"Toh tu jaa rahi hai?" Sukhwinder Ji asked his daughter who was packing pickles and sweet snacks for herself with her mother.

"Hanji Papa." Shehnaaz replied. "Kuch din aur ruk jati." he asked, taking a seat next to her.

"Vo, kaam hai Papa ji. Mai phir aungi na." she hesitantly assured.

"Umm, kya tu sirf isliye aayi kyuki meri tabiyat kharab thi?" he asked, hesitantly.

"Nahi, nahi Papa. Mai pehle aana chahti thi lekin um- aap naraz the aur mai vapas aati toh jane nahi dete. Mujhe samajh nahi aa raha tha. I want to be an independent Papa! And trust me I'm doing fine by myself there." she said and took a stand for herself, holding back her breath somewhere afraid of his reaction.

"So that's what you want? To live by yourself? Beta, if I asked you to stay with your family it doesn't mean I'm trying to control you or hold you back here. By staying with family we learn how to adjust & share when you would have one of your own. Akele reh yeh sab kaha se seekhegi?" he asserted and they were back to square one.

"Papa! Before making a family, I want to make something of myself. Rahi baat family ki, mujhe abhi nahi banani family, shaadi ke baare me bhi sochna nahi chahti mai ab." she replied back immediately, getting hyper.

"Thik hai, mai hota kon hu kuch bolne vala." he began when Parminder Ji finally decided to interfere, sensing the tension.

"Sana ka vo matlab nahi hai. Bachi toh sirf kuch banna chahti hai shaadi se pehle. Aur iski umar bhi zyada nahi hai toh rehne dete hai na." She tried to make her husband understand and he stared at his wife and then back to his daughter one last time before exiting the room.

"Meri kya galti hai?" Shehnaaz sobbed.

"Mai baat karungi unse." her mother assured and followed her husband out.

Why on earth was it so hard for her father to simply understand her? She just had a different opinion and he couldn't fathom it. Why did she have to ask and convince them for some freedom?

A tear escaped down her eye, trying to figure out what else she could do to get her loving father back. She would do anything but stay back and let him take her back to that depressed zone.

The day passed real quick and she packed her bags for her flight at noon. Shehbaz dropped her off at the airport. Because it was still an hour before her flight, he waited with her at the hall.

"Mai washroom se ho ke aati hu, bag dekhiyo." she said.

Ringing of her phone caught his attention and it had Sidharth's name flashing on the screen. He knew that guy, he was his sister's good friend and roommate. Contemplating with the thought of receiving the call on her behalf or not, Shehbaz finally answered it.

"Subha se call kar raha hu! Why weren't you taking them?" The guy seemed tense.

"Um, Shehnaaz washroom gayi hai. She'll call you back." he replied, intimidated by the other person's tone.

"Oh, uh, okay. Tu, Shehnaaz ka bhai hai?" Sidharth guessed by his accent.

"Han, Shehbaz bol raha hu. Aap uske roommate ho?" He introduced himself.

"Ha. Um, tujhe uski flight ka pata hoga na?" Sidharth asked, now that the boy was acquainted with him.

"Ha, hum toh-" before Shehbaz could answer his sister returned from the washroom and raised her brows at him.

"Aa gayi, khud hi puchlo." he handed over the phone to her. "Sidharth hai." he told her.

"Ha bol." She overtook the call.

"Na calls le rahi hai na messages check kar rahi hai? You haven't even sent me your flight details!?" he asked.

"Busy thi." she replied, walking a couple of steps away from her brother.

"Yeah right,  toh abhi bataogi ya nahi?" he asked further. This man's gut, she swore.

"Nahi, tujhe takleef uthane ki zarurat nahi hai. I'll manage by myself." she sassed, having enough of his attitude.

He was not just being rude but inconsiderate too, especially last night during the entire giving a ride to Ananya sequence. Sometimes people run into problems with their first tries in finding a compatible mate. Cheating is certainly one of them, in these cases one could just try again until they found someone compatible. Shehnaaz was doing the same but she was still a bit jaded by the whole ordeal. Now she was more aware of who she should let in her life and how much she should divulge. If asked, she was currently dating and taking things slow. And it was fun until he was spending a small amount of time with someone else, a female probably and she couldn't help the second thoughts knocking at the door. She should trust him, a part of her heart said while her mind reminded that she had trusted her ex fiancé too. But such was being in a relationship, all about the people you choose to trust and trust is gained and not given.

