It was quite late in the night already. Diya had fallen asleep, while sobbing bitterly. Tear stains were visible on her cheeks. Her lean sleeping posture was so attractive. Truly Indian women are an epitome of beauty. Casual locks of hair were occasionally falling on her face, quite noticeably annoying her, in her peaceful slumber. She blew air out of her mouth to remove that strand of hair from her face. Diya was never a deep sleeper. The slightest of sound was enough to wake her up. The night was eerily quiet. There was something so terrifying about the silence. Not even a single person or vehicle was there on the road at this hour of the day. The time on the clock showed half past two in the night. Suddenly Diya's cell phone dinged loudly with a notification. The sound of the notification was loud enough to pierce through the uncanny silence of the night, breaking Diya's sleep. She immediately shot up from her bed. Her eyes were wide open. Who could it be? Who was texting her this late at night? All these questions raised only one answer in her mind. However with shaking hands, Diya grabbed her phone and switched it on. After seeing the message displayed on the screen she breathed a sigh of relief. It was a notification from a shopping app regarding the restock of some lipstick. Diya thought to herself to not to get too paranoid. She needed to get some beauty sleep, for tomorrow was her first day in her new office.

However Diya's relief was cut short . Diya was about to keep her cell phone back on her bed side desk, when it dinged again and this time it was a text message. Diya gulped down and with trembling fingers, she tapped on the message. The message read, "Hi love I know you have heard about me so let's be friends. Anyways Love, be prepared for tomorrow. Its gonna be a hell of a day. Its a big day for you after all... Your life is going to change from tomorrow ;)" She immediately knew who the message was from.

It was that same stalker.

She could no longer live in fear any more. Diya tried her best to compose herself. She was a strong willed and determined girl. She would try her best to find out this stalker tomorrow and reveal his identity in front of everyone. Diya tried her best to pacify herself and calm her self down. But nothing seemed to work. She had lost her sleep. The constant fear and anxiety was eating her up from inside. She had to know the true identity of this stalker by hook or crook.

The rest of the night was pretty much a sleepless one for Diya. She kept rolling over on each side of her bed, devoid of any sleep. Finally in the wee hours of the morning, she fell asleep. She barely had slept for two hours when her alarm buzzed loudly. The clock displayed the time as eight o' clock. She quietly rubbed her eyes and suppressed a yawn. She quickly climbed out of her bed and tip toed to the bathroom to get ready for it indeed was a big day in her life.

***************

It was a new day for Dev. He was leisurely lying on his bed, when cogent sun rays hit his eyes, disturbing his peaceful slumber. When he came into his senses, Dev shot up in his bed. He had an important day today. He quickly took a shower and wore a maroon colored T-shirt and a pair of baggy denims. Even in casual clothes, he looked no less than a hunk. Dev's expressions were subtle as usual. However he did seem calmer than yesterday. It seemed like he was finally open to a new beginning and had forgotten everything about the previous day.

Picking up the keys of his motor bike Dev head out for some where.

********************

Diya was standing in front of the office building of 'Tata Telecom'. She was about to be a new employee of this company. In the anticipation of her first day in the office, Diya had completely forgotten about her stalker. She took a huge breath trying to regain composure. She had barely taken a step when her phone dinged loudly with a notification. The phone screen clearly flashed a message "Good luck love!" At this point Diya lost her cool. She no more had the guts to enter her office. The stalker had followed her till here now. She was shaking like a weak, brittle leaf in strong gusty storm. Suddenly some body tapped her shoulder from behind. Diya's breath hitched. She mustered up all her courage and turned around.

She turned around to meet a very welcoming pair of orbs. Diya was taken aback for a while. She stepped back, and carefully observed the stranger in front of her. She had seen this man for the first time since. The man had caramel skin, beautiful warm brown orbs and slightly curly almost wavy hair. He was quite charming and had a very welcoming appearance. He spoke in a surprisingly low and soft voice, "You seemed to be lost Miss" Diya was so lost in admiring the man that he literally had to tap her shoulder twice to bring her back to her senses.

"Umm" Diya was startled and probably slightly embarrassed too. "Its my first day here actually. I was kind of observing everything..." the man chuckled." I see" saying so he forwarded his hand to Diya for a handshake. "I am Kunal" replied the man, " Even I am employee here. Come I will show you around." Diya let out a subtle grin and introduced herself. A subtle hint of crimson was evident on her cheeks.

Kunal held Diya's hand and took her into the office. Kunal introduced her to all the other employees.

" Guys she is Diya. She is our new employee. And Diya (turning to her) this is.."

