Starseeds are born for the collective. They have inborn healing abilities and nurturing tendencies for others. Often comes the time when a starseed feels lonely, and feels like they do not belong to this planet. They are highly intuitive and spiritual beings. They seek wisdom in every wake of their lives. They are old souls who cannot stand petty bullcrap from the others; it just annoys them so much. Their life leads on a specific path of purpose, and they do not make many friends. When you meet a starseed, you can get intimidated by them if you aren't aware of all these behind-the-scenes stuff.

It was getting difficult for Shreya to contain her happiness inside of her. The amount of freedom she had now, she had never once experienced in her whole life. She couldn't even express in words how fortunate she had been feeling after joining her very first job. Apart from the regular chaos at the dinner table, every day went by unceremoniously. Isha mansion was otherwise peaceful if not there was any kind of meeting or party going on.

Total of nine members were the residents of Isha mansion. Tiyasha, Dev, Gyan, Ritu, Dona- the cook cum maid, Ram - the house caretaker, the two gatekeepers and the person that lives on the left wing, alone. Shreya had never seen him since she joined. Despite being busy all day, Tiyasha came to see Dev every night before bed. Shreya noticed one thing though. Dev wasn't really dependable on his mother. Since Dev wasn't really noisy, he'd just hug his mother once before going back to sleep again. Taking care of him was the easiest Shreya had ever seen. So, Tiyasha would just stop by for a few minutes and hold a small chit-chat before leaving.

Shreya had never been the prying kind. So, it was mostly Tiyasha who would start talking and select the topic of her choice. One day she talked about how difficult it was to hold a position as the secretary of their women empowerment club. Another day, she told her the story of Dev getting lost in the zoo when he was eight. Shreya couldn't quite understand how contradictory her two personalities were. One was so diligent in her work that she'd literally not think twice about stomping on the perpetrator. While the other one was indifferent towards her own family. It was eye-catching, but not something to be pointed out.

Double persona or split persona. Two sides of the same coin. Or however you might want to put it. Isn't it ironic, where people fight on social media to "be yourself and speak yourself", the same people lead a kinda companionless and depressed life because they can't be themselves in reality. The question is, how real are you both in your private and public persona? To be very honest, you are deceptive. Every one of us is. And there's no shame in that. Because this world is full of judgmental people and if you put on a show of your real self, their obvious judgment and mocking will suffocate you until you can't anymore have the enthusiasm to be the real you.

One such night, she started talking about the infamous Roys. As the director of Permabell Industries and the co-founder of Jatayu Pharmaceuticals, Abhiraj Roy held the higher authority of their business. Rishi was Jatayu's other founder, Shyam Anand's adopted son, and now held the position of CFO of the company. Priyasha Roy-Chatterjee was Abhiraj Roy's better half and now runs several NGOs relating to child development besides holding a position on the Permabell board of directors.

Gyan and Ritu were twins. Gyan was doing his business studies while Ritu rebelled with her family and opted for fashion designing.

"And then comes the odd one out," Tiyasha said with a sigh while shaking her head in tiny.

Shreya glanced at her curiously. Dev had fallen asleep a while ago. So when Tiyasha came in, she could not do anything but sit beside him and talk to Shreya.

"AR."
The name rolled out of her mouth and spiked Shreya's interest straight away.

Tiyasha continued, "I never understood him. He's been this cheerful kid everyone loved until one day the smile just disappeared from his whole being."

Shreya was intrigued, but she kept quiet and let her continue.

"Abhiraj uncle sent him away for studies and his whole growing years, he lived alone away from the family. I don't know if his quietness has something to do with that, but he never complained to anyone for anything. He prefers silence, and doesn't even interact with us that often. Chinimma is rightfully worried for him, but he's just not interested in therapy."

"Therapy? Is there any problem with him?"

Tiyasha shook her head. "Well, I don't exactly know. No one does actually. But I suspect, Chinimma knows something about his problem and doesn't want any one of us to know."
Shreya raised her eyebrows slightly at the information. High-end families always seemed to have high-end secrets.

Tiyasha added a moment later, "When he returned from abroad and Abhiraj uncle made him the CEO of both Permabell and Jatayu, no one saw it coming. It was like an unnoticed explosion. Everyone was against his decision, even Chinimma. But Abhimanyu never said a word and took the responsibility without a single argument. He works all the time and no one can tell whether he's liking it or not. You'll never see him get angry at someone. I wonder how he does that. Is that even real?" She let out an airy laugh.

Mmhmm. Interesting personality.

"You haven't really met Abhimanyu, right?"

Shreya shook her head politely. She had seen him once though. In the hospital.

"Well, even I haven't seen him in two days. May God help him," Tiyasha sighed before getting up and taking her leave.

As soon as she left, her phone rang. She picked up the phone from the table and read the caller's name.

Naveen.

"Hello?"

"Hey, how's it going?" Naveen's voice came in.

"Pretty good actually."

"Good." There was a brief pause before he whispered, "I miss you."

Shreya leaned back into the recliner and closed her eyes. This was a specific characteristic of Naveen which she didn't like. He'd only call or contact her when he missed her. It wasn't like he'd only talked about him. He'd listen to her every word with seemingly genuine interest. But when she needed him and she'd call him, he'd dodge her, saying he was busy this way or that.

