'Mo...Move...' I stammer, this made him smile widely. I cringed seeing his yellow dirty teeth, I turn to move when I find some of the men stand near me still eyeing me. I had to stay late at office and had to wear pencil skirt to work, Damn! What do I do now? I don't even see anyone who I can call for help. Maybe if I scream then maybe the watchmen will come, where is that idiot anyway. I take few steps back looking at those men fearfully. I can't run towards the stairs as these men are blocking it. I didn't want to take the risk of taking the elevator.

'Where you have to go Madam? Shall we drop you' one man says, he looks at me licking his lips and I look at him disgusted.

I wanted to run but I find my legs getting heavy, I am not able to lift them with fear.

'HEY!' we hear a strong manly baritone and we all freeze on spot. I turn around and find Arham standing at the gate. That moment I felt so relieved that I had never felt before. I thanked my stars for having brought him here.

The men take time to recover, but they didn't back off.

'Hey mister it is none of your business, leave' one man says confidently

'Of course it is none of my business, but whose business it is I think they should handle it' Arham says

I frown, what the heck is he doing standing at the gate? Come and fight, rescue the damsel in distress.

One of the man extends his hand and holds mine. I turned and glared at the man, anger rising inside me. Not for these men but for Arham. How dare he just stand there? Moron.

From somewhere I got immense strength and pushed the man, he fell on the ground.

'What the...' other man says angrily and takes a step towards me.

I turn to look Arham is still standing there, oh wait! Is he smiling? I will show him.

Without thinking I removed my heels and the hit the other man approaching me hard on his head.

'Arghh...'the guy yelps holding his head, his head starts to bleed. I am standing there glaring at them. The men looked fearful now

'If you have guts then come...you tharki crocodiles...come' I yell angrily waving my heel in air. The men flee immediately, the man with bleeding head winces and stands on his feet, with wobbling legs he manages to run too.

I felt strangely powerful, I felt invincible. The quiet parking lot echoes with Arham's claps. I turn around and find him clapping smiling at me, his face showed that he is proud of me. I smile widely and quickly wore my heels.

Arham comes to me, he takes out my ID that I had left in the back seat of the cab.

'You had left this' he says

I look at him 'Thanks' I say, not for getting my ID but for giving me the lost self-confidence back.

I wanted to hug him but I controlled myself. He still affects me, inspires me directly or indirectly. He brings out the best in me, always. He nods his head and without another word he turns and leaves.

Watching his retreating back I wanted to stop him but I couldn't.

*

One week later,

I look at my reflection in the mirror. I must admit I took really good dressed in a peach saree, it had heavy golden borders. I adjust the Pallu of my saree and pin it neatly. I applied a deep red glossy lipstick, a dark black kohl and eye liner, this time the eye liner was applied perfectly. I combed my hair and tied my hair in a bun and put fresh ghajra around it. I wore few golden bangles in my right wrist and a watch in my left wrist. I wore golden Jhumka, they are long and heavy so didn't wear any necklace.

As I applied my favourite perfume is when my phone rings, it's a call from Gunjan. I smile and pick up the call

'Where are you, idiot. I am dying out of nervousness' she says angrily from the other side.

'I am on my way' I say calmly.

It's 6 is the evening and around 8 is Gunjan's wedding with Abhimanyu and she has asked me to come as early as possible to calm down her nervousness. I had agreed, I took early leave from office but because of some urgent work I couldn't come earlier than 5pm.

I am about to keep my phone aside when I receive another message and this time it's from Aamir, I didn't bother reading the message and kept my phone in my purse.

I parked my car in the parking lot of KV apartments. I bit my lower lip feeling nervous. I held the steering wheel tightly and take a deep breath. I don't know why I keep doing silly things like this, I knew then and I know now that Arham is nothing but trouble and now he is even more bigger problem.

I take out my mobile and call his number, I bite my nails as I wait anxiously for him to pick up his call.

'Hello' he says picking up the call in fourth ring. His voice made my heart skip a beat

'Arham' I say softly

'Ma'am?' he says from the other side; I don't like him calling me Ma'am.

'Arham, I haven't called you for professional work' I say nervously, there is silence from the other side so I continue 'Woh...today is Gunjan's wedding and when she heard you are here so she is insisting that you come' I lie, I held on the steering wheel tightly.

