*** EPILOGUE ***

“Sometimes people are afraid of falling in love, because it sometimes comes in a way we never expected.”

~ Terry Mark

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“Pap… Pap… Pap… Pap… Papiii!!”

And with another loud holler and the usual pain Sanskaar’s eyes jolted open that very instant and met with those of the little devil in disguise and the cause of his pain… His two years old son, Shubh!

“Shubh! That’s Papa’s stomach and not a bean bag, son! You’re not supposed to jump on it, especially when Papa is sleeping”, Sanskaar grumbled on the loss of his beloved sleep and his son, who by now had considered his father’s entire stomach as his personal mattress lying all the way over it, lifted his head up from his chest and what came next were the puppy dog eyes and quivering lips that Sanskaar could never win over. He sighed as his son knew his weakness quite well and he never restrained himself from pulling it over and over again.

“Alright, sorry! I’m not angry”, he said and Shubh beamed with delight the very next moment. Sanskaar rolled his eyes and chuckled realizing all over again that how much Shubh and his antics resembled to that of his mother. That’s exactly what he was… The Mamma’s boy!

“Papiii, get up! Time for bleakfast (breakfast). Mamma is taulling (calling)”, Shubh jumped one last time on his stomach and ran out of the room.

“It’s Papa, Shubh Sanskaar Maheshwari! ‘Papi’ means something else”, Sanskaar groaned holding his stomach and turned his head towards the door only to find his son glaring at him with both his hands on either side of his waist. He shook his head vigorously in denial and stuck out his tongue at Sanskaar before shouting and running away, “Papi, tome (come) fast, we have to go fol (for) eating pizza also!”

Sanskaar almost felt like banging his head against the wall. Why?!

For their was no end to Shubh’s and his mother’s pizza love!

(A/N : In Hindi language, Papi means sinner!)

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“Swara, what the hell did you eat when you had him?”, Sanskaar whined like a kid the moment he entered the kitchen without giving a look around.

“Pizza…”, Shubh shouted instantly throwing his hands up in the air and Sanskaar couldn’t help but chuckle wondering whether he had answered his father’s question or he was excited for their little pizza trip in the evening.

Swara glared at him as she flipped the aaloo ka paratha on the pan, “You must know it better, Mr. Maheshwari. You were the one who fed me at that time as if I was a baby hippo. Sometimes I really wonder… were you really showering me with your love or were you getting back at me for all the past incidents.”

“Then it’s your fault. You shouldn’t have made me run all that while.”

And the angry stare from his wife made Sanskaar step a little back. Now, he couldn’t afford getting the hot spatula thrown right across his face, could he?!

Shubh’s curious stare kept rocking to and fro between his parents as he nibbled on his small paratha witnessing another round of their daily entertainment show.

Swara scowled. “Did I ask you to come after me all the way from USA? Why did you?”

“Because even before I could realize I had fallen for you deeper than I could have imagined, my dear wife. I loved you too much to let you go.” And though it was the same reply he gave every time they had this argument, it never failed to make Swara smile, gracing her cheeks with a deeper shade of crimson.

“And as you were gone, you had left several of the questions unanswered and those questions haunted me every night and day. So, I had to find you”, Sanskaar sighed as his mind traveled back to the happenings of five years ago when he was finally able to get a hold of her after a rigorous search of one whole year. Finally, he had the long sought chance.

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“Sir, I think these are just futile attempts. She’s gone! We’ve been searching for her far and wide for last one year but still there’s no trace of her”, Karan sighed looking at his boss as he searched the internet for something.

“I’m not going to give up, Karan. She can’t leave just like that”, Sanskaar replied with his eyes still concentrated on his computer screen as he typed something furiously. He had been searching for her night and day as the continuous ringing of her name inside his head was rendering him insane. He was a man of hard conscience but never had he imagined even in his wildest dreams that he would be affected by someone to such an extent.

Swara! Swara! Swara!

That had been the only name governing his entire being now.

“But sir, you have your life, your job, your dreams… Why are you wasting it behind her?”, Karan tried to reason and Sanskaar took a deep breath. “I was lucky that I wasn’t suspended or terminated from my job because of my previous track record, Karan. I don’t know that even after finding her, whether she’ll love me back or not but at least I deserve answers to my questions so that I can spend the rest of my life in peace. I have to find her for the peace of my mind, my heart and my life.”

