18.

L A S Y A

"I am glad that you are back, bhabhi, you don't know how much we all missed you, especially Bhai", Ziya said once the car hit the main road and gave her an amused look. "Seriously? Your bhai, and missing me? Ho hi nhi sakta", I replied and gulped the medicine she passed me.

[Translation: not possible]

"No, I swear, Mom kasam. He was acting so differently, you know, as if he had lost all the spark. This past week he didn't even pull any prank", she pinched her throat and looked at me with those innocent eyes and it reminded me so much of Moksh. I laughed at her expressions and shook my head.

Not soon after we reached her college and she stepped out taking her bag. "I'll meet you in the evening then. An hour before your college hours end message me", she smiled and bid me bye and then walked inside the gates.

After I saw her safely entering the premises, I asked the driver's uncle to start the car and we drove towards the road. Rummaging through my purse I searched for my phone and dialled Sam.

"Shemdi?", he answered after the third ring. His voice was drowsy as no doubt he was still in bed. "Wake up sleepy head", I answered adjusting the phone to my ear.

"I don't want to", he whined and I heard the ruffling of the duvet. "Busy schedule?", I asked, gazing out of the window as I saw the cars passing by.

"Hmm!", he hummed tiredly. "How's Prit's doing?", I questioned biting my lower lip. After our last encounter, I hadn't seen Prit. I knew I had upset him, but his outburst this time was more unsettling to me.

It felt as if he was hiding something from me. In the past, we have fought and argued but before going to sleep we had made sure to sort out everything and patch up. But this time things were heated up between us.

Prit had refused to talk to me or even see me in the ten-metre radius near him. Throughout my stay, I didn't see him having breakfast and I rarely saw his presence at his own home. His secretary informed us that he was spending most of his time in the office or his penthouse. Even Kaku was worried about his health.

During my departure, he wasn't present, but I knew he looked after me. I felt his presence whenever I would sleep and he made sure to keep tabs on me.

This indifferent behaviour of Prit left all of us worried, I waited every time for me but he was adamant about making me suffer. I could handle everything, the worst situation but not Prit giving me a cold shoulder. He is my best friend, my secret keeper, my everything after all.

Whenever I got angry with him, he made sure to make it up to me. But Prit was stubborn, so stubborn and the most difficult task was pacifying him.

"Don't worry, Vini, he'll come around, give him some space, hm? Babygirl", Sam sounded concerned from the other side, snapping me out of my thoughts. "When was the last time you heard from him?", I questioned scrunching my nose.

"On the day you left, that punk is even seen zoning my chats and avoiding my calls", Sam grumbled and I chuckled. I couldn't bring myself to call or text him, maybe I was too afraid to muster up the courage.

"He's Prit, Sam. The Prithvi Chauhan hai vho, jaldi pighalne vaalo mein se nhi hai", I said. "For real bro, uss baklol neh toh mujhe apne office mein bhi kadam nhi rakhne diya saale neh, darwaze se hi bhaga diya", he groaned, his sleep flying out of the window, his anger taking over him.

[Translation: he is not one to melt quickly

: That idiot didn't even let me step into his office, he chased me out the door.]

"You deserve that", I chuckled and he scowled from the other side. "Tu toh bas usi ki side legi, kamino mujhe akela kar dete ho", I could feel him frowning with an ugly expression on his face.

[Translation: You will just take his side, you bastard, you leave me alone]

"Chal, I will call you later, I am off work", I said and disconnected the call. I stepped down from the car, grabbing my overcoat, bag and my iPad I closed the door and looked at the building in front of me. "Uncle, if it gets late so please don't wait for me and have your lunch, ok", I said to the driver uncle who smiled and nodded in agreement.

I stared at the building and walked towards the entrance. I was searching for a new place for my work office. My father-in-law had suggested to me some great brokers for deciding upon the best place while Avni too recommended some interior designers who would start working the very day I finalised a particular place according to my preference.

