It's almost six months after they've entered the orphanage that Mihir hears his sister crying for the first time.

"Bhai!" Mishti wails, running towards him and he immediately puts aside his plate of food that he had difficultly acquired from the mess because they have been increasingly corrupt these past few weeks since the man with a kind smile, the one he has got to know as Daya sir has stopped visiting the orphanage as frequently as before.

"What happened, Chutki? Why are you crying?" he asks, cradling his sister to his chest as she sniffs into his shoulder.

"Bhai, she said - she said that mummy-papa will not come back to us. She -" the crying girl gathers her breath with a lot of difficulty before she releases another sob, her words coming out choked up. "- she said that mummy-papa are dead and will never c-come back. What's dead, Bhai? And why will they not come back to us?" the girl asks as she sobs incessantly, clutching at her brother's shirt, unable to see the darkening expression on her brother's face.

"It's - it's nothing, Chutki. They will come back. It's just that they will take some time more to do so. But until then you have Bhai with you, don't you? Do you not love me?" he asks, feigning a pout when in reality all he wants is to cry, to mourn the loss of their parents but he can't, not in front of his baby sister.

Mishti doesn't need to know about death right now. All she needs is to colour her drawings pretty, eat good food, learn about vowels and cuddle with her brother as he tells her a story to sleep.

"I thought you loved me more than them, but you don't." he puts on a sad face, the tears in his eyes not a pretence, but the little girl quickly gives in to his silly tricks, looking at him with wobbling lips. She shakes her head. "No bhai!" she wails, almost too close to his ears but he doesn't mind, "I love you more than mummy papa. They went on a trip without me, but you didn't and you'll never do, right?" the little girl asks, almost scared as if wondering what she'll do if her brother answers with a yes; if he too leaves her behind. But all her doubts vanish as her brother kisses her chubby cheeks and continues to do so until she giggles.

"No, I am never going anywhere without my Chutki. Never. Ok?" Mihir asks and sees as his little sister nods happily, sighing.

"Now, see what I have for you, Barfi! Come on, sit here and I'll make you eat it."

"I'm a big girl, bhai, I can eat it by myself!"

Mihir wakes up with an instance of past clouding his mind, his heart worrying for his sister, not willing to relax.

He has been terribly missing his Chutki since the day she has left. In the twenty-seven years of his life out of which he has spent twenty-two years with his baby sister, the siblings have never been separated before this - this was a first for both of them. In fact, the reason why he had been mad on Mishti when she had gone to that house without telling him was not because it was an irresponsible act (even though it was) but mainly because she hadn't hugged him goodbye and now they had to live apart for days on end.

Safe to say, he's more worried for her safety than Mishti herself.

However, once Mihir remembers that the problem has already been taken care of and there is no need for his sister to worry anymore, he forces himself to relax, trying to breathe in the not so fresh air of his scented room, ventures downstairs in search of his friends as well as some food as soon as he freshens up. But as he does, he observes the house being too quiet.

Frowning slightly, he first checks through all their rooms, bathrooms, calling out their names, but when he doesn't hear any reply, he goes and checks the living room. But when even that proves to be empty, Mihir lets himself panic, promptly searching for his phone to look for any messages they might've dropped for him, simultaneously making his way towards the kitchen, it being the only place that he hasn't checked.

It is only then that it happens.

Mihir hears it first and then sees it; the sight of Ruhi standing in the kitchen with earphones placed in her ears, her body mildly swaying left to right as she hums along a song, her hands busy chopping up some strawberries, and by the batter that is placed beside it, Mihir judges that today's breakfast would be strawberry pancakes.

Now he didn't know about anyone else, but those were his favourite.

But that is not what's important right now. What's important is she's okay and is standing in front of him, and if she's fine then the others might be too. They would've definitely told her about their whereabouts.

And so, after finally having all of his worries dissipated, Mihir makes her way to the humming girl, extending his hand to reach out to her, only he doesn't expect her to turn around with the speed of lightning, pointing her knife at him.

Mihir instinctively raises his hands in the air, a small gasp escaping his mouth. He relaxes only when Ruhi's lowers down the knife immediately, her eyes widening, and taking out the accessory from her ears.

"Mihir, you scared me!" she whines looking at him with furrowed brows while the man in question just huffs out a laugh, shaking his head. "Of course not, on the contrary, it was you who scared me, that too with that knife!" Mihir gestures to the knife that is now silently sitting on the countertop as Ruhi flushes in embarrassment, dropping her gaze as she shrugs.

Smiling, Mihir finally makes it safely to the girl's side, this time not getting halted by a murder threat and picks up a strawberry from the bowl and pops it in his mouth before the girl could even begin to complain about it.

"Mihir!" Ruhi pouts as expected, and Mihir bites back a fond smile.

In all honesty, Mihir is more nervous right now than he ever has been in his life. Much like the fact that it's his first time living without his sister, this is his first time finding himself alone with Ruhi without any work-oriented conversation flowing between them or a task looming over their heads.

It's the same nervousness that makes him want to fill up the silence.

He clears his throat, feigning nonchalance and cocking his head to the side. "Where are the others? Ranvi, Raghav....." he asks and then rolls his eyes as he grunts out, "and that girl."

The words have Ruhi immediately looking at him with a mock glare, her hands on her hips.

