Laila sat on the sofa, carelessly moving through channels with no intention to stick on. She was bored and she softly yawned in annoyance. She heard the door open and saw Mihir walk in, he looked mad. She raised her eyebrow at him and he continued his deathly glare.

"What?" she asked innocently and his eyes zeroed on her. "You're asking me 'what!?'' screamed Mihir in frustration and Laila. Looked at him with confusion.

"Just recollect if you've done something worth mentioning" asked Mihir with fire spitting out of him. "None that I can think of" said Laila honestly and Mihir sighed loudly.

"Where did you go today" asked Mihir patiently, trying his level best to control himself from bursting out. "I simply went out to the cafe and bookstore, I needed some time out in the open" said Laila. "Did you forget to me mention anything else?" Asked Mihir and Laila raised her eyebrows.

"Not anything worth mentioning" said Laila casually. "So you don't find Karan worth mentioning, after all the circus he held here and you were cornered to commit something you really didn't want to do, Still you don't find him having any relevancy?" Asked Mihir and Laila nodded negatively.

"I just passively meet him and he just wanted to speak to me, I heard him out for a moment and I simply left, there's was not much into it" said Laila casually. "Why are you adamant on sinking in the same quicksand, you barely got out of it alive" asked Mihir but Laila quietly shrugged.

"Just to jog your memory, His confession of love made your parents to take an impressive decision of marrying you off to the great Parth Manvik who treated you so lovingly and with care" said Mihir with sarcasm dripping in every word.

"Karan was adamant in you telling a postive answer that he pestered you so much, alongside he got to an extent of insufferable that you" He ranted and continued, "The very you who is finding him irrelevant right now" said Mihir and paused to just process. "You found him so insufferable, his torments increasing that you went to your parents complainting about his actions which resulted in him still being shameless and you in trouble" said Mihir in disbelief.

"I don't think I should give him that much importance and energy to find him relevant or worth mentioning" said Laila.

"You do realise that the whole planning and plotting to trap you was based on him and his actions towards you, nothing of your fault but a girl who was obsessed with him deciding to put you in trouble because he fancied you, He pestered you and she thought you liked him too, if he backed off then things would've been averted" explained Mihir.

"Stop making it more than it was, he just wanted to talk and I simply heard him out for a moment, nothing more than that" said Laila frustrated with the cornering. "Also I've not forgotten anything, it's not something I can simply forget" said Laila.

"I don't want to you get hurt again, you've suffered a lot for something you had no fault in" said Mihir softly. "You don't need to feel guilty in what happened either, you didn't know it in time to stop it and I know what I'm doing now" said Laila with confidence.

"I know that if you knew that our parents deemed fit to marry me off as a solution to the harassment and that too very weirdly coincidentally a wealthy family like them approach for marriage, you'd have stopped them and knocked some sense on to them" said Laila calmly trying to make him understand her true feelings.

"I'm still mad at them, I don't understand their thought process either but that doesn't change the fact that he is the root cause, if he stopped then the chain reaction would have halted" said Mihir trying to reason.

"I do understand where you're going at, I'm not that dumb girl anymore because life decided to give me a crash course in growing up so you don't worry" said Laila in a reassuringly.

"I can't help but worry about you, you've faced a lot and I can't let you even be my those horrors ever again" said Mihir. Laila got up and held his hands tight, "I won't return to that place ever again, I decide where I want to be and how I want to be" said Laila with confidence and Mihir nodded softly.

Laila hadn't planned to come back to this part of the city. There were other routes, quieter ones, paths that didn't echo with old versions of herself but something pulled her there without permission. The street was familiar in a way that didn't feel comforting. The same florist at the corner, the same uneven pavement, the same café windows reflecting passing lives. It all looked unchanged but She wasn't.

She put on her earbuds and walked through the street, eyes on the small things she had already memorized all too well. She carried nothing with her today, no books, no bag, no distractions. Just herself, the version she had become.

"Laila" she heard someone call out her name, she paused the song playing in her earbuds and took it off. She turned and saw something she didn't anticipate.

