go of Dhara's arm, causing both of them to nearly topple over.

"Is everything okay?" He asked with a small frown as the sisters gave each other meaningful stares and attempted to talk through their face rather than words.

"Yes," Soumya hurriedly said as a clarification. "We were just wondering if we could talk to Akash..."

Rudra's frown deepened, "Why?"

"Relax, I am not going to beat your brother up again," Dhara said with a small amount of smugness.

Soumya cleared her throat as a warning to Dhara before stepping a step closer to him to put herself in between him and Dhara. "We were hoping to apologize to him about this morning." She explained, trying her best not to squirm under his stare.

"What's going on?" Akash asked from inside the room.

Rudra stepped aside, letting the ladies enter the room. As Dhara brushed past him, she was pretty sure that she heard him say, 'Be my guest and beat him up for me.'

"Hi, Akash," Soumya greeted Akash, who was sitting on the chair with his feet propped up on the table to balance the laptop on his thighs. His red headphones rested around his neck.

"Aah! Ms. Pahari Kudi! How are you so beautiful this late at night?" Akash asked with a grin. " I am jealous."

Soumya giggled, Dhara scoffed while Rudra rolled his eyes at Akash's statement.

"Oh, and Mrs. Virat Kohli, you are here too," Akash said sardonically.

"If you think it is an insult, then you are mistaken." Dhara snapped back with folded arms. "It's not. In fact... you just gave me a compliment, loser."

"Dhara," Soumya slapped Dhara's arm. "Let's all just relax. Dinner was really awkward tonight. So, I thought that we could put our past behind us and become friends just like our grandparents."

"I am willing to move forward if he apologizes," Dhara announced much to Soumya's displeasure.

Akash laughed in an exaggerated fashion. "You are funny! You barged into the bathroom while I was showering. Good thing I wasn't in my birthday suit, by the way. And then proceeded to attack me like a pair of old clothes with your cricket bat. Do you know how sheltered I am? My family has raised me with so much love and affection that I learnt to walk on the bed so I wouldn't hurt myself. I was kind enough to keep all this a secret because I don't want to upset the elders, but you want ME to apologize?" He said, walking around the room like he was doing improv.

"Obviously!" Dhara huffed. "You were in my room- in my bathroom, mind you. And why the hell were you taking a shower in a girl's bathroom without clothes anyway? How was any girl supposed to react?"

"Woah!!" Soumya pulled her sister back was ready to rip Akash's hair out and chuckled nervously. "The point of this meeting is for us to become friends. Remember?"

"Yeah, well! You need to tell your sister to reel it then." Rudra spoke from behind them. The fact that Dhara had demanded he move from 'her' chair during dinner rubbed him the wrong way. "Maybe you can teach her how one should behave with their guests."

"See!" Dhara stomped her foot like a petulant child. "He sticks with his brother even when he is wrong and you... " She shot an accusatory glare at Soumya.

Both Akash and Rudra shared a look as well. Was their relationship sibling like? Or were they were far too gone to have any relationship between them?

"Dhara!" Soumya warned. Soumya had a temper she rarely lost, but when she did, it was fireworks all the way.

"Fine," Dhara acquiesced through gritted teeth. "I am sorry." She said to Akash.

"I am sorry, too," Soumya added. "If I had told Dhara about your visit, then she wouldn't have reacted the way she did."

"I accept your apology, Ms. Pahari Kudi," Akash winked at Soumya before turning to Dhara. "But, Mrs. Virat Kohli, unfortunately, I won't be able to accept your apology unless you say the words 'Dhoni is the best cricket player of all times.'"

"Over my dead body!" She said, wagging her finger at him. "You don't deserve my apology. In fact, you don't deserve anything. My room... You better keep it neat and tidy or else...." She trailed off. The tone and attitude had kept everyone around her in check, but the man in front of her had the audacity to laugh. Not chuckle a loud, full-blown laugh that made Dhara's hackles rise.

"You just wait and watch what I do," Dhara warned and hit her fist against the back of the chair for good measure. The other three occupants in the room had to pinch their lips together to not smile at Dhara's scrunched face when she hurt her hand.

Then she did an about-turn and walked out of her room, fuming with anger.

"Guess it was pretty pointless to force her here, huh?" Soumya said with a sigh.

"A little," Akash agreed and shrugged with a small smile.

Soumya relaxed and looked amused. "No one really challenges my sister around here. The residents have nicknamed her 'terror.' Are you really up for the challenge?"

Akash chuckled and wrapped his arm around Soumya's shoulders. "You see, Ms. Pahari Kudi, The 'terror' is about to be terrorized. She has no idea who she is dealing with. I am going to have so much fun troubling her." He said with a wicked laugh.

"Guess things are about very interesting," Soumya laughed and raised her eyebrows.

"You bet!" He let go of her shoulders and did a small salute. "Good night!"

"Good night!" She hit Akash on his shoulder in a friendly manner, "Helpful tip- You might want to check out an email, [email protected]."

"You are joking!" Akash laughed as he covered his mouth with his hand.

