Nikita stepped out of the airplane and pulled a long breath, her first breath in her own country after a long absence. Her return to her own country was unplanned. She hadn't even informed her family that she was returning home. She didn't want to inconvenience anyone.
After collecting her luggage she stepped towards the exit of the airport. She collided with the person who had been sitting beside her on the airplane and now was busy talking on his cell phone and wasn't looking where he was going. Her handbag fell on the floor.
"Sorry," he murmured but kept on walking without a backward glance.
Nikita sighed and picked up her handbag. People were the same all around the world, too busy to notice anyone.
She started walking again. Her eyes fell on large plasma in front of a café.
A well-known cricketer was in the advertisement for a famous soft drink.
Aryan Gupta was the name of the star cricketer of the national team, the figure on the screen who was holding a soft drink and smiling at the audience.
He was the sole reason for Nikita going overseas. Her teenage crush, her only crush, had crushed her heart to pieces.
She felt ashamed and mortified whenever she remembered her love confession to him.
She had confessed her love to him and he had mocked her love for him as lust. She cringed at the thought of meeting him again face to face.
She could wait till hell froze over but couldn't avoid meeting him. She could avoid talking to him but meeting him was unavoidable.
He was her sister-in-law's brother. The reason for avoiding her own family.
She regretted her decision of confessing her love to him. She had thought that he too was attracted to her but he had stated quite precisely that he thought that she lusted for him.
Her love for him had been an infatuation according to him.
She had left to study overseas but taking a job there and settling in a foreign country was against the values that her family had ingrained into her.
She had made up her mind to return to her own home and if Mr. Cricket star Gupta wanted to avoid meeting her, he could do as he wanted. Her home was hers and he could stay away if he wanted.
She started moving again. She had reached outside the building and was about to hail a taxi when a car pulled in front of her.
"Miss your brother's friend wants to escort you home," the driver who had stepped out of the car informed her.
She looked at the back seat of the car, her brother's best friend Aman was leaning out of the window.
"Get in, I will take you," Aman said to Nikita.
"How did you know that I would be here?" Nikita questioned stupefied.
"I will answer your questions on the way. Get inside," he gestured for the driver to put away her luggage.
Nikita got inside the car.
"You have been under our watch overseas and my employee was the one sitting beside you on the airplane." He informed her.
"But why?" she questioned.
"Did you think that your brother would send you to another country without proper security?" he raised an eyebrow.
"I thought I was safe there," she answered.
"Singh's family is never safe anywhere. We knew that you would not be returning to Doon so your brother and sister-in-law have come here to welcome you back home." Aman told her.
"Bhai and Bhabhi are here in Delhi? What about my niece and nephew?" she questioned.
"They have classes to attend so only Chirag and Aanya are here," he answered.
"How stupid I have been in thinking that no one back home was privy to my return," she mused aloud.
"It's my job to keep Chirag apprised of every Singh family member," Aman stated.
"They are waiting for me at the city apartment?" she asked.
"Yes," he answered.
They were silent after that.
Whenever she happened to look outside the window of the moving car, she caught a glance of Aryan's face on various hoardings, plasmas, and other advertisement venues.
Aryan had become a name known all over the country since he had played his first international game. She had been avoiding looking at anything that had his face on it. She had even stopped looking at sports news.
She had not been able to stop herself from watching international matches and knew that Aryan was now the captain of the Indian national cricket team.
Aryan had made ripples all over the world by becoming the youngest captain of cricket amongst all the players from all over the world.
She had been amazed throughout the years that he had stopped his playboy ways from the first day he had entered the national team.
She had been skeptical and thought that he was still the same player of hearts and was wining and dining the ladies in secret but no article about his dating ever made its way to the press.
He was even referred to as a monk by the media and the name stuck to him as his game kept improving and he gained the position of captain.
He was called Captain Monk by the media. There was not even a single scandal attached to his name.
She often wondered if the change in his attitude was due to her confession. Her heart told her that it could be the cause but her mind told her that it was impossible and he had stopped going out with women only because he wanted to give all his attention to his cricket career and his family which included only his older sister and her twin children.
She knew that he respected his brother-in-law but to him, Chirag had never been his family. Aryan only counted his only sister and her children as his family and all others were mere relatives to him, including her.
They had reached the parking of their city apartment and she rushed out of the car.
She had been avoiding returning home as she knew Aryan was on a break in Doon and didn't want to meet him. Her family had visited her overseas on various occasions. She had met her nephew and niece just a month earlier.
She missed her family like crazy, especially her brother and sister-in-law.
Her brother had been her constant support while growing up and her sister-in-law had been her closest friend since Aanya married her brother Chirag.
The elevator stopped at the penthouse of the most expensive building in Delhi.
Nikita stepped out of the elevator and rushed inside the main door.
"Bhai, Bhabhi...." she trailed off because it was not her brother and sister-in-law waiting inside the room but the person who had made her lose all her self-confidence and her trust in the word love.
"Hello Nikki, how have you been," Aryan asked her.
Aryan was standing in the middle of the living room looking more handsome than he looked on TV, in magazines, and newspapers.
"You.....what are you doing here?" Nikita asked in a cold, stilted voice.
