A shot went through and Aghanya saw who it was. Blood pooled on Dhruv's chest as he looked down before collapsing. Kushi was the first to scream. She didn't know what was happening.
They ran over to Dhruv as Viren held him. Janvi was handling the killer as he knocked her jaw with the gun. Janvi kicked his leg as he tried to run. He dropped the gun and Janvi picked it up. She pointed it to him.
Suddenly, his mouth frothed and his eyes turned glassy. He had stopped breathing.
Janvi saw them all surrounding Dhruv's person.
"What are you doing?! Call an ambulance!" She yelled holding her bleeding lip.
***
From the moment they had left her apartment, Kushi was the one who hadn't stopped crying. She sobbed and sobbed and it was beginning to worry Aghanya.
"Call a doctor to give something to her to calm down." She said to Viren, he nodded and left. A doctor had arrived, the gave her an injection to calm down. Kushi was asleep in minutes.
Janvi was getting her busted lip checked. Aghanya felt exhaustion wash over her. She felt she was the reason why everything was going wrong. Varun's killer was after her and somehow everyone around her was getting hurt.
She slumped on the chair beside Viren. He held her hand. "Don't." He said. She looked at him with questions in her mind. "Don't blame yourself. It's not your fault." He gave her hand a squeeze.
"He's trying to kill me. Only me. And he isn't succeeding but others are getting hurt. He shot you too. Attacked Kushi. Now Dhruv."
"It's not your fault. It's his. Stop blaming yourself, yes?"
She nodded sighing not feeling relieved. When Janvi came back, she came back with Nikhil in tow.
"He's handling the murder case. Just give him your testimony." She said with a square face.
***
When Kushi woke up, she asked for Dhruv again. Somehow Janvi had managed to get her to sleep. Exhaustion crawled her body from lack of sleep. She couldn't rest. She needed to visit the morgue doctor for the post mortem report and track the case from there.
Blowing out a deep breath, she instructed Viren and Aghanya to look after them and went to the morgue. She took the ziplock bag which had the usual wallet, handkerchief, clothes and keys. It seemed like hid house keys with a key chain of a snake eating its tail symbol.
Janvi got the post mortem report and went to the station. She took a deep breath and knocked the door.
"Come in." Came his reply.
"Here's the report." She slid the file across his desk.
"Oh hello."
She looked at the person seated in front of the desk. Janvi looked at him with her eyes wide as saucers. His eyes were like deep pools of honey, his jaw was square with some stubble which she had kissed last night, his hair was smooth and fell over his eyes, she had ran her fingers over them.
"What are you doing here?" She looked at the handsome stranger whom she had spent the last night with.
He laughed and raised his hands jingling the handcuffs. "I was arrested."
"You know him?" Nikhil asked her.
"Uh no." She quickly said.
"Why are you lying?"
"I don't know who you are, sir." She glared at the handsome stranger.
"You just don't know my name, miss." He smiled at her, his eyes glimmering with mischief.
"Is he the guy?!" Nikhil glared at her.
"No. And it shouldn't matter to you." Janvi rolled her eyes.
Before Nikhil could rebut her, the phone rang.
"That's my cue by the way." The guy said.
Nikhil picked up the call and Janvi knew something was wrong when Nikhil's jaw clenched.
"Okay sir. Okay." He said and slammed the phone down.
"Come on now, stop pouting and remove this." He shook his hands again.
Nikhil grit his teeth and removed the handcuffs. Janvi had never seen Nikhil this angry.
"Don't mess with me again, Nikhil." His voice dropped am octave and his face grew serious.
He smiled and turned back to leave the room, "It's Veer." He said turning back before leaving.
Janvi kept looking at the door even after he left. A loud crash made her jerk up, she looked at the flower vase on the ground smashed to pieces.
"It was him? Wasn't it?" He hissed holding her upper arm.
"Let me go!"
He let go of his arm and she stumbled back, "Do you even know who he is?! You know how dangerous he is?"
Janvi took a deep breath. "None of your business."
"Janvi...I said I'm sorry. I'm ready to forgive you if you..."
Janvi scoffed. "What? You're ready to forgive me?! I didn't ask for sorry, Nikhil. I don't regret whatever happened last night nor do I feel sorry for it. We are over, Nikhil and you need to accept it." She said and walked out of the room.
When she walked out of the station to cool herself down so that she didn't break down.
"Hey!"
She groaned. "Why are you still her? And why did you never tell me you were a part of some gang or something?"
"Ah! I'm so sorry I didn't tell you that since you left your phone number and address and I legit didn't tell you." He said sarcastically. "You left without even giving your phone number, we didn't even know each other's name. What did you want me to do?"
