26

MAYRA'S POV

"You are going?" Drew asked innocently with a little frown.

I couldn't helped myself from smiling at him. Softly ruffling his hairs, I pressed my lips over his temple.

"I need to go Drew but I promise we'll meet soon. Okay?"

"Okay then bye but don't forget your promise."

I nodded.

After passing a quick smile to him, I tried to find the way back to main door but this house seems confusing. Every room leads to another.

"Thanks." Suddenly a familiar voice caught me off guard and slowly I looked in that voice direction, only to found Max sitting on his couch and looking at me.

I tried to smile at him but only one thought invaded my mind and that was Rehan. I just want to go to him as soon as possible. Not because of fear that he will be angry at me but for earning his trust back. I will inform him everything that why I was at Max house. After everything, I am not going to let any misunderstanding to come in between us.

"Err... Would you please show me the way to your main door?" I asked hesitantly.

He arched up his eyebrows and then took a step towards window. "It's raining heavily." He told and gestured towards the opened window.

I squeezed my eyes shut in frustration and took a glance at my cell phone which reads 1:23 AM. I need to go it's already an hour since I'm I am here.

"You can spend the night here. After all this is the least I can do for you to return the favor you did for me." He said in an emotion devoid voice.

"Spent the night here?" Words slipped my mouth which only sounded like a question.

"I won't bite." He joked but I didn't found anything funny.

"Look weather is not good. Stay here for tonight and I'll drop you in the morning as soon as rain will stop okay?"

My mind went blank. Staying here means, complicating things more with Rehan. And that's the last thing I want. I bite the corner of my lips and looked back at Max who was looking out of the window. I followed his gaze and found rain pouring down from the dark sky which sometimes gets accompanied by the heavy blow of wind and strong sound of lightning.

"Okay." I whispered.

"Come I'll show you guest room." He said with a warm smile but still that smile didn't reached up to his eyes.

There's something different about him today. His smile seems like all fake and there's that constant sadness in his eyes.

"Max." I called out his name and quickly he turned his attention towards me.

"Drew really is an adorable little kid." I said with a genuine smile.

He instantly smiled back, this time with a real smile which was reflected through the twinkle in his eyes.

"He is. You know Mayra he's just like his mother. She was damn stubborn and had sweetest smile, like this little champ." He added in an excitement to me but soon after completing his sentence, a frown took over his face.

He exhaled loudly and sat on the couch with his face on his palms. I clenched my fists after realizing the pain he has been through due to loss of his sister. Surely he loved her a lot. I grabbed a seat next to him and put my palms over his shoulder. He didn't said anything but something in me told that he do wants to share his words but was unable to find a way to start it.

"What was her name?" I asked and he chuckled a little.

"Zara." He replied and removed his palms away from his face, placing them on his lap.

I smiled and squeezed his shoulder a little.

"Tell me something about her." After hearing my words, his eyes went all excited and happy.

"She was a year younger than me. We were more like best friends than siblings. She used to share everything with me and so did I. She was a complete child by her actions. You know what, half of her time passes just by pulling pranks on me. Mayra our parents were like typical rich parents who didn't have time for their children. So from childhood we two were only there for each other. But today she is no more....." He stopped in middle and to the corner of his eyes, I found them moistened.

"Apart from my flirting jokes, sometimes I find her in you." He said with a small smile and at the same time, the corner of my lips curled up into a smile.

Maybe Rehan was wrong about Max. He's not bad at all. Just hurt.

And sometimes the one who's been hurt are misunderstood for being wrong. Because they never found heal for their wounds instead they try to hide it by hurting others. But at last they doesn't know that hurt can never be healed by pain.

Whether it was Rehan or Max.

"I found my sister in you, Mayra." He whispered to himself and sighed heavily.

“Can we start everything once again? Our start was kind of... Err..." I stopped and started thinking correct word to say but before that he said,

"Shit."

"Our start was kind of shit. Mayra you should start using some cuss words." He added and with that we both burst out laughing. I shook my head and playfully punched him on his shoulder.

"Thanks for everything." He muttered looking genuinely happy.

***

I peeked my eyes open, only to find myself in an unknown surrounding.

After blinking my eyes few time, everything started getting in place. I was at Max house. We were talking and then somehow I ended up asleep on his couch. After rubbing my eyes softy, I stood up and that's when a sharp pain rushed down my neck.

Maybe due to sleeping on couch, I had my neck sprained.

I put my palm over the back of my neck and unlocked my cell phone and as soon as my eyes caught the glimpse of time, my jaw dropped. It was already half past eleven in the morning. How could I sleep for so long? And that's when panic hit me.

Rehan.

What would be his mental state right now? Worried? Maybe. Angry? Definitely.

I gulped down my saliva and looked around only to found Max sleeping at the corner of the couch. I took a step closer to him and shook his shoulder in an attempt to wake him up. After few moments, he parted his eyelids with a questioning look written all over his face.

"I need to go back Max." I said and he quickly shifted his eyes to his wrist watch and nodded.

"Come, I'll drop you."

"No. Its fine, I will manage by myself."

"Stop being formal." I nodded and followed him outside.

Stepping outside I saw that dark clouds were completely surrounding the sky. Rain is pouring down with high velocity and whole environment seems like dark and cloudy. I shivered when a blow of strong wind passed by.

Pressing my lips together, I sat inside his car. I impatiently waited for this car ride to get over and I reach my destination as soon as possible.

"Can I ask you for something?" He asked.

I bite my lips and nodded hesitantly.

"Can you keep everything to yourself? Whatever happened yesterday, just don't mention anything to anyone." He said in a plain voice.

"Not even to Rehan?"

"No." He replied.

But if I doesn't tell the truth to Rehan then how am I supposed to short out everything between us? I don't want to live with the constant guilt that I lied to him.

