"Arjun?" I mumbled to myself before turning around in the direction of the voice.

The car. The black Audi that stopped on the road is his.

My saviour was here. Thank you so much God! I mumbled before walking back in his direction.

Thank God the road wasn't a busy one or else at least ten drivers would have started blowing their horns asking Arjun to move forward and not block the road.

"Hey." I softly muttered as I reached his car and looked at him from outside.

"What are you doing here? Are you on your way to your house?" He asked me.

"Umm no, well I was actually on my way to meet you." I told him.

He raises an eyebrow in response.

"Me?" He asks and I nod my head at him.

"Can you please come outside? It's weird talking to you while I stand outside and you're inside your car." I told him.

"It will be better if you come inside instead." He tells me.

"What!? Why should-" I begin saying in a loud voice but then instantly stop as I realise this is the very same guy I have to ask for a huge favour from.

Breathe in. Breathe out, Shravya and calm down.

"Sure, I'll get inside." I tell him in the politest possible way and walk down the footpath.

I open the door to the passenger's side and get inside.

"I'm on my way to check the progress of my new restaurant. Should we go there and talk?" He asked me.

"Yes, sure." I tell him and he gives me a nod before starting the engine.

This may be the first and last time I sit in an Audi so I might as well enjoy it. With this thought in mind I make myself comfortable.

The drive to the restaurant building would be about five minutes long. On the way the two of us remain quiet with Arjun focusing on the road ahead while I type a message to Ma.

Shravya : I'm going out with Arjun. Will come home late.

This sounds so wrong.

I immediately backspace the message.

Instead I open Sneha's message.

Sneha : Hey, Shravya, did you get a chance to meet Arjun Mehrotra? Did you talk to him? Are you back home? Give me a call as soon as you reach home, be safe and take care.

I type back a response to her.

Shravya : I'm inside Arjun Mehrotra's car right now. It's a long story. I'll tell you everything tomorrow.

Sneha : typing..

A few seconds later my phone buzzes

Sneha : OMG! WHAT? Girl, good going. Tell him your dil ki baat *wink emoji* jk jk.

[Dil ki baat : Whatever is inside your heart]

Shravya : Sneha, I'll kill you when I see you tomorrow. For now, cover up for me if Ma calls you. I'm telling her that we're working late at the office today and you'll drop me off.

Sneha : I've got you. All the best!!

I switch my phone off after seeing her reply and keep it on my lap.

"Boyfriend?" Arjun asks a few seconds later.

My eyes widened in shock.

"Excuse me?"

"Was that your boyfriend you were texting? You seemed quite frustrated." He elaborates.

"Oh no! It was my best friend." I told him.

"Oh." He mumbles and then we become silent once again.

The car halts in front of the building and the guard who I met about half an hour back immediately walks to Arjun's side of the door and opens it for him.

Arjun motions for him to open my door as well but before the guard can reach me I do so myself.

"Good evening Arjun Sir, Ma'am." He greets us.

"Good evening." I reply while Arjun passes him a nod and starts walking inside the building.

Am I supposed to follow him too? The building seems deserted.

Think positive, Shravya , I mentally tell myself and enter inside.

"Let's get to my office, it's ready. The rest of the work as you can see is still under construction." He tells me and I pass him a nod while taking a look around me.

Thank God his office is on the ground floor itself.

Several workers stop to greet him and he stops too, talking with them about the progress and other stuff while I wait, standing behind him.

Ten minutes later we finally made our way inside his office.

"Are you hot?" He asked me.

"Huh?" I mumble bursting out of my bubble.

A chuckle escaped his lips.

"I'm sorry I zoned off." I mumble my cheeks flushing.

"It's okay, I was asking if you're hot and would like for me to switch on the air conditioner." He tells me.

"No, I'm fine. You may switch it on if you want to though." I told him.

He passes me a nod before grabbing the remote from the desk and switching it on.

"Have a seat and relax, Shravya." He tells me and I immediately relax my tense shoulders.

He takes a seat on his chair at one end of the table and I sit on the visitor's chair.

"You could have emailed me. I did give you my card right? Although I did not know you'd want to meet me again this soon." He replies with a cheeky grin.

