Dear Readers,

I am in the nineth month of pregnancy. I  can only put in two or three hours of work. I cannot make the updates available when I don't get the audience pulse. To get updates on time, please provide the feedback by stated time. 
If the feedback does not come by 9 PM everyday, please do not wait for updates. I do not wish to keep anyone waiting, but I do not rework without taking the feedback into account. 

This book will end at chapter (40-45).  My due date is 13th March. If I am not able to finish it before the date, you will have to wait for the updates until 15th April. 

I will take a month off from Wattpad after the baby is born.

The next update after 350 votes and comments. Tomorrow. Same time.  (If the feedback comes on time.)

Afternoon service was Dheer's least favourite time. The crowd was almost always the corporate workers and they ordered the same boring stuff. Though he never actually cooked anything in the kitchen he had to oversee the service. Dhruv was too busy cooking to shoot orders. So when the time for closing came, Dheer could not be more glad.

He felt drained and exhausted. Dhruv handed him a bottle of water and dragged him to the office. The air conditioner was a welcome relief. Dhruv pulled a chair for him and motioned for him to take a seat.

"How many times have I told you to take a break between the service, Dheer?" Dhruv's eyes glinted. "You don't even keep yourself hydrated."

Dheer rubbed his tired face. They were understaffed and everyone pulled their weight. He felt guilty about doing nothing.

"Did you have lunch?"

"Did you?" Dheer challenged. He was not in a great mood. Dev had called him and begged him to make sure Dhruv ate his lunch. That is when he realized that the siblings had not resolved anything. A little bit of probling and he learned that Dhriti was not at home. He understood the nature of her job, even respected it, but the woman needed to set things right. Dhriti was the only one who could resolve the problem and unfortunately she was always busy.

"You do not answer a question with a question, Dheeren?"

"Well rules are not different for you, Bhaiya. You have not taken a break all day...."

"This is my business. We are understaffed. I have to put in the hours."

"And I am supposed to loiter around aimlessly? You don't even assign anything to me."

"You can't cook...."

"Fine, let me clean."

"YOU WILL DO NO SUCH THING."

"I am your intern, Bhaiya...."

"Exactly, Dheeren. You are an intern here. You do exactly as you are told."

Dheer froze. Dhruv was never so harsh with him. He never put him down. Since the moment he joined the cafe, Dhruv always made him feel comfortable. He let him talk back and never reproached him. He never let him feel like an employee. Dheer almost forgot that for Dhruv, he was nothing more than an intern. Someone who could be easily dispensable.

"Sorry, Sir." He rose. For the first time he wanted to cry, but did not. Dhruv was not wrong in his place. He was the one who was taking liberties. He should be in his limits. Dheer wanted to leave but Dhruv grabbed his arm and stopped him. He was taking it out on the wrong kid. Dhruv realized his mistake almost immediately.

"Sorry." He gently turned the boy around. Dheer did not look at him but he could see the hurt on his face. "I am sorry, Dheer. I was upset and......" He shook his head. Even upset he should know not to take out his frustration on the wrong person. "I am sorry I yelled at you."

Dheer looked up. Why was the man apologizing to an employee? Dhruv was very firm with his staff. He was never unfair, but he ruled with an iron fist. He reprimanded the staff for mistakes, but Dheer had never seen him apologize to anyone before. Why were the rules different for him?

"Jaa kuch khale. (Go eat something.) You are supposed to be resting, Dheer. Why don't you listen to me? A few days' break will not hurt anyone."

Dheer reached for the landline and asked Raman to send their lunch to the office. He needed to eat and so did Dhruv. Dheer knew the man would not go back home like he usually did. He was too upset to do that. He wanted to make sure that Dhruv had his meals. Dhruv did not protest and grabbed the juice bottle from the refrigerator. They sat down in silence, not knowing what to say to each other.

"Dev se baat ke aapne? (Did you talk to, Dev?)" Dheer was the one to break the silence. Dhruv shook his head. Dheer could see the pain in his face. He did not understand why Dev had not said anything. Dhriti at least had her reasons, Dev should have taken the first step. His grandmother always taught him the value of communication. There were only three people in the family and could not keep emotions bottled. Sheetal encouraged them to speak openly. Even when they disagreed, they did so openly. Deception and lies only destroy trust and relationships. His Gammy taught the lesson very young. He wished someone taught his cousins the same lesson.

"Did you ask him why he did it?"

