Hey guys!

I couldn't be sorrier right now. My job had me, still has. I am too tired to write but that's not excuse. It not because you always find time for what you love and I have made up my mind to finish this story because I love Naina and Aryan.

Anyway. Enjoy the chapter!

____

Aryan wasn't happy. He wasn't unhappy because he spent an entire evening with Naina...that was enough to make him feel that he was on cloud nine. Those 5 hours of the day were the best 5 hours he ever spent on anything.

Naina was...he couldn't explain it. She was feisty yet sweet, intelligent yet oblivious, self-confident yet modest, and god...she was beautiful. Every time she pushed her hair back behind her ears, he felt like sighing and maybe swooning. Her laugh was... it was unexplainable how melodious her laugh was to him. She hardly laughed, but when she did, it made him the happiest man on the planet.

That's what bugged him, not her laugh, but how rare he saw her laughing. Rather, Naina had those sad eyes at moments when she saw others mingling and laughing. She had those sad eyes when he mentioned her family.

Aryan had noticed that Naina didn't have friends in the office. Sure she talked to people, but she came off distanced and aloof. The thing with her family didn't sit well with him too. He wanted to know what happened which made her so distant to human interaction. He had to know. Naina was a mystery and he couldn't wait to unveil her secrets, even the dark ones... especially the dark ones.

"Aryan?" Rishi's voice broke his chain of thoughts.

Aryan only then realised that he wasn't in Naina's new cabin anymore, he was outside his.

"Yeah?" Aryan asked. He cringed at the accent which had come off now.

Living alone in London, the Brit accent had rubbed off on Aryan. He didn't like it though. It sounded pretentious.

"What were you thinking? I have been calling out your name for the past 5 minutes!" Rishi exclaimed. He had his briefcase in his right hand and his lunch box in his left.

"Something. I'll catch you up at home. I have a few calls to make back in London first," Aryan told his little brother.

"You can do that on the way. Leave for home on time for once," Rishi told him.

"I will come home before dinner even starts. Five minutes of work maximum and I need complete silence," Aryan rolled his eyes at his younger brother.

Rishi sometimes was worse than their mother.

"You better be on time or I'll tell Naina that you have a crush on her," Rishi grinned. He was such a kid.

"Sure. I'll see you," Aryan rolled his eyes again and entered his own office.

He sighed when he heard Rishi's footsteps fading. Aryan liked solitude. He was used to it. Sometimes it pinched him how alone he was in life, but then he liked it somewhat. He wanted a life partner, someone who would love him for who he is, but what irked him was how could someone adjust to his want to stay alone?

Aryan dialed the number of his London office. It would be midday there. Five minutes turned to fifteen and fifteen turned to half hour. By the time Aryan was finished from the work, he had an impending headache. Majorly because of the long hours at work, secondly due to hunger.

He was famished. So Aryan did the next best thing. He picked up his things and ran straight to his car. He had asked his driver to take an off today, he has no idea why. If Aryan knew about the headache, he wouldn't have done it.

As he descended to the parking area, Aryan heard someone. It wasn't a thief, it was a girl, more specifically a crying girl. He followed the voice and what he saw shocked him.

In a corner, in the empty car park of the company, completely secluded from the world Naina Mathur was crying. He couldn't see her face, but it was the same deep blue sari that had him spell bound. He face was covered by her long hair which was not in a braid like they were throughout the day. She sat right opposite to Aryan's car in a manner that no one could see her, but Aryan had heard her.

Panicked, Aryan ran towards the crying girl. He halted as soon as he was near her, Naina made no movement, just kept crying, as if she didn't hear his footsteps. Slowly he bent down and touched her hand gently.

From the sudden touch Naina flinched and looked up at Aryan with horror.

Her eyes were swollen, her face was red, her nose and ears all pink. The eyeliner she had this morning was nowhere to be seen. How long was she crying? And why was she crying?

Aryan didn't say a word, he kept looking at Naina who made no movement. The only thing which stopped was her sobs. All Aryan could hear were a few sniffs.

Slowly Naina rose from the floor, Aryan followed.

"I...I...didn't mean to..." Naina hiccuped hiding her face with her hair.

"You don't have to justify. You are as human as anyone, you have full right to express your emotions," Aryan said. He had to fight the urge to take Naina in his arms and assure her that no harm would come to her while he was around.

"I just... Thank you," Naina sniffed.