Karan stood a few steps behind her, as if he had been following her for longer than he should have. His shirt sleeves were rolled up, his hair slightly disheveled like he had run a hand through it too many times. His eyes were fixed on her with something dangerously close to relief.

"You really don't believe in coincidence, do you?" he said with a faint breath of a smile tugging at his lips, he had this boyish charm to him which she never found intriguing but many did.

"I believe in patterns" she replied coldly and that made his smile falter for a fraction of a second.

He stepped closer, just enough to close the distance that felt intentional. "I've been seeing you everywhere lately, Or maybe I've just been looking for you" he admitted.

"Looking implies expectation and You don't strike me as someone who waits without hope" she said sharply while he looked at her admiring. "I never stopped hoping" he said almost too quickly and she almost rolled her eyes.

'Of course you didn't' she scoffed in her mind but didn't express it out. "That sounds exhausting." she said with no softness to it, No sympathy. Karan exhaled a quiet laugh.

"You've changed," he said with a slight tilt to his head, he was trying to understand it rather than accuse it. "Yes" she said simply.

"And there's no part of you that misses- before?" asked Karan curiously, waiting for every word she spoke. The word lingered at her with a bitter taste. "Before is a convenient word that erases details" she said calmly.

Karan frowned slightly and asked, "What details?". "The ones that made 'before' necessary to leave" she said sharply with intend.

Karan took a step closer this time deliberately testing, "Where do I stand in that... new system of yours?" he asked quietly. Laila didn't move but instead she let the question sit to make him feel the weight of waiting. "You don't" she said with precision.

Karan's jaw tightened, just slightly but that didn't sway away from her attention,"That's not true, You're standing here talking to me" he tried to reason. "That's not standing but simply observing" she said coldly. Something flickered in his eyes, frustration, maybe or the first crack in the certainty he carried.

"You make it sound like I'm a stranger" he said trying to put up to her. "Aren't you?" she asked. That was enough to make him go silent, Her sharp words were more than enough to jab him.

Karan stepped closer again, this time close enough that she could see the subtle tension in his jaw. "I'm not done with you" he said quietly but with determination

Laila didn't step back but she didn't step forward either.

"You don't get to decide that" she replied. "Maybe not but I can decide what I do with it" he admitted. "And what is that?" she asked curiously but her tone didn't betray her.

"Try again" he said with honesty. The simplicity of it was almost disarming. She almost let out a chuckle. Laila let out a soft breath instead. "You're persistent" she replied after a pause.

"Why are you making this so difficult?" he asked with frustration. "Because it is difficult, You just didn't notice before or more like you didn't care" said Laila precisely.

"Then tell me what to do, Tell me how to reach you again" his tone almost pleading. A wave of silence followed after.

"You don't" she said coldly. Then she stepped back, "Take care of yourself, Karan" she said warmly instead.

She put on her earbuds and kept on walking through the streets like nothing bothered her. Karan stood there flabbergasted at what had just happened, barely comprehending what occurred before him.

Prachi saw a figure sitting in the cafe as she walked by, that was more than enough to get her frozen there. She contemplated for a second then she walked inside. She got inside and the smell of coffee mixed with tea filled her air. She saw him get up from the table and walk towards her.

The scent of his perfume got stronger, she took it all in. He did notice her but didn't maintain eye contact with her, he ignored her like she wasn't standing there. He slightly hit her shoulder and walked past her. She stood there utterly surprised at his reaction, her ignorance towards her.

Was she that bad? was the thought that reverberated in her mind. 'how dare he steal my first kiss and then ignore me like I never existed' she thought with frustration. She walked towards where he sat in absolute frustration and saw his wallet lying there, a smirk was observed on her face.

She opened the wallet to find a family picture of them in the photo compartment, She took it out to examine it. She saw a smiling Laila, an annoyed Mihir and laughing parents in the picture. She placed it back and decided against the thought of taking it.

