Gauri was angry with him for lying to her but more than that angry that he assumed it was okay to let Kavya go alone. He should have went after her instead of letting her go by herself. As if understanding her anger, he remained silent till they reached the hotel were Kavya was staying. After introducing him as her brother, they got the information of her room and only when she stood before the room did Gauri finally feel nervous on how to deal with her friend.

How can one actually console someone who blamed themselves for what happened to her, in case of her father and Arnav it was different. They felt the blame for not protecting her but with Kavya it was not the same. She would feel the need to blame herself for everything that happened that night. She was thankful Arnav knocked the door because her hands refused to make the move and when kavya opened the door,her nervousness only increased by tenfold.

  " I got a brother too you know , apparently I have two of them now after today. It not like I forget about Pradeep but I pushed him back in my mind for so long it felt surreal to see him again. " Gauri spoke up wondering why she was telling kavya about her brothers now. The answer was the fact she was nervous and she had no idea what she was talking about from the confused look on Kavya face she was wondering the same as well.

 " Ishaan was pretty confused on your behavior and asked me why you acted like that when you heard everything just like the rest of them. And it had been easy to connect the dots after that " Gauri spoke up this time conveying how she found out about the truth, it seemed prudent to explain that when she could find words to explain away everything else. 

       
But Gauri noticed nothing she said at the moment was helping Kavya from the way she refused to look at them and then she turned to see Arnav who seemed to be struggling as well on how to deal with it, in a way she understood his silence and she knew that no matter what happened in the past, she cant let it come between the siblings now.

" Give us a few minutes alone Arnav please" Gauri spoke up to him, she saw him register the words and almost voiced out his denial to do so but somehow she was fortunate that he agreed with her as he walked out of the room and only after the sound of the door being closed did Gauri turn back to Kavya, her friend. 

  "I never blamed you Kavya, I tried to protect you though foolishly believing disappearing from your lives would be enough but I realized today that you are stronger than I assumed you too be that it may not be easy for you to accept it now but with time you will realize the same as I do that it wasn't your fault "  Gauri spoke up truthfully, she didn't know if it were the words Kavya needed to hear but it was the words she needed to say at the moment. And Gauri almost given up to hear any response from Kavya when she finally spoke up .

  "How can you even look at me?, I was the reason you were left alone in the club that night, my brother and you were the ones who broke up yet I made it all about me. I didn't stop to think it would be hard on you as well and blamed you as if it was my place to do so. I had always been self centric but that night my actions was unforgivable and I won't blame you if you asked me to stay away from your lives because that what I deserve not your forgiveness " Kavya answered back, the anguish in her voice had been the reason Gauri wanted to keep it a secret forever, no one deserves to feel that guilt. 
 
     
She had seen what guilt like that could do to a person when she met Arun, and until he died, she knew he carried a part of the guilt with him. He never could forgive himself for the death of his family and Somehow Gauri realized Kavya may not be able to forgive herself either from the anguish in her voice. Gauri didn't want her friend life to be affected by guilt 
   
" I won't claim it has been easy on me, Kavya nor would I expect you to believe it. If not for my family and Arun I wouldn't have made through those days but I am getting better and if I let the past take away our friendship than it would mean I let that once incident ruin everything and I refuse to do that. I did it already once left you and Lavanya in complete silence and I won't do it now " Gauri answered back unwilling to let Kavya walk away from her life because of guilt. Distance wont absolve any of the guilt she felt and the only way she could move on is maybe if she saw that Gauri had moved on from it as well .

" I can't forgive myself Gauri , I really can't .."Kavya words were a mere whisper but Gauri understood the reason behind them, Kavya might be bit dramatic at times but when she loves someone, she loves them fiercely and she cant accept that her action caused someone she cared about pain. That was why Gauri made the first move to bridge the gap between them as she hugged her friend .

   
She remembered the countless times her mother hugged her after the night, she remembered the times when she felt secure in Arnav embrace and she hoped that kavya could feel the comfort as well and realize Gauri never really blamed her for anything but it was also important for Kavya to realize the reason why she never blamed her, so she spoke up yet again trying to convey the night may be her darkest moment but it also gave the light of her life
  
   
" With time you would Kavya, give yourself a break. What happened to me is not on your shoulders, and when ever I think about it, I try to forget all it cost me because it gave me my son." Gauri spoke up truthfully, she knew if not for her son. She wouldn't have made it in the land of living, she was too lost in her pain and nightmares that she would have never fought through them if not for Rahul. 

   
And the moment was over between the friends when there was a knock on the door and Arnav entered the room again with some one else, if he looked devastated before he left the room, he looked far worse now and for once Gauri didn't know the reason behind his pain.

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Arnav had to be the worse brother ever, one look at Kavya he knew his decision had been a wrong one . He always relied on his mind to make decisions that aren't emotionally charged and yet when he asked his sister to keep it a secret, he wasn't thinking clearly .

    
Gauri was right to be angry with him , she wanted to protect Kavya as a  friend and Arnav failed as a brother . All he knew at the point had been Gauri wouldn't be able to handle yet another setback after meeting her biological father that he hadn't been able to think about his sister mindset .

       
He had been pacing outside their room which must have gained attention of the hotel staff that he found himself facing the manager yet again, Arnav assumed it was a visit due to his prowling until he learnt otherwise .