"Look I know I am asking for much but...will you?" He said in a defeat to me and my weakness; I couldn't say no to anyone's painful voice, once again won and I ended up agreeing with him.

"I never get that how a woman like you ended up with him." He said bitterly and at his mention of him, I understood that he's talking about Rehan.

"You mean how I ended up with my Rehan?" I asked with a little smile touching at the corner of my lips to which he just kept a blank face.

"Well, all thanks to Vishal for that." I added, remembering the first time I've met Rehan. I know not a good start but still I am happy that we have met.

"Oh so this is all because of that Joker Vishal." He said and his tone lightens a little at the mention of Vishal.

Huh?

"You know Vishal?" He looked at me for few seconds like mentally debating over whether to tell me or not.

I impatiently waited for his response.

After taking a deep breath he added, "We used to be best friends in high school."

My eyebrows arched up in surprise as this was totally unexpected.

"In that we, your Rehan also comes." Another sentence came from him in blank tone.

I know that Rehan and Vishal are best friends but Max? I guess there's a lot about Rehan to which I am completely unaware.

"We used to be inseparable. Uh... I know it sounded damn girly." He said and laughed.

Inseparable? Then what happened that both Rehan and Max started hating each other?

"Then." I said in an attempt to let him know that I wanted to know more.

"Those were the best days of our lives. All we had to do was to make a bet and.... I don't think you'll like to know that your husband was one of the biggest player of our high school." After completing his sentence, a smirk get plastered over his face.

A strong pang of jealousy burst into my heart and I hissed in pain when I turned my neck towards the window.

This neck sprain.

"And what about Vishal then? He doesn't seems like that of player type." I smoothly shifted the topic.

"Aha trust me that's how Rehan and I discuss over this topic that how could Vishal act all so innocent and goody-goody two shoes?" He said and I found something different in his eyes. Something like he's missing those days and more than that something like he's missing his best friends.

"And later he was whipped in love with that slut Tara." He chuckled dryly.

I frowned.

Why they all hate Tara.

"Here we are Mrs. Malhotra, at your place." I passed him a smile and took a deep breath before leaving his car and entering inside the house.

My fingers automatically started trembling and sweat bead formed all over my temple. Isn't this how my body always reacts when I have a clue that Rehan is going to be angry?

I shook my head to clear every thought and spot James and Ron standing near the front gate.

"Is Rehan here?" I slowly asked them and that's when their eyes snapped in my direction.

"No. He isn't." Ron replied.

I gave them a confused look. What does they meant that he isn't here?

"Mayra. Yesterday when you went out, according to Mr. Malhotra's order for your safety, we tracked your location. And when he returned from somewhere, maybe he went upstairs to meet you and when he realized you were not there then he asked for your location. We told him and after hearing were you were, he didn't said anything. And today, an hour back he went outside for running." James said.

I tried to process his words one by one in my mind.

Running? But it's raining heavily outside.

I nervously went to our room and looked out of the window which only worsen the situation. In such a dark weather, where he was?

I squeezed my eyes shut and rubbed my face with my palms. Why I can't be selfish? Why can't I just care about Rehan and forget about everyone else? I want Rehan but every time I end up doing something which seems like a storm for our relationship.

Time started passing. Seconds turned into minutes and which in turn, turned into hour. But still no sign of him.

I sat one the bed and dialed his number. His ring tone blasted in the room, making it clear that he has not even taken his cell phone with him. How will he react when he'll return? Will he listen to my side of story although I don't have one as Max had asked me to not say.

Everything was going perfect. Rehan was changing and I was enjoying his company. I had already wasted the fourth day. And today seems no different.

Suddenly door flew open revealing

Rehan in rain soaked T-shirt and Denim. He ran his fingers through his wet hairs and that's when his eyes landed on me. His facial reaction instantly changed from flat one to dark.

His jaw gets clenched and nostril slightly flattened. He had his fist clenched on the side. But his eyes were not matching any of his physical expressions. Water droplets ran down from his hairs to his eyes, to which he flickered his eye and without saying anything, he rushed inside the bathroom.

I blinked twice to get the idea that what actually had happened. He was clearly angry but still without saying anything he simply ignored me.

Now don't I even deserve his hatred? My eyes started filling with salty tears which rushed down to my cheeks.

I stood up when he returned from the bathroom, after changing his wet clothes into new dry ones. His hair were still wet. He didn't looked at me for once instead just started walking towards the balcony.

I frowned and took a step in front of him, blocking his way.

"Move." He said calmly and looked everywhere but me.

My heart ached and after collecting enough guts, I said "Please Rehan listen me once. Just once."

His lips curled into mocking smirk and then he harshly pushed me aside and went away. I stumbled a little. My neck pain increased sharply but by simply ignoring it, I went to balcony. I saw him on the couch and his eyes were wondering over the rain and dark clouds.

"Enjoyed your night with your new lover?" He taunted bitterly and chuckled.

My heart raced at his bitter tone.

"Don't you trust me?" I asked after wiping away my tears.

After few seconds later, he shifted his eyes to meet mines. Several butterflies erupted in my stomach.

"What happened to your neck?" I looked at him dumbfounded at his question and then it hit me that I had put my palm on the back of my neck and tilted it a little.

"Sprain." I replied which only came out as whisper.

He didn't say anything instead again fixed his gaze at the sky. This silence was killing me. I wanted to fix everything between us but it seems like my brain had stopped sending neural signals.

"Trust? YOU WANT ME TO TRUST YOU?" He yelled, clenching his fist.

I flinched by the sudden harsh sound of his voice. I licked my lips and replied, "Yes."

"THE HELL I ALREADY TRUST YOU BUT I DON'T TRUST MYSELF."