Author's note:  A super long chapter ahead for you lovely people. Please do vote if you like what you have read and comment too as I work really hard to get these chapters up and I really want to know what you guys think. Till next time ❤

Shaurya parked his car, where Dhvani asked him to with an extremely heavy heart. He didn't want to part from them, but there was so much left to figure out, so much to talk about that he didn't know how to stop them from leaving him.

"So, here you are," Shaurya said to both Dhvani and Dhruv, who too were looking very grim. He tried to smile and lighten the mood which Dhvani quickly picked up on.

"Dhruv, what do you say. Shaurya has been so nice. He took you to play soccer, let you play on his PlayStation, and even let you have a sleepover." Dhvani asked as she helped Dhruv into the front seat to sit in her lap.

"Thanks, Shaurya," Dhruv said and leaned forward to hug him.

"Thank you." Shaurya parroted back and hugged him closer after kissing Dhruv on top of his head.

Dhruv pulled back with a childish giggle. "Mumma, Shaurya doesn't know you are supposed to say you are welcome when someone says Thank you."

"Sorry." Shaurya laughed and ruffled Dhruv's hair. "You are welcome."

Dhvani smiled as she watched the exchange between the father and son. "Okay. Say bye to Shaurya."

"Bye," Dhruv mumbled with his head downcast.

"Bye," Dhvani whispered to Shaurya once Dhruv hopped out of the car.

Shaurya took a deep breath and nodded along with a small tight-lipped smile.

"Dhvani!" Shaurya called out when she just got out of the car.

When she did turn around, he just stared at her like a dumbstruck teenager. Opening and closing his mouth but not saying anything.

"What?" She asked softly.

"Nothing. Take care." He said hurriedly when she looked at him intently. Almost like she wanted him to say something specific because as soon as he told her something else, her expressions changed. Something he would have missed if he wasn't observing her so carefully.

"Bye." She wished and closed the door before holding Dhruv's hand and walking into the lane that led them to her apartment.

¤☆☆☆¤

"Dhruv, quickly go brush your teeth. I'll pack your bag and get your lunch ready." Dhvani instructed as soon as they entered their apartment. She bent down to place Dhruv's shoes in the shoe rack along with hers.

Dhruv nodded and ran towards their bedroom, but when he noticed Trupti walking out of the kitchen, he hugged Trupti around her legs. "Maasi, I had so much fun. You know-"

"Dhruv, washroom. Now!" Dhvani ordered.

He scowled at his mother but followed her instructions once his Maasi placated him by promising him to listen to his story later.

"Well... Hello... Hello...." Trupti drawled as she walked towards her dramatically.

"If you are not going to say something along the lines of 'I'll help you with Dhruv's lunch and breakfast' or 'I'll drop Dhruv because he'll probably miss his bus' then I don't want to talk about it," Dhvani told her cousin with as much sternness as she could muster.

"I have already cooked and packed Dhruv's lunch. Breakfast is also ready. " Trupti announced as she pointed towards the dining table with an extravagant hand gesture that made Dhvani rolled her eyes.

Dhvani opened her mouth to say something, but Trupti held her finger out. "And yes, I'll drop Dhruv. Not to worry. You just tell me what happened. All the deets."

"Nothing. Happened." She said and tried to dodge past Trupti, but her cousin didn't let her. "Trupti!" She snapped in irritation.

"Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Oh, my God! You did, didn't you?" Trupti gasped as she covered her mouth with her hand.

"Did what?" She said in the same irritated tone and pushed her way into the house.

"Last night and this morning, you seemed really emotional, so I didn't ask you anything," she followed Dhvani closely. "But now there is no escaping."

"Trupti, please," Dhvani said as she ducked into the fridge to hide the warmth spreading all over cheeks.

Dhvani huffed and stomped her foot to show her annoyance, but Trupti wouldn't be deterred. "Tell me more." She demanded. "Fine, at least tell me if you guys sorted everything out? What have you decided?"

Dhvani sighed and shook her head. "Nothing. I don't even know where we should begin talking. I can't even tell you how big of mess everything is. I can't believe I... Dhruv, are you done?" She chided when her son came out of the bathroom while brushing his teeth. "Dhruv, put that remote down right now." She said as she picked up her son and dragged him to the bathroom.

