CH 1

Samaira

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I woke up at 6 a.m. despite sleeping at 4 in the morning. This temporary insomnia occurs whenever I get nightmares of that night. I still can't forget what happened 3 years ago.

It's not like I never tried, but that dreadful memory doesn't leave me alone.

After getting up from bed, I did my morning chores and got ready in my jogging clothes.

I was not a morning person before but I have changed now.

I went down to go to the nearby park for jogging. I saw Ishu Bhai already waiting for me.

No one leaves me alone after that incident. No matter if it's jogging or shopping, someone always tags along, and if not, then there are bodyguards hired by Dad to follow me. I know they are being protective but I have started to feel caged.

Well, there is one more reason why Bhai started to come along with me to jog, Adya.

Yes, my best friend Adya. I and Adya met in college. Bhai was a senior.

When I introduced her to him, he instantly fell in love with her. It was love at first sight for bhai but not for Adya.He had to do a lot of effort to woo her and of course, I, being his sister helped him.

And now they are happily engaged and getting married in a month.

"Come on we are getting late," Bhai said.

"I am on time. I know you can't wait to see her. Just wait for only 30 days, after that you can see her for as long as you wish" I said and winked at him.

"Yeah exactly I will see when you will fall for someone," Bhai said.

" And I am not falling for anyone," I said in a serious tone.

"You didn't sleep yesterday, right? You cried the whole night again?"Bhai asked with a concerned look.

"No Bhai, I am fine. Let's go. Adya must be waiting for us" I said with a fake smile.

"Sammy you know I am your brother. You can't hide your pain from me. Your eyes are red and puffy and I know that you hid your dark circle with makeup. I have told you that you will not suffer for whatever happened. I am always here with you but you have to trust me, trust our family. You can't just hide your pain and always run away from us. It hurts to see you like this.

"Bhai it's not like that. I don't want to hurt you guys" I said and a lone tear escaped from my left eye.

Bhai came near me, hugged me, and said "you never hurt us, Sammy. We all want you to be

happy. Promise me that whenever you have nightmares or difficulty in sleeping you will tell your

Bhai. Promise me."

"Ok, Bhai. Now let's go before we see the wrath of your would-be wife" I said and pulled away from the hug and we went to the park.

"I have been waiting for the last 20 minutes. Do you guys care to explain why you guys are late?" Adya asked giving us a death glare.

"Well, not my fault. It's your sister-in-law who was late."Bhai told Adya.

"Please! Don't you dare blame my Sammy! I know it's your fault only. You should have at least informed me that you guys are going to be late. You always give these kinds of excuses. I know you don't love me anymore. I am not talking to you."She said to Bhai and started going away.

"Oh no Sammy, What do I do now?"Bhai asked with a sad look.

"Bhai your fiance is angry not my friend, and I believe you can handle her very well. Just do what you always do to cheer her. Now go to her before she leaves." I told him and he ran to her.

I plugged in my earphones and started to jog in a different direction to give those love birds some space. It was very difficult to move on from that fateful tragedy. I tried different things to keep my mind away from those dreadful memories and eventually jogging helped me. So now I have started to rely on it. No one in my family talks to me about that night except Bhai and my two best friends. The rest of my family thinks that not talking about it will make me forget about it but that's not the case. I don't want to hurt them that's why only Bhai, Adya and Aditi know about me still having those nightmares.

Oh, I forgot to tell you guys, Aditi is my other best friend. She is my childhood buddy. She is quite protective of me and somehow feels guilty for everything I've been through. She believes that she could have prevented it.

I stumbled on something and was about to fall, I closed my eyes but I didn't fall. I realized someone was holding me. I slowly opened my eyes to see my savior. It's her. My bestie Aditi and I love to call her Ady. I managed myself and stood up.

"I have been calling you for the last 10 minutes and you were so engrossed in your thoughts. Where do you think you were going.?" She asked me with concern.

"Ady....can't you see I was jogging, that's what people come here for," I told in a sarcastic tone.

"Look around and tell me, do you seriously think people come here to jog?" she asked.

I looked around my surroundings. I was near a cemetery. Yes, a real CEMETERY. I was so engrossed in my thoughts and was so much trying to not think about those memories that I didn't even realize how far have I come.

"Well I don't know about people who are alive, but I am pretty sure that dead people do come here to jog," Ady said and crossed her arms giving me a scary look.

"I didn't realize it. Actually, I was thinking about today's meeting with the foreign investors and I guess that's why I took the wrong turn." I said.

"You know Sammy you are the worst liar I have ever met and the meeting you are talking about, you also know that you excel in this job of yours. Anyone can rely on you blindly when it comes to handling foreign delegates. I know you are having nightmares again."She said with a concerned look.

"Sammy I told you to find an anchor. On which you can hold upon. This jogging is temporary, it helped you at the start but you can't hold on to it always. You need to find something or maybe someone so that you get over your past easily." She added.

"Ady I will find something to hold upon but not someone. I am not ready for this. I know you and everyone wants me to settle down and see me happy, but trust me settling down won't make me happy. I can't trust anyone, it's just so complicated."I said

"Okay fine we will talk about this later but before let's go to the park before those love birds send a search team for us. I met them in the park and they were so worried about you."

"Okay, but before that, you care to explain when did you come from London and how did the interview go with Mr. Richie Rich?" I asked

"Well, the interview went so well. I never thought he would be so down to earth. He is nothing like what the business magazines say about him. Honestly speaking, after reading those articles about him I was a little scared but he made me feel comfortable. He is such a gentleman."She said.

Aditi is a journalist and currently, she has been assigned the business department for which she has taken interviews of young entrepreneurs.

She so much wanted to take an interview, of none other than the CEO of N.K Industries. Though business magazines say a lot about him. Stuff like he being a playboy, a rude and cold person. But when it comes to working everyone praises him for his work, even his haters.

"Thanks, Sammy, it won't have been possible without you."She said

"No, it's not me but my boss. He knows him and when I got to know that, I asked if he could arrange the interview and he agreed. But I wonder how does he know him so well that Mr.Richie Rich agreed to the interview."I said

"Well you will know that very soon," She said with a wide smirk on her face.

But before I could say anything I heard a familiar voice.

"Oh thank god she found you. Where were you? "Bhai asked with a concerned look.

"Well you nearly gave a heart attack to both of us," Adya said

"I am so sorry guys...I didn't notice that I came so far and I promise it won't happen again. Please forgive me this time" I said making a pout.

"Okay," They said together.

Then Adya got a call and she was looking so concerned after the call ended.

"Sammy, we need to leave now," Adya said with a scared look.

"What happened?"

"The thing is that the meeting which was scheduled in the afternoon has been preponed and it's in 3 hours. If we don't get the deal then we will be at a very big loss. What should we do? Neeraj Sir called to inform me and he was trying to call you too but said that your phone was switched off."

I took out my phone and saw it was discharged.

" Don't worry Adya we will get this deal. We can do it. Come let's go. Bhai I am going with Adya, I will get ready at her home as some of my clothes are there and we need to talk about the presentation. And Ady we will see you at the party tonight."

"All the best" Bhai and Aditi wished me and Adya.

We went to Adya's home, hurriedly got ready, and discussed the presentation. I was scared too but still, I had a belief that we can do it.

We reached the office and rushed towards the meeting room. We arranged everything and still had 15 minutes left. The door of the meeting room opened and Neeraj Sir entered. He was looking tensed. When we asked about him what happened, the answer he gave was unbelievable.

"What??" I and Adya asked together as what he told us was unbelievable.