Same time...
Aayan's room..

Aayan was half lying on the recliner chair, massaging his temples..

Ananya knocks his door and he frowns...

I just want to be alone... Why can't anyone understand that...

'Come in.. ' He says irritated

Ananya enters the room, carrying the plate with a slice of cake

Aayan rolls his eyes looking at her, at which she frowns

'Listen if you are here to pick up another stupid fight with me, I am not in mood right now... ' Aayan said

'I am not here to fight... ' Ananya begins but he cuts her off in between

'Also, I won't fight with you on any issue, you are still a kid, but I am a grown up man... It's futile to think that you will behave maturely, so I will do that...  So if you are here to provoke me, be ready to be disappointed... ' he said pinching the bridge of his nose

'Will you listen to me...!' Ananya says losing her patience, but then she calms down a bit

'What...! What do you want from me...?' Aayan ask's irritated

'I wanted to talk to you... ' She says

Aayan stares at her bewildered..

'You really think that we can talk like normal people for more than 2 minutes, without getting into a fight ?' Aayan raised his brows

Ananya smiles... 'Yes we will... I promise... ' and Aayan is shocked

'What do you want to talk about...?' he asks

Ananya sighs and grabs the  wooden stool near Aayan's bed and sits on it, keeping the cake on the table

Aayan was staring at her in anticipation..

She looks at him and when she stares at his eyes, she finds herself short of words

'I am waiting... ' Aayan speaks when he sees that Ananya is not saying anything...

'Don't look at me like that..!  I am getting nervous... ' She whines

Aayan frowns at this and then takes his phone and starts typing something in it...

'Weirdo...' he mutters

Ananya takes a deep breath and then begins

'Aayan... ' she says

'Am I allowed to look now...? ' He asks

'No !' she says

'Okay... ' he rolls his eyes..

'Aayan... ' she begins again

'I know my name...' he says

'Don't interrupt... ' she says irritated 

'Fine... ' he gives up

She takes a deep breath again

'I know what happened in the office today... ' She says and Aayan's eyes dart towards her immediately

'So...?' He asked raising his brows, she looked at him and he seemed annoyed,  he was glaring at her and she gulped

'I... I wanted to say, that Don't... Don't let it bother you... ' She stammered

Aayan glares at her 'You are done...?' he asks

'Uh.. Actually... '

'You may leave....' he showed her the door

'What... I didn't finish... ' Ananya begins

'OUT... ' Aayan growls

Ananya gets scared seeing his angered expression, it was a sensitive topic, she was well aware of it, and was expecting similar reaction like this...

'Aayan listen to me... ' She tries to calm him down

'Are you deaf...? I said get out...!' Aayan says angrily

Ananya gets up and turns to leave...

Reaching the door, she turns around to see Aayan angrily looking at her and gets out of his room

She closes the door behind her, and leans on it breathing heavily

Normally Ananya doesn't tolerate anyone talking to her like that...
But today, she wasn't affected by Aayan's rude behavior, because she could see the pain behind his anger

She was determined to talk to him, no matter how much angry he gets...

She takes a deep breath and goes inside his room again...

Aayan was pacing in the room to and fro, in anger, he glares at her

'What's your problem... Didn't you... ' He growls but Ananya cuts him off

'Shut up...!' Ananya matched his tone

'What...!' he glares at her..

'Are you deaf...? Shut up...!' she glares at him

'Listen Ananya... Don't.... ' he begins

His anger was escalating every minute, he didn't want to do something stupid that he will regret later

'What do you think of yourself huh ? Why do you want the world revolve around you... Why don't you care about other people's feelings....!  Isn't that being selfish....!' she says walking angrily towards him

'I am selfish...?' he growls

'Yes you are..  ' Ananya pokes his chest with her finger, maintaining the glare

He grabs her wrist and pushes her to the nearest wall, getting dangerously close to her and caging her between his arms...

Ananya didn't budge at this, though she was scared inside...