Dhruv remained silent. Dheer took a deep breath and looked at the man. The brother he knew was very vocal about his emotions. He never shied away from expressing his love or anger. He had seen Dhruv react the same way with Dev. If he showered the boy with love, he made him feel the heat of anger. Dev never had to second guess Dhruv. The man was always honest with his emotions. The sudden change in him would only confuse the boy more.

"He wanted to talk to you about what happened." Dheer revealed softly. "Even before this became public news, Dev wanted to tell you everything. He even wrote you a letter."

"Letter?" Dhruv looked confused. He had not seen any letter.

"He left it in your room. I take it you never got it?"

Dhruv shook his head. The last 48 hours had not been easy on him. He could barely sleep the night before. He had spent the entire night in his room, but he had not seen any letter.

"Ghar jake ek baar woh letter padhye, Bhaiya. (Go home and read the letter, Bhaiya.) You know why he did it."

"I know why he did it, Dheer." Dhruv's voice reflected his anguish. "I pushed him to do it."

Dheer shook his head. Self blame was never the answer. "And how do you know this?"

Dhruv remained silent.

"You did not even confront them, Bhaiya, and now you are jumping to conclusions. How do you know that it is your fault? Did you ever tell Dev that he could not pursue music?"

Dhruv closed his eyes. He never told him, neither did he tell him that he would not mind if the boy chose music.

"Did Dev tell you that he wanted to pursue music?"

Silence!

"Come on, Bhiaya. Silence is not an answer."

"What do you want me to say, Dheer?" Dhruv opened his eyes, which reflected his raw anguish. "No matter what I say now, it will only make me more wrong."

"Aur aapko lagta hai ke is tarah chup rehne se sab kuch theek ho jayega? (And you think staying silent would solve all your problems?)" Dheer could not hold back his anger.

Dhruv looked away.

"Silence is a useless language, Bhaiya. You need to talk to them."

"I have hurt them enough......"

"They are not the only ones hurting." Dheer's voice rose in anger. "You are hurting too. Stop putting yourself down. If their emotions are important, so are yours. I know you love them. They do too, so go home and sort this out. Silence and distance only destroys relationships. When the person we love suddenly falls silent, we feel hurt. Damn ghutne lagta hai. (You feel suffocated.) You keep waiting for the person to call you, to talk to you, to honor the promise they made and they never do. The wait turns into anger and anger into resentment. In the end you forget all the love and only remember the bitterness. In the end, you both will lose."

Dhruv's eyes misted. The boy's eyes reflected his pain. It was not advice that Dheer was giving, he was sharing his pain.

"You were hurt?"

Dheer looked away. It was not about him. He was acting like an emotional fool. Tears threatened once again and he blinked them away. Dhruv gently held his hand. "Who hurt you, Dheer?"

"No one" Dheer pulled his hands away. His emotions were all over the palace. He should not have opened his mouth.

"Do you hate the person?"

Dheer eyes filled up again. He could not stop the stray tear that escaped his eyes, but quickly wiped it away.

"Can you forgive them?"

The knock on the door saved Dheer from answering. He got up and rushed to relieve the waiter of the trays. He thanked the man and asked him to go home. Dheer took a deep breath to school his emotions. He needed to keep a tight lid on his emotions. He had almost blurted out the truth. It was getting very hard to keep the truth from Dhruv.

When he turned around he was in much better control. He forced himself to smile and placed the tray before Dhruv. "Today's desert was a hit. I can't wait to taste it."

He grabbed his fork, putting an end to all conversation. "Chalo aap bhi kha lo. (Eat now.) We need to go back home. You need to read the letter and I need to sleep off the exhaustion, maybe even take the night off. You are right I am not doing great."

"Tabiyat phir se kharab hai? (Are you unwell again?)" Dhruv's voice filled with concern.

Dheer bobbed his head. "Just tired. Let's go back home. Please."

Dhruv did not argue. Dheer knew what would work on his Bhaiya and did not shy away from using it. Now that Dhruv knew he was not feeling well, he would accompany him home. Dhruv always put others before himself. Dheer did not know much about his father, but his gammy told him that Devansh Singh Randhawa was a selfless man. His dad always put others before himself, and in the end it cost him his happiness. He did not want his Bhaiya to end up like his father. His dad at least found love with his mother, but that was a very long wait.

