A/N : Hello everyone! So Sorry for being late again ! I promise I wont make it a habit, and this time tiny tot had no hand to play - just a crazy week at work !!

I am sure I had a lot of non sense to prattle about before giving the update (like everyday I keep on talking! :P ) but in interest of time and a badly managed work schedule, I will zip it and let you read in peace!

Much love,

A.

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In the early hours of dawn, in the ICU

As Prerna slowly tried opening her eyes, her head felt very heavy. It was dark and she was lying on a bed, there were curtains around her and a soft murmur of people talking right outside the curtains, the place smelled like medicines, she scrunched her nose in dislike.

"Hospital" she mumbled to herself, as she tried moving, but she couldn't, someone was holding her hand she realised. She turned to her right to see the silhouette of a man sitting on a stool next to her while his head bobbed on to her bed – he was clutching her hand, he seemed to be sleeping. His face was turned the other way so she couldn't see him; how did she reach here?

It took her a few minutes to get her bearings right; wait she was in Anupam and Nivi's engagement party yesterday, where..where he arrived, Rishabh, from out of the blue; her breath hitched as she slowly recollected the incident and soon realised how she had blacked out – who got her here? Did she disrupt the function, she thought guiltily but how'd she know?

Rishabh, how did he always have such a strong impact on her? Their relationship, it never knew stability – it was always high octane. Their love was epic and hate? Their hate was catastrophic. For a fleeting second she wondered if it was Rishabh here sitting next to her, but what were the odds, he was gone, leaving her in so much pain and anguish that she couldn't keep it together anymore – she, Prerna, had failed again. She sniffed unconsciously and immediately the sleeping figure became alert. Prerna could feel his palm muscles tense up, he slowly got up and turned to her; even in the dark Prerna could tell, his face was clouded with concern.

"Anurag" she called out, not being able to mask her surprise. Anurag heard her call his name and sat up straight, was he dreaming? No, she seemed to finally wake up. He immediately brought his face close to hers to check; yes, her eyes were open, she was looking at him. A sense of relief ran through him as he answered.

"Yes Prerna, it's me. How are you feeling now?" Prerna could feel the strain in his voice, she felt guilty. It was his sisters' big day and instead of celebrating it with her, he was here taking care of her.

"I'm fine, but you? What are you doing here? Why aren't you in the engagement? Nivi and Anupam would be looking for you nah? Anurag, how'd you find me? Did you get me here?" she had many questions and as her head started clearing, she kept gunning them out at him.

"Prerna, arre! Relax baba. The doctor has asked you to not take any stress at all!" began Anurag, as he tried pacifying her.

"But Anurag..."

"Listen, the engagement is done with, its' almost dawn now Prerna – and yes I found you when I went out looking for you – you weren't there, Anupam and I got worried, so I got looking and found you..." his voice trailed off, as once again the picture of an unconscious Prerna lying on the drive way, came to his mind. He shut his eyes to block the thought; no she was fine, she was right here before him; focus Anurag, he kept telling himself.

"Anupam, he must be so worried; Anurag please can you tell him I'm fine?" Prerna pleaded.

"It's okay baba, calm down; I have got it covered; he doesn't know you're here. He thinks you have gone home after the party. We will tell him today. Okay?" he told her calmly and she finally seemed to relax a little.

"Prerna, is there anybody else you'd like me to inform about you? Family?" he enquired; he was thinking about it at night too, while he was sitting next to her – he realised, Prerna had never spoken to her about her family.

"No. No, it's fine" she replied without looking at his eyes; he nodded.

They were quiet for some time, Prerna seemed very preoccupied, in her thoughts; Anurag's eyes followed her; should he question her on what happened, right now? Or should he wait for morning when the doctor arrived? She seemed stressed already and that's one thing the doctor wanted her to avoid for now – he decided on waiting; she needed more rest anyway.

"Prerna don't look so disturbed, your little episode didn't deter the function – it went smoothly. Now my sister and your best friend are officially engaged! Badhai ho!" he said and smiled; she smiled in return and congratulated him back – good, her thoughts seemed diverted now, Anurag noticed.

