[The Unknown]AK FF -Ending Summary: Page 43 - Page 14

"This is it." Kripa said to Riddhima as they lay in Riddhima's bed the next night. "I'm going to tell him I like him tomorrow."

"Good girl. You do that. I mean, he's giving you so many hints. You're just dumb enough to wait this long." Riddhima mumbled yawning, pressing her face into her pillow. "Now go to sleep!" Kripa sighed staring up at the ceiling. Then she decided to text Sahil.

Hey, meet me at the Grill for lunch tomorrow.

Smiling, she turned her phone off and went to sleep, hugging Riddhima.

***

Riddhima quickly left the hospital the next day right before lunch, grabbing Kripa with her. "You're the one who asked him to meet you. Now you're chickening out." Riddhima snapped, pushing Kripa into the passenger seat. "Now deal with it. And you better tell him."

With that, she got into the drivers seat and drove off with a nervous Kripa. As she stopped at the Grill, she nudged Kripa so she'd leave but Kripa felt rooted to the seat.

"Riddhima, I can't do this." Kripa whined biting her lip.

"Kripa. Go." Riddhima replied sternly. Kripa sighed and stepped out nervously. As she slowly walked to the door, she felt her heart beat increase. What if he doesn't like me? She thought horrified but forced that thought out of her mind remembering the many times he had purposely touched her, came close to her. As soon as he saw her enter the Grill, he stood up from the table and rushed over to her.

"You okay? Why'd you call me here?" He asked inspecting her. Kripa frowned, confused.

"Why would something be wrong with me if I wanted to meet you?" She asked raising an eye brow at him. He looked up at her and shook his head.

"I was just worried because it was quite random. Anyway, come." He muttered, leading her to a table. After eating and talking about pretty much, everything and anything, the two slowly walked outside.

"I have to go meet someone. Otherwise I would've walked you to the hospital." He said looking at her gently. "Call Riddhima and ask her to pick you up, yeah?" Kripa merely nodded unable to speak. He leaned over and gently brushed away a crumb of a cookie from the corner of her lips. Her breath caught in her throat and the two froze, just staring at each other, with his hand still on her cheek. She slowly leaned forward and looked at him before pressing her lips to his. His one hand stayed on her cheek, and he placed the other on her hair as he deepened the kiss pulling her close. When she touched his cheek, the spell broke and he stepped away from her, pulling away abruptly, forcing his hands out of hers. She looked at him surprised as he took a deep breath and rubbed his face.

"Wha- " She mumbled confused, unable to form a sentence properly.

"That shouldn't have happened Kripa." Sahil muttered. Her mouth dropped open and she shook her head at him.

"What do you mean?" She asked. He sighed and bit his lip.

"I'm engaged Kripa." He replied firmly. Kripa gasped, her eyes dropping to his hands. He followed her gaze.

"I lost my ring." He explained.

"Why were you leading me on then? Why didn't you tell me you were engaged?" Kripa asked him, anger rising within her. All men are alike, she thought bitterly, glaring at him. He lowered his eyes and blew out a breath.

"I wasn't suppose to." He snapped. She balled her hands into fists.

"What do you mean you weren't suppose to?" Kripa cried out. Sahil took another deep breath and clenched his jaw before looking up at her.

"I have to go." He mumbled turning and walking away, leaving her there, angry and heartbroken. Moments later, she felt something pierce her hand and opened her balled up fist to find a manly ring. It had some kind of initials inscribed in it. AK. She looked up to glance at Sahil's retreating back one more time realizing it might have came off when he had pulled his hand away from her. She turned around, heart aching, walking away, not in the mood to return to the hospital again.

Hours later, after sitting near a river, crying, Kripa decided to go home. It was late anyway.

Glancing at the time on her phone, she realized it was 7 PM. Sighing, she stood up and slowly walked back home. Just as she arrived at her house, she noticed the lights were on inside. She gasped pulling out her house key from her pocket and slowly walking towards the house with her phone in one hand, ready to dial 911 if she had to. As she creaked open the door, she stepped inside when she heard absolutely no noise. Maybe i forgot to turn the lights off in the morning, she thought shaking her head. Turning around, she closed the door and locked it, putting her phone away. But as soon as she turned around again, she saw two men standing in her kitchen, dressed in all black, their faces covered in black masks except for their eyes. She gasped, fear paralysing her.

"I'll deal with her." One man said, violently stepping towards her but the other stopped him.

"No, you go find it. I'll handle her." He ordered, slowly walking towards Kripa. She grabbed her phone in her pocket and tried to dial 911 without pulling it out but the man grabbed her arm and covered her mouth so she couldn't scream. She stared at him, tears pouring out of her eyes. But there was something familiar about him. His eyes were very familiar but in the state she was in, she couldn't think properly. Her eyes dropped onto his black jacket which had the letters AK written on it in the same font they were inscribed in the ring. Before she could put two and two together, he pressed something near her neck and she collapsed in his arms.

When she woke up 2 hours later, her head was throbbing and she was laying on the floor near the door. Getting up, she glanced around the house confused before everything came rushing back to her and she fell on the floor again, in shock. Sahil was the man, she thought horrified. But what were they trying to find from my house? Standing up, she ran to her bedroom and found papers thrown all over the floor and the room was a complete mess. Her album lay on the bed with pictures scattered around it. As she flipped through it, she realized her mother's wedding picture was missing. The one with the blurred image of her father. Finding her phone in her pocket, she dialed 911 blinking to stop the tears.

***

After speaking to the Officers and explaining what had happened, she mentioned Sahil Kapoor but it turns out that, there was no record of a Sahil Kapoor in town. Brijesh Kapoor had no nephew and there was no barista listed as 'Sahil Kapoor' in the records of the owner of Starbucks of the area. According to the owner, he has not hired anyone new. Khushi and Madhu also refused to know anyone by the name of Sahil Kapoor. The police no longer wanted to investigate the matter any further and firmly told her that since nothing valuable was stolen, no charges would be placed on anyone. Kripa felt at a loss. Betrayed and humiliated, Kripa returned to work and tried to move on with her life until a couple of weeks later.

She returned home after work and checked her mailbox, surprised to find a mysterious note from Sahil laying in there.

Who knew I'd get to know you so well? Who knew I'd want more than friendship? But that's dangerous, very dangerous. For me, and for you. Goodbye Kripa Sharma. It was nice knowing you.

-Your 'Coffee Man'

She laughed bitterly at the 'Coffee Man' at the end which she'd call him whenever he'd start ranting about customers that annoyed him.

When she entered the house, it was an entire mess. Everything was broken and taken apart, and things were thrown around as if someone was searching for something. She walked around the house horrified, unsure of what to do next. But before she could think of anything, she felt someone grab her from behind and hit her on the head with something hard.

***

A couple of hours later, she woke up in a hospital bed with Riddhima and Armaan standing near the door talking intently. Before she could call out to them, they had walked out. Aching and confused, she felt a tear slide down her cheek and just lay there, trying to sleep again.