Dhruv

******

I was overjoyed with the fact that my muffin was sad. If anybody would listen to me I was sure they might find me weird or inhumane but I really was happy knowing that she was upset.

My little muffin was throwing tantrums at me and I was liking it. No, actually, I was loving it.

She was not ready to have her breakfast and besides she was furious at me and was not even responding to me.

And it all started with the mobile phone.

I bought a new phone for her and she was getting addicted to it, which I didn't want. Too much of anything is always bad and I was not in favour of not paying attention to her health.

"Muffin, please have your breakfast." She didn't respond and put her head on the table.

Taking risks regarding her health was not favourable and her body needed food.

"Muffin, I will not give your phone to you if you will not have your meal." She frowned hearing me but didn't pull her head up from the table.

"Muffin, please."

"Please."

"Pleaseeeeee," I pleaded, making puppy eyes.

'What will be your reputation if your employees see you like this? It will be so much fun.' My devil inner self was back to have fun at the expense of my miseries.

My inner self and I had become friends when Saavi had left but now when she was back he had changed to his old self. I decided not to think about him as I had serious issues to deal with.

"Okay, if you are planning to be on a hunger strike then I will also accompany you," Saying this I sat in front of her crossing my arms in front of my chest. She looked up at me and pouted and I so badly wanted to kiss her.

'What The Hell!' I was stunned at those weird thoughts that didn't belong to me but my inner self.

I remove that thought from my head as I can never kiss her without her consent. My inner self was acting like a pervert. I silenced him and looked at her adorable form.

"I will also not use my phone, I promise. I will spend my time with you only. Now can we have our breakfast?" She was quiet for a while but then nodded her head.

The conclusion I reached was that her tantrums were not because of the phone but she needed my attention. I fed her the food and then we both made our way to our home theatre.

"What do you want to watch?"

"Tom and Jerry?" she shook her head and I had presumed she would agree.

"Richie Rich?"

"Mickey Mouse?"

She declined all the options.

'Ask Titanic'. said my inner self.

Oh My God! I wish I knew any magic to silence my inner self which had turned into a devil.

"Cinderella?" She bobbed her head up and down like an adorable kid. That was the movie we had watched together on our first date and I was aware of her fondness for that movie.

After I played it we both sat together but she moved away from me and laid her head on my lap. To make her comfortable I put a pillow under her head.

I was caressing her hair and we both were busy watching the movie when I heard my phone rang. Saavi looked at me as if trying to read my actions whether I would pick up the phone or not.

Cutting the call, I switched it off and placed it on the side table. She didn't say anything but only blinked as if she was happy with my gesture. We resumed the movie and watched it till the end. All the memories of our last date came flashing in front. Saavi got up from my lap after the movie ended and looked at me. She caressed my cheeks and I was left numb at her reaction. My heart was accelerating and I couldn't read the emotion in her eyes. She came closer and kissed me on my left cheek.

My heartbeats were frantic because of her one-act and I was too astonished to even react.

She moved away instantly and started playing with the puffer ball kept on the side table. I was glued to my position like a mannequin but there was no way I could understand what just happened a while ago.

The look she gave me was the same she used to give seven years ago and now she was behaving as nothing happened. That was more than strange and I needed to find out about her behaviour. I thought to call Dr. Morrison that night so that I could have a talk with him about this.

'About the kiss?'

Ah! I would have killed my inner self if he was not a part of me. But unfortunately, I can never.

I was about to take my phone but then I thought of the promise I made to my muffin. I looked back at her but she was not there. She was gone and I panicked not finding anywhere near me.

'Where did she go? Why didn't I notice her leaving?' I mumbled when I got off the couch I was sitting on before.

'Because you were thinking about the kiss' Deciding to ignore my inner self I started to search for her.

"Muffin," I called. My heart was in swivet and I was close to losing my calm.

I was horrified thinking where she went. When in hurry I descended the stairs the scene in front of me shook me to the core. Muffin was scooted to a corner in the kitchen and was shivering. Her eyes were closed and that made me scared. I ran towards her, bent down to her level, and tried to make her serene with my words and presence.

"Muffin, I am here. Your Dhruv is here with you, love. Calm down, nothing has happened." She was not opening her eyes.

"Dhruv." I heard a voice which I was not expecting at all. I turned around and found Arjun, Hredhaan, and Kiaan looking at us with a bewildered expression. Then, I understood what had happened. Firstly I picked her up in my arms while she held me tight. I asked all three of my friends to wait in the living room. It was easy to discern from my friends' expressions that I had a lot of explanations to make.

But everything could wait until my Saavi feels fine.

Placing her on the bed, I hugged her and started to calm her down. I was getting better at handling her as it didn't take me that long to calm her.

"Muffin, can I go down? I will come soon." I knew what response I was about to get. Shaking her head, she held me firmly.

I took her to the home theatre and placed her on the couch there. There was a see-through glass to the adjacent room and I thought it would be better if I would be in her sight all the time.

"Muffin, I will be in that room ok?" She was reluctant to let me go but I had to convince her anyway.

"I will be in your sight all the time, I promise." Intending to make her believe that those three men she saw a few minutes ago were harmless, I said, "They are good people. Yes, those who have come are my friends. They don't want to hurt you." She looked at me in a puzzled state and I told her that I had called them to introduce her to them.

"Can I go?" she didn't respond and was fiddling with her fingers. I palmed her cheeks and after kissing her forehead I said, "Don't worry nothing will happen. Your Dhruv won't let anyone hurt you. You just stay here and watch Tom and Jerry."

I played the show and walked out of the room to my friends. As soon as I reached the living room I was bombarded with the questions I was expecting.