"Good morning ma'am", a man in his late thirties greeted me. He was dressed in his best formals and passed me a professional smile. "Good morning", I reciprocated his smile. I've been smiling at people a lot lately, aside from my always poker face. Sigh!

He showed me the whole place, where my office would be, and the conference room, and we ended the tour with me questioning everything. The place was kinda according to my preference since it was neutral-shaded and had no bright colours, except that the place didn't catch my eye.

We finally settled on the chairs placed near the large glass window. We could see a good view from this part of the skyscraper and it was pretty impressive to gaze at the beauty of the city from here.

"Ma'am did you like the place?", he questioned. "Hmm, it's pretty much to my liking but I need some time to finalize a decision", I replied. He forwarded his iPad which flashed with images of other locations and I went through them, carefully analysing everything.

Then suddenly a bell rang in my head, all these locations had something in common, they were close to Mehrotra and Co, hardly thirty minutes away if not for the traffic. I furrowed my eyebrows and gave the man sitting in front of him a suspicious look.

"The locations?", I hinted, coming directly to the point. I hated beating around the bushes, no doubt girls didn't get along with me during my school time, but I was brutally honest. "T-that....A-actually", he blinked his lashes nervously and avoided my gaze.

I arched my eyebrow, gesturing for him to continue. "Your husband, Mr Mehrotra strictly ordered us to recommend locations closer to their company", he finally confessed and I rolled my eyes. Of course, it has to be my husband!

"And what made you do so?", my voice a bit intimidating and I saw him gulp and lick his dry lips. "Ma'am, Mr Mehrotra partially threatened to sue our company if we didn't oblige to his command, please don't snatch the only source of bread from us", he begged and I just nodded my head.

"Don't worry I won't do any such thing", I assured and saw his expression visibly relaxing.

We spent a lot of time looking around a few more places and shortlisting them all. It was late evening when we finished and I was exhausted with all the roaming. Honestly, it was tiresome going around the city in the busy traffic. It was late afternoon when we finally decided to call off the day and wrap up things. Phew!

"I'll inform you about my decisions soon", I smiled at him who nodded and went back inside. I opened my phone and searched for Ziya's message. It was delivered forty-five minutes before. I calculated the time it would take if we went from the same route, and I sighed since it was the busiest one.

I sat in the car and the driver uncle started the car, driving to Ziya's college. It took us nearly thirty minutes because of the traffic but alas we reached. Ziya was standing near the gate, talking to one of her friends.

The car honk grabbed her attention and she walked towards the car with bouncy steps, excitement radiating off her.

"Bhabhi", she squealed, her lips stretched in a wide smile as she threw her bag on the seat and sat inside closing the door. "Itni khushi?", I laughed at her excitement

[Translation: you seem happy?]

"I was telling my friends about how great my bhabhi is, honestly I wanted to even introduce you to them but then decided otherwise. We were already late", she said with a sad pout. "Koi baat nhi, we'll meet them some other time, now, did you message Vihaan and Vivaan?, do we need to pick them or will they reach the mall themselves?", I asked

[Translation: no issues]

"I messaged Vihaan, and he said it'll take them another fifteen minutes since they are caught up with last-minute submissions", she informed and I nodded at the piece of information.

In no time we reached the mall despite the heavy traffic. Wearing my overcoat, I stepped out of the car followed by Ziya and we walked inside the mall.

Since I and the siblings missed last week's chill-fun session, we decided to hit the mall today and have a gala time. It was the twin's idea since they wanted to search for suitable gift options for Dada-dadi's anniversary which was just a few days away. The trio was busy stressing over what would make a meaningful and precious gift.

"Bhabhi, aapko kya lagta hai dada-dadi ko kya gift Dena chahiye?", Ziya asked looking around the mall. "Whatever you feel like, you have practically known them your entire life", I shrugged as we took the escalator to the second floor.

[Translation: What gift do you think should be given to grandparents?]

"That's the problem bhabhi, even though we have known them but still haven't known them", she huffed and I patted her back. "A mere gift won't decide your feelings for them, janna, it's your pure intentions and efforts that matter", I smiled at her and she nodded.

