Disclaimer : All the characters written below are imaginary and a work of pure fiction. There is no resemblance to any incident or situation and is written as work of fiction.

The drive to the office was a long one and Karan was already done with the traffic. He just hoped that he would not lose his calm by the time he reaches the production office.

As he took the left turn and found the road had smooth vehicle mobility , he relaxed. He sighed and turned on the radio and the car filled with the tune of 'ajeeb dastaan hai yeh'. He quickly turned the radio off. Every freaking thing around him reminded him if her. It was as if she was around him everywhere. In every corner of his life , in his very existence.

Clouded with his thoughts, he pulled into the parking lot and got out and walked into the building crisply.

"good morning sir.... this way...." a staff from the production office showed him the way to the meeting room. "ma'am is already here...." he said with a wide and polite smile.

Karan had no idea what he meant by 'ma'am' and he had least interest in finding out. So he gave a small nod and walked towards the room , turned the knob to open the door and heard a man's voice.

"sir must be here anytime now...."

Karan turned the knob and opened the door.

"here he is...." the man looked at karan with a wide smile.

Karan gave a small smile and shifted his gaze to the woman who had her back facing him until she kept the script on the table and turned towards him.

"hey...." his voice trailed of seeing her face.

He felt his lips and throat go dry. She was still the same. The same round face wearing a faded jeans and T-shirt with her hair kept open , just the way he liked. If anybody would concentrate hard they would find a small tinge of red vermillion in the middle of her scalp. He clenched his fists as he struggled to find his voice as well as feet. His head felt light and the noises around him had ceased to exist. The dream which he never dared to see again was standing so close to him.

As soon as she had turned her face to the door , she had felt blood drain from her body. She saw his face and concentrated on his features. He had turned to be leaner. His hair properly combed like a professional. Not the messy sunny look. Although he looked the same but still he didn't look the same. He looked like a storm had move passed his soul sucking all the life out of him. He looked helpless , alone and vulnerable.

"Sir please have a seat.... i'll call the creative and the production team...." and with that the staff moved out of the room leaving them alone.

She quickly turned and took the script and pretended to read it again. Only she knew what she was going through. To say that a storm raged inside her would be an understatement. She could feel her eyes turn wet and she struggled to breath. The pain that she felt was boderline physical. She was not ready to see him , neither did she expect him to be here. And slowly realisation hit her. He was her costar. And then the second realisation hit her. Her team knew this. Why wouldn't they tell her? She had come back to India after 4 years and hired a new team. She was starting everything from the scratch again. Why would her new team hide this? And as an answer to the question the third realisation hit her. Her brother knew this and he had instructed her team to hide this. She licked her dry lips and let out a heavy breath.

Karan stood rooted for a few seconds and then sat on the chair kept beside her looking ahead. She was in Mumbai? Where was she all these years? When had she come back? Why didn't her brother inform him that she was coming back to India? Did he know? Why didn't her parents inform him? Do they still know that she is in the city? Wait , she was his costar. So Omi knew. Why wouldn't he tell him? He felt dizzy with so many questions. He couldn't wait to get out of the office and search for the answers.

"so the first project after Tejasswi decides to return to India and most importantly return to the industry had to be with Karan...." the producer came and sat in front of them and said happily.

Teja gave a slight smile.

"so where were you?can i get a little insight or will i get the same answer as the media kept getting?" he joked and smiled widely.

Ever since she had gone away from everyone , nobody knew what had happened. There were speculations everywhere but nobody could contact her and whenever asked anything to him , he would politely refuse to answer saying it was a personal matter. The truth being he himself didn't have any answer. Where was she?What had happened?What would he tell the reporters when he himself didn't know.

"Just wanted to take a break from work....was with our family...." she said politely to the producer. She didn't want any of their personal issues to become public.

Liar. Karan thought to himself. She was not with her family. Her brother had no idea where she was , her parents had no idea where she was. She would contact them but not tell them where she was. Everything to avoid him. He was the only issue she had in life.

"that's great.... i am really happy to get you two on board.... we will start off by the look test costume trials from tomorrow and then hopefully shoot will start in a day or two...." they were briefed about all the details.

The meeting went on for an hour. Throughout the span he had kept glancing at her through the corner of his eyes. Everything else was dazed out for him. He had hardly concentrated on the meeting and the briefing. All he wanted was to hold her hand. Once. Just once. To get the feel of what he had been yearning for years now.

As the meeting got over the team went out leaving the two alone. She quickly grabbed her bag kept on the stool beside her and got up. The same bag. Which she always used.

"laddoo.... where are you?" karan shouted at the top of his voice as he entered their apartment.

"balcony baby...." she shouted back from the balcony.

"guess what i got for you...." he opened his shoes and threw them in the lounge and went to the balcony to see her sitting on the swing with her hot water bag kept on the stomach.

"laddoo?cramps?" he kissed her forehead and then her hair. "sorry baby you had to be alone for so long.... when did you come back from shoot?"

"an hour back...." she said kissing his palm.

"hot chocolate from your favorite cafe and rasmalai...." he kept the cup on her lap. "and...." he quickly brought his hand from behind him in front of her. He was holding s paper bag. "gift for laddoo...." he smiled widely.

