Arjun.

Sanju's pain filled face at my confession flashed through my mind again.

I tried to tell her everything a lot of time, But she was always running away, So it must've came as a shock to her to hear it like that.

I looked out of the window as the car moved forward.

I know what I have done to you do not have any excuses, I know I'm a heartless beast for all of it, But I don't think I can let go of you, Sanju-

"Boss" Karan said. "Are you okay?" He asked me while driving.

I didn't answer him.

"I know you are worried about madam, Why did you say it like that? You were actually forced to do all of that, You had no choice-"

"Whatever reasons I have, Karan, It will not decrease her pain, Whatever the situation I was in would not make what I did to her disappear, It's True that I did all of that to her and I don't want to hide it from her anymore"

"you know her sir, Ever since her dad died, She started to attack surya group, She never stopped, She came back at them more and more powerfully" Karan said. "What if she doesn't forgive you for what you have done? What if she decided to..not be with you sir?" He asked me.

"I hope she wouldn't take that decision" I said.

I hope she will really give me a chance.

"That's why you shouldn't have talked like that" He said.

"I don't want these burdens to appear between us when we are together, I just want her to know everything and decide"

"so you are planning to let go if she decided to keep a distance?"

"No, I am planning to fight that decision" I said. "But if it's really miserable for her to see me, I have no choice, I guess"

"You will give up?" Karan asked.

"I won't force her to be with me, But I will protect her always" I said. "This is what I owe her"

...............

Everyone was already waiting for me when I entered the conference room at surya headquarters.

"Arjun" Raghav sir turned to me. "Abiram is in trouble, we just got news that ACP Suresh Kumar got a confession from from S.I Thomas Mathew just before he died!" He said. "Now that Suresh kumar is still alive, If he recover or open his eyes, Abiram will be arrested!"

"I heard he's stable now" Abiram grunted. "I need to take care of him quickly or he will start talking"

"We need to act quick and get rid of him soon, If he talk about that guy we sent to take care of him, Everything will be over, All our officers will be affected" Pramod agreed.

"But just like the accident site, Palace group bodyguards are still placed in front of his room" I said. "They are very alert all the time" I added. "Sanjay got arrested while trying to get rid of priyanka, We can't afford to make the same mistake again"

"That's why I am very concerned about this" Father said slowly. "How come palace group help that officer Suresh?" He said. "If they are involved in this case, It means there is more to it, We can't act recklessly" He said.

My inside constricted at that. If they are fixed on this case, it's a matter of time before Karthik's identity get exposed.

I need to do something about this!

"Suresh kumar is in coma, I am more worried about Sanjay who is caught red handed" I said.

"I am worried about that too" Father said. "He's with palace group officers, They are not even allowing him to have visitors" He said. "I think you should hide for the time being" Father looked at Abiram.

"Sanjay will never betray me" He said in confidence. "I will find a way out for him"

"It's not as easy as it look" I said. "He was arrested for attempted murder and They don't even allow him a bail saying that the victim's life will be in danger if he comes out, because this is a second attempt at priyanka's life" I said.

"I am just asking you to take a vacation and lay low for now, Abiram" Father said. "I know they can't arrest you, But I don't want anything to go wrong, Arjun and I will work out something to cool down the situation-"

"Not him again!" Abiram exclaimed, indignant, "Father, You are favouring him too much, You trust him too much!" He said. "I don't believe that he's all that perfect" He shouted.

"Then tell me something that he has messed up, Abiram" Father sounded angry. "It was you and Mahesh who always went behind my back and created trouble, It was always him who cleaned after both of you, What else am I supposed to do now than solve it with him?"

I was surprised as everyone else in the room looked surprised too.

I turned to Abiram.

"If you want me to stay out of this, I will gladly do that" I told him. "You can find someone else to help you out of this mess" I said.

Abiram opened his mouth to retort, But stopped himself.

I could see that the idea of taking help from me is killing him, At the same time, He know that he has no other way now.

I turned to father.

"Abiram is right, If sanjay don't open his mouth and give a statement against Abiram, There is no way anyone can arrest him, Without evidence, No one can blame surya group too" I said.

Abiram turned to father.

"Sanjay won't betray me" He said.

"Lay low and don't create anymore trouble, Abiram" Father ordered. "This is the last time you will ever get away with something like this, Remember it well"

Trisha.

