Tanya's POV:

I averted my gaze after coming out of the hug. Raghav had gone silent after my abrupt action and I didn't blame him. What was wrong with me? It was just yesterday when I went stiff from his hug and today I did this. Anyone in his place would have got confused.

"Sorry", I muttered slowly with a sniff.

Raghav wordlessly handed me his handkerchief as my tears didn't have any plans to stop.

After few minutes of avoiding each other's gaze and quietly eating, Raghav let out a little cough before speaking hesitantly, "I am a little confused".

"About?" I asked, looking keenly at my plate.

"Why did you even start the conversation if you didn't want to leave?" He asked hesitantly at first but then he suddenly grew a back bone.

"I mean we could have avoided all the drama. What was the need to scare me so much for nothing?" He huffed.

I rubbed my forehead, before turning my face a little to look at him.

"Let's end it here, yeah? I have already crossed all the limits of embarrassment", I pleaded but my pleas didn't reach his ears.

"Exactly, you have reached the limits so it won't matter if you embarrass yourself a little more", he proded.

"I...I just needed a justification", I muttered lowly, turning my face away from him.

"Justification? About what?" He inquired in a confused tone. Before I could reply, he snapped, "Will you please look at me first?"

I pouted at his tone.

"Don't. Just don't, okay? I am not angry now but if you start crying again, I will seriously lose my temper", he spoke making me pout even harder.

I raised my hands in surrender as I saw him narrowing his eyes and answered his previous question seriously.

"We married because I needed money. If that reason goes away then the base of our marriage leaves too. So I just wanted to get a justification; an excuse to stay in this marriage", I explained my thought process.

"I just don't understand how her mind works", he mumbled, although his words were clearly audible.

"You would need an excuse to get out of this marriage and not to stay in it. Stop working your damaged brain. You aren't getting rid of me unless there's an actual valid reason for it", he asserted.

Even though he called my brain damaged, I didn't mind. What mattered was that he didn't want to part ways with me.

"You understand what I am saying, right?" He asked, looking at me with hope.

"Yeah, I do".

"Just in case, something like this happens again, please try to stop me, okay? There's a greater chance that I might be asking to get reassurance", I requested.

"Reassurance? Sure I can provide you reassurance as many times you want it", he agreed, making me smile, "but how would I understand whether you want reassurance or you really want to leave me?" He asked further, making me drop my smile.

"As much as I wish that you wouldn't go, I really don't believe in forcing someone to stay by my side", he further explained his point.

I looked at him with annoyance but answered him nonetheless. "If I really want to go then forget you, an entire army will not be enough to try and stop me. You haven't seen my crazy side yet. So forget about me actually wanting to go and then just reassure me when I ask you, okay?"

He gave me a wary smile. "Your normal side is this crazy. I don't even want to imagine what your crazy side would be".

"Excuse me?" I gave him a chance to retract his sentence but that idiot let out a muffled laugh instead.

Giving him a stink eye, I went to finish my breakfast.

We soon finished eating and Raghav took away our plates to put it in the sink, before carrying me to our room. Unlike last time, today I kept staring at his face intently.

My stare must have made him uncomfortable as he nearly lost his grip. Thankfully, he caught me again before we fell. My heart thudded because of the fright and I turned my face away, not wanting to face any other disaster.

I looked at him again only after he had successfully placed me on the bed.

"What?!" He asked, feeling my constant stare.

"Nothing". I tried to look anywhere else other than him but my eyes kept moving in his direction.

"Is there something on my face?" He asked while patting his face to see if there was something stuck.

"No?" He questioned after receiving my non-verbal answer as I shook my head in negative.

"Then why do you keep staring at me?" He was confused by my behaviour and also looked quite uncomfortable.

"It's...it's nothing. I...I just wanted to thank you. You know...for calling Sia. Yeah, that was the reason. I was just thinking how to thank you".

I somehow managed to make up an excuse. Hopefully, he would buy it.

He nodded slowly, looking creeped out by my unusual behaviour.

I jumped as I suddenly felt his hand on my ankle.

"Sorry. I was just checking if the swelling had gone down", he explained after apologizing as he saw my startled jump.

"Oh okay", I muttered and let him continue his inspection.

Raghav let out a relieved sigh as he spoke, "It hasn't gone away fully, but the swelling is reduced from yesterday. I am sure you will get well soon".

"That's a relief", I said in happiness, already tired of this damaged ankle.

"I will go and bring the ice pack. The more we will ice it, the faster you will get better", he stated, before standing up to leave.

I kept staring at his back until he left my eyesight. And again started looking at him when he came back. My heart fluttered as he gently moved the ice pack over my ankle.

What was happening? Why was my heart betraying me? Just yesterday I claimed to have a strong bond of friendship with Raghav and today this. How could this happen? Raghav was a person whom I disliked ever since childhood. He was my polar opposite then how could my heart flutter at the sight of him?

I was going crazy. That must not be the case. It was something else. Was it because of embarrassment? But I had been embarrassed so many times and this never happened.

Maybe this was happening because I had reached an extreme level of embarrassment today. Yeah that was it, right? RIGHT??