After 10 Brain freeze later...
I'm finally back but guyssss, the reason why I wasn't able to concentrate on this properly was because I was preparing for a new SwaSan story 😂 then I realised first yeh toh khatam kar lu. Bechari is hanging for too long now 😭.

Sorry for any error, mistakes and inconveniences 🌹.

Chapter 37: The Awaited Moment

After sipping from the cup of coffee and speaking with everyone apart from Sanskaar, Swara had excused herself and walked out of the shop, to avoid the uncomfortable and awkward feeling.

While heading towards the taxi stand, realising she had come with Kavita, she felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around surprisingly, stopping while staring at Sanskaar.

"Let me drop you home." He offered with a smile across his face and she flapped her eyes at him in surprise.

"Huh?"

"I can't let you go off on your own, that's not manner like behaviour. Even though it is awkward between us, it's not like we are enemies or hate each other, and I just couldn't let you wonder off on your own, so I'll take you home." He kindly offered, passing her his soft smile and she was flabbergasted, not knowing what to say.

"I. . ."

"Come." He held her hand tightly as they crossed the road and headed towards the car, she glanced at his hand tightly around her hand and then at him. Her cheeks felt hot and she touched them with the back of her hand, feeling the warmth.

'This is so embarrassing.' She thought to herself and freed her hand from his hold, "I can walk myself." She uttered and instantly distanced herself from him, walking to the other side. 'Why is he. . . Being like this? And what the hell am I feeling! Why am I. . .' She wasn't sure how to describe what she was feeling at all. It was nothing but confusion and awkwardness for her right now.

While opening the car door, she watched him take a seat inside the drivers seat and hesitated to sit in the passengers seat.

"You can sit in the back if you feel uncomfortable in the front."

"No, I'm fine!" She exclaimed and sat in, closing the door afterwards. She looked at him and he smiled at her. 'I. . . I don't want him to think that I'm thinking about it.'

"Swara, know that you're allowed to reject me. I won't take it to heart." He uttered and started the car, she wore her seatbelt uncomfortably.

"Can, we not talk about this?" 

He nodded his head and began driving. She hesitantly played with her fingers. Her thoughts were all over the place.

"If. . . I reject you, will anything change between us?" She managed to ask, glancing at him and he gave her a quick look with a small smile, "no. I'll keep this one sided so you don't need to worry if it affects our relationship. I'll still be a friend, and be there whenever you need me."

"Shamelessly?"

He scoffed and nodded his head, "yes, shamelessly. And you don't need to feel guilty about anything. Accept my shameless attitude as another way of apologising."

"I. . ." She stopped and exhaled, "I want to stay being friends." She completed and waited for him to react, until a sudden void in her heart took her attention.

She creased her forehead with confusion and placed her hand over her chest, unfamiliar with this feeling. The feeling of uneasiness made her question her decision.

"Okay. I'll bottle my feelings up and eventually I'll move on. So don't worry at all." He replied and smiled at her, his smile was triggering her void, that's what she had realised just now.

It was him, he was the reason she is feeling an uncertainty in her heart, still clueless and confused. Despite being pleased to have rejected him, she was feeling bad and a little upset.

With piles of voices in her head rising through her thoughts, she couldn't control her emotions and bursted out "just stop!"

He confusingly blinked at her for a second before looking back at the road. "What happened?"

She realised she had blurted it out loudly and sighed. "Nothing. I'm sorry." She apologised embarrassingly and looked the other way, loosing in front of her thoughts. 'He's lying isn't he? He won't stay the same, no one would. He's going to slowly leave me, because it'll hurt him to be with me knowing he can't have me. . . He will abandon me. . . But, why am I so sad and hurt by this thought? So what if he leaves? Why is it upsetting me so much? Why does my heart feel uneasy? If I had said yes, would it have made it any better?'

"Are you thinking about Janki Aunty?" Sanskaar interrupted her thoughts and she looked at him. "Hmm?"

"Are you thinking about Janki Aunty?" He repeated his question and she looked down. "No, why?"

"You look tensed."

She was surprised, why exactly was she tensed and what for. Apart from thinking about her newly discovered family, why is she worrying over this.

"When will you be accepting your family Swara?"

"Huh?"

"Till how long will you keep avoiding? It's been three months, I think. . ."

"I need more time." She interrupted him before he could continue. "And I don't think it should concern you." She rudely added and looked the other way, regretting it afterwards.

"I know it's a sensitive topic for you, after all that happened you need time to accept and move on, but you can't always run away from them. They're waiting for you."

"How can you be sure that. . ."

