Few days passed like that with Siddharth sneaking in and out of the house without any suspicions and keeping an eye on Anu simultaneously.

Whereas, Anu got many doubts about the new tenant as she and her parents never saw them. She asked her uncle about this and he said that his tenant is a very busy business man and must have got a lot of work. Listening to her uncle she just shrugged it off.

Siddharth on the other side was very happy to be under the same roof as her. Though it has been difficult for food, he managed. In the past few days, he happily watched her talking to her parents, playing with some children and doing some chores in the house.

Whenever he heard her mother asking her whether she took medicines or not, he gets sad thinking about her health but also felt relief seeing her taking care of herself.

******

He heard some laughs and giggling from outside. He walked out of his room and looked down. He saw Anu and some girls sat on the steps in front of their door.

He didn't go to work today. He worked from home and spent most of the time talking to his friends on the phone giving the details of Anu. Neha attacked him with so many questions and he didn't realize that it's already night answering her questions.

He liked the environment here. As people here would do their work and spent their rest of the time with their families. No tensions, no worries, no running here and there, no problems. It felt peaceful here for him.

He glanced down and looked at the kids playing in front of Anu who just sat there gazing the night sky. He also looked up and stared at the sky shining with stars.

He smiled remembering their memories of gazing the sky he had with Anu. He looked at Anu and saw her smiling too. He thought she must be thinking the same.

Then a little girl came and sat beside Anu looking at her.

" Didi, why are you looking at the sky?" That girl asked Anu and Sid looked at them smiling.

" Because I like gazing the stars in the night sky." She replied smiling.

" Didi, I have heard that when some one dies they become stars. Is it true?" that little girl asked innocently.

Anu's smile disappeared making Siddharth's smile also falter.

" Maybe." Anu whispered looking down.

That girl looked up at the sky while Siddharth just stared at Anu gulping the lump in his throat.

" Someday I will also become a star and look down at my loved ones." Anu said smiling with tears.

Tears fell from his eyes looking at her.

******

Siddharth climbed down the stairs and looked around if anyone was there. He quickly hid behind a wall when he saw Anu at the gate.

He peeked a little hiding himself and saw that Anu stood there without moving. He frowned at her thinking what she was doing.

Suddenly she clutched her head with her hands closing her eyes. This made Siddharth alert and eyes wide open. He looked at her who is now close to fainting and so he rushed over to her.

He caught her before she falls on the ground and looked at her who is unconscious now. He called her many times patting her cheek but she didn't wake up.

He stood up carrying her in his arms and climbed the stairs. He took her into his room and made her lie on his bed.

He didn't know what to do in panic. He took his phone out and called someone.

" Hello?"

" Dr. Gupta." He shouted in panic.

" Mr. Khurana, what happened?" Doctor asked him worried.

" Ananya fainted. What should I do now?" He asked looking at her pale face.

" Can you tell me how she fainted?" Doctor asked hurriedly.

" One minute she was standing, in other minute she clutched her head painfully and in the next minute she fainted." Siddharth explained.

" Oh....."

" Doctor what happened to her? Why she fainted? Is something serious? Shall I bring her there? Or shall I go to some nearby doctor? Is there something I could do? " Sid ranted in fear.

" Mr. Khurana calm down. Do you have the emergency medicine with you now that I gave to you?" Doctor asked calmly.

" Yes! " Siddharth said.

" Then give it to her, she will be alright." Doctor assured.

" She is unconscious. How should I give medicine to her? " Siddharth again bellowed in fear.

" Sprinkle some water on her face first." Doctor instructed.

" Ok." He said and sprinkled some water on her face gently.

" I did." He informed.

" Did she move?" Doctor asked.

" No." Sid whispered.

" Then take that medicine and dissolve it in some water." Doctor instructed.

" Wait a minute! I am doing it." Saying Sid started doing what doctor said.

" Ok. Lift her head a little and try to make her gulp that dissolved medicine." Doctor said.

" Okay..... " Siddharth said unsurely.

He slowly lifted her head and put the medicine in her mouth. Since it's in  liquid form, the medicine automatically slide down her throat.

" I did it." Siddharth sighed.

" Good." Doctor sighed in relief.

" Will she be okay now? I can bring her to the hospital if you want. " Siddharth asked worried.

" No no it's not necessary. It just happens like that in her condition. If you bring her here also I would have given the same medicine except I would have injected it. She is okay now, don't worry. ", Doctor explained calmly.

" Ok, when will she wake up then?" Sid asked concerned.

" Mostly in half an hour." Doctor said.

" Ok, thank you so much doctor for your help." Siddharth said honestly.

" It's Ok and you can call me again if something is wrong."

" Thank you Doctor."

Siddharth sighed in relief and looked at Anu. He kneeled down beside the bed and stroked her hair gently.

" I wish I could take away your pain." He whispered and a tear rolled down his cheek.