"What the hell is going on?"

"Is this your Russia?"

"You found Chubby Cheeks and didn't even tell us?"

The questions were more like accusations.

"Follow me," I said.

"Where? To China?" Kiaan mocked me.

"No Kiaan. He must be taking us to Paris now," said Arjun.

"Or maybe India?" said Hredhaan.

My friends weren't dyspeptic but their looks said otherwise.

"I will tell you guys everything, just please follow me." Shooting daggers at me all three of them followed.

We all seated ourselves in the room adjacent to the home theatre. I kept glancing at the black glass beside me and was smiling so that muffin could be at peace that I am fine. Even though I wasn't able to see her, I knew she was not watching the show and her gaze was fixed on me only.

"Dude are you possessed?" Hredhaan asked, making me shocked.

"What? Possessed?" I asked, befuddled.

"Yeah, you keep glancing at that black mirror and are smiling like a fool. Which sane person will do that?"

Of course, they would think like that after all the mirror was see-through from only one side.

"It's a see-through mirror from one side. I need to assure her that I am fine." I cleared his confusion looking at the black glass beside me.

"Chubby Cheeks?" Arjun enquired.

"Yes."

"Dhruv now you need to tell us everything without any delay." It was evident from Kiaan's voice that he was quite anxious about all that was happening.

I was about to tell them when something clicked in my mind, "How do you guys get to know about my whereabouts?"

"Your sudden decision to go to Russia was suspicious but I shrugged it off. The day before yesterday I was checking my emails when I saw your backup account was still logged in my system and I found a mail, to be precise there were some details of PTSD patients sent to you by some Dr.Morrison." Kiaan said.

The mails Kiaan mentioned were the reports of the PTSD patients Dr. Morrison had dealt with. I had asked him for those. Although he was reluctant but agreed after taking permission from those patients. They all have got better now.

It was Arjun who explained further, "Kiaan told me he was suspicious of your whereabouts and that you are hiding something from us so I called you yesterday. And guess what, the way you were trying to disconnect the call was enough for me to understand that his doubts were not baseless."

"And about the location?" I asked.

"That was not tough. Just some CCTV footage was enough. Moreover, we knew that if you are in London then you will surely need a place and what's better than the penthouses on the outskirts of town. So we just talked to your regular agent and that's it." Hredhaan explained further and I knew what he meant by talking to the agent. They all must have threatened him.

"You left a lot of loopholes," said Arjun.

"They weren't loopholes. I didn't bother about it much as all I wanted was to hide from the media for a while."

"Why? What exactly is going on?" Kiaan asked.

Taking deep breaths I told them everything from the start to the end. How I went to that exhibition with Vishakha and misunderstood someone else as Saavi. Then my visit to the orphanage and till now.

Silence prevailed in the room such that a flying paper could make enough sound to echo. None of us said anything for a while. I knew it was tough for them too, to process everything I had told them.

Breaking the silence Arjun asked, "Can I meet her?"

I nodded and took all of them to the home theatre. As I predicted, Muffin's gaze was fixed to the see-through glass only and after that was glued to the door.

Sitting beside her I held her and gestured to my friends to come inside. They didn't know how to react as none of them have ever encountered someone suffering from PTSD. Although I had guided them on how to act in front of her but was still unsure of her reactions.

"Muffin, I want you to meet my friends."

"He is Arjun, remember Arjun Malhotra?" she shook her head making Arjun sad but then again he didn't show it to her.

"Hi Chubby Cheeks," he said and sat in front of her.

"He is Kiaan, my cousin and one of my best friends and he is Hredhaan."

She was holding me tight and didn't say anything while all of them were trying to make her comfortable. Arjun was as always passing his weird jokes, Kiaan was telling her about his childhood, and to my surprise, even Hredhaan was smiling and was narrating her some stories. Everyone knows how serious of a person Hredhaan is and he only smiles either in front of all four of us or Dhriti but watching him trying to make Muffin comfortable placed a smile on my lips too.

Muffin was not scared anymore and was listening to everyone, but yeah the source of her peace was still only me as she had been holding me all the while.

I prepared dinner for all of them as an apology but I knew they won't just forgive me like that.

"If not for Chubby Cheeks, I would have killed you," whispered Arjun smiling at me so that muffin doesn't get to hear what he just said. When I was preparing dinner muffin was there with me too.

We had our dinner and this time not in silence, otherwise, every night it's only me who speaks.

I made Muffin sleep and went out to bid goodbye to my friends. I left her for only a few minutes as I knew she won't be fine without me.

"This is something 5 Ace should handle," Hredhaan said.

"What do you mean?" I questioned wanting to know his thoughts behind his words.

"This case is quite tangled with no leads and this is what we the members of 5 Ace do. We save and we protect and a case like this is our specialty," he answered my question. Kiaan and Arjun agreed with him but I didn't want to involve Namit yet.

"You are right but I hope you are not planning to tell Namit."

"No, we are not. But he will know eventually," said Kiaan

"Yes, when the 4 aces are on a mission, do you think the 5 one will be oblivious?."Arjun was right but I still didn't want him to know.

"I know but let's not tell him ourselves."

"Fine but when he and Dhriti will get to know all this, they won't spare you," Hredhaan said. They all went away after that saying that they will pay a visit very soon.

I was aware of the consequences of hiding such important details from my best friend and my sister but I didn't want to ruin the peace they had got after so long. I wasn't that selfish.

I went back to the room and pulled the sleeping form of my love in my arms. I realized that my friends were right. Saavi's case wasn't any conventional one and needed to be dealt with by 5 Ace. To heal my love I would have to be the ace and not just Dhruv Kapoor, I ascertained.