adrenaline • calypso • adage

one

adrenaline

14 May, 10:59 pm

Aditya Rai fumbled with his house keys, until he finally put the key in the key hole properly opening the door of his apartment where he lived alone. Quickly going in, as he felt her breath against his neck, he closed the door after pulling her in.

He pinned the girl, Chaya, upon his wall nearby and without wasting time, kissed her deeply.

Soon enough, clothes were thrown acroos the floor as Aditya led her to his room without breaking the kiss. He laid her on his bed, and smiled at her, taking in her gorgeous looks one more time before he kissed her again.

Aditya and Chaya ended cuddling and sleeping after being spent. But unknown to him, he was only one who slept.

When Aditya went to a night club, a couple of hours earlier, he hadn't meant to return to his apartment with an extremely gorgeous girl for an amazing one night stand. He had just gone with two of his friends to get drunk and celebrate the fact that he had broken up with a selfish girl who didn't deserve him at all. A couple of shots later, both his friends - Rehaan and Justin - had ditched him for the dance floor. He was contemplating about joining them on the dance floor and had even stood up. And that's when he saw Chaya.

Smooth skin, light eyes lined with kohl, and lips painted in red lipstick. She wore a black knee lenght dress and had absolutely taken Aditya's breath away. He didn't realize, but he had stood frozen for a solid ten seconds before he realized he was staring at her like a creep.

He looked at the dance floor and his decision was made.

"Hi," he spoke to her for the first time, after going where she was seated near the bar and ordering himself another drink.

She was clearly surprised, and turned around to face him. "Me?" She raised an eyebrow.

He smiled. "Hi. Yes, you. I'm Aditya."

She smiled lightly, but not big or real enough. "Do I know you?"

"If you did, I would've greeted you by your name. Or I would've described you openly in front you. Well, I haven't and I'm pretty sure we don't know each other."

"Describe me openly? Like what?"

He leaned his head a little forward towards her, as if he was going to tell her a secret. "Instead of just a hello, I would've said, 'Hey, beautiful'."

She moved her head away, yet he didn't miss the blush on her face. "I'm serious," he said. "You really are very beautiful. I hope this doesn't sound creepy, by the way."

"It does," she deadpanned.

He sighed. First impression's over, you fool. Just turn around and save the bit of pride you have left. He turned around, and almost left when -

"But much better when you say it than others," she muttered quitely, but loud enough for him to hear.

He turned around, smiling, and was confident enough to take a seat beside her.

"I'm Aditya," he said.

"Hi, Aditya," she replied with a small smile.

"You haven't mentioned your name."

"What if I don't want to?"

"Well... then I can't do anything about it, I guess," he shrugged. "Except for charming you enough to make you reveal your name."

She laughed. "Oh that ain't going to happen. But I must say. You're gorgeous."

He raised an eyebrow. "Gorgeous? I have been told I'm many things... but gorgeous is not one of them."

"I'm special then."

He couldn't help but grin. "Yes. I think you are."

Just then his - now, wasted - friend Justin hollered to him from the bar, few seats away. "Yo, Adi! Drinks are on you, right?!"

Aditya didn't understand wheather to be amused by Justin's happy, stupid expression or embarrassed that the beautiful girl he was trying to flirt with has heard everything.

"Yes, yes man," he answered. "It's my celebration, isn't it? Go on!"

Justin cried out a shout of celebration and finished a shot.

Laughing, Aditya turned to her.

"Celebration?" she questioned him.

"He and another friend are currently enjoying the perks of my break up," he said honestly.

Her eyes sparkled in interest. "Ohh... break up party?"

He nodded.

"Eh, tell me tell me," she said, "the story should rock!"

He laughed. "Story?"

"Oh your sad sob love story. I want to hear it."

Aditya ordered two shot for them. "No. There is nothing to say "

"It's fine! I just want to hear it."

He pretended to think. "What do I get?"

She pouted, a little tipsy. "What do you want?"

Her breath hitched a little as he moved his close so close to hers that their lips almost touched. If Aditya had tried to listen harder, he would've heard the increased and rapid heartbeat of hers. He smirked and moved his lips towards her ear. "Your name."

