Akriti hadn't known Kiara for a long time but she was close friends with her roommate.

"Does she also not know that you've been trying to get in touch with me since you came here?" There was a glint of humour in her voice. "Does she also not know that you came to Lucknow only because of me?"

At that, Akriti snapped her head towards Shaurya. He was looking at the ground now. Her memory of the video call with her friends came rushing back.

It wasn't for her at all. This was no lucky coincidence. It was all planned. And she was used. Somehow, this hurt her more than she thought.

"In fact," she continued, "I bet you anything, he's here right now because he knew I come here almost everyday like a fucking stalker."

"Stop," Shaurya yelled but before he can go on, Akriti spoke.

"That's why you insisted on coming here again." He peered at her, seemingly at loss of words. "Jesus, Shaurya!" she whispered.

Kiara looked smug and it fueled the rage inside Akriti. "Is that why you hung out with Akriti to find out more about my life here?"

"No! For fuck's sake, she's my closest friend. I'd never do that to her. Don't give yourself too much credit," he said disdainfully.

Kiara chuckled. "Honey, after everything you tried, can you blame me for thinking otherwise?"

Blinking back the tears, from anger or hurt - she didn't know, Akriti said quietly, "Excuse me, I've to go."

With that, she stormed off towards the gate. Shaurya came running up to her.

"I can explain, Akriti. Hear me out, please!"

"That's alright." She didn't stop. "I understand."

"You do?"

"No, I fucking don't!" she snarled at him. "This is messed up, you're messed up. And I can't believe, I thought..." she couldn't go on, there was a pang of sharp pain in her heart. "Never mind."

She walked out, hailed an auto-rickshaw and left without sparing him so much as a glance.

Shaurya tried to contact her a lot. She had effectively avoided all his calls and texts.

Her phone pinged with a text again.

"Respond to him." Khushi, her roommate, looked at Akriti staring hard at the laptop.

"No," she replied firmly.

Khushi sighed in exasperation. "You made me do this."

"What?"

There was a soft knock at their door. Akriti looked at Khushi, only to see her shake her head a little.

She did not!

She opened the door and Shaurya slipped inside. Akriti shut her laptop with a thud.

Khushi nodded at him before turning to her. "Talk to him, I'll be in my room."

"Stalking two of my friends, now, are we?"

Shaurya grimaced. "It's not like that. I wasn't stalking anyone. I want to explain everything." Shaurya took a few steps in her direction. "Give me a chance, please." His dark brown eyes looked at her earnestly.

When Akriti made no sign to stop him, he sat next to her. "Kiara and I broke up nine months ago. As you already know, I went to Australia as student exchange but it wasn't handed to everyone. I had to work hard for extra credits. Our relationship grew distant and I did some things that hurt her. In retaliation, she cheated on me with my roommate." His voice went very quiet.

For the first time, Akriti took in his disheveled state. His brown hair was sticking out in different directions, his crumpled t-shirt and tiredness that reflected on his features.

"I'm sorry about that."

Shaurya nodded. "After I found out, we split up and I hopped on the first flight out of there. I couldn't bear to look at either of them. Last thing she said to me was it'd been my fault, all of it. I pushed her to do it. When the initial feeling of shock and betrayal wore off, I thought about it and I started to blame myself. I missed her, a lot. I wanted to fix it anyhow and I decided to take up a job where she was. That's why I chose Lucknow.

"We were still friends on Facebook when one day, I saw she'd posted her birthday party pictures and I found you. I was confused but then I saw you both went to the same college." Shaurya paused to take a look at her.

"That explains all the weird phone calls and texts." Akriti said. "So did you know she went to Janeshwar everyday?"

Shaurya said nothing.

"I wasn't stalking her. And after our talk the other day, I was ready to move on. I was going to tell you everything," Shaurya spoke. "I'm really sorry."

For a long time, she didn't say anything. "It was a dick move. I don't like it but I get it. And to be honest," Akriti gulped, "it wasn't entirely your fault that I got so mad."

My unexpected feelings were a huge part of it.

Shaurya looked at her curiously. "What d'you mean?"

But Akriti shook her head. "Never mind that."

They talked for a while after which Shaurya decided to leave.

"I'll see you, right?" Much to her surprise, Shaurya interlocked their fingers.

Akriti smiled. "Of course."

He visibly relaxed more. "God, I was so terrified about losing you."

"You'll never," Akriti promised.

A grin spread across his face that made her heart do a somersault. "There are things I have to tell you but I'll leave you alone for now."

A part of her wanted to pester him to tell her everything but she decided to wait patiently. "Alright."

She walked him to the door and when Shaurya reached the lift, he turned to her and winked, before disappearing behind the steel doors.

"So?" Khushi peeked through the door.

"We're fine." Akriti couldn't help but grin.

The gloomy mood of hers was lifted like the fog in the winter sun.