"Arjun told me to help you settle in" Shyam said once everyone was introduced. "You can call me if you want anything" He added.

Shyam was still in his suit, I think he's coming here straight after his office hours.

"What about Arjun?" Shahid asked. "I want to start working on Ajith sir's files today" He said.

Shyam nodded.

"He wants you to proceed it" Shyam said. "Surya corporation is a mess, Arjun can't get away for a few days, He will be staying at his apartment" He said.

"okay then" Shahid said.

"Any news about that murderer who tried to kill my dad?" Karthik asked darkly, Still angry that he had escaped after attacking his father.

"Arjun will talk to you about that" He said.

"Is Dreamland safe? Can we go out?"

"This is Arjun's place, You are very free" Shyam said. "But don't go out of this land" he said.

He talked to the gang a little more and turned to me.

"How are you, Sanjana?" He asked me. "Is your fever okay now?"

I stared at him.

"How..how did you know?"

He chuckled.

"Arjun rarely come here, When he does, We will be in the conference room for the whole night, Except for the last one" He smiled. "He said that his family member is not well" He chuckled. "He doesn't have any other family member other than you" He smiled.

"Er..Shyam, I would like it if you call me Trishana" I said, Avoiding my friend's stare and turning to him.

"Family member?" Aditi asked. "How come he's-"

"Don't you know?" Anjali came inside after talking to uncle. "She's already Arjun's wife" She said brightly.

"what!?"

My gang turned to her.

"Don't joke around Anjali-" I started.

"but it's true! He even brought you to our engagement party and practically announced it to the whole world that You are his fiancee" She said. "Then he touched the sindoor on you and said that you are his wife!" She said.

Silence filled the room as everyone looked shocked.

"It was an emergency and he had no other way then" I said and Anjali started again, But stopped when I raised up my hand.

"No, I hope no one will discuss about this topic anymore, We have a lot of things to finish" I said and walked inside.

So after the first two days, My gang slowly settled down in Dreamland, Shahid was still working on decrypting the files and I had a lot of time on me.

The gang must've decided to not talk to me about Arjun, everyone avoided the topic and I was thankful for it.

I was in no way ready to face it..not yet.

But my peaceful day came to an end when he called me the next day and as I was playing on my phone, I accidentally attended his call on the first ring.

What the!

I groaned internally.

"Sanju?"

My heart skipped a beat at his tone and I realised that I was missing it.

"Arjun? Is everything okay?" I asked him slowly.

"How's your fever, Did you go and see the doctor?"

"Aditya is here, I don't need to go anywhere, I am fine now" I said.

"oh.." Arjun said. "I..I miss you" He said and silence followed as I didn't respond.

"I wanted to make you wait for my call, But I just realised that I can't hold on anymore" He said.

"Arjun, I don't feel the same-"

"Don't lie to me" He said. "I know that you are attracted to me" He said. "I have felt it a lot of time, So there's no need to deny it anymore" He said.

I sighed.

"It's true that I am..a bit..attracted to you" I admitted. "But I can never be with you"

"so you admit it! You have feelings for me too-"

"I told you, It doesn't matter anymore-"

"It does matter to me!" He exclaimed "You are my wife and I love you-"

"Not this again, please" I said. "Just think about it from my point of view, Arjun, I started to follow surya group because of my Dad, But what did you do? You hide the murder and I can't ever forgive you for that, That's why I can never be with you"

There was a moment of silence before he spoke.

"Karan was right" He muttered. "I was not being fair to myself"

"what?" I asked, Confused.

"Sanju..I didn't hide your father's case on purpose, It was the only way I had then, I admit that it's my mistake, But I was simply postponing the news about it...I knew that it was going to get exposed soon" He said. "Your dad is someone I respect a lot"

"what do you mean?" I asked now. "Did you ever meet my dad?" I asked him. "That's right, How did you get my dad's special card!?" I asked, now remembering about the special card Karan brought me to join in my company.

"No, We didn't meet" Arjun said. "But we have worked together"

I am confused at his statement now.

"Your dad was targeting all the major corporations in India, Sanju, So obviously palace group also came under it" Arjun said. "He started investigating about Rajnath family and he visited Ajith sir who investigated the palace group that time" he said. "So he came to know about my existence through him and promised to keep it hidden until the end" Arjun said. "He helped me hide my identity, Sanjana" He said slowly.

