"So, how old are you?" Shreya asked Gyan who was now chomping on the food in his plate real quick. She, Gyan, Dev and Dona - four of them were sitting in the hall, while the TV was on. A 'Debibaran(Goddess welcoming ceremony)' play was showing on it and both Dev and Dona were engrossed in it.

After having the morning conversation, Gyan acted freer, even played with Dev while she was having her breakfast. Now he was just snacking while they have gathered around in the hall, watching TV and talking.

"21," he answered with a mouthful.

She shifted her doubtful stare on him. Her intuition was never wrong. He was lying.

He took a quick glance at her before focusing back on his plate. "Soon to be."

Shreya shook her head at his childishness as the corners of her mouth turned upwards. She would never understand why men always pretend to be older to woo women.

"And Tiyasha?"

"She's old old! 30."

Shreya raised her eyebrows as she did the quick calculation. Oh! If she was 30 now and Dev was 13, she must have had Dev when she was 16. Ohmygod! She was a teen mom? At the quick realization her eyes grew wide. "That means, she'd had Dev when she was 16?" Disbelief and confusion laced her voice as she asked Gyan.

"Yeah." He shrugged. "She was a bad girl." He snorted at his own joke as he munched on the food. "Her boyfriend escaped very well. His father's a lawyer. He got away with only carrying the expenses of the baby. Lucky bastards!"

She flinched. "Gyan language!" and looked at Dev's way who was watching the TV attentively.

"Sorry. I mean I'm not really wrong to call them that, especially after finding out Dev has autism, they got away easy. You it was Maa who really took care of didiya and Dev, as the new born baby. We were only 6 around that time. Maa's attention just got diverted from us to them after they moved in here. I was glad at least I had Ritu with me." He paused momentarily before adding, "and Dad."

"Where are they now?"

"They have gone to a vacation."

She nodded without saying anything.

They fell silent for a while until Gyan exclaimed again. "I've decided to highlight my hair. Blonde or blue. Which one do you think would look good on me?"

She shrugged. "Why do you keep long hair?"

"I like it."

She eyed him and thought he'd look better with short hair. Gyan noticed her eyes on him as he put down the plate and murmured. "Because no one likes it."

"You'll look good with short hair I think."

"You think?" He turned towards her and raised one of his eyebrows flirtingly.

She rolled her eyes and looked away. But not before flashing a smile at him.

Several minutes passed by with them just talking, laughing and Gyan's ceremonious flirting from time to time. They were having such a light time when Ritu rushed in to the house like a mad woman and plopped onto the couch beside Gyan.

"What's up?" Gyan gave her a side eye while changing the TV channel with the controller. Dona went inside the kitchen and brought a chilled bottle of water and gave to Ritu.

She took it and gulped down some before a scream left her. "This is ridiculous!"

Shreya was teaching Dev how to write his name when Ritu's shriek caught her attention. She glanced up at the siblings, now sitting on the couch side by side, wearing totally opposite reaction.

"What happened?" Gyan casually asked, without sparing her another glance.

As a response Ritu threw up her hands up in the air and whined, "Now from where I bring a model in this short period of time?"

"Take me!" Gyan suggested with a smirk while keeping his on the TV screen.

"No idiot. I need a female model. I have to submit my designs tomorrow. They are arranging a runway show during puja. What do I do?" She whined as her lower lips upturned.

"Take Dona di then. Dona di, won't you make a gorgeous model?" Gyan shifted his posture and put his right leg on to his left and started shaking it, clearly enjoying bothering his sister.

Dona grinned with a shy expression, while Ritu paused for a while contemplating on her brother's words before responding. "Gyan! You're a genius!"

He stopped shaking his leg at her compliment. "I am?" He asked flabbergasted while Ritu beamed at him before turning her focus on Shreya with a puppy-dog-eyes.

Gyan took the hint and shifted his eyes on her as well. Dona followed suit.

Oh!

"No!"

"Yes!" came a unified response.

Thus, after five hours of vigorous working on Ritu's designs they made three outfits. Astonishingly, Gyan was helping them. Ritu was surprized as well as Dona.

"Why are you here anyway?"

"To help you of course," he responded, sounding casual while holding a silk baby blue fabric on his hand and looking lost. "What to do with this?"

