Natasha froze at her place for a few seconds before saying anything to Priya who was mollifying Peehu.

"Priya why are you making things up, why don't you tell her the truth?" scorned Natasha.

Priya turned around to look at the source of the voice and stood shell shocked seeing Natasha standing near the door folding her hands. Priya's eyes became teary after seeing her after a long time. Priya wanted to say something but words failed to come out of her mouth. Priya walked out of the classroom and stood facing Natasha excusing herself from the class.

"I should have guessed already that you are the one behind all of this. No wonder Peehu talks so much about her Miss all the time. Poor girl doesn't understand that you are the most selfish person who turned her back on her own...!" exclaimed Natasha in anger and stopped in the middle when Priya interrupted her.

Peehu did not understand what was going on between her teacher and Bua and obliged to stay back in the classroom itself.

"Natasha please hold on for a moment, can we speak about this matter somewhere else?" Pleaded Priya. Natasha also noticed agreed with her involuntarily. Priya requested the other teacher to conduct the class while she was away.

Natasha followed Priya until they reached the playground.

"How are you Natasha? It is good to see you after a long time." Priya said with a faint smile hiding her inhibitions assessing angry Natasha.

"Seriously? This is what all you have to talk about?" Natasha scoffed.

"Natasha, I know you are really upset with me but there is a reason, please under- "started Priya but was cut short by Natasha.

"Enough of your nonsense Priya!" said Natasha showing her hand to stop. "If I knew you were Peehu's teacher I would have told her to stay as far away from you as possible, in fact I would have never let your shadow fall on her. Now I understand the changes in Peehu's behavior and it was just because of you. How could you do this Priya? You are meeting her every day and creating a space in that little girl's heart without our knowledge? What a cheap technique! I am not only upset with you but I really hate you Priya after all of this. I have seen and heard enough of you. I cannot tolerate if Peehu has to suffer because of you. She is more than happy even without your presence." Natasha was very angry with Priya and vented out her anger.

"Natasha please try to understand my point." Priya tried to talk to her.

"Stop it Priya! Stay away from her and you have no right on Peehu. I am really feeling sad for bhai, he tried to find you everywhere and you have been meeting Peehu every day under our nose. He was desperately missing you even after you left us without saying anything. Shame on you Priya. You are the one who have disowned Bhai and Peehu from your life and suddenly you appeared out of nowhere trying to be nice with Peehu by distancing her from us. Do not ruin her happiness Priya, I won't let you do that. You already moved on with your husband and kids so why are you behind Peehu." said Natasha with boiling anger. Priya got confused hearing the last statement from Natasha.

"What do you mean by my husband and kids?" asked Priya puzzled.

"Yes, Priya I saw you, kids and your husband in the park that day. My Bhai is innocent and he is still foolishly waiting for you to come back into his life. Don't try to come near bhai, even I don't know how he will react when he gets to know about all these things." warned Natasha.

"I think there is some confusion, I don't know what you are talking about?" said Priya, puzzled by Natasha's statement.

"There is no confusion; Bhai can now move on and marry someone without any guilt of ruining your life." Said Natasha and the last words Pricked Priya's heart. Priya was trying to explain Natasha but she did not care to listen.

Natasha continued saying, "Even after all this I am not going to tell anything to Bhai, you are not worthy of his attention. Nevertheless, this is my first and last warning Priya, stay away from Peehu. If you wish to live peacefully then stay in limit and don't give any hopes to Peehu which will disturb her." Natasha glared at Priya and left from there without giving a chance to Priya to defend herself.

'What is she even talking about? She saw me with my husband! How's that even possible?' She then tried to recollect the incident and then she realized why Natasha said. Priya hit her hand on her forehead in disbelief.

"Oh no! She must have seen me with Rajat in the park that day." Priya became worried for a moment but convinced herself that it is good in a way. Priya came out from her thoughts when she heard the bell. She was standing alone. She heaved a deep sigh and came back to the class where Peehu was sitting with a gloomy face.

She understood that she should handle Peehu very carefully. She decided she would talk with her during break.

In the recess, Peehu was sitting alone. Her friend called her for playing but Peehu denied by nodding her head in sideways. Peehu did not respond anything when Priya sat beside her.

"Peehu, I'm sorry". Priya initiated the conversation, keeping her hand on Peehu's shoulder. Peehu still hung her head down and said nothing.

"Don't you want to talk to me Peehu?" Priya tried.

Peehu remained silent.

Priya then held her both ears with her hands.

"Peehu I am sorry bachha". Priya pleaded. Peehu raised her head up slightly to look at Priya. She removed the hands from Priya's ear.

