It was night time. Naira was confused, restless and frustrated. Earlier in the evening kartik had come to her. He had cried, in a way he had never before. He had poured his heart out. He had begged her for forgiveness. He had bawled in her lap. Keeping his head on her lap reminded her of previous times. Kartik had a habbit of laying his head on her lap whenever he got the chance and she would always lovingly stroke his head.

A knock on the door had separated them. When she opened the door, she found out it was Kritika who had cone to play with her. Although she told her she couldn't play but the little girl didn't budge and came inside. Kartik had gone from there knowing and understanding that naira needed some time and they couldn't talk things like that in front of a little girl.

Many questions were running in naira's mind. But the biggest one was about her injury. How did he come to know about her injury ?

For 2 years she had suffered a lot. Being away from kartik was painful for her. Udaipur and Singhaniya house held a lot of memories for them so she came to Mumbai to escape from those memories. She had cried a lot in these 2 years. Everyday she had missed him. Every moment spent away from him was painful for her.

She missed his hugs. His kisses. The way he cuddled her while sleeping.

She had always thought that kartik didn't love her anymore. That he wanted nothing to do with her. But his apology had been a reality check for her. No matter how angry he was. He hadn't stopped loving her. His guilt of not trusting her was eating him alive. Kartik was blaming himself for her injury. She never told him about it because she thought that he didn't care anymore but that wasn't true. He still cared for her. The way he got worried when she twisted her leg. The way he took her to the hospital and held her hands while she was getting injection showed her that he still cared for her.

In these 2 years everyday she had wanted to meet him. For him to call her. She always thought of calling him but she didn't. Why? Yes he was upset with her and told her to go but why didn't she at least try one more time. She could have tried but she was hurt. Deeply. By his words. Even he never called her. He probably didn't even know that she was in mumbai other wise she doubted he would have come. Her mind was a mess. Confused by all those thoughts. The other thing she wanted to know was about his drinking habbits. Kartik had become a drunk. For how long had he been drinking and why didn't anyone stop him? She had cried seeing his condition that day at the pub. Her kartik who never even touched alcohol was now addicted to it. No matter what, she knew she had to get rid of his drinking problem.

Her thoughts were confusing her. One moment she was hurt and another she was worried for him. His apology, his words were still playing in her mind. She needed to talk to someone. Someone who could guide her. A person who could set her thinking in a way that it would make sense. She thought deeply with whom to talk and she realised that only one person could have told kartik about her injury. She thought of calling that person but she realised that it was late. It was better to call the next day only. She lied on the bed in her room but she kept turning band tossing in the bed. She tried to distract herself but the only thing she could think of was his apology. His words. What he said.

Kartik took a huge swig of the alcohol directly from the bottle. He was in his room pacing around. There was only one thought in his mind. He was restless, anxious to hear naira's answer. On one hand he was hopefull that maybe she'll forgive him but on the other hand he was terrified, scared. What if naira didn't forgive him and finally decided to end this marriage once and for all. What if she finally decided to go for a divorce. No. His guilt was already eating him he won't be able to bear that. He took another swig of the bottle. He needed this. Otherwise he would go crazy.

The next day of college came. Kartik and naira both reached college. Kartik was desperate to see her. He knew that naira had started to come a bit early to college. It was because of him. From the first day of college he had targeted her. Always asking her question, berating her without even knowing the whole situation. He felt even more guilty. He had hurt her again. After meeting again after 2 years he had immediately started hurting her again. Why? For his foolish pride, ego. Kartik wanted to punch something at that moment. His guilt was clawing at his consciousness, spitting at him. Kartik needed to make up to her and he knew that.

Finally it was time for naira's class. He entered the class room and saw naira sitting in the first bench. For a moment he wanted nothing more than to run to her, to take her in his arms, to kiss her, tell her again how much sorry he is, to promise her not to hurt her again. He wanted to take her in his arms. His favourite thing in the world was taking naira in his arms. He would always find excuses to take her in his arms. And naira never minded. She knew his love for her but what did he do. Pushed her away from him.

He got a hold of himself and sat on the chair. He was in no condition to take the class. The only reason he came to college was just to see naira otherwise he would have skipped it. So he just gave the class a very easy test to do.

Students were surprised by his behaviour. Ever since he had started taking classes everyone knew of his anger, his giving them assignments on assignments, giving them very hard tests so they were surprised when he announced the questions of the test. Everyone knew that he was only a temporary professor as the college was still appointing a new professor for them but none of them dared to say anything because they knew that he was also a trustee of there college. So they had to endure it, but this sudden change in his behaviour was shocking.

Everyone was doing the test. But naira wasn't able to write properly. She was distracted. She was writing very slowly. She knew all the answers but her mind kept diverting her to the incident of last evening. His apology was ringing in her ears. Her mind was in shambles. She had no idea what to do, what to think. She was trying very hard to concentrate on the test but she wasn't able to. She didn't dare to look at him. She was trying to get her thoughts together but she knew that as soon as she looked at him her thoughts would fall apart so she kept looking at her paper only.

