"Did you see Ladoo how she declined a simple request? What would have happened if she had said yes. Not to anyone else but to her own sister, we were asking to transfer the shares." Parvati twitched her nose. "I'm telling you she's changed."

"Grandma, the only thing that is bothering me is that if tomorrow Sanskar shows Laksh the way out of the company? What will happen to us? Laksh was saying that his words will have no meaning in front of the Sanskar's decision" Ragini was concerned from the day Swara had declined their parents proposal.

The proposal to transfer half of her shares to her sister's name in the name of equality. The Gadodia family could not accept the fact that the girl who used to keep every single word on top of her head, the same girl, without thinking about it, flatly refused their request.

Sharmishtha was the most affected by Swara's words. Her illusion that my daughter does not refuse anything of mine, that illusion was shattered.

Ragini was also shocked for the first time when her sister chose Sanskar's trust and love over their SwaRagini bond. This had never happened before.

Parvati got one more reason to hate Swara. Her hatred for her other grand-daughter increased in multitude. Her heart envied Swara's bright future against her beloved Ragini.

"Ma, Papa, this thing should remain in this room. Please don't mention this to anyone. Papaji will get angry if he comes to know about this." Ragini had requested her parents after Swara's exit.

"I see only two solutions for this. First, tell Laksh to give more concentration to his new company, build it, and stand on his own feet. Be successful like his elder brother. Once his place in the house is confirmed, no one will have the courage to say anything to you." Parvati always wished the best for her grand-daughter, but when it became her obsession she herself did not understand.

"You are right Dadi ma." Ragini nodded her head in agreement.

"Second thing, you give this house it's heir as soon as possible. Even before Swara. Parineeta is not here at all." Parvati's manipulative instinct reached its peak.

Ragini turned to look at her grand-mother with wide open eyes.

"Remember when you did that drama of fake pregnancy to help your mother, then how Annapurna made you sit on her head. She was only concerned about you. Swara had fallen into the river. She was missing for so many days, yet Annapurna was more worried about you. Because she assumed you were carrying for the heir of this house." Parvati provoked her grand-daughter, using her inferiority complex.

"I will talk to Laksh." Ragini's mind started revolving around her grand-mother's words.

As usual post dinner time, Swara went upstairs to the terrace for their 'Me Time.' When she stepped on the terrace, she could not see Sanskar on the swing. She roamed her eyes, and at one corner of the terrace she could see her husband who was busy on call.

She kept on staring at him back. Over the last few days, she had started feeling she was getting her Sanskar back. He had started smiling oftenly, his flirty teasing during their routine, peace on his face on morning drive, his possessive hold over her at nights. His smile, his love for her, his respect...she was able to see them in his dark brown eyes.

She remembered their conversation happened a few days back when she confessed about her parents proposal to transfer her shares on her sisters name.

His eyes flickered with insecurity for a moment but when she admitted she declined their proposal, his eyes grew wide in astonishment. And then the next moment they were filled with peace, satisfaction, trust and admiration.

"If you want, you can transfer a few percent on Ragini's name." He advised with careful words.

He knew she was trying her best to inculcate trust in their relationship again but in her efforts he did not want to lose herself-being.

"Why? Those are my shares. My husband earned it with his hard work. He transferred it to my name. Who the hell are you to tell me to transfer it to someone else's name?" Her eyes grew wide and she was back to her threatening demeanour.

"Ok. I surrender. You do whatever you want. I am always with you." He raised his hands in defence.

"You have surrendered long back Mr. Maheshwari. Now there is no way back." She kept her head on his shoulder smiling at her victory over him.

"I don't even want to think about it." He wrapped his hand around her in a side hug. He kissed her hair.

Today, it took almost half an hour for Sanskar to finish his call. He turned and started taking slow steps towards the swing. Swara could see him drowning in his own thoughts. She could see worried lines on his forehead.

"What happened, Sanskar?" She asked the moment he settled beside her.

"Ahh... actually... ahh... nothing... it's just a business thing. Don't worry." He stammered trying to cover up.

Seeing his face, his eyes, Swara knew that something was wrong. She agreed with a light nod to his point thinking that if not today then tomorrow he will definitely share his problems with her.