"Why are you interested in helping me... again?" Ritu grinned at him before turning towards Shreya who was now standing in the middle looking so flustered. A flowy floral ankle length dress covered her body while a wide slit at the left side showed her left leg up to her mid-thigh. She was certain her face was flashing nothing but red at this point. She was so glad that she shaved her legs two days ago. Otherwise, it'd have been more mortifying.

"Uhm-" Gyan stopped then glanced at their way and accidentally making eye contact with Shreya. Both got flustered and looked away. "Okay, I should go then."

"Oh, sure." Ritu giggled knowingly.

He didn't take long to leave the room. As soon as he left Ritu commented, "Someone likes you I guess."

Shreya blushed and bit the inside of her cheek. God! Why was it happening to her?

After taking her photos wearing the first dress, they moved on to the next one which was an indo-western look. A white embroidered net saree draped over a boyfriend jean. The third outfit was totally unpredictable. A simple but elegant looking black sequin saree with a choli cut halter neck blouse. She couldn't recognise herself in the mirror after putting those on. Ritu was putting her lipstick on after doing her eye makeup when she realized a red rose would look good attached to her hair with this outfit. So, she left her make up midway and sprinted out of the room.

Shreya sighed.

This was not a part of her job. Then why couldn't she say no?

Thankfully Dev was with Dona who took him outside to play. She looked at her image on the mirror and sighed. Never in million years she would've thought of wearing these expensive dresses. They had completely changed her appearance. The loose end of the saree was draped over one bare shoulder while her wavy hair was down and draped over her other exposed shoulder, a pair of earrings with black stones had adorned her ears.

"Ritu, give me the keys of Dad's office. I need to..."

At the sudden intrusion she jumped up startled. The familiar voice stopped short seeing no one in the room except her. She turned around towards the door and their eyes met each other.

If it was even possible, time would have stopped. But it wasn't and she was reminded to get out of her imagination all over again.

He cleared his throat and looked away. "I was expecting Ritu here."

"She went out to find a rose."

He said nothing. Not even questioned why Ritu suddenly went to grab a rose or what was she doing in Ritu's room all dolled up. He only took forward steps, closing the distance between them. Her breath caught up in her throat when he leaned forward and extended his hand around her to reach behind her. They were so close. Oh God! She could smell his expensive cologne. She didn't even recognize the scent but it definitely was a luxurious scent. Her heartbeat rose dangerously when he looked up and met her eyes. From this close, she could see his eyebrow scar in more details. The second part of the brow was slightly upturned, giving his face a unique look. His dark eyes twinkled thousand stars in them. She'd be damned if she dared to lie about them not being captivating. Her eyes dropped and took in his other facial features in the faction of seconds it was possible. He had shaved this morning. His gentle, fuller lips twitched when he asked quietly, "Can you move a little?"

Oh! "Yeah sure." Gods! How did she always end up being the embarrassment personified? She moved aside making room for him. He picked up a key chain that was resting on a keychain holder on the mirror stand before straightening and standing before her. Because of his height, she had to tilt her head upward slightly to look at his face.

"I assume you're playing Ritu's model," he said monotonously earning a reflexive nod from her.

He nodded approvingly then turned towards the door.

Her heart skipped a beat. Didn't she look good in her eyes? Why was she looking forward for his validation suddenly? But she needed to know. Not in thousand years she would've done what she did next.

She called out from behind softly, "AR"

He stopped and looked behind over his shoulder.

Before she could stop and contemplated on her decision, she let the words roll out her mouth. "How do I look?"

His expression was unreadable. He didn't even look taken aback by her sudden question. He only nodded once and said, "Graceful." Then he left.

She bit on her lower lip. She didn't even know how she was feeling. A mixture of ecstasy, uncertainty and disappointment.

She was doing a big-time mistake, and it was a willing one.

~~~

Author's note: Happy new year, everyone. I hope this year brings a lot of good news to everyone's life. Enjoy every day of this year. Responsibilities must not ruin your inner self. I hope Healing The Void will keep you with me through this year for a long time. Hopefully, you'll love this story a lot by voting. Give me a follow if you're already hooked with the Roys. :)