"Aur positive aata toh, tab kya karti tu? Would you have aborted the baby?" Sidharth had asked Shehnaaz bluntly.

"What??!!" She is taken aback by the question.

"How could- why would I? Sidharth, why would I abort the baby?" She asked back.

"Ye kya bol raha hai tu? Mai aisa kyu karungi? Mai aisa kaise kar sakti hu? Tu pagal ho gaya hai kya?" She just wasn't able to settle down with his question.

"I don't know." He replied.

"Tune aisa kyu pucha? Why do you think I'd do something like that?" She scooted closer to him, asking.

"I- I don't know. Family pressure." He shrugged, now that the topic was finally on the table he had asked her the question he had been meaning to. It was uncomfortable but he wanted an answer.

"Nahi. Nahi Sidharth. Mai kisi bhi situation me aisa nahi karungi. I love you! Mai kyu karungi aisa?" She replied, wondering what went so wrong that he  believed she'd abort their baby.

"Family ka pressure hai, lekin.. lekin koi hume alag thodi na karna chahta hai! Wo toh pregnancy scare hua isliye shaadi ke liye bol rahe the. There's no reason for me to abort it!" She explained, taking his hand in hers.

"Toh tu kyu negative results ki ratt laga kar baithi thi?" He asked, agitated and confused at the same time.

"Chachi ke darr se! Aise hi itni strict, purane khayalo wali orthodox si hai wo. Unke dar se! Sidharth itne mushkil se aur itne time ke baad meri family ne mujhe wapas accept kiya tha. I didn't wanna lose them again!" She replied, looking at him with eyes full of hope.

"Right. Right." A humourless chuckle escaped his lips as he slowly pulled his hand out of her embrace. It had always been the case, nothing new to him. His feelings had always been subsided and not taken care of. His name wasn't even in the list of her worrisome priorities, it hurt. Nor in Ishita's list neither in Shehnaaz's, such was his life.

"Kya?" She asked, gaining his attention and he simply shook his head disapprovingly.

"Nothing. It's okay." He replied, getting up to make his way towards his bedroom.

"Sidharth! Kya nothing? Bolna!" She came in his way, bothered with the change in his attitude.

"I'm sorry. Mai sachi me dar gayi thi, wo mujhe phirse nikal dete apni family se toh?" She replied, on the verge of breaking down.

"Toh? Nikal toh vaise bhi diya? Ab?" He countered and she didn't know how to come up with a response.

"Tujhe jis baat ka dar tha, woh toh ho gaya. Ab jo teri Chachi tere sath nahi hai, tujhe meri yaad aa rahi hai? Abhi mera khayal aa raha hai, abhi lag raha hai ke tune mere bare me nahi socha, abhi bura lag raha hai mere liye? Ha?!" He asked her, nudging her to answer. She blinked her tears away, taking a hold of his hands again when he'd continuously shrug off her hand.

"Aisa nahi hai Sidharth. Tu sabse pehle hai mere liye, aise mat bol. Mai janti hu tujhe hurt kiya hai maine, isliye tu gusse me hai." She replied.

He sighed, not wanting to rant it out on her unnecessarily and sauntered into his bedroom. This was not her fault, she didn't intentionally hurt him. She didn't break him, he was already broken and on the mend. When he didn't find himself in her priorities, he felt dejected and left out like he had been when Ishita had suddenly disappeared from his life. Even though the situation was entirely different, he couldn't help but recall how miserable that feeling was. Back then, he didn't want to fall for anyone ever again but destiny had it's own plans. He met Shehnaaz and she just made her way into his life like anything.

Sadly, the only way to learn to trust again was by trying again with a new person and with her, things haven't been the smoothest yet wonderful. To top that insecurity off he had gone through several phases just to rehabilitate their trust like getting into a relationship. Depending on the severity of the past relationship, he was finding it amazing to be with Shehnaaz. Life was beautiful and his partner was even more but life's like a long road full of pits and ditches. He was to protect himself from being hurt and yet didn't want to hurt her, he loved that girl so much that he preferred keeping his thoughts and feelings to himself rather than hurting her, but her initiative regarding this sensitive topic agitated him and he broke loose.