Rest of their 'Me Time' went in silence where Sanskar was either mostly busy in some deep thought process or typing something on his phone. There was again a call on his phone when they were stepping out of the terrace.

"Swara you go ahead. I will come back after this call." This had never happened till today, he never asked her to leave to attend any office calls. He never mind discussing confidential company calls in front of her.

She waited for almost an hour in their room but her husband had not returned back. When she went upstairs to the terrace, he was not there. Finally, she went downstairs to study.

"There should be some way. I can't let him screw up this time." She heard husband's panic tone.

He was rubbing his forehead with his free hand whereas the other was holding his iPhone. He was sitting on the chair with closed eyes with his MacBook wide open.

"Sanskar?"

"Shit" He mumbled gulping hard when he saw his wife standing in front of him with crossed hands and raised eyebrows.

"I will talk to you tomorrow." Saying this without waiting for another person to respond back he cut the call.

"What is this Sanskar? It's 1:30 now. You should sleep." She raised her eyebrows.

"Why are you awake?" He closed his macbook not meeting her glaring eyes.

"Because my husband is not in our room to make me sleep." She huffed annoyingly.

Her pouty face earned a small chuckle from him.

"Come let's sleep." he wrapped his one arm around her shoulder and with the other hand he held his MacBook.

Both returned back to their room. Swara immediately drifted to sleep in his embrace but Sanskar kept on caressing her hairs drowning in his thought process. Recent revelations were enough to take away his sleep.

After a few hours, when he saw Swara had slipped in deep slumber, he carefully settled her head on her pillow. He got up from bed covering her with a comforter.

He was tired of full day office work, he needed peaceful sleep, and there was only one solution to it; his sleeping pills. He opened the drawer on his side, and he saw a few pills over there. He took one of them frustratingly.

He lied down again, but still sleep was far away. He closed his eyes remembering his and Swara's moments.

"Swara, I have nothing to do with it. Trust me." He held Swara's hand, almost begging her to trust him.

"No, you are jealous of our success. See Swara, what he had done. Because of him only Laksh is facing all these issues." Ragini pointed her finger again at him.

"How could you do this Sanskar?" Swara asked, dropping her shoulder.

"Swara, please don't leave me. Please for god sake don't leave me. Please trust me."

"Swara, please trust me." He woke up from his sleep, panting heavily. Sweat droplets had been formed on his forehead. He turned to her side of the bed, Swara was not there.

"Did you leave me again?" he mumbled.

"Sanskar are you ok? What happened?" Swara threw the towel in her hand and came to him. When she came out of the washroom, she heard his scream.

Next moment he pulled her in a tight embrace, like his life was depending on her mere existence besides him.

"Please... Please don't leave me." He kept on mumbling on her shoulder blade.

She felt his tears on her bare shoulder.

"Sanskar I am not. Where will I go without you? You are my life. I love you so much." His tears brought tears in her eyes as well but still she kept on saying soothing words caressing his hairs.

"I love you so much, Swara. I will die if you leave me again." He broke their hug but cupped her face in his both hands.

Swara stared into his eyes, she had never seen him in his extremely vulnerable state till today.

"I will never." Saying she crashed her lips on his to seal her promise. She kept on kissing him nibbling his lips. Their separation, their longingness, their tears, their wait, their love she poured every emotion in that one moment.

He did not understand for a moment but stayed still, he let her do whatever she wanted.

She broke their kiss but not her hold, she grazed her nose tip with his. "Won't you kiss me Sanskar?" She asked panting heavily.

It was a moment when Sanskar lost his control, he smashed his lips over hers. He held her firmly, tilting his mouth he deepened their kiss by pushing his tongue in her mouth. He was playing with her hair and with others stroking his thumb on her cheeks.

He pulled her close to his chest and she sat on his lap. She wrapped her both arms around his neck caressing his hairs and his neck line.

After 10 months of separation, both were lost in their own world of passion and love forgetting their surroundings and losing their sanity. They broke their kiss feeling breathless.

"I love you Swara." Their foreheads were touching each other.

"I love you too, Sanskar." She gave one more peck on his lips.