There is silence for a while

'I won't be able to come; I am busy'

I knew he will make an excuse, but I don't want to give up. I want him to come out of his shell, I can't see him like this.

In this one week I kept my distance from him, but I kept watching him secretly. Keeping track of his every action. I had some peons spy him. Late at nights before leaving office I sneak to his cabin, twice thrice I found him crying silently in his cabin and this hurt me beyond anything. I am mad at him for everything that he did to me, but then seeing him like this is more painful. I guess my love for him is more than my anger.

'But she is insisting...she says she won't marry if you don't come. I don't want to pressurize you but she and I will feel good if you come' I say, I kept my fingers crossed hoping he says yes.

I could hear his breathing; he seems to be thinking. I close my eyes praying.

'Okay' he says after a while, he sounded hesitant. But I am sure he will feel better coming to the wedding.

Gunjan too will see his condition and might understand that my concern for him isn't unnecessary or just my imagination.

'I am waiting for you in the parking lot' I say

'Give me five minutes' came his instant reply. I smile.

I wait for him and rightly after five minutes I see him come towards me, he is dressed in tux. He looks so handsome; I stand up straight feeling my breath getting caught in my throat. He has neatly combed and gelled his hair but few strands of his hair fell over his forehead and with the light breeze fanning his hair make him look more desirable. He has slightly trimmed his stubble making him look presentable.

I keep watching him dreamily, I could feel imaginary violin playing in my ears. I regained my senses only when he is few steps in front of me. I felt we were teens again. I am the fatso and he is the most desirable young boy of our school.

But that was ten years ago. My heart fell when I noticed his red swollen eyes. He had been crying again.

'Thank you for coming' I say as I buckle my seat belt. He is sitting next to me. He simply nods looking ahead. I smile faintly.

Within 7pm we reach the venue, it is in the back yard of a five-star hotel. The entire place is decorated like a bride, there are band wales at the gate playing tunes of famous Indian wedding songs. The bridegroom and his family hasn't arrived yet. But almost everybody from the bride's side has already arrived. I excuse myself from Arham and go to Gunjan's room. She wanted me around for moral support.

I didn't know why she was so nervous, she knows Abhimanyu for two years. They met through a common friend and instantly clicked. They started dating and then two years ago they introduced each other to their parents and after two-three months of their parent's investigations they agreed for the marriage.

As I entered her room there is a scene that I see make me panic. Gunjan is sitting at the dressing table and crying. Many ladies including her mother is consoling her.

'Gunjan' I say worried and I enter the room. I kneel down beside her and placed my hand on her leg

'What happened?' I asked, she is crying a river spoiling her makeup. The beauticians making faces behind her, their hour of hard work waste.

Gunjan keeps crying looking at me, I look at everyone and ask them to leave. Maybe she will open up to what is troubling her only to me.

Soon we are alone in the room, I hold Gunjan's hand and look at her 'What happened? Did you and Abhimanyu fight again?' I ask. She jerks her hand from mine and angrily stands up

'You! I am crying because of you. you idiot I thought you won't come' she says angrily. I sigh in relieve, thankfully nothing was serious. I smile and held her arms.

'How can I not come for my bff?' I say placing my fingers under her chin and make her look up at me.

'What made you so late? you said you left office early?' she says eyeing me suspiciously

I look at her for few seconds, 'I had gone to get Arham' I say looking away. I wince as she held my hand and make me look at her.

'Are you out of your mind? You are doing the same mistake again?' she says her voice slightly raised, I kept my head held low.

'Dude, he was trouble then and he is trouble now...'she says jerking my hand from her grip.

'There is something that I didn't tell you before....' She says taking a deep breath. I look at her

'The next day after you were removed from school, he had come to me... (I am surprised) he said he wanted to talk to you and its urgent...but I refused. He kept bothering me a lot asking again and again about you. I kept lying to him that I didn't know where you were. I wanted him to be far away from you because he is bad news. Arham also had gone missing from school for three weeks. I don't know why and couldn't find out because by the time he came back to school I had shifted my school' Gunjan finishes.

I am stunned by this revelation. I didn't know if I should be mad at Gunjan for not telling me this part, I didn't know how to react. I am numb.

The mystery around Arham just thickened. Had everything that happened part of his plan? Was he guilty after the incident? Did he want to apologize? So many questions clog my mind and no one to give these answers except, of course Arham.