Janvi closed her eyes and pressed her temple as she felt her vision swerve. "I don't know. Why are you still here?"
"I'm waiting for my car."
"Ohh." Janvi opened her eyes as her feet wobbled. Her vision turned to spots and she stumbled before losing consciousness.
***
When Dhruv opened his eyes, he saw Viren and Aghanya. They both looked so exhausted.
He remembered getting shot. "How are you, Dhruv?" Aghanya asked him.
"I'm not great. As you can see." He tried to laugh but his chest hurt.
"Where's she?"
"She's resting."
"And Janvi?"
"She's too. She passed out from exhaustion yesterday."
"You guys should go home and rest too."
"We will. Now that we know you're alright." Viren said.
"Nikhil will probably come later, I think."
"I don't want anything to do with bastard." He said. Aghanya looked at him confused.
"He told Kushi about the truth."
"Damn right! He should've. Atleast we came to know the truth through him." Aghanya defended him.
"He forced himself on Janvi. Well, he tried. I saw her decking him." Viren chided.
"I didn't know that..." Aghanya slumped her shoulders.
"He did what?" Dhruv asked. "As soon as I can get up from here, I'm going to kill that bastard."
Aghanya sighed, "Dhruv, maybe you should take this time and reflect on your feelings. Whom do you truly have feelings for?"
Dhruv groaned in frustration, "A bullet won't change my heart! I still love my wife! I love Kushi, okay?! I'm just concerned for Janvi as a friend. I had moved on from her a long time ago. I did marry Kushi because I felt I was responsible for her state and I was wrong. I was wrong to do that. But I really do love her now. And if she will have me, I would continue making amends for the stupidest mistake I ever made: pitying her."
"You should say this to her when she visits." Aghanya said after a brief pause.
"I will if she listens to what I have to say." Dhruv sighed.
"Why are you bringing it up now? The man just woke up from a near death experience." Viren scolded her.
"You rest, Dhruv. I'll see you later." Aghanya said waving him bye.
He slept a while and he woke up again, he went through sleep waves the whole day and he waited. He waited and waited. She never showed up.
***
Janvi discharged herself from the hospital in the evening. Before she left, she visited Kushi, they informed her she had gone home, she visited Dhruv and saw that he was sleeping and left the hospital.
She texted Nikhil that she was sick. He had seen her message and not replied. She sighed as she entered her house. It seemed lonelier, sadder too.
The door bell rang and she went on to open it. She sighed again. "Why are you here?"
"They said you had left for your house..."
"And here I am. Why are you here?"
"I came to check up on you." He leaned on the door post.
"I'm fine. Now leave."
"You're such a cold person. I took you to the hospital, I stayed till you were awake, and you don't even invite me into your house." His lips curved up in a mischievous smile.
"I am a cold person. I don't invite strangers in." She said flatly. To be honest, she didn't like the way he looked, the way he smelled, the way his hair fell over his eyes, she didn't like it because he was making her feel things.
"Did you eat?" He ignored her statement.
"Not yet."
"You want to go out to eat?" He asked.
Janvi didn't want to give in but she was exhausted. It had been a long day. A dinner didn't mean anything, she consoled herself.
"Come in, let me change." She sighed giving into it. He came in. Janvi took a shower and changed into a kurta and jeans. Strangely enough, she didn't feel uncomfortable or awkward with him even with whatever had happened last night. Maybe she was too exhausted to feel uncomfortable she thought.
"Let's go." She jerked her head in the direction of the door and he stood up and followed her. "Where do you want to go?" She asked as they climbed down the stairs.
"I know of the perfect place, let's go there."
She shrugged and he walked ahead of her, a car beeped and he opened the door. "After you."
She sat in the car as it swerved through the streets. She looked out the window and then looked at him, he was so handsome, the kind of handsomeness that seemed surreal. She thought he definitely wasn't single. Did she help cheat? Such questions rose from her mind.
"Do you have a girlfriend?" She voiced out her thoughts.
He looked at her for a second and a laugh escaped his mouth, "No. I don't date."
"So you just have one night stands and do with it?"
"Yes. I'm not allowed to date."
A laughed escaped her lips, "What are you? Twelve?"
"Haha. So funny." He rolled his eyes.
The car stopped and she looked out. It was a small restaurant in a gully. She really expected him to bring her to a high end place, she was proved wrong. Again.
***
When Aghanya got a call from a distressed Dhruv, she knew where to find her. She was in the hospital. The other one, where her mother was.
Kushi was beside her mother, just like Aghanya had assumed.
