31st July

"Don't you think this is too much?" Priyasha stared at her reflection in the mirror for a few seconds then blurted out, finding her outfit and makeup way too showy.

"Too much?" Maya fake gasped then said, "Where? Let me see."

Maya had given her a turquoise-colored crepe georgette saree, with its entire length of border embroidered with net zari, and matching boat-neck cut blouse. She had borrowed Upasana's glittery golden pumps and completed the makeup with the earrings Abhiraj had given her.

Last night after returning to her room, when her eyes fell on the earring box, still resting on top of her bed, she couldn't help but to try it out. Although she shouldn't have, she couldn't hold the grudge anymore. First time in her life, she was being unreasonably tolerant toward someone, and she didn't know why.

She had awkwardly blushed wearing the earrings.

Before she'd been furious with the same pair of earrings and now, she was wearing it. She couldn't tell what changed in those past couple of minutes, but she wasn't furious anymore.

She scolded herself for her apparent hormonal dis-balance, then shook the thought away. The earrings pair was beautiful and secretly, she had found similarities between them and their buyer in the matter of their uniqueness.

"No, it's fine. You look gorgeous." Maya grinned, then handed her the plum-colored lipstick. "If you don't believe me, ask your father."

Priyasha rolled her eyes applying the lipstick then went to Kaushik's room. He was lying on the bed watching a TV program.

"Papa, how do I look?"

Kaushik squinted his eyes at her for a second, then his eyes twinkled. He grinned just like Maya who had followed Priyasha in his room.

"You are looking just like my daughter. Marvelous." Kaushik exclaimed, exhilarated.

Priyasha glanced delightfully at Maya, giggling. "Thank you, Papa."

Which was when, the bell rang. Priyasha noticed her watch. 6:10 pm.

"Ah, must be Abhiraj," Maya exclaimed, marching toward the door. Priyasha rolled her eyes then went to her room to take her backpack, then joined Maya at the door.

When her eyes fell on Abhiraj, she halted for a moment. He was standing there wearing a navy-blue two-piece suit, with a white shirt and brown shoes.

Priyasha took a step forward. When his eyes fell on her, they immediately went wide in astonishment. Her cheeks flushed. She went ahead and stood beside Maya.

"Okay, Maa."

"Okay, Chini. I'll wait for your call."

She nodded then turned her attention at Abhiraj. He was still looking at her. His eyes flashed some fierce craving. She was sure he never took his eyes off her and she could definitely tell his gaze had made her cheeks take a shade of pink by then. She nervously blushed then went ahead. He had brought a car with him. It wasn't his old car for obvious reasons.

She put the bag in the back seat then settled down on the passenger seat comfortably. He too hopped inside the car, ignited the engine as she waved at Maya from inside the car.

Once the car took the turn toward the right, and she no longer could see her house, Abhiraj turned his focus on her and complimented, "You look beautiful."

Her blush deepened at that as she let out a shaky sigh, nervously grazing her hand on her perfectly styled hair. "Thank you," she said and immediately looked outside, interlinking her fingers with each other, earning an audible sigh from him at the same time.

The air inside the car had shifted to an awkward silence that she had to practically stop her breathing each now and then to focus on her rapid heartbeat and steady it thereafter.