"Huh?" She was obviously a little flushed.

He moved back and smiled. "I want your name. If you tell me your name, I'll tell you my break up story."

She looked a little taken aback. "How about we make a deal? You tell me your story, if I like I'll tell you my real name. If I don't like it then... you can forget about my name."

He frowned. "That's not fair. My story ain't special. It's really routine. If I agree to it, I'll never know your name. But sweetie, I really want to know your name."

She shook her head, refusing. "I want to know many things about you too. But that's not possible, is it?"

He has a teasing smile after she said that. "Why? We have all night and so many days later too."

"We do?"

"I'm pretty sure."

"Still later," she kept mumbling to herself, losing her focus.

She turned her head to an opposite side, giving it a look that she got mad at something. Aditya worried. You creeped her out, idiot. He cleared his throat in hopes to get her attention. But she still kept staring in every direction except his. Her fingers were fidgeting, she kept swallowing, and it was obvious she was uncomfortable. At this point, he started feeling really guilty. Slowly, he touched her chin with his fingers and made her look at him.

Even after that gentle touch - which she didn't seem to mind honestly - she didn't look at him. She looked at his shoes.

"Hey," he said. "I'm sorry."

This made her look at him. "For what?"

He was taken aback. He really didn't know how to answer that question. "Honestly, I don't have a clue. But it is obvious I made you uncomfortable by my words. I don't exactly know which ones could've offended you but I'd like to say sorry. I want you to know that I'm not actually that big of a jerk. I know it must seem really jerk-ish of me to try to flirt with you on my break up party, but trust me I'm not that bad."

She didn't say anything except staring and smiling at him. Aditya didn't leave her chin.

"You can leave my chin," she finally said and he quickly removed his hand.

"I'll try to see," she continued, "if you are a jerk or not if I can hear your story. Make it small and simple."

He sighed. "Okay. I can't believe I'm doing this. Her name is Sheetal. She is a year senior to me, and I started liking her after she saved me from getting ragged by these particularly nasty senior boys. I felt grateful, but I really felt my heart beat when I saw her. I had seen her before, but never up so close. Her curly hair, her words all made me like her. I was first year in college and she was second. Slowly, we both became friends and I developed feelings for her. But even while we were friends only she had taken me for granted, but -"

"- you were too lovestricken to realize it."

"Exactly. Around a year or two later I found enough courage to propose her. I had seen her fall in and out of many relationships before but I wanted to be with her so bad that I made excuses for it thinking they were not meant to be 'cause I was the one for her and blah. So I told her my feelings, and she accepted. We dated for exactly one year, and it is extremely sad to say it wasn't my happiest year. She was demanding, controlling, and at the same time neglacting."

"Why did you break up with her?"

He laughed bitterly. "We dated for exactly one year. On our first year anniversary, I ignored her on purpose and wanted to surprise her with flowers and everything in her apartment. The door was unlocked and the sight that greeted me was her making out with this guy from her work."

"Oh, that's... bad. Didn't you say anything?"

"I kind of slapped her, and threw her favorite pair of heels out of the window."

She laughed and gave Aditya a high five. "Though the story was routine, I like the last part about the heels."

He grinned. "Told you it was routine."

They stayed silent for five seconds.

"I was going to tell you my fake name if I didn't like your story," she confessed.

He frowned. "What?"

"Technically if I didn't like you in the story I wanted to give you my fake name."

"If I seemed less of a jerk then I would've known you real name. If I didn't then a name that isn't yours," he clarified.

She didn't answer. Instead she smirked and got up. She extended her hand towards him and he shook it, confused. "Hi Aditya. My name is Chaya."

Chaya. He liked the ring of it.

"Chaya," he repeated. "Nice to meet you."

She withdrew her hand and started making her way towards the dance floor. He didn't say it out loud, but the way her hips moved turned him on. Halfway through, she turned a bit and pointed at him to join her on the floor. Her eyes, lips, and black dress made sure Aditya wouldn't be able to refuse her. Walking towards her, he grabbed her waist and pulled her back towards his chest.

