Her heart was beating loudly. Yet she was completely ready to take this chance with Rudra. She'd even gotten ready an hour ago as her excitement and jitters about this date felt no bounds to her.

She knew Rudra had arrived here before their date's time. But he found talking to her father more important than coming up to her room for a good chat before their date. Maybe he didn't have a Phd in dating like Dhanno. But he could've atleast watched a few videos to know how to behave well on a day just like she did!

'He should just go for a date with Baba instead of me.' She thought in her mind, extremely irritated with the irrational behaviour of his while rolling her eyes.

And the very next moment her thoughts pondered upon how their families are different. Of course as a good person and an upcoming head of the city, he would talk firstly with Adhiraj Singh Chauhan instead of Leya because at this point, she's nothing to him.

Or atleast that's what she thinks.

She didn't know that in reality Rudra was as excited as her or even more than her. He didn't just research on best places for a date or he didn't just try more than 20 outfits just because he couldn't find a perfect one for nothing!

'Would that change once we get married? Will I be a priority of him?' She couldn't help, but to think again.

All these childish yet important thoughts decided to crash on her mind at this point only. A point which is too important for the both of them because it was related to the future. A decision for a lifetime.

Her mind then wandered on what happened with her in the past days. How she ran away from the wedding because of Rudra's disinterest towards everything and how she couldn't cope up with the fact that she would have to live with a selfish man as she took this step.

How she ended up in Rudra's house itself and how they exchanged their problems and issues without knowing they were actually talking about each other.

How they reacted after getting to know the truth and how the very next moment Rudra became that interested and willing to solve everything with Leya.

'Does that justifies he loves me or is everything still about the royals?' She couldn't help but to think about this fact.

Knock Knock

The sudden knocks on the door of her bedroom made her jolt away from her box of thoughts.

As she opened the door, it revealed the 20 year old daughter of one of the servants of this haveli who she is friend with because of their time spent together in the childhood.

"Leya- Yuvraj Sa is here. They're calling you downstairs." Came her panicked voice.

"Chillax Arohi. I know you're panicked thinking about my laziness of getting ready, but look I am already dressed up and completely ready." While saying this, Leya twirled flaunting her dress.

Wearing a white base floral dress, with multiple of soft red and peach flowers making her look like a garden full of blooming flowers, she looked ethereal. The dress did absolute satisfaction to her

"Wow! You look pretty Leya Shree." Saying this, she gushed over Leya's look.

"Leya." She nodded her head, correcting Arohi.

"Thanks Arohi. I'll tell you the details once I get back. Bye!" Saying this, she ran off to the direction of the staircase and Arohi could only shake her head with a big smile at the childishness of Leya.

//////////

Sitting in a sitff posture in the passenger seat of the car of Rudra which she'd even had a ride when she ran away, she was busy paying him secret sideways glances thinking he wasn't able to see her as he was busy manoeuvring his way through the roads of Udaipur.

But it was Rudra who we were talking about.

He'd caught her the first time itself when she glanced at him, but didn't let her know as he was fully enjoying it.

Well who wouldn't be happy about the fact that the person they like is giving their full attention to them?

"You look beautiful." Came his sudden voice making her jump in her seat thinking as if she was caught ogling at him.

"Uhh- thanks." She nodded her head paying him a glance again.

Where Rudra was thinking that she would blush like the typical ladies, here she was grinning like a fool at his words.

'She's definitely different. A good different.' Rudra was thinking in his mind.

His gaze was yet focused ahead making Leya pout a little as she felt as if she was craving his attention.

'He was looking handsome' She thought in her mind.

"Why thank you princess." Came his impressed voice.

'Did I say that loud?' Came another thought in her mind.

"You did." He replied instantly, giving his signature smirk.

Leya immediately stopped thinking, afraid she might think something weird and Rudra will get to know. But whom was she talking to? She can't spend a second doing nothing.

In no time they reached their destination.

