I stepped out with Gunjan and other bride's maids, I held Gunjan by her arm and am leading her towards the altar. I look around my eyes scanning for Arham, then among the sea of people I see him. He is standing aloof from everyone and it makes my heart sink, I brought him here and I left him alone.

Gunjan's words echoed in my ears, I get more curious as I look at him. He was such a lively person back in school, did that incident affect him as much as it affected me? or worse? I wonder.

Gunjan is made to sit next to Abhimanyu, he is tall well-built man and Gunjan is short and thin, what a Jodi. I smile.

Adjusting end of my Pallu I climbed down the altar and made my way towards Arham.

'Sorry' I say looking at him with an apologetic expression on my face. He shakes his head slightly

'It's okay' he says politely.

I insisted him to come at the front so that we can get good view, at first he was reluctant and I had to hold his arm and literally drag him to the front. We stand there watching the ceremony, I must admit Gunjan is looking so beautiful, like an angel. I find my eyes getting moist seeing her smiling shyly. I tilt my head slightly and saw Arham standing next to me. I imagined how it would feel to be sitting all dressed up as Arham's bride, feeling the jitters, a mix of nervousness and excitement.

A tone tear escapes my eye 'Are you alright?' Arham asks looking at him. I nod quickly wiping my tear.

'You are Gunjan's friend' an old woman, Gunjan's Dadi, asked me. I nod. She then looks at Arham, who also smiles politely at Gunjan's Dadi. The old woman smiles at us widely making me feel uncomfortable

'You too make such a beautiful couple, are you both married?' she asks, I am shocked with her straight forwardness but I couldn't stop the blush that crept on my cheeks, I don't know why but I am delighted when referred to as Arham's wife.

'Aunty, we aren't married' Arham says and I look at him disappointed.

The old woman grins 'Then you should marry' she says nudging me, I felt embarrassed now and from Arham's expressions he looked embarrassed too.

I smile awkwardly, the old woman walks away.

'Oh shit!' I gasp as I felt the knot of my blouse open. I am standing at the first row right in front of the altar where the bride and the groom are taking their pheras. I turned red and quickly move my hand back. I had to wear backless blouse, now the knot is open but thanks to the hooks it in place else I would have had serious wardrobe malfunction. I slowly took my step back wanting to disappear from the crowd and into a secluded spot where I can tie my knot.

'Are you fine?' Arham says I simply nod and still holding my knot I walk backwards.

Damn! I had taken half an hour last time when I had tried tying the knot, I hate such dresses. It's been five-minutes and I am still trying to tie the knot.

'You need help' I jump out of my skin on hearing his voice, I turn around quickly and covered my back with the Pallu of my saree.

'I...I... woh...my knot' I stammer placing my fingers on the knot of my dress. Arham takes a step towards me and I gulp taking a step back

'May I?' he asks looking directly into my eyes.

I couldn't look away; I stare into his eyes letting my Pallu drop from my back. He moves his hand behind me coming close to me. I shiver feeling him so close, why can't he go behind me I tie the knot? Perhaps he doesn't want to look at my back, his gaze is fixed on my face.

I close my eyes as I smell his strong cologne, it's so tantalizing, I could feel my heart fluttering madly as I felt his fingertips slightly brush against my bare skin. I tremble.

'Zahra, I think the knot has snapped, that's why it opened' Arham says. I opened my eyes quickly and take a step back

'Oh no, now what?' I say feeling uncomfortable. I won't be able to stay in the wedding nor will be able to leave the wedding so soon.

'Relax, Zahra' Arham says and I look at him. How can he ask me to relax when my blouse knot has snapped?

Arham removes his coat and gives it to me 'Wear this, you will be comfortable' he says, his voice soft. I smiled and wore his coat. It is really overlarge for my petite figure but it doesn't matter because at least it's better than roaming around exposing my back plus it is Arham's coat.

For the rest of the function I had a silly smile on my face, even during Gunjan's Bidaai when she is crying her eyes out I am smiling.

She even glared at me for few seconds before going back to crying.

'You want me to drop you home?' I ask looking at Arham carefully. I have just parked my car outside his apartment. He looks at me surprised, his expression then changes to a stern one.

'Do I look like a baby?' he says rudely and I frown at him.

'Okay fine, get out' I say angrily

'I don't want to sit here anyway' he says rolling his eyes and without another word he gets down. I stare at him angrily. No one speaks to me in this tone, I leave without glancing back.

I have changed into my night gown and lying down on my bed and next to me is Arham's coat. I caress it lovingly, a dreamy smile on my lips. I lean and sniff his cologne, I felt a tingling sensation in my stomach.

He was so close to me when he was tying my knot, his arms around me, his face inches away from mine. His smell, the feel...I close my eyes and rest my head on his coat. I shouldn't be thinking like this, this is wrong, yet it felt so right.

