"We're all just a bunch of addicts, struggling with our drug of choice."

-JmStorm

***

"Patience is bitter like karela, but the fruit is sweet like Gulab jamun."

Viransh's head whipped at the older man's boisterous voice as he pushed down the soft, delicious berry-sized ball soaked in sugar syrup into his mouth and let out a satisfied gripe when his taste buds tingled with the delicate raisin zest.

The young CEO inwardly snickered when the floral aroma from rose syrup fused into the diner, along with the pleasant appetising smell exuding from the gamut of rich Indian spices.

"I hope you're right." He looked away from the middle-aged man and rolled his eyes.

Truth be told, he arrived at the diner quite some time ago, earlier than he should have, but the excitement to see her after an abounding day wore off with each passing second. The middle-aged couple to his right side tried their best to keep him company, either by narrating their mushy love story or teasing him around after learning he had been waiting for a supposed date. Though the occasional switch to their regional language, Gujarati left him dazed.

"Do you think she will come?" Mitesh asked, a glint of tease swirling in his eyes.

For a few minutes, Viransh laughed off the question, but now it irked him. He checked his wristwatch and grind his teeth. Three hours. Three fucking hours. And she hasn't arrived yet. A dark look lingered on his handsome face. He didn't concern himself with answering Mitesh and flicked an abhorrent gaze at him when he gobbled down another Gulab jamun.

"Mitesh." His wife, Bhairavi, next to him, smacked his arm. "Su tame pan. Stop bothering the poor guy."

Mitesh turned to his wife and murmured. "Bhairu, now I'm concerned. The guy has been drinking water and glancing at the door for the past hour. Who waits this long for a woman nowadays?"

Disregarding the couple's hushed tête-à-tête, Viransh raked his hair for the umpteenth and tapped his fingers on the armrest beside him, one finger at a time. A sardonic chuckle escaped his mouth as his gaze drifted between the restaurant's foyer and his wristwatch, impatience firing up in his veins.

It was the middle of the day and he still had so much work to do, but none of it mattered to him. A muscle pulsed in his jaw, mildly annoyed at himself.

The great Viransh Malik is neglecting his work, sitting in a diner for a goddamn three hours, and waiting for a woman (who probably doesn't give two shits about him) like a lovesick fool. How romantic!

But a tiny voice in his head spoke. Come on, I'd waited this long. I could wait a while longer.

"Sir, should I bring something for you?"

Viransh snapped out of his thought and glanced up at the young waiter, who cleared his throat and gestured at the empty glass of water he had refilled a few minutes before. "Except water, of course."

"No," he replied, his brusque voice giving away his frustration. He closed his eyes not for long and smothered a polite smile as he could manage forthwith. "No, thank you."

The young man nodded, hiding a small simper. He quickly refilled the glass of water before scampering inside the kitchen.

Great Vir. Even the waiter pities you. Muttering a colourful string of curses, he picked the glass up and took a sip.

The sweet fruit of his patience landed on his plate when the diner speared with an intoxicating scent, followed by the sharp clacking of heels against the floor as Viransh swallowed the first sip. He wiped the glob of water from the corner of his mouth and gawked at the petite woman striding toward him with slow and deliberate steps, bringing in the bloom of spring after a cold, weary winter. Her blazing gaze fluttered the heat down to his chest and melted the icicles around his heart.

A small grin blossomed on his mellow countenance, and his eyes shimmered with unidentifiable emotions as he appraised her from head to toe. The modest dress hugged her tall, slender figure, the emerald green highlighting the healthy glow of her dusky skin. It made him accept she never needed to wear any fancy clothes to make her look goddess. Strands of her silky raven locks blew around her face from either the wind or her heavy breathing. Suddenly, all the wait seemed worth it.

His pulse drummed at the familiar warmth sluicing through his veins, but he kept his face impassive. "Oh, you came. I was about to send a search party for you." He bit back a remark as she slid into the booth.

"How considerate of you." Avni scoffed and tossed her white tote bag on the seat next to her. "Sorry, I forgot to pack my magical wings. Or else I would've arrived here sooner by soaring over the Mumbai traffic."

"You didn't reply to my texts."