'Yes I don't care about people, why should I...? Do they care about me ? No...!' he grits locking Ananya's gaze in a eyelock

She could feel his hot breaths on her skin, he was so close to her...
And with his proximity, she wasn't able to think of anything else...

He on the other hand was filled with rage, he was trying hard not to hurt Ananya from his wrath...

Ananya looked straight in his eyes
'Do you let anyone take care of you...?' she asks and Aayan's expression changes

'No, tell me...!  Bade Papa, Maa, Ved Bhai, Nitara Di... Everyone loves you, especially bade papa, do you let him show his care to you or atleast come close to you...?' Aayan looks on the other side and loosens his grip on Ananya

'You've built walls around you Aayan... And let me tell you, shutting people out won't help you solve your problems... ' Ananya says

'My issues doesn't concern you... They aren't even issues ! That's my life and I will learn to deal with it, you need not to worry about it...' he turns around and glares at Ananya

'You need to talk about it to someone...  Just get it out of you Aayan... ' Ananya goes close to him

'Why do you care...?' Aayan asks her and she is short of words again...

This was something even Ananya could not understand..

Exactly, why do I care...?

'Because I love my bade papa... And I can't see him in pain, and he is in pain, because you are in pain...' Ananya replies

Aayan stares at her for sometimes and then looks away...

'Whatever... ' He says

'I understand you are not at fault, you didn't do anything to deserve this messed up life... But you can't crib about it, everytime you see your step dad... You just have to make peace with it and try to be happy... ' Ananya puts her hands on his shoulders

'Easy for you to say... How will you feel if Big dad leaves Mom one fine day and force you to live away from her... And also, mom doesn't even care, whether you are alive or not...! Sounds very happening to you...?' Aayan says sarcastically, pushing her hands away from his shoulders

Ananya frowns at this..
Yes he was right, it was a difficult life to deal with...

'You know what, if something like that happens with me, It will be devastating for sure, but I will try to make peace with my father and be his support... Afterall he will need me, he supported me in every phase of my life, I guess it would be my turn to support him, in his difficult phase... As far as Maa is concerned, I can't hate her of course, she is my mother afterall, and I certainly know, if she decides to leave us... There will be a very solid reason, behind her decision...it's not easy for a mother to abandon her children Aayan... ' She says

Aayan doesn't reply at this

'Just think about your father Aayan, he is living a miserable life, just because you are not ready to support him...!  Have you seen him this vulnerable before... Just recall how lively and fun loving he was... And see how he has become now... ' Ananya's voice cracks mentioning about Jai but she controls her tears

Aayan's eyes also moisten at this, but he quickly wipes the tears away...

'This is the result of his own actions... ' he replies arrogantly

'This is ridiculous Aayan, you tell me, what choice he had ? Do you think it was easy for him to get out of his 10 year old marriage...? Was it easy for him to deprive his children of mother's love, they deserved..? Or worse... How could he leave you two,  with a man, who he absolutely loathes, who destroyed his marriage...! Do you think Mr. Singhal would've raised you as his own...?' Ananya forces him to face her

Aayan thinks about Prateek Singhal's behavior today at the office

I shouldn't have left him with Jai... 
See how he has become...
A brat like your son...

Indeed that man disliked him and Nitaara...
If Jai decided to leave them with their mother, Singhal would've made his life miserable...

'I know, I am the last person you want to see right now, when you are so emotionally drained... But believe me Aayan, I didn't mean anything I said that day... I had no idea that your mother...' She stops in mid sentence, seeing Aayan's hand turning into a fist

'Listen I am sorry for that day, or also for all those times where my words hurt you... It's not my sympathy, please don't get me wrong, it's my guilt,  I really had no idea about your... Your.... Problems.... ' Ananya apologised 

Aayan looks at her and smiles faintly
'It's okay... ' he says

Ananya sighs internally...
Thank god, he smiled at least..

Aayan looks at the cake..
'Is that for me...?' he asks

Ananya quickly picks the plate and forwards it to Aayan...

