Author's POV

The next day Avni woke up late. She thought it was all a Dad dream. Her college rival, the lunch, the kisses. When she looked at herself in the mirror, she realized it wasn't. Her neck had hickies. Her wrists were bruised. Her lips were bruised. Her eyes were puffy from crying all night. Another tear escaped her eyes. He took away her first kiss, she felt so angry about that. How dare he?

She got up to get ready for work. She worked as an account for her uncles business.

As she went through her cloths, she had to find something that could cover her up well. No should see the bruises on her body or they'd ask.

Avni POV

As I went downstairs for breakfast, my day already turned bad. There he was. Neil.
He was sitting with my dad having breakfast & a great laugh. Dad seemed to get along well with him. Mom was making breakfast for them. I couldn't face him. I had to leave straight through the door without him noticing I thought. As I was going I walked straight to the door when I heard mom calling me.

"Mom I'm getting late.. I'm just gonna go" I said wanting to get out of his sight.

"Avni, come to the kitchen.. I told you so many times not to talk from the door like that." Ayesha says

I didn't want to go to the kitchen. He was sitting at the table. I didn't want to look at him. Then I gained courage to face my fears & walked into the kitchen.

"Mom Im not hungry. I'm just going to go." I said

My mom looked at me worried. She felt my forehead.

"Avni.. are you okay? Your skin is warm? Are you sick? Your eyes are so puffy & red bacha" Ayesha said concerned

I could feel Neil staring at me at the corner of my eyes.

"Uhm no mom. I'm fine. I'll jus go" I said in a hurry

"I can drop you Avni" Neil says.

"That would be great beta! Both go together. Then Neil can go straight to work from there." Says Ashish Mehta.

My eyes shot open. I couldn't go with this beast I thought.

"NO. I can manage. Really." I said

"Just let him take you Avni" my Dad said

I didn't have a choice but to listen. I
went outside where his car was parked. He came right behind. As I sat in the car uncomfortably, I felt anger risen within me. First he kissed me & now he's here dropping me to work? What does he think of himself??

We were silent in the car. Then he finally spoke.

"Avni...I'm sorry about yesterday..." Neil says softly

I stay quiet. My heart was on fire from so much anger.

"And I'm also sorry about the college part." He says

I stayed silent.

"Avni.. please say something.. don't be silent like this please." He pleads softly.

That was it for me.

"Stop the car." I said sternly

"What?" He replies

"I said stop the car Neil!" I yelled

Then he stopped the car & I walked out, I started to walk on my own. He ran behind me holding my hand to sit back in.

"Avni what's wrong?!" He exclaims

"What's wrong?? You don't know what's bloody wrong??" She says slapping him across the face.

"How dare you touch me? How dare you kiss me yesterday??" Avni exclaimed

Neil held my shoulders lightly as if trying to make me understand something.

"I don't regret kissing you Avni. As for you.. I know you're upset with how sudden it happened.. I'm sorry Avni" he said sincerely.

"Just shut up Neil! You took away my first kiss! I wanted to keep that for my husband when I get married! You're just disgusting Neil! I don't even want to see your face." I vented out almost crying.

Just then Neil noticed the little cut on my wrist which I got when my bangle cut my wrist last night.

"Oh my god Avni.. what is this?? He dragged me back into the car & made me sit down.

He examined my hands, my wrist & then he was about to slide my dupatta off my neck when I yanked his hand away.

"What the hell are you doing?!" I said angered.

He doesn't listen & goes ahead pulling the dupatta off my chest. My neck & chest was full of bruises & hickies. 

He looked at them with concern. His eyes almost watered.

"I'm so sorry Avni" he said again with guilt.

"I didn't mean to hurt you like this" he says.

"Keep your sorry Neil. And also stay away from me. I don't want to see your face again!" I said

With that, I got out of his car & started to walk again. I'd rather go in a buss or taxi then with that jerk. I went to work & days had passed by but I couldn't feel any better. Since the day he had touched me, I couldn't think straight. He gave me a whole new reason to hate him.

2 weeks later...

I finally got time time to hang out with my friends, ali and Riya. Riya was my college friend and I met ali after college during work. He was a very nice guy with a great sense of humour. We all started hanging out & became good friends. We all don't get time to meet but somehow take out time during weekends once in a while.