"It would have been an exclusive for a journalist to expose the truth, But he kept his promise and helped Ajith sir to keep it a secret" Arjun said. "You can say that he helped me to survive, I am grateful to him for that" He said.

I was overwhelmed at the new information.

"That's..that's why my dad destroyed that journal!" I exclaimed "Then did you know about me a long before?" I asked him.

"No" Arjun said.

"We worked together to expose Surya group through Uncle Ajith, We never saw face to face, We were going to meet, But then problems started at the Truth magazine and your Dad was arrested all of a sudden, So he asked me not to contact him directly" Arjun said. "He didn't want me to get exposed" He stopped.

"He was a exceptional man, Sanju" Arjun said. "A real journalist and a great man who fought for justice until the end, I..I respect him a lot" He said.

"You should have told me this earlier" I wiped my eyes.

"I don't want to give you the impression of someone perfect, Sanju, I wanted you to know the real me" Arjun said.

"Then why did you help them cover up my Dad's case?"

"Ask Shahid, He will tell you" He said "And wait for me-"

"Arjun, Talk to me about what you just-"

"I can't explain through phone, Just talk to shahid about it, I believe he can help you understand" He said. "And Don't think about running away from me-"

"You still destroyed my secret room, You still did all of that"

"I told you that I will compensate for everything I have done to -"

"How can you compensate something that's already done?"

"Wait for me, Sanju" He said "I will"

"I can't accept it, our relationship too-"

"I can't let you go, Sanjana, You better make up your mind now itself " He said.

"but-"

"I have to go now, Got a lot of things to do" He said and I became silent.

He don't want me to reject him..

"I love you" He added and my heart skipped again, But I didn't say anything. "Wait for me" He said and disconnected the call.

Arjun.

I sat there a moment, Looking at the phone.

Sanju seemed to have made up her mind to reject me.

I have expected it, But it still is not sitting well with me.

I can't let her go..

Trisha.

"He said that you will know" I told shahid.

"Why?" Shahid asked me.

"If you are determined not to be with him, Then why are you so concerned?" Shahid asked me and I stared at him in shock.

"I..um.."

"You want to believe that he's not involved in your father's matter, You don't want to believe it" He stated.

I stared at him, realising it.

"You are in love with him, Trisha" Shahid said. "If you love someone, Don't hold back" He said. "We don't know what will happen in the future, all we have is the present" He told me.

He's thinking about Jasmine...

"I..I understand" I said quickly and Shahid nodded.

"I was coming to find you anyway" He said and turned to the computer. "I was decrypting the files" He said. "Your father's case is already recorded here, Ajith sir has gotten help from inside to settle the case and trap surya group" He said.

"you mean-" I started.

"That's right" Shahid nodded. "It looks like Arjun has already helped him settle the case, All of the inside details and evidences are reported here and We already know that Arjun was the spy inside surya group" He said.

I was shocked at the news now.

"Then..why..Why did he help them to cover up-"

"Your father's case happened even before Arjun joined the surya group and he had to bribe a witness to prevent the reopening of case because he was already working in the internal affairs of the company with Ajith sir" Shahid explained.

"That is why he said that he was only postponing the case getting revealed!" I said, Now finally understanding.

Shahid nodded.

"You should give him a chance If you love him, Trisha, It's not easy to live a double life like this, It's very dangerous too" Shahid said. "He didn't expose anything because they were trying to trap surya group from all directions" Shahid said and I nodded.

"I understand now" I said. "Even if he had revealed about my father's case that time, Narayan would be aware of this spying and he will be the prime suspect" I said. "And he wouldn't have any chance to work on other cases" I said.

Shahid nodded again.

"I am really surprised at his way of working, Trisha" He said. "For everything he had done for them, He had already found a countermeasure to reverse it" he said. "Just like this case here, No matter whatever he did to help them and cover up the case that time, He already has this files against them prepared and he knew that they will get caught eventually" Shahid said. "I admire him, But at the same time, I really feel like he was living like a robot all these time!" Shahid said. "He would have been always watching and calculating everything to have this kind of life, Because one wrong step from him would have caused his life as well as the life of other people" He said.

