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      Neil's absence the entire day ,had made Avni's day pretty dismal. The exhilaration that had marked the start of her day ,had disappeared seeing his locked door. In her excitement to share every little detail about last night's event with him , the knowledge about his early morning flight had bounced off  her head. Work at Fallen leaf had been sluggish ,letting her mind to drift away to the picture of Neil reluctantly leaving her behind in the party. She kept hushing it away as concern ,but her heart didn't agree ; could it be something more ?? Was there something else in his eyes that night that she failed to appreciate. The question bothered her time and again . Aarav on the other hand had been busy with all the pending work that had accumulated over his long absence. All the interaction they had was the smiles he threw her way everytime they crossed paths.  Returning back home ,the first thing she checked was his door ,but Neil was still away.

   It was nightfall and there was still no sign of Neil. Shweta's message had confirmed Avni's doubt about Neil's flight getting delayed. But that didn't stop her from expecting to hear his door unlock everytime she heard someone's footsteps.

She had already shared every little detail about her big day with Neela over the phone ,yet not sharing it with Neil  brought in this odd feeling of incompleteness. It wasn't the details that mattered , it was the talk. Talking to him had become a ritual ; whether it was for a mere 5 mins quick updates or an hour long banter , the length of the conversation didn't matter either . Who knew the crazy guy who had offered her an acting project instead of leniency on rent , would be the one she would crazily miss one day.

                  --------------------------

   The early morning flight and wait up at the airport had added on to his hectic schedule ,but Neil was determined to be on time for his meetings today. A few hours of lost sleep could be easily compensated with a few good cups of strong coffee. But before he could reach his kitchen his phone buzzed ,demanding his immediate attention.

   His screen flashed the name that had been on his mind throughout the sleepless night . Unanticipated and uncalled appearances were definitely her forte , but since when did she call him at this time of the day.
" Hello!''

" Hii . So where are you ?" she asked casually.

" Right across the hall . I'm your neighbour , remember ?"

" Yeah !! But you were not home , the last time I checked ."

" Oh ! and when would that be ?" by now he knew she cared about him too ,but the child in him wanted to know how much.

" That's not important ." Telling him that she waited till late night , would just give him more legroom for teasing her ,so she spared him the details and herself the unwanted teasing.

" Ok. But why are you calling me ? We are neighbours. This is just weird !"

" Because you told me that I drop by unannounced at odd times !!! " his contradictory accusations infuriated her.

"Yes I said you do do that ,but I never said you shouldn't do that ."

" Ok now you are just messing with me. " She could hear him chuckle from the other end ,confirming her doubts.

"  So why did you call ? " he said controlling his urge to annoy her further.

" Hmm.....yeah....I called ....to....to ask how was your meeting yesterday ? " .The last thing she was interested in knowing was about his boring meetings ,but she had to start somewhere . Contrary to her once popular belief ,life of lawyers wasn't as exciting as the tv shows projected. There was no high voltage drama going on all the time and even if there was some nerve wrecking courtroom drama , it was limited to courtroom only.

" Weird ..... question ....again.  It went well. There were some minor disagreement between the two parties regarding some clauses but everything was settled somehow and yeah.....that was it. " 

" Umm.... okay .Great. '' She thanked her stars that Neil didn't go into greater details.

" So you reached home safely right ? I mean day before yesterday ?" He knew the answer to that .The purpose of the question was to evoke some other details that she might spare and those that he wanted an answer to but was too hesitant to ask.

" Yeah. I did ." She kept it short and to the point, much to his disappointment.

Getting nowhere with his obvious open and close questions , he ventured in to the area that made him uncomfortable.
" So how was it ?"

" How was what ? " she clearly was unclear about what he was getting at.

" Meeting him ?" For no obvious reason even the thought of him made Neil's blood boil.

" Meeting whom ???  What are you saying ?"

" Him.....A...Aarav " every little fibre in his body clenched as the name flew out of his mouth.

" Oh .....him. How was I supposed to know who were you referring to ?? It was pleasant. "

" So did you tell me about your little crush ? "

" What ?!!! No . Never. Not at all. Are you crazy ???? Anyways come over for breakfast....I'll tell you everything in details." After a lot of efforts ,she had finally put forward the reason of her early morning short distance call in a not so discreet manner.

"Why would I be interested in the details ?" How could he ever explain to her that even though he was eager to know the details , he couldn't even tolerate the mention his name anymore , let alone her gushing over him.

" Fine then don't .Come over  for breakfast .Just breakfast. I'm sure you must be almost ready for office. "

" No thanks .I don't want breakfast made by you .Do you even know how to make...make... anything ?" The girl didn't know how to not talk. What would start as an innocent breakfast would end up as an hour long one sided chat show about Aarav......he knew that and that's something he didn't want.

" No. I never said  I would make you breakfast .I have  breakfast cereals ,muesli , cornflakes ,even  fruity loops. I also hv milk, bread and butter. And you are free to make or bring coffee . Voila breakfast !!"

Her antics never failed to draw his smile out. How could he put down the cutest invitation for breakfast ever.
" Okay fine. I'll be there with coffee in about 10 minutes."

" Make that 30 mins to an hour ."

" One hour ?!!! Why ?"

" Because I have to get ready too you know. Now I'm going for a quick bath.It will take about 30 mins or so...and....then..."

" You are kidding !"

" No I'm not. See can you hear the water flow. I'm just waiting for my water to get luke warm from hot."