"By the way, Prerna, when I couldn't locate you, for a moment I thought dear old Parth has succeeded in wooing you; I started looking for that idiot too, to see if he is missing – but he was right there – just so you know, I think he was trying his luck on that pretty friend of yours – you know, the one with big eyes and who keeps talking?" he smirked.

"Seriously Anurag? You thought I'd run away with Parth from Anupam's engagement?? Also the 'pretty' friend you mentioned is Shivi" she replied smiling. Anurag laughed; yes he thought the best thing to do right then was to keep her mood light. He couldn't explain how relaxed and peaceful he was finally feeling after seeing her awake and smiling – yes she looked weak even now, but she seemed okay – that's what mattered.

"By the way, is this Shivi friend of yours single" he asked mocking interest and hiding a smile.

"At least leave Shivi for poor Parth nah, Anurag" she laughed - with the movement in her body, the drip needle pricked her and she yelped in pain, "Ouch". Anurag's smile vanished in a second, he realised what happened, and immediately rushed to hold her hand.

"Offo Prerna, you have a needle on your hand, be careful; don't move; you've had enough pain for one day!" he spoke as he massaged the skin around her needle for the third time that night. Prerna watched him take care of her, she smiled; after the last evening's incident she never thought she could even talk to anyone anytime soon, let alone laugh, but Anurag had managed that feat too – here she was heartbroken yet she found strength to stand up – thanks to Anurag.

"Acha Prerna, enough chit-chat now; you haven't fully recovered yet – go back to sleep. I am right here; we will talk after you wake up in the morning" he spoke with authority and Prerna quietly nodded and obeyed. As she shut her eyes to sleep Anurag looked at her with a calm face, he was finally feeling the exhaustion of the last few days and last night taking its toll on him, his eyes were drooping – soon he dozed off too.

***

"How do you feel right now Ms. Sharma?"

"I feel absolutely fine right now, doctor"

Anurag woke up hearing this exchange happening very close to his ears. He sat up to find that it was already a bright sunny day, the curtains around Prerna's bed was removed and her doctor was checking up on her. He turned to look at Prerna, she looked much better now, the sleep seemed to take the paleness and exhaustion off her; in fact she was even smiling softly.

"Does it hurt anywhere? Head, back, hands?" he enquired.

"No, not really – maybe a little bit on the lower back" she replied, Anurag looked concerned immediately, but she smiled and shook her head at him to show that it was very minor.

"That I suppose is because of the fall" she muttered herself.

"Okay, can you recollect what happened yesterday, was there some incident or were you generally just feeling weak and ..?" the doctor peered through his glasses at her; even Anurag sat up straight to hear her now.

Prerna gulped, she had somehow miraculously managed to block the last nights' episode from her mind, she wasn't bringing it up and unravelling one more time; not only did it make her feel truly stupid, but also it was too damn painful.

"Tell him Prerna" she heard Anurag's encouraging voice.

"Nnn..Nothing! Nothing happened Anurag; I was actually very tired you know, exhausted because of all this – very tight schedule; the preparations for this engagement, the parties leading to it, the multiple cases at work, all the travel, the alcohol..you know.." she tried faffing. Anurag frowned, could this be? Yes, Prerna did seem very occupied in the last couple of weeks, but could that really knock her out the way she was yesterday?

The doctor on the other hand, nodded his head in understanding, "See Ms. Sharma, these are classic reasons for the kind of black out you suffered – did you feel a tightening feeling in your chest? Difficulty in breathing? claustrophobic maybe?" he asked; Prerna nodded slowly, Anurag's eyes widened hearing of her discomfort.

"See Mr. Basu, this is what I had hypothesised with you yesterday, it was an angina attack, I will prescribe some medicines, please get them" the doctor spoke as Anurag nodded his head; then he turned to Prerna.

