"Why did you leave me, Priya?" Ram asked, holding her arms in a tight grip.

Priya just stood there looking blankly at him. She could see any tiny layer of moistness in his eyes even though his voice was shrilling in the room.

"Never did I ever imagine that you could move on in your life so easily. How could you just simply forget everything happened between us?" Ram said slightly jerking her body.

"Why is that even after you left me, I still have the same feelings for you, huh?" Ram asked, slamming his hand on the wall angrily. Priya shuddered with his reaction.

"Why can't I just forget about you and move on with my life? Why do you still hold a place in my heart? Why?" Ram slammed the wall again in rage.

Priya blinked her eyes, jumping in her skin.

This time his voice displayed more desperation and sadness rather than anger. His tears slowly started streaming down his cheeks as Priya watched him silently.

"Ram, it's over. Please let me go." Priya tried to come out of his cage.

"I am not done yet." Ram gritted his teeth pushing her to the wall making her wince.

Priya flinched her face. "What are you doing?" Priya asked.

"Tell me, why did you leave me? Why did you leave Peehu? Explain to me, what made you make such a drastic decision. How did you just move on in your life like nothing happened?" Ram asked her trying to get the answers from her desperately.

Closing the gap between them, he moved close to her, literally crushing her between the wall and him. His hot breath fanning on her face as he looked dangerously into her eyes.

Priya got intimidated by the closeness they are sharing right at that moment.

"I need to go." said Priya with a trembling voice.

"Not until I get the answers from you." said Ram determinedly.

"I don't owe you any explanation" roared back Priya, gathering some confidence.

"Really?" He smirked.

"Yes." Priya stole glances from him.

Ram flinched his face clearly annoyed at her response.

"You left Peehu alone when she was only six months old. I have no clue about your intentions to run away from us, I left for work thinking you would stay home and take care of Peehu. You proved me wrong, you are a bad mother, and how could you be so insensitive to leave Peehu with maid?" Ram raised his voice.

Priya could not hold back her emotions any longer.

"Yes, she did wrong by leaving little Peehu like that." She admitted.

Tears slowly trickled down her eyes, feeling extremely guilty for leaving Peehu but not Ram.

"Why are you crying now?" Ram scoffed.

"You did whatever you wanted to do. You are the reason for Peehu's condition today. Peehu is craving for you but little did she know that you have no love or compassion for her. You have mercilessly disowned her when she was a little child. Peehu did know that you are happily married and have kids too." Ram spitted venom through his words.

Priya scrunched her face with his talk.

"Peehu is not aware that her mother is heartless and will leave her again. She has to live with the void in her life." Ram did not stop.

"Stop it, Ram! Please stop it!" Priya closed her eyes, unable to digest his words and pushed him with all her strength.

Ram stumbled slightly. "Why should I stop?" Ram yelled at her composing his position.

"Yes, I agree that I made a mistake by leaving Peehu but let me tell you one think clearly." Priya's eyes were red as she looked straight into his eyes.

Ram looked at her expectedly waiting for her to talk further.

"You..." She pointed her finger at him. "You are the reason for everything. You messed up my life and made me take such hard decisions in my life." Priya could not hold back any longer as her ongoing emotions consumed her completely.

Ram stood there motionless as she started sobbing badly. "Yes, I am a bad mother. I hate myself seeing Peehu suffer because of me."

Covering her face in her palms, Priya cried bitterly.

Ram could not handle tears in her eyes. Her muffled cry made him restless and guilty for making her cry with his bitter words.

His heart cried seeing her cry. Moving slowly towards her, he removed her hands away from her face.

Priya stared at him blankly when he cupped her face wiping tears with his thumbs. Their eyes engaged in an intent eyelock for a while until Ram took a first step and kissed on her lips strongly.

Priya stood motionless for a while, not able to register what was happening. Once reality struck her mind, she made futile attempts to push him away. Ram tilted his head kissing her like this is the last thing he wanted to do in his life.

Priya started hitting on his chest with her fists but nothing seems to be stopping Ram. He closed the gap in between them by engulfing her in a tight hug still not leaving her lips.

After a few seconds, she stopped resisting him when she felt moistness on her hand due to his tears. She closed her eyes tightly as a fresh pool of tears started rolling down her cheeks.

Both of them were crying while their lips were still in contact with each other.

Seperating from the kiss, Ram said impatiently, "Come back to me. I will take care of the rest of the things." Ram said, wiping his tears away.

Priya was shocked by the sudden changes in him.

"Are you out of your mind?" Priya asked him.

"What should I do? I am not able to think straight, Priya." Ram fisted his hair in frustration.

Priya gaped at him when he held her shoulders. "I want you back in my life." Ram uttered.

"You are engaged to Esha and still you want me back in your life." Priya asked him unsure of what she heard.

"Forget about Esha. Let's think about us. I need you, Peehu needs you." Ram said out of desperation.

"You have not changed a bit, Ram." Priya stated.

Ram looked at her with a puzzled face.

"You are still the same, selfish and self-obsessed. No one else matters to you other than yourself. Nothing else matters to you other than your own feelings." Priya shook her head in despair.

"Priyaaa!" Ram tried to explain to her.

They got startled when somebody knocked on the door. Realizing their state, they stood apart from each other. Ram went to open the door while Priya quickly entered inside the washroom.

"What happened, Choti?" asked Ram as he found Natasha at the door.

"Nothing Bhai, Priya is not in Peehu's room and maa is calling everyone for lunch so I came to call you." replied Natasha. Ram nodded simply. Natasha noticed redness in Ram's eyes.

"Bhai, what happened?" Natasha asked, seeing Ram.