Just like he made shweta rescue Izzy, He had been planning each and everything carefully and meticulously.

"yes" I said. "I didn't listen to him when he wanted to explain" I said.

"Calm down first and think about what you really want, Trisha" Shahid said.

"I will, Thank you, Shahid" I said. "You just made me come back to my senses" I said. "I don't want to misunderstand him anymore,"

"Then I will continue" He said, Turning back to the system "I need to finish this as soon as possible" He said.

"I won't hold you back then" I said "Please continue" I smiled.

I walked out to the hall where Aditi was showing the tricks of rubik's cube to Izzy.

Aditya, Karthik and varsha was in deep discussion about the palace group.

I walked to them and sat on the empty chair next to them.

"When my dad talked about the palace group, It sounded like they are some kind of mafia group" Karthik said.

"The chairman was a mysterious old man and all the board members were like a tightly knitted family, No issues were known outside"He said.

"Narayan's employees already followed him, So the remaining people are those who are loyal to Arjun's dad" Aditya said.

"I really admire him" Varsha said. "it's not very easy to hide his identity like this" She said.

"Arjun already handed over the evidence of my father's death to Ajith sir long before" I said slowly. "Shahid is decrypting the files, He said that Arjun was fighting the Surya group from inside for a long time" I said.

"Trisha" Varsha said "I know it's painful and difficult now, If you want to talk, You know we all are with you" She said.

"You tell us what to do now" Aditya said. "If you don't want to stay here, We will go back, We don't want to see you in pain" He said.

"Arjun was clear about the feelings he has for you" Karthik said. "What we want to know is about your feelings, Do you like him? Is it difficult for you to stay here-"

"I don't know what i'm feeling now" I said and everyone fell silent.

"Thinking back, He really saved me countless time, He tried to help everyone too," I said. "I was really angry at him for destroying my secret room. I worked along with my dad to make it, He destroyed everything inside it, The details there was the result of my life's efforts"

"He did it to save you from that trap, Trisha" Varsha said. "He was fighting for justice all these time"

"I know" I said. "It's just that...I am a bit confused about this relationship..." I admitted.

I am concerned about his identity...I don't know if I can really handle this...

I took a deep breath and looked at them.

"My personal feelings have nothing to do with our mission" I said. "Like Arjun said, This is the safest place we can hide from them, So let's just accept his help and work together with him, our goal is to bring down surya group"

"Will you be okay?" Aditi asked me.

"We experienced a lot of things already, We have been through life and death together, Now that Arjun has offered his help, Let's accept it" I said.

My personal feelings are not more important than my friend's lives.

Arjun has power, I have witnessed it, So accepting his offer is the best thing we could do now.

"To be truthful, I can understand him" Karthik said. "I can understand your pain, Trisha, But I can also imagine what he was going through" He said. "I respect him and admire him" He said.

"I too can understand why he had to do it" I said slowly. "That's Why I can't figure out my feelings now" I said.

"He saved you so many times, Trisha, Even risking his life" Aditi said from the opposite side while Izzy was playing with the cube "If you have feelings for him, Everyone is okay with that" She added.

Everyone was looking at me and I got to my feet.

"Arg...I don't want to think about this anymore, I am going to bed," I announced.

"Uncle must've already arranged the rooms" Varsha said.

"He has" Aditya said. "we are in the east wing of the house" He added "That is..all except Trisha, She's to stay here at the guest room in the main house" He said.

Everyone turned to me.

"I will just share with you," I told Varsha and she nodded.

........

All of us  moved to the separate block from the main house.

The gang was admiring the house and surroundings while I was restless.

I wanted a distraction badly and dialled Nitin's number.

Now that my friends are with me, I want to know how truth magazine is sparring.

"Nitin?" I said as soon as he attended the call.

"Finally! Trisha, Where are you, I was trying to call you like crazy!" He said. "Didn't you hear about ACP suresh kumar?"

"I know, I am sorry, I was busy with something"

"How long are we supposed to wait again? It's so difficult here without you" He said.

"I saw the articles, You are doing a good job, Nitin"

"It's not the same without you" He said. "I completed the article about Abiram's goon trying to kill priyanka in that hospital, But no matter what I did, I think Abiram will try to get away, He will say that he has nothing to do with it and that Sanjay was working independently" Nitin said.