"Yesterday, Papa and Janki Aunty reconciled. They talked it out while sat in the temple knowing neither of them could lie. I made it happen, I took them to the temple and made them take an oath to tell the truth and at the end of the day, they forgave each other and cried." He revealed and she looked on, "now they have no bitterness between them and the only hatred they hold is towards Shekhar. Today both of them are gone to speak to him. But, your Rajveer Uncle talked to me yesterday and he told me that he doesn't want to force his parenthood on you until the day you give him permission to be your father. He said he'll wait as long as it takes."

Her eyes moistened and she covered her face with her hands. Her heart ached, and it felt heavy. All those times she hadn't opened Janki's letter, not because she was upset at her but because she was scared, scared of justification, scared to face the explanation. She wasn't even sure what was in the letters, but she knew if Janki had apologised and straightaway tried to justify herself and blame it on others, her heart would break. She doesn't want anything, not even an apology, all she wants to know is them being grateful for her existence.

The car stopped and the engine turned off, she lifted her head and checked the surrounding, confused to where she was. "Where are. . . We?"

"Home." He replied to her and passed her a small smile, she realised and shook her head negatively. He shook his positively and encouraged her to go.

"But. . . What if they get tired of me? What if one day they realise they don't want me?" She muttered with tears seeping down her cheeks.

"They wouldn't. They'll keep you with them forever. You're someone they want to be with Swara, someone they're choosing to be with. It's not you going back to them, it's then yearning to have you." He explained and held her hand to comfort her, "they're not going to abandon you. Trust me on this."

She shook her head negatively, still unconvinced. He softly wiped her tears off from her face and tucked her hair behind her ear. "If you ever feel like they don't like you anymore, which I highly doubt they wouldn't. You always have us to come back to. Sameer to hold onto. Kavita to hold onto. Sheesh, me and Sahil to hold onto. We will never leave you. We will always be here for you."

She stared into his eyes, finding hope and comfort. His warm tone of voice was shaking her current decision. She was slowly breaking the ice from her thoughts. He took his seatbelt and stepped out, closing the door and walking towards her side, opening the door for her. She took her seatbelt off and slowly stepped out, looking at the house. Her heart sank. All her fears and nervousness hovered around her. Her biggest fear of being abandoned was making her shake.

Multiple times she changed her mind but he held onto her to convince her. And at last she stood in front of the gate while he was stood by the car. She let out a sigh and mustered courage, ringing the doorbell.

"Yes?"

"I'm. . . Is. . ." She was stuttering, confused on what to say and Sanskaar came forward, leaning towards the speaker. "We're here to see Janki Aunty and Rajveer Uncle."

"Who is this?"

"Swara." He uttered and she nervously clenched her fists.

"Sorry, Rajveer Sir is gone to work and Janki Ma'am is out. We only have Ragini Madam here."

"It's okay, we're leaving." Swara instantly spoke and turned around but Sanskaar held onto her. "Won't you meet Ragini either?"

"I. . ."

"Swara!" She heard her name from a familiar voice and her heart skipped a beat. Her head slowly turned to the side and she watched Janki sprint towards her with happiness gleaming on her face.

Sanskaar moved out of the way and in no time Swara was being squeezed tightly in Janki's embrace.

"Sanskaar." He turned around to see Ram stepping out of the car, looking at him. Sanskaar passed him a smile and leaned on his car, enjoying the view in front of his eyes.

Swara made eye contact with him and he blinked at her, assuring her everything will be fine. Giving in to her feelings, Swara hugged Janki back and started to cry.

"Swara. I'm sorry. . ." Janki trailed off with tears seeping down her eyes, she closed her eyes and continued "thank you for coming. Thank you so much for coming back to me. I missed you. You don't know how long I waited to hold you in my arms. Thank you."

Hearing Janki's words made Swara cry even more. Her heart was moved, the voice coming out from her mouth while crying was her heart expressing his overjoy yet pain. Sanskaar and Ram's eyes watered, and they looked away to avoid crying.

Ragini walked out and opened the gate, seeing Janki and Swara. Hearing their cries made her emotional too and she hugged Swara and Janki from the side, resting her head on Swara's other shoulder.

Sanskaar faced Ram and signalled him to leave. The two sat in their own cars and soon drove off, allowing them to have their family moment.

X

After a while, Rajveer ran inside the house, dropping his coat and bag on the floor, rushing towards the hall. He glanced around, searching for someone. As soon as he heard Swara visited them, he left all his important work and ran home as fast as he could, nearly even having an accident on the way.

