As Kartik and Naira arrived back at the house, they silently nodded to each other and separated, Naira going to join Kirti and Kartik beside Mansi. Suvarna, however, continued to stare at Naira with hatred, which Devyaani noticed. Frowning, she pulled Naira closer to her, glaring back.

Suvarna glared at her and turned away when earning a raised eyebrow from Suhasini Ji.

Please. Naira thought pleading. I don't want this war to start just because of my mistake.

How many times do I have to tell you Naira, it was both our fault! Kartik shook his head when he glanced at her, noticing her grimacing. Why do you still keep blaming yourself?!

Not being able to handle the noticeable tension in the room, she turned to the table to grab a glass of water and calm herself. Even if she and Kartik had confessed, something was still amiss. Perhaps it was they themselves. Or someone else.

They could never actually confess and pass their differences with this fear of hurting Suvarna. As long as she was against Naira, they couldn't do anything. They couldn't truly believe they had forgiven each other, they couldn't believe they actually LOVED each other.

Naira snapped out of her trace when a hand grabbed her own comfortingly, and she looked up to meet her brother's comforting eyes. She sighed and fell into his arms as he hugged her reassuringly. She wanted to believe everything was finished. But this was just the beginning.

That night, Naira continued staring outside the window, many thoughts racing through her head. Just then she heard... familiar voices from downstairs. Frowning, she got up and opened the door, going down the stairs to see what it was. Wait... what was her mendhak doing here?!

"But-" Naksh tried to argue but Naira cleared her throat.

"Bhai. what's the matter?"

"He wants to take you out somewhere!"

"Okay. i'll go then."

"..." Naksh rolled his eyes and left without another word, not wanting to argue. Naira turned back to her mendhak who was grinning widely. That smile she had yearned to see for years.

"Come on. I booked a hotel for us to stay for the night." He said. She blinked. A hotel? "This mess is too big, I wanted us to be somewhere private. Only us two."

She didn't question. She just went along with it.

.....

As they settled down on the bed, Kartik glanced at his sherni. She looked... distracted. Sighing, he scooted closer to her and put a hand on her own. She turned to face him, tears lingering in her eyes.

"Naira, we went over this. It's not your fault." He said softly, bringing his hand up to softly wipe away the tear that slipped. She quickly pushed his hand away and turned away from him, not wanting for him to see her like this.

"You don't know that..." She whispered. He looked away.

"You're right. I don't. I wasn't the one who tried to kill themselves 'cause someone I dearly loved behaved badly to me, now did i?" There was bitterness in his voice. Naira turned to him surprised.

"... t-tum kya kehna chah rahe ho?"

"... what do you think? If I hadn't provoked you, if I had listened, if I hadn't been so blinded by my anger and sadness, you wouldn't have tried to kill yourself."

"I-i thought I was doing everyone a favor of leaving this world!" His eyes widened at her response as she shot up. Silence.

"... a favor?" His voice was quiet. "A favor?! You thought you were doing everyone a favor by just leaving us forever? How?" He sounded angry. And heartbroken. "Why would you think that Naira? Tum aisa soch bhi kaise sakti ho, we can't live without YOU. I can't live without you."

She didn't say anything. He took in deep breaths to calm himself and looked straight into her eyes. "IF we want this to work out-" He switched the subject. "-IF we want to get past these tensions, we're going to have to face them first."

"What do you suggest? Hum zyaada kuch to kar nahi sakte, that will affect our families and they'll start hating each other again. Mansi and Anmol's wedding is the only thing keeping them together for now." She frowned deeply.

"The key to keeping them together is US. If we are separated, so are they. Because of US they are like that. Besides, it hurts maa more than it should." He sighed. She just wanted to keep him safe from who she thought was the cause of Shubham's death. Naira. And he couldn't blame her, he himself isn't clearly sure if she is innocent or not.

"I don't see how that will help when we are getting divorce." She sighed crossing her arms. He froze, shocked.

"... divorce?" He sounded angry and rough. "You want divorce?"

"I thought you did too so..." She frowned glaring back at him. "the papers are still in and the letter should be arriving soon-"

"Naira, I had canceled it." He blurted out truthfully. "Cause of what happened. I wanted to think this through, but if you want to divorce then..." A tear trailed down his cheek.

He was cut off when she slammed her lips on his in a passionate kiss, hands angrily clutching his hair for saying such a thing. Though he was surprised, he immediately returned it and both fell on the bed, still kissing each other. Her hands roamed his chest while his hands went to her back, unzipping her dress...

Meanwhile...

"Hello aunty!" Suvarna heard a scream from downstairs and stood up, racing down the stairs only to be tackled by a hug from the girl she had asked to come. Ashi let her go and beamed. "How are you???"

Suvarna smiled. "I'm fine. Tum itni der se kyun aayi?"

"Wo kya hai na aunty, the lousy taxi was sooo slow it took me, like, a millennia to get here." She said wrapping a hand around Suvarna's shoulder, with her other hand motioning to those spying on them to go away.

"Ab dekhna, kya hota hai." Manish smirked. "You brought her here to marry your son? She'll be the one to show you the meaning of love... I hope."

Oh don't worry uncle. Ashi smirked. I'm gonna have sooo much fun with this...

..... 

Did I say something about fun? No? In this chapter it was possibly the arriving of Ashi and the beginning of her- no, everyone's devious plan, and more Kaira feelings-reveal fluff, though they still hate each other's guts. Family stuff getting in the way, rivalry going on, i'm gonna bring in the family members more. Depends if it's sad or not. Nope, definitely sad. I hope it's sad. Or is it- okay, that's all. Hope you liked it and sorry for mistakes and this really bad chapter! Sorry if this is taking so long, i'm trying to get through the story as smoothly as possible.