CHAPTER 4

Vivaan’s pov:

I drove straight to Aarohi’s office, weaving through traffic with the kind of focus that drowned out everything else. By the time i reached, the glass-fronted building was already half-empty. The receptionist looked up from her desk, startled at the sight of me.

“where is aarohi and her friend?” I asked, keeping my tone sharp but polite.

“She left a while ago, sir,” the woman replied, shaking her head. “she didn’t say where.”

Damn it. My gaze swept the lobby, hoping for a clue, but found none. I strode back to my car, the unease in my gut twisting tighter with every second. Aarohi wasn’t just out there she was out there with eyes following her. I knew it. Vansh had been right.

I searched the streets near the office first, and after ten minutes I found them. Aarohi and her friends were crowded around a street food stall, laughing with their mouths full of pani puri, wiping their hands on tissues, faces glowing under the yellow bulbs strung over the vendor’s cart. So innocent. So unaware.

But they weren’t alone.

A few steps behind, three men loitered, pretending to wait for food they had no intention of buying. Their eyes never left the girls. Predators. Patient, circling. My knuckles tightened on the steering wheel.

I pulled my car just behind theirs, close enough to intervene but far enough that they didn’t notice me. The girls were carefree, laughing, nudging each other, their guard completely down. It almost made me angry not at them, but at how cruelly the world punished innocence.

Soon they finished and got into a small hatchback. I followed, my headlights dimmed, keeping two cars between us. The men tailed them too, a little too obvious now.

The trail led to the city’s nightlife district. Neon signs, pounding bass, the smell of liquor and cigarettes. Aarohi and her friends parked, stepped out, and entered a club the kind where darkness and chaos swallowed everything. The men slipped in behind them, shadows blending with the crowd.

That was it. No more watching.

I parked sharply at the curb, got out, and pushed through the club’s entrance. Inside was a storm of sound music blasting, strobe lights flashing, bodies pressed together in the madness of dance. I scanned the floor until I spotted them.

Aarohi was right in the middle, twirling with her friend, hair flying, laughing like she belonged to the music. For a moment, she was untouchable. But just a few steps away, the men closed in, pushing through dancers, eyes locked on her.

My pulse spiked.

I cut through the crowd, fast and deliberate. One of the men stretched a hand toward her shoulder too close.

I reached her first. My hand closed firmly around her wrist. She startled, ready to protest, until her wide eyes met mine.

“Vivaan?” she breathed, half-shocked, half-angry.

“aarohi, let’s go,” my voice cut sharply through the noise.

Before she could argue, I dragged her away from the pulsing lights, away from the danger she hadn’t even seen creeping up behind her. My hand gripped her arm not harsh, but firm enough that she froze.

“Vivaan! What are you-” she started, shocked.

“You shouldn’t be here. Someone’s been following you. I can’t let this slide,” i said, my voice low but deadly serious.

“Who? I’m fine! I can handle myself!” she argued, yanking her arm back, her eyes flashing with defiance.

My eyes softened for a second, but  tone stayed urgent. “I know you can. But not everyone out there plays fair. Trust me on this.”

I looked over his shoulder briefly his eyes locking on the man in the crowd before dragging her toward the exit.

“Vivaan, stop! You can’t just.” she protested loudly.

But i didn’t. My grip stayed steady, my jaw tense.

Her friend quickly followed, worried, weaving through the crowd behind them.

Outside, the cool air hit us. Aarohi jerked my arm free, glaring at me.

“What the hell was that, Vivaan? You embarrassed me in there!” she snapped.

I stared at her, anger and something deeper flickering in my eyes. “You think this is a game? I saw them, Aarohi. I saw the men who’ve been following you since you left the office.”

Her expression faltered, the fight in her eyes dimming for just a moment.

“They weren’t after me,” she said, softer now, but still defensive.

I leaned closer, my voice sharp & scary. “You don’t get it. They don’t care who it is- you, your friend, anyone close. They mean harm. And you’re walking straight into their hands, laughing, dancing, completely unaware.”

My words hung in the air, heavy.

Then, without waiting for a reply, i turned and walked away, my broad shoulders stiff, my anger almost tangible.

Aarohi stood frozen, shock clear on her face. She’d never seen me like this before so intense, so furious, and yet… so protective.

Her friend placed a hand on her shoulder. “Arohi…”

But she didn’t answer. Her eyes stayed locked on the road where i had disappeared, her silence heavier than the music still echoing from the club.

“We should go. It’s getting late… and if Vivaan was right, they might still be looking for us.”

Aanya said and held her hand, opened the car door, and waited as she slipped inside. Behind the wheel.

She dropped aarohi home first, then drove back to her own home. I stayed until the last, then pulled away after aanya waved goodbye.

I wasn’t angry, i was terrified.

Terrified of what could have happened if I hadn’t reached the club at the right time. Just one wrong step, one second late, and those men might have touched her, cornered her, hurt her. The thought alone made my chest tighten.

But Aarohi… she refused to believe me. She laughed, brushed it off, argued like a stubborn child. “No one was following us, vivaan." Huh!

No one was following her? I had seen their eyes, their movements, the way they stalked her every step. But she didn’t want to accept it. Maybe it was easier for her to believe she was safe than to face how dangerous the world really was.

There was a moment I wanted to hug her, to hold her until she understood how close she had been to danger. But I knew her too well. If I had tried, she would’ve pushed, maybe even thrown a punch, accuse me of making it all up just to get close to her.

So I let the moment pass. Just sighed, and walked away.

At home, i stripped out of the night and stood under the shower until the water ran cold, hoping it would wash away the fear still coiled in my chest. It didn’t.

Afterward, I buried myself in work. Files, calls, reports. The usual distractions. My pen scratched across papers, my voice steady on the phone, but my mind kept drifting back to her stubborn eyes, her careless laugh, her complete refusal to see the danger.

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