Abhishek Randhwa had left the bride at the altar, shaming two prominent families. Devansh had to step in and marry the woman Abhisek left behind. It was nothing more than a marriage of convenience. For years his mother and father did not even look at each other as husband and wife, but with time love made way into their relationship. He was glad that he was a product of their love and not compromise, but he knew that not everyone was so lucky. Selflessness often came with a price. For his father it was a decade of happiness, for Dhruv it was the pain of deception. It was a bitter truth of life, selfish people often led an uneventful life, happy with their choices whereas selfless ones paid the price. He wanted his Bhaiya to have a different fate, but all he could do was hope! The rest was in the siblings' hands.

Dhruv locked himself in the room and sat down. He needed time to make peace with the truth. All his decisions came back to haunt him with a vengeance. The more he thought about the situation the more he blamed himself. How could he confront anyone when he was the guilty party?

When the thoughts became unbearable he reached for his diary. Only work could give him a respite. He needed to keep himself occupied.

As soon as he flipped through the pages the letter slipped from the diary.

"Even before this became public news, Dev wanted to tell you everything. He even wrote you a letter."

Dheer's words rang through his ears. He picked up the letter with trembling hands. His child had written him a letter. He did not know what to think about it. He scared the boy so much that he could not talk to him directly? Dhruv shook his head. He was overthinking again. He wished he could stop doing it. All he wanted to do was set the letter aside and walk away, but he could not run away from the truth. He needed to know why Dev kept the truth from him. Even if it was completely his fault he needed to make peace with it.

The first thing he noticed in the letter was the blotched ink. His child was crying when he wrote the letter. The feeling did not sit well with him. Dhruv forced himself to read through the letter. The very first sentence stole his breath away.

"Dear Bhaiya,

Please don't hate me."

A big blotch of tears blurred the sentence. Dhruv's eyes filled up as he caressed the blotch. No matter what happened he could not hate his child.

"What I am about to tell you will make you very upset. You may think that I don't respect you, or that I do not love you. You have every right to think that way. I don't think what I did is worth forgiving. Had I been in your place, I would not have forgiven you. I should not be forgiven. Be mad at me all you want. Punish me anyway, but please don't hate me. That would be the worst punishment for me.

When we lost dad, I did not understand what it meant to be fatherless. I never wanted for a father's love because I always had you. Once Mumma left us, I understood the pain of losing a parent. I have already lost Mumma Bhaiya, I cannot lose you. That is why I need to tell you the truth.

I made a very big mistake, Bhaiya. I deceived you!'

The next few sentences were completely blurred with tears. Dhruv could not make out anything. He tried hard but those sentences were illegible. Dhruv flipped to the next sheet, his heart already pounding.

"..... Di said I should not tell you anything and I agreed. I thought we could come clean after the admission, but then I realized that we had dug ourselves deeper. There was no escape from the web of lies. One lie gave rise to another. All we did was lie. Everytime I looked at you, I felt guilty. I could not even bring myself to talk to you.

When I could not tell you the truth I could not deceive you more with my lies. I distanced myself from you, and it hurt me the worst. I am the worst person on this earth, Bhaiya. I hurt the one man I love the most. I deceived him for my own selfish reasons.

I love music, Bhaiya. I cannot live without music."

Dhruv closed his eyes. He wished he had known. He wished Dev would not have to suffer. No child deserves to go through the anguish. Dev deserved to live life on his own terms, he did not have to hide his true emotions, his ambitions. Dhruv could not help but condemn himself. He was so blinded with his own resentments that he did not pause to think that his family might not share his feelings. He wished his mother was alive. She would not have set things right immediately. Shanti always made sure her children never compromised. She never let Dhruv or Dhriti compromise with anything, and she would not have let Dev compromise.

Dhruv looked down at the letter. He needed to finish it. The boy had poured out his heart in the letter, the least he could do was read through it.

"I wanted to tell you that, but I did not know how to. You hated music. Every Time you saw someone singing you called it a waste of time. I did not know how to tell you that I loved the one thing that you hated the most. I thought you would hate me for wanting to follow in Dad's footsteps.

Dad destroyed his life in passion and ambition, Bhaiya. I share the passion, but not the obsession. I will never let my passion overwhelm my life. I cannot give up music, Bahiya. I don't think I can live without it, but I can promise not to end up like dad. I do not know if I will succeed, but even if I fail, I will not falter.

You raised me to be strong and independent. I will never insult the life you have given me by destroying it. I wish I had the courage to say that to you before filling in the college forms. If you had asked me once what I wanted, I would not have lied to you. Di was the one who asked, and she shared my apprehensions. We were both worried that you would not agree.