'Yes... ' She smiles and he takes the plate from her

'Can I give you a piece of free advice...'
Ananya asks after sometime

'Yeah... ' Aayan said

'Whenever you see your step father or anyone related to the bad memories... Just think about the good times, you shared with Bade Papa and Nitaara di...  Like when Bade papa got you your first cricket kit... Or when we all went to Disneyland, and you couldn't see the Mickey Mouse play and bade Papa carried you on his shoulders... Or remember when we were planting trees in your garden, and you got hurt and was rushed to hospital, Bade Papa cried with you, when doctor gave you the injection.... ' Ananya said smiling

Aayan smiled at those memories, and also many others which came back to his mind...
He was feeling a lot better now...

'Thanks... I will work on this... ' Aayan said

'Also, just visit your mother once, before you leave... ' Ananya said hesitantly..

'Why will I do that...?' Aayan gets angry

'See, we don't know her side of the story, I am sure it must be very difficult for her to leave you guys... It's wrong to declare someone as guilty without even listening to them... ' Ananya said

'I am not interested to know what was wrong with her... I just know she abandoned us... ' Aayan grits

'Whatever may be the reason Aayan, but you can't deny the fact that she gave birth to you... She loves you... And running away from her, will be only give pain and bitterness to you... We can't change the past, but Atleast can make peace with the present for a happy future... ' she smiles and Aayan thinks about what she said

'You know, communication is the key Aayan... You need to TALK to your parents... This will help you and them as well...  I am sure you don't like getting angry everytime you see those people... It's high time to let it go.... ' Ananya pats his shoulder

Aayan stares at her briefly..
'You are weird you know, most of the time you behave like a brat... And sometimes like this... What are you exactly Ananya...?' he asks

Ananya chuckles..
'I am not that bad as you or most of the people think... ' She says

'I am surprised to see this side of yours... How did you become so mature...?'

'It was always there, and don't get used to this, I am still the brat you hate... ' Ananya smirks

'Yeah.... It will take time for me to recover from this shock...' Aayan smirks

'See..  We can have conversations like normal people, without fighting, for more than 15 minutes... ' she says looking at her wrist watch

Aayan sees his finger imprints on her white skin, he feels bad for the first time for hurting someone physically

'I.. I am sorry for my behavior before... And also for that... ' he points at the imprint on her hand

'So you do know how to apologize... ' She smirks

'You apologized first...! See I won... ' Aayan said with pride

'You are mean... ' she hits him

'Don't get used to it, I won't let you win everytime... ' she saids in a challenging tone

'We'll see... '

The door in Aayan's room opens and Ved walks in

'Aayan... Mom called...' He says but stops mid way seeing Ananya there

'What are you doing here...?' he asks

'I came to give him the cake... ' Ananya points at the cake

Ved stares at her suspiciously

'What's wrong with the party downstairs... Why is everyone leaving it and having their own parties....' Ved says irritated

Aayan and Ananya stare at him confused...

'What's the matter Ved...? Why are you so irritated....?' Aayan asks him

He huffs and then looks at them

'Nothing... Come downstairs both of you... Dinner is ready... ' He said and walked away

Ananya and Aayan stare at each other bewildered...

'What happened to him...?' Ananya asks

'Work pressure maybe... ' Aayan said

'Okay... Shall we...?'  Ananya asks

'Yeah... Let's go... ' Aayan smiles and they walk out of his room

As they leave the room, Jai who was hiding behind the pillar comes out and looks at them smiling...
He heard the whole conversation between Aayan and Ananya...
He was impressed how Ananya calmed him down and how he listened to her...

'I wish Aayan gets a partner like her...' Jai smiled and walked inside his room

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N
Hey guys
Hope you liked the chapter...
Do you think everything will be fine now...? 
Because I don't think so 😈
Muhahahahahaha 😈😂😂😂
Do let me know your views and suggestions
Love
ASM