He started moving his body to the music and felt Chaya doing the same.

After two minutes of 'dancing' he bought his lips closer to her ear. "You haven't told me if Chaya is your real name."

He couldn't see her face, but he knew she was smiling. He spinned her around so she was now facing him.

"What do you think?" she whispered near his ear, making him almost shiver.

"I think," he replied whispering just like her, "I don't give a damn."

And his lips were on hers.

-*-

Aditya stroked Chaya's face. They were just finished with their love making, and the make up on Chaya's face was mostly smudged and gone. Yet, he could say she was beautiful. She was breathing heavily in and out and he pulled her closer to his chest.

He saw that she was going to say something but closed her lips at the last minute, as if she changed her mind.

"Don't," he warned her.

"Huh?"

"Don't stop yourself from asking me what's on your mind."

She looked at him with confusion, but soon the expression changed to a soft one.

He expected her to say something like it was amazing, or that he was good, or the night was unexpected, or maybe even if they could do it again. But what she said surprised him completely.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For... this. For holding me like this. And spending the night with me. I totally didn't go to club with this in mind, but I'm glad it happened."

She looked like she wanted to say something else, but then just smiled, shook her head, and snuggled into his chest once more.

Holding her in his arms, he fell asleep.

When he woke up the next time it was morning, and the bed beside him was empty. Rubbing his eyes, he started to think about Chaya. Did she leave already?

Even though it was just a one night stand, he couldn't help but feel disappointed she left before he woke up. He wanted to talk to her more actually.

He stood up and put on a pair of sweats exiting his bedroom. He half hoped she would still be there, but when he noticed her clothes and shoes were missing and there was no sign of another life in his apartment he understood she was gone.

She's gone, he thought, without giving any way for me to contact her.

But that's when he saw it.

A yellow post it on the TV.

He walked to it and his heart skipped a beat when he realized the note was from the girl he wanted it to be from - Chaya. He took the post it in his hand and began to read it.

Dear Aditya,
Once again thanks for the night. You're wonderful and beautiful. If it were any other situation I would've definitely left my number. But right now, it's best if I don't. Thank you. The night was amazing. I have a lot to tell you, but I don't know how to start or even what.
And I had everything planned but last night wasn't a plan of it at all.
But I can say two things for sure. One, I'm happy and grateful you held me like that.
And two, would you believe me if I said that I fell in love with you at first sight?
Chaya

One hour.

It took Aditya exactly one hour to brush his teeth, shower, force something to eat, and set out of his apartment to find Chaya.

The second he read Chaya's confession, he knew he wanted her to be a part of his life. A rather big part.

He wasn't in love with her.

Bur right now, what he wanted was Chaya.

He tried to lock it properly but his mind and body were not on the same page and hence couldn't do a small job of locking his apartment properly. He was still sighing and shaking when his friendly neighbour, Nisha Aunty, just opened the door to answer a delivery boy.

"Adi," she greeted, smiling. She signed the paper and the delivery man went off.

"Hi, Aunty," he muttered distractedly.

"Hey, who was that girl by the way?"

This made him face her. "Who?" he asked, slowly.

"The girl who wore the black dress. She walked out of your apartment about an hour ago, when I opened the door to grab the milk packets."

"Did you - did you see where she went, Aunty?"

She shook her head. "Oh, Adi. She didn't go anywhere. She sat on the stairs beside your door. She seemed quite disturbed and close to crying. Mind asking what happened?"

"Even I don't know. She left before I was awake and in fact I am now going to find her. Aunty. Do you have any clue where she might be now?"

"Maybe. Just two minutes ago I heard her go upstairs."

"The terrace," he said to himself. "Thanks Aunty."

Aditya rushed up the stairs without bothering about the door lock anymore. His heart was beating irrationally and he couldn't help but feel something is wrong.

Every step increased his heartbeat. And when he finally reached the terrace, he couldn't stop a soul. "Where could've she gone?" he thought, ruffling his hair. He went closer to the wall at the edge of the terrace. He looked around the view, and sighed. Looks like she is not here, he thought and casually looked down. His breathing hitched. On the ground, was a fallen body of a girl wearing a black dress with blood still spilling from her body and unconcious.