I was thinking about confessing everything to you when I got through The Royal Music School and Indian Engineering College at the same time. You were so happy with my admission into IEC that I did not have the courage to tell you that I did not wish to join the college. I was scared that you would say no! And if you did say no, I knew I could not go against your wishes.

Di did not want me to compromise. She is the one who struggled the most, Bhaiya. She could not hurt you, nor could she let me give up my dreams. Keeping the truth from you, seemed like the only option for us, but we were wrong.

We did have the choice to tell you the truth but we chose the easy way. I chose the easy way. Di told me that we could fight it out with you, but I did not want a fight. I did not want to upset you. I did not want to risk losing you."

The letter was blotched again. Even Dhruv could not hold back his tears. The pain was too raw to not feel it. He could feel his child's frustration and guilt.

"It was my mistake, Bhaiya. Only mine. I was scared and in the end the fear made me make the wrong decision. Today I am doing what I always wanted to do, but I am not happy. I got through VoN! But I feel like a failure. Apno ko taqleef deke hasil ke gaye kamyabi me koi khushi nahi hote, Bhaiya. (The success gained by hurting people you love, does not bring any happiness.) I learned it the hard way.

I made you miserable and I am living in mystery. Even di is paying the price of my mistakes. When you gave me 25 lakhs for a course that you believed would help my career, I realized I could not keep up with the deception. I was not just keeping the truth from you, I was playing with your emotions. That is not something I can forgive myself for.

Now you know what I have done. Now you know how much I have deceived you. Maybe you will not talk to me again?? Maybe I will lose you forever! But I cannot live with this deception any longer. Anything is better than this pain.

I do not expect your forgiveness, Bhaiya, but please don't hate me. I cannot quit music, nor can I live without you. Please don't force me to choose. I am sorry for everything. I will take any punishment you deem fit, but please don't stop loving me. Don't push me away.

I love you, Bhaiya."

Dhruv set the letter aside and cried. He had messed everything up. He had failed his own child and the feeling destroyed him from the inside. He was wondering why Dev could not come to him with his ambitions, now he realized he had not given Dev a chance. The only person who could have told him the truth, chose to keep it from him.

Dhruv did not blame his twin, but he wished she had told him about Dev's ambitions. Dev was a child, but Dhriti was his best friend. She knew how much the boy meant to him. Dhrti knew he could do anything for Dev. Despite that she assumed that he would not support his child. She even convinced Dev to keep the truth from him. Resentment flared inside Dhruv. The one person he trusted blindly, betrayed him.

He could have taken it better if Dhriti told him the truth, but she chose to keep everything to herself. Even when he told her about the mortgage, she continued to lie. That he found hard to forgive. They had sailed through the storms of life together. He trusted his sister blindly, and thought she did the same with him. Now he knew differently.

Dhruv wiped away his tears and walked away. Dhriti would be home soon. He was too angry to confront her, too upset to even face her. He needed time to school his emotions. Now that he knew his twin did not trust him, or even respect him with the truth, he had to make peace with it. It was best if they kept their distance with each other. He could not forgive the betrayal and she was right in her place. They both wanted Dev's happiness. If she thought he was the hindrance in Dev's happiness, he would keep his distance. The last thing he wanted was to become an obstacle in his siblings' lives. Dev did not have to worry about his approval and Dhriti did not have to lie more. If Dhrti thought they were better off without, he would keep his distance. That was the best for everyone. 

After 38 hours of no sleep, Dhrti was exhausted. She needed to rest, but more than that she needed to sort things out with Dhruv. Her twin was not even taking her calls and that worried her more. She decided to take the bull by the horns.

Dhruv had the right to be mad at her, but he had no right to keep sulking. They needed to talk and she would make sure they had the conversation. With the decision made she walked into the house, only to be bombarded with calls from Dev's college. The principal's office was calling her again.

Dhriti felt frustrated. She did not know what more they wanted. All she wanted to do was turn away the phone, but she could not ignore anything related to Dev. With a frustrated sigh she answered the call only for the secretary to request an urgent meeting with her. She had to agree as she was the guardian.

Now that Dhruv knew the truth he could have gone for the meeting, but her twin was too upset. She did not even know what to expect from Dhruv, so her only option was to handle everything on her own. She turned around to walk back to the car and felt the world spinning.

Exhaustion was finally catching up to her. Her legs faltered, but a pair of gentle hands grabbed her, and saved her from losing her balance.

"Are you alright?" Dheer's voice filled with concern.