"Miss, I am not angry with you. I am just sad that you did not come to my birthday but my papa told me it is not good to force anyone." Peehu said innocently. Priya was surprised but did not show that and just smiled in return.

"Ram told Peehu not to force anybody! Like really? At least he is teaching something good." Priya smirked.

"Miss, yesterday was your daughter's birthday too so you could not come to my birthday, right? So I'm not angry with you anymore." Peehu said with a smile on her face. Priya was surprised how sensible Peehu is.

"Thank you Peehu. I will never hurt you again." Priya said and pulled Peehu into a bear hug. Peehu returned the hug and smiled at Priya. Priya kissed Peehu on her forehead and held her near her chest.

Tears welled up in her eyes but Priya held it back looking at her surroundings.

After some time Priya broke the hug,

"You know Peehu today Miss brought 'Aaloo ka Paranthe' for you'. Priya said joyfully.

"For me?" Peehu asked enlightened.

"Yes, would you like to eat?" Priya asked Peehu delightedly.

"Wow, 'Aaloo ka Paranthe' How did you know about my favorite food?" Peehu asked, surprised.

"My daughter loves it too." Priya replied with a smile. She tore a small morsel of it from the tiffin and put it near Peehu's mouth. Priya never thought that she could ever be able to feed her daughter again. She felt so happy and content. Priya was feeding her very lovingly, forgetting about what Natasha said to her some time back.

Priya was walking through the corridor towards the Principal's office. She was feeling sad about what she was going to do but she had no choice.

'I have to do this but I can't. I want to be Peehu's teacher and stay near her as much as possible but I need to change the class otherwise if Ram comes to the school for any Parent-Teacher Association then I do not really know what to do. So, I have to request the Principal to change my class to avoid any such instances.' Priya was feeling miserable inside her heart.

Upon reaching the Principal's cabin, Priya entered inside the cabin after taking permission.

"Priya, you wanted to talk to me?" The Principal said after she asked Priya to sit on the chair.

"Yes Ma'am," said Priya with uncertainty. Priya took a deep breath.

"Could you please change my current class and assign me another one?" said Priya a little regretfully. Principal looked at Priya with knotted brows with her sudden request.

"Priya, are you ok? You don't look so good." Said the Principal out of concern looking at Priya who looked visibly disturbed.

"No, I'm Ok. I really want to change my class," said Priya, trying to control back her tears.

"But Priya, you have been doing a great job with your students. Why do you want to change your class?" asked the Principal perplexed. Priya did not say anything. She wanted to say but her heart pricked her so much that she could not speak a word.

"Priya, I think you should think this through. You have made connections with your students, especially Peehu. She has changed a lot because of you." The Principal tried to convince Priya.

"Please ma'am I want to change my class." said Priya biting her lips to hide her flowing emotions.

"I can't do that Priya. You might want to change your class but another class teacher should agree with you and then only you can exchange your class with that teacher's class. Moreover, it has been one month and by this time students must have connected well with their class teachers so it would be very clumsy for everyone to get on the track." Principal explained her version to Priya.

"But if you are adamant to change your class then I'll try but I can't guarantee anything," said the Principal.

*********

"Natasha did you meet Peehu's class teacher?" Ram interrogated as soon as he came back from the office. Natasha was still angry with Priya but did not want to show it on her face. She tried to act normal in front of her brother.

"Yes, Bhai I met and talked to her." Natasha answered with a fake smile.

"What did she say?" Ram asked, raising his brows. Natasha paused for a moment preparing herself to not to display any hint in her expressions.

"Yesterday, it was her daughter's birthday too, so she couldn't come." Natasha lied. Ram instantly became angry.

"Then, why did she promise to Peehu. She could have clearly said no to Peehu. I'm going to meet her tomorrow." Ram said with raising anger.

"Relax Bhai, I clearly warned her to stay away from Peehu and do not attach too much with her. Besides, I do not think it will be a good idea to meet her again and talk about the same topic." Natasha, angry and annoyed by Priya. She was angry with Priya and she decided to not disclose this secret to Ram.

"You are right but did you make this clear to her properly?" asked Ram, interrogating again.

"Yes Bhai, there is no need to worry about that matter." said Natasha, keeping her hand on Ram's shoulder.

*********

Priya struggled to catch some sleep as her mind fully occupied with what happened in the morning. She tried to divert her disturbed mind by looking at the twins who are in deep slumber but nothing helped her to come out of the distressed chain of thoughts.

