Khushi gripped his shirt tighter, reluctant to leave him. But only then did she realise that it wasn't dark anymore. She was too engrossed in explaining her outburst to Arnav that she didn't realise that she could actually see Arnav's face clearly now in the light.

Still standing close to Arnav, clutching his shirt just in case, Khushi looked around to see a room she didn't recognise...

Where were they?

****************************************************************

Khushi looked around to find herself in some sort of classy bedroom, quite similar in style to their room in RM.

Whatever she was expecting, it definitely wasn't this. I mean come on! Who would expect to end up in one of the most luxurious rooms after coming through a dark, dirty (and probably old) passageway?!

She had to admit that it kind of made her feel better though - it felt like she was safe here. Or to be more precise it gave her the impression that Arnav had this all under control. But there was still a small part of her which wanted the reassurance from the horse's mouth.

"Hum kahaan hai Arnavji? (Where are we Arnavji?)" asked Khushi.

Arnav was finally able to sigh in relief at having reached this room. Now he was sure that they were safe. No one would be able to find them - unless they find the secret tunnel. But that wouldn't happen. He had made sure of it by opening the kitchen window back in RM as a red herring for the goons. And plus there was no way they would suspect such a tunnel in the first place.

"Arnavji? Where are we? Are we safe now?" asked Khushi, now getting more anxious with Arnav not answering.

That's when Arnav noticed the worry on Khushi's face. And in that second, he felt horrible for putting her through this. She didn't deserve any of this. She was an innocent girl who was going on with her simple life happily. She had done nothing to deserve this mess in her life.

The least he could do was try and help her out without giving her much pain, but here he had done the exact opposite. She had been on the verge of breaking down after finding out they were surrounded and he had hardly done anything to console her. He had just ordered her and let her drown in her worries. The situation had demanded his complete attention but that doesn't change the fact that he had been a bad friend' to her.

He may have failed before, but he was determined to make up for that now.

"Khushi we're safe. You can relax now," he said softly. And Khushi did relax.

But Arnav wasn't done - he needed to apologise. So he cupped her face tenderly, and said sincerely, "I know I scared you back there and I was hardly responding to you, but I just needed to make sure we were out of there safely and quickly. But it was still horrible of me to do that to you... and I'm s-s-sorry for that. I know you've been worried sick but trust me, everything is fine now. I own this place and hardly anyone knows about it. No one will find us here ok?"

And Khushi could only nod in response as tears clouded her vision. They've come so far in these few weeks since they had met. When she had first met Arnav he had been a mere stranger. Yes there had been a small part of her that had wanted to trust him and yes she had felt attracted to him as she had never been to any other man before, but there was nothing beyond that. But today... He meant so much to her. And she knew that friend' didn't even cover it. He was... he was her EVERYTHING.

She couldn't imagine life without him anymore - if there was such a place without him and her together, then she wouldn't want to live in it. Today's experience had taught her that much. When she knew that they were trapped, her first fear was being separated from HIM. She was afraid that she wouldn't be able to see him again if they took her - and she couldn't think of a worse way to die. She didn't know when he had come to mean so much to her, but it's the undeniable truth. Khushi can't exist without Arnav. She still couldn't fathom out what these feelings meant, but she knew that Arnav was important to her - more than she could ever explain.

The first time she had met him, he had been quite blunt and emotionless with her. He hadn't been inconsiderate but he wasn't exactly welcoming either. But today, he was apologising to her for scaring her, even though he was doing his job and he was doing all this for her best. He had no reason to apologise but he still did it. Just for her. And knowing Arnav's stubborn character, she knew that was a big thing. What did she do to deserve all this care from him?

In these few weeks, Arnav had treated her like a fragile doll. Other than cooking food, he hadn't let her lift a finger. He bought at least one of her favourite snacks every day, he had bought her a shelf full of books of her favourite authors, he had bought her all of Salman Khan's movies, he took care of each and every one of her needs. What hadn't he done for her? Thinking of the amount of care he had given her all these days brought tears into her eyes.

"Khushi?" Arnav got worried seeing the sheen of tears in her eyes. "Khushi, it's ok, we're safe. Trust me. Everything is going to be fine." He was trying his best to assure her.