"Ms. Sharma, you have to learn to pick up the signs now, you are nearing your thirties, and these are subtle hints from your body telling you, it can't handle your reckless life. You have to slow down, in order to stay fit all through life – more than medicine you need a change in lifestyle. Although for now, you also need ample of rest and no stress at all. Anyway, we will keep you for one more day, just to keep you under observation – you will be free to go home tomorrow" he finished with a firm smile; Prerna nodded.

Anurag was about to say something but just then his phone rang, he looked at the phone to see Mishka's name flash on it – of course, he had to talk to her too; he quickly excused himself and left the ICU to take the call. Mishka wanted to meet him then as she had promised, but Anurag declined, he told her about Prerna's health condition and told her he would meet her when Prerna was discharged.

Mishka was stunned – she was debating whether she should tell Anurag what she knew or not, when Anurag called back again. A startled Mishka received the call.

-        Hey Mishka, actually we can meet now

-        But Prerna?

-        Since she is stable and awake now, I cannot be inside, plus it's not visiting hours yet. So I was thinking let's catch up – we can talk and by 11AM I will be back here when I can actually go in and meet her.

-        Sure

Although she wasn't sure if she should tell anything to Anurag about Prerna, she knew one other person surely deserved to know.

[Jiju, Prerna is admitted in Lifeline Hospital since last night – she is in ICU. I thought you should know :)]

***

Anurag was sitting at a brunch joint; in all this he hadn't realised, but he hadn't eaten since the night before, so he invited Mishka here so he could eat and talk to her at the same time. In another ten minutes, Mishka had walked in; Anurag was mentally preparing himself, he knew Mishka would be hurt hearing what he had to say, and hurting her wasn't his intention – after all she had always been more than supportive of him – but what could be done – truth was he loved Prerna and she needed him now more than ever; least he could do was come clean with Mishka – something he thought he should have done ages ago. But Mishka seemed a bit disturbed herself, what could be the reason he wondered; was it her sister? Anurag remembered she had mentioned about her migraine last night.

"Hey how is your sister doing now?" he asked her, she seemed distracted.

"Huh? Haan, fine. Kshama di is fine – in fact she flew back to Mumbai today early morning" she smiled.

"How is Prerna doing now? What exactly had happened Anurag?" she asked concerned. Anurag told her in brief about how he found her lying on the ground and had taken her to the hospital, he told her about her diagnosis and treatment plans and Mishka heard with deep frown on her face; since when was Mishka this concerned about Prerna, wondered Anurag.

"Mishka, I have something very important to discuss with you, and hence I called you here, despite the fact that Prerna is in the hospital" he begun, he realised there was no point beating around the bush any further. Mishka looked at him surprised. Anurag sighed once looking at her confused face, he was truly feeling guilty, but it had to be done – he had to rip the proverbial band-aid here.

"Mishka, it is about us. You and I – Mish we are not working" he said and slowly looked at her face, incomprehension flashed on her face as she frowned a little first.

"Meaning?"

"Mish, you know how we are. I know you have feelings for me, but you always knew I don't reciprocate to it right?" he began, but Mishka spoke again.

"Is this a joke Anurag, because it is really not funny. I am not in the right frame of.." but Anurag cut her in mid-sentence.

"No Mishka, why will I joke about this?"

"So you want to break up with me?" she asked still sounding unclear.

"But why?" she asked, her face was clouded with so many questions, and Anurag knew she deserved the answer to those.

"Mishka, you know I don't reciprocate to your feelings for me, right? Then what is the point of continuing?" he tried again patiently.

"The feeling you are talking about Anurag, it is called love. LOVE. At least acknowledge it aloud" she snapped at him this time; Anurag shut his eyes to stay calm.

"Mish..."

"..and I know you don't love me; I get it that you don't believe in love. We are together despite it right? We are happy too! We progressed Anurag, I met your family, your friends, you met my family – it is all good! What has changed? Why should we now suddenly break up just because you don't love me?" her voice was breaking now, as her tears threatened to come out anytime. Anurag sighed, how could he make her understand how much things had changed – his truth had change and in the new frame of his life, Mishka didn't fit. He decided to try again.

"Mish, you are an amazing woman, you deserve to be loved"

"..coming from a man who doesn't believe in love to begin with? I don't buy this Anurag" she spat back angrily.