Chaya had jumped.

Chaya wasn't just spilling blood or unconcious. She was dead.

That was what the police had told them and the doctor at the scene had confirmed.

It didn't take more than five seconds for Aditya to start screaming and letting people know about Chaya's body. At first, it was chaos and confusion for everyone at the scene until one person fell out of daze and contacted the police and ambulance.

Aditya knew it before the police had arrived that Chaya wasn't alive.

He just stared. He didn't move. He didn't speak. He blocked out everything happening around him. He wasnted to do nothing but stare at the lifeless body of the girl who had fallen for him at first sight. But since he was the first one to spot her dead body and inform others, he had to talk and answer to the police. But he couldn't tell them more than that he spotted her while he was on the terrace. It was obvious he wasn't out of his trance.

He didn't tell the police that he knew her from the night before or that even he went to the terrace to find her. To find her alive not dead. He just couldn't. When Nisha Aunty came into the scene, he didn't miss the doubting look she gave him. He had expected her to tell the police that she saw the dead girl out of his apartment, crying. If they interrogated him on suspicion, he wouldn't be surprised at all.

But to his surprise, Nisha Aunty had told the police that she had never seen the dead girl before.

It was almost two hours later that Aditya exhaled and could've left for his apartment.

"Adi, wait." Nisha Aunty stopped him when he was about to enter his place.

"Aunty," he said.

"I don't know what happened but I know she was the same girl that I saw out of apartment."

"Aunty trust me I didn't -"

"I know you, Adi. I hope I do. I think I know you enough that I know you wouldn't hurt a girl so much that she'll take her life because of it."

"I didn't Aunty! I really don't know why she jumped. I was - I was really going to find her... and hug her... and -" His voice turned hoarse. His vision was blurred.

He wanted to cry. He wanted to cry real bad. He hadn't felt any emotion down when he saw her dead body, but now that he was regaining his emotions, he wanted to bawl his eyes and do nothing but weep.

Nisha Aunty gave him a sympathetic pat on his arm. "Did you love her?"

"Maybe," he croaked. "She - she loved me though. Too bad I knew it just an hour before I found her - her..."

He couldn't speak further.

He just held the post it with Chaya's note in his pocket, tighter. Almost crumpling it.

"I knew if I said your name," she said, "you would be stuck in the mess I hope you didn't create. But I must say Adi, do help the police in identifying her body at least. Her family must be really worried for her."

"I don't know her," he admitted.

She frowned. "What?"

"I met her yesterday. I just know her name." He chuckled bitterly. "Now I doubt if that is her real name or not."

Nisha Aunty didn't know what to say. "I'm sorry, Adi. I know nothing but I think you must be disturbed by what you have seen. The only help I could do for you was not mentioning your name and that I had fulfilled. Please be careful from now on, and don't take any rash decisions."

Saying that she went into her house.

Sighing and helding back tears, Aditya entered his apartment. Strange moments of Chaya crossed across his mind.

"Still later," she kept mumbling to herself, losing her focus.

"Technically if I didn't like you in the story I wanted to give you my fake name."

"Thank you."

'And I had everything planned but last night wasn't a plan of it at all.'

He groaned and clutched his head. Unknowingly, she had given subtle hints and used certain words to the point that she had already decided to jump.

The realization made his tears to finally fall.

She wanted to die. She knew she was going to take her life when she met him in the club. That's why she was grateful the two had spent the night together. She was held by someone she loved. A good way to have a last memory.

Tears kept falling.

He was disturbed. The dead body of Chaya had disturbed him. He was shaken. He only thing that comforted him was the fact that at least she took comfort in his embrace last night.

It wasn't just a one night stand for her. It wasn't purely sex for her. It was love and the fact that she was having sex with someone she loved before she killed herself. He felt guilty that he didn't take so much meaning into their night together. He felt guilty and yesterday night he based it on lust and she had based it on love.

His phone rang, and for the first time that day he looked at his phone.

