Riya went to take the monopoly game from a drawer, she had always wanted to play this game, but she had no friends, and hence had never played it. So today for the first time, she got the opportunity to play it. She brought it and laid it on the table. Arjun could see that the board was still new, and had never been played, but he didnt want to say anything about it, because he wanted Riya to forget her past and live again.
So they both sat down and started to play it. Arjun was very bad at finances, and soon started losing money, while Riya was getting richer with time, finally Arjun ego's was hurting a lot for losing to Riya, he started cheating with intelligence. Initially Riya didnt pick up on his cheating, but after a few turns, she caught him and they both started fighting.
"Khelna nahin ata hein, to kyun khelte ho?" Riya said fumingly.
"Hey, mein aur cheat? Do you know who i am? The Great ACP Arjun Rawte! And ACP Arjun never ever cheats, samjhe ya samjhaoon!" Arjun said angrily.
"Aap sirf cheater nahin ho, ek liar bhi ho?" Riya said, "jayein, hum apse nahin khelte hein!" Riya pouted.
Seeing Riya pout and the reasons that leaded to it, Arjun started to laugh loudly. At first Riya only looked at him, but then she also joined him when she understood the funny part of this. Arjun immediately stopped laughing when Riya had started, he looked at her with happiness, Riya looked so beautiful when laughing. Soon Riya felt that she was the only one to laugh, and stopped to see Arjun staring at her.
"What?" Riya asked.
"You should always laugh, you looked so lively and beautiful when laughing," Arjun said.
Riya was a bit embarrassed on hearing Arjun's words, and said silently, "Thank you for everything. I dont know if i'll always be able to follow your lead, but i'll try, i'll definitely try to be happy now and always smile."
"Hmmm, mein ne kaha na tha! Ki mein kitna great houn?" Arjun said and winked at her.
"rehne deejiye! Self-flattering is not that good, "Riya joked back with him.
"Ok, forget it, and let's play again," Arjun said, "and no cheating this time!" he said by putting his hands on his heart.
So they started to play, and this time the match was a tough one, neither was winning over the other, at times Riya was richer, but then at times Arjun was richer, but they always ended up having the same amount of money and properties on the monopoly. However neither was willing to accept defeat, and hence they kept on playing and playing, till Rathore came and opened the office.
It was 7 o'clock in the morning. It was too early for going to work, but he thought about Arjun and Riya, whom he had locked in the office since yesterday night. He wondered what could be going on there, and decided to release them from there. So Rathore went to work earlier than usual this morning. When he opened the main door, he half expected to see the office in a mess, and in extreme cases he was even prepared to see blood from possible fighting between riya and Arjun, but the office was completely clean. He went to look for Arjun in his office, but didnt see him there. He was scared for one minute, wondering where they could be. This time he went to check on Riya, and the sight which awaited him shocked him.
The two people who had recently hated each other, were so busy playing Monopoly, that they didnt even notice his presence. They only knew he was there, when he made some noise.
Rathore pretended to be surprised to see these two here, and asked in fake anger, "what are you two doing here?"
Riya was scared a bit, but Arjun came to her help, "As if you dont really know!"
Rathore turned slightly crimson at that, but he still managed to say, "How will i know what you two are doing here at this time?"
Riya had not guessed that Rathore was behind this ploy, so she meekly said, "Well it seems that while i was in the archives, you people forgot us and locked us inside."
Rathore knew it was to his advantage not to press too much about this issue, so he said, "Really. I'm sorry, it must have happened by mistake. Anyway you two can take the whole day off. And it's an order!"
"But how can we go now?" Riya asked a bit sad.
"Why?" Rathore asked.
"our game," Riya said a bit disappointed.
Now it was Arjun's turn to laugh, "Riya its just a game, we'll play another time. You must be very tired, go and rest at home. Actually i'll drop you home, take your things, i'll be waiting for you in the parking," and went away, dragging Rathore with him.
"Why?" Arjun asked Rathore.
"What why?" Rathore said feigning not to understand Arjun's question.
"i know you did that on purpose! You are forgetting that i'm the ACP Arjun," Arjun said.
Rathore ignored Arjun and ordered him to stop asking baseless questions and to go home.
Arjun was waiting for Riya in his SUV, when he saw Riya walking towards the vehicle. For the first time, Riya looked stress-free, she no longer looked as if she had the whole world's burden on her, she looked free. She looked at peace with herself now. And she looked so beautiful, that he was completely under her spell. Riya entered the SUV, turned towards him and said, "Chalein?"
"Jahan tum kaho, but first friends?" Arjun asked with a smile.
Riya shook the hand Arjun had extended towards her, and replied "yes" with a very sweet dimpled smile.
"Life sure had strange twists and turns. Till now he only wanted to bring a smile on Riya's face, but after seeing her smile, he knew that he had been hooked again. He had finally met his partner again. Life had given him two chances at love, one he had lost, but this one he'd treasure and always protect. He'll wait till she was ready," he thought to himself, happier than other days.
He didnt know that Riya was echoing the same words to herself. "She had never felt so safe and at peace with anyone. This was only the beginning, she'd wait till he was ready, but for the time being their friendship was enough," Riya thought silently.
THE END, well the end for you readers, while the beginning for these two people.
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