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A A I N A  C O N T E M P L A T E D whether she should move away, shy away, or do something that people would normally do in these situations. She was the last person to know and too scared to assume.

She simply pushed herself away, not looking up even though she sensed his eyes on her. She simply kept staring at the gold rings on his fingers that rested over his bent knee, still not believing she had just embraced a man. Still a bit breathless and warm from the moment earlier, Aaina got up quickly, her head still dizzy, and before she could fall, his hands again reached out to catch her.

Oh god. Aaina gulped as she felt his fingertips over her arm.

“Main theek hoon” she managed to speak, and in an instant, Amar took a step back.

“Aur mai pagal nahi hoon. Chup chaap baitho”

“I have to go” She shook her head as she looked around for her bag.

“Not until you tell me what you were saying about your kaki”

“That’s my problem, I’ll look into it” she dismissed him, not knowing how to react.

This woman. Amar took a deep breath of annoyance.

“I’m still standing here if you can’t see?” He retorted as she tried her best to avoid his gaze.

“I have to go—”

“You're not in the state to go out about the town to find your friend”

“I'll be fine, I just need my bag. Where is—”

“Milan!” He called out, the authority in his tone echoing off the walls and harsh footsteps boomed outside the door as a high-spirited Milan peeked in.

“Ji, bhaiya?” His eyes found Aaina, and before he could ask what was happening, Amar intervened.

“Do you remember Aaina's friends?”

Milan forced himself not to smile. “Of course I do”

“Good. One of them is missing. You have to go find her”

Milan's eyes narrowed, and he stepped forward in haste. “What? Who?”

“Shashibala” Aaina replied. “She was with me at the market, remember? She is the same height as me but with longer hair and wears red bangles”

“Every married woman in this town wears red bangles—” Amar interrupted.

“But at least he remembers her face, don't you, Milan?” she retorted.

“Yes, Aaina ben”

“See, he does, unlike you who doesn't even remember her name” said Aaina, and he rolled his eyes in response.

“Shashibala ji, red bangles, long hair, got it!” Milan repeated.

Aaina stood up on unsteady legs. “I'm coming with you”

“Don't you dare step out of this makaan until I tell you to” Amar gave her an adamant glare. Why is she so damn stubborn? he thought.

“You can't stop me,” Aaina's eyes preyed into his as if posing a challenge.

“Milan, leave” Amar articulated.

“Bhaiya—”

“I said, leave”

Giving a sympathetic look to Aaina, he left the makaan.

Fuming, she turned towards Amar. “What's your problem?”

“I need to know everything about your friend and kaki”

“Why?”

“Did I question you while you were gallivanting around the makaan all these days?”

She gave him a cold glare.

“I thought so”

Aaina let out a shriek of frustration. “You are so. . . ugh”

“What?”

“I don't understand you at all. You're more stubborn than me”

“You really want to argue right now?”

“Um-yes! Because in the middle of all this chaos, you somehow manage to be so arrogant and senseless and at the same time take care of me while I pushed you away”

She closed her eyes for a moment to collect herself, no idea why she was speaking all that. It was her internal agony of not having any control over the situation, and he could sense it.

“Milan will find her”

Aaina realised how she’d be playing a game in her head. Hiding her deepest thoughts, telling people only what she felt she should and then making a mess in her head of all the things she really knew. It was frustrating, to say the least.

“I know, but I won’t rest until I do it myself”

“You should go back to Hira Ghar”

The mention of it made her uneasy. She shook her head.

“Then stay here the night”

Her eyes widened, not surprised by what he said but about the fact that he did.

Amar blinked, looking a bit fazed. “With your parents, I mean,” he said, pointing at the opened boxes on the floor.

“Um, I'll have to go back regardless, or Mansingh will go in a frenzy”

“Who is Mansingh?” he asked sharply.

“Our guard”

“And he knows you visit Chakradhan hill everyday and he doesn't care?”

She shrugged. “He doesn't know”

“Then you should change your guard”

She deadpanned.

“But I'm still alive being here, if that's what you mean”

“With my help, that is”

She wanted to laugh sarcastically but ended up thinking over it too much. Was she even safe anymore? Here or even Hira ghar now that Ranmal has said too much of what she didn't know until now.

“Maybe. Safer than Hira Ghar will be now”

A daunting expression replaced him, and with his inherent curiosity, he asked. “Meaning?”

“Hira ghar has been a great house all these years. But I wouldn't call it a home” A pang of guilt set in her like an ache. "I don't mean I do not care for it, but it's more of kaki's house than my own."

Seeing the inquisitiveness on his face, she again tried to restrain. "I shouldn't s-say that, she has raised me—"

His shoulders hitched upwards. "Why shouldn't you?"

"Because no one is truly wrong. And one should be considerate"

He gave her an incredulous look. "You can't compete with feelings. You feel what you feel. You hate what you hate. "

Aaina paused at his words, luring into his gleaming dark orbs.

"But is hating really even worth it? At the end of the day—"

"You'll be fucking happy" He snapped, his eyes narrowing further, deepening in intense fervor. "At the end of the day, you will learn where to draw the line. Some things just cannot be forgiven"

She felt his voice resonating with something hidden and unspoken. He was trying to say something and his voice arose naturally, Aaina thought, as if he wanted to be heard.

She became watchful. He probably needed to vent out.

"What about the long run? How would you feel later on?"

"I do not care about the long run. I don't care what happens. I'd gladly die tomorrow and when I do, I'll be proud of my choices. Hate or love"

That was a strong point of view that he had. Aaina couldn't help but wonder about the life he lived before she knew him. The myriad experiences that had shaped that thought in his mind or simply the question of why he was the way he was. Or her, or kaki or anyone else walking through life.

She took a glance at him. He sat, staring into space, at the setting sun through the open balcony. The last rays of the sun falling over his dark kurta. Aaina saw how calm he looked on the outside and wondered what occupied his thoughts most of the time. The way he was so aware all the time, there must be something always going on in his mind.

She itched to ask him more, to elaborate more, but maybe he didn't need to be questioned at that moment. It'll probably be for some other day or maybe not at all. She brushed off all her curiosities.

"I can try to understand that. That's an intriguing perspective to have”

Amar turned his head in her direction with a perplexed look as if he was expecting a bombardment of questions and accusations his way. Her response was nothing that he thought she'd give. She had, in fact, been surprising him quite a lot lately. Or maybe it was just the fact that he spent more than two minutes in her presence to actually notice things. They've been there all day, in each other's presence with nothing but tension around yet, neither could leave. They sat there, with tired yet fervent eyes, dreading the long day where both poured out the desolate linings of their hearts.

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