Our old connections will help us in the most unexpected times, Never thought Anika would get selected by her own college senior, Rithika. Rithika indeed helped her to get the job when she stuck when they asked about her personal details, Half of her collegemates knew about her mom's and brother's death, Her brother's death went sensual. He was admitted to IIT And died there due to depression. And Rithika is one of the people who helped her to stay away from the media which takes it in a different direction but Anika willingly cut the strings off. 

"Anika, I am delighted to see you are progressing leaving your past behind," Rithika said offering her coffee from the canteen while she was messaging shivaay with a constant smile in her face. 

"Sometimes we have to let it go, Right?" Anika said to her, Rithika smiled widely at her and hugged he at the most unexpected moment. Anika was overwhelmed when she hugged her tight to comfort her. 

"You know right from that moment, I wanted to hug you and say everything will go fine. But I couldn't. Don't consider it as a pity-hug, Just a welcome hug to your new life, Here, In Mumbai. I swear Anika, This city will change our lives." Rithika said with a smile and broke the hug. Anika could sense the change in her life. First, With the arrival of shivaay and now with her progressing career and new friendship. It's peace after the storm. 

Taking with Rithika few hours, She comes to know about her life and her sufferings with her mother who sedated her food whenever she was with her boyfriend to hide it from her dad who worked abroad leaving them in India. Her life changed with a sparkling moment when her mom and dad decided to abound her. It happened with she was just 6 years old. Over then, Anika noticed that she was not the only person in this world with this fate. But it's all about overcoming and moving on. 

"Congrats, Ani. Head of the business stream. Soon you will get promoted, Let's hope." - Rithika said, Anika chuckled as a reply. 

"Hey, Where are you living?" - She asked her. Anika was startled by that question. 

"I am currently living alone in my apartment, Extra rooms are also there, It would be great if you planning to move there with me as a flatmate. Just an offer." - Rithika said with a smile. 

"So sweet of you, Rithi. But I am currently living in my friend's house." - Anika said with a smile, With her smile, She understood. 

"Friend... Or Boyfriend." - She asked, Anika couldn't match her eyelids especially after this morning, Surprised taken by his kisses and the way he hugged while she sleeps. Her heart pounded against her chest. When she still feels his warm lips on her cheek, How someone can trouble her this much? 

"Okay, I think I got the answer. Are you really okay to work from today?" Rithika asked her.

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

He was in her room keeping her things back in the wardrobe when she walked inside silent. He smiled widely at her but she didn't smile at him back, Instead kept her bag away and sat on the bed crossing her legs. She even didn't match her eyelids with him. He was confused when she didn't reply anything to his questions. He sat next to her and hit her casually with his shoulder and tried to have a conversation with her. 

"What happened? whether it's about the morning incident?" He asked her when she didn't reply to any of the questions. She turned her face towards him numbly and looking into his eyes. He could feel the seriousness in her eyes. He slightly started to get tensed. 

"Why did you lie to me, Shivaay?" She asked him numbly without expressing any sign of emotions in her tone which scares him to the hell. 

"Wh... What?" - He asked. 

"You don't know my brother and I am sure about it." She said He caught red-handed. He left with no words when she proved him with all evidence, He would have never messed up with a journalist. 

"Anika... I..." - He tried but couldn't able to speak anything when she signed disbelief looking at him.

"I trusted you. Even after getting betrayal as by-product every time. This is what I made for? For getting betrayed, Every damn time?" She asked him in disbelief, He couldn't even able to defend himself. He was spellbound when she told those words to him. She walked straightly to the wardrobe and started packing her clothes. He felt so bad, But what will he do? If he tells her real reason, Whether she could have able to understand. He was forced to take his brother's name every time. But when she started packing her clothes, He can't stop himself from asking her.

"Where are you going?" - He asked finally. 

"I saw my senior this morning in the same office, She offered me to be her flatmate. I think it's a good idea for now till we sort this out. You were there for me every moment, I owe an explanation to you. My mind is totally messed up, Shivaay. I need some space." - She tried to leave but he held her wrist and stopped her from taking another step. 