May 15, 2:03 pm

(15) Missed Calls from Rehaan
(7) Missed Calls from Justin
(3) Missed Calls from Ma
(8) Messages from Rehaan
(9) Messages from Justin
(1) Message from Sheetal

He was surprised that Sheetal had messaged him, but what surprised him more was the fact that his heart didn't skip even half a beat at her name. No butterflies, no heated cheeks, not even anger at the adultery she had done. It was like his heart didn't care about his ex anymore. He realized since yesterday the second he saw Chaya, his heart became numb towards Sheetal.

His phone rang once again and this time he picked it up.

"Rehaan," he said.

"Adi, what's wrong with you?! Why haven't you been picking any calls or replying to any messages?"

"I'll - I'll tell you later..."

Rehaan caught on to the miserable state in his voice. "Is everything alright?" he asked, softly.

"No. Nothing is alright."

"Adi, are you at home? I'll come right now -"

"Don't. I - I want to be alone for sometime. I need to be alone for sometime. Tell Justin also."

Rehaan knew better than to pry. "Okay. You take care. And if you want to talk, Justin and I are always ready."

He cut the call. His body ached. His head ached. He curled up on the sofa with his head on the arm rest.

He once again unlocked his phone and this time, he clicked on Sheetal's message out of curiosity.

From: Sheetal
Adi I'm sorry. I did wrong. I - I realize it now. Please come back. I love you.

He laughed bitterly. Maybe if he got the message a day earlier he would've been ecstatic. But now all he did was block Sheetal's contact number and delete it from his phone.

Irritated, he threw the phone on the table. His eyes felt heavy. He could feel then dropping. He wanted to close his eyes and sleep. He felt tired.

He closed his eyes and slept.

When Aditya opened his eyes and was awake, he knew something was wrong. Something was definitely wrong. His heart still felt heavy, yet he knew it was something else and not Chaya's death. As he opened his eyes and took notice of his surroundings he noticed many odd things.

One, he was in his bed with his blanket covering him when he clearly remembered he had fallen asleep on the couch.

Two, when he looked out of his window he was positive the sun had just risen but when he fell asleep it was afternoon.

Three, the clothes he had woken up on were the clothes he had woken up to the day before, not the ones he wore after showering.

Four, when he looked at his phone it clearly said 14 May, 7:02 am.

He abruptly sat up on his bed, confused.

He clearly remembered.

It was May 15 when he fell asleep. It was past two in the afternoon when he had fallen asleep on the couch.

He clutched his phone and stared at it hard. It was May 15. May 15. Even if he ended up sleeping the whole day it should be May 16. Not 14. The dates should move forward, not backward.

Calm down, he thought to himself, it must be a mistake in my mobile.

Still tense, he looked at the clock. 7:10 am. Morning.

He switched on the television and quickly put on a news channel. News was scrolling but he was only looking for the date and time.

His eyes widened.

May 14, 7:12 am

He plopped on the sofa. He was staring, unable to believe what had happened.

"The victim of the overspeeding accident is, Karthik Arshaya, son of the businessman, Nikhin Arshaya who was driving on the bridge at 2 am..." the news anchor was saying.

Aditya's breathing hitched. This was the same news he had seen and heard yesterday. Technically, today.

"May 14. May 14." The day when Rehaan and Justin had convinced him to get over Sheetal and instead celebrate and party about his break up. The evening the three went to the club. The same evening he saw Chaya. The same night the two of them had sex in his apartment. The day before Chaya died.

He rushed to his wardrobe. He had worn his favorite sweats and a Game Of Thrones t-shirt after showering. When the three decided to go to the club, he had put them in the laundry basket. He checked.

The basket was empty.

He opened his closet. His sweats and t-shirt were there in the same place before he had taken them out after showering.

He took a deep breath. He still couldn't believe he went back a day in his life. He couldn't believe he was repeating a day of his life.

"One last test," he said to himself.

If he remembers clearly, in around five minutes Rehaan and Justin are going to ambush his house. Rehaan wore a... red collared t-shirt while Justin wore a white v neck t-shirt. If he really came back to May 14, then the same incident would repeat now.