"Here," Aryan shuffled through his pockets and produced a handkerchief, handing it to Naina.

"Thank you," She said taking it gently.

"Come on. I'll drop you home," Aryan told her.

"I...Okay," Aryan heard Naina sigh.

Aryan then led her to his car and opened the passenger door for her. Naina sat down without a protest.

Aryan was dying to know why Naina was crying, he was dying to know if she was hurt or if something had happened to her. What he didn't understand was the way to ask her.

Aryan sat on the driver's seat and sighed. He had to know.

"Are you hungry?" He asked instead.

Naina was as shocked as Aryan was by his question. Her eyes widened and she had that confused look on her face. Aryan wanted to laugh at her, but the situation didn't give him that liberty at all.

"I am," Aryan was surprised by her answer. "But I already had the dinner prepared back home," She added.

"I have dinner prepared at home as well," Aryan told her. "What do you say... want to meet my family for dinner?" He raised his eyebrows with a soft playful smile on his face.

"Umm...I can go by myself, it's not even dark outside. You should go home, your family is expecting you, Sir," Naina said.

"Bull! I'm dropping you home, it's decided. Now, what do you like to eat?" Aryan said as he revved up the car engine.

"South Indian?" It was more of a question than an answer.

"I haven't had South Indian in years and I know a great place," Aryan smiled as he drove towards the restaurant.

"You don't have anyone waiting for you at home?" Aryan cringed as soon as he asked this question. He looked at Naina whose expression hadn't faltered.

"No. My uncle won't be home for the week," She replied professionally.

"You stay alone?" Aryan asked.

"My Uncle has a lovely neighbor who keeps me company on weekends and most of the time brings me dinner as well. I mostly eat with them," Naina told him. There was a small smile on her face.

"Good to know. My mother doesn't like the fact that I eat alone in London. She keeps on pressing me to get a roommate by which she means a wife. I don't know why it is a big deal if I eat alone in silence, though I have company of colleagues or maybe friends most of the time," Aryan expressed.

"We don't speak on the dining table. It has always been forbidden. Talking is done before and after dinner. But eating alone altogether is emotionally tiring. I don't know, I have never eaten a dinner alone, now that I do...I miss the presence of my family," Naina spoke.

It hit Aryan. It was like a bucket of cold water thrown on his face. It hit him that bad. He missed it too. The loud chatter of her family while they all sat at the dining table. Food tasted bland when he ate alone. The same food tasted delicious with others around.

Pretending to like the solitude, Aryan had forgotten that he was only pretending. He hated lonely meals at the start. He craved for his family, he craved for a partner. Then he had shifted his focus on work and everything else just vanished. Even the lonely meals.

"We are here," Aryan said as they arrived to a humble looking restaurant. "I hope you won't judge the place by its exterior," Aryan looked at Naina who was taking in the appearance of the place.

"You never expect a reader to judge a book by its cover. For it is only the cover, you never know what story the book withholds," Naina said looking at Aryan.

For a moment Aryan was spell bound. Naina's eyes were still swollen sans the tear tainted face. Her lips looked bright pink in the street light. She looked gorgeous, Aryan didn't understand how.

"Let's go then," Aryan said blinking, looking away.

"Sure," Naina said and opened the door just when Aryan did.

Aryan was a tad bit disappointed, he wanted to open the car door for Naina. He decided to do it when he drops her home, for now, he'll enjoy her company.

The staff had recognized Aryan, he wasn't surprised, nor was Naina. She seemed unfazed by everything. Aryan then finally realized she was deep in her thoughts.

"Naina?" He called her name. Gosh, it did something to him.

Naina didn't reply.

"Naina?" He called her name again waving his hand in front of her dazed green eyes.

Naina broke from her reverie and looked at Aryan sheepishly.

"Sorry," She said looking down.

"What would you like to have?" Aryan smiled. She was adorable.

"Umm...Dosa?" It again seemed like a question rather than an answer.

"Excellent choice! I'll have Butter Masala, what about you?" Aryan grinned.

"Rava Masala," Naina seemed confident this time. "And filter coffee," She added.

Aryan ordered for them and finally decided to address the elephant in the room. Before he could ask, Naina spoke.

"I don't really do this," She said. She wasn't looking at him at all.

"What? Eating out?" Aryan asked. "You should definitely do that more often," He obviously knew what she was talking about.

Naina, for once, rolled her eyes at him. Aryan was surprised but he couldn't deny that she looked adorable while doing that.