"Please don't leave. I will explain everything to you." - He said, She moved a bit closer and he loosens up his grip in her wrist but didn't leave her completely. Her eyes asked him for answers. But his mouth didn't utter any of those words. How can he say? He felt so connected from the moment he saw her picture in the mail address, How could he say everything he faced in the forest and finding the reason behind his birth. 

"Shivaay..." She called his name again in a disappointed tone. 

"Anika. All I can say was my thoughts and my intentions were not wrong when it comes to you. I did it because I want you to be safe and secured. That's all I can able to say." He said without facing her. 

"Your thoughts and intentions were not wrong, I could sense it in all these days. But why? There must be a reason behind, Right. I want to know that reason." She asked him in a low tone staring right into his eyes. She never sounded so understanding and clear to him. He was hearing these kinds of words from her for the first time. For a second, He saw his old sensible Anika.

"I don't know how to say the reason, Anika. But please don't leave me."  He continued to say. 

"Are you feeling pity for you? If you know about my brother, You might have also known that I have been sold to someone by my own father. It's all because of that. You are doing everything just because you're feeling pity for me?" She asked, His eyes went wide in shock.

"No, Ani. You are taking it wrongly." He said to her. Holding on to her wrist even tighter. 

"Then tell me in which way I should take the whole information. Tell me an easier way to digest everything." She asked him staying close to him looking at his eyes. 

"I felt so connected to you when I saw you for the first time. I felt like my whole world depends on you from the moment I saw you, The thoughts about you makes me impatient minute by minute, Anika. It was the reason why I said okay to go with you to the haveli. It's a Love at first sight. I know it's hard to believe, Ani. But It's real, I couldn't stop myself when fate brings you back to me, Again." He carefully played with his words, He didn't say anything about Mathur, If he said that, He had to open up everything to her. But her expression frightened him a lot. She thuds herself in the bed behind her. Shivaay kneeled before her. 

"Trust me, Ani. I didn't want to lie to you but I don't know any other way to stop you. If I say the truth, You would have accepted the help from me?" - He asked holding her palms kneeling down. She looked at him helplessly and tried to speak but couldn't take a word. 

"Shivaay, We just know each other not even for 20 days. It's confusing me." - She bowed her head down. But he knew her for decades, Even death can't erase her thoughts. He didn't find any way to say it to her. He stayed silent. 

"It's not about the time, It's about the feelings, I felt like no energy can change the way I feel about you." - He said while cupping her face and made her face him. 

"You have no idea how I am feeling, Right now. You just confessed to me and I have no idea how to take it." - She murmured without facing him but he continued holding her face but didn't force her to face him. 

"Ask your heart, Anika. Do you think I fake my feelings towards you?" - He asked her caressing her cheeks his thumb. He was sure, She also has feelings towards him but her past experience stopping her from trusting him completely. She even didn't resist him from touching her. 

"I am scared to trust. Don't know it's because of the lie you said to me or my fear of trusting any other person in my life. But aside from all of that, I think you are different, My first friend, My first well-wisher and the first person who thinks about me. I am scared to give a name. Feeling like I am in the middle of the ocean." - She said looking at him, Tears crossed her eyes when she said those words, He wiped it off with his thumb and understood what she's feeling. She neither said 'yes' nor said 'no'. She needs time to think about it. He steadied his mind And held her palms, Again. 

"Is your senior trustable?" He asked her without meeting her eyes when she looked at him shockingly. 

"What?" She questioned him shockingly. 

"It's your life! You're free to make any decisions. Let's give a pause to everything which is going around. Shall I drop you at her place?" He asked her without facing her. She didn't reply anything to him. 

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

Year: 1899 (After 5 years since shivaay left to study)

The forest became prohibited before 5 years, Whoever goes inside never returns. Shivaay was all ready to go and see her, Nothing in the world was ready to stop, Even he was ready to get shot dead by thakur attempting to meet her. All he wanted to see her once. Only he knew how these 5 years went without her, But he kept her word and became famous for his painting, Art university offered him a professor job. Everything was set, If she nods to his decision, He will take her child and her away from this village and starts a new life with her. At the same time, He was ready to back off when he saw her happy with her family and her child. His thoughts are clear, All he wanted was her happiness. If she's happy, That's enough for him. 