I smile and keep caressing his coat.

I lay on my back and raised the coat and wore it like a blanket, inhaling his scent. I sigh sadly. I wish we were together. I wish all the dreams that I had imagined had come true.

I wrapped the sleeves of his coat around me and close my eyes imagining him hugging me. I wonder how it would feel to be in his arms, hugging him back. His hands caressing my back, his lips kissing me all over. I tremble with the thought.

Just then my phone rings, I am jolted from my dream land. I look at my phone, it's a call from Aamir. I frown, I sit up straight and moved Arham's coat off me. This is not right. I am engaged to someone else. I cut the call and quickly texted him that I am busy. I then neatly folded Arham's coat and kept it in my wardrobe. My happy smile turned to a sad one when I look at the solitaire ring glistening on my ring finger.

*

I hear a knock at my cabin door

'Come in' I say. The door opens and Arham enters

'Yes Ma'am' he says in a very professional tone.

I stand up and from under my desk I take out a packet 'I have washed and ironed it' I say forwarding him the packet containing his coat.

He looks at me angrily 'Are you mad?' he hisses

I look at him surprised 'Excuse me?' I say sternly

He looks at the packet then at me 'You are giving me my coat in office? If anyone sees this, they might mistake you...you have no sense' he says angrily

My jaws drop 'How dare you talk to me this?' I say and throw the packet at him, it hits his face hard.

'Oww...' he says massaging his head. I smirk, I have hit him hard.

'Take it and get lost' I snap at him. He glares at me like he will murder me through his eyes, but I don't care.

It's lunch time and I decided to have my lunch in the office mess. I had woken up very late today and so didn't have time for making food and also my maid, Daya, hadn't come yesterday so even she hasn't prepared anything for me. It has been days since I had food here in mess so I decided to give it a try.

Almost all the employees are here, some have brought their own home cooked food while some from the mess and some got snacks from canteen. I take a tray filled with an omelette, some boiled peas and corn and lemon juice. I look around searching for a seat, almost the entire mess is filled. Everybody chatting and enjoying their meals, can't they see their boss is here, show some respect.

I smile when I spot an empty seat next to Arham. I smirk and walk towards him. I take my seat ignoring him.

Few seconds later I noticed he didn't even bother looking at me, I roll my eyes. I then shift little and accidently hit him.

'Oh sorry...you?' I say pretending as though I just noticed him and am annoyed sitting next to him.

'Yeah me' he says shrugging still not looking at me.

Now his food is more important than me, my ego is hurt. I look at his food, I noticed he has his own tiffin.

I wonder what he has that is so tasty that he isn't even looking at me. Very cleverly I peeked into his tiffin.

I frowned.

He has two Roti that is badly burned and some burned veggies. Why is he eating burned food? And he is munching on it like it's the most delicious thing on the planet. He is so involved in eating that he needn't even bother sparing me a glance.

'Why are you eating this? who made this junk?' I say frowning

Finally, he looks at me. 'I have made this junk' he says seriously and I look at him surprised. He then starts to munch on his half burned weird shaped Roti again.

I felt bad for him. I nudged his arm. He looks at me annoyed. I forward my plate towards me, he responded by raising his eyebrows

'Here have some' I say pointing at my plate. He looks up at me

'I am fine' he says and goes back to eating his food.

I smile sadly 'Arham, remember in school how we, you me and Gunjan at times used to eat our food together in canteen and how I never used to share mine and you two used to make fun of me' I say smiling, reminiscing those blissful days. We three were young, naïve and care free. Good old days.

He freezes holding a morsel of food near his open mouth. He turns to look at me, I smile sadly. Since we met this is the first time the topic of our school days has come up.

I looked into his eyes and saw sadness in them. He looks away and continues to eat silently.

I too turn my attention to my food, but I kept poking my food with the fork unable to eat. I look at him, he is eating his food.

'Arham...Gunjan was telling me that after that incident...you went missing for three weeks.... where were you?' I ask cautiously. He freezes again, he then turns and glares at me. This time his glare scared me. I gulp.

'It's none of your business' he says angrily. I flinch with his tone. He then packs his lunch and gets up. I extend my hand to hold his to stop him but he was too quick and he left. I felt bad that I upset him.

I sit in my cabin twisting my pencil in between my fingers thinking about Arham. I couldn't remove the image of him eating burned food. He didn't look upset while eating that, it looked like it's habitual of him to eating such food. Arham cooks his own food, he lives alone. He must be so miserable and lonely. My heart keeps sinking lower as I think about him. I opened the desk drawer and take a file. It contains all his info, I opened it and quickly note down his address in my phone.

That evening I left home around 8, I quickly changed into my causals and without wasting anymore time I tied my hair in a messy bun and hurried into the kitchen.