"I meant crying like that. I don't do that usually," Naina spoke.

"So why did you?" Aryan asked bluntly.

"I...I had a quarrel with Jasmine while leaving and well...she said stuff that hurt. Empty parking seemed like a very good place to burst out," Naina briefed, but Aryan wanted an explanation. He wanted the full story.

"What did you fight on?" Aryan asked.

"It wasn't a fight. She...she had a different opinion," Naina struggled.

"You can tell me. I won't judge anyone," Aryan assured her.

"It was nothing," Naina looked away.

"Naina...did anyone ever told you that you cannot lie?" Aryan asked.

Naina looked at him wide eyed, she then composed herself, "It wasn't something I would like to share," Naina said as professionally as she could.

Aryan could see she had difficulty with expressing herself.

"What was the other reason then?" He asked only to look at her surprised green eyes looking at him again.

"Jasmine's words cannot be that harsh to make you cry like that, Naina. I understand you don't trust me enough. I won't push," Aryan said and thanked the stars as their dinner arrived.

He was thankful, because one, his headache was getting bad, second he didn't know how to behave after saying all that. Frankly, he had never been so blunt yet guilty about it.

"When I was walking out of the office building, I heard Jasmine and Juhi along with a few other ladies talking. I wasn't eavesdropping, they were too loud. I heard my name and stopped. She was saying that I didn't deserve the promotion. She said that I was only a small town girl who had...charmed you to promote me," Naina stammered with 'charmed'. Aryan understood that wouldn't be the word at all.

"So I asked her how could she say that when she never tried to talk to me or know me at all. All I've seen her do is give me attitude," Naina continued. "She said she would never talk to girls like me...I got angry and told her that women like her could never be happy in her life. Jasmine looked like she could cry when someone else, from the accounts maybe said that no one in the office liked me because I was a... bad human and well... it triggered something and I left without saying anything else. I didn't realise the time until you came," Naina wasn't looking at Aryan. She was looking at her food which was getting cold with every passing minute.

'Bad human' wasn't the word which was used, Aryan understood that as well. What he understood was that Naina's life wasn't anywhere close to simple like he imagined. She had a hard past, a dark one maybe and she was struggling to leave it behind.

He didn't like the way the women disrespected Naina as well. She was far more talented than those gossip mongers.

Aryan didn't know what to say. This was bullying, downright bullying and if he played any part in reducing it, he might make it worse for Naina. He had to remember that Aryan wouldn't be in the same office as her for very long.

He was here purely due to work, Naina was another reason to stay back but he had to go one day. The mere thought made his heart sink. He wouldn't be able to see Naina's beautiful face every day.

The rest of the dinner went listening to the spoons clink with the plates. Aryan asked for the bill as soon as they finished their dinner and coffee. Aryan had 2 cups. He knew sleep wouldn't come today, he had a lot on his mind.

"Let's leave?" Naina nodded timidly.

Aryan was quick this time. He opened the door for Naina and then entered the car as she sat down. Aryan sighed as his hands grabbed the steering wheel.

"I didn't know what to say. Please don't take it in the wrong way, I want to say a lot but I'm not sure how to say it. I did realise that there would be a lot of people in this company who would be jealous of your success. What I didn't realise was they could hurt you like that. I won't come in between, I want to, but I'll make it worse. You have to fight these bullies yourself Naina. These people will try keep you away from your aim and focus, you have to decide what you want more," Aryan told her.

No one made a sound. All he heard was Naina sigh.

"I'm going to try my best. I don't have much time to prove myself and I'm not going to let anything come in between," Naina's voice was confident and Aryan swore to god that nothing was more attractive than that voice.

"Good," With that he started the car and drove away from the restaurant.

"Thank you for today," Naina said as they arrived right outside her house, half hour later.

"Don't mention it, Take it as a mentor- mentee meeting," Aryan smiled at her.

"I will," Naina smiled first time throughout the outing. "And I didn't just mean the dinner," Naina said as she left the car and walked towards her empty house.

Aryan didn't start the car until he saw the lights of the house light up. Then he restarted the car and drove towards his own house.

Today he learnt a lot about Naina. He learnt that he was falling in love with that enigma of a woman and he was falling hard and fast.

He learnt that he wasn't letting her go...not now...not ever.

***

Was this chapter worth it? 

Aryan is going to get cuter I promise!

Comment and let me know your views

Vote and show your love!

Until next time...

Racs