Letters From A Stranger

eighteen

Naina,

I'm scared. I don't know what to do.

I want to first off say I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything. I'm most sorry for leaving you at the diner that day. No, I did not want that to happen. Nothing should have ruined that day, but something did. The moment I saw your face fall, I wanted to wrap you up in a hug and never let go. There's a reason I had to leave.

I've been trying to figure it all out, but I'm at a dead end. Shanaya knows about you. That's not the part I'm worried about because I want everyone to know about you. Before I go into more detail, the rumours are true, she is in fact pregnant. No, the baby is not mine. In all honesty, I'm holding out until marriage. So Shanaya and I have never done anything.

Long story short, she's trying to ruin me if I don't go along with this plan she has.

The plan is to marry her, and I don't want to. If I don't comply, she's going to drag you into this mess. That's why I left you at the diner and then stopped talking to you altogether. I have to make it look like I'm done with you all together. This is my mess that needs to be fixed, but I don't know what I should do. Failure is something I don't want to feel, but right now, that's how I'm feeling.

If I don't marry her willingly, then she's doing it by force. Shanaya has all these lies she's going to tell if it's done by force. I don't know all the details on these lies yet, but I plan to find out.

The outcome of that will be me going to jail and her taking over my company. Her goal is money for her and the baby's dad, that's why she wants to get married.

The other outcome if I'm forced to marry her is making your life hell. I can't let her do that when you've done nothing wrong. My goal in all of this is to protect you, and if that's marrying her, then I will.

My lawyers, along with investigators, are looking for something to go against her. So far, nothing has presented itself for use to us. Either there's nothing to use, or she's good at covering it up. It's like she's ten steps ahead of us.

My parents aren't thrilled about what she's doing either. Even though my mom was the one that set us up, she's very disappointed in her. She never thought Shanaya was like this, but on a better note, I've told my parents about you. Needless to say, when this is all over with, or should I say if this end, they can't wait to meet you. I was actually surprised my dad was all for it, considering he's all about image. I think my mother played a part in changing his mind, to be honest.

So, with that being said, I'm not sure if I'll ever get to tell you this. I'm really hoping I get to tell you in person one day. Yes, it's the shittest way possible to tell you now, but I've fallen for you, Naina Joshi. I planned on telling you that day at the diner. Everything I've ever written to you has been true. You're by far, perfect. I'm going to do whatever it takes to get Shanaya off my back so we can start over. That is if you'd like to?

Once again, I'm sorry, for everything Naina, and I will fix this. Just please be patient with me. If I send you anything, don't respond. Just pretend you don't know anything.

xoxo

Love Always,

Gaurav

P.S. I still have a gift for you, but I want to give it to you in person.

P.P.S. I love your new hair, you remind me of fall, and that's my favourite season.

Tears.

Non-stop tears were flowing down my face.

All I want to do is give Gaurav the biggest hug possible and let him know everything will be okay. The only problem was how do I talk to him without Shanaya lurking around. She's always at the office when he's there. I need to help him. I can't let him do this alone, but how do I help.

Think Naina, Think. That's it.

Everything is starting to make sense now, why Shanaya's always at the office. She's there to make sure he doesn't interact with me. No wonder she glares at me when she comes in. The days she's not there, she makes sure he isn't there either.

Why does she want money though? She's a model, a big one at that, so why does she need the money? Unless the baby's dad doesn't work, and she supports him. That's a big possibility, but at the same time, she could just want more money.

Oh, God. What do I do?

I didn't realize I was pacing back and forth in my living room.

Snap out of it, Naina. Calm down, breathe in, breathe out. We'll figure this out.

Right, I can figure this out, and then everything will be okay. Now, where do I begin?

I sat there thinking of anything I could do, but I was at a dead end as well. How were you supposed to stop someone from ruining someone else's life without proof? I don't even know everything that's going on.

All I have is Gaurav's letter, and that's not enough to go by. It'll be he said/she said ordeal. They could blame me for writing it.

Think Naina, think. It shouldn't be this hard.

The thing was, it was hard, she has more power than I do, and could easily take me out. I needed to talk to Gaurav before I did anything. We needed to be on the same page.

The first step was meeting up with Gaurav and discussing this in person. If I heard Shanaya correctly the other day at the office, she was leaving the day after Christmas for work. This would hopefully be my chance to see him. I pray she doesn't have anyone watching while she's away. Then again, she could have said that to see if I'd take the bait. I need to be smart about this meeting, if I screw this up, I risk Gaurav going to jail. Or worse, I'd end up in jail.

I'll have to use Manit's phone, so it can't be traced back to me calling him. Who knows what she's keeping track of?

Manit was busy the rest of the day and part of tomorrow, spending time with Rishav's family. I wouldn't be able to talk to him until tomorrow night. That gave me a little bit more time to maybe think of ways I could help Gaurav.

I curled up on the couch, with Remy by my side trying to find ways I could help him.

"We need to help him, Remy, but I don't know what we need to do. Why is this so hard? What game is she playing at?"