"Mumma?" Dhruv asked as Dhvani bent down to tie his shoelaces.

"Hmmm?"

"Will my Papa also love me just like Shaurya?"

Dhvani paused and looked up at him. His innocently curious mind made her smile.

When Dhvani nodded, Dhruv grinned. "I just wish Shaurya was my Papa. Everything would be so easy." He sighed dramatically.

She was taken aback by the sudden declaration. Where did kids learn these things?

"Let's go, my hero. Maasi will drop and then she has auditions." Trupti said as she came and stood near Dhruv.

"Don't worry. I'll talk to him about keeping Shaurya a secret." Trupti whispered to her.

"Thanks!" Dhvani smiled and hugged her sideways. "All the best for your auditions."

"When I come back, we are going to have a girls talk, and you can't escape." She warned.

Despite her grim mood, Dhvani let out a chuckle. "I do need someone to talk to. Bye! Bye, my back!"

"Bye!" Trupti and Dhruv yelled and waved in unison.

Closing and locking the door, she went to the bathroom to have a shower. She hadn't changed her clothes in over 24 hours, and the neat freak in her was dying little deaths.

A long shower really helped get rid of the tiredness and soreness. She felt a little more ready to take on the big challenge in front of her.

Slipping on her old comfortable maternity t-shirt and leggings, she padded towards the drawing-room. Coincidentally she had taken a day off to prepare for Dhruv's birthday party a long time ago.

There was one thing that she always did when she felt overwhelmed. Clean. Shaurya would always make fun of her habit and call it "the clean bowled" mood where she would clean the entire house leaving it spick and span.

She scouted for her Bluetooth speakers, and once she found them, she put them on and began cleaning.

¤☆☆☆¤

Trupti was walking back home from her auditions. The auditions went well, and she hoped she would bag this role. It was going to be her official first big break on the silver screen.

Her fingers hovered over Lucky's contact on her phone. She wondered if she should call him and talk to him. He had called her more than a few times already, but she hadn't answered.

"Trupti!" Someone called out, and she looked up from her phone and craned her head around to see who it was. Her heartbeat picked up speed when she noticed a man with dark goggles, baseball hat and hoodie began walking towards her.

What the hell! Did she have a stalker? She looked around for help, but the streets were deserted because of the time of the day. Bending down, she picked up a huge rock and got ready to attack the creep, but the creep held out his hands just as she was about to hurl the rock at him.

"It's me. Shaurya!" Shaurya said as he took off his hoodie and goggles.

"Jiju?" Trupti blinked a few times to make sure that it really was Shaurya. "What are you doing here? And what's up with the get-up? You scared me!" She said dropping the rock.

Shaurya chuckled and put back his disguise. "I..." he racked his brain to figure out the right words to tell her more about his ensemble that wouldn't make it seem like he was bragging.

"Oh, right! Silly me. Now you are a big man. Shaurya Gupta, the great cricketer." Trupti laughed and hugged Shaurya tightly. "I missed you, jiju." She said before she could stop herself.

"Me too." He confessed honestly. "How have you been?"

"Great!" She said, pulling back. "Don't I look great?" She asked with a wink.

Shaurya laughed but rolled his eyes. Trupti had always been like this. "I see that." He replied as he lowered his own sunglasses and winked at her.

"What are you doing here, by the way?" Trupti looked pleasantly surprised to see Shaurya there.

"Ummm... Actually, I dropped Dhruv and Dhavni off here, but I didn't see which building they went into or their house number or anything. And I wanted to return something of Dhvani's. I called her office, and they said she wasn't in today and she is not answering her phone either. So, I thought I'd just drop it off here instead." He babbled.

"Ohhh. What is it?" Trupti wondered what was so important that Shaurya came back here.

"Her hair clip." He said and retrieved a small plastic butterfly clip from his pocket.

Trupti looked at the clip and then at him incredulously. "How long have you been here?" She asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Just 45 minutes." Shaurya shrugged his shoulders as if it wasn't that big of a deal.

She wanted to laugh at Shaurya's excuse to meet Dhvani, but then she didn't want him to retreat altogether. "Yeah! The hair clip. Dhvani was looking for it all over the house this morning. Good thing you brought it. Let's go. I'll take you to our apartment." She said and walked a little ahead of him so she could sneak in a little giggle.