"Uh yes, well about that. I need you to do me a favor." I told him.

There's a slight twitch in his eyebrow as he stares directly at my face.

"Sure, go ahead." He tells me as he tugs on his tie and loosens it.

Focus, Shravya, focus. I remind myself.

"Yes, I um I wanted to ask you whether you're well, I don't really know how to put it." I tell him and he raises an eyebrow at me.

I stop fidgeting with my fingers at once and smoothen out the creases on my kurti.

[Kurti : A tunic or shirt of a type worn especially by women in South Asia]

"Is something wrong?" He asks on receiving a good thirty seconds of silence from my end.

"Are you single?" I suddenly blurt out.

"And you ask that because?" He immediately asks.

"I sort of, as I told you, need a favor from you." I replied.

"What does that have to do with me being single or not? You aren't going to ask me out or something, are you now? Did Shravya Arora kinda sorta develop a crush on me?" He asks.

"What the hell, no!" I immediately said,

"Then what exactly is it that you want to ask me?" He asks, now standing up from his seat, placing his palms on the table and leaning in towards me.

I tilt my head to look up at him, my eyes directly meeting his.

Come on Shravya, now is the time, do it. Do it. I tell myself.

A take a deep breath and tightly shut my eyes before quickly blurting out.

"Will.you.pretend.to.be.my.boyfriend, please?"

I'm greeted by silence. Complete silence.

I slowly open my eyes one after the other.

Arjun is frozen in the same position, a frown beginning to form on his face.

"Wait, I think I heard you very very wrong." He says after a few seconds.

I shake my head in a no.

"You've heard the correct thing." I told him.

"I have?" He asks.

"Yes, I'll repeat again , will you please pretend to be my boyfriend?" I ask him.

"Hang on one second, pretend to be your boyfriend? What does that even mean?" He asks me now standing up straight.

"It's very simple, you just have to act like you are my boyfriend for an hour or two." I told him.

His lips form an 'o'.

"Why would I do that?" He asked me.

"That's because I may or may not have told my mother, you are my boyfriend and now she wants me to meet you." I explain starting to feel frustrated. He stares at me with a blank expression on his face.

"None of this makes any sense to me." He says.

"Okay it's a long story, I suggest you sit down." I told him.

"Well, okay then." He says and sits back on his chair.

"My mother has this weird obsession with finding a suitable guy for me to marry. Every alternate weekend I meet a supposed suitable guy and his family to fix my marriage with any of those guys but there are two things, firstly I don't want to marry, not yet and secondly I want to marry someone who I love, not someone who my mother thinks is perfect for me. Every time I make an excuse to get rid of an alliance but then the next one comes knocking on my door." I pause to breathe and then continue again.

"This time I wanted a permanent solution to this never ending problem because of which I told the last guy who came to my house to see me that I am in love with someone else. There is a completely different story behind that which I'll tell you some other day. This guy told his mother that I am already in love with someone and his mother told my mother that." I paused again.

"Are you able to follow?" I ask and he nods his head at me, his eyebrows still furrowed in confusion.

"My mother couldn't believe her daughter who was single and not at all ready to mingle was already in love with someone all this while and so the moment she got to know about this piece of information she confronted me." I continue.

"Wait, wait, wait, I still don't get how I come into the picture? Am I the person you love? Secretly loved all this while?" He asks me with a smug look on his face.

"Don't think so highly of yourself, Arjun Mehrotra!" I told him.

"Well I must be some level of high for you to tell your mother I'm your boyfriend." He says in response, a cocky grin on his face.

I glare at him which only makes him grin wider.

"Coming back to the story, I was half asleep when the confrontation happened. I did not actually have any person to name so I ran my eyes around my room thinking of a name. That was when my eyes landed on that day's newspaper which had your name on the headline. And I told my mother that you are my boyfriend." I completely narrated the incident.

"Oh, well that makes a lot of sense now." He says.

"Good. Now tell me, will you Arjun Mehrotra do me a favor and agree to pretend to be my boyfriend?" I ask him in a hopeful tone.

"No." He immediately replies.