In the loving memory of Anshika di YUDKBHT.
You can never know what life has in store for you. I may not know her personally but she was a part of our Wattpad family and I have always loved her work. She will always be remembered. May her soul rest in peace. Om shanti.

Here's the next chapter and it's a long one.
Hope you like it.
Happy Reading :)

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The dark damp night was coming but this didn't bother Naina. She just wanted to sit there as long as she could without caring about any other thing. The number of people was multiplying, as they say, night time is the best time to spend at Marine Drive. She was observing people, some had come along with families, some were enjoying their me-time, while some couples were spending their romantic time. They all seemed to be pleased in their little bubble. This is what she craved for. It was like someone had opened the chest of her deepest desires today, which she had locked and buried in the deepest corner of her heart. Sitting there and watching people happy in their own world was adding more to her grief. On top of that, the twisted foot had almost become swollen now, increasing the pain but not more than that in her heart.

With great difficulty, she finally reached home through a taxi. Limping towards the main door, she opened it and entered inside. The lull inside the house was giving her weird and a bit creepy sensations. She felt lonelier than ever. She directly went to the kitchen and as usual, found the dinner already being cooked by Ramdhari. All the adverse events of the day were adding up to her mental exhaustion causing her to have a headache and lose her appetite. She served herself with a small amount of the curry and only one chappati which too seemed to be more than enough. She ate her dinner half-heartedly to not waste Ramdhari's hours of hard work.

Keeping the plates in the sink and washing her hands, she hobbled towards the stairs in an attempt to go towards her room, but all in vain since she staggered as soon as she kept her right leg. She immediately caught hold of her leg and a yelp escaped from her mouth. The pain had become exorbitant now and the almost swollen ankle now looked puffed. She was feeling worn out and just wanted to rest. The swollen ankle needed to be treated. Not being familiar with the things, she didn't know where to find the medication box or the bandage.

There, Sameer sat with a disgruntled expression on his face. After spotting the culprit on the CCTV, anger amalgamated with guilt had engulfed him. He couldn't believe what he saw. Shekhar, their most trusted technical head had done it all but the reason was still unknown. The footage had displayed him entering his cabin cautiously and going towards his laptop. He had opened his laptop and after cleverly completing his task, he was gone. But his wicked mind had betrayed him by not heeding the CCTV cameras. Huh, and he calls himself the "technical head".

As he had asked Aarav to send him to his office, he was told that Shekhar had left early in the evening giving an excuse of not feeling well. This added more to his certainty of him being the wrongdoer. And with that, came the remorse for treating Naina so harshly. Her teary eyes had begged him to trust her but what he did? He not only shouted on her for no reason but also misjudged her. He felt ashamed of his actions and he definitely owed her an apology. As far as Shekhar's matter was concerned, he decided to put it aside for tomorrow as he had better things to take care of. Keeping this in mind, he wrapped up his work to leave for home.

Naina struggled to walk around the living room checking the drawers of the showcase with the possibility to find something but couldn't. After a few minutes, she gave up on her efforts and just plopped on the plush sofa. She glanced at the wall-clock, 8:30 pm, she sighed. Waiting for Sameer won't be worthwhile since he would not be returning back anytime soon. Wait, why was she even waiting for his arrival? Was she really expecting him to help or even see her after what had transpired between them in the office? The answer was obviously a no (in her opinion).

A yawn escaped from her mouth as she mused. She looked down and ran her hands on the smooth surface of the sofa. It seemed to be extremely comfortable for her tired self. Without having any second thoughts, she laid down on the sofa, keeping a cushion under her head. She used her cotton dupatta to cover herself and closed her eyes. In no time, she had gone into a deep slumber.

Sameer came out of the car and searched for the spare keys in his pocket. He was feeling angry, over himself, over the disgusting conspiracy of Shekhar, over the deal which slipped out of his hands, and over everything. Using the key, he opened the door and to his surprise, the room was filled up with ambient lighting. Usually, whenever he would come back, all the lights would be switched off making it all dark, but today was different. He looked around briefly before his eyes narrowed on the couch. A hand was dangling out from the sofa which made him cautious. Who could it be? As far as he had noticed, Naina must be in her room at this hour.

Curiosity got better of him and he walked slowly towards the sofa. As he came by its side, he was flummoxed to see Naina there. "Naina....", her name came out as a whisper from his mouth. He sat down beside her on his knees to have a clear look on her face. Something stirred in his heart, a sensation close to warmth. This was the first time he was seeing her this close.

