Shedding the thoughts, I picked the duffel bag and went inside the bathroom. My dress was neatly folded, and placed on the vanity. He must have done this. Placing the bag on the beside it, I bend down and got the new toothbrush from inside the vanity.Brushing my teeth, endeavoring to remove the smell of alcohol, I checked his bathroom. I had never come into this one, always preferred the one in the living room. Shedding my clothes off, I entered the shower and checked the things placed on my right.When I was done with the shower, I wore my clothes, toweled dry my hair and stepped out of the bathroom. My head felt much better, I felt much better.Wearing his slippers again, I walked out of the room and nervously stepped into the living room. His friends were still there, too occupied within their books. Huh, exams were approaching in two weeks. Shit! I had to go back to the hostel and prepare for the first semester.Sitting next to Kabir, he paused to look up from his book and grinned

Parking the activa in the basement, I shook his hands off my waist and climbed off. From my helmet, I glared at him but he didn't pay attention and bit his lower lip."You! Huh!" I stomp my foot on the floor."What?" He grinned, running his hand through his hair. Haircut. He needed a haircut. "What have I done?"Too much.Unbuckling the helmet, I barked, "Get off.""Are you hot and bothered?" His bluntness made me further warm. "I'm known to make girls feel hot.""You and your damn ego." I put the helmet back in its place and without paying any heed to his questions, I walked to the lift and pressed the button. When the lift arrived, I entered, finding it empty and Kabir grinned as if something dirty ran through his head.Ignoring him, I paid attention to my phone."Tell me." I hadn't noticed him standing close to me. "How you charm me off?" I gripped my phone tighter in my hands. "How you resist yourself not to touch me because that's all I think about when I see you."Gasping, I met

[ A L I N A ' S P O V ]You both are the same level of fucked up.I swirled my spoon, mixing the sugar or trying to remove the impact of Dhruv's words. No matter how hard I tried, his words didn't leave me. They bit me back again and again. How did I tell Kabir about this? Should I even tell him about them? He would get hurt.Dhruv was his best friend.I couldn't hurt him that way."What you thinking, bookworm?" Kabir snapped his fingers in front of me, and I jumped slightly in my chair. As I saw him, I remembered the time I spent in his apartment the other day. How we kissed too hard, how his hands wander to my back and how much I loved it."Nothing." I passed him a small smile, curbing Dhruv's word within my heart. "So are you okay now? No more fuzzy mind?"I stopped the smile arising on my face. Unlike last time, he rolled his eyes."You caught me off guard." His eyes diverted to my noodles. I pushed it to his side. Chinese and he couldn't be left apart. He passed me a grateful

[ K A B I R ' S P O V ]I woke up from the sound of the bell ringing in the apartment. Confused, I stared at my watch and it was late night. Who would be there at this hour? Carefully, I pried Alina's hands and head from my chest. Covering her body with the blanket, I vacated the room and opened the door of the apartment.And gasped, seeing the figure."Kabir, who's there?" Kriti sleepy voice asked me from behind."Dad," I whispered. "What are you doing here?"He frowned seeing me, took in my appearance. I was still wearing the waiter's clothes."Alina, where is she?" He entered the apartment, and from behind him, I found Alina's dad entering as well. "She had called me. She said she needed my help. I called her dad. Where is she?""So you flew all the way from Delhi?" I asked, shocked by his behavior."I had to," He replied anxiously. "She was crying. And she never calls me. Something must be serious.""Kabir, what happened to her?" Her dad asked, tension covering his whole face.

Getting up from the chair, I twisted my open hair in a messy bun, stroll to my room and got my shoes."Alina, I don't think I can live with you." My hands stopped on my shoes, and I snapped my head to hers. "Don't think me wrong. You're my best friend, and always will be. You're great. Truly. But the thing is you're scaring me at this moment. And I don't want to be involved in this stuff. I would've kicked Siddarth myself, but you scare me." My hands curled tightly. "I come from a middle-class family. We don't have connections to do such stuff. You could've tried the legal approach." But nothing guarantee then. He would've been out soon and I couldn't afford it. I wanted him to feel what I did. "I love you, but please. If something happens in future, your dad can pull you out, my can't.""Kriti—""It's hard for me, but if you love your pride, I love my family a lot. My parents saved money for my education. If the police came here, imagine what would happen to his pride? He's a soldier.