" That's just great !"

" Oh no. !the water is overflowing !!."

" Avni be careful. "  No sooner had he said that ,than he heard a sequence of noises , a splash followed by a heavy thud followed by Avni's scream.

"Ahhhh!!"

" Avni??

Avni ??

Are you okay ??

Say something .Avni . Damn it !!"

There was no sound from from the other end except the constant gushing of flowing water.

    He rushed out of his apartment without a second thought . The door of Avni's apartment was locked from within. He knocked twice for a response. Hearing unnerving silence from inside he rushed back to his apartment to get the spare key to his old apartment. Unlocking the door , he ran towards the bathroom , blood running cold in his veins.

  The sight he saw on reaching her bathroom stopped his heart for a second. Avni was lying on the bathroom floor ,her back against the wall , unconscious ! The bucket over which her hand rested had been toppled over , probably by the force of the fall. Her mini white t-shirt dress had gone see through ,drenched from the water from the overhead shower. The water that flowed had washed away something red , he looked up to see Avni's bleeding head.
Shaking off his frozen state , he walked right in ,closed the faucet and promptly carried out an unconscious Avni ,in his arms ,into her bedroom. His heart thumping in his chest all the while .

    Putting her down on the bed , he began shaking with trepidation. There was no way in hell he was going to let anything happen to her. Nothing would happen to her ,not on his watch. But first he needed to calm down .He calmed down his nerves down by breathing in and out. Once calm, his mind worked logically again.Getting some clean towels he started putting pressure on the nasty cut on her head ,to prevent further bleeding. The logical next step was to get her to a hospital ,but he couldn't carry her out in those see through clothings. He didn't give a damn about what others would think ,but he could imagine a lot of hullabaloo once she wakes up. But that was for later , now he needed to act.

  Just as he started to pick her up again ,she winced.

" Thank God !!!! You are awake !!! " He could feel his eyes welling up.

" It hurts " was all she could muster up in a feeble voice.

" I know. " He wiped a drop that had made its way past the barriers of his lids." Hold on.Let me get you some water ......and a doctor. "

He dialled up the only doctor he knew would agree to come without much persuasion , while he fetched her a glass of water.

" Hey Neil. What's up ? " answered Kiara.

" I need you to get your brother and come to my apartment as fast as you can. "

" Neil are you alright ? Why do you need a doctor ? "

" I'm fine. No time to explain. Just hurry up and yes tell him that stitches might be needed. Come soon."

He cut off the phone as soon as he heard a yes. Going back to Avni he helped her sip a few sips of water ,by holding her up. He removed the towel a bit to see the bleeding had stopped ,marked by a huge clot of blood.

" Ah.....Neil "

" Yes. Don't try to talk too much. Doctor is on the way. " He tried to calm her down , or himself more than her.

" Blanket. "

" What ?!!! " He had been so lost in tending to her wounds and getting help , that he had forgotten the transparency of her garments.

" Could you please cover...." she hesitated for a long second " .....cover me up with a blanket before the doctor arrives. "

" Yeah. Yes.Yes " He did what was asked of him without further questions .He carefully pulled the blanket over her , making sure there wasn't any addition to the already prevailing awkwardness.

The doctor arrived minutes later along with his ex girlfriend Kiara . Neil had instructed Kiara to come to his old apartment and so she did .

  The doctor cleaned the wound before stitching up the cut . Everytime Avni winced the lines on Neil's forehead clumped together. Everytime the needle pierced her scalp , something pricked on Neil's heart too.

Neil's eyes never left Avni's pained face , and Kiara's closely observed his. She followed his strained lines and empathetic eyes as they reacted to Avni's pain .

" I have stitched her up. Change the dressing everyday  . Bring her to my hospital on the 7th day to get the stitches removed. Her right leg has sprained. You will need a crepe bandage for that and complete rest for her leg for 5-7 days.Dont worry ,she will be fine." The doctor handed him over a prescription for painkillers and other medicines that she needed.

" Thanks Karan . I could never repay you for this help. "

" Not at all. Just doing my duty and you are Kiara's friend. So anytime. Give her the medicines on time and call me up incase anything changes. " Karan smiled at Avni , wished her a speedy recovery before making his way out into the drawing room.

" So this is Avni , the fake girlfriend that you had told me about. Hmm. You seem to care a lot for someone pretending to be your girlfriend." Kiara whispered into Neil's ear as they walked out.

" What's that supposed to mean now ?? Shouldn't I help someone in need ?"

" Ofcourse you should. I would have done the same. But that's not what I'm talking about.  " She smiled as she continued " Neil , remember how I used to say you didn't look at me 'that' way ?? "

Neil looked at her perplexed ,not saying a word in retaliation.

" I just saw that look in your eyes. The way you were looking at her...." she lingered away.

" What way ? You are crazy you know. "

" I'll let you find it out all by yourself this time ,I'm sure you will this time."  She smiled at a stunned Neil and muttered " it's a slippery slope my friend ."

Leaving Neil to his thoughts she walked out of the door where her brother was waiting for her. Both of them waved at Neil before heading out together.

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A/N :
Hey guys
So how was it ? I know it's short compared to my usual updates.Still do let me know your thoughts on the chapter.

Thank you so much for the votes and comments on the last chapter.
Good to see so many of my readers patiently waiting for the story to resume. Can't thank you guys enough.

Lots of love.