“I understand, Sir. Please let me know if I could do something to help you out”, Karan said and Sanskaar nodded his head turning his attention back to the computer screen.

And finally a few hours later, as if a miracle, an online article caught his eye and a hunch said that this was where it was supposed to be.

Sanskaar smirked. Apparently, it was time for a little visit to his origins… India! To the Golden City in the Thar Desert… Jaisalmer!

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A pinch of sindoor embellishing her hairline and that was all it took to make Swara smile wondering how just one decision of hers had changed her world once and for all. For sure, her decision of letting go Charlie wasn’t an easy one but it wasn’t as hard as she had thought with him by her side. She couldn’t help but chuckle even today reminiscing their unexpected second meeting but she would accept it in a heartbeat that it was the best thing that ever happened to her.

“Are you just going to smile all to yourself like a crazy woman or are you going to tell me the reason behind that smile of yours?”, Sanskaar asked smiling at her reflection in the mirror holding her shoulders and Swara smiled back at him.

“Nothing much. Just thinking of how our lives have changed so much. I had never expected someone to hold my hand even after knowing my past. I can never thank you enough for coming back to me even though I never asked you to. Thank you so much!”, Swara said with happy tears shining at the corner of her eyes and Sanskaar could feel that this was the real Swara he had fallen in love with... The one who was forced to hide behind that façade of Charlie.

Sanskaar brushed of a tear from the corner of her eye and kissed her cheek, “I came back not only for you but for myself too but you know I still have a question that you haven’t answered yet…”

“What’s that?”, Swara asked turning around in his embrace and wrapped her arms around his neck. Sanskaar smiled, “Did you ever miss me in that one year?”

And she did! How could she not? ‘If one heart whispers then the other one is bound to listen’ and their hearts were no exception.

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Her heart was thumping crazily as she stepped down the flight of stairs. Dressed in magenta off shoulder gown flowing elegantly down to her ankles, she wondered whether she would ever be able to match the level of his charisma. He was way much more than just perfect. He was exactly what people called him… ‘A Perfect Perfectionist.’ The chimes of her dangling earrings met exactly with the beautiful rhythm of her heart and for the first time in her life she was having a real smile… a genuinely real smile adorning her lips!

And why not? She was going for a date… The first date she ever had and that too with the person she had come to love more than anyone else!

As she reached the lowest step, she was greeted with Sanskaar’s most enticing smile, and all she could see was the smile and the outstretched hand of the most handsome man she had ever known. He was just gorgeous… both inside out.

“Ready, Princess?”, his captivating deep voice reached her ears and her heart skipped a beat at the endearment.

“Yes, my darling Curator! As ready as I’ll ever be”, she replied back with a smile as she slipped her hand in his and hence began their new start!

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Wrapping his arms around her waist in a succoring embrace Sanskaar pulled Swara closer and she gasped as his lips made contact with her bare shoulders in feather like light kisses. Swaying their bodies to the melodious slow rhythm, Swara slipped her hands up his back holding his shoulder blades as she placed a hesitant kiss to the side of his neck. Taking a deep breath, Sanskaar closed his eyes and his grip at the side of her waist tightened as he allowed himself to get engulfed by the alluring essence of her presence.

This was exactly how she had wanted her life to be but she was never given a choice and now when she had one, she wasn’t going to let it go. “I love you, Sanskaar”, she whispered with her lips still against the side of his neck and Sanskaar pulled back only to grace her entire being with his captivating smile and the next moment he leaned closer to her with his eyes solely concentrated on her lips. Swara closed her eyes as she waited for the feel of his lips over hers with a bated breath… but to her dismay the feel never came. What came instead was a voice… a commanding voice that shook her entire self!

“Charlie!! What the hell do you think you’re doing? You’re supposed to be at work now. Get back here very instant. That’s an order!!”

And the last thing she saw was Sanskaar heartbroken self and his sad face gave it all that how hurt he was.

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Swara woke up with a start only to find herself in the room of a two star hotel. Breathing heavily all she could think of was… What the hell did just happen?! No. No. No. This wasn’t a part of the plan. This wasn’t how she wanted the things to go!

