Aman watched Deepa from the corner of his eye as she chatted animatedly with her friends.

She caught his gaze and he looked away. "What's up with you Aman?"she asked directly coming to sit next to him, much to his amazement and delight "how's life treating you?"

"Not kindly" he replied, trying not to sound awkward "I'm trying to swim my way back to the shore".

"That terrible huh?"she teased with a tinkling laugh. He loved that laugh.

"Yeah..not as enjoyable as yours" he smiled and she shrugged "trust me...it's not easy as you think". He didn't reply and watched the others play some game he didn't have a clue about.

"Your brother's tying the knot soon...when's your turn?"she asked, playing with the sand.

He frowned "see...this is one of those moments where I wish I didn't have a twin brother" he teased "just because we shared a womb..."

She laughed loudly at that "sorry about that...people keep throwing me the question and I thought it would be nice to ask someone...for a change".

"And I was the easy target" he chuckled "seriously...what's with you being single? Delhi men don't appeal to you?"

She gave a hard long stare "they do but my heart is still in Mumbai".

He looked into her kohl studded eyes which were mesmerizing and he would get lost in them..forever.

She got up and swayed her top "come on...let's go to the resort and catch up with the old memories...they were better than the present weren't they?"

"Yes..some definitely were" he admitted as he walked with her inside the large patio which was deserted. They could hear the rustling of waves.

She sat next to him on the lounge chair which she scooted closer to him. The ambience was more than he could take and found himself lost in her world.

They spoke about the good old days and the adventures in college and he found it hard to resist her proximity.

He wanted to make the first move but she beat him to it by settling on his lap "why did you leave the city, Deepa?"he asked, absently running his hands over her silky soft hair.

"Well...there was nothing keeping me here" she wrapped her arms around him "you had left to find your own destiny....and I wasn't sure about mine".

"I..didn't know how you felt" he shook his head "heck! I wasn't even sure how I felt...but I wanted you to stay.. you were the only bright thing in my life back then..."

"Then why didn't you ask me to stay?"she asked in a serious tone. He caressed her cheek "I was afraid..."

"Of what?"she moved further so that their lips almost touched and closed the distance between them and ruffled his hair "I've always loved your hair Aman"she whispered.

He lost the urge to reply and claimed her lips, his hands going around her neck and rubbed her nape as she gave in to the tender kiss.

"My God! You kiss so well!"she gasped caressing his stubble cheek. He grinned and kissed her again, deeply this time and much more wildly.

She kissed him back with equal passion and ran her hands down his chest and lower till she reached his thighs.

He suddenly jerked her away and she almost caught herself in time "Whoa! You didn't need to push me that hard".

He blinked "I'm...sorry" he apologized, embarrassed "I'm really sorry..I shouldn't have".

She stared at him in confusion "it's okay...you didn't force me to do anything....I wanted to.."

"No..you don't understand" he murmured, shaking his head "I can't...I just can't. ." She got back to her chair and sat for a while, waiting for him to calm down.

"I'm so sorry Deepa" he apologized again and again "I shouldn't have started what I couldn't end".

She gazed at him intently "there's someone waiting for you back home?"

He blinked "what?no of course not!"he gave a weak smile "there's no one".

"Then why are you sorry for?"she asked and leaned back with a sigh "oh God! You're not going to give me a speech on 'it's not you its me' thing, are you?"

He kissed her cheek softly "I don't know what's stopping me...but I do know it's for the best" he moved away from her a little "can we forget this ever happened?" She gave a half smile "I guess".

When he came out of the resort, he saw Amit who was with Akhil and the others.

He approached his brother "where's Sakshi?"he asked, not finding her around.

"She's with the girls" Amit replied "we're going for a swim..join us".

"I'm going home" Aman said checking his watch. Amit raised an amused eyebrow "you're leaving? It's only nine!"he winked "what happened with Deepa? I saw you walk with her"

"Nothing happened" Aman said truthfully "I didn't spend proper time with maa since the dinner and all. I think I'll keep her company".

"Fine...we'll be back in an hour" Amit said patting his shoulder "make sure not to let them know".

Aman nodded and made his way back home, his mind in turmoil after the incident with Deepa.