But she could never say no to him. It was like she was bound to oblige him. She didn't even know why.

[A/N- We'll know why in the upcoming chapters, of course. Be prepared to educate yourself on stuff like this. *winks*]

Naveen said again, "When will we meet?"

"I don't know."

"When do you have off?"

"I don't really have time off, Naveen. But I'm sure I can take leave if it is important. They won't let me down."

"What? You don't have time off? Why? Why are you doing such a job and stressing yourself out?"

"Are you worried? For me?"

"What kind of question is that? Of course, I am."

"Why?"

"Well... I-" He hesitated, then paused momentarily. Then added quietly, "I'll call you later. I need to go." He hung up the call.

She lowered her hand and stared at her phone screen for a long time.
What trouble was she pushing herself into?

25th September

Next day,

Around 7 in the morning, Shreya was about to leave. Today, she got off late from work. When she emerged from Dev's room, her eyes shifted on Tiyasha sitting with her laptop in the hall. She looked well dressed already and was working intently on her computer. As soon as she heard her approaching, she looked up from the computer screen and said, "Good morning Shreya."

"Good morning."

"Are you leaving?"

"Yeah, I got late."

She shifted her eyes on the pile of papers stacked on the table and reached for them. She picked up a closed envelope and said, "Uhm- Shreya, can you do me a favor?"

Er~ what favor? "What?"

"Actually, both Dona di and Ram aren't home. I sent them to the market, because of course you know today is Mahalaya. Rishi sent me this to give to AR. But since I am a little busy with this email, you know, and also I have to leave in like thirty minutes for a meeting. So, can you please take this to AR's room and give it to him? You can leave it there and return. You don't have to interact with him or anything. Like, this is really urgent."

Shreya frowned. Technically, she could say no to her, as it was out of her job responsibilities. Second, why would Mr. Rishi give this envelope to her instead of Mr. AR, if it was meant for him? And lastly, why was she stressing herself over their matters?

"Please?" Tiyasha asked again.

She hesitated. "I mean- I don't even know where his room is, and I- I don't know him..."

"His room is on the ground floor. The third room in the left wing. Pretty please. Do me this favor."

She bit the inside of her cheek, contemplating the situation, then sighed. "Okay."

Her intuition wasn't working today. Because she couldn't pick up anything at all. It was like a blank. She couldn't pick up any vibration to decide whether it was a good decision or...
She took the envelope from her hand and set off for so called AR's room. God knew how he would react to seeing a stranger in his room.

She didn't take long to find his room, as it was the only room with a closed door. The first room was the puja room. She peeked inside and met with a beautiful looking laddugopal deity. She wanted to sit and pray but reminding herself she'd be late for home, she refrained from that. She never knew this house had a puja room. She'd visit here again at night after coming back from home. The second room was a home-office kind of room. The last room was her destination and it was closed. Well...

She calculated in her mind. She'd just hand him the envelope, tell him Tiyasha wanted her to do that, and leave politely. Simple.

But unreasonably, she was palpitating like never before.

Why was she even nervous?

Fear of the unknown, which is outside of your control, can make you uncomfortable and jittery.

She took a deep breath, then knocked on the door. No answer came. She knocked again and still no answer.

She pondered on the situation, whether she should go back to Tiyasha and tell her that she didn't receive any answer from Abhimanyu or just wait. However, she did none of that. Her hand instinctively reached for the doorknob and twisted it open. The door opened with a small click and her heartbeat quickened. Why was she doing it again?

The room was bi-color as well. Sage green and white. The air in the room was thick with a sense of serenity. She took a deep breath and the scent of incense sticks hit her nostrils. Peppermint and... white sage(?). It was an unknown but calming fragrance. Her eyes took in the interior. The room was spacious and had a minimalist touch to it. Upon entering the room, there was an open area which ended at a huge glass window that overlooked the garden below. Towards the right, there were two closed doors. She assumed one was a bathroom. Towards the left there was a huge floor level seating arrangement. And across the seats, there were another two doors similar to the previous ones. One of them was closed. The other was half opened. Possibly bedroom.

Shreya walked over to the left quietly, clutching the envelope as her only defense against trespassing. She peeked through the half-opened door and froze in her spot.

A man was standing on one leg in a meditation pose, wearing grey sweatpants, and black sleeveless T. His hands were held together above his head while his eyes were closed. Although he was facing ahead, the direction was at an angle. It's the same face from the hospital, but in different circumstances with different expressions. His face looked so calm and serene. Her eyes took in every little detail, as she had forgotten how to move. It felt as if the room had some kind of magnetic aura that goosebumps crawled all over her skin.

She drew in a sharp breath as her eyes fell on his splitted eyebrow. It looked unmatched to his facial features. He didn't really look like his siblings. He looked more... masculine, resolute, but pacific. His well-built body was radiating nothing but prowess. She must have made a sound while ogling at him as her hand rested on the door and it further opened wide. She wasn't expecting the next event that made all blood leave her face and all nerves stop working. She felt numb under the intense gaze that was directed towards her as he opened his eyes and shifted it on her without moving any one of his body parts.

His dark brown- almost black eyes (unlike his siblings)... they were sharp and twinkled like they held stars in them. Her heartbeat literally stopped as she wasn't prepared to face him eye to eye. She dropped her gaze and stuttered, "I- I am... so-sorry!"