Avinash gave that diary to his grandmom and she started to read. Avinash waited for her patiently but his heartbeat wasn't regular throughout the time. His grandmom heaved out a deep breath and closed the diary.

"Deedha... Do you know anything about it? because it ended it abruptly and we couldn't able to connect the dots..." - Avinash asked his grandmom who became silent after reading the whole story. Her eyes welled up when she saw her daughter portrait hanging in the wall.

"Deedha..." - Avi whispered while caressing his palms. she moved towards her portrait and wiped the dust in that portrait with her pallu.

"You know some people come to our life only to give pain, Only pain..." - Deedha said with tear-eyes. Avinash could sense her heart state by her reflection in his mom's portrait.

"What you mean, deeda?" - Avi asked her.

"Neither I nor your grandfather was against her wish... But wanted her happy and live long, But that didn't happen... neither she was happy nor lived longer..." - Deedha said. Avi stayed silent. He couldn't get how come she was this much sure that she was not happy with his dad. But he didn't say anything.

"How can you say she wouldn't have been happy with dad?" Avi asked her after a long pause. Even she wanted to say the reason, she stayed silent. the promise she did to her daughter stopped her from telling him further. But she couldn't stay silent. so she chose to say the most safer answer of which he will get satisfied and won't dig the issue.

"You know why your parents got divorced..." - she asked him, he nodded no.

"The only problem was with your mom. if she trusts anyone, she will trust them wholeheartedly" - she said.

"Your mom couldn't able to complete her MBA because she was pregnant with arushi by that time and also got married to him..." - Deedha started to narrate the story.

"Not only Psychologically but also financially she started to depend upon him... Anika Bose who was independent by nature started to become dependent just because she got married to him and have a child with him... she started to loose herself, Her identity, Her nature, Almost everything" - She said.

"One day out of sudden after two years we got a call from her, Me and her father forgot everything and went to her... By then, she got her prize for love and her over trust... she had nothing on her own, neither career nor anything... she was in the state which we never wanted to see her like that even in our dreams..." - She said while thinking about that incident and also it didn't fail to create a huge lump in Avinash throat who became so weak.

"Which state?" - Avi asked her.

"Shivaay filed the divorce stating that she had an extramarital affair with someone else which was not true and also got the custody of arushi stating her financial status and her character... we were there when they were fighting for arushi's custody but we couldn't do anything..." - Deedha said which spellbound avi.

"She was heartbroken, weak, and lost all the hopes in her life... And then she came to know about you who was in her womb by that time... Because of you she survived otherwise we would have lost her by then... And you know, what happened rest... You father came back after the whole five years..." - She added.

"And?" - Avi asked her. she laughed sarcastically.

"She repeated the same mistake, she trusted him again and as a result, we lost her forever..." - she said while wiping off her tears. Avi controlled his tears when his mom's smiley faces flashes in front of his eyes. He tried to come away from the thoughts but he couldn't. Even he got her love for just five years, but it bounded him with her forever.

"He was about to take you and anika with him to Italy... but before that, You know what happened..." - His deeda stopped narrating and gave him space to think everything in his mind. But he asked for her deeda's permission to go inside her mom's room which she didn't replace for the past twenty-two years. She permitted him and also followed him.

**************

"I know to take care of myself, You know that, right" - Anika said while giving him first-aid to his hand which was injured due to the fight. The DJ event stopped in the middle because of the fight in the audience. The Dean had to come to the spot and stop everything. Anika held his wrist and made him sit in the stone bench which was in the exact opposite to the ladies hostel and gave him first-aid.

Shivaay didn't say anything but his red shot eyes said how the whole incident affected him. But anika didn't say anything after that.

"It's done..." - Anika said and his palm was still on her lap. she looked at him.

"Anika..." - Avanthika and bhavya interrupted them. shivaay immediately took his palm from her lap and looked elsewhere.

"Yeah... Tell me..." - Anika responded.

"Due to the things happened, Day schollers are not permitted to stay in the hostel..."- Bhavya said in a low tone.

"Oh... i think it won't be a problem... I will go home... Don't worry" - Anika responded with a smile.

shivaay immediately checked the time it was about to turn one in the night. He looked at her perplexedly but no words came from his mouth. And hostellers were announced to go back to their hostel room.

"You are sure, You will manage, right..." - Bhavya asked her.

"200 % ... You go, I will call you guys once i reach home..." - Anika said and waved bye to them and turned back to shivaay who stood behind her.