God saved her. She was nervous as hell.

~~~

Her eyes swept up to the wedding couple on the stage and a genuine smile broke free on her face.

She turned her gaze at Abhiraj who was sitting beside her drinking a mocktail. "She's stunning. No?"

Abhiraj nodded. "Yes."

She looked back and listened to the hymns uttered by the priests. In a few minutes, the garland exchanging and vermilion offering rituals would happen.

She glanced around the crowded place. It was such a delight to see the reunion of family members, relatives, and old friends in ceremonies like weddings.

Wedding is just not a custom for the bride and groom, it's a way where new relations were made and the old ones further strengthened. It is a beginning of a prosperous journey, not just for the couple, but for the entire community.

Priyasha wanted to thank Abhiraj for coming along and keeping Vinita's request. However, when she looked at his way, she noticed he had gone stiff suddenly looking at something or someone. His expression gradually turning furious. She followed his gaze but couldn't point out where or who he was looking at.

"What happened?" Priyasha whispered, almost scared of his irate demeanor.

"Nothing," he growled in a muffled voice and jumped up on his feet hastily.

She too arose instinctively. A shadow of fear raked through her face. "What's wrong?"

Abhiraj turned to go somewhere else.

"Where are you going?" She asked again.

"Priyasha," He shifted his angry glare on her face, and it looked like it would drill her with fuming botheration then and there. "You can't expect me to answer your every question. Can you?"

Her eyes went wide in bewilderment and shock. It was probably her stupidity to expect otherwise of him. He was too difficult in matters of comfortable exchanges, be it of words or feelings. Even after knowing his primary and foremost aim run on an absolute different lane, she let it happen to herself. She let herself get attached to him without prior realization. Her foremost stupidity was, lately she had started to overlook all of his harshness. Sadly, she felt an absurd connection toward the same person who risked to crush her trust since the beginning.

As a matter of fact, he was right. Whatever happened between them cannot be undone anymore. None of them could go back in time and redo things.

Decisions taken, right or wrong, only depends on the current situation and once a decision is taken it cannot be changed. One has to face the consequences despite the possibility it may hurt in the future as well.

Now she was aware that, unwillingly or not, unknowingly or not, she had made a very difficult decision which would definitely hurt her heart in the future. But even so, all those absurd emotions exploded in her chest hitting all the right spots... that she could no longer place herself in a position where she could blame him for everything.

Their stars crossed; and apparently, it had a significant cause.

She scrunched together her eyebrows, contemplating the reason of his sudden outburst, when he spoke again. "I'm not yet in a position to give you an explanation for everything I do."

She observed him closely, his focus was on a specific corner. She followed his gaze and spotted a group of three people, two of them in black suits, and another one in a Sherwani. All of them aged in their early sixties.

Abhiraj looked so exasperated. His brows had furrowed in a scowl. He wasn't mad at her. He was mad at them... which could yield only one conclusion. He knew them and they weren't on his good terms.

"I didn't ask for any explanation," she countered softly and decided not to infuriate him more. Considering the determined and calculative person that he was, there must be some serious issues he had engaging those people. She didn't want to create a scene in her best friend's wedding nor she wanted to upset him more. So, when he stomped away from her, she didn't restrict him. However, the hurt in her heart remained. She couldn't get particularly angry with him anymore, but that didn't abandon the heavy ache which she was feeling lately for him.

The wedding altar was decorated brilliantly with lights and flowers. In the middle of the altar, the sacred fire was kindled. In a few minutes, Vinita and her fiancé would take seven rounds around and witnessing the sacred fire utter their wedding oaths. Vinita was looking elegant in her maroon Benarasi Saree. She was in a jovial mood. Priyasha smiled, but felt a sharp pang inside her heart. Kaushik had seen a similar dream for her. But she didn't know, when and how would that happen.