There was an alarm sound from Sanskar mobile which broke their moment.

"Good morning." He kissed her forehead with a small smile.

"Same to you."

Swara knew something was bothering her husband, something which might impact their relationship. She wanted to know and remove it from its roots.

"Let's go for our morning drive." She pulled him and pushed him to the washroom.

Both went to their favourite spot, which was on the Ghat.

"Sanskar I know there is something. Yesterday, you told me it is about business. Maybe, but if it is troubling you, I would want to know about it. I can't see you like this." She held his hand when they both were sitting on steps.

"It's hard to explain. I don't know how you will react." he muttered while taking a sip from his coffee. "I just want to know what I should do. I will do exactly what you will tell me."

"Ok" she encouraged him to speak up.

"Badi reconstruction" He took a pause to observe any changes on her face.

"Laksh and his friends company announced the project, they even demolished Badi but they don't have required permissions and approvals from government in their hand." Sanskar shook his head disappointingly.

"What?" Recent revelation took away the floor beneath Swara's feet.

"The day he announced this project, I could not digest the fact that any one could crack such a fancy deal in such a short period of time. For any common man it looks obviously lucrative and one can easily fall for it but it doesn't work in the business world." He tried to explain in the common man's language.

"But he said he is in process to take all the permissions when Bada Papa asked him the other day." Swara remembered talks over the breakfast table happened a few weeks back.

"Exactly, it's much more than that, when you reconstruct any dwelling, you have to get approvals from land, water, municipality, electricity and what not. One has to have a team of architects and engineers to get it's future plan approved. The plan he had attached to the contract he made with all Badi's residence is not the one which he has submitted for the government's approval." Sanskar tried to avoid any business terminology.

"Here you go see these details." He took out his phone and showed her a few emails.

"I am not getting it." She tried to process but due to technical and legality in language she could not understand anything.

"Ok in simple words, his company committed to build 20 storey towers as per contract he did with Ma and Baba and other Badi's residents right?" Sanskar asked.

"Yes" she nodded instantly.

"But in the documents his company has submitted for approval to various authorities, it is just 15 storey towers. And this is not the only discrepancy. There are a lot more." He shared his findings.

"Ohh my god." She covered her mouth.

"And it will be considered as fraud. In future, authorities or Badi residents can file a fraudulent charge against his company. He is an active partner in his company, resulting in all charges on his head along with his other partners." He gave a clear picture of the current situation.

"It will be hard for him to get permission. Authorities can also bring a stay order on Badi's reconstruction, in this case also his partnership firm will be chargeable under criminal offences. In short, it will be considered fraudulent practices."

"Ohh Kanhaji, what did he do?" Swara held her forehead. She asked instantly "Did you inform this to Bade Papa?"

He shook his head in a negative way.

"Sanskar, you should. He will confront Laksh in front of all and..." Swara could not complete as Sanskar turned his face to the other side.

'And maybe Ragini and Laksh will blame him, naming him as jealous over their success according to their impulsive nature. They will never look at wholesome pictures. And he thinks that I will take their side and won't trust him.' She could not voice out thoughts running in their minds.

"You tell me Swara, what do you want me to do?" He spoke after a long pause breaking her train of thoughts.

He turned to her, he held her hand in his, "if you want me to talk to Bade Papa, I will do that."

She kept on looking at him blankly.

"If you want me to keep my mouth shut ... I will do that."

"If you want me to confront Laksh... I will do that." He did not move his eyes from her face.

"If you want me to use my sources to get him out of this mess... I will do that." He closed his eyes tightly once before staring in hers again.

"If you want me to use my influence to get him all required permission, without letting him know... I will do that." She could see how he was convincing himself to break his self made ethical boundaries.

"If you want Karma Constructions to look into this proposal and support ... I will do that." Karma was his first baby, still he was ready to stake his life time hard work for her one wish.

"Just tell me, what do you want me to do? I will do exactly that. Because I don't want you to misunderstand me in this chaos. I don't want you to leave me because of my wrong decision." His honesty, helplessness, insecurity was flowing in the form of tears on his cheeks.

