HAZEL ARORA

"Do all of us a favor and get lost from my sight!"

"You wouldn't expect a favor from me now, would you?"

SLAP.

"Don't you fucking dare to talk back to your mother! This will have to do now. You give me no choice. Three days and not a word of protest-"

My heart was speeding at her words. I wouldn't go back to the awful room. For three freaking days. NO!

Sweat trickled down my knees as I woke up at the dead of the night. The memory from the past started flooding my brain as soon as I dared to sleep. No, I couldn't do this, not anymore. I rose from the bed, turning my heels to the door of the room, when,

"Where are you going?" Ayushmann had woken up and now I had to answer.

"Uh, to the bathroom!" I lied. "The bathroom's the other side, c'mere." He spoke from his bed.

But when I didn't move, he sprang off the bed and embraced me. "Everything OK?"

"J-just a nightmare." I said in a cracking voice. I felt my hot tears in my cheeks spreading around the cotton shirt he was wearing and before I realized, he brought me back to the bed.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked with gentleness in his voice.

"Not really," I said regaining my composure. "Let's just go back to sleep." I snug on his body before he could say anything.

I woke up with a swollen pink face, covered in Ayushmann's embrace, his cherry scent filling my lungs. A small shiver went down my spine as I realized I slept in his clothes, engulfed in his scent. Before I could take in anything, the sensation of last night's event and the unsettling dream I had, dawned upon me.

I trembled again. As in cue, Ayushmann woke up below me and held my closer.

"Morning, sweetheart. How are you feeling?" he asked in his raspy morning voice.

"Ye- yes I am fine, I think." He pulled me closer and hugged me. I found my trembling limbs calm as his body embraced mine.

"Give it some time, Hazey! I don't want you to think it was your fault, okay?" he said in a demanding, but a soft tone.

I just nodded exasperatedly. "I just, I can't-" I said in a broken voice.

"Hey, it's okay! We will get through this, together. 'M always here for you, okay?" He said, gently pulling me into a hug.

I could fall asleep on his cherry scented body again.

"C'mon, let's get you some food, yeah?" He said, looking at me with a gentle smile.

Sometimes, I totally forgot our animosity. We had come a long way from similar lives. Abandoned disappointments of our houses. I guess that what connected us both. Every time we went on a mission, something about the meetings made us closer. I wouldn't be able to finish the missions by myself; I needed his charm and wits to succeed on our schemes. He needed my charm and manipulation to succeed. One couldn't do it without the other. We fitted right like a puzzle.

I jumped out of my trance of thoughts as he snapped his fingers right on my face, "Uh, what? Yeah, sure, I am hungry." I replied in a hurried manner.

***

"So, back from fucking your boyfriend for two days straight?" Kaia asked as I entered my room after lunch.

"Huh what?" I asked, somewhat taken aback.

"Ayushmann? Weren't you with him up until now?"

"Uh, yeah, I was. And he is not my boyfriend." I replied with my face flushed in crimson red.

"Yeah right! Keep fucking him until you bear his children, but don't speak the words out loud." Kaia said in a somewhat unpleasant voice, clearly fed up with me saying nonchalantly that there is nothing going on between us.

I mean how could it? He does give me butterflies every time his hands touch mine, the way he gazes on my eyes, the way he cares, but that doesn't mean I like him or something. Right?

And not like he is ever going to see me as anything else, rather than his fuck partner.

"Oh please! Give me a fucking break! I just killed-" I couldn't bring out the words.

The memory dawned upon me as I shook my head to stop the tears fall down my face.

"You what? Killed someone? C'mon it isn't the first time, is it?" Kaia said in a casual tone.

"ikilledmymother." I screamed out in a speed of lightning.

It took Kaia a second to digest this fact. I shook my head one last time, a failed attempt to stop my tears fall.

Kaia didn't say anything. Instead, she came up and hugged me tight. I relaxed my jaw a bit at this contact. My tears were falling apart miserably as I hugged Kaia back.

I hated crying in front of people. But Kaia's hug radiated a warm energy around me, only to prove my point that she's always going to be there for me.

And so was I.

"Shh! It's ok, love! Main thing is that you are safe right now! Eurika Arora was a bad, bad woman. As much as I know about her, I have hated every gut about her, because of what she did to you when you were just a child." Kaia said in a gentle tone.

I sobbed silently as I regained my composure.

That woman didn't deserve my tears.