"Kirshna" Om whispered, staring as the girl in front of them blanched.

"Wait. You know each other?"

Om pressed his lips into a tight line. It was Krishna. The girl who walked out on him two and half months ago. But he hardly recognized her.

The Krishna he knew was a total tomboy with ripped jeans and red streaked hair. This woman who was supposedly the 'best PA' accordingly to his mom now; was wearing a simple kurti, with a delicate dupatta, her hair long and wavy draping like a waterfall on her lean shoulders.

"Om!" Jhanvi shook him, and he blinked, snapping out of his daze.

"Do you know each other from before?" Jhanvi repeated, frowning between the both of them.

Krishna opened her mouth, guilt clear on her face when Om beat her to it " no ma. I don't know her" his cold stare snapped back at Krishna " I don't know her at all"

Jhanvi nodded slowly, clearly confused. "alright then, I have meetings to attend and you have a team to get back to, She will explain the rest of the work to you, won't you Krishna?" she beamed at her.

"Of course mam" Krishna smiled back cheerfully, flashing her teeth. Om almost snorted at her energy. Giving them a nod Jhanvi left, leaving the two of them in an awkward silence.

Krishna stared at Om "hey" she said softly, her glossed lips curving into a smile.

She sighed when Om continued to stare at her in silence "look I know you must be mad at me for just leaving you like that and-"

Om turned walking past her as she rambled on and sat in his chair, flipping through a nearby file.

"All I wanted to say was am really sorry, and I hope we get along well" she breathed, placing both of her hands on his table. Om continued to flip through the file.

"Om?"

He looked up at her, "Yes?"

She frowned "Aren't you going to say something?"

Om looked behind him "oh, I didn't realize you were talking to me" she stared at him dumbstruck.

"Because I am your boss and you kept talking to me like we know each other from very long time"

Her face fell. Om clasped his hands, entangling his fingers together under his chin fixing her with a hard stare "if my mother appointed you as my secretary, you will address me as sir, if you aren't willing, then you are free to leave" he took himself by surprise at the acidity his words carried.

Krishna stared at him her mouth open, a moment later she straightened, clasping her hands before her "am sorry sir" she said in collected voice " it will not happen again"

Om narrowed his eyes "are you even sure you are qualified for this job? The way I remember you seem to strand people midway and leave, so am not quite sure you will be able fit in here. Because in my office I look for loyalty, and you..." he trailed.

Krishna's eyes sparked with anger, her lips pressing tight together "that will not be a problem sir. I will be here" Om waved her away depreciatively "I really don't care, you can leave whenever you want, I can always find someone else"

She clenched her jaw" am sure that will be nice, but you won't be able to find someone like me sir"

Om cocked an eyebrow "why? What's so special about you?"

She jutted out her chin "maybe you should find out" both his brows shot up " sir" she added.

They stared at each other for a beat, neither of them willing to give into the other. "fine" Om bit out, " we'll see about that then"

***********

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Anika paced anxiously, across Prinku's room.

Prinku looked up from the book she was reading, pushing up her glasses "that's the hundredth time you are asking, and yes for the hundredth time, it will work!"

Anika looked at her, biting her nail. Priyanka rolled her eyes and pushed off her bed "Anika" she caught her by the shoulders "all you are doing is giving him a surprise dinner, trying to make up for the mess you created"

Anika nodded trying to convince herself " so stop overacting like you are setting some bomb. It's just a dinner, just make sure you tell him you are sorry. Ok?"

"But what if it catches him off guard or something and he freaks out or something?" Anika began pacing again "or what if I blow it and we end up getting into a bigger fight. For crying out loud I don't even know if he's into these kinda things!" She wailed.

Priyanka looked at her in distraught "I warned you, when you were off blabbing about that sacred trip of yours at the table"

Anika glared "when the hell did you warn me?"

"I did"

"you didn't! I didn't get any look!"

"I don't even understand why you decided to provoke him that way, in spite of knowing he would be furious.

"I don't know!" Anika threw up her hands " I don't know why my brain works the way it does, but it still doesn't change the fact that I didn't get a warning sign from you, and maybe if I did I wouldn't have been in this mess in the first place!"

"how could you!? You were so caught up in that stupid act of yours, you barely turned towards me" Anika stared at her before sitting down with a huff " thanks for making it so much worse" she ground out bitterly.

Prinku sighed and crouched down beside her "alright let's just forget about your birdbrained life decisions and let's focus on this surprise, have you decided what dishes to eat?"

Anika nodded enthusiastically "Italian pasta. I got Dadi to make it"

"Ok what about your outfit. What are you wearing? At least look presentable"

"I decide on this sari"

"Sari!?"

"yeah, I sort of had to wear a sari for uh..... one of the occasions and I was hoping it could trigger something in him"

"Why do you want him to talk about that trip so bad? Maybe bhai really doesn't want to talk about it"

Anika sighed, raking her fingers through her hair "I don't know Prinku but it's this feeling I have inside my gut, that something's is just not right with him, am telling you he wasn't like this on that trip, I saw a whole different version of him"

"Bhai has versions?"

Anika grinned "oh yeah"

Prinku snorted "like versions other than dictator-boss or an over protective brother? Cause seriously that's all I've ever seen him do"

Anika smiled, her mind immediately flitting to the days she spent with him "he is really soft under all that hard cover he walks around with"

"OW!" she yelped when a poke in her ribs suddenly bought her to reality "what was that for?" she rubbed her sore ribs.

"You sure there isn't anything going on between you two?"

Anika rolled her eyes "of course not, plus" she heaved herself off the floor dusting her bum "if something were to happen you'd be the first person I would tell"

Prinku shook her head amused "I don't think that's the kind of thing you are supposed to tell to that guy's little sister"

Anika grinned "well, wish me luck" she sang swinging the door open.

"Don't fuck up" Prinku called after her. She smiled, reaching over to her book, Anika was the weirdest of all the humans she had met, but strangely she seemed to get along well with it.

She bore into her book, her eyes following line after line, too engrossed in the story. Suddenly a light flashed into her room through her window.

Prinku jerked up, the book dropping to the floor. It was past nine and pitch dark outside, even with the security guards patrolling they've never shone a light into her room.

She stepped down shakily gripping her bed for support as she slowly made her way to the edge of the window, pressing into the cluster of curtains.

Her pulse throbbed frantically and cold sweat broke against her skin. She remembered the men that almost killed her a few months ago. Almost.

Because somehow Arjun had always been around to save her. But what if now they had figured out he wasn't around anymore.

She swallowed hard and slowly peeked out through the curtain folds, it was cloudless night, with a bright moon and chilly breeze, and wind rustled the leaves of a tree standing right next to her window.

Her eyes scanned the area but all she saw was dark leaves and branches. An eerie feeling settled over her. An eerie feeling of being watched. The hairs on the back of her neck stood erect.

Something moved again and this time, Priyanka saw it. She bit back a scream as she made out a shadow of a man crouched in the tree right in front of her window.

A/N:
Hola guys,
Finally we could update. Trying to give our best here. Hope you like it.

So krishna is back! What do you think is the reason behind her disappearance, also for this sudden comeback?

Dont worry. Next chapter is for all the Shivika lovers.

Yours
Trushnamallipudi♥️