We came back from the movies & icecream. Ali was driving while me and Riya sat bickering about how crappy the movie was.

"It wasn't that bad girls! Ughhh girls only like romantic & mushy mushy movies! The movie was sooo cool!! It was action packed!" Ali says laughing

"No way.. it was so boring I was going to fall asleep!" Riya says

"We should have just gonna with my parents to watch the play show" I said crossing my arms.

"Yeah you're right Avni we should have gone with uncle & aunty. This ali shows us the most pathetic movies. Btw, what time are they going to be finished Avni?" Riya asks

"Ohh the play usually last till 10:00 pm, so they'll be late. There's still 2 hours." I replied

Ali drops Riya first, then starts driving to my house. We have a good laugh while eating our cold ice creams.

It was getting dark out as he pulled into my driveway.

"Alright goodnight Avni! See you next weekend, and say hi to your mom & Dad for me!" He said as he drove away.

I smiled & started walking when I screamed looking at someone standing behind me.

Neil Khanna.

"What are you doing?! You scared me!" I yelled.

"I might ask the same question Avni. Who the hell was that guy?" He asks pointing down the road.

"Go to hell" I said walking past him to open my house door. He followed me inside.

"I said who's that guy Avni, give me a f*king answer??" Neil exclaims walking behind me.

"I've had enough of your bullshit Neil. You're the biggest jerk I've seen in my life. And you have no right to question me about anything or interfere in my life.. do you understand?? Now leave my house right now! I yelled at him, my heart was pounding against my chest.

I watched his clench his fist & teeth as he looked at me with anger.

"That's enough.. I'm done with being polite!" He says seconds before grabbing my waist & crashing his lips on me.

I did everything I could to get him off me. I started hitting his chest & kicking him wildly. He growled a little & picked me up in bridal style as he started going up the stairs, towards my room. I started to yell more loudly & my heartbeat was increasing. Fear took over my body. I did all I could to get him away from me.

He dropped me onto the bed mattress & turned around to lock the door.

He looked furious. Tears started to well up in my eyes from fear. My parents weren't home. It was so dark out. I didn't know what to do to stop whatever he wanted to do.

"Do you want to know why I did whatever I had done in college ??" He said in a cold voice.

I backed up on the bed, moving to the edge, further away from him. Tears streamed down my eyes like a river.

Whatever he said after that made me stop.

"Because you ruined me Avni" he said serious

"What?" I asked quivering

He came & sat down on the bed. He cupped my cheeks & put his forehead against mine.

I was in confusion. I didn't know what he was trying to say.

"It was the first day of 2nd semester Avni, when everyone was talking about the new girl... you. It was so easy to recognize you in a crowd of millions because of your traditional wear, your big glasses, and that smile of yours." He said softly as he stroked my cheeks.

I looked up into his eyes which had emotions filled in. I was stunned to see this side of Neil.

"I wanted you Avni..the instant I saw you.. i really liked you.. but you were always behind your books to even notice me. I wasn't even sure how to approach you, I was so nervous"

Avni kept looking on waiting for what he'll say next, her breathe almost stopped.

"Then one day.. during the break.. I saw you talking to this guy.. you guys were talking & laughing about some joke he said. He sat close to you. That was it. That crossed the limits for me. I wanted to hit that guy till he ran away & wipe his annoying laugh away... and you.. I chose the wrong way to get back at you.. by mocking you & bullying you.. doing all the things you hated." He said softly

I froze without blinking. Then I remembered which guy he was talking about. He was my partner for a project, I distinctly remembered.

I looked into Neil's eyes to see if he was lying but the emotions in his eyes were telling me that he wasn't. My heart told me he was telling the truth. I saw tears streaming down his eyes. His eyes were all red. I don't know what came into me but I leaned forward & kissed him. Very delicately. Neil had stiffened & was stunned at my move, then slowly responded back, very gently.

I pulled away to look at him.

"I'm sorry Neil" I said softly. I wiped away his fresh tears.

"I'm sorry too" he said in a broken tone & slowly leaned back in to kiss me.

Phew! This was a long chapter! I wanted to split it into two but decided to have it as one! Hope you guys enjoyed! 💕