Arylie FF: I'm Happy Here With You

thirty-two ~ kismat se

kya kahoon kaise lagte hain dil pe zulfon ke saaye

koi bhoola raahi jaise manzil pa jaaye

ya koi dil toofan ka mara

dard ki lehron mein awara

koi pyara pyaar ka saahil paa jaaye

... ... ...

***(Trigger Warning: self harm & suicidal thoughts)***

The night was closer to the next dawn than the previous evening when Aryan finally returned home. He was beyond exhausted, so much so that when Mohan wordlessly offered him a glass of water as always, he actually took it and drank it in one go. He leaned against the sofa in the hall, catching his breath. The house was quiet, which wasn't unusual given the hour. But all the lights were still on, everyone was awake, just silent.

Imlie came rushing out from her room, stumbling on furniture, she climbed on the sofa in the flow, almost toppling over. She held his shoulders to maintain the balance as her knees buckled against the back of the sofa. There was a question in her eyes, he opened his arms dutifully and she let go of her body without a second thought, letting him catch her in a hug.

"ABP you are here," she whispered, her voice hoarse. "What happened?"

"It's alright. We handled it. The video got removed from the source. It doesn't exist, unless of course he has it hidden in some secret hard drive or pen drive. But unlikely, we traced his location and found the den. Every device got seized."

"What about him?"

Aryan's body tensed. "We caught many of the guys but not him. I'm sorry, he fled."

Imlie whimpered at that, making him curse out, "Im, I'll find him. Don't worry, how far will he go, he lost 80% of his support system today."

"But who is he!"

"I don't know."

"I'm sorry, ABP. It's all my fault. I'm just a trouble for you, nothing else!"

"Hey, shush!"

She kept holding him tight, almost crushing him. He soothed her back, "this is not your fault, Imlie."

"But I made friends with him and I trusted him!"

"So? Him being trash is not on you, darling."

"I'm still sorry."

"Again? Why?"

"I was thinking all day, I was worrying about that..."

"Hmm?"

Imlie burst into soft sobs, "I had lied to you about the whole thing! I did, didn't I? I didn't want to get into trouble, so I made up stories. If you didn't figure out something was amiss and made me tell the truth that day, if I kept the lie alive, and then today you saw the video...," she shuddered, "you would have believed that I was messing with you. That I was cheating on you!"

"I wouldn't think that, Im."

"But you would! Remember the way you thought," Imlie gulped, the urge to say still think was very strong, "that I still had feelings for, for, you know who and then we fell apart. What if, what if?"

"That was complicated and we are beyond that now, aren't we? I'd trust you."

"Promise?"

"Promise."