His footsteps echoed all around the underground parking lot, he realized another set of footsteps reverberated against his which rose his suspicions. He turned to find a familiar figure walking towards him, He knew there was no getting away from her. He had walked away earlier to escape a situation which would put them both in a bad position.

He didn't want to lose control and misuse the trust she gave him, He was getting attracted to her and how she's around him. His eyes were now glued onto her, She was wearing a white high slit kurti and blue jeans. He loved how she tied her hair into pleats with a small silver jhumka in her ears. 

If the situations were different, he'd have approached her to be his but he still couldn't let go. Her eyes took all of him in, Him in his black shirt and beige pants with his shirt's sleeves folded up to his elbows. She would just get lost in him effortlessly.

"Hi" she said softly and he nodded, "Yes?" he asked trying to dismiss her off. She put forward a wallet to him which looked familiar, "You forgot your wallet in the cafe and I found it" said Prachi with a soft smile.

"Thank you" he said and tried to grab it from her hand, Their hands brushed against each other and they crept a feeling of each other. He immediately turned to walk away before it snowballed to something more. 

He felt her finger gripped around his wrist, he slowly turned out. "Why are you avoiding me, at least let me say a sentence" said Prachi after being hurt due to his coldness. He turned towards him and took her fingers off his wrist, "Speak" he said coldly.

"Why are you avoiding me after you stole my first kiss like it's nothing" she asked him softly but it held her frustration and desperation in it. He closed his eyes in a sigh after realizing that had let his desires take over and he took her first kiss.

"I'm not blaming you for the kiss, I equally prompted it but it doesn't mean you can just discard my feelings like garbage" said Prachi and he knew that he was answerable to this.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that and taken advantage of you" he said softly and her doe eyes rose up to his. "Why?" that's all she asked.

"We aren't meant to be like this" said Mihir and Prachi looked at him like she's attempting to decode him but she was hitting roadblocks.

"I'm avoiding you because I can't let that happen again, I can't let my inner desires takeover my conscious decisions" he admitted. "Let it happen" said Prachi without a second thought and Mihir nearly facepalmed.

"No Prachi and If I stay any longer with you then the line will be too blurred between my inner self and my actions" said Mihir and he was about to walk away. She took a step towards him and he was one step away from being cornered between her and a pillar.

"Stay, let it be blurred" said Prachi in a low seductive tone.

That was all it took, he held her by her waist and pinned her towards the pillar. She gasped in surprise and he took that, he attacked her lips. His lips nibbling her lower lips and her attempt in doing the same to him. He was getting addicted to her taste and she had reached her high due to him.

Their lips thirsty for each other, Pulse racing and their warmth enveloping each other. She could feel her knees weaken against him. His hands slowly went towards her high slit and snaked around her bare waist. She could feel his touch in her bare back which send sparks down her spine.

His kiss slowly moved down to the edge of her mouth to her jawline, She slowly tilted and raised her face so he can get a better access. His lips started going down her bare neck towards her raised collarbones which were tempting him long back.

Her brain was going down a frenzy, moans stuck in her throat and a rush of emotions all over her body. Her soft skin tasted like pure bliss to him, he wanted to bite and feel every bit of her. He nibbled on her skin with his teeth and tongue, he could feel her squirm around his arms.

"M-Mi-Mihir" she moaned out in pleasure.

That was more than enough to drive him more crazy, he felt the need to hear more of her moans. His fingers started trailing down her spine, which left her emotions all over the place with his stimulation. 

Suddenly they heard the horn of a faraway car which made them pull away, which made Mihir realize what he had done. Seeing her red face and her struggle to breathe made him more tempted to capture her swollen lips but his conscious started fighting with him.

"I-I" said Mihir and walked away to his car.

Mihir nearly ran towards his car, "Mihir" called out Prachi and ran towards him. He was about to open the car door, but she didn't let him. "Mihir please" said Prachi desperately but he ignored her.

She went on her tiptoes and circled her arms around his neck, she softly pecked his lips and retracted back. She could see his eyes darken to a shade of black.

Suddenly she felt herself against his car.