Shreyas's PoV

***

The press was ruthless.

Deepika hadn't come out of her room in a while, and Arun was the one inside, comforting her. You could obviously sense my insecurity. I glanced at the article once more, the one that claimed her to be a fraud surgeon who only made it through the rankings of the medical industry by nepotism and sleep around. The proof they had was a death certificate of a patient who died because of another surgeon's mistake.

I ran a hand through my hair, the door creaked open. I saw Deepika sporting a bright red nose and Arun hovering over her shoulder with a concerned expression. "Wanna go out for dinner?" I tried to catch her attention, "Pizza?"

"I'm fine, Shreyas." She mumbled, her hands wrapped around herself in a cocoon. Arun held up a hand, stalling me from speaking. Once Deepika was out of earshot, he glanced about before asking, "Can your press team do anything about this?"

"Deepika just got fired by her own dad!" Arun let out a frustrated sigh when I shook my head no.  "But we can organize a press meet if she's up for it?" My manager came out of shadow's, Arun frowned once more. "I'll ask her later, I think she needs her alone time."

"Besides, I've been meaning to talk to you," He turned his attention to me, I raised an eyebrow skeptically. Fifteen minutes later, me and Arun were sitting in a bar, eyeing each other with suspicion.

"My name's Arun Iyer, I'm an ER head at my family's hospital, which I will be inheriting." He grunted, "Deepika's father and my uncle were once friends, and created both Sharma Hospitals and Iyer Medical Care. Meaning half of our hospital share is supposed to theirs, that's why I came to the hospital, to hand over the documents. My uncle had tried cheating them out of it,"

"Ah, so we got a noble doctor?" I cocked an eyebrow and downed my glass. Arun chuckled, "Not that noble. I should have came back a lot earlier, my grandparents got wind that they had a grandson and swooped me away."

There was a bitter edge to his voice, "I hate it, I hate that I could have came back early and prevented all of this shit."

"Why didn't you?" I edged, he paused for a second.  Arun spoke after sipping his own drink, "Because I couldn't provide for her, let's be honest, she was born with luxuries that I couldn't afford. So I worked my way up to be able to provide for her. I should have known that she would have moved on."

"I'd say she has great taste in men." I hummed in response, Arun threw his head back and laughed. "Certainly, who can resist the charms of two handsome Iyers?"

"Just take good care of her," He rose to his feet, flashing me a smile. "I lost my chance, but I'm still going to be her friend. Hurt her and I'll break your bones."

"Arun-" Guilt pricked at me, our relationship was fake, right?

What if I told him? What if I told this guy here who loved Deepika so much that he was willing to give her up. No, said a small part of my brain. The gut feeling that usually ended up right was telling me no.

So I simply watched as Arun walked away. I then in turn, walked out of the bar. I caught glimpse of Shalini. She wore a white top with a black scarf and jeans. She gave me a disdainful look before hurrying away.

I had dinner with the team, before headed to bed I checked in on Deepika. But something caught my eye, not the fact that she'd been crying a lot more.

But a black scarf.

****

DUN DUN DAAA

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