A/N: Vote and Comment.

***

  "Aghanya, you have to talk so that I know."

  She kept quiet and stared at her nails. She didn't want to talk. She had lost the will to live. Everyday she hoped the cut on her wrist had killed her instead. Waiting for someone every minute of the day was exhausting. She knew he wouldn't come. His parents made an excuse that he was on a business trip in Africa. He was MIA since that night. Six months had passed, not a text, not a call.

    That's why she refused to talk. She ran her hand through her hair. She had cut it shorter - her break up decision. She smiled at the psychiatrist. He was very patient. He was her age, Dhruv Kapadia.

  "I don't know.... Don't smile!" He restrained himself from smiling too. "I would love to hear your voice, you know?" He said closing his notepad.

  She cocked an eyebrow. She knew it was a trick. She was here since 6 months and she knew all the tricks he played. She had dodged all of it.

"Come on, it's your last day. Then you're free to go. Atleast talk to me today. No?"

She nodded her head sideways indicating no. It was amusing watching him coax her. How was he even a "successful" psychiatrist? The clock then struck 10 indicating, her time with him was over.

  "Fine...." He sighed. "You win, again." He said standing up. She stood up too and shook his hands with a cocky smile. "But!" He held her hand. "Let me treat you."

"Sure!" She spoke her first word.

He looked surprised. "Ofcourse you speak now. I was beginning to think I was not a good persuader." He smiled and walked beside her.

"How are you a good persuader?" She scoffed.

"Well, I did persuade you for a date, didn't I?" He laughed and ran forward to opened her car door.

"Yeah sure, Doc. Whatever lets you sleeps at night." She said and entered the car. He locked the car door behind her and signed call me across her glass window. She gave a thumbs up and waved at him.

Once she reached her penthouse. It was hers. She had moved out after a week from her parent's house. She couldn't stand to be in the same space with her mother. Opening a bottle of water she stared her reflection on the fridge door. She looked so different. And it amazed her, how people had started treating her differently too.

She looked at her ring. The engagement was still on. Or they made her think that. Where was her fiancé when Varun hit her? Where was he when she was in the hospital? Where was he when she considered really taking her life? She had went through all of it by herself. She didn't need him anymore. She took a deep breath and slid the ring out of her finger. She put it in an envelope and wrote a note telling, the engagement was over. She then gave the driver the envelope and told him to deliver it to Mr. Raizyada.

***

  "Viren!" Viren though he had heard his father's voice. He though he had misunderstood. His father could never be here. "Viren!" He turned to the voice to see his father fumbling on the sand towards him. He stood up to meet his very red father.

  "You are coming to India! Right now!" He said fuming.

"And leave Bora Bora? And the amazing sun and the amazing women?" He winked at a girl passing by.

"I am serious! Aghanya Jha sent this over to the house two days ago! She is breaking the engagement Viren." He thrust a diamond ring on his palm. He watched the diamonds glint in the Sun. And every memory from Paris came back to him. He took a deep breath and closed his palm into a fist.

   "I am surprised it took her so long. I thought she'd be happily married to Varun by now!" He joked. It was far from a joke for him. He ignored the stabbing feeling in his gut.

   "Is this a joke to you?" His father bellowed. "She goes, her money goes with her! You are going to come back to India and woo her right now!"

  He backed away. "I'm not. Dad, she cheated on me! I cannot live with a woman like her!" He said.

   "Who doesn't? Everyone cheats on their spouses! You cheat on her too then instead of weeping here like a girl!" He said.

  "Dad!" He sighed.

"Viren! Your mother already had to sell her ornaments, she hasn't brought a single clothing or jewellery since a long long time. Do you really want to watch your mom working as a house maid or something? Because that is what she'll have to do if we don't get that money."

"Dad..." He sighed. He didn't want to go to Mumbai and face Aghanya.

***

   "Really? The Raizyada Hotel?" She scoffed. Dhruv laughed and led her inside. "Just come on, they're having this amazing party. You'll love it."

  Aghanya felt like throwing up. Her stomach was in knots. If she knew he was bringing her here, she would've never come. She held onto his arm to stop stumbling. Her legs felt weak. What if she meets him here? Her mind kept questioning her. She took a deep breath, she handn't run into him in six months, it could hardly happen now.

"Really? A masquerade party?" I said amused and took a black mask with red feathers that matched my dress. Dhruv chose a simple black one. He shrugged his shoulders and helped her with her mask.

"Let's go?" He lend his arm, She wrapped me arm around his elbow and entered the ball room.

About an hour after, after trying all the food, which was delicious in her opinion. And mingling. She heard the same thing, "Aghanya! You've changed so much!" Well she had, but she was getting tired of hearing it. She sipped champagne from her flute. She looked around the room for Dhruv. He had left saying, he thought he saw his friend.