"I know, I was thinking about it too" I said.

"What do you think we should do?"

"Sanjay was practically raised in the surya group, He had been following Abiram for more than a decade" I said. "Find out every single picture he has with Abiram, We need to show the readers how close they are" I said.

"That will not be difficult, Sanjay was there in almost all the times while Abiram made public appearance, But it's still not solid evidence" He said.

"Do it first, Nitin" I said. "Without a confession from sanjay, Abiram is not going to get trapped" I said.

"A confession!?" Nitin said. "But he will never do it, It will be the end of him, And he's too loyal to Abiram" Nitin said.

"I know"

I remember what Arjun told us, That Sanjay is not even ready to open his mouth.

"But that's all we got now" I said. "I will start working on it too, I am planning to come back" I said.

I need to make Arjun understand that.

"I am glad to hear that, We are waiting here"

Arjun.

I walked to the cell where Sanjay was locked up.

He was already not in very good condition and looked surprised to see me.

"Arjun sir!" He exclaimed. "I thought..nobody can..visit me?" He looked bewildered.

I walked to him and looked straight to his eyes.

"You think Abiram is not visiting you because he is not allowed to?" I asked him.

His eyes narrowed slightly, Now realising that I am not having best of the news.

I put the bundle of pictures in front of him.

He looked at the bloody photos of SI Thomas Mathew at the crime site.

"Abiram promised to help Thomas Mathew and see how he ended up" I said.

"Narayan sir asked him to get rid of that officer, It was all part of the plan, We planned together for it" He said.

I laughed at that.

"What made you think that you are safe?" I asked him. "You are a big trouble to Abiram now, What do you think will father ask him to do next? Just like Thomas, You are going to be the next target" I said. "Because you are worthless now"

"What do you want?" Sanjay looked at me. "You reached surya group only five years ago, I had been following my boss for more than a decade now" He said confidently. "He will come for me when he can, This is not an ideal time" he said.

"How touching, Sanjay" I smirked. "Let's see if Abiram has the same loyalty towards you" I said and got up. "I can help you out if you confess, But It looks like you are just like Thomas" I said. "If you change your mind and wants to talk , You can call me" I said.

"I will never call you, You want to ruin my boss and take control of surya group" He shouted, Now provoked. "My boss will come for me, I am ready to wait for him" He said. "And I will never give any statement against him"

I smiled.

"Okay, Admit that you tried to kill priyanka by yourself then and Be branded as a murderer forever, I am sure that your family will be peaceful after that" I said. "And wait for your boss who hasn't even visited you" I told him. "Father didn't even help Mahesh to get out of trouble in fear of causing harm to the company, Do you really think you have a chance now?" I stopped. "Think hard and let me know if you change your decision"

I walked out of there.

The jail warden was waiting for me.

"Sir, We have great pressure from up, Abiram is trying everything to send his man to talk to Sanjay"

"Dont let him have a contact with sanjay" I said. "We need to make sure that sanjay feel betrayed" I said.

The warden nodded his head.

"One more thing" I said. "We will wait 3 more days and if Sanjay don't crack by the time, We will go for plan B" I said.

"Leave it to me sir, I will do it-"

"Remember" I turned around to the warden and looked him in the eye.

"Do not kill him or cause damage" I said firmly. "I just want to break the trust he has on his boss, Just make sure that he see that his boss has hired someone to poison his food" I said. "I don't want him to get poisoned" I added.

The warden nodded.

"I understand, I will just do the inspection before he take the food and announce that his food is poisoned" He said. "And I will blame the other prisoner like you said" He added and I smiled.

"Then let me know when Sanjay is ready to talk"

I started to walk out.

I know I have a foolproof plan.

The warden will arrest one of Abiram's man who's already serving inside for trying to poison Sanjay's food.

Sanjay, who knew the other guy won't think twice about jumping to conclusion, He had had done many similar things in the past, So he will surely think that Abiram ordered the other guy to kill him to prevent him opening his mouth.

I will get Sanjay's confession within 5 days at most.

Karan was still waiting for me at the entrance and I walked to him and got inside the car.

"sir" Karan said. "Can I ask you something?"

I looked at him.

"Don't misunderstand my question, I really don't care from which corporation you are" He said "But why me?" He asked. "Why did you select me as your assistant?" He asked me while starting to drive.