She knocked on the door. Kushi saw her and walked outside. They walked to the canteen for tea.
"Dhruv is awake." Aghanya cut to the chase. When Kushi said nothing, she spoke again, "You need to go visit him."
"I don't think that's necessary." Kushi said sipping from her cup.
"I talked to him. I get that you're mad at him and you have a good reason but you're bothered that it was Janvi who was his ex. If it were some other girl, would it really have affected you so much?"
"It's easy for you to say Aghanya. I hate hand me downs, I hate people who take pity and that's what they both did! I don't care if they were previously affiliated or not. I care much more about the fact that he used his saviour mentality to soothe his guilt."
"He is sorry about it. He told me."
"He should be, it was because of him, I'm like this!" She pointed to her face.
Aghanya gasped, "Come on now Kushi. You know he had nothing to do with it? Yes?"
"I don't care."
Aghanya felt her irritation rise up, "Kushi, why don't you address the real issue about why you're upset? It isn't because of him pitying you because you know he doesn't, it is bothering you because you miss being your old self, the one who turned heads everywhere she went, the one who men fell over their feet for, the one whose life was so much easier! It is this, isn't it?"
Kushi looked at her with a burning glare. Aghanya knew it was true. "You secretly think you deserve better than whatever your life is now. You think you deserve a better best friend than me. A better and richer husband than Dhruv. You look down on all of us because if you were your old self you'd never choose any of us. You are angry at life because you pity the life you have now." Aghanya stopped and scoffed. "I don't understand what is wrong with what you have now. Dhruv is a good guy who loves you, I hate your sister but she loves you so much that she willingly sacrificed everything for you, the woman was working on a job and refused to date anyone until you got married. And Dhruv, let you date. Who does that?! Who let's their wife date other guys? You have it all and you are losing out on it because you're stuck in the past. Do some thinking and if you still don't want to go back to Dhruv, come to my place." Aghanya said and walked out of the hospital.
***
Janvi woke the next morning and groaned in frustration. She never had lost this much control over her life. She sighed and turned over to find him sleeping. She stood up quietly and walked out of the room after wearing her clothes.
She stopped and realised that she was at her own house. She couldn't run anywhere now. She let out anguished groan. She went to her mother's old room and used the bathroom and wore her work clothes. She did that as silently and as quickly as possible.
She went to work and made tea for herself. She sighed watching her swirling cup. She didn't regret last night but it bothered her. She wondered if she was becoming one of those people who got attached to the people who they lost their virginity to. She couldn't blame him too because she was the one who had initiated it.
She sipped her cup when someone called her, an urgent meeting was called. They all gathered in the conference room. It was a conference about the Varun Sighaniya murder case.
"We ran his prints, his dna, it doesn't match. We don't know who he is. There's no clue to find out who he is." Nikhil said as the screen behind him showed the dead body of the attacker who had shot Dhruv.
"His belonging have no id. We don't know where these keys are from. We are not making progress in this case and the higher ups have given us only a month to solve this or it will go to CID officials."
"Whatever about the key chain?" Janvi asked.
"What key chain?"
She pointed out to the key chain in his hand, "The keychain could link him somewhere, like his place of work? There must be something. It's not a typical key chain."
"I'll dig into that." Nikhil nodded at her.
When the meeting was over, Nikhil specifically called her to stay behind.
"You're right about the key chain. It might belong to where he worked." Nikhil said.
"Wait, why do you think so?"
"I know the symbol. I know which company has that logo."
"Amazing! Then we could track him..." she said excitedly stepping forward. Her mind jumped from thought to thought.
"I don't think so." Nikhil cut her off. "The company is AR security and services. And they do shady jobs for rich people and cover it up."
"Great! Then let's go do an inquiry."
Nikhil hissed in irritation. "They won't even let you in. Considering your status. Let alone you, they won't even let me in. Only the elite of the elite are let in."
"So what now? We drop the case? That's it. They're too high for us to touch?"
"I have an idea. You can ask your boyfriend to give you info."
"Excuse me?!"
"You know Veer Rane right?"
"Wait, what?"
"Wow. So he didn't tell you? He's a Rane. You must know RR party, right?"
"Yes. Don't tell me he's related to them."
"His grandfather is the CM."
"No." Janvi stumbled back and held the table.
"Yes. He is."
"Why did you arrest him if he's that powerful?"
"Do you live under a rock? A girl had claimed on social media that he had molested her. It blew up. I had to let him go because I got a direct call from the commissioner to let him go."
"He did that? And went scot free?"
Nikhil looked at her as if she was the most foolish person on Earth, "He will go scot free even if he murdered someone in daylight. His family is that powerful."
