Avni ran up the stairs as soon as she was dropped home by Aarav. Normally a normal Avni would have waited patiently for the elevator to come down but today she was impatient to get as far away from the awkward family dinner as possible. Of course she stopped running after she reached the first floor and took the elevator going up.

By the time she reached her floor , her mind was overflowing with hundred different thoughts about just one person; the one who was too busy to call her back the whole day. She could sense his silence was an indication of an upcoming storm and she needed to talk some sense into the otherwise rational lawyer , before he did something rash or foolish. With that thought making her heart beat even faster , she knocked on his door . There was no response. She knocked again and still no answer. Her third , fourth and fifth attempt also received the exact same response ; that is no response at all. Determined as hell that she wasn't going away without giving him the "talk" she banged on his door yet again.

"That door is locked !!" She had been so caught up in her own web of thoughts that his arrival from behind her had gone totally amiss.

" You are covered in sweat !!" The instance she turned to see him , it was evident from his sweat drenched shirt and air pods that he had been out for a run . " Who the hell were you running from at this hour ? or should I replace the 'who' with a 'what'?" . Her eyes had questions and her mind suspected something bad had already surpassed .

" I went for a jog , to get some fresh air .You should have told me that I wasn't allowed to do that , before I went out ." He pushed past her to unlock the door with her eyes still interrogating him . " Am I grounded now ?" he mocked , but the usual tease in his voice was absent which didn't go unnoticed.

"I need to talk to you ." She made herself crystal clear with an all assertive tone in her voice.

" Now ? Can't this wait till the morning ? I am very tired ." His door was already unlocked but he wouldn't open it ; he knew opening the door meant a long conversation cum argument with Avni which he wanted to avoid at all costs. The last thing he wanted for her birthday was a fight two nights before it.

" Nope. This cannot wait . We are doing this now , not later , not tomorrow. Now open the damn door." She was equally adamant as he was.

" My apartment is a mess right now .Everything is lying around like exploded garbage."

" I have seen worse . Open it."

" But I don't want anyone to see my place like that. My personal belongings are lying everywhere.....things you don't want to see." It was a cheap shot but he knew he had to say something .

" Great. I don't care. Will you open the door for god-sake, Neil ?" He was definitely testing her patience but she wasn't the one to give up so fast either.

" I also have a friend over . For all you know he might be in his comfy boxers and you might make him all awkward ."

" You lock your friends inside every time they visit ?!!!" He was not getting her to leave with all his lame excuses.

" He was asleep when I left , so.." . He could see her frustration right on her face , he hoped it was enough to make her leave.

" Fine. You don't want me inside the house , so be it. You know what, whether or not you open that door , we are having this conversation. Start talking ." She crossed her arms in front of her chest and stared him down like cop ready to get the truth out from the guilty .

"About what exactly ?" Her numerous calls and texts throughout the day had made it clear to him what exactly she wanted him to talk about but he wasn't taking any chances .

" Seriously ? Now we are going to pretend that we don't know ? After all my unanswered calls and texts !!!"

" I was busy ." He looked here and there , everywhere except for her eyes.

" Totally excusable ! So tell me did you meet with Mr Mehra and his partners ?" She was in no mood to divert this topic anymore .

" I will." If only he could meet her eyes with enough confidence his lying wouldn't have been a problem; why was it so difficult lying to her ?

" When ?"

" Soon ."

" Soon when ?"

" Very soon ."

" What is going on Neil ? why won't you give me a definite answer ? Hell , you won't even meet me in the eyes !" . He was still keeping quiet and still avoiding her eyes , and in an unexpected moment of clarity it struck her " You already had the meeting !!!!!". The storm she was expecting to arrive , had already passed and this was the after effect.

After a whole minute of silence ; in which neither of them uttered a word , he uttered a feeble "Yes"

" And ?" the anger in her had subsided and so had the pitch of her voice.

" Nothing ."

" Nothing ? Are you intentionally making this hard for me ?" his vagueness was pushing her to her limits. But that still didn't get her any answer ; he stood their like an un-moving rock. " Answer me Neil ! What happened at the meeting ? Please Neil.....tell me . I am telling you I will end up having an anxiety attack because of you ."

"I called it off ." He replied after a long pause.

" Called what off ? The meeting ?" She wished so hard that was what he meant.

" The deal. I called it off !" After having avoided them for so long , he was now facing her gaze .

" You called it off ???!!!! Are you crazy ? Why would you do that ?" Her anger had melted away and in its place was care and concern for the person she couldn't see hurting because of her.

" It was necessary ."

" But that was so important for your company and for you ."

" And who told you that ?"

" You did . You told me Neil ; your eyes did , your excitement did , your smile , your happiness did . I know how excited you were about that . I have seen you, I have been there with you ." Her voice had gone low and slow , as if a part of her heart was breaking away for him.

" So what Avni ? So what ?" It bothered him why she couldn't see it ; why she couldn't understand why it didn't matter to him.

" You shouldn't have done that. What happened yesterday was just a.."

" Just a what Avni ?!!" The fire that she had managed to put down yesterday was rekindled in his eyes. "He tried to put his filthy hands on you !!!!"