"Natasha said Ram can now marry without any guilt, what does she mean by that? Is Ram aware about Aryan and Amaira by any chance? No, how's that even possible? Did Ram also see me in the park along with Rajat and having the same thoughts like Natasha? If he is ready for marriage now, then why did he compel me to do all those things? Natasha said until now Ram was waiting for me, is that true? Then why did he say all those things on that day. He trapped me in his fake love and knowing about him, I still fell in love with him. I feel so ashamed of myself for that." Priya recollected all the moments but ended up having a bad headache.

After sipping a glass of water from the side table, she rested her head on the pillow trying to catch some sleep.

Her thoughts lingered around the incidence where she had undergone the "Artificial Insemination" (Surrogacy) process.

Flashback,

Priya met Ram when he informed her to meet him in the Kapoor Industries' guesthouse. Both were sitting opposite to each other. Priya fidgeted with her fingers not knowing how to start the topic. Ram offered her a glass of water but she denied nodding her head.

"Relax Priya, I am not an Alien." Ram initiated the conversation looking at Tense Priya.

"Tell me how your father is?" Ram asked but Priya was not at all interested to answer to his so-called fake concern.

"Can we come to the point directly sir? Why did you call me here?" Priya asked, clearly annoyed.

Ram nodded, shrugging off Priya. "Ok then".

"So, tell me about your daily routine, Priya." Ram asked and Priya smirked.

Ram continue:

"I mean about your job, what you do daily, eating habits and other stuff." Ram asked again but this time Priya got uncomfortable and annoyed with his questions.

"Why would you want to know about these details?" asked Priya frowning at him.

"Just answer what I'm asking Ms Sharma, You are going to be mother of my child, heir of Kapoor's family so I should know complete details about you." said Ram in a rude tone. Priya heaved a sigh and started explaining her routine involuntarily.

"I go to my job and take classes to Natasha on weekdays. On weekends, I take classes at home." Priya said plainly.

"Resign your job and stop taking classes at home too." Ram ordered simply. Priya's eyes widened with shock.

"Excuse me". Priya exclaimed in anger and annoyance.

"Don't you get it? I said to resign from the institute and stop taking classes, is that hard to understand?" Ram said rudely. "Haa, you can continue taking Natasha's classes if you want but then that too for a few days only". Ram said relaxing himself keeping his one foot over the other.

"But why? Whether I go to an institute, take classes or not, how does it even matter to you? Sorry I can't do that". Priya denied straight. Priya was losing her temper by each passing minute.

"No problem Priya, you know me very well what can I do if you will not listen to what I say. One phone call and they will remove you from the job". Ram smirked evilly. Priya gritted her teeth seeing his domineering nature.

"You are my prime priority Priya and your first priority should be me, I mean the surrogacy process. I don't want you getting involved in any sort of work without my permission." Said Ram. Priya gritted her teeth clearly pissed off with Ram and it was quite visible on her face.

"Relax Miss Sharma. Anger is not good for your health. Yes, especially when you are going to carry a child. Therefore, listen once the procedure will start, you are going to leave this place and shift with me to Pune. It is also good for you in a way, nobody will be there to ask you anything or put you in any uncomfortable situation." Ram said leaning little forward, clasping his hands together on the table.

"I'm not leaving Mumbai, Mr. Kapoor." Retorted back Priya.

"You are carrying my child and I want to feel each and every moment of the pregnancy period. This will not be possible in Mumbai". Said Ram.

"You are mad Mr. Kapoor. Forget it; I am not going to stay with you. If you want to feel all these things then you should marry and enjoy every phase of the pregnancy with your wife so leave me alone." Priya countered, glaring at him.

Ram grinned evilly. He stood up from his place and sat beside her. He leaning towards her ear and Priya can feel his breath fanning on her neck. She was intimidated by his proximity and soon enough became alert turning her face away from him.

"Will you marry me Miss Sharma. Then I can do anything with you, right?" Ram asked in a hoarse voice. Priya shuddered with his voice.

"You will be the last person whose face I would like to see". Priya said, clenching her jaw.

"Don't worry Priya, it's just a matter of nine months and after that you don't need to see my face. Once this procedure starts, you are coming with me to Pune". Ram smirked, moving little away from her.

Priya closed her eyes in disgust and helplessness.

"I am fixing an appointment with a doctor tomorrow. Before going into the procedure, the doctor wanted to conduct your full body checkup. I will let you know the time, be ready by that time and I will come to pick you up." Ram said.

Priya's body paralyzed for a good amount of time hearing about the procedure. She submerged in deep fear thinking about the drastic changes, which are on the way in her life.