Trupti and Shaurya hid behind a pillar as they peeked into the apartment building.

Two security guards were patrolling the buildings.

"What wing do you stay in?" Shaurya whispered as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

"C-wing, and that's where all the security guards usually are," Trupti whispered back.

"Just go tell them I am your guest," Shaurya said.

"What are you crazy? I can't do that. I can't bring a man that is dressed like this home." She said, pointing at him. "If you take all this off, then they'll know who you are, and those guards are huge fans of cricket."

"What do we do now?" He asked.

"You know, after you got married, I hoped I would have to stop sneaking you into places so you could meet Dhvani." She murmured under her breath.

"What?"

"Nothing." She said, shaking her head and then snapped her fingers. "I have an idea. I'll go distract the guards. You wait for me at the back of the building. Okay?"

"Okay." He nodded and fist-bumped her when she held up her fist.

Trupti walked over and distracted the guards by complaining about maintenance while Shaurya quickly sneaked into the building and waited for her.

"Okay. You see that balcony with the pink towel?" Trupti pointed at a balcony on the fourth floor. "That's our apartment. So, now quickly climb the pipe and go into the house."

"Okay." Shaurya nodded and placed his hands on the pipe when he realized what Trupti had just suggested. "What? Are you crazy?"

"It's not like this is the first time you are doing it. Remember how big Tayaji's house was. But you still climbed the walls so you could give Dhvani her birthday present." Trupti gently reminded.

How could he forget? It was Dhvani's seventeenth birthday!

Dhvani lay in bed, twiddling her thumbs. Another look at the clock made her realize that time went by even slower when you kept looking at it. 12:05 AM. Another seven more hours before she got to see Shaurya again. No, see her boyfriend again. The thought itself made her blush. Rolling over onto her stomach, she hid her face in the pillow and tried to sleep.

She had barely fallen asleep when she heard sounds outside her window. Was it just the wind and her mind was playing games with her because she was sure she heard her name being called out. Shaking her head, she screwed her eyes shut in hopes that it would block out the sounds, but they just got a little more louder and more and more distinctively like her name.

With a frown, she slowly stood up and carefully walked to the window. Getting ready to yell in case it was a ghost. If it were a ghost, she would have been less scared, but this was Shaurya. In her house. While her father was home.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She whispered angrily.

"I wanted to come and wish you before anyone else." He said, grinning. "Pull me up!" He demanded as he raised an arm towards her.

"You are crazy." She said when she pulled him into her room with great difficulty. "Completely crazy. What were you thinking? Papa is at home. He is going to be so angry if he finds out. How did you get past the guards? I am so angry at you. Why couldn't you just have waited till tomorrow morning? We were going to meet at school anyways. Shaurya, you are stupid and crazy." She stomped her foot when he continued to laugh at her.

"Trupti left the back door open for me when she came today evening for dinner," Shaurya explained calmly and fell on her bed on his back.

"Shaurya, you have to leave. Right now!" She said, tugging at his arm, but he refused to budge. Slapping his arm, she sat beside him on the bed on her knees. "You are impossible."

Shaurya sat up and held out a small box in front of her. "Happy birthday!" He wished with a nervous smile.

Dhvani's anger dissipated, and she stared at him with a big smile. "Thank you! What is it?" She asked and pulled her present out his hand. "It's so beautiful, Shaurya." She smiled and took out the delicate bracelet out of the box.

"It is not real, but I promise you one day I am going to buy you an entire set of real diamonds." He promised as she held out her hand so he could put on the bracelet.

"I don't care about it as long as I have you. I'll never take it off. I'll-" she paused in the middle of her sentence when Shaurya suddenly kissed her cheek. Looking up at him in surprise, she found him looking at her all flustered.

"Sorry. I'll go." He stammered and hurriedly stood up.

"Shaurya!" Dhvani called out and walked up to him just as he reached the window. Standing on her tiptoes, she pecked him on his lips.

Their first-ever kiss!

He felt a little more confident and slowly bent down to kiss her. It was extremely awkward, and there was a lot of fumbling.

When they finally pulled apart, they were both red with embarrassment and shyness.

"Dhvani!" Haripraksh Mishra knocked on her bedroom door, sending both Shaurya and Dhvani into panic mode.

