Keeping secrets wasn't exactly Zoya's forte, but this was one secret she could never tell another living soul. The shame she'd feel if it ever got out would absolutely be a driving force to end her life, it was just too much to even consider revealing to her new friend.

Crossing his arms, Aditya raised a brow "What are you thinking about?" For the past fifteen minutes she'd stood in a daze of sorts, but that wasn't what worried him- her silence was. Sure, he hadn't known her long, but in the duration he had he'd quickly learnt that being quiet simply wasn't her thing. Nudging her shoulder with his gently, he rolled his eyes when she yelled out dramatically.

Raising her head, she stepped sidewards then reached her hand upwards to find his shoulder "Wow".

"What?" He snapped.

"Ek uncha lamba kad" her jaw fell as she squeezed what she assumed to be his cheek between her finger and thumb, "Dooja soni vi tu had" smacking her face, she winked, "Teeja roop tera cham cham karda ni".

Ah, of course, her silence would only last so long, why he expected any different he didn't know. "Zoya" he pinched the brim of his nose, "Please?" He begged.

"Awww" she pouted, "Fine, you've got me, I thought irritating you would be a good enough distraction, but it seems you see right through me" huffing loudly, she blinked away tears. "Here's the truth, I don't-".

"Know how to make waffles" Aditya nodded.

"Hawww, you knew? How? Can you read minds? Woahhhhh" she bounced on her heels.

"No" he sighed tiredly, "It was just obvious, you want waffles and if you knew how to make them then you wouldn't have taken so long to do so".

"Oh" her face fell, "There I was thinking I was hiding it like a needle in a haystack, ah well, what you wanna do instead? Go shopping? Watch a film? Go for a walk? Play a game? PLAY BLIND MAN'S BLUFF? For a blind woman I play that game better than anyone" she nodded fast to assure him.

"Zoya" Aditya glanced at his watch, "It's three am, what I want is to go to bed".

"Awww, why?"

"Because it's three am".

"Yeah but why?"

"Because I'm tired" he bit out, teeth smashing together as he did. He really didn't have patience for this.

"Time is a social construct made to control you, how about we tell society they can stuff their control up their bum bums and instead we-".

Covering her mouth with his hand, Aditya's eyes rolled back. "That's enough out of you, you're what, twenty something? Don't ever use the words bum bums again" he shuddered.

Grimacing, Zoya's shoulders slacked. "So I have to go to bed?"

"Yes" he really wasn't here to tell her what to do, but if he wanted sleep then she needed to sleep too or she'd only keep him up all night. Turning on his heel, he wandered up the spiral staircase quickly, jumped in bed and shut his eyes only to feel the opposite side of the bed coming down.

"You didn't say which bed, hehe" she giggled.

Leaning on his elbow, he glanced down at her. "Zoya" his eyes shut as if hiding everything he felt from a woman he knew could see him regardless if she couldn't see the world. "You can't be in my bed like this" pressing his finger atop her lips, his head shook, "Don't ask me why, you just can't, okay?"

Sensing the seriousness in his tone, she sat up. "Monsters tend to be beneath the bed, not on it, I choose to be here, you didn't force me".

Huffing loudly, he threw himself back. "You say that now, but when you realise who I am you won't feel the same, I am not the kind of man who can be your friend, I am not the kind of man who can keep you safe, perhaps from the world I can, but never from me".

"I don't need safeguarding from you, I believe you won't hurt me".

At that, he laughed painfully. "All I know is pain, I know how to hurt myself and how to hurt others, I don't know anything else".

"But yet you've showed me the complete opposite" crawling toward him, she grabbed his hand and placed it on her cheek. "We all hurt, we will all hurt others too, it's only dependent on if you mean to and I can't see a day where you mean to hurt me".

"I've meant to hurt others" he whispered harshly, hand clenched so as not to caress the face of the only woman who knew how to make it all go away.

"But you've never meant to hurt me".

Gulping, he looked away. "One day I might".

"But you might not, I chose to trust, allow me to".

"I don't know how to, Zoya, I" Aditya's voice cracked.

"Then let me teach you" placing her hand on his chest, she led down so her ear was directly atop his thumping heart. Stretching her hand, she grabbed his and undid his fist so the blade within it slipped like nothing to the ground. "I worry more that you mean to hurt yourself than you meaning to hurt others".

Flinching when her hand held his, he released a shaky breath as the blood marred her porcelain like skin that would never be tainted if it wasn't for him. "How did you know?" His voice ached from the pressure of keeping it all inside.

Rolling up one of her sleeves, she ran a finger along the cuts "Because I know how to hurt myself too".

Holding her close, his grip on her tightened as he rocked her steadily. In a world where he'd been alone he'd finally found someone to relate to, someone to understand why it hurt so much if he didn't hurt himself. "My father always said the people who hurt the most know how to smile the best". Smiling to himself when he realised she'd fallen asleep, he brushed his lips against her hair and allowed himself to rest in peace beside someone who knew what it was to close your eyes but always be awake.

●~●~●

Anjana growled at the photo in her hands, screwing it up, she threw it to the side. She knew how misfortune could play on someone's psyche, how desperation could make even the kindest man become a monster before the night was up and that, was why she'd picked the most needy of them all to do a job no sane person ever could. "Gareebon kee madad karana bhagavaan ka kaam hai aur main bhagavaan se kam nahin hoon".

Pushing his glasses up carefully, the man looked down "If I do this then you'll help my wife with treatment?" He shook as he spoke.

"Agar eeshvar raajee hai toh" she smirked.