"I didn't want to vent my frustration on you."

He smiled and took the yield of her foul mood. "Bad week, huh?"

"The worst. And now, I'm famished." She let out an exasperated sigh and leaned in against her seat as Viransh beckoned a waiter over.

"Jo Bhairu. Mane Khabar hati." Mitesh spoke as the waiter scuttled after noting their order. "Aa chhokro is too handsome to get stood up on a date."

(See Bharavi. I knew it) (This boy)

Avni snapped her eyes to the couple, who offered a whimsical smile to Viransh. Her dumbfounded expression didn't go unseen by Bhairavi. She side-glanced at her husband before offering an apologetic smile to the young couple. "Don't mind him. Ghelo che maro var."

(My husband is crazy.)

"What does the second part mean?"

Avni's dark gaze flickered back to Viransh as he stared back at her, confused. She chuckled. "She called her husband crazy."

Viransh nodded his head in return. Yes, I've been witnessing this craziness for the past few hours.

"When did you arrive?" Avni queried, effectively bringing his attention back to her.

Viransh hesitated to answer. He was too stubborn and prideful to admit he kind of arrived earlier than he should've.

"An hour—" Viransh paused. His eyes widened a bit when Avni plucked up the only glass of water from the table surface. A groan escaped the back of his throat as he sought to come up with the right phrases to warn her.

In the end, he couldn't. Especially not when he watched her take huge gulps of water to quench her thirst. He slid his glance to her throat as it contracted with each swig. It was a brief movement, but his eyes latched onto it like a magnet to the steel.

Well, that was my glass. He didn't say. Partially scared that she would spit that water on his face the moment he reveals it.

"Beta, Kumar ne bau heran karya aaje toh."

(Child, you made your husband wait for a long time.)

Avni almost choked on a mouthful of water.

"He isn't my—" Her gaze flicked at Mitesh as he purposely gave her a short laugh and nibbled on his dessert.

Viransh snapped out of his daze and furrowed his brow, looking at Avni's face as a pink hue of mortification tinted on her cheek. "What did he say?"

Avni cleared her throat, stalling for time. "I'm not your translator, Viransh."

"That's your mother tongue." he chastised.

"Yeah, thanks for the remainder."

She muttered before jutting her chin in a regal tilt. "I charge for my services."

"Is that so?" The corner of his eyes crinkled as he laughed. "Alright. But I'll be the one who decides the mode of payment."

"And what's that—"

Avni gasped when she felt a warm hand on her thigh, the heat of his flesh sluicing in her veins. Deep down, she was thankful for the classic booth table which hid this tactile. She missed a breath when his other hand tenderly grasped her right forearm and brought it closer to his mouth, brushing his lips against the back of her wrist and over her knuckles.

"What do you think you're doing?" She asked, her voice a soft whisper.

"Paying for the service." A smile ghosted on his lips. "I said I'll be the one deciding the mode of payment."

Avni's lips parted for a fraction at his words. Tiny shivers rippled down her spine under his touch. She resisted the urge to shift in her seat while he stared down at her, his face cool and relaxed, but his eyes burning like hot molten amber as his warm breath caressed her fingers. At that moment alone, she felt the spark of fire seep into her bones, throwing every rational thought out of her mind.

She dreaded this feeling. Because at heart, she knew she couldn't resist him.

She couldn't resist his touch. And the amazing, heart-stopping feeling of butterflies swarming in her belly each time his heated gaze locked her down.

"Mitesh, aa pan tari jem aj ghelo che!" Bhairavi giggled, breaking the enchanting spell. (Mitesh, this guy is crazy like you!)

Avni spent no time snatching her hands from his grasp, shaking Viransh. They both looked around. Though the restaurant wasn't brimming with people, it wasn't all empty either. Several pairs of eyes stared back at them, half-mortified and half-amused.

The young couple immediately looked away from them.

Avni slapped his hand off her thigh and shifted in her seat. "She said you're crazy like her husband."

"Now, now, am I?" Viransh whispered with a satisfied smirk.

"You really want me to answer that?" The edge of her lips quirked into a slight smirk; the haughtiness of the heiress was easy to tell.