The dim lights of the room were giving a radiant glow to her face which reflected serenity. Sameer couldn't remove his gaze. All of his anger evaporated in air. But, he knew that she was miserable deep inside as if he could read her even in the dim lights. And why wouldn't he know? It was all because of him. If only he would have been sensible enough to deal with the situation, she won't be in that state.

He sighed and rose from the ground. Just then, his gaze fell on her sprained foot. A wave of guilt and shame struck him. 'Jaldi jaldi mein mera pair mudd gaya tha...'. "Shit.", he muttered under his breath. With that, realization dawned upon him. She was sleeping here because she wasn't able to walk upstairs. He racked his brain to do something. 'Should I leave her here? No no, Pagal hai kya Sameer, aise kaise chhod sakta hai tu usko yahan pe?' Not left with any other chance, he gently picked her up in his arms keeping his movements to a minimum so that she doesn't wake up. He carried her upstairs and opened her room's gate by his foot.

As careful as possible, he laid her down on the bed. She was literally in a very deep slumber. Checking her foot without touching it, he went to his room to bring the ointment and the crepe bandage. When he came back, Naina had turned towards her left side due to which her kurta had gotten dishevelled such that it had risen a bit from the side. He could see a very little of her skin peeking outside from the side. The deep back cut of her kurta now exposed her smooth skin which was meddling with his senses. His male hormones weren't helping him. 'God...Sameer, get a grip on yourself...' He shook his head and reminded himself of the task in his hand.

He averted his gaze towards her foot which again got shifted towards her. Feeling uneasy, he pulled the comforter on her leaving her foot out of it. With a very light force, he shifted her foot a little to apply the ointment. Touching her foot was giving him a weird sensation. This was an ordinary-couple thing. They weren't a couple, too far away from ordinary. For god's sake, they hadn't even had a proper conversation until today which too had gone miserably wrong due to his "over-smartness".

After evenly applying the cream, he carefully wrapped the bandage around her swollen part of the foot, trying his best not to touch anywhere else. He got alarmed when she stirred a little bit but relieved when she didn't wake up. On being satisfied with his job, he covered her foot with the comforter and got up. Standing there, he moved his gaze around her room as it was the first time he had come here after her arrival in his house. Some files and documents were lying on the table, maybe office-related. The dressing table was bereft with only three or four items.

Much to his astonishment, he found a dream catcher hanging above the headrest. He knew how that simple willow hoop is used as a spiritual tool to assure good dreams to those who sleep under that. He never felt to buy one since he didn't believe in all this but he had seen how the girls in his college days would aspire to get one with a belief to meet their Mr Perfect in their dreams. 'Par Naina ko iski kya zarurat? Isey bhi bure sapne aate hain kya?' She was still a stranger to her and so was he to her. He was completely oblivious to her background but ignored it for some reason. He didn't want to display himself as a clingy person when he himself had told her to maintain a distance.

Checking the time on the wall clock, he glanced her one last time before leaving her room. He came downstairs to have his dinner. The silence lingering in the air was killing him. There was a time when he used to have the best part of his day on this dining table with everyone chattering around, doing funny banters. He thought sadly, he had somehow managed compose himself after Nanu, but still, the agony and loneliness in his heart was refusing to go away. He slowly ate his food and washed his plate before turning off the lights. Before going upstairs his gaze fell on her stuff lying on the table which included her purse, mobile phone and a file. He picked them up to keep them in her room and went upstairs.

Coming back to his room, recalled all the events of the day. So much had happened in a day. The more he thought about it, the more he felt his temper rising. He wanted to vent it out. Going towards his cupboard, he took out a pack of his organic cigarettes. Pulling out one of them, he placed it between his lips and lit it up. For him, this was the best way to release needless burden and tension. It's been quite a long time since he had smoked. He had begun smoking in his college days out of peer pressure, but that's only the half truth. The other half was that he used to find an unusual comfort in releasing the black smoke like he was releasing all those troubles and problems persisting in his life. Once beginning, there had been no turning back, though he had always kept its consumption limited. He would often spend his night sitting at the terrace of his hostel building, smoking whenever he would feel alone as they say, 'Cigarette smoke and starry nights, a remedy for lonely nights.'

Moving towards the balcony, he took a drag. His other hand was busy pinching the bridge of his nose. The deal was really important for their company. He was paying for someone else's sins. He firmed his resolve to pay Shekhar back for his evil deeds. After spending some more time with his cigarette in the balcony, he decided to go back and sleep not before throwing the cigarette butt in the flower pot kept nearby.