"Her name is Tara, and she is our childhood friend. Yours too. You need to be nice to her." She reprimands and just because she looks incredibly cute scolding him like this, Mihir doesn't argue and lets the girl continue.

"Anyways, Raghav bhaiya said that he and Ranvi had to meet that one hacker, I have forgotten her name....but Tara tagged along with them." She answers and Mihir hums.

"So it's just you and me here?" he asks, a smile crawling up his lips as he sees a light blush crawling up the girl's face as soon as she hears the words, her hands lagging while completing up the chore.

"I g-guess." The shy reply makes Mihir internally coo at the girl, unintentionally taking a step closer to her. Though before his steps could take him further, Ruhi quickly turns to the side, facing him but not quite meeting his eyes.

"Here, have some of this." she hands him a plate of pancakes, artistically drizzled by some freshly made strawberry syrup. And even though he wants to hear some more sweet voice of the girl, he guesses it can wait because nothing beats such deliciousness.

With that thought, Mihir digs into the food like an excited child and moans at the incredible taste as the flavours burst on his tongue.

"Is this heaven?" he says through his muffled voice, words unintentionally doing their job as an immediate smile crawls up Ruhi's lips, her eyes lighting up.

She goes back to making the rest of the pancakes not before telling him that he is just exaggerating and flipping the half-cooked pancake.

Mihir takes a step closer to her at that, shaking his head into an incessant no. "Of course not, these honestly deserve all the praise in the world. They are so good! Here, you too have a bite and appreciate your creation." He says, not waiting for Ruhi's reply as he forsakes the fork, and tears up a piece of the pancake, much like someone would do with a chapati, dips it in the strawberry syrup before bringing it to her lips.

"Aaaa," he tells her, nudging the bite to her lower lip, trying to ignore how her face flushes pink, finally relenting as she takes up the bite, a small smear of the strawberry syrup marking her lip.

"Good girl." Mihir pats on her head out of habit, like he would do with his little sister, and sees with a sinking heart as the pink flush instantly vanishes off Ruhi's face, her smile going away with it.

"It's good," She clears her throat and remarks dryly, and before Mihir can even begin to contemplate the reason behind the sudden change, Ruhi huffs out a nervous, almost forced seeming chuckle as she says, "Although I'd appreciate if you'll not treat me like Mishti. She's your sister, I am not."

The last part comes out as an afraid murmur, but it still has Mihir freezing at his spot, gulping thickly, his hand pausing in its intended action which doesn't go unnoticed by Ruhi, her gaze immediately averting to the empty pan on the stove as she switches off the flame.

"S-Sorry, I didn't --"

The words have Mihir getting out of the trance, and this time he doesn't hesitate in stepping closer to the girl, his hand resuming its job.

"You're right," he murmurs, his voice sincere, coming out a bit huskier than intended as his thumb reaches up to the spot beneath her lower lip, his thumb wiping up the strawberry sauce that she didn't even know was there in the first place.

"You're not..... you're not my sister."

Ruhi's breath hitches in her throat as she hears the words, the unexpectedness of the situation making blood rush to her face, shaming the red strawberries kept in the bowl. "Mihi-"

"Oh, come on, "Show me, Tara, there were figures written on the envelope, do you need money -" And before any one of them can even utter another word, the front door bursts open, the three friends entering the house with a bang, making Mihir and Ruhi jump apart to the polar corners of the kitchen.

"Raghav, you better tell your brother to stop poking his nose in my business, these could be sanitary napkins for all he knows!" Tara retorts, squinting her eyes at Ranveer, who is squints back at her their 'meeting after a long time' adoration already coming to an end.

"Sanitary napkins aren't delivered in envelopes!"

"Ranvi, you -"

"Leave it be, Ranvi." Raghav rolls his eyes, albeit fondly, both at his brother's and his friend's antics.

"You two are such kids, I swear." He chuckles, successfully changing the subject of discussion, going towards the living room to have a seat but before he can even think of sitting down the girl in question is rushing up to him, standing like a pole until he looks up at her.

"Who are you calling a kid, mister? I'm a whole year older than your stupid brother standing over there!" Tara huffs and Raghav bites back a snort, Mihir and Ruhi coming into the living area as well.

"What's going on here and why is everyone so determined on establishing sibling relationships today?" Mihir perks in, taking a sly glance at Ruhi and stifling a smile, when the girl in question immediately averts her gaze, going back to the original audience that only consists of Ranveer and Raghav.

Not Tara.

"Mihir, you need to take my side. I know bhaiya is already going to side with her." Ranveer marches in the room, a pout evident on his face, a can of cold drink clutched inside his hand, his accusatory gaze landing at his traitor brother and their old yet new guest.

"As if. Ruhi, you are siding with me and not with this loser, and that's final." Tara replies, rolling her eyes.

"Bhai, did you hear? She called your only brother a loser. Are you going to let her go just like that after such an audacious address?!" Ranveer demands but Raghav can't find it in himself to take the situation seriously, a small chuckle escaping his lips.

"I'm out of here," he says, raising his hands in the air as if accept defeat. Mihir and Ruhi to follow the suit, getting to their works. And then it's only the two 'nemesis' who are left sharing the same space, starting an unasked staring contrast until Ranveer blinks first, groaning and rubbing his eyes that are watering, making a smirk crawl up Tara's face.

"I hate you!"

Tara laughs. "Feelings are mutual, Ranvi darling!"