This was the first time that she had a dream of Sanskaar Maheshwari in last one year and that too such a dream that had left her thunderstruck… shocked beyond measures.

That task was long done but Sanskaar’s hurt face had been haunting her every once in a while. And what was more shocking was she hadn’t even seen how hurt he was after she left him that night. But she never had a dream of him… until tonight.

Looking at the clock on the wall, she sighed. It was 4:25 am. She still had a lot of time to sleep. Her work would begin in the evening… at the Palace Museum of Indian History, Jaisalmer. And this time her target was the most treasured masterpiece painting of Indian History… Shakuntala by one of the greatest painters ever, Raja Ravi Verma.

But little did she know that the ultimate plan is always made by the Planner above and His plan was nowhere near to what she had in her mind.

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With the sunset and advent of the dark, Swara entered the museum disguised as an old man with a protruding belly. Pulling up her long tresses in an old Dev Anand style cap she smiled at everyone as they all made way for her thinking of her to be an old man limping his way ahead with the help of a stick, but still admiring the ancient paintings all around.

It was hardly an hour later, that all of a sudden the power supply of the whole museum was hindered unexpectedly and taking it as her cue, Swara slipped into the washroom and took out the dress she was wearing revealing her usual black dress underneath. From inside of her fake protruding belly she uncovered her bag pack and just like that with the black hat on her head, Charlie was back in action with the fall of night.

Making use of the dark, Charlie made her way straight to the uppermost floor and exactly as she was informed there was the painting she had been looking for. As the whole museum broke into a chaos not knowing where things went wrong, Charlie got the hold of the painting and broke open the frame. Rolling the painting and pushing it inside her bag pack, she made her way to the right side of the corridor as planned already.

Hurriedly, she made her way to the huge door to the right, held the handle and pulled it open but to her surprise it didn’t open. She pulled it again and again but it didn’t take much for her to realize that it was locked. She scrunched her brows because as per the information, the door to the right was opened during the night and the one to the left during daytime.

But there was no time to analyze the situation. She had to hurry up before the light were switched on again. Without giving it a thought she ran to the left of the corridor and to her relief the door was wide opened. Maybe they had changed some rules!

But what she didn’t know that they didn’t! Instead a particular someone did and the moment she stepped out of the premises of the museum and into the back seat of the car parked a few meters away, she had stepped into the trap.

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“Come on, Mark. Why are you driving so casually? We need to hurry up. They might have already found that the painting is gone”, she screamed out of frustration and she didn’t know herself why she was getting angry. It wasn’t the first time that she had stolen something but she couldn’t help but feel that something was wrong… very very wrong!

“What’s the hurry? We have got whole lot of time with us, Charlie.”

The moment the words get registered in her brain, her entire being trembled for no matter what she could never forget that voice. But… That couldn’t be him, right?! No. No. That wasn’t him! That wasn’t possible.

“Or shall I say Ms. Swara Bose?”

“Sans… Sanskaar!”

“Long time no see, love! How are you doing?”, Sanskaar asked giving her a glance and Swara froze. It was him! He had found her… no matter how hard she tried to hide herself! Yes, that was exactly what she did for she didn’t think she could face him ever again. But how could she forget who he was! The enigmatic Sanskaar Maheshwari and the word impossible definitely didn’t exist in his dictionary.

“W-What are you doing here? Stop the car! I said stop the car, Sanskaar”, she shouted but… was Sanskaar going to listen?! Nah! There was no way she was getting away so easily this time.

The next moment, he stepped on the accelerator and the car screeched tearing the eerie silence of the night. But even Swara wasn’t someone to hold back. She jumped on to the passenger seat and turned the steering wheel to the left… and Sanskaar turned it back to the right… and what the car did?! It danced in the middle of the isolated street!

But the amidst the tussle, Swara turned the steering wheel to the left with all her strength and even before they could realize the car was pulled down from the streets and it slid down the huge sand hill next to the street and finally came to a stop getting stuck in one of the sand dunes.

“What the hell, Swara?”, Sanskaar hollered at the top of his voice and all she did was pull an innocent face shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly.