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"Chali jaa yahan see!"

"Doobara hume yahan apni shakal mat dikha dena!"

"Tera humse koi rishta nahi raha, samajh nahi aata tujhe!?"

"Nikal jaa humara nazron ke saamne see!"

"Tune humari saari izzat mitti mein mila di!"

"N-Nahii...p-please aisa m-mat kijiye...please..."

She wriggled in her sleep, "Nahiiii.....nahiii....pleaseeee....." She was struggling hard to bring herself out of that black hole but all in vain. She was pleading and whimpering to stop those voices but they kept on reverberating. "Nahiiiiii...." She sat up panting hard, her forehead glistening with sweat beads due to the nightmare she just had. Guess, the idea of getting a dream catcher wasn't worth it. She had been experiencing this for about six months now but couldn't get rid of it. Yesterday's events had struck the chords of her bitter past due to which her thoughts were revolving around it when she had slept.

Taking deep breaths, she calmed herself down, but then she noticed something. She was in her room, on her bed. As far as she remembered she had slept on the sofa then how come she was here? She moved herself a bit to fetch a glass of water from the bedside table but halted when she felt something on her foot and looked at it. A crepe bandage. 'Who did that?' Her head was already aching because of the frightening dream and now this bandage was raising various questions in her mind. 'Yeh kisne baandhi mere pair pe. Kahin Sameer ne... Par woh aisa kyu karenge... khaaskar kal ke baad...?'

She glanced at the clock and realized that she was already late. Hastily she got up from the bed accidentally putting all the pressure on her bandaged foot causing her to stagger. In the same moment, a pair of hands caught her arms and held her tightly, "Aaraam se...". Sameer had just opened the door of her room when he saw her getting down from her bed and immediately ran towards her when she stumbled. Their eyes met giving them a sense of Deja-vu. The same weird sensations engulfed them making their heartbeats quicken. The sprained leg had been long forgotten.

He was the first one to come out of trance. He made her sit on the bed carefully whereas she averted her eyes from him. The surroundings had become sheepish all over again which irked Sameer. He had deemed to talk to her before leaving for the office. Ugh. All of those scripted apologies were now nothing but a waste. He didn't know what to say now.

A few minutes later Sameer began, "Tum thik ho? I mean tumhara pair?"

She looked at him, 'Ab kya matlab inko mere pair see, kal toh yakeen kar nahi rahe the. Ab kya hua?', and answered with a meek yes.

Sameer took his place in front of her on the edge of the bed, fidgeting his fingers, trying to frame his words. Taking a deep breath, he interlinked his fingers and said, "Woh... Kal ke liye... I'm sorry... mujhe aise bina sach jaane tumhe accuse nahi karna chahiye tha..."

Naina sat stunned on hearing his words. 'Did he just apologize to her? It means he knows about the real culprit.' She replied after a minute, "Koi baat nahi... Kisne kiya yeh sab waise?"

Sameer shifted his gaze to the ground and said, "Shekhar ne." He began to brief her about how he had caught him in the CCTV footage.

She was astounded when she heard Shekhar was the person who tried to disgrace both of them in front of such honorable people. Till now, she had known him to be one of the most trusted employee in the office. 'But why would he do that?'

Her chain of thoughts broke when he spoke, "Tumhe kuchh yaad hai... I mean tumne kisi aur ko room mein dekha tha kya humare alawa?"

'How was she supposed to tell that when all she could remember was being in his arms, staring in his eyes?' She flushed unknowingly when he said the word 'Humara' but brought herself back to the reality. With a quiet voice, she said, "Nahi..."

A frown appeared on his face, "Pata nahi kaise kiya hoga usne yeh sab?", he muttered. He had to find out and for that he needed to reach his office. He glanced at her and found her looking down, "Umm... Mujhe office jana hai. Tum... Tum aaj rehne do aur... leave lelo. Koi as such important kaam bhi Nahi hai..."

She inferred he was asking her to take a leave due to her leg which she was going to do anyway. She nodded in affirmation to his words. With that, Sameer got up to leave her room without uttering a word.

As he left her room, she got up carefully taking care of her foot and stepped towards the bathroom to freshen up. As she returned from the bathroom after dressing up in simple Kurti, her gaze fell on a tray of dishes and a cup of tea covered with respective lids. She pouted, "Ab isey koun rakhke chala gaya? Kahin firse Sameer toh nahi?"

