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.

Karan went straight to their room and looked at Aru who was sleeping innocently on the bed. He went and sat near her head and caressed her hair.

"papa loves you...." he said softly and wiped his tears and took his keys and wallet and went out.

Teja saw Karan sit on the couch and wear his shoes. He had his keys and wallet kept by his side. She quickly came inside the lounge from the balcony and stood in front of him.

"where are you going?" she held his shoulder and made him look at her.

"Teja please...." he closed his eyes in exasperation.

"it's really late i am not letting you go anywhere and it is raining heavily...." She was about to pull him inside but karan resisted without any effort.

"don't stop me...." He said looking deep into her eyes.

"no...." she shook her head and glared at him. "i have said you are not going anywhere and that is final....come inside and change....your clothes are wet...." She could feel her eyes filling up with tears.

"there is a limit till which a person can tolerate things teja and I can't do it anymore.... I need time alone....away from everyone...." he shouted losing his calm. "away from the world...." He added in a whisper. Her heart sank in her ribs.

"what do you mean? What the hell do you mean by that?" she screamed at him , trying to cover her fear by her anger.

He didn't bother to reply and walked upto the door.

"sunny you are not going anywhere I am warning you....you were not wrong but the situation was not right karan....you have to understand...." She kept trying , but he rolled closed the door behind him and walked to the lift knowing she cannot follow him leaving Aru alone.

She knelt down near the door and broke down , sobbing and gasping for breath.

After a few minutes , she got up wiped her tears and went to their room and sat beside Aru. She called their family and informed them everything and sat blankly throughout the night , waiting for him to come back. But he didn't.

It was morning and she woke Aru up. They had a couple of days holiday from shoot and she decided to let Aru be at home because she was too messed up to go out of the house.

Throughout the day Karan was not home. She had called him hundreds of time to find his phone switched off. She had called his staffs and close friends but none of them knew where he was. she had called all their friends but no one knew where he was. With each passing second , She was getting more worried and tensed.

At night , as she was feeding dinner to Aru , she asked.

"where is papa?"

Teja didn't know what to answer.

"he has some work baby...." she kissed her forehead.

"we always have dinner together....he was not there in the morning also....where is papa?" she frowned as tears started to form in her eyes.

"aru....baby....papa will come back don't worry...." She hugged her tightly and somehow made her finish her dinner. Teja herself was losing her mind and was scared thinking about where he was.

"let's go to sleep...." she held aru's hand to take her to the room to put her to sleep.

"no....i will sleep after papa comes...."

"please don't be stubborn Aru.... you are my good baby nuh???" Teja kissed her cheeks.

"no...." Aru stomped her feet with a frown.

"aru lets go baby....please....mumma is not feeling well...." She knew this would work and it did. Aru went to the room with her and she made her sleep.

The night passed in a frenzy for her.

Next day also Karan was not home. Teja was worried as hell and was sitting in her room trying to handle a freaked out Aru who was hell bend on going to her papa.

"aru please baby....listen to mumma....you have fever baby....you have to eat something to have the medicine...." Teja checked her forehead as aru was sitting with a swollen face waiting for Karan.

"aru please....your fever will shoot up...." Teja kissed her forehead but aru was not listening to her. She was scared that papa was again gone. Away from her.

By afternoon , aru's fever was high and she was asleep. Their neighbour doctor had come and prescribed medicines and Teja had tried all possible ways from cuddling aru , to scolding her so that she takes the medicines but has failed.

By the evening , aru's fever had increased , and Teja didn't know what to do. She was already worried for Karan and now aru was not helping her in any way.

She took her phone , and dialled omi's number. Omi had informed her previously that he didn't know where karan was but she knew that he was lying.

"haan teja bhai...." he said after picking up the call.

"Omi bhaiya....woh....aru.... aru...." she kept sobbing and fumbling.... she knew if Omi knows aru was not alright , Karan would come to know and he would definitely come back. She was too much worried for Karan and at that point she had no other option other than telling Omi and karan about aru to make him come back.

"aru?what happened to Aru?" Omi asked urgently. Karan was sitting beside him , in his house when the phone came. As soon as he heard aru's name , he snatched the cell away from Omi.

"what happened to Aru?" Karan asked urgently.

"karan please come back....Aru has high fever...." before she could complete , he had already disconnected the call.

Within an hour , Karan came home and rushed into the room to find aru sleeping on the bed. Teja who was sitting near aru's pillow stood up seeing him. He sat down near aru and caressed her cheeks. aru opened her eyes and tried to sit up.

"nahi choco pie.... don't sit....papa is here and papa will sit here....okay?"he bend down and kissed her cheeks and forehead. Aruu closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep again.

Teja had gone to the kitchen and brought a bowl of soup for aru. She gave the bowl to Karan without any word and sat on the couch away from him. He caressed aru's cheeks and woke her up.

"chocopie....you have to have this...." he smiled at her cutely. aru shook her head in refusal.

"you have to baby....you want ice cream?" swayam smirked at her. aru's face lit up. She nodded with a huge smile.

"but you will get ice cream only when you are fit and fine....for that you to have the medicine and for that you have to have this soup first...." he took a spoonful of soup and slowly fed her. Teja kept looking at both of them with a smile. This was the peace she wanted.

After drinking a bit , aru shrugged her face away.

"no more papa...." Aru made a face.

"you don't want ice cream?" karan frowned at her. aru nodded with a pout.

"then finish this...." he kept feeding her. aru frowned at him.

"then you will get me ice cream?" she asked.

"deal...." he said seriously to convince her.

"then you will leave?" aru's face fell.

Karan immediately looked at Teja. She looked away from Karan immediately and smiled at aru. "no aru....papa is not going anywhere...." She said and then looked at karan. "you won't go right?" teja asked him.

He looked away and smiled at aru. he quickly fed her the rest of the soup and wiped her mouth.

Teja was checking the medicines from the prescription. he took the bottle of medicine from the table and took a spoon.

He told her a story and made her have all the medicines and put her to sleep.

Teja kissed her forehead and switched off the light.

Karan kept sitting by the side of the bed , as aru was holding his hand. Moreover he had promised aru that he would sit there.

Teja laid down beside aru and Karan kept sitting leaning on the headboard. Teja started to get irritated with the silence.

"lay down sunny....you will get a sprained neck...." she said softly.

He heard her but didn't say anything.

"sunny i am saying something...." she said a bit louder this time.

"shhhh....choco pie is sleeping...." he glared at her and teja pouted like a kid.

"lay down...." she said stubbornly. Karan sighed and laid down beside Aru.

Teja smiled happily and caressed his hair. He opened his eyes and looked at her seriously.

"don't...." he glared at her.

"okay...." she said softly and kept caressing his hair.

Karan closed his eyes in irritation and she chuckled seeing him. She knew that he was getting angry.

"sunny....i am hungry...." she said after a couple of minutes of silence.

"go and have something...." he said nonchalantly.

"i cannot have dinner alone....it's okay i will sleep hungry....no issue...." she said pretending to be sad. She knew he was hungry since two days and she had also not had anything and this was the only way to make him eat. If he knew she was hungry he would do anything to make her eat. Even if he was angry or upset.

He rolled his eyes. Such a drama queen she was. And he loved her for that. That was the best thing about her.

He got up and came back with two plates of dinner and gave one to teja silently. She smiled softly and sat with him and had dinner.

After dinner , he kept their plates in the sink and laid down beside Aru and hugged her. Teja laid down on the other side of Aru and kept her hand on his palm which was hugging Aru. Karan was about to glare at her but she was already asleep. Or maybe pretending to be?