Ram wiped his sweat on his forehead with the back of his hand. "No nothing happened, Choti. I am just tired. You go, I'll downstairs in a while."

Natasha found his behavior odd but remained silent.

"Now, I have to find where Priya is." said Natasha and left.

Ram chose to stay silent and closed the door once Natasha left from there.

Priya washed her face and looked at the reflection in the mirror.

"Why is his presence still affecting me a lot? No, this is not supposed to happen. I should not go weak in front of him. He still did not change a bit." Priya told herself before she came out cleaning her face.

There was an awkward silence in the room and Priya started moving towards the door without meeting his eyes.

"Where are you going, Priya?" asked Ram, stopping her.

"Natasha is searching for me and moreover it's not right for us to be here." said Priya looking down.

"Our discussion has not been completed yet. I still need an explanation from you." said Ram firmly.

"There's nothing left to discuss. I gave you Peehu as per our agreement. I don't want to talk about this anymore." Priya concluded.

"You can't dodge this every time by tagging your actions to the agreement." Ram said clearly annoyed.

"Was it not an agreement then?" Priya retorted back meeting his gaze.

"If it was just an agreement, then I would have never let you come close to Peehu. Everything between us and all the moments that we have shared when we were together is a part of an agreement. What are you trying to say?" Ram asked while knitting his brows.

"There is no 'us' anymore. You are going to get married to Esha and you are talking to me like this now..." Priya snapped at him.

"Hell with Esha. I am talking about 'US' at this very moment." Ram roared.

"It's over Ram, everything is over between us long ago." Priya said infuriatingly.

"Fine then." Ram said as he looked at Priya with a serious face.

He pointed his finger at her before he spoke. "If you really think everything is over between us. Then you will tell Peehu that you don't love her and you don't care for her. Also, you will tell her that you are not her mother and you don't want to live with her. If you can say all that in front of Peehu then right, I will agree that everything is over. So, are you going to tell or not?" Ram asked, eyeing her.

Priya felt disgusted. "No, course not. I am not going to do anything like this. You can't force me." denied Priya glancing angrily at Ram. She would never do that. She cannot trouble her daughter's peace of mind again. The thought itself just made her stomach squeeze in uneasiness.

Ram laughed at her in a sarcastic manner.

"You know what your problem is?" Ram maintained a sharp look at her. "Though, I try a lot to change myself, but whenever the situation comes to you, I still have to force you." Said Ram stressing his words.

"I know how to get the things in my way, you cannot stop me not even your partner." said Ram more dominatingly.

Priya scrunched her face with his audacity and left from there after throwing a serious look at him.

*********

Aryan was enjoying all his favorite food items. Krishna and Natasha were enjoying seeing him delighted.

"Maa, don't you think, he somewhat looks like bhai. I mean his chubby cheeks and look at his eyes, exactly like bhai. In fact, it seems we are looking at the younger version of bhai." said Natasha, noticing Aryan.

"I also feel the same Natasha. Aryan looks like a carbon copy of Ram. But maybe we are thinking too much." said Krishna disappointedly.

Natasha scrunched her eyes with suspicion thinking deeply about something.

"What are you thinking, Natasha?" asked Krishna, raising her brows.

"Is Priya hiding something from us?" said Natasha doubtingly.

"What do you mean?" asked Krishna.

Krishna and Natasha stopped discussing this topic when they saw Priya coming downstairs.

"Priya, come and have lunch." said Krishna sweetly, seeing Priya. Priya nodded and took a seat.

"Where have you been? I searched you everywhere." asked Natasha. Priya paused for an excuse.

"I was out for a while." said Priya hesitantly.

"Mumma, these noodles are very tasty." said Aryan chewing his food. Priya smiled at Aryan.

"Bhai, come let's have lunch together." said Natasha as Ram also came down.

Priya stiffened her body as Ram sat next to Aryan.

"I will eat later after I feed Peehu." said Priya.

"Peehu already had juice just now. Also, Asha (caretaker) is with Peehu so don't worry. You finish your lunch first." said Krishna with an assuring smile. Priya nodded at Krishna.

Natasha and Krishna sat on one side of the table and on the other side, Ram and Priya with Aryan in the middle. Ram smiled seeing Aryan relishing his food.

"You like noodles?" asked Ram curiously.

Aryan nodded his head up and down enthusiastically as his mouth was overloaded with noodles.

"What do you prefer most, Noodles or pizza?" Ram asked further.

"I like Pizza more but I don't like vegetables over it." said Aryan making a disgusted look.

Ram, Krishna and Natasha smiled enjoying his talk. Natasha was observing Priya and Aryan while having her meal. Something was surely running in her mind. Everybody was eating their meal. Priya hardly had anything.

"Let me go and check Peehu." Priya stood up to leave.

"Want to have ice-cream?" Natasha asked Aryan once he finished his meal. Aryan eyes sparked with delight.

"Yes." Aryan instantly replied.

"Wait Natasha" Priya stopped her and then looked at Aryan "Aryan, did you forget you are not well. You have a cold and fever and that is why you took leave from the school today." Priya reminded him.

Aryan pouted his lips requesting his Mumma.

"Don't give me that look, Aryan." Priya said with a frown.

"I am fine Mumma, I am a strong boy." said Aryan showing his tiny muscles. Priya did not budge and Aryan became sad.

Ram turned to Priya. "Let him have. Nothing will happen with one scoop of ice-cream."

Priya exhaled deeply and decided not to deny any further. "Aryan, only one scoop. Do you hear me?" Priya told Aryan and left from there.

"Thank you so much, Uncle. Mumma does not agree so easily but she agreed to you." Aryan thanked Ram in his super duper happy mood.

Ram, Natasha and Krishna smiled at this cute boy.