She knew Sanskar was a very wise and shrewd businessman but the person sitting besides her was not any businessman but a man who loved his wife unconditionally. He was ready to compromise his self-respect, his reputation, ethics and morals he followed in his professional life just to be with her.

"Sanskar please." she wiped his tears nodding her head. "Let's think about this as a team, how should we tackle this?" She kept her other hand on their joined hands with assurance.

He nodded his head staring at far hoping this upcoming storm would not take away his love from him once again.

Both drove back home, but their minds were filled with the thoughts exhausting both of them mentally.

Swara was helping Sanskar with his tie, when she asked, "Can you let Bade Papa know about it without involving yourself in it?"

"What do you mean?"

"You said you have a security team. Can they somehow let Bade Papa know about Laksh's company's doings via third parties like media or society or badi's residents itself?" She questioned.

"What will happen with that?" He tried to understand her point of view.

"Bade Papa is an elder in this house, I feel he should know about it. Once he is aware about this he will confront Laksh. Since this information will be from a third party your or my name will never come into a picture. So there won't be any blame game. And then let them decide what they want to do?" Swara put her thoughts in words.

He thought for a while before asking, "Do you think it will work?"

"I don't know. But at least, we will not feel guilty that we kept it hidden from our elders even when we knew about it. Also, there won't be any blame on us. At this moment, this is the max we can do from our side. Then it's up to Bade Papa, Badi Ma and Ragini to confront Laksh and decide."

"And if Lakshya also entangles them in his round and round talks and they come into his talk? I am sorry but Ragini... She will never accept Laksh's mistake. Then what?" He tried to find a loophole.

"Then we just have to pray for their well being... We can wake up a sleeping person, but we cannot wake up someone who is pretending to sleep. This is their life, the decisions are also theirs, so they will have to take responsibility for those decisions as well." Swara reasoned out.

Sanskar was immersed in thoughts.

"This is what I think we should do but if you think otherwise, let's discuss." She gave me an option.

"Give me a day or two to think about it." He cupped her face. He felt relaxed, she provided a solution but not forced him for agreement. Their current conversation made him remember the days when they were acting as husband and wife under fake marriage drama. They were a team.

"Ok." she nodded her head with a smile.

He wrapped his arm around her waist pulling her over his chest. "I will miss you in the office."

His carefree tone, shining eyes, teasing smile made her realise that a huge burden had been lifted away from his heart.

"If you want I can come to the office with your lunch." She flirted playing with his tie knot.

"Not bad Mrs. Maheshwari. That reminds me you have never been to Karma's head office. So you are most welcome whenever you want to come." His eyes were not leaving her face.

"Are you not getting late to your office?" She reminded him.

"Ohh shit." He looked at his apple watch. "Bye Swara." he gave a quick peck before leaving.

"Bye come soon and drive safely." she shouted running behind him.

Swara came back after bidding her husband goodbye, she came face to face with her mother who was running behind little Ayush for feeding him his breakfast.

"Give me mom. I will feed him." She moved to her mother who had settled down on a nearby couch. She was tired after a long run.

Sharmishtha was in late forties, for her age taking care and handling of little life was physically as well as mentally tiresome. Swara knew about these limitations, so whenever she found an opportunity she helped her mother babysitting her little brother.

"No it's ok I will feed him." Sharmishtha had her own grudges against her over their last conversation.

"Ma, please." She forcefully took a bowl from her mother's hand.

"Ma, are you still mad at me?" She asked innocently while feeding her little brother.

"No, why will I be angry? It's your life. Why will you worry about anyone? Why will you be concerned about your parents? Shekhar was pointing a finger at me that how I have raised you. Not only Shekhar but your grandmother too." Sharmishtha vented out her annoyance.

From the day Swara rejected her parents proposal, Shekhar and Parvati did not leave a chance to taunt Sharmishtha over her parenting skills.

"Yes, it is true, when I listened to you, supported Ragini, my family over my husband, then your upbringing is perfect, but for the first time when I supported Sanskar, then your upbringing went wrong. I am sorry for not being able to be your perfect daughter." Swara's eyes filled with tears. She shook her head disappointingly.

She picked up Aayush in her arms and took him out to the garden holding his snack bowl in her empty hand.

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