       
" We are sorry, I am sure you are angry about what happened last night and that why you are agitated and came to take your sister home " he kept talking but Arnav could hardly understand anything until he got the manager to slow down and explain what he actually meant and if Arnav felt bad few minutes then after hearing what his sister went through last night ,he felt way worse .

         
The truth of the fact was Arnav had been angry at his sister, in spite of Gauri continued plea he hasn't been able to let it go, because Gauri had been the victim of the night and the person who had put her in the vulnerable position had been his sister. He felt that entitled him to his anger   
         
But hearing his sister had near miss incident last night as well bothered him too much, according to the manager a drunk employee of the hotel and his friends tried to barge into her sister room last night and though she escaped unharmed she was clearly shaken up by the event .
     
The fact she came to the court in spite of it was for Gauri, no matter the dispute between those two that raised because of him, he knew his sister cared deeply about Gauri and it would have shattered her to learn about her part in what happened that night. He was too close to Gauri pain and his anger that he didn't realize that he may have failed as a brother .

                  
As a brother, he should have been the one who consoled her and yet here he was out of the room because he couldn't find the words. He couldn't stay outside anymore so he stepped inside the room
            

" Were you ever going to tell me? " he asked his sister and she didn't have to say anything but he knew the answer that she wouldn't have told him anything at all . 

 
 For a moment his mind wandered in how he would have felt if it wasn't a near miss like last night and how he would have felt if something went wrong and he couldn't bear the thought of his sister going through it as well when he could hardly come to terms with Gauri's past  and his anger didn't stand a chance against his protective brother instinct. 

        
He had seen various shades of his sister but never had he seen this bleakness in her and it was that bleakness that bothered him as he hugged his sister in a bid to ensure himself that she was fine .

  "I am fine Bhai, nothing happened Akash was there to help " she spoke up as if it didn't affect her, he had seen it too several time where she would pretend she was fine when in honestly she was far from fine .

 But as always he couldn't reach her when she goes back into hiding like that, it happened only few times before now but he saw the signs of his sister withdrawing herself from them and he knew no matter how hard he tried she won't thaw from her stance until she sorted it out by herself.  The only thing he can do as her brother was it to wait till she needs him  

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Gauri didn't know what happened in the last five minutes in Kavya room, but something must have happened given the fact Arnav was upset. She tried to ask Kavya to stay a little awhile but Akash choose to enter that room and told Gauri that he had already book the return flights for both of them .

         
Gauri knew they weren't dating but Akash had been protective of Kavya and she realized it had something to do with what that got Arnav upset as well, he had promised to tell her later and so she waited until they finally reached home .
     
Everyone was asleep by then which meant Gauri was all alone in her room, it had been just a day and she felt like a year had passed in such a short time by the length of everything that transpired, she got her son back, she mended fences with Kavya ,she met her brother and she even realized her father inability to love her wasn't her fault .
      
Everything worked in the way she wanted and yet she felt lonely and drained of her energy and sleep eluded her as well, she decided to check upon her son for one more time even when she had checked upon him before retiring to her room .

     
Yet her feet led her to his room. His door was unlocked and as she stepped inside the room, she saw he was awake as well . " Couldn't sleep ?" She asked him as she made her way towards him .

        
" No .. Just have lot to think about " he answered back , from the all years she knew him ,he had never been one to get too upset over anything and in the few months she met him again ,she had disrupted his life and made him take care of her  problems ,no wonder he had been exhausted by now .

      
" Want to talk about it ?" She found herself asking him, all these years he had been her sounding board. The person she confided in about everything for once she wanted him to rely on her as well, she didn't know what will happen in the future but for tonight she wanted him to rely on her for support. 
  
" Haven't you already had enough to deal with  " he answered back there it was his underlying concern ,and she knew one of the reasons he was awake now had been her because he was worried about her .
    
" It was a eventful day and you were there by my side every step of the day and now let me stay by your side , I owe you that much " she answered back as she sat besides him in the bed willing him to confide in her. 
    
" You don't owe me anything Gauri ,I stood by your side because it what I want to do and do you know how proud I am of you . I have never met anyone who is remarkable as you " he answered back , Gauri didn't realize how much she needed those words until he said them .

   
After that night all she felt was that she was broken or weak, certainly not remarkable and yet in his words there was no flattery or exaggeration . He clearly meant them and after feeling too low with her insecurities hearing them from him made her heart warm all over. 
     
And he didn't treat her a fragile doll but shared everything that was running through his mind including his conflict feeling about Kavya and he didn't skip what happened to Kavya either in an attempt to protect her. And he even told her about how close he had come to punch her biological father which was the emotion that was shared by everyone from her family .

         
And she listened as he talked with her for the rest of the night, for once Gauri didn't feel like the partner who had to rely on others , her marriage with Arun had been always one sides him protecting her but with Arnav it was different and it both scared her as well as made her happy.
        
Until the realization that she won't have him by her side in few months popped in to her mind out of nowhere and it killed every bit of happiness as she rushed out of his room in the middle of their conversation with a feigned excuse of feeling sleepy and returned back to the familiarity of her room .
      
She may like those moment with Arnav but she refuse to delude herself into believing it can last forever and she didn't know why the thoughts was enough to bring her to tears . She didn't know if she was strong enough to let him go the second time but she had to do it for both their sake and decided to keep her distance away from him ,so that their heart aren't engaged further  

P.S :" That it for now . Let me know your thoughts and feedbacks . Hit the votes if you liked it "

Love

Juanita Reid