Clearly, he was smitten with her but couldn't bring himself to make the next move. Maybe it was for the best, he mused. His love life was as clueless as he was and he wondered if it would change again.

Only time would tell...

◇◇◇◇◇

"How come you're early?"his mother asked as soon as entered "where's Amit?"

Aman slumped on the couch and stretched his feet lazily "they're still in the bea..." he caught himself just in time "pooja is going on. I was bored".

She smiled and turned her attention back to the TV where her favorite serial was going on. Nothing could distract her from that particular serial, he realized in amusement.

"Wasn't that guy dead yesterday?"he snorted "how come he's alive today?"
She gave a small frown "he didn't die...he only pretended to.."

"Oh...I wish life was easy as TV serials.." Aman shrugged "we could live and die whenever we wanted to.."

"Don't talk about dying!"she chided "that too at night...". He settled next to her and placed his head on her lap "where's baba?"he asked, sensing the eerie silence.

She stroked his hair, her eyes glued to the TV screen "he sleeps early at eight...he has his BP medicines".

His phone rang and he took it out of his pocket. She saw the name on the screen "who's Shirin?"she asked as the phone buzzed.

"My friend" he said received the call "hey..how's it going?"

"Not so great" he could hear Shirin's concerned voice "he's been vomiting since yesterday...I took him to a Vet".
Aman felt a stab of guilt "shit! How's he now?"

"He's okay..the doctor gave him an injection and said he'll be fine...I just hope so...I think he misses you".

Aman couldn't agree more as he missed the cat as well "I'll be back soon....just take care of him okay? I'm so sorry for being a bother".

"Hey don't worry about it" she said in a bright voice "I wanted you to know...that's it".

After talking about things in general, he hung up, only to look at his mother who was gawking at him "who's that girl? And why did you sound so upset?"

"She's my next door neighbor and a friend" he explained before her imagination could run wild "she was looking after my cat in my absence.. and now he's sick...poor guy".

"You have a cat?"she looked surprised. He nodded with a smile "I'll show you his pictures...he's lovely".

She saw the photos in his phone "he's cute" she said and her voice grew thick as tears streamed from her eyes.

He got up instantly "gosh! Now why are you crying?"he asked with a grimace.

She sniffed back tears "I'm sorry" she said "for not standing up to you when your father threw away your cat...you were so hurt..."

He took her in his arms "maa! That happened years ago...stop crying over it" he smiled "and it's not your fault at all..."

"I should have stopped him..." she said and he frowned "see? If you won't stop crying, I'll pack my bags now..I swear.."

She wiped her tears immediately and he patted her arm "good girl..now lets talk something else...and please stop watching TV soaps...it'll make you cry".

She smiled at that, much to his relief as they talked about many things until the topic drained down to Amit's wedding.

"It's two months left for the wedding" she sighed "and here I thought we'll get you married along with your brother".

"Okay...I'll start crying now" Aman said with a huge scowl "let's not talk about me".

"Why not?"she chided "what about that Shirin girl? Is she good?" Aman laughed "she's just a friend..and seriously I'm not interested...I don't think I ever want to get married".

"Why?"she questioned a little harshly "what's so wrong about that? Look at your brother".

"Wrong?"he snapped "tell me everything that's right....then I'll tell you what is wrong". She fell silent for a while and he continued "you married baba when you were just seventeen....Amrita married Rishab... are you both happy? Tell me the truth!"

"Of course we are" she said slowly "although there were bad days..."

"I don't want to make a girl's life miserable and take out all my frustration on her...." he shook his head "I don't want to end up like baba...that's not me".

She bit her lip, totally at loss for words. "I'm going to bed...see you in the morning" he walked inside before she could say anything.

◇◇◇◇◇

"Sakshi?" Someone was calling her softly..she could feel her head being stroked gently but couldn't bring in to open her eyes as her eyelids felt extremely heavy.

"Sakshi beta? Wake up".

She finally recognized the voice of her mother "maa?"she whispered hoarsely "where am I?"

"Oh thank God!" Soumya heaved a sigh of relief at her daughter's voice "I'm trying to wake you up since morning".

Sakshi slowly opened her eyes and blinked. Her head ached terribly and so was her whole body.