“It wasn’t my fault”, she said and Sanskaar glared at her, effectively shutting her up. Stepping out of the car he went out and almost screamed the next instant seeing more than half of the wheels of the car deep down inside the sand making it quite evident that there was no way those two could get it out all by themselves.

“Great! Just effing great, Ms. Swara Bose!”, Sanskaar scowled at her as she too came out to inspect the car wheels.

“Tsk! You know you shouldn’t have done that”, said Swara rocking her head side by side sympathetically and all she got in return was the ‘I’ll-kill-you’ look.

“Oh really! So, it was me who was wrestling with the steering wheel, right?”, Sanskaar got back at her and Swara grinned, “I never knew you had such weird hobbies.”

“How can you crack such silly jokes even now, Swara… I mean Charlie… I mean…”

“Swara is fine! That’s my real name”, Swara shrugged and Sanskaar cleared his throat to ease the awkward situation a little bit, “So, where are we?”

“In front of a sand dune down the street”, came the super intelligent reply and Sanskaar rolled his eyes. “Really?! Woah, so intelligent, Swara!”

“I know right!”, Swara beamed at her own silly joke and Sanskaar narrowed her eyes at her, “Shut up! Now, since this is your fault, your punishment is… I’m going to sit inside the car and you’ll push it from the back.”

“How mean?!”

“A punishment is a punishment, love!”

“How are you so sure that I’ll push the car once you sit inside. I might run away also”, Swara tried to avoid the situation with her reasoning because for sure she wasn’t going to push the car. No way!

“You can’t even think about it. Where will you run to? All I can see here are nothing but sand dunes. So stop fooling around and get to work”, he ordered before turning around and making way to the driver’s seat.

“Now come on, Swara”, shouting out to her he turned the car keys and the car roared to life but all the tyres did were struggle amidst the sand. After a lot of trials when he couldn’t hear Swara’s bickering anymore around five minutes later, Sanskaar shut down the engine back and called out, “What are you doing? Put some more effort.”

No reply!

Sanskaar furrowed his eyebrows on getting no receiving no response from the other side and called out again, “Swara?”

And on getting no reply yet again he hurried down the car fearing the worst. Had she really run away?

Almost running towards the back of the car, he was shocked by the sight he was greeted with. Sitting down on the sand near the car, Swara was shaking her hand and head continuously in denial. “I… I… can’t”, she barely whispered and Sanskaar chuckled. “What? The mighty Charlie is tired in just five minutes or are you tired because of all that stealing thing”, he teased her and Swara glared at him, “It’s not stealing. It’s an art!”

Sanskaar raised an eyebrow, “Oh really! Please elaborate.”

“If you steal, then one is left hurt but with this art people are left surprised but not hurt.”

“I was hurt… when you left that night”, Sanskaar whispered sitting down next to her and Swara froze. Hesitantly, she lifted up her head to look at him as Sanskaar closed his eyes resting his head against the back of the car. And with the hurt quite evident on his face, all the memories of her dream last night came back rushing to her and hitting her with full force.

“I’m… I’m sorry.” That was all she could say and Sanskaar laughed humorlessly opening his eyes, “I don’t want your sorry, Swara.”

“I don’t know what I should say.” For the first time she was left speechless and she was forced to doubt her own decision back then. Had she done the right thing one year ago?!

“Then how about you answer a few questions of mine”, Sanskaar asked turning his head to face her finally and Swara was taken aback by the unshed tears lingering in his eyes. Something inside of her broke mercilessly and she knew it instantly that how wrong she had been!

“W-What questions?”, she stuttered and Sanskaar took a deep breath looking at the skies above, “Did you ever feel anything for me… even the slightest bit?”

“The truth?”

“For this once I expect you to speak the truth because I don’t know myself if we’ll meet… ever again”, his voice broke at the end and the heaviness inside of her heart made it hard to breath for her.

“I… I felt, even though I wasn’t allowed to”, Swara spoke with her eyes shut tightly for she couldn’t face the condemnation on his face right now, but had she opened her eyes she would have seen nothing but a pleasant surprise shining in his eyes.

“Were you ever planning to come to our date or was it always meant to deceive me?” Was his second question.

“You won’t believe me even if I’ll tell you the truth.”

“Try me!”