And Shehnaaz wished Sidharth would have given a thought about why she reacted in such a way instead of asking her for a reason because he already knew it, he knew how badly she had been cheated on and that had given her a bunch of trust issues.

She landed in Mumbai in the early evening and threw herself on the bed, tired. It felt like she had enough for the day, including her father's inconvenience with her decisions that were revolving fresh around her mind. After a short nap, she was preparing herself some soup all alone in the apartment and missed having her darling roommate cum boyfriend around.

Also, they needed to talk because she shouldn't be mad at him without letting him know her reason and she texted him to let him know that she was back.

He didn't reply though, but joined her later in the night while she was doing the dishes. "Mood sada hua hai ya abhi baat kar sakti hai?" he asked.

"Ek minute." she replied, rotating the tap off and wiping her hands off a cloth to turn to him.

"Mai gusse me thi isliye aise bola tha maine kyunki kal chillaya tune mere pe." she said, looking at him now.

"Sidharth, meko bol lene de pehle." she said when he was about to speak.

"Mai janti hu tune Ananya ki help kari, lekin jaisi tune bataya ke tu uske sath hai car me meko kuch ajeeb sa laga andar dil me. I- I'm not sorry for asking you why you were giving her a ride because I felt like asking it. I've been through lies, jhoot bola gaya hai mujhse aur meko ek minute ke liye darr lagne laga tha." she added.

It took him a while to grasp her concept and then he reacted. "So you thought, I was- I could cheat on you?" he asked, hurt.

"Yes, for a minute. Yeah and I'm being totally honest that I thought that. Sidharth aisa nahi hai ki mai tere pe trust nahi karti, karti hu lekin dar humesha laga rehta hai." she replied.

"Okay." he tried to take it in a way it would hurt less because till date he hadn't given her a single chance to doubt him.

"I just dropped her off outside her building and left, if you want to know. And I don't know what else to say, I'm not lying." he said, closing the gap in between them and taking her in his embrace.

"I've never lied to you." he cooed, caressing her hair.

"Sorry, I- you know it sucks that I don't totally trust you lekin mai kya karu? Meko humesha mann me aata hai ke kisi din tujhe mai koi aur achi lagne lagi toh?" she mumbled in the hug.

"That's never gonna happen Shehnaaz!" he assured, hugging her tight.

"What if you unintentionally had a moment with someone? Ye sab toh heat of the moment ki baat hoti hai na. I've already been through a lot after I trusted someone blindly. Dil me darr baith gaya hai." she mentioned.

"It's never a heat of the moment thing, at least not for me. I can only assure you sweetheart, you will have to take a chance with me and try me out that I'm the one who's going to stuck." he replied because really there was nothing he could shoo away those insecurities today itself. He just needed to be consistent and honest and that he already was.

"Samjhi?" he nudged her.

"Ha, lekin tu yahi kal bhi toh bol sakta tha! Chillaya kyu? Meko laga tha ki tu samjhega." she pouted.

"Maine itna socha nahi tha tabhi." he replied, kissing her on the cheeks.

"Sorry!" he added.

"Sorry nahi chahiye Sidharth, bahut try kar rahi hu mai bas tu humesha aise hi rehna." she replied, tightening her arms she had locked around him and resting her lips on his cold ones.

They stood there a little more, simply kissing each other off softly with warmth surrounding their hearts. He was going to pull her out of those insecurities, he couldn't see her so distressed and conflicting in between her heart and mind.

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Hello people out there.. Shehnaaz still happens to have issues with her father.. Orthodoxy believes cannot be vanished by one healthy lecture on life you know.. Unlike Bollywood..
And apart from that Sidharth's words also stung her..

Aur Sidharth ek angle me galat tha.. He should have understood her better.. Well it's never too late.. He does get her point now.. And he's willing 2 try his best.. What more would you want! 😭