But his whole world stopped for a while when he saw her arriving from the woods in her red saree, With her usual attire, He recognized she didn't wear her nuptial chain when she moved close to him, His mind didn't think any logic, At that hour what she was doing in the middle of woods. But his heart relaxed to see her after a long time. He felt like an eternity went without seeing her. But his heart started to beat fast when he saw the frown in her face and her tears escaped from her eyes. Whatever happens, He didn't want her to shed tears. 

"Milady..." He walked fastly towards her and stopped when they were just meters apart. 

"Shivaay..." She heaved out her breath along with her tears. He took his hand lamp and brought it towards her just to make sure it was his milady who was standing before him. 

"I thought I leave this world without seeing your face. I think this is the reason." She said in a sobbing tone. He still couldn't able to understand the meaning behind her words. The environment was so cold. He was freezing in the chillness, Everything was happening out of sudden, But still, He couldn't able to understand any reason. 

"I came for you and Shivaani. It's shivaani, Right?" - He asked her. Tears crossed uncontrollably from her eyes when she nodded yes to him. Before he could take another word, She engulfed him in a hug. He was confused than getting surprised, She felt so cold As if he hugged a corpse not a human but that didn't resist him from hugging her back. 

"You're scaring me, Milady! What happened?" - He asked her in a most scared tone. But she didn't break the hug instead he could able to hear her words in his ears. 

"Nothing was in its place after you left. They killed her. They killed my two-month-old daughter for the welfare of the family. But I killed every single person except thakur made the family heirless." - She started to speak, His heart dropped, Even shivaani was not his child, He felt like they killed his own child, He couldn't able to think anything, How they can be so cruel? How can they able to kill a two-month-old child? How would have anika felt when she lost her only solace during that time? What did a two-month-old do to them? He felt like yelling to the god for the injustice that happened to her. His legs went weak, He fell down on his knees immediately, Anika fell along with him. 

"But I couldn't able to do anything in my existence, Shivaay." - She said, This time his heart dropped, Soon the illusion he felt started to clear, All the things he heard about immortality came before his eyes when he heard her words but that didn't stop him from hugging her. He even hugged her tighter. She slightly broke the hug and cupped his face. He started to nod 'no'. It was not meant to happen. She deserves happiness in her life. She didn't deserve this end. He wanted everything to be his nightmare, All he wanted was wake up back in the haveli and starts his day by seeing her face and cooking for her. That was what he wanted from his life.

"Shivaay, This is the reality. You have to accept it." - She said cupping his face while he still hugged her and no to her constantly. He was spellbound. 

"I thought I will never find peace but I was wrong. You gave me peace, Shivaay."- She said huskily. Tears crossed uncontrollably from his eyes. 

"No... No... No... Don't leave me." - He started to beg her when he sensed she's leaving him forever. 

"I already left you." - She cried helplessly. 

"Please. I can't live without you. If I knew this will happen, I would have never left you. Please don't leave me, Alone. You know, Right. Without you I am nothing." - He said holding her tightly to his grip. 

"Shivaay..." - She took his name helplessly. 

"Milady! Please! For this, You would have let me die on that day, Itself." - He cried to her. 

"I bought you a saree." - He said opening the suitcase and let her see the saree, It was a bridal-Saree. Anika couldn't meet his eyelids when he became so impatient after knowing the truth. 

"Let's get married, And also, I brought you the ring which you gave me before when I left. I know how much you love it? I preserved it more than anything. Let's get married. I want you, Milady! I can't live without you, Please understand!" - He cried to her, She wiped off his tears. 

"It's impossible in this life, Shivaay. Please understand." - She cried to him while uniting their foreheads. 

"Life was so unfair to us. But hear me, Carefully. This is not an end but a beginning. Next time, Nothing will stop us from living our life. Till then, Wait for me. And remember, In every life, I will be always yours and you will be always mine. Hmm?" - She asked. 

"Hmm." - He closed his eyes. But when he opened his eyes, Anika was not there in front of him. 

"NOOOO...." - He screamed his hell out. 

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