The entire house was bustling with people by the next evening. The family had gathered around the soon-to-be engaged couple, with the panditji directing them to perform some rituals. Sanskar stayed back the entire time, he found the environment suffocating and slipped away from the back, heading towards the veranda at the back of the house, by the garden.

When he reached there, he already found someone there. From his introductions the previous day, it seemed to be Swara's sister, who was now crying. He wondered if he should leave her by herself, before deciding to go over for a moment.

"Crying because your sister is getting married?" he asked her

She was startled to find someone there, she looked at him with wide eyes for a second before shaking her head, to indicate that wasn't the reason. He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her. She looked at it apprehensively for a minute, and then on his insisting, with a quick nod, she accepted it, wiping her tears away. They looked away from each other, directing their sight towards the garden in front of them.

Sanskar glanced at her from the side before adding "Tears don't solve any problems. Problems get solved when you give it back to the one causing those tears in the first place"

Ragini looked at him, surprised again by his words, before realizing there was someone else there. She turned to find her sister Swara.

"Ragini, where have you been?"

Ragini gave one last look to Sanskar before making her way back towards the house, answering her sister with "Sorry, lets go back, everyone must be waiting"

"You go ahead; I will join in a minute" Swara informed her. Ragini looked at them for a second before going back in.

"What were you doing with my sister?" Swara came charging towards him

"Ah, Miss BGM, my cousin's would-be-bride" he responded calmly, resting against the railing for a second, his demeanor unchanged by her anger

"I asked you a question" she snapped

"Are you obsessed with your sister? Or is it something else?" he commented, now pushing off against the railing and walking confidently towards her, a slight smirk playing on his lips

"What do you mean?" she was by now glaring at him with reserved anger.

"Have you finally realized my cousin isn't worth it?" He said coming a bit closer and almost saying conspiringly

"Stay away from my sister!" she warned him, moving away from him

"You left your engagement" he said glancing at her ring finger "to stop me from talking to your sister? Are you sure this had nothing to do with my cousin?" he asked with a lopsided smile aimed to smite her.

"Just look...."

But before she could reply back, her mother Sharmistha had come there looking for her.

"Shona, where have you been? Everyone is looking for you?" she asked even as she looked between the two of them "You must be Sanskar" she added looking at him

Sanskar gave her a warm smile and walked over to her, taking her blessing "You must be Mrs Gadodia, Lucky's mother-in-law"

"Mrs Gadodia sounds weird hearing from you kids, call me..."

"Shomi Aunty" Sanskar added, to which Shomi nodded with a warm smile

"Lets go Shona" she called again. Swara went with her, but not before throwing one final glare in Sanskar's direction.

Sanskar shook his head and enjoyed some solitary moments in the veranda before Uttara called him to join the festivities.

The Maheshwari House over the next week could be best described only as chaotic. Panditji, on the evening of the engagement, had finalized the wedding to be held ten days later. Everyone in the family was left scrambling to make the arrangements within that short span. Sanskar remained on the periphery all throughout, not being actively involved in the preparations, but monitoring the situation and Durga Prasad keenly, knowing well that Durga Prasad wasn't one to rush into action just yet. With about 3 days to go for the wedding, stress was riding high, everyone seemed to acting like a tightly coiled spring, high on tension, rearing to go.

It was Swara and Laksh's sangeet ceremony going on at the Maheshwari House. Swara was sitting next to Laksh, smiling at him forcefully, intermittently, but her mind was on the incidents that had been plaguing her in the past few days. Her eyes searched for him, finding him standing quietly at a corner, not being bothered by what was going on around him. Everything had started after his arrival. She was sure he was linked to it, one way or the other, and she was going to prove it.

She was half heartedly participating in the celebrations, when out of the corner of her eye, she saw him trying to make his way away from everyone, walking up the stairs. She saw him talk to Ragini, who was walking down the same stairs, for a few minutes, before he continued his way up. She wasn't sure what was discussed, the conversation was quick, but Ragini had been subdued post it. She glanced around to see if there was a way she could slip away. She had to get to the bottom of this, her life depended on it.

Sanskar was working on his laptop when the door to his room was banged open. He lifted his head to find Swara standing in his room staring at him with her arms crossed in front of her.

"You!"

"Well Miss BGM, considering you have barged into my room, did you really expect someone else to be there?" he added calmly, without getting up from the sofa.

"What were you talking to my sister about?"

"Really Miss BGM, you should stop using your sister as an excuse to meet me" he added now getting up from his sofa, raising one of his eyebrows, smirking at her.

"What did you say to Ragini?"

"Does my cousin know you are here with me right now?" he asked taking a step towards her

"This has nothing to do with him" she replied curtly, narrowing her eyes as she looked at him

"Somehow, I am very sure that you spending more time, thinking about me and stalking me, than you spend with your fiancé, would matter to him" he said, his eyes never leaving her even for a second as he slowly came closer to her until she was left standing against his wardrobe. Sanskar tilted his head down a bit "Is there something I should know about?" he whispered leaning closer to her.

"Stay away from my sister" she warned him, pushing him away, storming out of his room. Sanskar looked at her retreating form with a smile, shaking his head, before returning back to his work.

That was exactly how Uttara found him again a couple of hours later, when things calmed down and the guests had made their departure. She pulled him downstairs, to join the family, as she always did and he let her drag him down, indulging her antics. As he walked down, he could sense that the atmosphere was somber. Everyone was sitting around the sofa, Laksh seemed to be at the center facing some tough questioning from Badi Maa

"Why did you feel the need to hide something this big from us, Laksh. How could you not let us know that this is not the first time Swara has behaved this way. And today this! drunk, Laksh! Do you even realize how difficult it was for us to face our guests and the people in our community?"

"Maa, she hasn't behaved this way before. She is just stressed with the wedding and everything. She had been having some blank spots in her memory" Laksh tried to explain.

"Blank Spots! This is worse! She doesn't just get drunk, she also has a mental problem?"

"Maa, she doesn't have a mental problem. The previous times that this happened....." Laksh trailed off before quickly adding "Maa, she didn't drink alcohol. I am sure someone must have spiked her drink"

"And how are you so sure?"

"Swara told me"

"Was she even in a state to say anything?"

"She told this to me last time"

"But you said she hasn't been drunk before"

"She hasn't, but she feels someone is drugging her that is why she cannot remember some of times"

"And you believed her? Why would someone do something like this to her? Who did she think was doing this? Did she say a name?"

"No, Maa.." Laksh started to explain, but his words trailed off as his sight fell on Sanskar. He glared at Sanskar with intense anger, before Annapurna pulled at his hand, drawing him back into the conversation.

"Don't Maa me. This is not what I expected when I accepted her to be my Bahu"

"Jiji, she is a modern day girl and that too a Bengali girl. We shouldn't have expected anything else. Getting drunk, lies and such drama in front of guests, is something we will need to get used to, now that she is becoming part of this household" Sujata added, twisting her face in disgust.

As this drama was unfolding, Sanskar felt as though he was being watched. He scanned around, his eyes meeting a pair that was looking intently at him. A smirk rose on his lips and he gave a discrete nod and returned the look with equal intensity.