Thank you all for your votes and comments.

Thanks for completing the target too.

P. S: This chapter was almost ready by evening but wattpad deleted it and I had to write it from the first. So I don't know how it turned out to be😢

Please ignore the mistakes. Happy reading!

Target: 100 votes

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Sonakshi stood numb looking at a lifeless elena lying on the floor covered with a pool of blood. She quickly rushed towards her, kneeling down in front of her. "Elena.. Elena.. What happened to you? Wake up!", Sonakshi shook her up but there was no response. Tears filled her eyes as her mind started imagining the worst scenarios. She panicked what would have happened to her all of a sudden when she was fit and fine the previous day. "Kichu bhaiyya.. Kichu bhaiya!", she shouted at the top of her voice helplessly. If anything had happened to elena she couldn't forgive herself for all her life, because she was the only reason for elena to stay there.

Fear engulfed her as she reminisced the stories she heard from villagers before she bought that bungalow. Inspite of everyone's warnings, she bought the house and she couldn't really believe that her one stupid mistake has costed her friend's life. "Why are you shouting sona?", she heard a very familiar voice and her heart stopped for a while. She quickly turned around and what she saw then made her dumbstruck. Elena was sitting upright tiredly with her eyes still closed and an completely annoyed look on her face. Words failed to leave Sonakshi's mouth as she couldn't come into terms of what's happening around her. Before she could recover herself from the shock, Elena spoke.

"Why are you disturbing my sleep?", she said annoyed and Sonakshi's gawked at her open mouthedly. "Were you sleeping all the while?", Sonakshi asked her in disbelief. "What kind of question is this? What do you expect me to do at such an early morning?", Elena asked irritatedly and sonakshi looked at her wide eyed. "Early morning! Its 11 a.m now. You fool! And what the hell have you been doing lying on the floor?", sonakshi shouted at her and it was then elena opened her eyes and looked around. "What! How did I land on the floor? Did you push me from the bed?", Elena asked her with a doubtful look increasing Sonakshi's anger all the more.

"Not from the bed, but I am going to push you from the terrace now. You stupid.. Do you know how much you scared me! And what the hell is this thing on your neck?", Sonakshi asked elena angrily pointing towards the blood stains on her neck. "Oh yeah.. What is this?", Elena asked observing the stains on her confusedly. She looked around and found an empty bottle of red paint lying on the floor. "Haa! It's the paint that I was using last night!", she said showing the tiny bottle to sonakshi with all smiles who looked as if she was ready to kill her anytime.

"Why did you pour this paint on yourself?", Sonakshi asked elena angrily. "Yeah, I did pour it on myself because I wanted to get bath in this red paint so that I can look like a mushroom dipped in tomato sauce!", Elena replied with a tight lipped smile and sonakshi flared her nose at her angrily. "How did you become such a big business woman with your pea sized brains sona? Why would I pour a paint on myself? I fell down from my bed in sleep and this paint would have fallen upon me by mistake. Dumbo!", she explained and sonakshi looked at her blankly. "But I thought it was... Fine leave it. So you still have this habit of falling from the bed!", Sonakshi said smacking her forehead. "And what were you doing with these paints?", she asked seeing a pallete of colours on the table.

"It's my new hobby. I will tell you that later", Elena said standing up. "And before that I want to show you something", she said walking towards the table and picking up her phone. "What?", Sonakshi asked as she handed over her phone to her. "Look at the picture I took last night", Elena said as sonakshi looked at it keenly. "Which phone do you use? The quality of this picture is very pathetic", she said looking at the picture. "The one manufactured by your company only", Elena said with a tight lipped smile while sonakshi stared at her tongue-tied. "Oh then its your fault! Your photography skill is worse", she said trying to cover up.

"Duffer! I am not here to complain about your Company's phone. Look at this picture carefully. Last night, I tried to take a snap of Dev and this is what had happened", Elena said and sonakshi narrowed her eyes at her. "But where is the picture?", Sonakshi asked her confusedly. "That is what I showed you", Elena said and sonakshi shook her head. "What you showed to me is your picture", she said showing elena her phone. She quickly took the phone from Sonakshi's hand and was shocked to see her picture only. She scrolled through the gallery to find the picture that she took last night. But there was nothing much to her shock. "Where did it go?", Elena asked shocked finding the picture missing. She was so sure that she saved the picture last night.