He leaned in and kissed her forehead. He felt alive touching her after long time. He now believed that she is okay and is with him.

His heart sank looking at the dark circles around her eyes and how weak she looked.

He hold her hand and kissed her palm.

" I will do anything I could do to save you." He whispered.

" I promise, I will never let you go." He said holding her hand to his heart.

" She would want you to let her go."

He heard and snapped his head towards the door.

Anu's mother stood at the door with tears in her eyes.

Siddharth kept her hand on the bed and stood up facing her mother.

" I know but I can't let her go at least not now when I found her ." Siddharth said determined.

She just smiled at him.

" You know the truth. Don't you?" She asked him sadly looking down.

" Yes." He whispered and both of them stayed silent for a moment.

" I know you are the tenant who is staying here." Her mom said.

" Umm..... I... I..... Actually......." Siddharth stuttered nervously.

" I got doubt that day only when I saw a bed was brought into your room by some men and I saw a man walked into the room wearing a suit. I suspected that it was you as no one wears business suits here." Her mom said.

" Urghhh..... I should wear normal clothes more often than business clothes." Siddharth groaned making her laugh.

" And I also once saw you sneaking in. That's when I understood you are the new tenant." She said with a teasing smile.

Siddharth just looked down embarrassed.

" But why are you hiding? " She asked him.

" If Anu comes to know it's me then she might run away again. I don't want her to live her life in fear of me knowing the truth and running away from me again and again." He said and paused.

" I just wanted her to live her life peacefully." He added and she smiled weakly.

" You are a good person. I am not saying it because you being a rich person are staying in such a small room without any previliges but I am saying it because I saw how you took care of my daughter a while back." She said softly and Siddharth looked away.

" How often does it happens? " He asked gesturing at Anu.

" She feels a little dizziness due to the medicines but She doesn't faint normally. She faints when she is  stressed out. " Her mom says sadly.

" She is stressed? Why?" He asks worried.

She doesn't say anything but looks away.

" Please tell about what she is stressing?" He pleaded her.

" About you." She whispers sadly.

" Me? " He frowns.

" Yes."

" Why? " He asks.

" She is worried about you. Yesterday also she was asking me if you would be alright or not. She knows that her disappearance will effect you very badly. She thinks that you will hate her more but she also says that you will be worrying more than hating her. She didn't heard anything about you lately in the media also which got her think about how you might be and the fear of you knowing the truth  is eating her up. These all thoughts and worries made her stressed and she might have fainted due to that." Her mom said sniffing.

Siddharth controlled himself from breaking down before her by clenching his fists and Jaw tightly. He turned away from her when she looked concerned at him.

" Are you okay? " She asked nervously.

" I am fine." He said without facing her.

These two are hell stubborn people.

She sighed.

" Mrs. Agarwal, Can you do me a favor?" He asked turning to her.

" What?" She looked at him.

" Please don't tell her that I am the one who is staying here." He said to her.

" Why? "

" She will not like it and moreover she may again make plans to run away from me." He said in fear.

" But you know right, she will eventually know it. She is already suspicious about you. " She said as the matter of fact.

" Yeah I know but there is no other way. You please don't tell her anything, let her know by herself. When she knows, I will act like the cold and rude business man I am like before. It will be easy for me like that. And she shouldn't also know that I brought her here and gave the medicine." He ranted in panic.

She looked at him wondering what good her daughter must have done to have a person like Siddharth to love her that too so much that he sacrificed all his riches, luxuries, previliges, work, office, house, parents, family just to be there for her daughter that too in such a small room.

She just nodded her head in astonishment and she got a beautiful smile in reply which made her also smile.

" Thank you Mrs. Agarwal." He said smiling.

" Don't be so formal, this is not your office. You can call me Aunty." She said smiling back.

" Ok Aunty." He grinned which made her chuckle.

" By the way you should bring her down to her room before she wakes up." She reminded him.

" Yeah of course." He said.

He bent down and picked Anu in his arms. Her mother just stared at them like that for sometime. When Siddharth asked her what happened, she said it's nothing and went downstairs.

Siddharth carefully followed her and walked inside the house. Her mom showed him Anu's bedroom and he went inside looking at Anu who is sleeping peacefully in his arms.

Her mom also came in and saw how caringly Siddharth tucked her into the bed and covered her with quilt. He brushed her hair from her face and kissed her on the forehead. Watching this her mom had tears in her eyes.

Siddharth stood up and looked around only to freeze. There were all his pictures on the walls. Some were of their beautiful memories but  remaining all are only his pictures.

" She always decorates her room with your pictures wherever she is." Her mom explained looking at his shocked face.

Words didn't come out of his mouth. He just looked at the pictures with tears.

" She says that she is only left with them...... Memories." Her mom said caressing her daughter's hair sitting beside her lying form.

Tears slipped out of his eyes and he didn't bother to hide them this time.

He just walked out of her room in a daze not knowing to feel happy or sad.

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To be Continued............

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