And it was only because she continued ogling at him shamelessly. This only concluded that she could never get enough of looking at Rudra.

The building they'd stopped at was a good five story one. It felt more of a hotel rather than a date location which she would've preferred. She wasn't someone who would prefer having a sophisticated lunch with Rudra where the portion of their meals wouldn't even be enough to satisfy her always nutella craving stomach.

She looked at Rudra with raised eyebrows while he was helping her to get out of the car as a gentleman he is and he immediately sighed knowing what must be cooking in her mind right now.

"They have an amazing rooftop cafe." He butted in.

And as soon as she heard this, a big grin appeared on her face, making her look like a grinning Cheshire Cat.

"Are you sure that you're the same Rudra I met on the deserted road?" She asked mischievously while he took her hand in his to lead them inside.

"The same although he has started caring for a very lovable person. Now you only tell me, wouldn't that make a difference inside of him?" He smirked back, always ready with witty remarks.

"Stop talking about yourself as a third person Yuvraj Sa." She teased while the attendant of the hotel lead them to their table.

As soon as her eyes landed on the surroundings of the rooftop cafe, they instantly lit up with glee displaying how excited she felt about this date and location.

'It means I did a good job in selecting the location.' Came this thought in Rudra's mind proudly.

Like a gentleman, he pulled out a chair for her which only made her feel more giddy about these things happening with them.

Unlike every other guy, he preferred to sit beside her instead of sitting opposite. And as always, this move of his only made Leya's grin increase some more.

No one uttered a word after sitting till now.

People wouldn't even think of them as the same people who arrived together in a car talking like lost lost friends, hand in hand.

Did the concept of date change everything when it shouldn't have?

By now both of them are sitting awkwardly in their chairs. They have already received the appetizers and told the waiter to not disturb them.

Leya squirmed in her seat, feeling Rudra's full concentrated gaze on her, making her want to bang his head somewhere, most probably the wall. She needed comfort, while Rudra's gaze was giving butterflies in her stomach and the fact that she absolutely hates insect didn't help either doesn't matter whether it was a butterfly. But Rudra couldn't help but to feel how pretty and adorable she looked today.

"Okayyy...." She trailed, expecting Rudra to start the conversation a she was done with the silent treatment between them.

"Yeah..uh, sorry. So tell me..." Rudra said, as he understood she wanted him to start a conversation with her.

"Uhh- yeah. But what should I tell you?" She asked, dumbfounded as ever, but displaying a casual look only to show how comfortable she was.

"Tell me, how's the coffee?" He asked while scratching the back of his head, getting no other thing to ask.

"Co-coffee-" She stuttered but was cut off by Rudra's phone vibrating, which was kept on the table.

'Baba calling' It read as Leya couldn't help, but to snoop around his phone.

Rudra glanced at Leya apologetically and she just shrugged it off as if it was nothing. Jaiveer Singh Rathore deserved every ounce of respect and support from her as well at the end!

And Rudra couldn't help but to smile at this behaviour of hers.

"I'll be back. Sorry!" Rudra immediately excused himself because his father knew that he's with Leya and still he's calling so there had to be something important.

To get some privacy from the other people present here, he decided to go outside of the hotel, no matter he had to to walk down five floors because of the elevator being under maintenance.

As he picked his father's call, it was only to inform him about an emergency. It being naturally important, Jaiveer Singh Rathore wanted him to visit a location for a couple for minutes which was at a good 5 minutes distance from the hotel.

Just to save the time, Rudra quickly texted an apology to Leya while getting inside the car about the sudden mishap, mentioning how he would return under 15 minutes.

On the other side, Leya was huffing and cursing the coffee cup she was drinking from because apparently when she approached to take a tissue to clear her face, the cup of coffee fell down on the table itself which made the impact of coffee splashing on her, ruining the dress she was wearing, all because of her clumsiness.

She quickly stood up to clean it, ignoring the sudden 'ping' of her phone because she isn't going to continue her first date in a ruined dress.