Dhriti nodded her head but felt the world spinning again. Dheer's arms tighten around her. "Did you sleep at all?"

"I just came back from the hospital, your highness." Driti shot back, pulling away. The boy was supposed to act like a moron and stay the hell away from her. She was not supposed to act like a concerned sibling. He was not her sibling. He was Anjali's son. The child of the woman responsible for their miseris.

"Save me the sarcasm, princess." Dheer shot back, equally annoyed. "And don't faint at my feet, It would annoy the hell out of me."

"You are the one who is in my way."

"I am the one who saved you from falling flat on your ass. So, 'you are welcome'." Dheer stepped back carefully, his eyes still watching her. She needed to rest. The dark circles under her eyes told him about her exhaustion. The woman needed to take a break.

"Whatever. Move" Dhriti tried to walk past him but Dheer grabbed her hand and stopped her.

"You are going the wrong way. You need to go inside."

Dhriti shook her head. She knew exactly where she was going, so she ignored him and made her way to the car. Dheer grabbed the keys from her before she could step into the car.

"Have you lost it? You are in no shape to drive. The hospital can wait for one day. You are no use dead to any of your patients." Dheer hissed.

"I thought you could not wait for me to die?"

Dheer's eyes glinted. "If you die, who will honor the contract, princess?"

"Stop calling me princess" Dhriti hissed.

"Then stop acting so entitled. Go inside and rest. I don't hit someone when they are down."

"Give me the keys."

"Grab them" Dhriti tried to grab the keys from Dheer raised his hand high, the keys well over her reach. Dhriti was a good six inches shorter than him, even with the high heels she had no way of reaching the keys. She tried for two minutes and gave up realizing that she was only embarrassing herself. She could not win.

"Stop acting like a moron, Dheer. I need to go to Dev's college." Dhriti yelled in frustration.

"Why?" Dheer's eyes narrowed into a frown.

"The Princi wants to meet me. I need to go and meet the guy before he comes up with some other surprise."

"Did you keep some other news from Bhaiya?"

Dhriti glared at him. "How is it any of your business?"

Dheer held his tongue. He could see the exhaustion behind her eyes. It was not time to fight. "Can't you wait until tomorrow?"

Dhriti gave a tired shake.,She was not prepared for any other nasty surprises.

"Then let me drive."

Dhriti's eyes flicked with surprise. "You will drive me to the college?"

"That is what I said, Didn't I? Get in"

"The Randhawa Heir is going to play my driver? Should I be flattered?"

Dheer ignored her sarcasm and opened the passenger seat for her. The sooner the meeting was over the sooner they would be back home and she could rest. He could not shrug off the feeling that she would faint any moment. His Bhaiya did not need any more reasons to stress. Or so he told himself.

Dhriti sat down without protest. He could go round with him but she was indeed exhausted. Her eyes were already dropping.

"Seatbelt" Dheer's sharp tone forced her to open her eyes.

"Itne bure driver ho? (Are you so bad at driving?)"

Dheer ignored her taunts and helped her with the seatbelt. He behaved the same way when he was exhausted. He wished his cousin did not behave like him. She was becoming very predictable.

Dhriti rolled her eyes but then soon drifted off to sleep. Dheer shook his head and made his way to Dev's college. Doctors had the toughest life. That is why he could not resent her.

The drive put him at ease. He always enjoyed driving. The traffic was heavy, so he put on light music to keep himself occupied. Dev's college was only 20 minutes away but the evening commute made it into a one hour drive. When he saw the college driveway, Dheer almost sighed in relief. His feet were protesting by all the pressure he had exerted on the breaks. Driving in traffic was definitely not relaxing.

He was about to take a turn when a van came at him out of nowhere. Dheer had made a sharp left turn to avoid crashing into the van. An inexperienced driver would not have survived. The minute the danger passed, Dheer hit the brakes.

The car came to a screeching halt. Dheer could not breathe. He missed being hit by seconds. The van crashed into the nearby tree.

Dhiri's eyes opened as the car jerked forward. For a second she did not know what was happening and then saw the van crashing into the tree. Their car was wedged onto the divider. Dhriti's first thought was Dheer. She turned around to check the boy for injuries. She could see the fear in Dheer's eyes. Dhriti reached for his hand. Her hands were shaking so were his. That was a very close call. How did they even survive?

1- Your take on Dhruv-Dheer conversation.

2- Your take on Dhriti-Dheer conversation.

3- Your take on Dev's conversation.

4- Is Dhruv's anger with Dhriti justified?