"It will be there, only if you have clicked it", Sonakshi said folding her hands across her chest. "Sona, I am damn sure that I took the picture. But where did it go?", Elena asked panicked. "How do I know that? But, why did you take a picture of him in the first place? Did he ask you to?", Sonakshi asked her, pure annoyance dripping from her words which didn't go unnoticed by elena. "Why would he? I took it without his knowledge", Elena replied and Sonakshi's eyes widened. "So you took his picture without his concern! How wrong!", she said shocked making elena facepalm. "Does that even matter now sona? There is something more important than that. Did you know what I saw in that picture?", she asked sonakshi wide eyed. "What?", Sonakshi asked her annoyed.

"I clicked a picture of him standing in the corridor. But after that, within seconds he went missing", Elena said shocked. "So what? You would've been staring at him for hours to even notice him getting inside his room", Sonakshi said casually. "Oh sona! He didn't go missing from the corridor only. He went missing from the picture too", Elena said shocked while sonakshi stared at her blankly. "What does that actually mean?", she asked her confused. "It means when I took the picture he was there. But when I looked into it, he wasn't there", she said shocked. "And now even that picture isn't there", Sonakshi said trying to walk away but elena stopped her.

"So, you don't believe me. Oh god! How will I prove it to you?", Elena said irritatedly. "You can prove me later. First take a shower. You are stinking", she said covering her nose and walking away, giving elena a disgusting look. Elena stomped her foot angrily, muttering something and sonakshi stopped at the door step hearing her words. "Something is really unusual in this place. Especially in that strange room", Elena said to herself and walked inside while sonakshi looked up at the door of that room feeling chills run down her spine.

***

"Come in", Sonakshi said hearing a knock on the door. Pushing her glasses down she looked up from her laptop and was surprised to see Dev standing near the doorstep of her room. "What is this?", she asked as he handed over a glass to her. "It's a medicine. It will cure your fever quickly", he said with a bright smile. "But I don't want anything now", she said and turned back her gaze to the laptop screen. "But I want you to drink this. You can work later. Give yourself some time Ms. Bose. If you keep on working like this then you will get to wear even bigger glasses and everyone will call you as 'chashmish'", he said taking the laptop from her and keeping it aside while Sonakshi gawked at him open mouthedly. "I don't really care. And why should I do what you want?", she asked him annoyed.

"If you want to get well soon, drink it. I am not compelling you", he said sitting infront of her and forwarding the glass to her. "I am already fine", she said shoving the glass away. "No you are not", he said moving it towards her. "Stop forcing me Mr. Dixit. I am not a kid", she said annoyed pushing the glass aside. "Ms. Bose, why are you so adamant? This is just an ordinary medicinal drink. It will help you for your fast recovery", he said patiently. "But I don't want it and that's it. Stop intruding into my personal space. You are no one to me expect a mere employee. So stop taking advantage of me Mr. Dixit", she said pushing the glass away and it fell down on the floor, breaking into pieces, much to her shock.

Dev stood up startled looking at the drink spilled on the floor and the glass broken into pieces. "Mr. Dixit, I didn't mean to..", she was about to say something but he cut her off. "It's okay Ms. Bose. I should've known my limits. I am sorry", he said and before she could continue he stopped her. "Kichu Bhaiya.. Kichu Bhaiya..", he shouted at the top of his voice making her shiver. Never had she seen him in such an angry form in all these days. Hearing him shouting, kichu rushed to Sonakshi's room and was shocked seeing the shattered pieces of glasses on the floor.

"Kichu bhaiya, clean the glass pieces soon. Your Ma'am might get hurt", Dev said and walked out of the room while sonakshi stood tight lipped. "My bad! Everything went in vain. He did it with so much difficulty", Sonakshi heard kichu muttering something to himself. "Who did?", she asked as he stood up, cleaning the broken pieces. "Dev bhaiya was preparing it from morning madam. But everything spilled down", he said huffing in dismay while sonakshi looked at him wide eyed. "From morning!", she asked in disbelief and he nodded at her. "Yes, I said that I will help him. But he did everything on his own. He said there is something special in this drink that will make your flu fly away within seconds. But everything got spoiled", kichu said making sonakshi feel guilty.

"It's over Madam", kichu said after cleaning the broken pieces. Sonakshi nodded at him as he left the room and hopped on the bed. She was about to take the laptop but stopped reminiscing his words, "If you keep on working like this then you will get to wear even bigger glasses and everyone will call you as 'chashmish'". She twitched her nose in annoyance and kept the laptop aside. Leaning back on the bed, she noticed the diary lying on the bedside table. It was then she remembered that she left reading it in the morning and reached her hand to take it. Flipping the pages of the diary, she continued from where she left...