Instinctively, her eyes darted toward the way Abhiraj went as a heavy sigh left her. When she couldn't spot him in the crowd, she lowered herself on the seat again and looked down on her hands, remorsefully.

Her throat ached suddenly and eyes burned.

Someone cleared his throat beside her and asked, "May I sit here?"

"Yes." Priyasha nodded without glancing up at the person.

The person sat beside her on the empty seat which was occupied by Abhiraj a few minutes back. The person again cleared his throat and asked her, "Were you fighting with your husband?"

Getting bothered immediately, she answered without looking up, "He's not my husband." She felt so sad suddenly.

"Oh! Boyfriend?"

"He's not my boyfriend."

"Partner?"

Now it was definitely getting on her nerves. She shifted her annoyed glance sideways on the person and received an instant wink from him. Her brows furrowed at the recognition of the person's identity, and heart fluttered inside her chest, pounding rapidly in excitement. So, this was the surprise Vinita was talking about. Oh my God!

"Jeet?" She gushed. Still unable to believe he was indeed sitting beside her. "Jeet? Is that you?"

"Who else do you think I am?" He grinned.

"Oh my God! Jeet... it is really you!" She cried out elated and jumped at him, embracing him in a tight hug.

"Uh-oh! You're going to squeeze the life out of me!" He complained.

Priyasha pulled back then hit him on the shoulders.

"Arey!"

"You deserve worse than that!" She huffed, but equally delighted to have her best friend back.

He raised a brow and pretended to get offended. "That's mean, Priya."

"Shut up," Priyasha chided. "Were you dead in all these years? Did you become a Vampire and took nap? Where were you?"

He grinned. "I wish that could be the case. Then I would have been able to suck on your blood."

Priyasha wrinkled her nose. "Like you used to do in the past."

Then both of them laughed out loud and hugged back again. Indeed, Vinita was right. She would never forget this day. One of her best friends was getting wed and another one, after all these years of living in hiding, finally had returned. She was beyond ecstatic.

"I missed you."

"I missed you too."

After a long-lost moment of silence and warmth, they pulled apart. Priyasha's eyes had welled up already with these overjoyed emotions.

Priyasha demanded, "Where have you been all these years?"

"Oh, I have been studying and working."

"By hiding yourself from the world?"

"Yeah, Kind of," Jeet casually shrugged and replied.

"Much like hibernation?"

"You can say that too."

Priyasha raised her eyebrows in fake annoyance, "Don't go to your hibernation again without letting me know first."

He chuckled then nodded his approval. "So, how's life?"

Priyasha's gaze wavered at that question as she looked away. "I'm trying Jeet."

Jeet squeezed her hand softly but stayed quiet.

After a silent moment, he elbowed her. "So, you got engaged I see."

She snorted nervously. "It's not what you think."

"What is it then?"

Priyasha bit her lower lip as her eyes looked around the crowd to spot Abhiraj. But he still was nowhere in sight.

"C'mon tell me. It's written on your face." He winked as the corners of his lips tilted upward.

Priyasha shook her head. "Jeet, I'm not buying it. There's no such thing written on my face."

"You don't trust me?" He fake-gasped. "You hurt me, Priya."

"Stop!" She pushed on him again playfully.

And then she felt the need. For the first time in a while, she wanted to open up. She wanted to let out every secret torment her heart was bearing since her nightmare. Perhaps it was because of Jeet, a person whom she could blindly trust. It didn't matter anymore that he was out of reach for all these past years. They had been friends since their teenage days. The bond was still there and it was enough to convince herself, that she should let go of the burden off her chest.

She bit the inside of her cheek and shifted her focus on Jeet. Jeet looked at her as his eyes went soft. There was this silent reassurance she had been craving all these years. God, she missed him. And Vinita.

Then she told him. Everything. Every incident since her nightmare till date.

She tilted her head to look at Jeet. "Is it okay for me to feel safe around the person who came into my life by deceiving himself?'

Jeet shrugged. "Seems like you're in love."

She winced at that. "No."

"Yes."

Priyasha shook her head. "I'm still confused Jeet. He has me so confused. I don't know if I can trust him or not."

"Priya, from what I heard," He gave her a pointed look. "He certainly could have taken advantage of you. He had many chances. But he didn't. Instead, he's been taking care of you like a psychopath, literally. I'm not sure how else one can earn someone's trust." He grimaced.