Instead of getting riled up, his mouth just turned up in one corner, his eyes giving her a lazy grin. She was spared from a scathing response when a waitress arrived with their food and set the table with their full-course delectable meal.

"So, did you like this place?" Viransh asked, barring a piece of chapati and dipping it into the curry.

"I had expected something extravagant from you, Malik." She opined before stabbing into cottage cheese and chewing on it.

Viransh's forehead crinkled into a frown. "You didn't like this place?"

Avni shook her head. "On the contrary, I liked it very much. It's beautiful and...homey."

Her gaze snagged around the restaurant, accentuated with moody dim lights. It was a small place, but large enough to seat a dozen people at one time, which right now bustled with the Saturday brunch rush. The dining area combined green velvet with a geometric patterned headrest sitting against pale natural stone capped off polished brass. Suddenly, she froze. Her eyes narrowed at the restaurant's name lit up with neon light.

Desilicious.

The name alone sent shockwaves through her body along with a reminiscence of the past.

"Avni?" Viransh called out, a hint of confusion and worry doused into his lilt when he took in her pale face.

"Yeah?" she asked in a small voice, wringing her attention to him.

"You aren't eating." He flitted his gaze on her plate. Except for a bite of veggies, she touched nothing from her dish. "Didn't you like it? Do you want me to order something else for you?"

"No. I mean...no need to order something else." She said, quickly biting on a morsel of food. "This food is delicious."

She tried to offer him a faint smile, but it didn't reach her eyes.

He decided to not ask further. In lieu, he changed the topic of their conversation. "You accepted my business proposal."

Avni nodded, her anxiety easing a bit with the new topic. "I demanded your assistant to rework a few counter terms."

"The renewed contract will be on your table by Monday morning." He promised, taking a sip of water.

"Okay." She agreed with a nod and swallowed the last of raita. "Why me, Viransh?" She asked, tilting her chin up defiantly. "Why did you send me this proposal when you could've assigned it to your marketing team?"

Viransh had seen it coming. He closed his eyes, but not for long. "I've seen your report. You increased the revenue of your father's company by fifteen per cent with just solo projects in the past two years. Why didn't I know about your competent skills earlier?"

Avni shrugged. "I don't shove up my amazing attributes in people's faces like a second nose." She clicked her tongue. "My grandmother and cousin are exceptions."

Viransh's mouth twitched upward, secretly thrilled he had asked his assistant to dig up some specifics of her life. He had learned a few insights from Desais. Her father wanted to deem his nephew the new head of the Desai Enterprise, until Avni imposed herself, demanding her rights in the company and forcing him to change his decision. Since then, there has been a dog-eat-dog rivalry between her and Naman for the CEO position. Now he understood why she got riled up at their first meeting. She hated people underestimating her and ruminating about her skills.

Pratik left no stone unturned whenever he performed any investigation on someone. While he unearthed relatively unknown facts about her, there were still gaps in the resort that they couldn't fill in. There was so much to unravel about her.

"If you think I offered you this project because I wanted to sweep you off your feet, then you're wrong, Avni." He said after a while.

Half-truth. It was a half-truth. Her potential skills weren't the only reason for him to approach her with the proposal. But he shoved the other reasons and continued. "You are an asset to me. At the end of the day, I'm a businessman. I'll do what's best for my company."

Avni's smile collapsed into a frown. His words shouldn't send waves of disappointment and hurt sluicing into her heart. But it did. What was she expecting when she herself wanted to stay away from him?

His words hung between them for a moment before Viransh added. "You know, I'm still shocked your father hadn't selected the next heir for the company."

A bitter smile touched her lips. "My father believes one should earn their position. If one of his children wants shares in the company or a chair on the executive board, they need to slave away for it."

"But it also gave rise to unhealthy competition between you and your cousin." He said dryly and looked at her.

She hummed, lost in her own thoughts as she played with her food. When a few strands of her hair fell over her face like a curtain, she brushed it behind her ears and swung it over her shoulders, revealing her slender neck. He gnarly lost his composure. A smoky gleam passed through his whiskey eyes seeing the allure of her swan neck. The sliver of her skin smouldered in the dim lighting of the diner and it alone was enough to turn a presenter's gaze lustful.