The door bell rang.

"Adi!" It was Rehaan.

He went near the door but didn't open it. He just stood, his heart pounding hard.

"Adi we know you're awake! We can hear the television!" It was Justin.

"Guys tell me one thing." Aditya finally found his voice. "Rehaan!"

"Yeah what?"

"Are you - are you wearing a collared red t-shirt?"

"Yes. How did you know?"

His heart almost stopped.

"Is Justin wearing a white v-neck?"

"Yes I am! How the hell did he know that?" He heard him mutter to Rehaan.

Aditya slowly opened the door and his friends spotted the extremely horrified on his face.

His two concerned friends quickly entered the apartment and ushered him to sit on the couch. Aditya had to give it to them. He had great friends. He needed to tell them. It's insane. It's unbelievable. But he hoped they would help him.

Rehaan and Justin were still trying to coax him into telling them what happened.

"I - I understood something happened," he finally said. "I really need to tell it to you guys."

"Go on," encouraged Justin.

"You guys won't believe it."

Rehaan rolled his eyes. "I believed you when you said that a ghost wanted to kiss you."

"We were six," Aditya protested.

"We are twenty one and still we believed you when you told me you bought me a car as a birthday gift," countered back Rehaan.

Aditya grinned sheepishly. "It's not my fault your birthday is on April first."

The two friends rolled their eyes.

"So just go on and tell us what's wrong."

Aditya sighed. He told them. He told them about Chaya, their one night stand, her post it note, her apparently waiting outside his apartment in the morning, him going to search for her, him finding her dead body when she had jumped from the terrace, him falling asleep on the couch, then waking up to the previous day instead of the next, searching for things to confirm, and confirming it after he correctly guessed what his two friends had worn.

To say his two friends were surprised would be an understatement. Both their jaws were hung down as they listened to Aditya in complete disbelief. The two tried to be in denial, but they couldn't ignore the fact that he knew what they wore without looking, and the fact that Rehaan and Justin had really planned for the three to go to the same club to have his break up party. They were way more creeped out by the fact that the description of what they wore exactly matched what the two had gotten for the night.

"It's not possible," said Justin.

"Doesn't look like it though," said Rehaan.

"But why?" exhasparated Aditya.

"Fine," said Justin. "Fine. I'll believe you. But I swear to god Adi, if this is a damn prank I am cutting all my ties with you."

Rehaan shook his head in agreement. He didn't want to, but their bond made him believe what Aditya said is true.

"It's not, I promise." The look Aditya had assured them he was saying the truth and the fact that he really was creeped out by it. "I clearly remembered that I blocked and deleted Sheetal's mumber after I got her message yesterday. But now I see my phone, there is no message and her contact isn't blocked and the contact exists. In fact, I got a lot of calls from you guys too but none of it is there. Like the May 14 and half of 15 is completely erased."

They said nothing for few moments. then finally Justin spoke up.

"Did you find that yellow post it the girl - Chaya - wrote for you?"

"No," he muttered sadly. "I searched but no. That was last and only thing I had of her memory. This time lapse had taken it away from me. I want more memories of her but she's dead." He could feel his voice choke and tears threatening to appear.

Just then Rehaan hit Aditya's head with a nearby magazine.

"Ow!" exclaimed Aditya.

"You stupid idiot. It's May 14. Chaya jumped and died on May 15, as you told me. She still hasn't died as of now!"

That got Aditya thinking. Slowly, pieces began to fall into its places. Chaya is alive. Chaya isn't dead. She is planning to die but she still hasn't. He has the day ahead of him to find her and stop her if he can.

He can stop Chaya from killing herself.

He can make her live.

He can have her in his life.

He can be with her.

But for that -

"Guys you up for searching a girl?" he asked his two friends.

-*-

Life was not as easy as they showed in movies, Aditya realized. At least searching for a particular girl in the big city. In movies, the girl and the guy end up meeting so many times co-incidently that everyone had assumed that finding one particular person also would be just as easy.

The three friends understood how wrong they were about an hour and a half later.