Priyasha relented, "I know. But he wouldn't tell me anything. Not this, not that. Nothing."

Jeet anchored his gaze at her suspiciously, then smirked. "I know what you need done right now."

Priyasha narrowed her eyes into slits, confused. "What are you planning to do?"

"Wanna test my formula on him?" he said in excitement.

"What formula?" Priyasha hesitated.

"Ah, this will be interesting," Jeet suspiciously whispered.

"Do. Not. Pull. Any of your stupid prank! I'm warning you, Jeet. We're all grown up now."

"Holy...!" He refrained himself from cursing and frowned. "Why do you think I can only act like a goofball?"

Priyasha smiled. "I didn't say that, just wanted to make sure you wouldn't engage me in something stupid."

"Trust me. It'll be worth it."

Priyasha looked at her best friend considering the idea, "Okay. Tell me about it."

Jeet said in a mischievous tone. "Alright."

Priyasha had a nervous feeling about his wicked best friend's idea, but then, she thought to give it a go.

Jeet then pulled out his wallet, then brought out a capsule foil. "First you would have to take this."

Priyasha stared at the capsule, suspiciously. "What is this?"

"Er, it is... umm, a kind of - tranquilizer. It'll help calm your nerves and encourage you to tell only the truth. As long you remain under the influence of this, you'll only show off your true emotions and say what you truly believe or feel."

"What?" She shrieked, suddenly scared of the drug and learning about its description. "Why do you have something this dangerous in your pocket?"

"Oh, work purpose, you know?" He answered casually.

"What work do you do that needs drugs like this?"

"Aww, Priya, I'll tell everything. But right now, focus on the situation on hand. You trust me or not?"

"I do but..."

"Take it... take it." He shoved the foil in her hand in haste.

She stared down at it. "When will the effect start to kick in?"

"In more or less three hours."

"How long the effect will remain?"

"Whole night long," he answered wickedly.

Priyasha grimaced. "Does he also need to have this?"

"It would have been great, but this would be illegal. I mean, to give him a drug like this without his permission beforehand."

Priyasha frowned. It already seemed dangerous. She looked at her bestie almost frightened. When he assured her by hugging her from side, she requested a passing by catering boy to bring them two bottles of water.

Jeet grinned ear to ear after that.

"Now I really feel like I don't trust you."

"Ah... Priya, don't hurt me like that."

She rolled her eyes at his drama then eyed around the place in search of the person for whom she had just agreed to take the apparent dangerous risk.

Where the hell was he?

She desperately hoped, whatever that was going to happen in the near future, it wouldn't be a wrong decision. As interesting as it seemed, it was equally terrifying her.

"Okay now, do as I say." Jeet resumed his mentoring. "Do you know Priya, a recent study has brought out an amazing fact to deal with certain situations which are otherwise difficult to work on."

Priyasha stared at the person beside her. She started suspecting Jeet and doubted whether she actually knew him or not. Jeet's sudden change in tone and the way he spoke, appeared so much... professional.

"The person's name is Ekman. Anyway, the study demonstrates that negative emotions like anger not necessarily act as a cue to deception, but sometimes it works well in revealing the truth. When a person is under threat, he might acquire a deceptive mask to save himself. However, you cannot always rely on the verbal cues. What people say at those times, might not be what they meant. But when negativity gets involved in judgement of their credibility, you must also analyze the nonverbal cue, that is, their negative expressions. Because for obvious reasons negative facial expressions are more difficult to feign than the verbal cues. The study in fact tells, you can really expect truth from an angry person than a calmer and stable one."

Priyasha eyed her best friend in awe. "What do you mean by negative emotions and expressions?"

Jeet chuckled. "I mean, anger can really come in handy as a catalyst for expressing uncomfortable truths or emotions."

Priyasha still couldn't grasp what the hell he was trying to say.

Jeet explained, "You have to make him angry."

"What?" Priyasha flinched. "Why would I do that?"

Jeet shook his head. "Do as I say. First, ignore him as much as you can. That really gets on men's nerves, trust me."

She stared at him, unable to utter anything.

"Second, try to infuriate him by contradicting his words."