"When I reached here, Everyone already had a boss, Some was loyal to Abiram, Some were to Mahesh and others were Father's men, When I first saw you, You were getting punished in front of everyone and nobody gave a damn" I stopped. "So I knew instantly that you are the one I needed" I stopped. "I am sorry, I was..using you"

"For the last time sir, If you hadn't interfered then, I would probably be dead by now" He said. "You were right, I was like an outcast then, I was lucky that I was found out by you" He said.

"At first, I was only thinking about using you, Karan, then I saw your potential and knew that I could depend on you, I didn't tell you my identity because..it's the only way you would be safer, I knew it" I said truthfully. "So I need you to pay me back that debt you owe me" I added.

"Anything for you, Sir, What do you want me to do?" He asked eagerly.

"when a dangerous time come, Stay loyal to the surya group, Don't do anything that will put yourself in danger"

"I can only follow you sir-"

"I too will take you with me karan, but I am talking about the worst case scenario-"

"But sir-"

"only this way, can I be at ease, Karan, Because, I still have a lot of things left for you to do, If I am in danger and you blow your cover, My lifetime efforts will be in vain" I said, I know this is the only way I could convince him.

"I..I will..do as you told, But I believe that you will never be in trouble, Boss"

"of course, I too know that" I said and both of us laughed.

"When are you going to meet her, Sir?" Karan asked. "I feel like you are hiding here" he said. "Don't tell me that the great lawyer doesn't even know how to convince his wife" he mocked me.

"Start dating and you will understand" I said.

"Now, You are bragging sir!" He said and we laughed again.

Soon I was back at my apartment and I sent Karan away on an errand.

I was going through the files when I heard the bell rang.

Karan is not supposed to be back, He still has works to-

I stilled as I saw the last person I expected on my doorstep.

Father!

I stared at the screen for a moment and walked to open the door.

"Arjun" He said as soon as he spotted me. "There's a spy in the company" He said and I froze.

He walked inside.

"Arjun?" He called again.

"Yea.." I controlled my expression and turned around.

"Someone inside the close circle is spying on us" He said again.

"We don't have a lot of people, Apart from the family, Only Raghav sir and Pramod is there" I said. "I never felt anything off from them" I said while taking the opposite settee seat from him.

"That's why it's more suspicious" He said firmly. "We were having problems after problems all these time" He said. "I want you to be very careful now" He said.

I stared at him and nodded.

It was really ironical that He was doubting his trustful people and confiding in me.

"They are people who followed you from palace group" I said. "Let's not make any move until we confirm it" I said.

"That's why I should be more careful! I don't want them to use my own tactic to destroy me!"

"What?" I asked while pouring him a glass of water.

"They watched how I had taken care of Rajnath family and their directors" He said.

It came as an unexpected blow and I lost the grip on the glass and it fell down.

"Uh..it slipped-"

"Never mind that" He said. "You listen to me right now, Don't trust anyone too much" He said. "People will always look for a chance to steal from you, It's your fault it you cannot protect something" He told me and I nodded stiffly.

"Pramod and Raghav helped me to get rid of Rajnath and his family that time, They can do it to me too, Don't trust them too much until I clear some things"  He said and I nodded again.

"Power and wealth can make people go blind, There's nothing like Trust and loyalty Arjun, People stab you on your back if you are not careful" He said and got up.

Don't worry, I won't make the same mistake my Dad did, I won't trust "Anyone".

I followed him while he walked out.

"Oh..one more thing" He turned around. "Shweta is acting weird these days" He said. "She decided to stay here and found herself an apartment" He said. "When I asked her to take a temporary position at Mahesh's hotel, She refused" He said. "Her attitude has totally changed and She's Trying to take her mom with her now" He said.

"I will keep an eye on her" I nodded quickly.

"Protect her well, We don't want anything like last time to happen again, Ask your men to follow her quietly and protect her"

"I will do that" I said.

"I will leave then" He was already outside the door and I saw his driver waiting in the car.

"Abiram and Mahesh didn't do well, Arjun, I hope you won't disappoint me too" He said one last time.

"I won't" I said firmly. "I will take care of Surya group until the very end" I said, Staring into his eyes. "This is my promise to you"

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