"I'm so sorry!" He said returning. "How about I make it up with a dance?"

He pulled her arm before she could refuse. She placed her champagne flute on a table and walked with him. It was waltz. The music flowed and the lyrics mellowed the room. We swayed to the music. Then he backed out indicating we should change partners. Her eyes widened as she felt his first stamp on her feet that were crammed inside the heel. It just made the pain thousand times worse. She gritted her teeth and backed away when he stamped her the fifth time, she was sure she had heard even her hem rip. She moved to her next dance partner. She stumbled on her ripped hem and had grabbed his arm.

"I'm so sorry." She let out a nervous laugh. "The previous guy ripped my hem." His hands on her waist steadied her. He just nodded. The music had changed by then, it seemed awfully like tango to her. She didn't know to dance tango. But he didn't let her go. The dance floor was almost empty.

"Okay, I'm wearing a red dress, so maybe you assumed I know tango? I don't." She clarified. But he moved two steps back and pulled her along with him. She was sweating through her gloves. She held tightly to him as he manoeuvred her. And for some reason, the way he held her was making her giddy. Or maybe she was nervous. Or maybe she was finally moving on from Viren. She smiled. And let her body loose so that he would feel easy to move her. He whipped her around so that they were at arms length apart. Aghanya felt a wave of realisation. She knew this step! She just had to whirl around into his chest.

She turned around and around and his arms wrapped around her waist like a belt once she reached his chest, he dipped her. The music ended. That's when she realised there was no other couple on the dance floor except them. He supported her waist and pulled her up. His chest heaved up and down. She was breathless too. It had been so long since she had felt such burst of emotions.

"And that was my son and future daughter -in - law!" Mr. Raizyada said. The music had died out. Aghanya felt her whole world spin around. She looked beside her and indeed it was him. He had already removed his mask. Aghanya felt her heart bursting in pain. Her gut wrenched at the sight of him. Why did he come back now? Just as she was about to forget him and move on.

"Let us just proceed with the engagement ceremony." Mr. Raizyada said again. He spared no time in taking her gloved hand. He proceeded to remove the glove. She closed her eyes as her mind went numb in pain. Even after six months, sparks shot through everywhere he touched. He slid the same ring that she had sent back into her finger.

People clapped unaware of how pressurised she felt to do this. She heard cameras click. Great, the press was here too. She pulled her hand a little too quickly. She looked at the diamond ring he had handcuffed her in. She didn't want to look at his face, in his eyes. She knew it all would come back. Her mother handed her a band of platinum. So this was her plan. She heard another round of applause ho around as she slid the ring on his finger. Her hands shook the whole time. The applaud and happy cheers seemed to be mocking her.

"Aghanya Jha and Viren Raizyada will be married by the next couple of weeks." Her mother announced in a happy tone. She looked at her with all the hatred she could. Only because, she was avoiding a heated gaze on her. She stood beside him, smiled for some photos.

***

  Viren kept looking at her. She didn't look at him, not even once. They had caught her off guard. Her hands were trembling the whole time. She had a fake smile on her lips, which were covered in an alluring shade of red. Her dress was promiscuous too, backless, sweet heart neckline. It wasn't her style. Her hair was shorter. Much shorter. She didn't look like the Aghanya he knew. She was like a completely different person.

   He had avenged his betrayal by trapping her like she had. But why didn't it feel like he had won? The Aghanya he knew would've slapped him. He questioned himself if he knew Aghanya at all. Or was it just her façade he had liked? He saw her quietly slip out of the ball room. She was in the courtyard. She had her arms around her waist and she breathed loudly. Maybe she heard his shoes clicking, she turned around.

   Her eyes went from sadness to hate in a second, the way she looked at him. She picked up her skirt and walked past him. He held her elbow and pulled her back. She was thinner now, more boney. She glared at him through her glassy eyes.

  "Talk." He said not knowing what else to say. He wanted her to talk, scream, yell, put up a tantrum. But she did not of it. She pulled her hand out of grasp and walked out of the room her heels clicking. He felt lost. Maybe, she was angry she didn't get to marry Varun like she had planned.

  But she wasn't just angry at him. She didn't even hate him. The way she looked at him, felt worse than hate. It felt like she despised the mere existence of him. He walked inside the ball room again and was bombarded with questions and wishes. He accepted them all with a fake smile.

  At the end of the day, he had received a cheque and a thank you note. Both from fathers, the former hers and the latter his.

***

A/N: vote and comment. Too tired. Sleepy to eveb write whole sentences. Viren x Aghanya or Aghanya x Dhruv?