Kartik was staring at naira. He tried to distract himself, looking at other students, looking outside but everytime his mind and heart brought him back to naira. Every minute he tried to divert his mind but everytime his mind brought him back to naira.

Unknown to him there were some students who were seeing this. From the first day they were noticing the interactions of kg and naira. The very first day naira fell in his arms, then kartik always questioning naira, he never asked questions to any other student, he always asked naira only. Then her running away from class, her strike movement and still no actions against her being taken. And now him staring at naira again and again. Something was definitely there.

As soon as the college got over naira immediately went back to her flat and the first thing she did was call keerti. Keerti picked up the call.

Naira :- hello bhabhi.

Keerti :- hi naira. Kaisi ho ?

Naira :- mein theek hoon bhabhi. Papa kaise hai?

Keerti :- vo bhi thik hai naira.

Naira :- bhabhi ?

Keerti :- haa naira.

Naira :- bhabhi meri chot ke baare mein aapne kartik ko bataya hai.

Keerti became quiet for a moment and then she spoke.

Keerti :- haa naira.

For a moment naira was angry. How could bhabhi tell kartik like that? And why did she tell him?

Naira :- par bhabhi kyun ?

Keerti :- naira usne mughe pehle poocha tha aur maine usse batane se mana bhi kar diya tha par phir - .

Naira :- phir - .

Keerti :- par phir usne mughse request kari naira. Uski awaz mein ek dard tha, ek tadap thi, jo maine kabhi uske mooh se nahi suni.

Naira became silent. She didn't know how to respond. She knew what keerti was talking about. Just last evening only she had heard that voice of pain.

Keerti :- naira. Dekho mein tumse bhi vo hi kahungi jo meine kartik se kaha tha. Ye do saal tum alag rahe kya tum mein se kisi ek ne ek baar bhi ye socha ki tumhare bich actually problem kya hai. Kartik tumse naraz tha, gussa tha lekin kya tumne ek baar bhi socha ki ye narazgi, ye gussa kyun hai. Vo tumse isliye naraz tha kyun ki tumne Shubham ki addiction ke baare mein usse nahi bataya. Mein jaanti hoon ki tumne Shubham se vaada kiya tha par ek baar sirf ek baar apne aap ko kartik ki jagah rakh kar dekho. Tumhe kaise lagta uss pal agar Shubham ki jagah gayu ya naksh hote aur tumhari jagah kartik. Tum bhi vaise hi react karti jaise kartik ne kiya tha.
Naira kartik ne har baat pe tumpe trust kara, tumhara sath diya. Raghav wali baat par, kabir wali baat par, jab us par joru ka gulam hone ka ilzaam laga tha tab bhi vo hurt isliye tha ki tumne usse nahi bataya, tumne bhi usse galat samgha. Vo hurt hua tha naira kyun ki jiss se usne sabse jyada pyaar kiya ussi ne usko itni badi nahi batayi. Naira ek baar bas ek baar iss barrein mein sochna jarur.

Keerti cut the call.

Naira stood there frozen. Keerti's words and Kartik's apology had suddenly opened a new dimension of her thoughts.

She realised what she had done two years ago. Yes he told her to go but he was hurt, very hurt because of her. How could she forget. This was the same kartik who once fought with his entire family just to marry her. This was the man who always trusted her, no matter what. The person who fainted in the operation room just because she was getting injection. The person who despite being extremely scared of syringes had gotten a tatto of her name. When everyone accused her because of her fake abortion, this was the person who saved her, stood up against his entire family, against dadi to protect her honour even without knowing the entire matter. Even then he didn't question her. During keerti's wedding when dadi forced her to choose between singhaniya's and Goenka's this was the same person who went to Singhania house instead of her so he could do her duties.

How could she forget all the things done by him for her. How could she. She had hurt him deeply. It wasn't shubam's death which broke him it was the truth of his drug addiction hidden by her. How could she even think that he wouldn't care about her leg injury. He freaked out if she even got a single scratch on her body then how could she even think that he had stopped caring for her.

He was angry because he felt betrayed by the one person he loved the most in the world. No matter where they were or with whom they were he always called her ' his naira '. Not naira but ' his naira '. How could she forget that. She could also see why he became a drunk. He must not had been able to bear there separation, her betrayal. So to cope up with that he started drinking.

For 2 years she kept blaming him for there separation not realising that she was equally at fault. Yes kartik never called her but did she make an effort to go back to him ? How could she even think that being away from kartik would make her happy. In these 2 years she had never been happy because she was away from her kartik. The one who gave her happiness, the one who was her strength, the one who had always loved her.

There separation didn't just break them it also broke there families.

Naira knew now what she needed to do, what she had to do. For 2 years they had suffered, cried, waiting for each other but no one taking the necessary step forward to each other but not anymore. Because of there foolishness they had suffered a lot but not anymore.