**Flashback**

"Shona, I am Devrath Raj...", before Dev could complete he heard a familiar voice and shona stood startled realizing who it was. "Dev beta!", they both heard Bijoy calling from behind and shona quickly hid behind a nearby pillar careful enough to not get caught by her father. "What are you doing here?", Bijoy asked Dev as he turned around nervously. "I.. I..", he stammered, shocked by the sudden turn of events. He was definitely not expecting Bijoy there that too at such a moment. "What happened?", Bijoy asked walking towards him but before he could proceed further Dev stopped him careful enough to not let him face where shona was hiding, making her sigh in relief. "I came to..", Dev said looking at his parent's grave and Bijoy nodded his head understanding what he was hinting at.

"I never know that you know them", Bijoy said in surprise. "I know them very well", he said smiling a sad one. "Ofcourse, who wouldn't have known them in this village! As long they were alive, they helped everyone here including me. I am forever grateful to them", Bijoy said thinking over something while Dev looked at him in surprise. "They have a son who is studying somewhere. Do you know him as well?", Bijoy asked and Dev stared at him without knowing what to reply. "I hope he is good. Ofcourse he will be. After all he is blessed to be their son. And I am damn sure that he will also be a good person. That quality should be in his blood", Bijoy said and Dev smiled at him. If parents feel proud hearing good about their children, then children feel a million times prouder hearing good things about their parents. And that's how Dev was exactly feeling right now.

"Come to home along with Ramu again", Bijoy said as he was about to leave the place. They talked about so many random things and Dev's respect towards Bijoy increased so many folds after that and vice versa. Shona who was seeing all this from afar felt happier to see her father bonding with Dev in a better way than before. Dev nodded at him in a yes and took his blessings to which Bijoy smiled back at him. He turned around to leave and shona stepped out of the place where she was hiding at. But before she could reach there, Bijoy turned back much to everyone's shock. Shona quickly hid herself again that she failed to notice her anklet falling down on the floor. "Why did you and Ramu disappeared suddenly when you came home last time?", Bijoy asked and Dev stared at him blankly.

"I came to find something which I lost long back", he said placing his hand on the left side of his chest and looking at shona who was peeping from behind the pillar. Her eyes widened hearing him and she gestured him to stay silent but he was in no mood to listen to her. "Did you find it?", Bijoy asked him seriously. "I let it be, knowing it is in a safer place than where it was before", Dev said smiling at her and she couldn't help her cheeks turning to a hue of red. "Then it must be difficult for you to be without it, isn't it?", Bijoy asked him. "I have something better now", he replied still smiling at her and shona placed her hand on her chest smiling. She felt as if his heart was beating inside her and hers inside his. The thought itself made both blush at each other unknowingly. "It's good then", Bijoy said confused looking at Dev smiling to himself.

"Dev beta, tell me if you find any difficulty. I am leaving now", Bijoy said breaking their trance. Shona facepalmed herself for getting lost in him, that too in such a situation and Dev smiled at him awkwardly. "Sure", he replied and Bijoy turned to leave but something caught his attention. He saw an anklet lying on the floor and it looked so much familiar to him. He tried to reminisce where he saw that but couldn't come into terms. Brushing away his thoughts, he walked out from there making Dev and shona sigh in relief. "Looks like someone is scared", Dev said as shona came out. "Scared! I literally died seeing papa here. Thank god, he didn't get to see us together!", she said sighing in relief. "Why? What would've happened if we got to see us together?", Dev asked casually and she looked at him in disbelief.

"He would have locked me up in a room. And who knows, we would've never met after that", she said making Dev frown. "Not at all! He would've called me to speak and fixed our wedding in next muhurat only", he said smiling and she shook her head. "It would've happened in our dreams only. Its not that easy Dev", she said sadly. "Trust me everything will go well", he said taking her hand in his while she pouted at him sadly. "Don't you trust me shona?", he asked her but she was silent. "I trust you but.. I know about my father. He won't accept us", she said sadly making him frown more. "Then why did you accept me shona?", he asked her, annoyance dripping from his every word.

"I can't help it Dev because I lov...", she stopped realising what she was about to say. "Because you?", he asked smirking at her. "I am dying to hear you shona. Tell me atleast once", he said and she looked down blushing profusely. Though they shared anything and everything she can't understand why she was feeling shy to tell only those words to him. "You were telling me something but before that papa interrupted in between. What was that?", she asked diverting the topic. "Nothing.. I will tell you later", he said with a tight lipped smile.