"Hume aap par barosa hai Arnavji (I trust you Arnavji)" Khushi said, her lips curving up in a small smile.

"Then why are you crying?" he asked, concerned.

Khushi just shook her head in reply before engulfing him in a hug, overwhelmed by her own emotions.

Arnav wrapped his arms around her, still confused. "Khushi?"

"I'm fine Arnavji. I'm just a bit overwhelmed right now. Other than that I'm fine," she said, her face laying against his chest.

Arnav still didn't believe her, but decided to let it go.

They just stood there in that position for a while until Khushi's breathing became even. Arnav pulled back slightly to see that she had fallen asleep on his chest. Why wouldn't she? After all the emotional stress she just went through, which other place would be better than Arnav's arms for her to reside in?

Arnav picked her up and lay her on the bed gently and tried to get up, only to find that Khushi was holding onto his collar tightly, refusing to let him go even in her sleep. A small smile formed on Arnav's face seeing this gesture of hers which he had got used to.

He gently pulled her hand away and laid it down on the bed before sitting next to her on the bed, stroking her hair. Even in her sleep, Khushi must have recognised his touch because her lips curved up into a beautiful smile.

Arnav just sat there for a long time stroking Khushi's hair and admiring the sleeping beauty next to him.

After a while, he got up and went out through a door in the room, entering a secret lock code. As soon as the door opened, there was an elevator, which he stepped into. There was only one floor that the elevator would take him to and he pressed the button.

As soon as he got out, he stepped into his cabin in AR Designs. Yes, that's where they were right now. Arnav has a penthouse at AR Designs exclusively for him. No one knows about this except for him and Akash, his manager. But even Akash didn't know about the secret tunnel from ASR's house to the penthouse.

Arnav's cabin is also private. No one is allowed to enter the CEO's cabin except for himself and Akash. The door to his cabin can only be opened with Arnav's fingerprint - but he never uses it because he has his own private entrance/exit to AR Designs (which is separate from the secret tunnel) which no one knows about. When Akash needs to come into ASR's cabin, his fingerprint is used and Arnav then has to press a button from inside his cabin to allow Akash to enter the cabin. Other than the two of them no one enters ASR's cabin.

This is the reason why no one knows what ASR looks like except for Akash and a few of his business associates. Arnav is able to see the entire office from his cabin through the glass, but no one can look into the glass from the outside.

Due to all these precautions, no one knows when Arnav is in the building and when he is not. So the employees don't know when they are being watched and when they are not. No one knows when ASR enters AR Designs and when he leaves. This is one of the main reasons why the employees in AR Designs always work so hard. Those who mess about and get caught by ASR are fired within seconds, and other employees would have learnt their lessons from these examples.

As soon as Arnav got into his cabin he called Akash and asked him to get all the necessities which he and Khushi will require while staying in the penthouse like clothes, toiletries, cooking ingredients etc. He could have made the call from the penthouse itself but he didn't want to wake up Khushi so he came down to his cabin. And anyways he hadn't come to office for quite a while now, as he had been working from home for Khushi. So it was necessary for him to check over the office today.

Within an hour Akash came inside the cabin with all the ordered items. Together, Arnav and Akash took the items up into the penthouse.

Once everything was brought into the penthouse, Akash took his leave back to office.

Arnav then started to arrange all the items in their appropriate places.

About half an hour later, Khushi awoke feeling refreshed. She watched while Arnav was hanging salwar suits next to his own Armani suits in the wardrobe.

"Arnavji? What are you doing?" asked Khushi, a little confused. Then realising she was on the bed, she asked, "How did I get here?"

"Oh Khushi you're up? Voh... you fell asleep while we were... we were... I... I carried you to the bed," Arnav answered after a struggle. He and Khushi were used to hugging now but it wasn't something either of them were comfortable speaking about. The gesture came naturally to them and it was an accepted part of their friendship but it didn't mean it wasn't still awkward for them to speak about such moments.

"Oh... And what were you doing before I got up? And you still haven't told me - where are we?" Khushi questioned.

Arnav went back to arranging the wardrobe while answering Khushi, "Oh I was just arranging our clothes in the wardrobe. We're going to be staying for a while - probably until the case is solved. It's the safest place for you."