"I cannot believe this...." she pressed her fingers to her lips. He was a horrible person. She hated people who didn't obey the law because they were privileged.
"Stop fucking around. We need his help. Contact him and tell him you need his help."
"I don't have his phone number...."
"What?!"
"We never shared personal details."
"Well, you have gone and done it. Our whole station is doomed." He snapped at her and left the room.
Janvi slumped in one of the chairs. Things made so much sense, she wondered why he was in a royal suite, how he knew where she stayed, his expensive car. She thought he was just a rich guy like Viren or Nikhil. But she stood corrected as he surprised her again, he was powerful. So powerful, he could make everyone cower at his feet.
She remembered she had left him in her apartment. Hurriedly, she called her neighbour's landline.
"Hello aunty. I left a guest at my house, give them the phone."
She waited on the line as the neighbour aunty spoke again, "Helloo, Janvi. There's no one at your house."
"Okay aunty. Can you please lock the door. Thanks."
She cut the call and face palmed herself. She groaned, what was she to do now?
Considerably, Nikhil's behaviour got worse as he knew she wasn't in contact Veer. She took it all in and in the evening she left for work.
She found something strange, she felt like someone was watching her. As she turned around, she saw three pairs of eyes look away.
She started her scooty and took different routes. A motorbike, a car and a van were following her. Sighing, she stopped her scooty.
She saw the three vehicles stop a little away from her. She walked to the motorcycle and motioned him to get down.
"Call your boss."
"Eh?"
"Call your boss" She hit his head. "Call your boss before I lose my mind and shoot you."
"Ji, madam." He said and dialled the number and gave her the phone.
"Hello?"
She smiled, she was right. "Why do you have your men following me?"
"You? How did you- Ah never mind."
"I need to talk to you. Meet me in an hour." She said and cut the call.
"Stop following me." She nodded and rode back to her apartment.
***
In an hour the door bell rang and Janvi opened the door. "Hey." He said and walked in past her.
"Hi." She closed the door and followed him where he slumped on the couch.
"You asked for me?"
"I need your help." She cut to the point.
"About what?"
She sat on the opposite couch and paused to gather her thoughts, "See? You know this man?" Janvi showed him the picture of the dead body on her phone.
"No."
"He works at AR securities and services ~"
He stood up, "I'm going to stop you right there. I'm not going to help you in any matter related to that company."
"Why?" She asked taken aback.
"You found out about who I am, right? That's why you're asking me this."
"Yes. Nikhil told me." She said flatly.
He shook his head and gave a laugh, it sounded like a taunt. "I'm leaving. Don't contact me again."
"What?!"
He walked away and she grabbed his upper arm, he stopped to look at her with disappointment filled in his eyes.
"It was only good as long as you didn't know about me." He said.
"I agree." She hit back.
His eyebrows frowned and he asked, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I know about your molestation case. You molested a girl and walked out scot free!"
"I didn't do it. It was a rumour spread by the opposition."
Janvi scoffed, "Of course."
She saw him clench his jaw and take a deep breath, "I didn't do it. I have a solid alibi."
"Where were you then?"
"With you. Inside that hotel."
Janvi snapped her mouth shut. "Why won't you help me regarding this case?"
"Why should I?"
She looked at him taken aback. He was right, he wasn't obligated to help her. She had no arguments. Doing her a favour wouldn't profit him in any way. Still, she had a hard time accepting it because of whatever happened with them. Was sex so casual for him? She wondered and she knew it was.
"It's my uncle's company. I can't help you because we don't meddle in each other's businesses." He sighed. And she said nothing.
"Don't look at me like that... like I killed your puppy." He groaned. She looked away. What was left to say?
"Don't make your men follow me again." She said in a cold tone.
"Fine." He said and left. Janvi kept standing there for didn't know how long. It felt like she had seen the last of him.
***
She was wrong. After two days of excruciating humiliation from Nikhil, he was back. He was back, right at her door.
She couldn't even believe her eyes. "What do you want?" She said not opening the door fully and letting him stand outside.
"I know a person who can help you."
"Who is it?"
"Arvind Rane. He's my cousin. It was him the company was named after."
"Cool. And you suddenly agreed because you want something from me, what is it?" She asked.
He laughed like a child caught stealing candies, "You're right. I want something from you. I'm engaged to the Sandani's only daughter. I don't want to marry her."
"What do you want me to do?!" She asked ridiculously.
"Marry me instead."
***
A/N: Vote and comment. I love you all. Also this story is almost coming to an end. If you guys can please check out TILL DESTINY TIE US TOGETHER...