Anya woke up with a start the next morning and realised that she was not at her house. She had a throbbing headache and found two painkillers next to a large glass of orange juice on the side table. She was calmly looking around when Ajay came in, after a brief knock.

He was in his jogger shorts, running shoes, a small towel around his neck and a sweat-drenched tank top that provocatively clung to his flat-abs. She surveyed him from head to toe with slightly rounded eyes and was dumbstruck at the smoking-hot vision before her.

He smiled, "Good Morning, Anya. How are you?"

She quickly recovered from her trance, "Not so good. I didn't know you brought me to your place."

Ajay brushed it aside, took the chair next to the bed and looked into her eyes.

"Everybody has bad days, Anya. That's fine but what you did last night was reckless. You put yourself in danger, and I don't want to think of what could've happened to you had you not bumped into me."

She put her head down in shame. It was honestly a risky thing to do. In this instance, she was grateful to Ajay but soon perceived, that it was partly because of him that she exceeded the drinking.

He was in no place to reproof her like this. Her headache and hunger added to her irritation and made way to fury.

"Well! Thank you. But you shouldn't have bothered, you know. I would've been just fine."

Her bitter words put him on high alert as he cocked his head to look more closely at her. She avoided eye contact and was trying to get her things to leave the place.

"Of course, I bothered. I'm your friend Anya."

She scorned, "Yeah, you are the epitome of a great friendship."

When Ajay tried to interrupt, she stalled him with a raised hand and continued, "A friend who doesn't acknowledge in public, a friend who doesn't return calls except for occasional messages. A friend who doesn't make eye contact when we meet outside of work."

She took a deep breath and continued in a dangerously low voice, "What is this, Ajay? What are you trying here? Is this really what friendship in your vocabulary is? It is as if you are shielding me as a secret mistress, you know, which is degrading."

"We both know that I'm not!"

They stared at each other, she was accusing him, and he was defensive.

"Ajay, really thank you for helping me out last night, but I've had enough. We must end this farce this moment and move on. Let's not meet again."

"What's that got to do with last night?" he asked.

"Everything!"

She got down the bed and moved out of the room. She didn't spare Karthik a second glance when she had left him. Yet, she hovered next to the door for a few seconds giving Ajay a chance to speak, keeping her pride aside. When he did not choose to answer, she resolved not to look back.

Ajay only looked out of the window and let her leave.

*****

It was nearly four months since her walkout from Ajay's apartment. Life just moved on, and she tried to cope up with all the dramatic changes. As soon as she reached her place that day, she broke down a little and cried herself to sleep.

She woke up refreshed and decided to put everything behind her.

Grieving about Karthik made sense since she invested close to six years of her life, but whatever relationship she had with Ajay was not something worth her time. She did admit to having developed a crush on him. It was just a crush which led nowhere.

Through her friends and colleagues, she found the best therapist in town to deal with her nightmares and insomnia. Now things were much better, with her therapy in full swing she was steadily getting six to seven hours of sleep. Still, there was room for improvement, but she was happy with the progress.

After a long time, she visited home and spent a few days with her parents which added to her buoyancy. She pondered why she hadn't done that before. They were super supportive of her break-up.

While she was heading to the office after a brief session with her therapist, her phone rang flashing the long-forgotten number. She wondered why he was calling her but picked it up.

Even before she could say hello, he spoke quite frantically, which was unusual.

"Mom collapsed this afternoon. I want you to come immediately. We are at the Fortis Hospitals. Come soon."

Anya didn't know if it was fear that she had felt in his voice, or the fact that Ajay wanted her help, she decided to go. But then she realised that he must've misdialed her.

In a patient tone, she said, "Ajay? It's me, Anya. Give me twenty minutes. I'll be there."

"Anya? But I thought."

"I think you misdialed. Whatever it is, I'll be there with you shortly."

Before he could say anything else, she hung up and immediately revved her car to the hospital. On her way, she called in sick at the office. She remembered that his sister's name was Anu, that was pretty close to her name. She sensed he must be very much upset to have misdialed her.

She went to the hospital, enquired at the reception and reached the specific floor. She found a disconcerted Ajay standing with an equally frantic Anu there.

Anu looked pretty much like Ajay in stature, quite tall but unlike him, she was always smiling. Anya had met Anu and his mother just once when she went to give him her homemade Shahi Tukra. He was a little surprised at her gesture and equally impressed. It was her payback for the wonderful time that she had on her lunch date. Unbeknown to her, his family was visiting him, and she had a chance to meet them.

She couldn't gauge if he was alright to introduce her to them. But then, she knew he could've very well sent her away without their knowledge. Anu was a divorcee, and their mother lived with her. They were warm and friendly towards her.

She was overwhelmed, and she thought she was home with her parents but in a different sense. Yet again, she saw another side to Ajay. He was the baby of the family, darling younger brother and pampered to the core. She felt that he didn't mind all the attention as long as the two women in his family did not go overboard.

The memories flashed through her mind in quick succession. Now presently at the hospital, Anu gave her a small smile and then Ajay looked at her. She could see worry lines etched on his forehead, and he wore an expressionless mask. She couldn't tell if he was pleased or not to find her here.

Anu moved forward and drew Anya into a friendly hug which was completely unexpected.

"How are you?" she asked in a hoarse voice.

"I think I need to ask you that. I'm fine," Anya answered in her usual sassy self.

Anu gave her a sad smile, "We are as fine as we could be."

"So, how did it happen?"

"We don't know. I was at work, and she went to the temple as usual, but then fainted. The temple priest knows her, and he called Ajay. Looks like, she spoke to Ajay in the morning and his number was the first on the contact list. She does have high BP, but this is out of the blue."

When a physician assistant made an appearance, the siblings rushed to know what was happening. After a brief discussion, they resumed their vigilance in the waiting room across the ICU.

While Anu and Anya were engaged in silent conversation about their lives or mostly sat silent, Ajay did not interact at all. He had dismissed all his incoming calls, and after a few minutes, switched his phone off.

Though he was calm, he observed Anya like a hawk. He knew he pushed her away four months ago. Now when he studied her keenly, she seemed more than better. Her perpetual tiredness was nowhere to be found, and her cheeks had a healthy colour in them. For once, she looked very well rested. He wanted to learn every little detail in her life.

It warmed his heart to know that she was here for him, though he did not treat the way she deserved in the past. He desperately wanted to talk to her, but this was neither the place nor the right time. He was more than happy just to keep looking at her. He missed her in his own way. But his priority was his mother for now.

After what seemed like ages, the doctor pronounced their mother to be out of danger, and it was declared a mild heart attack which was caused by irregular heart rhythm. Further tests were being conducted to know the exact reason for the heart attack. This brought a sense of relief to the siblings though everything was far from over.

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