"Oh... ok..." Khushi started inspecting the room again, looking carefully at the place she was going to be staying in for God knows how long.

While inspecting the room, something clicked in her brain.

She wanted to ask Arnav her question really badly but she was scared that he would misunderstand her... But then again, this is Khushi we're talking about and she always asks and says what she feels no matter what - especially with Arnav. So she decided to ask him anyways.

"Arnavji?"

"Hmmm?" Arnav replied, busy with the task at hand.

"C-c-can I ask you something?" Khushi asked hesitantly.

With that Arnav stopped his work and turned around to look at Khushi. "Khushi Kumari Gupta is asking for permission to ask me a question?! Did the sun rise from the west today?!" he asked, with mock surprise on his face.

"Voh... voh..." Khushi didn't know how to ask him. She sat there fidgeting with her duppatta, not knowing how to start. Asking the question was easier said than done.

Seeing Khushi so nervous, Arnav was actually a little confused now. What was it that was bothering her? In the last few days and weeks Khushi has been completely open with him and she had never had any hesitation when she was with him whatsoever. So seeing her struggling to form her question was a little surprising and it also made him curious as to what it was that she wanted to ask.

"Khushi it's ok, you can ask me. Main tumhe kaa thodi jaaonga? (I'm not going to eat you or anything)" he joked, trying to make her feel comfortable.

"It's just that... ummm... You're a police officer right?"

Arnav simply nodded, not quite understanding where this was heading. It's not like she didn't already know he was a police officer.

"Ummm you're a police officer... You own such a big, luxurious house... and now this place too. Just looking around I can see how expensive it must be... I was wondering h-h-how... how did you...? The money..." Khushi couldn't form the words after this.

Arnav clenched his fist as he understood what she was getting at. A police officer's salary isn't big enough for the person to be able to afford a luxurious house as big as his - in fact they probably couldn't even dream of buying it in their lifetime. And on top of that he owned this classy penthouse too. So Khushi was questioning where he got the money for all this.

But that only angered him. She had doubted him.

To him, that showed her lack of trust in him.

And it hurt.

Like hell.

He threw the Armani suit he was holding across the room in anger, causing the items on the dressing table to come crashing down onto the floor, some shattering into pieces.

Khushi shuddered, looking at Arnav fearfully.

"What are you implying Khushi? HUH?" Arnav bellowed.

Khushi quickly got off the bed going towards Arnav, not wanting him to misunderstand her. "Arnavji you're misunderstandi-"

As though he didn't hear her, Arnav grabbed hold of her shoulders before shouting, "WHAT ARE YOU IMPLYING? WHAT DO YOU THINK I DO?" He tightened his hold on her. "What do you want to hear huh? That I rob people? Or that I sell drugs? Or do you expect me to say that I make a living out of turning helpless women into prostitutes? Or maybe I earn by selling children for child labour?" Not hearing any reply from a bewildered Khushi, he shook her vigorously before bellowing, "WHAT DO YOU WANT TO HEAR???!!!"

Then with a curse, he let go of her. Khushi almost lost her balance because of the impact but she caught herself.

"After everything, this is what you think of me! You thought so cheaply of me. And here I thought that we..." He looked at her with the hurt of betrayal clear in his eyes.

Khushi was shaking her head vigorously with tears streaming down her eyes, look at the hurt and agony in his eyes. No. She hadn't meant it in that way. She didn't doubt him. Never. That wasn't her intention at all. She opened her mouth to try and make him understand but he didn't give her the chance.

"I should never have let you into my life," he spit out in anger.

"THIS WAS A BLOODY MISTAKE!" And with that he turned around and strode away.

"Arnavji!" Khushi called desperately. She called his name over and over but he was in no mood to stop. Khushi ran behind him, her tears flowing endlessly, trying to follow him into the elevator to try and talk to him and make him understand but she was just a second too late.

The door of the elevator closed in her face before she could step in.

And she was left all alone.

"Arnavji! Arnavji!" she called, desperately banging on the closed door of the elevator, but to no avail.

"ARNAVJI!!!!!" she cried.

She slid down to the floor sobbing. She sat there and cried her heart out. For him. For her. For THEM.

What had she done?