They were worried. They needed to find Chaya as soon as could because she would kill herself by tonight if not Aditya wouldn't appear. They had a deadline.

"What about the club?" asked Rehaan. "She is going to the club anyways. We can meet her there."

Justin shook his head. "No. Aditya did meet her. Still she had decided to jump. If we wait for her till evening it would be too late to change her mind."

Aditya didn't speak anything, but his insides completely agreed with Justin. It would be too late.

The three friend ended up going into each and every cafe, book store, restaurant, shop, stores, club, spa, beauty parlour or any place they could spot, hoping Aditya could find the girl Chaya. It was tiring and tense but none of them complained. They parked the car, rushed into the first public place they saw, made sure Aditya glanced at everyone in the place, rushed off realizing Chaya wasn't there, entered into the next place they spotted, took the car again when they were done with the neighborhood, and repeated. They were panting and worrying but never lost hope. No matter how big the city is, they knew Aditya is meant to come back a day before and save Chaya. Even though Rehaan and Justin didn't even know how Chaya looked like, they still ran with Aditya and he couldn't have been more grateful. Though they planned to split, it wouldn't work 'cause only he knows how Chaya looks. Aditya knew he owed his friends big time.

"Adi," said Rehaan softly. "You said she fell in love with you at first sight. Do you think - do you think she will love you again?"

His fingers tightened around the steering. There. That was the question he wanted to avoid, but needed an answer for at the same time. He was scared for the answer. Deep down, the idea of Chaya not loving him again really scared him. He needed Chaya. He needed Chaya's love.

"Stop here," said Justin pointing to a park's parking place.

After parking the car, the three stepped out of the car.

The park was full of people and lively. Aditya didn't know if he should feel happy or sad at the crowd. They entered the park and began to look for her.

Five minutes later, Aditya gave up the place dejectedly. They walked to a nearby cafe.

"Adi," said Justin. "Stop looking and sit."

Aditya looked at him as if he had grown a third head. Did he not believe him anymore at all?

"Listen to him," backed Rehaan.

After his two friends forced him to sit on a table, Justin started. "Sit. Take a deep breath. Just - just calm down a little, okay? You haven't eaten anything since you woke up and I'm sure all this searching is tiring. So stop. I'll order us some food. And you just relax a little."

He nodded.

Yet Aditya couldn't help but look around.

Now that Justin mentioned food, he felt his stomach growl. He realized how hungry he actually was. He turned to his friends and guilt started forming in his heart. Even they hadn't had anything since morning because they had been doing nothing but help him. He apologized to them, and offered to get them food. Rehaan and Justin understood that he needed a second alone for himself.

Aditya went to the counter and ordered and paid for bunch of stuff including waffles, sandwiches and coffee. He fook the receipt and was asked to wait for five minutes to get his order ready. He turned around and that when he heard a familiar shrilly voice.

"Adi!"

His friend from college, Geetha.

The moment he turned around for the source of the voice, Aditya knew he was indebted to Geetha for a very long time. He couldn't greet her properly but knew he was going to buy her whatever she wanted from their college canteen for a whole week.

Because if she hadn't noticed him and called him to greet him, he wouldn't have turned around. If he hadn't turned around that abruptly, a chair wouldn't have been accidently pushed by him. If a chair hadn't been axcidently pushed by him, it wouldn't have hit a girl and made her drop her purse. If the girl hadn't dropped her purse, Aditya wouldn't have immedietly crouched down to pick it up and give it to her. If he hadn't picked it up and gave it to her, he wouldn't have seen the face of the girl.

Light eyes, dark hair. He almost gasped at the familiar face.

Chaya.

When he first met her Aditya was dense, so he missed the subtle things that indicated Chaya felt something for him. But now he noticed how her eyes widened a little. Her lips were shaking. There was a sparkle in her eyes. And for a second she seemed dazzled.

It was unnoticable. But since it was what Aditya wanted to see, he had noticed it and was extremely thrilled that even the second time, Chaya felt something for him at first sight.

Without even realizing what he was doing or saying, he spoke the words which he very much hoped would give her enough of a reason to stop thinking or considering about killing herself.

"I love you."