Sidharth was at the dining table with his family, having breakfast in complete silence the other day. "Adi raat ko mere paas aaya tha, so nahi paya ache se." Rita Ji said, gaining everybody's attention. 

"Apne kyu aane diya usko Mom? Zyada laad pyar mila hai, tabhi toh itna bigad gaya hai!" Preeti commented. 

"Baat laad pyar ki nahi hai, humne uska dhyaan nahi rakha." Ajay replied. "Negligence, we didn't pay him the amount of attention we should have. Varna baat itni hath se nahi nikalti." he sadly added, toying with a spoon instead of eating with it. 

"Ghar pe hi toh rehte sara time! Adi ke paas itne mauke the humse baat karne ke, jaan-boojh ke nahi aaya vo! Isko toh tabhi thappad maar ke sudhar dena tha jab isne birthday party ke liye paise liye the. Bachpana samajh ke jaane diya humne!" Preeti angrily snapped.

"Sara din ghar pe nahi, apne office me rehte hai. Tum kitni baar ghar aati ho upar? Sivaye kaam ke? Sirf kehne ki baat hai ye, yadi hum sach me Adi ke paas hote, usko time dete toh aaj vo help lene ke liye kisi aur ke paas nahi jata!" Ajay snapped back at his wife, trying to make her understand his point of view. 

"Are we, are we failing as parents Mom?" he asked Rita Ji. 

"Nahi beta, mujhe aisa bilkul nahi lagta. Ajay, hum kaam bhi apno ke liye karte hai na? Mai tumhare iss baat ko samajhti hu ke shayad firm me tum dono kafi busy rehte ho, lekin tum har waqt toh Adi ke sath reh ke usey protect nahi kar sakte na? Ye age hi aisi hai, nayi cheezien try karne ki, naye dost banane ki. Galat cheezein risky, exciting lagti hai. Galti ki hai Adi ne, kafi badi galti huyi hai ussey jiske liye vo sharminda bhi hai. Aur ye tumhari hi upbringing hai ke usey apni galti realize ho rahi hai aur ye achi baat hai ki tumhe lagta hai, tumhe apne bete ke sath aur time spend karna chahiye." Rita Ji replied, gesturing to him to have his breakfast. 

"Aap thik keh rahi hai Mom, ye Adi utha kyu nahi abhi tak lekin? College nahi jayega?" Preeti said. 

"Nahi, 2 din ke liye suspended hai." Ajay informed and she clenched her jaws, getting angry again. 

"Thik hai. Sid, mai tere sath chalti hu, mujhe Shehnaaz se milna hai." Preeti told her brother. 

"Kyu?" Sidharth asked, wondering if his sister wanted to have a talk with his girlfriend. Ah, that would be slightly not a good start for their conversation, he didn't want his family to dislike her. 

"Paise lautane ke liye! Even if she didn't tell you about it, the base is that she helped my child with such a big amount. Chahti toh mana kar sakti thi vo." Preeti replied, grabbing her purse. 

"How much was it by the way?" he asked, walking out with her towards his car. 

"28, can you imagine!" she replied amazed. 

"Thousand?" he was taken aback. 

"Nahi, atthais (28) rupay!" his sister mocked him. 

He drove them to his apartment, still surprised, right in time when Shehnaaz was ready to leave for her office. Even though he had the keys, he pressed the bell to let her know about their presence and told his sister he'd be waiting down the lobby for her. 

"Hanji?" Shehnaaz opened the door to find a woman standing there, Preeti, she could recognize her. She had seen a couple of selfies Adved used to upload with his family in them. 

"Hi, I'm Sidharth's sister Preeti!" Preeti introduced herself. 

"Hii, I'm Shehnaaz. Aaiye na!" Shehnaaz welcomed in. She was worried if Preeti was here to warn her to stay away from their family and on not finding Sidharth with her, she prepared herself mentally to face the mother. 

"Shehnaaz, mai tumhare paise lautane aayi thi." Preeti said, pulling out her phone to transfer the amount online. 

"Tumhara number?" she asked further. 

"Ha, 765383." Shehnaaz replied, glad that she was getting her money back, her monthly bills, groceries and stuff were depending on it. 

"Thank you." she smiled nervously, waiting for the lady to begin with her arguments. 

"Thank you toh mujhe bolna chahiye, tumne mere bete ki madat ki. Vaise toh seedhe humare paas ajata Adi lekin shayad dar raha tha ki hum dantenge." Preeti replied, upset. 

"Mujhe bhi Sidharth ko bata dena chahiye tha, I know it would sound stupid of me that Adved asked me to promise him to keep it to myself and I did. Lekin, yadi mai aap logo ko batati toh aap logo ko vishwas nahi hota, aisa lagta jaise mai complain kar rahi hu isliye maine nahi bataya. I'm sorry." Shehnaaz apologized. 