When she went to the washroom on the floor of cafe, she saw a 'under cleaning' board there. Upon asking the waiter she got to know that she could use the washroom of any other floor beside this.

Hurriedly she got inside the lift, not noticing the board kept beside there.

Under maintenance, it said.

In the lift too, she was too busy wiping the coffee stain on her dress that she accidentally pressed the button to the basement button. After a good couple of seconds, looking up Leya noticed that how she pressed the basement button instead of any other foor and she could only huff at her stupidity because she knew that now the lift will only move to any other floor till it doesn't completes its destination to the basement.

It'll only waste more time of hers, she thought.

Till now the lift was moving in a good speed, without any resistance. And then all of a sudden she felt it jerk slightly and still didn't ponder upon it much.

3...

2...

1...

Ground...

Basement...

And it was followed by a big jerk of the lift which made the impact of Leya falling down on its floor. With a confused look, she got up with great difficulty since she had slightly bruised her hands and legs. Moreover, she was way confused about why the lift wasn't moving anymore. Neither the doors opened nor she could feel any movement.

And then the worst happened.

The light was gone. Completely.

There was no source of it by which she could atleast have a look at her surroundings.

It was the worst fear of hers.

Being locked up without any source of light or source to get out voluntarily.

She was claustrophobic.

It was her fear to be locked up somewhere, in a small and confined space.

And yet it had to happen with her at such a moment.

She was all alone.

"Hello...." She whispered quietly.

"Is someone there?" She tried to raise her voice, but all that came out of her mouth was mere voice of hers. The small whispers that are always barely audible.

"Hello!" She drawled out.

And yet there was no response.

Her hands searched for the emergency button, but all she felt was a web of buttons. There was utter darkness. She couldn't see a single thing. Only she knows how she tried not to hyperventilate.

Still she pressed all the buttons her hands could find at that moment, but there was no response. No sound could be heard except her harsh breathing.

Slowly slowly she was losing the control.

The control she was trying her hardest to maintain.

//////////

It was around 20 minutes later that Rudra finally reached the location where they were having their date.

The only thought running in his mind was how Leya must be super angry at him that he stood her up that too for 20 minutes in between.

She must be bubbling up with anger by now, he whispered to himself knowing Leya's nature.

But it wasn't her fault at the end after all.

Cursing the elevator that he remembered was on construction, he quickly climbed up the stairs till the floor to rooftop cafe.

As soon as he reached there, it was only to make him frown at no sight of Leya on their table. Getting near to it, he noticed Leya's mobile and clutch was intact, kept there in his sight. But there was no sign of Leya as he took a glance at his surroundings as well.

Quickly turning back to the direction of entrance, he looked everywhere, but still there was no sight of Leya.

He even asked the waiter whether a girl was in the washroom or not, it being Leya and upon the knowing the answer that the washroom was under cleaning, his confusion got at its worst.

He could hear faint shouts, panicked voice of ample of people, but currently for him, finding Leya was most important.

Using his every skill, he searched and tried to look for her on every floor, every corner, but she was nowhere in sight.

"Excuse me? Have you by any chance seen a woman in a white dress? She has these long hair and is around 5'4?" Rudra asked all panicked, stopping a man who was the manager, due to the tag on hie coat.

"Sir, you can check for that lady in the basement. Maybe she'd gone there due to the commotion happening." The manager suggested.

"What commotion?" Rudra asked, scratching the back of his head.

"Someone is stuck in the-"

And before he could complete his sentence, another man had shouted something which made the manager run away from Rudra, not before giving him a apologetic look.

Without wasting any time, Rudra too followed the manager, not forgetting to have a look at his surroundings for the sight of Leya. But Alas! She was again nowhere.

The basement was filled with a lot of people. Majority of it was the staff as Rudra gazed at their similar uniform. There was continuous shouts, panicked voices of people.