She tried to move quickly out of her room and called out Ramdhari who was busy working in the kitchen, "Ramdhari Bhaiyaaa...."

He came running on hearing his name and found Naina standing above near the staircase, "Ji Bhabhi, boliye..."

"Woh... Woh khane ki tray kisne rakhi mere room mein?" She asked politely.

"Ji woh humne rakhi kuchh der pehle." He replied gently.

"Oh, thik hai." She felt a bit disappointed.

Wait, disappointed? 'Naina, tujhe kya laga tha, teri sach mein fikar hogi unhe?' Composing herself, she returned back to her room. Thinking back over his words, she discerned that he had apologized to her only because of his guilt and not because he actually cared about her. Obviously.

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"You are fired!!!" Sameer roared at Shekhar who flinched at his sharp voice.

When he had been summoned in Sameer's cabin, he was unexceptionally fuming with anger. The reason behind this was the morning's incident when he had overheard two of their girl employees talking to each other.

"Aaj aayi nahi humari Naina 'madam'" One of them taunted.

"Arey bhul gayi, kal hi toh nikaal diya usko. Bohot oversmart bann rahi thi na." Other one said.

"Haan, usey kya laga Sameer Sir uss jaisi se attract ho jayenge. Huh, pata nahi kya samajhti thi apne aap ko."

"Aur nahi toh kya. Do chaar baar tareef kya kardi, bade par nikal aaye uske. Upar se itni achhi deal gayi so gayi."

"Wahi na. Mujhe yoh samajh hi nhi aata ki koi itna kaise gir sakta hai, woh bhi sirf paison ke liye."

"Mujhe toh pehle hi uspe shaq tha. Itna sati-saavitri si banke ghumti thi aur ab dekho."

"Pata nahi Sameer sir ko bhi usme kya achha dikhta hai. Huh."

With every sentence he heard, his anger rose. How dare they talk like that about her character without even knowing the actual truth. Pandit's word struck his mind, "Tujhe pata hai na society kaisi hai humari... Kuchh bhi galat ho, sabse pehle character par baat aati hai... Woh deal nhi kar payegi inn sabse."

He was absolutely right. Though they hadn't accepted their marriage, still, he wasn't one of those who would bear anything like a statue. It was about her character and her dignity, and he would not listen to this bullshit.

Clearing his throat, he caught their attention. They stood mortified at their places when they saw him. He had a stern expression adorning his face.

One of them managed to speak, "G-g-good morning, S-sir..."

He didn't bother to reply them, "Kya aapke paas itna free time hai ki aap yaha itne maze se baatein kar rahi hain?" He asked in a firn voice.

They didn't dare to speak. "Answer me!", he growled due to which everyone's attention got fixed on them.

" N-n-o, sir." They both replied in unison with a small voice.

"Then? Agar itna faaltu ka time rehta hai toh there's no need to come here!" He said coldly.

"Aage se aisa nahi hoga sir...", one of them said.

He didn't say anything and left from there making his way towards his cabin. He was raged but restrained himself to do anything stupid. Which is why he had immediately asked Aarav to send Shekhar in his room.

On pushing him to tell the truth, he had revealed his true self and how he had set it all. The fact that he had tried to humiliate them by his dirty and cheap trick, made him more furious. In an instant, he had expelled him from the company to which Shekhar had calmy complied.

As soon as he left his cabin, Sameer chucked out a cigarette and lit it up. He couldn't believe all that had been conspiring behind his back. He had known and trusted him for a long time, but now all that faith had been dumped. He felt like his head was going to explode any minute.

The people outside in the office were thinking that Naina hadn't come because she had been evicted by him yesterday. They were judging her by calling her names like a gold-digger, cunning and what not. But only he knew the truth and he didn't want her get punished for sonething she hadn't done. This was his care for her or self-reproach, he himself wasn't sure.

The whole company's reputation was at stake, his & Naina's dignity was at stake. He mulled over it a lot. He even thought of taking Munna-Pandit's advice but then backed off speculating that he couldn't always rely upon them. It was his life. He needed to make his own decision now.

At that moment, he knew what was needed to be done.

It was time to bring out the little secret of their marriage in front of everyone.

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Hope you liked this chapter.
I know I am going a bit slow with the story, but whenever I sit to write, I can't help myself to make it short since I want to show everything which comes in my mind.

Do give your views in comments & vote if you liked it.

And also, there's one thing I wanted to inform you guys. My online classes are going to begin from tomorrow which might hamper the updates, but I'll try my level best to give them on time.

Lots of Love, Sim❣