"Fine. I will leave then. Let's meet tomorrow", she said turning around to leave but he held her wrist. "Why so soon?" he asked her with a sad pout. "Because I want to be back at home before papa would return. And its late already", she said calmly but he was adamant. "I am waiting for the day when we don't need to hide us, from this world", he said holding her hand. "Even I am waiting for the same", she said smiling at him and walked away as he looked at her retreating figure longingly. Little did they know that they would be safe only if they were hiding from this cruel world.

***

Next day :

"What is this?", Dev asked shona as she sat beside him on the river side under the peaceful moonlight. She grinned at him widely as he looked at all her fingers that were covered with numerous rings. "I got these rings from my nani. And this is the one you gave me", she said pointing at her fingers one by one. "But what's the need to wear all this?", he asked her confused. "So that no one will doubt me for wearing a new ring", she said but Dev stared at her in confusion. "Dev, if I had gone to home wearing the ring gifted by you then definitely papa would've asked me about it. So instead I went to my Nani's place and got all the rings she had. Now papa can't differentiate between the rings you gave and nani gave because he thinks that my nani gave all this to me", she said and Dev gawked at her openmouthedly.

"Very smart!", he said and she smiled at him proudly. "Where do you get these ideas from?", he asked her in disbelief. "You said that I shouldn't take out the ring you gifted. So I thought for a while and this idea striked me. I will never break my promise Dev. I will never take this ring till my last breath", she said looking at the ruby, that stood different from all the others, shining brightly under the moonlight. He forwarded his hand to her which she grabbed quickly and leaned her head on his shoulder, entwining her fingers with his.

"Shona what's your full name?", Dev asked and she smiled at him widely. "Did I ask something wrong?", he asked her confused. "Not at all", she said smiling slyly making him more confused. "Then tell me", he said waiting for her to continue. She took a deep breath while he looked at her keenly. "Sonakshi Komal Supriya Purnima Nirmala Jothi Kumari Chauhan", she completed with a proud smile and looked at Dev who gawked at her open mouthedly. "What was that?", he asked her shocked. "My name", she said proudly and he gulped down imagining how much he should work hard to by heart her name only. "Who kept you such a name?", he asked her in disbelief.

"Maa said that I was the first child in my whole family. So everyone decided to give their favourite names to me. But since all couldn't call me with a different name, my dadu gave this idea of combining all the names that sounded good and naming me with it. And since it is a little long, everyone in my family call me as shona only", she explained while Dev gave her a bemused look. "Then it would've been enough if they had named as shona only", he muttered to himself which went inaudible to her. "Did you say something?", she asked him. "Nice name", he said giving her a tight lipped smile.

"Then I have decided one thing", he said and she looked up at him. "What?", she asked him confused. "We will name our daughter as 'Devakshi'", he said grinning widely and she stared at him blankly. "Daughter?", she asked in disbelief but he was quick to nod at her. "Will you fulfill this wish of mine?", he asked her grinning widely but all she did was to stare at him. "Which wish?", she asked him still confused. "I want a daughter first", he said casually. "First!", she asked raising her brows at him. "Yeah. Then I want 2 sons and 3 daughters. That's it. After that it's upto you. Anyhow I want my daughters to be twice the number of my sons. But we should have a maximum of only 24 kids", he said and she stared at him in horror. "Why so less?", she asked him sarcastically.

"Because there are only 25 rooms and we will take one room. So there will be only 24 rooms left which is for our children", he said proudly while she looked at him dumbstruck. "And what does 'Devakshi' mean?", she asked him after recovering from the shock. "Dev and sonakshi can be together spelled as 'Devakshi'. She will be the first symbol of our love, our togetherness", he said smiling and she couldn't help but blush at every word of his. "Do you have any wish like this?", Dev asked her curiously. "I have a wish but not like this", she said with a tight lipped smile. "Then?", he asked her raising his brows.

"Since the time we visited the tomb yesterday, I thought of this", she said looking up at him while he stared at her quizzically. "Dev, it's not that easy to be with the one we love, even after we lost our lives. We should be really blessed for that. So I am not asking for that. As long as I live, I want to be with you. And at the last moment of my life, I should be in your arms. Will you fulfill this simple wish of mine Dev?", she asked him smiling but he stared at her in shock. "Here I wanted to live with you but you are asking for such a wish", he said frowning at her. "Dev, one day or the other its going to happen. So please promise me that you will fulfill this wish of mine", she said forwarding her hand to him.