"Papa is going to kill us, Shaurya. What do we do?" She whispered hysterically.

"I'll go hide under the bed." He said and quickly proceeded to do that. And once he was completely concealed, Dhvani walked over and opened the bedroom door.

"Papa, is everything okay?" She asked as her father walked into the room.

"The guards said they might have noticed someone entering the premises."

Dhvani's face blanched, and she looked at the bed nervously. "R-really? Maybe they were misinformed. You know Sultan Uncle. He is always hearing and seeing things." She babbled as she watched her father inspect her room.

"Why have you left the window open?" Haripraksh chided and walked over to close it.

"I was feeling hot."

"Then turn on the AC. Why let the dust in?" He said with a shake of his head. "Anyways, forget it. Come here!" He said with a loving smile.

Dhvani hesitantly walked towards her father.

"Happy birthday to my princess." He wished as he kissed her on her forehead. "I don't know what I would do with you, beta. You are my whole world, and I love you so much." He said.

"Thank you, Papa." Dhvani smiled and hugged her father as he placed another kiss on top of her head. "I love you sooooooooooo much."

"Okay. Now, go to sleep. You have school tomorrow." He said, patting her head.

She nodded and then looked down at her bracelet when she saw his eyes were fixated on the piece of jewelry.

"Let me see." He said as he lifted her hand. "This is not yours. Is it?"

Dhvani gulped and shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "P-papa, my friend gave it to me." She stammered.

"Which friend?"

"You don't know them....it was an early present?"

"Relax, princess. I was just asking." Haripraksh laughed and walked out of the room. "Good night."

"Good night, Papa." Dhvani wished with a small smile.

Shaurya appeared from under the bed. "You are such a darpok." He laughed.

"Get out now." She demanded as she physically pushed him towards the window and opened it. "Please be careful." She said as she held his collar once he was sitting on the window sill to jump onto the ledge.

He smiled and pecked her on her lips, not being able to stop himself.

"You are pushing your luck, Mr. Gupta." She scolded, and she tried to hide her blush. "Now, go."

He winked and jumped onto the ledge. The entire time Shaurya was descending the pipe, Dhvani's heart was in her mouth. She released the breath she was holding only when she saw him land on the grass safely. Blowing her an air kiss, he quickly disappeared into the darkness.

"Jiju!" Trupti called out and shook him out his memories. "Are you going to do it or not?"

"Maybe you can just ask Dhvani to come downstairs and take her clip?" He suggested.

"Then just give me the clip I'll go give it to her," Trupti said as she held out her hand.

"I'll climb up." He acquiesced.

"That's what I thought," Trupti mumbled.

"What?"

"I said good luck!" She smiled widely and raised her thumbs in the air.

"Can you go upstairs and tell Dhvani I am coming?" Shaurya asked as he slowly began climbing.

"Sure." She said and pretended to walk into the building. She wasn't going to tell Dhvani because if she did go upstairs, then she wouldn't be allowed to leave, and the couple needed time alone.

Shaurya forgot how hard and scary it was to climb these things. It should have been easier considering how much he worked out, but it wasn't.

He finally managed to make it to the fourth floor, panting and sweating because of the outfit. He noticed that sliding doors were open and guessed that either Dhvani or Trupti left it open for him, he entered the house.

One look at the house and he thought he had entered the wrong house because of how messy everything was. Dhvani hated disorganization. But when he saw Dhruv's picture on the wall, he could help touch it. The entire wall was covered in picture frames of Trupti, Dhvani and Dhruv. He moved in closer to study each of the pictures.

This was the only he could learn of Dhruv and Dhavni's lives in the past seven years without him.

Dhvani came out from the bedroom with the intent of checking if the water had already boiled for her Maggi. Her music still playing loudly in her ears through the headphones.

She did a double-take to see a man in her house with his back facing her. Letting out an ear-piercing scream that startled Shaurya and he turned around to face her.

"Sshhh!" Shaurya said as he placed his hand on her mouth. "It's me, Shaurya."

She stopped struggling and looked at him with what he thought was a combination of disbelief and anger. "What the hell is wrong with you, Shaurya Gupta?" She said as she pushed his hand away from her mouth. "Are you fucking crazy? You almost gave me a heart attack. Is this the way of entering someone's house? I thought you were a fucking serial killer from your fucking outfit." She said and placed a hand against her chest to calm herself down.