"What happened?"she asked, trying to get to a sitting position "when did I get home?" She couldn't remember a thing last night.

"You were unconscious....Amit brought you here...poor guy" Soumya looked around and whispered "it was almost twelve...were you drunk?"

Sakshi gulped for air; the last thing she remembered was when she was with the girls, partying inside and having fun. Had she consumed a lot of alcohol? Or was it something else?

She rubbed her aching head, trying to remember "I wasn't drunk.." she lied "I was feeling dizzy due to the weather I guess".

"Don't lie to me!" Soumya yelled "it took a lifetime to lie to your father. Thankfully he was asleep by the time you guys came...Amit couldn't even look at me...he felt ashamed I guess".

"What did he say?"Sakshi asked, confused and delirious at the same time.

"Nothing much...he said you weren't keeping well and fainted" Soumya explained in an angry tone "what's going on? I know you're hiding something from me".

Sakshi felt her heartbeat quicken. Amit was angry with her because she had gotten drunk...or was she high? Damn! She couldn't remember any of it.

"I...nothing happened mama" she forced a smile "I was not keeping well...probably a fever or something. I'll be fine". She got up and checked her phone. There were many missed from the hospital.

Alarmed, she checked the time; it was almost one. "Oh my God! Piyush will kill me" she groaned.

"They called the landline...I told them you have flu and not able to come" Soumya said softly "I'll prepare tea for you...come down".

Even after taking hot shower, the hangover wouldn't go and it felt like her whole body was in pain.

Grumbling, she came to the kitchen and sat on the table. Soumya kept the roti and paneer in front of her "take a pain killer after you finish these" she said sternly.

"I'm not hungry mama" she said with a long face. Soumya raised an angry eyebrow "don't make me yell at you... I've given enough explanation to your father and I'm really tired.."

Sakshi almost ate half a roti when the entire contents came out of her stomach.

"Oh God!" Soumya helped her up after she had vomited everything "we should see a doctor".

"I don't need a doctor!" Sakshi yelled "I'll take a pain killer and it'll be fine. I need a black coffee without sugar".

After having the coffee, she took the medicine and called Amit...where was he?

His phone was switched off and she tried again after a while but in vain. He's probably angry with me after last night's fiasco, she thought in dismay. I must have done something terrible.

She decided to call his mother but cancelled the idea as she didn't want to create an issue unnecessarily.

Maybe she was overthinking; he was probably in his office and busy. With this relaxing thought in mind, she went off to sleep again.

◇◇◇◇◇

It had been two days and there was no call from him and Sakshi was beginning to panic.

After coming back from the hospital, she collapsed on the bed and her phone rang. It was Amit. Thanking God a thousand times, she received.

"Hey" he said before she could speak "sorry I was busy....couldn't take your calls".

"Busy to even call me back?"she asked, rather irritated. "I know...I was hardly home these couple of days..." the line wasn't clear and she had to crane her ears to hear his voice clearly "I had lots of formalities in the office...and now I'm on my way to Surat".

"What? Why?"she asked in a sullen tone. "Office work" he replied "I'll be back in a three days...don't worry".

"Okay" she relaxed "I wanted to ask you regarding the party that night".

There was a brief silence and she wondered if the line went blank or he was hesitant. It was hard to tell.

"Er...yeah...I wanted to talk about it too..but hardly had the time" he replied after a while.

"What happened Amit? I don't seem to remember anything" she said in a worried tone "was I drunk? How did you get me home?"

Again, he took a while to answer "I don't know much..after we guys came back from the swim and playing softball, I walked inside the rest house and couldn't find you...I asked Apeksha and she said that you were in the lounge...when I came to take you, I was surprised...you looked stoned as hell".

"Oh my gosh! I was high?"she couldn't believe it! "Yeah...she said you were having the time of your life...you were dancing and singing on the dais...and then you sort of...knocked out".

She felt embarrassed "I don't know why I did it...I'm so sorry..."

"Hey it's okay" he said immediately "we'll talk about it once I get back okay?"

"So you're not angry with me?"she asked, feeling relieved. "Of course not!"he said "okay...I'll call you later...the range is too low".

"Fine...call me when you reach" she said, feeling lighter.

And not knowing this was the last conversation they ever had....

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