"Oh please, don't be sorry. You were just being a friend in need! I'm really thankful to you for that." Preeti replied, smiling at her. 

"I'll leave now, tum office ke liye nikal rahi thi shayad." she added, walking up to the door. 

"Yeah, have a good day." Shehnaaz went to see her off. 

This was unexpected, Sidharth's sister seemed quite generous after how the situation had been, Shehnaaz was glad that she didn't blame her for anything and kept it short.  Letting out a breath in relief, she packed her tiffin and made her way out. In the office, the team was planning how to style the guest rooms. 

"The look compliments itself. It's bringing up harmony into space. It's good." Ananya said. 

"Yeah, that's because we have used similar kinds of bases for it, like those similar kinds of wood we've fit into it. Themed as well. But, I think we can do more." Sidharth replied, wondering what was missing from their plan. 

"Looks fine but still, Kuch khali khali sa lag raha hai, haina?" Shehnaaz asked in general, looking at the projector screen. 

He looked at her, she read his mind just like that, but he didn't reply because they were not on talking terms since last night. He was still mad at her for keeping the truth from him, but when he saw in the office, today she wore a simple white top with skinny jeans paired with those small white stoned studs he liked. 

"Sidharth, baat karni thi. Gussa na ho yaar maine-" He was in his cabin when she approached him, to talk to him but before she could apologize again, his secretary Riya had shown up. And after that she didn't get a chance to speak to him and neither did he give her one. 

He knew he was prone to shouting, or making impulsive decisions, so it was better to cool down before he said something he was going to regret later. And there he was, ignoring her because in his opinion that was a good way to handle the situation most of the time to restore his calm mind and later talk about it rather than firing back with words that would open wounds that won't heal easily. The more he became mature and more aware of the importance of a relationship, he thought that sometimes taking a step back will help the relationship to move forward and make it much stronger. Maybe, it'd also be a lesson for her to be transparent to him. 

"Let's just take a break and discuss it later? If you guys come up with anything, lemme know." he said, dismissing their discussion. 

"Aaj akela hai?" Vardhan asked his friend, barging into his cabin. 

"Toh aur kon hota hai mere cabin me mere alawa?" Sidharth asked back. 

"Shehnaaz!" Vardhan shrugged, teasing him. Sidharth simply rolled his eyes, getting back to the mails he was attending in his laptop. 

"Have dinner with me tonight?" Vardhan asked. 

"You asking me out?" Sidharth raised his brows, sarcastically. 

"I want you to meet someone." Vardhan bit his lip, slightly shying away. 

"Shaadi vaadi kar raha hai kya?" Sidharth asked. 

"Kuch aisa hi samajh le. I'm turning 40 next year, meri family peeche padi hai tabse." his friend sighed, playing with the paper weight kept on the table. 

"Um hmm, toh seedha shadi?" Sidharth skeptically asked, arrange marriage wasn't his thing. 

"Nahi, we're seeing and getting to know each other, but with an intention to get married eventually. I don't wanna date yaar, ab settle hona hai mujhe." Vardhan said, taking a deep breath and studying his friend's facial expressions. 

"Tu bata? Tera kya plan hai?" he asked. 

"Mera koi plan nahi hai." Sidharth shrugged. To have a plan and a future together, he and Shehnaaz needed to be on the same page first of all, they needed to expect the same thing from each other. He didn't doubt their compatibility but they surely lacked transparency. She didn't know him yet. 

Back at his apartment in the evening, he found her talking to her mother in the kitchen. On his way towards his room, he stumbled upon her sandals carelessly lying around and shouted at her, "Ache se rakha kar na apne sandals!" 

She frowned at his behavior, especially this attitude and replied back to let him know that she wasn't going to take it anymore. 

"Tu ache se dekh ke chalna!" After knowing that she was on a call with someone, he had to talk like that! Sala khadoos! 

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Here it is.. I'm extremely sorry for being late! Had college stuff to do.. Will compensate for sure..

Back to sidnaaz.. The issue still manages to keep them from talking.. For one it's a big deal.. And for another one it isn't..

For Shukla, it's his protectiveness and faith.. His nephew was naive enough to not tell the truth but Shehnaaz wasn't.. He believes so..

And Shehnaaz believes that she simply helped a friend.. She did what her heart asked her to do at the moment.. And there's nothing wrong in that.. Is it?

A BIG THANK YOU TO ONE AND ALL OF YOU.. I 'VE 400+ FOLLOWERS ON WATTPAD NOW!!! YAAAY.. JUST KEEP LOVING ME LIKE THAT GUYS!!