"It's already very late... come i will accompany you..." - he said in a low tone without looking at her. she didn't say anything but nodded yes to him with a slight smile. They made their way towards the entrance without saying anything. Neither he could say anything nor she could start anything. they were just walking silently towards the parking lot.

"You bought a bike..." - Anika asked him when he moved towards the bullet in the parking lot.

"Naani gifted me before two years..." - He said to her. He started the bike and waited for her to sit in the back seat but she didn't sit. He took off his helmet.

"Come sit... we are already late..." - Shivaay asked her but she just stared at him while crossing her arms. the street light rays fell on her face and shivaay read her calm face.

"I have answers for your every question, For now, It's necessary to go out of the campus... see, Watchmen is ready to close the main door..." - Shivaay said and asked her to sit in his backseat.

"I even dare to get down from the running bike, if you try to double-cross me..." - Anika said, He nodded no and she sat in his bike by keeping her bag in between them. shivaay sensed it but he didn't say anything.

Stars shining night sky, A long bike ride with the lovable one and the winter breeze always been a very good combination. But the tension between them didn't let them enjoy the whole situation. It was their bike ride together after six long months. Both sensed it but neither spoke anything. It wasn't the peaceful silence but the uncomfortable silence between them.

"You asked for me to Avanthika before two days... Why? When nothing between us now?" - She asked him when they were about to cross the central station. Metro station works had been paused due to the late night. Even that word never failed to hurt him, he took the U-turn and rode towards the east side. Anika didn't ask anything when he parked his nearer to the stone bench facing opposite to the central railway station.

"Do you think there's nothing between us?" - shivaay asked her. she got down from his bike and sat on the bench without saying anything.

"What will i expect after you completely ignored me for the whole six months?" - she asked shivaay who came and sat next to her. He gently held her right palm and kept it on his lap while caressing them. she didn't resist it.

"That Mrs Noor..." - Taking the deep breathe shivaay started to confess. but anika stopped him from doing that and stood up from her place.

"I wasn't talking about that... I know it was the main reason behind your silent nature, I know you couldn't say it to anyone as your father completely depended on her husband for his business and I also know you were trapped from every side... but what my question is, why you chose to leave me rather than explaining everything to me..." - She spelt out in anger and For a second, shivaay wondered how did she manage to gather information even in his absence. But her question made him silent again.

"Don't use silence as your weapon to hide from every people, Only some people could understand your silence, For the rest of them, you have to speak..." - she said.

"That some people include you... I am happy with that..." - He spoke. she stumped her feet and sat next to him, This time close to him and cupped his face.

"Listen to me, carefully... You can make everyone happy only when you're happy with your life... This is not you, shivaay..." - Anika said. he took her palms from his cheeks, kissed them while intertwining with each other.

"Yeah, You're right... And this time, i chose to be happy... you know where my happiness lies?" - he asked her with welled up eyes. she nodded no with welled up eyes.

"In you... I want to be with you like this, For the rest of my life... shall i?" - He asked her.

"Attached... No other way to go..." she said and hugged him in an instant without even knowing the heaviness in her sentence. But they find the lightness in their heart when they finally get back together like before. Shivaay started the bike, Anika get back in his bike but this time her bag wasn't there in between them. Automatically her hands ran towards his chest from his back and her chin placed in his shoulder.

****************************

"Happened on 29th February 1992..." - Arushi said the police who was surfing the police directory. They recently digitalized everything and the suicide of their parents were long-talked conversation in that place.

"Shivaay Nair and Anika Nair..." - Police officer asked her. Anika nodded.

"Here i found..." - He said and pressed the printout icon. Even the printer sound evokes her fear but she was thankfully accompanied by ritwik who didn't leave her at any point in time.

"Here it's... Why you particularly needed this for the crime programme?" - the police officer asked her, but she was in no mood to answer any of his questions. Instead, she started to glance at every information and over the next page, she found the photographs of their dead bodies which was taken as soon as the police found the bodies. Her eyes welled up when she saw her mom and dad lied lifelessly, she grazed the image when she left with no options. But she jerked in shock when she found the same mark in her father's forearm in a burnt form. she was taken aback.

She tried to find it on her mom's hand but nothing was clear in the image. She turned the next page which had their postmodern report. The thing she read in the report made her so weak and she literally lost the balance. But Ritwik held her from the back.

"Hey what happened?" - he enquired her when he made her sit in the bench. No words came from her mouth, Instead, she gave that report to him.

"Was she pregnant when she died?" - Ritwik asked her in a shocking tone.

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TO BE CONTINUED...