"Please", she asked as he seemed to be lost in his thoughts. Never did he expect that she would ask him to fulfill such a wish. Hesitantly he placed his hand over hers, making her gleam with happiness. "You are the best!", she said grinning widely but he averted his gaze from her. "Why are you angry at me?", she asked with a sad pout coming infront of him. "What do you expect me to do?", he spat at her angrily. He didn't want to shout at her but what she did affected him so much that the fear of losing her made him lose his senses. "I am sorry", she murmured slowly, scared due to his sudden outburst. Sensing her fear he mentally facepalmed himself for behaving stupid with her.

"Shona, look at me", he said cupping her face. "I love you and I don't want to lose you at any point of my life. You are the only reason of my existence shona. Without you, I would be nothing and that's the truth. Try to understand that and stop talking stupid things", he said and she stared at him blankly. "Are you angry even now?", she asked and he nodded at her in a yes. "You spoiled my mood", he said huffing in dismay. "How can I make your anger subside? What should I do to correct my mistake?", she asked him with a sad pout. "Fulfil my other wish", he said smiling at her mischievously while she looked at him quizzically. "What's your other wish?", she asked him confused. "To kiss you under the moonlight", he said looking at her intently and she felt herself shivering under his strong gaze.

"Dev", she said as he held her arms, still not averting his gaze from her. "Won't you fulfill my wish?", he asked asiding her flicks making her shiver with his every touch. She felt her cheeks burning and her lips curved up a little. She slowly shook her head in a no and before he could understand anything, she pushed him off and stood up from there making him groan. He quickly got up, dusting his hands and before he could catch her, she started running filling the air around with her unending giggles. "Shona stop!", he shouted running behind her but she didn't seem to listen to him. Not giving up, he too ran behind her and before she register what happened, he pulled by her wrist and pinned her to the wall.

"Dev!", she whined as he held her arms on her either sides, both breathing heavily. "You should fulfill my wish shona. Don't forget your words", he said looking at her intently. Unable to bear his strong gaze anymore she looked down but he held her chin and made her face him. He neared her quivering lips and she closed her eyes nervously. Her hands gripped his shirts tightly as his gaze travelled from her eyes that were shut in fear to her lips that were trembling in nervousness. He slowly moved his hand holding the sides of her neck as she hissed sensing his hand moving across her sensitive spot. Sensing her nervousness, he kissed her forehead making her grip on his shirt tighten.

Suddenly she felt his hold on her getting loosened. "Open your eyes shona", he said as she opened her eyes slowly. She looked at him as he moved back a little, still staring at her with a small smile lingering on his lips. "Thank you", he said as she stared at him confused. "Thank you for being with me, valuing me and putting efforts to make me feel special. You made my anger subside. Infact it disappeared completely. Not because you agreed to fulfil my wish. But because you tried to make me feel special by agreeing to something you don't want to do", he said with her still in his arms. "Dev its not like I didn't want to..", before she could continue he cut her off.

"Sshhh.. You don't have to explain shona. I love you and it means, I respect you. I will never do something that will hurt you in any possible way", he said smiling as she too smiled back at him. "I know", she said smiling. "Miss me", he said removing his hands from her either sides, letting her go. She smiled at him and turned to walk away. But turned back and rushed towards him, quickly pecking his cheek making him shocked. Before he could understand what happened, she ran away from there giggling leaving. He looked at her retreating figure and smiled to himself shyly ruffling his hair.

**End of flashback**

Sonakshi thought for a while and closed the diary. She quickly stood up and placing the diary aside, rushed out of her room. She stepped downstairs and saw Dev sitting in the dining table alone. "Mr. Dixit", she called from behind and he turned around to see sonakshi walking towards him, taking him by surprise.

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Why did sonakshi went to meet Dev? 🤔

Precap : Elena's plans to talk to the spirit!

My other works,

# Falling for you.. [COMPLETED]

# A Journey towards her.. [COMPLETED]

# My Little Paradise - A sequel to AJTH [COMPLETED]

# All Credits To Love - A Sharica OS

# Mine - A Devakshi OS

# Happy Ending - A Sharica OS

For more updates and spoilers follow my instagram account 'mishti7593'

Next update will be on next weekend 😊

~See you soon ❤️