"Sidharth! Baat karte hai na! Aise pareshan mat baith, aa mere se baat kar!" She knocked at the door constantly, crying and repenting of her actions. He refused to answer the door, fishing out a packet of cigarettes and making his way towards the balcony to calm himself down a little.

A little later, she left the apartment to give him the space he needed. Maybe her presence was overbearing along with the constant insisting to talk about the issue, she thought. Even Mary's suggestions revolved around her head, to not give up and do everything that was in her hand to fix this situation in between them. She thought about all of it while walking out of the building and wiping her tears in between. A couple of ladies walking around after dinner looked at her, the one lady living adjacent to Sidharth could recall the girl to be his girlfriend. They whispered among themselves, wondering if the couple might have had a heartbreaking break up. Shehnaaz ignored the gazes she felt upon herself and relaxed her shoulders, breathing the fresh and cool air once she was out of the elevator.

Sidharth was smoking in his balcony, anxiously pacing around in the small area until he recognised a familiar figure in the huge compund infront of him. He saw Shehnaaz... Leaving? Was she going to leave just like that? Without informing him or did she do that on purpose because she was tired of him and wanted to get rid of him? Did he stretch the topic too far for her? He nubbed the tip of his cigarette immediately and almost ran out of his room to stop her.

He knew his defense mechanism wasn't common and usual, it had interfered with his relationship, maybe he shouldn't have shut her out or locked himself inside the room. He impatiently waited for the elevator to reach the lobby so that he could stop her before she left, preparing himself to stop her from leaving at such an odd and unsafe hour at least. Their issue could be resolved later, but he wasn't one of those who would let their woman be alone in the middle of the night after an argument.

He didn't want the history to repeat itself, he was ashamed of himself when he found out that Ishita had left and it took him two days to realize that she wasn't around because he was so busy with his work back in those days. His breathing picked up. He worriedly looked around to see if Shehnaaz was still there in the compound and found her walking back and forth. The moment she noticed him, she stilled at her place as well.

"Sidharth?" She came towards him.

"Tu yaha kya kar rahi hai?" He asked.

"Walk karne aayi hu." She replied, trying to figure out what got him out of his room.

"Bata ke nahi ja sakti thi?" He scolded, feeling a wave of relief washing him over when the realization dawned.

"Sorry." She mumbled.

"Bas sorry bolti reh baat baat pe! Kya chiz hai be tu!?" He snapped at her, before pulling her into a big hug. She was not at all expecting this, a hug anytime soon yet she reciprocated, hugging him back with her dear life.

"Aise bina bataye kabhi nahi jana." He whispered in the hug.

"Nahi ja rahi thi kahi, walk karne aayi thi. Meko laga tujhe akele rehna hai thodi der." She replied, caressing his back.

"Acha thik hai, kahi nahi jaungi bina bataye." She corrected herself, not wanting to spoil his mood and their moment. She kissed his cheek once they parted and he looked around to see if anybody was watching them, fortunately there were very few people around.

"Chal." She said, holding his hand and making their way back to the elevator.

"Tujhe laga mai ja rahi thi?" She asked and found him nodding.

"Kyu?" She asked again and he simply gave her hand a little squeeze while shaking his head dismissively.

"Baat karni hai? Mann hai?" She asked again and he nodded again.

"Muh me zuban hai?" She asked as she giggled, watching him giving her a dead look.

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Tadaa! Here's the new chapter.. how's it!! Batao batao?

Cartoons are back!

Sidharth's reaction? What do you think? Reasonable enough? He should probably talk more, don't you think??

Shehnaaz? I know she realized her mistake so what should she do next?