"Will you be staying with us?" Ragini asked as her and Swara walked down the stairs.

"I. . . I can't leave Sameer on his own. He can't take care of himself properly and it wouldn't be fair if I. . . Just leave him like that. He has no one else apart from me."

Ragini frowned, "he's a grown man. Why does he need you?"

Swara and Rajveer made eye-contact and he ran towards her, pulling her into a hug.

"Swara. Thank you, thank you for coming." He uttered in relief and she closed her eyes while resting her head on his chest. Finding comfort and warmth.

"Food is ready, I made everything I could. Come. . ." Janki stopped speaking after seeing Swara and Rajveer have their moment.

Her lips curved into a smile and Ragini proceeded down the final steps, walking towards Janki with a smile.

"I'm hungry." Ragini whispered and Janki looked at her, "come, let's go." She whispered back and both Janki and Ragini walked away, letting Rajveer and Swara have a peaceful reunion.

XX

Maheshwari Office.

Sanskaar was working on a file, until he heard a knock. "Yes?"

"Sanskaar. . ." He glanced away from the file and looked at Adarsh walking in. "The London programme is here, should I sign you up for it?"

He passed him a small smile and gave it a thought, nodding his head eventually.

"Okay, I'll write your name on it. You should be leaving in two weeks and stay there for six months."

"Okay, I'll start getting prepared." He answered back and Adarsh nodded, leaving the cabin afterwards.

"It's for the better if I leave. Swara will be left with happiness. I have nothing to worry about now." He mumbled to himself and exhaled, focusing back on the file.

XX

Rathore Mansion.

Ayush had walked inside the house, tiredly pulling his necktie and tripped over Rajveer's bag.

"What the. . ." He stopped as he realised, "this is Papa's. Why did he leave it here? If Mumma finds out then he's dead. Isn't he a little too old to be making a mess?" He muttered to himself and sighed, shaking his head in disbelief. "But on a serious note, why is he home early?"

He lifted his head, staring at Rajveer, Janki, Ragini and Swara sitting inside the hall talking with each other. It was mainly Swara talking and the rest listening to her talk about her life that they missed out on. Ayush was confused at first until he realised, 'this must be Swara. . . Who they were going crazy over for three months. My so called elder sister.'

He continued walking and walked past them, getting noticed. "Ayush." He stopped after hearing Janki. Swara turned her head to the side and looked at him.

"This is Yush, our younger brother." Ragini introduced and stood up with a smile, walking towards Ayush.

Swara passed him a smile but he ignored her, "I'm tired." He spoke and walked away before Ragini could reach him.

"Ayush. . ." Rajveer trailed off but it was no use, Ayush was already up the stairs and walking away.

"He must be nervous. He hasn't met you before and doesn't know what to say." Ragini uttered, covering up for Ayush's disrespectful attitude which Janki agreed to.

"I don't blame him. He must be so awkward and uncomfortable too. Like me." Swara spoke, understanding Ayush's situation.

"I'll go get him." Ragini offered but Rajveer stood up, "I'll go instead." 

"No, it's fine. Let him take his time. You can't expect him to start talking with me right away. I'm technically still a stranger to him."

"But. . . He should've at least said hello." Rajveer was offended the most by Ayush's behaviour, sensing a negative attitude.

Swara didn't know how to address him properly, she was uncomfortable yet confused. "It's okay."

"Sir, some people are here to bring stuff into the house." A maid uttered while walking to the hall.

"What stuff?"

"They said Swara's stuff."

Swara was confused along with the rest. "Who sent them?"

"Someone called. . . Sameer."

"Let them in." Janki spoke instantly and the maid nodded her head, walking away.

Swara took her phone out and called Sameer. "It's weird, why would he send my stuff here. . ." She uttered loudly and waited for him to answer.

"Yes Swara?"

"Did you send my stuff to Rathore Mansion?"

"Yes. I did."

"But why?"

"You're going to stay there, so what am I going to do with your stuff?"

"But, I'm not going to stay here. . ."

"Where are you going to stay then?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm moving out Swara. I sold the mansion. It was too big for us to stay in, so I brought a new small apartment, three bedroom. And I'm going to live there after I come back from Australia. I enrolled into the business programme and I'm there for 6 months. You'll be left on your own here, so it's better to move in with them don't you think?"

"I. . ."

"Don't think to much about it. Or worry about me, I'm off to Australia next week."

Her lips curved and she sighed, "thank you."

"I gotta go, catch you later." He cut the call and Swara blinked at curious Janki, Rajveer and Ragini with a small smile.

To Be Continued
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