"Okay, fine. Truth be told, I believe in love; honestly I have just begun to; someone has shown me its true face, I want to feel it – but Mishka unfortunately I don't feel that way for you – you know it – I never have. I can't understand why then carry on with what we have?" Anurag almost pleaded now.

Mishka's expression changed suddenly, she was no longer just hurt and upset, her nose flared in anger as she breathed fire, "Anurag, who is she?"

Anurag looked at her, she looked livid but he knew somewhere he deserved it – this wasn't the first time he had cheated on her, he simply decided to go with the truth.

"Prerna"

"Prerna?" Mishka looked distraught for a moment, Anurag tried pacifying her, but she had gone on a different tangent.

"Always Prerna, always her; Di was right, Jiju is wrong. She always comes in between everything. No I will not have it – first di, now me? What does she think of herself, that manipulative bitch!" she was almost talking to herself now and for once Anurag had no clue of what she was saying.

"Mishka please watch your language, I know you are hurt, abuse me then. I cheated on you, not Prerna" he replied.

"Not Prerna, huh, is it now Anurag? Do you have any idea who she is? She is a bloody home breaker Anurag!! That's what your Prerna is" she spat out in a fit of rage, and at the same time Anurag lost his calm.

"Shut the fuck up Mishka! Do you know what you're saying? Just because I love her, you can't call her .."

"Can't I now? How much do you know her Anurag? Your Prerna is the reason my sister and brother in law are not together! She has done it before and yesterday she was doing it again! You love her right? Then why does she want to break my Di and Jiju's family? Tell me Anurag? I will tell you why, because Prerna is what Prena does – she breaks hearts and wrecks homes – she is not worthy of love" hurled Mishka is anger.

Anurag was stunned.

What Mishka was saying made no sense to him. Rishabh and Kshama were separated because of Prerna? How did they even know her? And yesterday? She was trying to what? But when? She was either with him or Nivi or Anupam and then...in those few hours was she meeting Rishabh? Was that possible? But Prerna, why would she? She loved somebody right? The guy she was trying to tell him about that night at her place?

"Mishka, there is some confusion. I am sure of it now. Prerna.." he began, but Mishka laughed mirthlessly.

"Confusion. Ha ha ha. No Anurag, there is no confusion – this is me clearing your confusion. Prerna was working with Di and Jiju and she stole Jiju from di. Jiju left her because of my niece Cookie; because of family – but now? Jiju and Di are separating again – I told you when we were going to Mumbai right? Guess why? Prerna. They met here yesterday Anurag – right in front of your nose – could you catch her? No. My Di did – why do you think she left? Why do you think she had that migraine attack? Can't you add them together?"

Anurag had a thousand questions in his mind but none of them were for Mishka anymore. He wanted to meet Prerna and ask her. Who was Mr. Bajaj to her? Did he mean something? Was she really the cause to their separation? Was she trying to get back with him yesterday too? Did her blacking out have something to do with that? Coming to think of it, she did look very lost yesterday when the guests started arriving. Then he remembered her pale face in the banquet and her shriek – there was something going on, and Anurag needed to know. More than anything, if it had the power to hurt Prerna the say he saw yesterday – not only did he need to know, he needed to intervene.

"Why are you quiet Anurag? You still want to break up with me and be with that slut?" asked Mishka, malice laced with every word. Anurag shut his eyes in dismay.

"If you ever use that word on Prerna again, you have had it from me Mishka – as for us, now we are surely done – and I am done being guilty about it." he said that and walked away leaving a distraught Mishka behind.

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Word Count : 3236

Well, again, won't jab much, just these things:

1. Thank you so much fam, for reading my fiction, loving it everyday

2. Thank-you new readers for giving this fiction a try and leaving back generous votes and comments :)

3. The title of this chapter is a personal favourite! (This, and the last two chapters!)

4. Please let me know how you feel about this story like you always do.

5. A big shout out to the silent reader, thank you for reading! :)

Now, chop chop.

Until tomorrow!