Priyasha raised one of eyebrows. "Okay, that's... an easy one." She could do that.

"Third, try to fight him over every little irrelevant thing. And you'll see the outcome afterwards. He'll be furious and... angry people cannot lie. At least, not through their expressions."

"How do you know all these things?" Priyasha raised an eyebrow at Jeet.

"You know, work purpose." Jeet shrugged.

She looked at him suspiciously. "What are you Jeet? What is your work?"

"I'll tell you tomorrow. First, let's finish this mission together."

She scrunched together her brows, but kept quiet.

Which is when, Abhiraj returned. One of his hands buried deep into his trousers pocket, another one was holding his phone to his ears. He was talking to someone. She noticed him and glanced back at Jeet. Then pointed through the corner of her eyes to make him realize, this was the infamous person. Jeet nodded, understanding her indication as both of their eyes traveled toward Abhiraj. Abhiraj came and stood right in front of her then disconnected his phone. Priyasha gazed at his face when he raised one of his eyebrows and shifted his focus toward Jeet sitting next to her. He was definitely bothered by Jeet.

Priyasha averted her eyes and both she and Jeet arose. Jeet looked at him with a huge smile plastered on his face and extended a hand to greet. Abhiraj copied, tight-lipped.

"Hi, I'm Jeet. Priyasha's friend."

"Friend?" Abhiraj asked, his voice still gruff.

Priyasha corrected, "Best friend."

Abhiraj stared down at her, frowning.

Jeet continued, "And, if I am not wrong, you are Abhiraj." He beamed. "Nice meeting you."

"Same here." His focus shifted on Priyasha. She looked away, sulking, reminding herself what Jeet had taught her. She only hoped, it'd work. Was she being desperate for his attention? But she couldn't take steps ahead without knowing the other side of the story. For the first time in her life, she was seeing a future beyond her nightmare. She couldn't get serious about it if she didn't yet know... in what kind of danger she was getting involved in additionally.

"So," Jeet asked, "How is your roommate? She can get on the nerves sometimes you know?" and chuckled at his own words.

"She lives as a paying guest in my apartment." Abhiraj corrected, "And our relationship is cordial."

Jeet's eyes shone in amusement as he grinned and nodded. Priyasha kept quiet until the catering boy brought her the water bottles.

"Thank you," she said before the boy went back.

Abhiraj settled his attention on Priyasha. "We should leave now."

She responded without looking or turning at him, "I think I'll stay tonight. Besides, the ceremony hasn't finished yet."

Abhiraj didn't say anything immediately. She glanced up at Jeet who smirked at her slyly, encouraging her.

For a few seconds, no one talked. Then he said, calm as ever, "We're leaving right now. Vijay has already left for Kolkata, and I'm not leaving you here all by yourself. It's not safe."

Priyasha spun around immediately and looked right into his eyes. They could get her killed someday, but at the same time they were brilliantly capable of soothing her palpitating heart. The entire galaxy was on display and she could get lost in there every single time. How would she be able to infuriate him intentionally? The tremors in her heart returned with full blast as she stared at him. His eyes gleamed, there was a tinge of concern and longing. But apart from that she couldn't make out anything else. Why was he so good at deceiving himself?

"Jeet will accompany me. Jeet?" She said, without taking her eyes off him.

Jeet immediately played along. "Yeah definitely, Priya." Then he turned to Abhiraj and assured him as well. "Abhiraj, don't worry, I'll take her to Kolkata... safe." He beamed again.

Abhiraj scowled. "You are coming with me," he said and emphasized on his words this time.

She looked fiercely into his eyes. "Why?"

"I'm saying that's why."

"Leave me alone, Abhiraj. Go away," she mumbled.

He grimaced as soon as she said that. The Abhiraj Roy, was actually gotten stunned by her words. She hoped, he wouldn't feel insulted or feel his prestige degraded in front of Jeet, but that was exactly what she had opted for.

However, as expected, not caring that Jeet was standing right there, Abhiraj grabbed and pulled on her wrist. "I have no time for drama right now," he angrily mumbled.

She tried to loosen his grip by yanking her hand, of course to no avail. Also, because she secretly wanted it to happen according to the plan. Then she acted unwilling but went with him anyway. Jeet delivered a sly wink at her when she looked back over her shoulder.

God saved her.

She was nervous as hell.