Swara took a deep breath before finally revealing the happenings of that night, “I was about to come. You know… for once I thought of dropping the whole façade. But when I was getting ready, I received the call from our boss ordering that the whole plan was to be finished that day itself. We were never given a choice. We had to do it. If I was given a chance, I would have never chosen this life. I would have never chosen Charlie, I would have chosen Swara.”

“So, you’re saying that you don’t like what you are doing?”, Sanskaar asked and Swara chuckled to herself, “Who loves being called a thief?”

“Um… another question! Would you have ever chosen me over your job?” And she could see the hidden expectations inside of his eyes. Swara opened her mouth to reply but Sanskaar stopped her immediately even before the first word left her mouth, “Ah! Doesn’t matter. Forget it. Your letter made it quite clear already. Let me call Karan, I’m sure he’ll find us.”

And that was the end of the conversation. Swara gulped down the huge lump inside of her throat for she wasn’t able to tell him that she had written the letter even before she realized her feelings for him!

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“Stop the car, Karan!”, Sanskaar ordered with the break of the morning. Karan found them two hours after his call and now as they were speeding back to the city, Sanskaar had asked his assistant to stop the car right before the enter the borders of Jaisalmer.

As the car came to a stop he turned towards Swara, “Get down!”

“What?” She was shocked and all that he replied was, “Just go wherever you want to.”

“Aren’t you going to hand me over to the police?”

“For what?”

“I stole the painting!”

“But it wasn’t real!”, Sanskaar revealed shocking her even more, “and as far as I think since you have a boss, you don’t have the crown too. So, there is no reason to hand you over to the police. Now, leave quickly, I’m getting late. I have to catch my flight too.”

And with that being said he opened the car’s door to her side with a smile but still couldn’t hide the grief behind it. The heaviness tugging continuously at Swara’s heart made her realize that she was doing the same mistake again and mistakes repeated again become a blunder. If he was gone now he would be gone forever!

Was she ready to commit such a blunder? Apparently not!

She got out of the car and closed the door as Sanskaar closed his eyes taking a deep breath not wanting to see her leave.

“Let’s go, Karan”, Sanskaar ordered opening his eyes a few minutes later and not finding Swara anywhere around.

“But sir…”

“Enough, Karan! Let’s just leave.”

“But sir…”

“What?”, Sanskaar shouted looking at him and narrowed his eyes on seeing Karan pointing at something in front of the car. Getting down from the car he was taken aback seeing Swara sitting on the street with her arms crossed across her chest.

“Swara, what the hell do you think you are doing? Move!”, he shouted and Swara shook her head in denial. Forwarding her hand towards him, she looked up and spoke, “I choose you!”

“Huh?”

“The answer to your last question… I choose you, Mr. Sanskaar Maheshwari. I want to choose Swara. Will you hold my hand and help me through? I don’t think I can do this alone.”

And with his hand finally holding hers, Charlie was gone forever. This time Swara had taken decision for herself… for themselves. She wasn’t Charlie anymore. She was Sanskaar’s Swara!

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“Pizza! Pizza! Pizza!”, Shubh ran ahead into the restaurant as Swara and Sanskaar followed right after him chuckling all to themselves.

“May I have your order please?”, a young waiter asked smiling at Shubh and the little one jumped with excitement, “Pizza!”

“Which one of that would you like, my little friend?”

“All of them!”, Shubh beamed with delight and Swara mentally slapped her forehead, “We would like to have a chicken pepperoni pizza please!”

“Sure, Ma’am”, the water noted down the rest of the orders too and left letting them know that it might take around ten minutes to get their order ready.

“So, what’s next?”, Sanskaar asked ruffling the hair of his son and Shubh wiggled at his seat.

“Bilyani (Biryani)!”, came Shubh’s another demand and this time it was his father’s favorite!

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A/N

Finally its done with a pretty long epilogue. I was a bit late in posting because of my dhokebaaz internet but now it's done. I hope you all liked it. Please leave your feedback and comments in the comments section below. That would really mean a lot to me.

The next chapter of TO YOU, MY HEART I SURRENDER will be posted by Wednesday or Thursday. So, see you then. Till then stay blessed and happy reading!

With love,
Stella ❤️