"Don't tell her I told you about this. She created the email when she was sixteen. She is going to kill me if she finds out that I told you." Soumya laughed but obliged and gave him a fist bump as he held his fist out before walking towards the door.

"Good night." Rudra wished just as she passed him.

She looked up at him in surprise. "Good night," She mumbled when he looked at her expectantly.

"I can't wait to watch Dhara whoop your ass," Rudra said once Soumya left the room. As much as he was upset by Dhara's behaviour that morning, something was endearing about the girl. The fact that Dhara was the only girl to rattle his brother's calm persona was an added bonus.

Akash scoffed. "You wish!"

Rudra smiled and put away his glassed and phone and slid under the covers. He was going to take a walk because Akash's loud chatting with his friend as they all played their silly little game was getting on his nerves, however, it seemed like the lack of sleep in the last few days was finally catching up to him.

The last thing he remembered accurately was Akash turning off the lights and reducing the brightness of his laptop.

~~~●○●♤○●○~~~

Soumya softly shut the door of her bedroom and tiptoed to the bed. Dhara had turned off the lights and was already under the covers. When Dhara didn't turn around to look Soumya, she knew that she was upset with her.

Removing her slippers, Soumya tried to keep her movements as light as possible, not to agitate the volcano that was going to be sleeping beside her for the next couple of days.

"What were you guys talking about?" Dhara demanded out of the blue, startling Soumya by her sudden movement to turn on the lights.

"Nothing..." Soumya turned her head to look at her sister, who was glaring accusingly at her. "I was just warning them about how scary you are and how we are all terrified of you."

"And what did he say?" She asked as she rolled over on her stomach and propped her chin up using her hand.

Soumya opened and closed her mouth to try and buy her some time. "Uhh... I am pretty sure he was afraid."

"You are a terrible liar." Dhara snapped. "But don't worry, he will be afraid of me very soon." She promised.

"Forget all that," Soumya waved her hand in the air in hopes of changing the topic. "Apart from the landslide, how was your trek?"

"So much fun!" The trick seemed to work because Dhara sat up on the bed and began telling Soumya about the experience.

"Was Rishi there?" Soumya asked once Dhara had laid back down with the lights turned back off. Even without the lights to see her expressions, Soumya knew what Dhara was feeling.

"No,"

"I still don't understand why you had to break up with him. I thought he was a great guy." Soumya said and hugged Dhara around her waist.

"Sometimes, being a great guy is not what you want," Dhara whispered.

"Then what do you want in a guy?" Soumya asked.

"I don't know, Di. Despite being a great guy, saying and doing all the right things, I still wasn't in the relationship... Maybe, I am just a just a witch with a cold heart who deserves no love."

"Dhara," Soumya tsk' ed and moved her hand away. "My sister has a heart of gold. If a man can't appreciate that, then he doesn't deserve her." She threw her words back at her.

After a few minutes, Dhara's body language changed, and she sat back up in excitement. "So...Dr. Rudra..."

Soumya rolled her eyes and covered her face with the blanket. "Good night, Dhara."

"I mean, if he wipes off the scowl from his face, he is quite handsome." Dhara teased by poking Soumya over the blanket.

"I'll kick you out of this bed if you don't stop," Soumya warned from underneath the blanket.

Dhara laughed and fell on to the bed and threw an arm around Soumya. "Di, I can't believe how long it has been since we slept like this. Guess, having Monkeyface and Grumpyface isn't that bad."

Soumya smiled and patted Dhara's arm. "Good night!"

~~~○●○♤○●○~~~

Rudra sprang up on the bed, panting.

The same dream again. He thought he was doing better, but guess the guilt of failing to be a good doctor was never going to leave him. Therapy sessions should have started to have some effect by now. He shouldn't be seeing those faces and hearing those voices in his dreams. The idea of holding a scalpel and operating on a patient shouldn't send chills down his spine. The youngest surgeon to complete the highest number of successful bypass surgeries shouldn't be sitting and wallowing behind his desk while writing papers.

However, his therapist had flatly told him that no psychiatrist would be able to give him enough therapy or medication to help him through this if he didn't want to be helped. That was the truth that Rudra wasn't ready to accept. Why would he not want to be on the field again? His dream had always been to be a surgeon, not the director of the hospital.

"Are you okay?" Akash whispered from beside him. Rudra noticed that he was already sitting on the bed, all the sleep gone. The lights were switched on as well.

Rudra ran a hand through his sweat covered face and nodded. "I am fine. Sorry about waking you up." He wrenched the covers away from him and stood up. "All this food is messing with my digestive system. I need to go take a walk."

As he was putting on his jogging shoes, Akash did the same by sitting beside him at the dining table. It was already 5:30, and everyone would be awake soon. So, Rudra figured that a small run would help calm his nerves before that.

"Where are you going?" Rudra asked in confusion.

"For a run," Akash informed as he stood up.

"I don't need a babysitter, Akash," Rudra said as annoyance laced his voice.

"Well, good. Because you are not getting one, I am just going for a run. I can't help it if you decided to take one at the same time." Akash shrugged and jogged out to the main gate.

He waited there for a few moments as Rudra contemplated. Only after Rudra passed him, did her start running behind him.

Just like old times!