I was never a fan of window shopping, most of my outfits were designed by Sam and he would always stuff my closet with clothes. So I had generally no idea how it felt like going shopping, Avni would never purposely drag me to a clothes store.

Since both of us were too lazy to roam around, spending countless hours rummaging through the aisles. So rather we stick to online shopping or rely on Sam.

"See, Zi, I have completely no idea about shopping and all, and if you ask me I would rather give some brutally honest opinions which might even hurt you, so be prepared", I warned her already, because I didn't want to give her any false hope. "So you mean to say you haven't been to any shopping spree ever?", she asked surprised, as she looked at me as if I had grown two heads. I shook my head in denial and watched her expressions change yet again.

"Aw, bhabhi, you are so cute. No doubt Bhai's head over heels for you", she gushed, pulling my cheeks and dragging me towards one of the clothing stores.

Aayein? Baigan? Moksh falling or me? That man's non-existent huge like a mountain male ego would rather fall off a cliff than ending up falling for me.

"Bhabhi, can we try this?", Ziya questioned me like an overexcited kid, as she held onto a simple black dress, that had strings in the back. It was plain black and decent, so the length wasn't a matter. I nodded when she shuffled through the rack and found the same one, but this was in the colour white.

"Let us both try these matching dresses on, can we please?", she pouted, battling her eyes innocently at me and I had to give in to her demand. "Okay", I took the dress from her hold and walked towards the trail room.

And just like that I experienced a complete torture session for I don't know how much time because the twins were late. So Ziya dragged me from store to store and made me try tons of dresses irrespective of buying them.

Her excuse was, that she already had her wardrobe staked up so she just wanted to try on clothes to take selfies in them. Pretty weird, but okay!

Honestly, I was exhausted. The fatigue was kicking in since I had skipped lunch as always and I felt like passing out any second but I masked my expressions with a smile, not wanting to ruin Ziya's excitement and glee.

"Bhabhi, Zi!", it was Vihaan who yelled trying to grab our attention when we exited a store and Ziya was all ready to pull me into another.

Vihaan's voice was loud, grabbing the attention of the stranger too. But I cared less since my tortures finally came to an end and I heaved an inaudible sigh of relief.

"Bhabhi, looking hot!", Vihaan whistled as the twins walked towards us. "Chup kar chucundar, Bhai ko pata chala na chil kar rak denge", Vivaan smacked the back of the head of his older twin who passed him a pained expression. His statement left me feeling coy and I bit onto the inside of my cheek.

[Translation: Shut up you monkey, if brother finds out then he will peel you alive]

"Ow! Man, that hurts", Vihaan dramatically rubbed his head, complaining like a bimbo, while Vivaan ignored him as if he didn't exist and was an irritating pest.

"Let's go, hunt for the gifts shall we?", Ziya questioned and my eyes widened with horror. My legs had already given up with all the roaming around, and they ached badly. I felt a strong headache coming because of my empty stomach.

"Let's grab something to eat first, bhabhi might be tried", Vivaan like the sensible good boy he was came to my rescue like a wingman and I passed him a grateful smile. The duo nodded and all of us walked towards the food court and placed our orders.

After filling up my stomach to my heart's content, I felt as if I had come to life once again. I blinked my eyes, trying to get rid of the sleep as I felt a sense of laziness hit me after eating. A bad trait of mine was I would want to lay down and fall asleep after my meals and no matter how much I try to get rid of it, I found it nearly impossible. Sigh!

Once we were done with our food we stood up and scattered around. We wandered around the whole mall, bickering, having fun and messing around for the next two hours. And in those hours we did everything except buy gifts.

I clicked photos with Vihaan with the props he handed me as we made funny faces at the camera, even though I wasn't a photogenic person I still tried for his sake.

With Vivaan, we strolled around the books corner of the mall. I surfed through the different sections feeling intrigued by the heavenly smell of the books while he was busy searching for new ones to add to his new collection.

