Chapter 172 - 171. ... you do know my name after all.

Shreya stopped on her track when she heard steady track behind her. After all, she was running in a forest and this island is private and isolated. SO it had got to be one of her own people and when she left, she was sure nobody else was awake.

She couldn't sleep in today since she had knocked out earlier than her usual time. SO she thought she might run around a bit. SO she took the narrow path into the forest and kept at it. But half an hour in, she heard steady footsteps from behind her.

She stopped and found Srinivas in his tracks and t-shirt jogging steadily with sweat dripping from his forehead.

"Morning, Madam." He greeting stopping beside Shreya.

"Morning…" Shreya greeted him back and started sprinting all over again without bothering to say anything else. And Srinivas quietly kept with her pace. With Shreya's small legs, her pace was actually pretty slow… compared with him, it was almost comparable to that of a tortoise. But it was better to have a company in this desolate forest.

Except for chirping of birds and rustling of leaves… the only other sound was the sound of their sneakers thudding against the ground. But after a while, the pathway actually split into two directions leading deeper into the forest.

Shreya took one of the paths and kept at it.

"Madam, are you sure you know the way around here?? We do not have any cell service here??" Srinivas asked doubtfully but still, he kept running beside her without stopping.

"Trust me. It will only take a few minutes…" Shreya said and kept at it. But the path actually came to a dead-end. Shreya stopped and actually walked into the trees leaving out the path. The ground was inclined downwards quite steeply.

Srinivas got scared and stepped in front of her and lead her by her hands.

"I am not a kid you know…" Shreya said smiling but did not complain.

"Just in case… Where are we going anyway??" Srinivas asked.

"Shh… listen…" Shreya said shushing him.

That is when he notices the rushing sound of water somewhere nearby. Following the sound, they came to a waterfall.

It was not huge. Water fell from several feet about them and formed a small pond at its base. But the pond was not large… since the ground was shallow and was inclined downwards, the water was falling back down into the forest. The whole place was covered by thick trees making the whole scene invisible from the outside.

"How did you know this place??" Srinivas asked.

Shreya took in a content breath staring at the scene in front of her. It was unlike anything she had ever seen before. It was peaceful here. Nature at its best. Just being there felt blissful.

"One of the maids showed me the directions when I asked for a place I could jog…" Shreya said and went ahead and sat in one of the huge rocks around. She stretched her legs in the front and leaned behind her arms and smiled seeing the falls. She would love to go in but it was very inconvenient to reach. Huge rocks blocked the path and since the water was shallow, she can't really dive in either if she wanted to keep her head intact.

Srinivas still could not believe what he was seeing. He hadn't seen anything this beautiful before. The water was green reflecting the trees around perfectly. That's how pure the water was.

Shreya looked around and then suddenly got up from her place and started hopping from one rock to another. Because of the water, they were quite slippery.

"Shreya…" Srinivas exclaimed panicked and followed her hurriedly.

"Wow… you do know my name after all…" Shreya mocked but still did not stop her endeavor. By the time Srinivas caught up to her, she actually came to stop at the rock very closest to the water and sat down.

She then gestured Srinivas to sit beside her. Srinivas let out a sigh but still sat down and answered, "I just panicked. I thought you might dive in. The water is too shallow here…"

"I know… I just wanted to feel the water. Here… you want some??" Shreya asked taking out a water bottle from her backpack.

Srinivas took a gulp without a word and handed her the bottle.

The rock they were sitting on was close to the water. So whenever the tide was just a tad bit hard, it flowed under them drenching them. Shreya took a gulp of water herself and leaned back on the rock behind them. Srinivas just sat there…

Neither of them felt the need to fill the silence as the listened and stared at the scene in front of them.

After a long while, surprisingly it was Srinivas who broke the silence, "Thank you for bringing me here… For the vacation that is…"

"It's your job," Shreya said shrugging.

"You and I both know that is not true. This island is practically invisible from all directions. And no matter who wants to, nobody will be able to reach here. So you don't need me here whatsoever… not for you.. not for Zee…" Srinivas said smiling.

Shreya just smiled neither accepting nor denying his conjuncture.

"You are still not talking to your sister??" Shreya asked after a while.

Shreya knew everything about everyone's family around her. She always did a very thorough background check on people she employed. Especially on people who are responsible for protecting her family and friends. She probably knew more about their families than they themselves do. And Srinivas was no exception.

His parents had long passed away while he was still in military services due to natural causes. The only family he had is his younger sister who also happened to be Shreya's classmate in college. Shreya came to hire Srinivas because of her, in the first place.

But the relationship between the siblings was strained.

When Shreya was going through potential hires, she saw his sister's name and instantly recognized her from college. And when she called her back to get a reference, his sister requested Shreya to hire him without fail. She had practically begged Shreya. So Shreya agreed without much thought. After all, he had the skill she needed.

The only problem was… Srinivas… the time period he had served in the army had taken a toll on him. Zack was in the normal army whose work was usually restricted to training and giving orders. And his rank hadn't been low either.

But for Srinivas it was different… he was special forces. Even Shreya couldn't get her hands on half of his mission statements. Only very few people in the army had clearance to those statements… they were that top-secret mission. So he had seen too much stuff hands-on. And so when he discharged, he had suffered from PTSD which resulted in him pushing away the only family he has.

Srinivas himself did not remember half the things he had did to actually drive his own sister and brother-in-law away from him. He did not even know that he got the job because of his sister till now.

"I am not sure she would let me anywhere near her house… After all, last time we met, her husband was bleeding from his nose…" Srinivas said awkwardly.

His mood swings back then had been awful. When Shreya first hired him, he had to go through therapy for 6 months straight, and only when his psychiatrist gave him a clean bill of heath did Shreya assign him to Zeenath.

"Well, if he was holding a grudge… you can just ask him to return the favor this time around. After all, your pay package has excellent medical coverage. You wouldn't have to spare a penny…" Shreya said with an amused smile.

Srinivas just let out a chuckle and agreed, "Maybe I should give it go…"

He knew his sister was not really angry at him and that she wouldn't exactly close the doors to his face. He was just reeling over his guilt.

After all, what angered his sister the most back then was not even his mood swings but his stubbornness to refute any help that she had provided him with. And he had, at last, acknowledged that he actually needed help only when he saw his sister walk out of his life. Till then, he had stubbornly held a stance that he was okay. But when he had realized his mistake, it was already too late.

When he was deliberating on how to get his life back on track, Shreya popped into his life like an angel and showed him a direction for which he was so grateful that he couldn't even express in words.

"Don't overthink things… You don't have to... You are not supposed to when it comes to family. Worse comes worse, you are going to get punched in the face… And in this line of work, it won't be the first time that happens nor the last…" Shreya said without any trace of teasing she had before.