Is someone stuck inside the elevator? Rudra thought getting closer.

"Ma'am, can you hear us? Please respond." One of the many people said, almost touching the doors to the elevator.

"Ma'am?" The repeated, this time loudly and they didn't get any response.

"Ma'am, they're on to repair the lift. Try to stay calm. You will be out-" He didn't complete as a second voice stopped him.

"Please get me out." It was a faint sound for everyone as it was from the inside.

"Ma'am-"

"Who is inside?" Rudra asked one of them.

"Uhh- it's a lady named- what's her name?" The man asked another one.

"Leya something." He nodded back.

And Rudra's eyes went wide as soon as he heard the name coming out of his mouth.

"Did you just say Leya?" He asked, clutching the shoulders of that man, barely controlling himself.

"Y-Yes s-sir." The man stuttered seeing Rudra's hard as stone face.

And without wasting any other second, he got near the door to the elevator, though they were completely closed, pushing every single human out of his way.

"Leya? Leya!" He shouted, tapping the door with strength.

There was no response.

And this made his heart sunk down only more as he knew she was claustrophobic.

One of the very few things he knew about her even before he returned to India as he'd heard about another such incident happening with her in the past.

"Leya! Please calm down. I know it's hard for you baby, but please try to take deep breaths. Don't close your eyes and just breathe baby." He shouted, trying to control his emotions.

"Why the fuck are you people standing ideally like fools? What happened to this bloody elevator? Why isn't the door opening? Get my girl out of this right now!" He yelled turning towards the staff, who were standing behind him, looking at Rudra doing all the work.

"S-Sir, our team is a-already w-working on it. They'll r-repair it s-soon." One of them stepped forward to say this.

"I am giving you 5 minutes. If this doesn't works under 5 minutes, then forget about this restaurant and all of you." He gritted out, clutching the man's collar who paled at Rudra's anger.

"Rudra?"

It was a very faint, angelic and scared voice that belonged to Leya.

"Leya baby, can you hear me? I am right outside. Don't panick. I- I will get you out under 2 minutes. Just stay calm."

"I-it's really d-dark here Rudra. I-I am s-scared."

"I know baby. Just take deep breaths. You will not even realize when you will get out of it." He pacified, controlling his anger on himself and the staff.

For the first time, Rudra felt his beart beating so loudly because of fear. Fear of something happening to Leya. He was angry at her for getting into this lift, but he was more angry at himself for leaving her alone.

On the other hand, it was getting difficult for Leya every passing second. No matter how hard she tried to control her body and emotions, everything took a toll on her. From the absolute darkness here, to the no source of air and oxygen. It was hard for her to control her breathing at this point.

She was badly waiting for Rudra to do something.

"Sir, get aside please." One of the crew men said and Rudra noticed around 2-3 men carrying different kind of machines, rods and more tools.

He didn't get aside. He legs were clutched on the spot, hand touching the door to the elevator such that he was able to feel Leya.

The men did everything possible. They used different kinds of tool, trying to get the door open. From pushing the rod between the small space or to using the small machine to make more space.

It took them quite a few minutes. And the worst part was Rudra didn't hear Leya say something from the inside or maybe it was because of the loud commotion outside.

"Leya?" He shouted in between, only to listen to her again.

There was no response which only made Rudra's heartbeat increase.

Within the next 10 minutes, the doors of the lift were opened, though not completely and Rudra immediately rushed inside. Inside of it, Leya was sitting down, with the support of the metal walls.

Rudra's heart clenched, at seeing her condition. Her hair were a mess and there were sweat beads making them stick to her face. She had her head between her knees which had her hands wrap around it, and loud sobs were heard that were wracking from her body.

Rudra immediately kneeled in front of her and placed his hands on both of the shoulder, with immense comfort.

Leya flinched when she came in contact with someone looked up slowly and slowly. As she found Rudra, his eyes watered and body merely shaking.

