"Are you sure nothing happened?" Lekha asked for the hundredth time. Laksh narrowed his eyes, irritated "I told you! We were just talking...and then she suddenly fell unconscious". Lekha stared at her big brother, still unconvinced.

They were seated on the couch of the office room, Laksh recounting the incident. Anya had been taken to her room upstairs, where she lay in bed resting.

"Is she sick or something?" Nikhil asked, seated next to Lekha. "I don't know" Laksh looked at his cousin who was sitting beside him "what do you think Dhruv?"

"I think she was hypoglycaemic, that's all" Dhruv said casually. Lekha raised her eyebrows in mock surprise "please speak English doc!"

Dhruv smiled "her blood sugar level must have come down suddenly, it happens sometimes, due to stress" he explained, "or else" he gave a malicious wink at his cousin "he must have successfully impregnated her!"

"Damn you guys!" Laksh swore angrily while others rolled in laughter "that's disgusting! Anyway even if I did" he joined in their funny banter "it's too soon to tell isn't it?"

"Whoa!" Lekha widened her eyes "we don't want the details, thank you". Laksh grinned at her, "knew you would say this!"

"She seems sweet though" Dhruv said "your wife, she doesn't at all seems to be like...her cousin" he carefully avoided using the name.

"I don't know" Laksh simply shrugged. He couldn't tell them whatever exactly had happened. He himself was confused and puzzled at her behaviour. Surely he'd caught her hand, that was all; his intentions were nothing more than that. Why then has she acted as if he were a monster? He was surprised beside himself.

"I never saw her during your engagement you know" Nikhil said, as they continued the conversation "how come we never saw her?"

"Maybe she didn't attend; if she did, I would have spoken to her" Dhruv said, "maybe we would have been friends".

"Hey watch it bro!" Laksh said, slightly abashed. Dhruv winked at him "dude! Only married for a day and you're already possessive about your wife huh?"

Laksh looked away, somehow wondering what made him mad about what Dhruv had said about her. "I...respect her" he said quietly. Before Dhruv could reply however, Nikhil got up "I need to get to the construction site, I'll see you guys around".

Dhruv did the same "guess I'll move too! My shift starts any time now". He waved at the others and walked off with his elder brother.

"Don't mind Dhruv! He was just messing around" Lekha told him as soon as they were out of earshot, "so did you check on her?"

"No" he said simply. "What?"yelled Lekha, "how can you be so heartless?"  He shrugged "I'm sure she's fine... like Dhruv said, she's probably hypoglycic.. or whatever that means".
She glared at him "just be with her" she said. He walked off without a word.

             ◇◇◇◇◇
"Anuu?" Her father was screaming, "come and get this!" She threw her doll away and ran towards him. He had his arms outstretched, a small lighting thing in his right hand.

"What's that papa?" She yelled, almost reaching him with excitement. "I won't tell you, come and see for yourself!" He laughed at her.

She was panting as she finally reached her father's side "please papa!" She squealed, touching his hand.

He showed his blood stained hand, dripping red. She let out a scream and he was fading away. "Come back!" She screamed into the darkness.

Anya opened her eyes, sweating. Her mouth had gone dry. She was lying in the bed having no idea how she'd gotten there. She looked around and saw no one.

She pulled the covers away and got up from the bed, her head aching mildly. She had completely forgotten about her panic attacks and she had a reason not to remember; it had been quite a long time.

Had she collapsed again? The last thing she remembered was crying in his arms. Oh no!she groaned. He was there when it happened and he might have been shocked.

Embarrassed beyond belief, she sat on the couch, suddenly feeling thirsty. She drank the water which was kept on the coffee table. Her phone rang, it was her mother again.

After a while she picked up, "Where have you been? I was so worried!" her mother's voice sounded desperate "you weren't picking my calls, are you okay beta?"

Anger bubbled within her "why are you worried maa? Everything's sunshine and rainbow here!"

Sarcasm seemed to have affected her, Anya thought, there was a moment of silence "I know you're angry, but we had to do what was right" Sarita explained.

"Yeah, like everything else you did in my life!" Anya snapped. "You don't know what I went through!" Her mother was crying probably, she thought "I had to sacrifice so many things for your happiness!"

"Yeah, it's all about you isn't it? Your sacrifice, your troubles, your hardships, what about the sacrifices I made huh?" Anya seethed "my studies, my career, my dreams, what about them? I threw them all away just for you, thinking that some day you'll realize how much I mean to you. But you're only bothered about washing your hands off me, one less sacrifice for you from now on!" she breathed hard "well! Now that you're free from me, don't bother calling me again!" The line went dead. Anya exhaled deeply and got up, only to find that she wasn't alone.

Laksh was standing on the doorway, his expression unreadable. How much had he heard? Her heart raced away. "Hi" he greeted, looking at her.

Keeping a straight face, but unable to look him in the eye, she managed a feeble "hi". He walked in, "um...how are you feeling?" he asked, keeping his phone on the bedside table.

"I'm fine" she said, trying to be calm as much as possible "what happened to me?" His eyes widened "you don't know?"

"I don't seem to remember anything" she said. Lying was going to save her mess, she thought, making a brave attempt. "You sort of...fainted" he said, his eyes fixed on hers until she looked away.

"Did I?" she raised her eyebrows. He nodded, sitting on the couch "I didn't know what to do.. I was...stumped a little" he sighed "I carried you to bed and made you to lie down. And called my cousin Dhruv".

Anya let out a gasp, how much more of embarrassment she could take? She wondered, feeling awkward. He mistook her expression for fear "don't worry, he's a doctor actually" for the first time, she saw him smile in a nice way. She couldn't find any mockery there; it was warm. And it made him extremely good to look at.

"He's an orthopedic surgeon, I didn't know who else to call" he shook his head "he said something about low blood sugar and stress, gave you an injection and allowed you to rest for a while".

Anya listened half of what he was saying, the other half wondering who this guy was? Was he the same person who was cold towards her? Or was it her who was rude to him? She couldn't quite understand.

"Are you feeling better?"he asked again. She nodded, feeling a little guilty about lying to him. "Mom was here, so were aunty and Lekha" he said, "they left a while ago".

"They must have...suspected something happened to me" she shook her head. He moved closer to her "did...it happen..before?"

She raised her head to look at him. She could feel his eyes on hers, full of unanswered questions. For a moment, she felt like telling him why she fainted like that. He was waiting, she knew. "I..never" she lied again.

"Oh" he murmured softly "do you want to see a lady doctor or something?" She shook her head "I'm fine really, don't worry".

He looked deep in thought, "I'm..I. sorry for whatever happened in the library. You know I...didn't mean to scare you..it just.." he was struggling inside, she could feel "it won't happen again" he said.

She nodded, too awkward to say anything; she wanted to tell him it wasn't his fault, none of it ever was. "Do you want me to go?" He asked, "am I making you uncomfortable?"

"No" she said immediately as he gazed at her "just...stay..I'm..okay..you can stay". He nodded, and lay in bed moving a little further away from her.

Anya turned herself to the other side. Riya was wrong about him, she came to realize it now. Laksh Rawat had been many things, but he definitely isn't a monster, she thought and this lightened her heart considerably.