Possessiveness wrapped its claws around him like a vice. He wanted nothing but to cage her in his embrace and hide her away from the leering gazes, wanting no man to feel the same way he does in her presence. He never was a jealous or insecure man until she walked into his life. But his affection went far from anything for this woman.

He very well knew Avni was not his. At least not now. At least not yet.

Sometimes, he wondered if she felt the same invisible cord that binds them together. Right now, she was the one running, and he was trying his best to tug her closer. To tell her to stop running because the more the thread stretched, the more were chances for it to split into two halves. And in the end, they would both fall very far away from each other. At two different ends.

A deep, painful ache unfurled behind his ribs at his envisaged thoughts. "Why do you keep running away from me, Avni?"

***

Avni's head jerked up at his low, anguished voice, which sent agony crashing against her insides. A flicker of pain coasted through his eyes before it submerged beneath the cool, amber surface.

"Viransh..." Her throat moved with a visible swallow.

"Why aren't you ready to give me a chance, Avni?" He gritted his teeth, his hands curling into a fist as he demanded answers. "Is it because you don't find me worthy of your heart?"

"No..." Avni bit her inner cheek. The words yet again failed to make themselves known. "No. It's not that."

"Then what is it?" His voice picked up the volume, but thankfully, it was low enough to save them from unwanted twattle.

"Because whatever is happening between us can't go further than this. I won't let it." She answered, drawing a clear line between them. She looked away when she said it because every fibre of her body yelled at her blatant lie.

"Why?" His voice dropped to a whisper. "Why?"

A lance of pain speared through her heart at his distraught expression, and the small voices in her conscience ambushed her with guilt. The reason behind her delinquency was her sceptical mind, which wasn't ready to encounter him this soon. Especially not when she was trying to sort out her tangled feelings for this man. At long last, she couldn't restrain herself. Ignoring him wasn't the solution. Hence, two hours later, she was sitting in front of the man she reckoned to ignore.

She could clearly see the whirlwind of emotions flickering in his amber pools—swirling with annoyance, dissatisfaction and torment, the storm in his eyes threatening to suck her into the vortex.

"I don't expect you to answer. Because you never do." His mouth cut into a cruel smile, insinuating ice into her veins. "All you do is run away when you can't face your own feelings. You run away when you can't handle it. You hurt people who genuinely care about you."

The air thickened, suffocating them with a tension that ticked like a rolling bomb waiting to explode. He didn't speak for a full minute, his baleful words lingering in the air among the clattering of plates and people's distant voices.

Viransh's remark stung her because there was truth to it. Her heart grew heavier, dropping like a rock into a pit inside her where remorse churned, but she refused to say anything—much less an apology. She knew she was wrong, but she didn't know it would be this painful to see bitterness slash through his heartbreaking face.

"You're right." She spoke before dragging a breath through her compressed lungs. "I hurt people, Viransh. And this is all I'm good at."

His jaw clenched, a vein throbbing at his temple.

"I'm not a good person. Definitely not all sunshine and rainbows, painting everyone's life with bright colours." Tightness hampered her lilt. "I'm a horrible person. Tainted with sins of my deeds. I'm chased by the phantoms of my past. I've used people and betrayed them. And this time, I'm selfless enough to not let another soul dive into this ocean of wretchedness. You should stay away from me." Her voice hardened; her words pitiless.

She donned a cold façade like usual; the emotions closing behind her brown shutter until bleak inkiness consumed them. Contrary to what she said earlier, there was a sliver of fear that he would eventually give up on her. Waves of anguish crashed through her insides, but she curbed them down.

Inexplicable tension blanketed the air. The clock resumed its ticking. People's voices still sounded distant among the faint clattering of silverware.

She waited for him to speak after her spiteful insight, but he said nothing.

He glanced at her with a long, assessing gaze. His expression hardened, which seemed to have been carved of granite. His only response was a tightening of his jaw. The haunting, steely bronze stare was dark and knowing like they could uncase every mask and unveil the shattered woman cuffed underneath.

Bare. Broken. Bruised.

Every cell in her body roared for her to look away from him. But she didn't. For the first time, she wanted someone to peek at