Shaurya's jaw dropped as he heard her swear. "I never knew you knew how to drop those f-bombs." He teased.

She gave him a murderous look, which had him apologizing in no time. "I really thought Trupti came up and told you I was coming through the pipe."

"Trupti?" Dhvani said and walked outside to the balcony with Shaurya and tow.

"This girl is still crazy," Shaurya said, shaking his head when Trupti held up her hands to do a peace sign and then walked away with a wink.

"So are you. I can't believe you climbed up these pipes." She snapped. "And take this off," She said as she reached for her hood and baseball cap. "You are still scaring me. My heart is beating so fast that I feel like I am going to have a heart attack or something."

"Sorry. But you weren't answering your phone, and I wanted to see you," He blurted out. "To return this." He corrected hurriedly and held out the clip.

She looked at the clip with a scowl. "You drove an hour and climbed up these pipes to give me this hair clip?"

"I thought it was an important clip, and I know you don't like losing stuff. So, I brought it to you." He said, trying to sound just as firm and nonchalant as he did when he tried to argue with himself.

She bit the inside of her lip to stop herself from laughing or blushing. "Thank you! I really needed this clip otherwise, I would have really been upset." She nodded and took the clip from his open palm.

"What is that smell?" He asked with a frown and scrunched up nose.

Smell? "Shit!" She swore and rushed to the kitchen and noticed that all the water had already evaporated, and the vessel was starting to burn. Without much thought, she grabbed the hot utensil with her hand and dropped it on the counter.

"Aah!" She screamed and flicked her wrists to get rid of the burning on her fingers.

"Why do you even try to handle the kitchen when you can't?" Shaurya snapped as he pulled her towards the sink and placed her hands under the cold running water to reduce the burn.

"I can handle the kitchen really well. Ask Dhruv. He'll tell you I am the best chef in the world, according to him." She said as she continued to hold her hand under the water.

He scoffed and looked around the room, but he didn't let go of her wrists. "Are you having a clean bowled day?" He asked before he could catch himself.

She rolled her eyes at the term. "Can you think of anything other than cricket? And yes, I am cleaning. For Dhruv's birthday party."

"Because the kids are going to judge you by how polished the wood and how shiny the floor looks. Right?" He asked in amusement.

"Am I asking you to clean?" She snapped and tried to move her hands away when she heard her phone ringing, now that the headphones were off, but shook his head.

"I'll go get it." He said and followed the sound.

She smiled and shook her head at the baseball cap and goggles. "He is still crazy." She mumbled.

He returned to the kitchen with the phone in his hand.

"Who is it?" She asked and shut off the tap.

"Your father." He said and held out the phone in front of her.

She didn't even bother wiping her hands, she grabbed the phone and ended the call.

"Are you not even going to talk to him to ask him anything?" Shaurya whispered after moments of silence.

Dhvani leaned her hips against the sink and closed her eyes as she tried to fight back her tears. "I didn't realize how much he hated you. Hated us together until yesterday." She whispered as she stared at her feet. "I don't think I want to see him or talk to him yet."

He stepped towards her and stood in front of her. "What do you mean?"

She wiped her tears away and sniffled. "When he came to me with those divorce papers that you apparently sent to me... I told him I was pregnant. And I didn't realize how cruel my father was then even when he asked me to choose between Dhruv and him."

"What?" He asked in disbelief.

"He didn't want me to give birth to your baby. To our baby. He didn't call me for nine months."

"So who was with you during your pregnancy?" Shaurya asked as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

Shaking her head, she began hiccupping because of how hard she was crying. "No one. I was all alone. You know Trupti can't take the hospital smell. I was all alone in the labour room too... I need... I... scared.... for you to hold my hand...." she broke down in his arms.

He hugged her close to himself in order to share each other's strengths at that moment.

Never had he felt such unadulterated hatered towards anyone. How can a father who claimed to love his daughter so much do this to her? How can a father's ego be so fragile that he goes to these lengths to prove that he was correct? And most of all, how heartless was Haripraksh Mishra to leave his barely twenty-two year daughter to bear the ups and downs of a pregnancy by herself?

"I am sorry." He said to her as he rested her forehead against hers. "I am sorry." He repeated as he kissed her tears away. "I am sorry."