" He was drunk. I am safe . I am here in front of you , without a scratch. You cannot be everywhere I go Neil ! Sometimes I have to protect myself too , and I can do that !" There was a sense of calm in her voice but his anger was not going away that easily .

His eyes were more fiery than ever " But I should have been there ! I should have been there with you . I should have broken the hands which tried to force them on you ."

" Stop saying that !! You are not at fault here !" she touched his arms with caringly and cautiously , in an attempt to redo her calming aura from last night. " Its over Neil . Don't let last night affect you any further or your career ."

" I have built my company with my hardwork , on my own terms. One deal doesn't make or break my company ."

" But it will be a lost opportunity !!"

" I don't care. We will get many more in future ." He turned to open the door , seeing there was nothing more he could say or do , to make her understand ; to make her understand the plight of his heart. It frustrated him that she of all people wasn't getting him.

" But Neil..." She left the words lingering there and saw him turn back to face her .

" But what ? What is so difficult to understand Avni ?" . He walked closer to a defeated Avni , stopping just inches away from her face . " Why is it so difficult to understand Avni?" his voice was deeper than usual . " I do not care about the damn deal. I don't care how it will affect me or the company !! I don't care about the Mehras or their so called opportunity . Why can't you understand it damn it ??!!!" he was holding a shocked Avni by her shoulders now , without even realizing the effect his actions were having on her . " Why can't you understand ...that.....that you are more important to me than any damn deal , any given day ?!!!!!"

He let her go as instantly as he had grabbed her " Why can't you see that I don't care about anything above you ? That you are the only one I care about !! That I would do this all over again in a heartbeat .....without any regret .......a thousand times over . That I would always ....always choose you....every damn time ."

" Avni !!" They hear Aarav's voice from behind them . Avni turned to see Aarav holding what appeared to be her handbag . She wasn't in a state where she could make any small talk ;  dumbfounded by what had just transpired .

" You left your bag in the car. I didn't see it until we reached home. I thought you might need it , so I drove back here to bring it back to you." Aarav explained his untimely arrival .

" Thank you Aarav" she replied with a feeble voice and a made up smile.

" And Avni thank you for agreeing to have lunch with my family . It means a lot ."

" You don't need to ..." She heard the door of Neil's apartment shut with a thud before she could complete.

" Ok then. Good night. I will see you tomorrow." Aarav disappeared as quickly as he had appeared .

With Aarav gone , she returned to knocking on that door which was locked again,from the inside this time ,but the response remained the same nonetheless. She called his name ,loud enough for him to hear it from the other side of the wall, which fetched her nothing but persistent quietness. She knew he was there and in her heart she also knew there was going to be no response, however much she tried. She knew the door won't open this time.......not after what had just happened .......not after he had accidentally , unknowingly spilled his heart out to her. Every word of his kept echoing in her head making her feel dizzy in the head and heart; she needed to lie down to process each one of them . With a heaviness in her heart ,she called out to him again ; this time it was just a faint whisper from inside her .......that lingered there long enough to push past the wall and reach him .

"Neil" he heard the faint whisper. Neil stood behind the door , with his back pressed against it , feeling the sound of his name effervescing in the air and her footsteps retracing back towards her flat. He slumped to the cold floor ,with the surge of overwhelming emotions weighing him down.

" How do I explain to you Avni ? how do I tell you how it feels ?" He couldn't hold back his burgeoning feelings anymore than he already had . He let his heart take the reins , once it was left alone , all by itself . " How do I tell you how important you are to me ? How do I make you understand how precious that smile of yours is to me ? You are the reason I smile , you are the reason I feel happy. With you by my side , everything looks a little brighter and feels a lot lighter.......everything feels different. When you are around I cannot think of anything else or anyone else.......as if that moment belongs to you and me ......only. When I see you......I cannot concentrate on anything other than your face. I cannot even bear the thought of anyone harming you. Hell I can't even tolerate Aarav, even though I know how you feel about him . I do want you to be happy and still every time I hear you talking to him or laughing with him or even smile at him , why is it that I feel something sharp jabbing at my heart ?? Every time I see you with him...........i feel this burning pain........like my heart is getting crushed and set on fire on the same time. I am not even making sense to myself.....then how will I ever make you understand . What is happening to me , Avni ? What have you done to me ? Am I in lov....?" He paused as someone's wise words came echoing back .

"erratic nature of heartbeats;slower or faster .....The unexplainable pleasantness......the insuppressible smiles....." Avni's words from before made its impact slowly as his mind refreshed the old memory . It was the same as it was different. Probably he would never feel the fluttering of his heart but it knew how it felt around her......nothing like it had ever felt before. He was crazily happy around her and with her .She had become so integral to his being that imagining a life without her in it didn't seem possible. But did she even feel the same way or was he too late already ? Closing his eyes didn't help him like he wished to ; the image of Avni having lunch with Aarav's parents danced in front of his eyes .He was a mess and he knew it and there was nothing he could do about it.

It was way past his sleeping hours when Avni returned to his still closed door . 'He must be asleep' her brain kept saying ,but she couldn't stop her body from going out and checking on him again.....even if it the door was still shut. She pressed her right palm on his door , in hopes of connecting to him in some way even though that wasn't possible physically. For a minute or two , it stayed there and then she walked away ,not hearing the slow click behind her. Neil watched from the corners as she closed her door behind her.

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