He was angry. Angry on himself that he left her. And he was scared. Scared if anything happens to her and scared to loose her.

She was scared too and he couldn't help but notice how shaky her breathes were.

It angered him that because of him she is here. Experiencing her biggest fear, all alone.

Leya immediately scurried to his arms, wrapping her small arms around his torso, burying her face in his chest, her body still experiencing those cries and Rudra wasted no seconds in wrapping his arms around her figure to comfort her.

The crowd was increasing because of the commotion and the hotel management had a hard time controlling it. People were recording them which made Leya sob more. She didn't want anyone to see her cry and see it as a headline the next day.

"P-Please ask them to sto-stop recording." She whispered snuggling more into his shirt, which was already wet. He didn't care, though.

"Everyone out!" He shouted in an instant.

"Any video of this incident will be out, and you all will see Rudrapratap Singh Rathore's wrath." He continued looking at them with a hard as stone expression which made everyone's head bend down cowardly.

"Breathe baby. Calm down. Look, nothing has happened. You're safe." He murmured, pulling her onto his lap, where before he seated himself on the floor.

Everyone had slowly left the area because of the continuous yelling. Even the hotel staff had left the two all alone for privacy.

"I-I was so s-scared Rudra. I-It was s-so dark. So dark for me to s-see anything." She hiccuped in between her sobs.

"I know baby. I am so sorry for leaving you alone. If I would have known-"

She cut him off right there.

"I-I thought I would lose everyone today. It felt as if I am going to d-die-"

And he didn't let her finish this sentence as he had placed his hand over her mouth before she could speak ill some more.

"Don't you dare even think about that Leya. I will never let anything happen to you." He growled, boring his eyes into hers.

He forwarded the bottle of water in that was in his hands, which one of the waiter had passed after they got out of the elevator. When she tried to take it from him, he himself made her drink every sip and the very next moment she was back to snuggling into his body some more.

Still some of her whimpers were heard from time to time making his heart clench.

"Come on. Let's get you home right?" He asked in a soft tone, cupping her cheeks.

"Yes please." She murmured, still not lifting her head.

Supporting her the whole time, Rudra lifted both of them from the floor and pressing her small body to his, he lead her outside the restaurant, directly to his car where he secured her on the passenger seat.

He could see how tired and helpless she looked, but right now more important thing was to take her back home.

//////////

It was difficult. Difficult for him to engage Leya in a conversation the whole way because he could see how she zoned out multiple of times. It was clear how she was thinking about the incident.

And it was more difficult for him to take her upstairs without anyone knowing as it was already around 10 in the night and none of her family member would appreciate ghem being together in her room late in the night.

He didn't bother about these things this time.

He directly lead Leya to her bed. After tucking her carefully and covering her with her favorite blanket, he too joined her which surprised Leya to no extent. She was pulled by Rudra, to his chest and then petted by him to sleep.

After a few minutes with his soft pats on her back and caressing her hair the whole time, Rudra thought she had slept and that's why he left but in reality, Leya wasn't asleep.

How could she when there were so many things wandering around in her tiny brain after today's happening?

She couldn't help but think that why did Rudra's voice sounded so panicked when she was stuck in that damn elevator. Why?

Why could she hear his soothing voice when she was having the most terrifying moment of her life?

Why did he looked so relieved when she came outside?

Why was he so scared when she was the one inside?

But this time she believed that she has got the answers.

She was overwhelmed as how big of a simp he was when he was driving by holding her hand throughout and glancing at her every now and then. She was lost in her thoughts of him and he was asking her, about the weather, only to divert her mind.

He loved her. He loved Leya. He loved his Runaway Bride.

Now was the time she realized that why she decided to give him another chance at their relationship. Because somewhere, she too wanted him to love her.

Their first date didn't went well, but for Leya it was the best because she realized Rudra's love for her.

And now just one thought was irking her.

Should she announce to everyone after two weeks what she has realized?

Will this decision of hers get her a happy life like she wanted?