The introductions went on for a while. For a moment Diya had forgotten all her problems because she was there, where she was supposed to be. This was the first time she was doing something for herself. She was very very happy to be surrounded by such positive people and finally doing something which she loved.

**********************

Finally after half n hour of introductions and getting accustomed to her new office Diya sat on her desk. It was a cubical which she shared with Kunal and another guy named Sam. Diya sat on her seat absorbing the positive energy around her. Her desk was a small and compact one. There were a few notepads, a pen stand and a computer desktop.

Diya was very happy to be working in such a friendly environment. A senior delegate came up to her desk and placed a pile of papers on her desk and asked her to fax it for him. Diya quickly agreed and tried picking up all the papers by herself. Seeing her struggle, Kunal rushed to her rescue and took a few papers from her hands. In the process, their fingers brushed, sending a spark across Diya's body. She was quite flustered. The rest of the process was a quiet one. Kunal quietly helped her faxing all the documents. After completing their task, they went back to their cubical.

Diya started arranging all the papers when her eyes went towards her phone. It was flashing with more than twenty messages from that same unknown number.

Her phone read " YOU. ARE. BOUND. TO. ME. Understand? YOU. ARE. MINE. Stay away from that man. Or the consequences will not be good. Now we do not want to face the consequences. Do we love?"

Diya's head went totally blank. Sweat beads started forming on her forehead. She collapsed on the chair with a thud. She held her forehead in desperation. Her entire life was like a roller coaster of emotions right now. At one moment she was happy to be doing something she loved and the next moment she was being haunted by this creepy person. But what what did he want? And why was he after Diya? What did Diya even do? So many questions were making Diya go crazy.

Seeing Diya's distress, Kunal tried to comfort her. Kunal's touch cautioned Diya and she shot right up in her seat.

"Is everything okay LOVE?" said Kunal. Hearing the word 'LOVE' from Kunal's mouth, terrified Diya. How could it be? There was no way that Kunal was her stalker. She met him just this morning. It is just impossible. Before even Kunal could say a word or react, Diya just sprung out of her chair

" Ever.. Everything is okay Kunal. Do not worry. I was just a little stressed. Umm.. I have to use the washroom. Excuse me." Saying so Diya ran towards the office washroom. Tears were starting to form in her eyes. She did not want to shed tears in front of anyone, hence she rushed to the washroom and wept quietly.

On the other hand Kunal just stood at her desk, flabbergasted and trying to process whatever had just happened. He, then just quietly returned to his desk. A few moments later Diya too returned to her desk and both of them just worked away in silence...

********************

It had been a very long first day in the office. Diya was quite noticeably tired. It was evening already and all the other employees had already finished their work and were now wrapping up. Diya just had a little work left. She had to send a few mails and then she too would prepare for heading home.

"Should I wait for you Diya?" Kunal said from the other side. Diya was still affected by the morning's incident and thus she politely replied in negative. Slightly heartbroken Kunal left the office. After half n hour minutes Diya too was done with her work.

By the time she was done, it was already ten in the night. The office was mostly empty except for a few janitors and clerks. Diya quickly wrapped up her work and packed all her stuff and headed for home. She was quite late and Delhi was definitely not the place, where let alone girls, even men would not prefer staying out at night.

Thus Diya assembled all her stuff and finally headed out.

***************

Diya did not bring her motor bike, thus she had to walk to her home. Luckily her home was just fifteen minutes away from her new office. Diya was solemnly walking on the cold, quiet streets of Delhi. The street was surprisingly empty today. Usually people sit on the sidewalks chatting or playing cards, even carom. The road was extremely empty. Even the street lights were dimly lit. The entire atmosphere was some what eerie. Diya did not really have a good feeling about this, thus she quickened her pace. But as soon as she increased her speed, she distinctly heard footsteps. Diya was feeling extremely paranoid. She was unable to determine her next step. Thus, she halted in her path. That was probably one of the most foolish things she had ever done in her life.

Diya quickly scanned her surroundings but there was no one around. She had almost heaved a sigh of relief and was about to resume walking, when she clearly felt some one's lips brush her earlobe. Instinctively, Diya turned around to see no one. Before she could turn back around, some one whispered into her ear in a heavy, harsh and manly voice " Hey LOVE. Didn't I say it was gonna be a hell of a day?" with that ,the man laughed slightly.

Diya was transfixed. She did not have the guts to turn. She was trapped. Diya was having a very very bad feeling about it. She could definitely sense a vibe. A negative. VERY VERY NEGATIVE. one. Alas! lest did she know what the future actually had in store for her...

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