"awwiee...." she had a sip of the hot chocolate quickly and took the paper bag from his hand and peeped inside. "are you serious?how do you know i wanted to buy this?" she took out the expensive branded hand bag from the paper bag.

"sunny knows everything about laddoo...." he said and kissed her cheeks.

"sunny say nuh...."she pouted and pulled his sleeves. He chuckled at her antics.

"i saw you checking this out on their website...." he said softly.

"i am gonna use this bag always....everyday....thank you sunny...." she kissed his nose and cuddled him tightly.

She still used this?Was his first thought. By the time he had come out of his reverie , she was already at the door. She paused for a second , looked back at him and went out of the door.

Karan rubbed his temple and got up. He needed answers from a lot of people. His people He went out to the parking and looked around to see her gone. He sat in the driving seat and started to drive preparing himself with all the questions he will ask to them. Within 10 minutes of drive his restlessness had increased. He couldn't possibly wait for another hour to reach home to make the call. He screeched the car to a halt by the side of the road and got down and banged the door shut. He was losing it. He locked the car and entered the park that was right in front of him.

He looked around to see shrieking children playing happily in the park. His face broke into a soft smile seeing them. The innocence of childhood. The best part of one's lifetime. Just by looking at them he could feel himself calm down which he knew was necessary before making the calls.

He sighed and sat on a bench and dialled his number. Her brother's number.

"I was waiting for your call jiju...." he heard him say immediately after picking up.

"so you knew this right?you knew that she is back here and she is coming for the same show which i had signed....and you didn't bother to tell me?pra so what should i conclude?you always knew where she was?" his voice choked at the end.

"what?no....nooo...." he said immediately. "i didn't know where she was....you really think i won't tell you had i knew it?yes i knew she had went back....that too after she reached India....trust me jiju....and she did the exact same thing that you did okay?gave swear to me to not tell anyone....you also did the same remember?gave me swear to not tell her anything?" his voice trailed off and he quickly composed himself. "and about the project....yes i knew....i asked her manager not to tell her and me and omi bhaiya decided not to tell you as well because we wanted you to sign rhe project....do i have to tell why we wanted this?are we wrong?what would you have done had you have been in our place?"

"i would do anything to be in your place...." karan chuckled dryly.

"jiju ...."

"it's okay i'm fine.... so she is staying with mom dad?" he cleared his throat and asked.

"no she is not.... she wants to stay alone.... mom dad wanted to tell you as well but rhe same swear...." he said sadly.

"i'll talk to them....it must be late there pra....you sleep....good night....take care...."

"take care jiju....bye...." and with that they diconnected the call.

Karan kept her phone in his pocket and looked at his right to see a small little girl of about 3 years or around sitting and staring at him with big eyes and open mouth. He chuckled seeing her.

"what?" he chuckled and pinched her nose.

She shook her head and looked at the ice cream stall and pouted. He followed her gaze and chuckled more. She looked at him in clear irritation. Why was he laughing at her. She just wanted ice cream.

"where are your parents?" he asked her softly.

"mumma is at office and papa is away for work...." she pouted.

"whom did you come here with?" he caressed her hair and chuckled at the two piggy tails.

"aunty...." she pointed at a woman wearing a blue kurta who was talking on phone sitting on a bench a little bit away from them.

"aunty knows you are here?" he asked her softly and she shook her head and that irritated him. How can the woman be so careless and let a small girl like this be by herself in the park.

"ice cream...." she pouted and pointed at the stall.

He smiled softly and picked her up in his arms and walked towards the stall.

"what is you favorite flavour?" he asked her poking her cheeks.

"coco and butter co....co...." she struggled to pronounce the words.

"butter scotch right?and chocolate?those are my favorites as well...." he kissed her cheeks quickly and bought chocolate and butter scotch ice cream for both of them. They went back and sat on the bench with two ice cream in each of their hands and took turn to lick each of the cones. After four years he found himself behave like sunny and not karan.

In no time their ice creams were finished and he took out his handkerchief and cleaned her nose mouth and hands which was covered with ice cream.

"thank you buddy...." she said with a huge smile. He smiled softly and bought a bottle of water from the shop adjacent to them and made her drink water.

"always drink water after having ice cream....that way you won't have a sore throat...." he said caressing her hair.

"i know...."she said proudly. "mumma always says this....she says papa taught her...." she said with a shine in her eyes.

"so papa didn't teach you?papa taught mumma?" he chuckled.

"papa is away for work....he doesn't get time to meet us....i never saw him...." she said with a sad pout. "but mumma always talks about papa...." she added with a happy smile.

Maybe single parent , he thought. He kissed her forehead and caressed her cheeks.

"now you should go back to aunty....and ask aunty to take you home safely okay?and never leave aunty's hand in the park....even if she is on phone okay?" he said strictly.

She nodded obediently. He picked her up from the bench and made her stand on the ground.

"bye choco pie...." he waved at her. She waved back at him and ran towards the woman. Karan had an involuntary smile on his face seeing her run with a little feet. After so long , after years he was smiling from his heart.