Honestly, I enjoyed it a lot, being around these crackheads. They reminded me of the part of youth I'd missed. Finally, we reached the topmost floor where it was the game zone.

"Honestly, it's so fun shopping with Bhabhi, she has great choices and opinions", Ziya said as she looked down at the bags. "I agree", Vihaan added and I smiled at them.

"Yeh sab toh thik hai, per hamne gifts toh kharide hi nhi", Vivaan spoke and the trio stared at each other, communicating through some sort of alien eye language. "Bhai! mai toh thak gaya, merse nhi chala jayenge aur, count me out of this", Vihaan threw his hands in the air in a melodramatic way.

[Translation: All this is fine, but we didn't even buy gifts.

I am so tired, I won't be able to walk anymore]

Ziya was about to say something when I saw people rushing towards the exit and the place vacating with time. My eyebrows thinned in confusion as I looked at the now almost empty part of the mall.

I passed the three a doubtful look which they reciprocated. Suddenly I saw men in black walking through the stairs and seizing the place. I felt suspicious.

"Shit" "fvck" "We are doomed for sure", curses after curses followed and I looked at them in confusion. Realisation seemed to drop upon them and they looked at their phone in urgency.

Suddenly my eyes caught sight of two figures marching towards us and it felt oddly familiar. But as soon as they neared us my eyes widened in realisation. Moksh and Nevan!

Moksh walked towards me with heavy steps, he had ditched his blazer and only sported his white button-up shirt. It was a bit crisped and ruffled, folded till his elbow, giving me a full show of his veiny arms.

He had a phone attached to his ear as he barked orders to the person on the other side. Even from afar, I could still pinpoint his features. He looked furious, his eyebrows were knitted in furry and his jaw was clenched as he took long strides towards us. And he looked deviously hot and sexy, making me feel something in my lower belly.

Beside him, Nevan wore a grey hoodie with an earpiece attached to his ear. He looked no less scary than his best friends. Both of them looked terrifying as if they were ready to murder someone.

"Where's your fucking phone, Lasya, huh? I have been texting and calling you like a madman for the last half an hour and here you are playing Dora the explorer with my siblings", as soon as they reached us, Moksh angrily questioned stepping towards me. I involuntarily took a step back in fear and gulped when I saw his expression softening.

"I-", that's when I noticed I had left my purse back in the car itself and it even had my phone in it. Shit!

"We have been trying to reach you for the past hour, bhabhi, you wouldn't answer your phone, nor could we track your location. That's when we contacted your driver and found that you all are here", Nevan said while Moksh was busy burying holes in my head and I was busy avoiding his gaze at any cost. He looked, angry and sexy, both at the same time.

"You know what, tum na vho dhum machale vala phone kharid lo, kyunki mere calls or texts ka tumhein reply toh dena nhi hai", he spat, controlling his anger. He had his palm fisted tightly enough to turn his knuckles white, his jaw was clenched and I noticed something in his eyes, fear. Fear of losing me!

[Translation: go and buy those kids' phones because you don't have to respond to my calls and texts]

I ducked my head low for my foolishness as I felt too intimidated by his presence. I licked my dry lips and peeped at him through my hair. So the whole fiasco was his doing.

He had emptied the entire mall just because I didn't answer his calls, and he couldn't find a source to reach me.

A shiver ran down my spine at the intensity of his hard gaze and I felt like a child under him. I wonder what he will do when he isn't able to find me forever.

"And you three, grounded for a month", Moksh ordered the trio who were ready to protect, but one glare from him and they pouted grumbling under their breath.

Moksh towered over me and took hold of my wrist before pulling me towards him. His warm palm encircled my cold wrist and I felt a fire ignited through every fibre within me. My face burned and I felt my ears turning red at our proximity.

I forced my lashes upwards and I shivered when I saw the pools of emotions swirling through his brown eyes. The organ inside my chest beat at an eccentric rate and I felt dizzy with the intensity.