At night, Sidharth was changing position because he couldn't sleep. He was already missing the peace of her arms which were his heaven.
As he heard the sound of the opening of the door, he looked at the door in shock to find her on the door. He was gazing at her incredulously without blinking his eyes and she passed him a beautiful smile, strolling toward him.

"You're really here at this time?" He asked in disbelief because he was shocked to see her late at night.

"I am here at late night because I know you won't be able to sleep without me. Nightmare will not let you sleep." She sat beside him, gazing at him, her eyes full of love.

She continued. "Like always nightmares will keep you awake at night. I know loneliness will eat you, the bad memories will make you cry and you'll miss my arms. I came here to give peaceful sleep to the person who is my world and also I came here to change your nightmare into beautiful dreams." She told him the reason for her late-night arrival. She was running her fingers in his silky hair lovingly and gazing in his eyes lovingly. He was lost in her bewitching eyes. He had never thought that one day a girl would love him so much.

"Is your friend allowed to sleep in bed with you ?" As she asked, he just gave her a slight nod because she made him speechless with her loving words. His eyes were glowing after seeing her. She lay down behind him and hugged him tightly by pulling her closer to herself from behind, he was sleeping on one side. Her hand was wrapped around his chest firmly from behind and legs were above his legs. He happily entwined his hand with her hand. Their hands got perfectly fitted into each other, filling the gapes in between the fingers as like their hands were made for each other. As he lovingly kissed her knuckles, she smiled broadly in response closing her eyes. Both closed their eyes, having a contented smile on their faces. Like before, they both fell asleep within a few minutes because they were in each other arms. He found his home in her arms, the warmth of her arms was giving immense peace to him.

Next morning, they were sleeping peacefully in each other arms without any care.

He was sleeping on his back straight, wrapping his arm around her and she was sleeping, putting her head on his chest. Their legs were entangled with each other and they were sleeping, holding each other hands. It was a beautiful view.

Neyonika stepped into the room to check Sidharth. She raised her brows in surprise after seeing the beautiful view in front of her eyes. It was like two love birds were sleeping so peaceful in each other arms. She smiled merrily and strolled toward them. She covered them with the comforter properly and then kissed their forehead. Seeing the scenario, she became tension free for his son. She knew that Shehnaaz would take care of his son perfectly. She left after blessing them with the lots of happiness.

After some time, Sidharth woke up. He was looking so fresh after sleeping peacefully at night. He smiled as she saw Shehnaaz. He kissed her head first and then kissed her hand lovingly. She smiled in sleep, feeling the touch of his soft lips on her skin. He kept lying there closing his eyes having a peaceful smile on his face until she didn't wake up. He was getting immense peace in her arms, he never wanted to come out of her arms.

After an hour, Shehnaaz woke up and smiled broadly, finding herself in his arms. She looked at him and found him gazing at her. They both gave each other a bright smile, gazing in each other deeply.

"Thank you for taking my nightmares away from me and for giving me the hope of seeing beautiful dreams. In fact, thank you for everything. Thank you for loving me unconditionally without any expectations. Thank you for coming into my life and for showing me the right path. Thank you for bearing my craziness and my anger. Thank you for becoming my support system, thank you for seeing hope in me, thank you for giving me a new life." He was constantly thanking her for so many things from his heart and she was going crazy listening to his thank you. She was gazing at him smilingly.

"Thank you for.." before he could thank her more, she shushed him by placing her finger on his lips.

"Are baba, please don't make me so mahan(great). I love you unconditionally. I just want one thing from you that is your happiness. Haven't you ever heard that dialogue 'Madam dhosti mein no sorry and no thank you' so first rule of friendship in my list is never say thank or sorry." She laughed and he got utterly lost in her laugh. She stopped laughing when she found him, staring at her and for a few minutes, they gazed into each other eyes deeply.

They came on the earth back as her phone rang up. She came out of his arms and picked up the phone from the table. She got busy in talking with her father and he went washroom to get fresh after giving smile to her.

"Hello, Aunty." Shehnaaz greeted Neyonika after coming to hall.

Neyonika was reading magazine sitting on the sofa. As she heard her voice, she smiled broadly at her, moving her from magazine to her.

"Shehnaaz, come here, sit with me." She asked her to sit with her. She sat with her, having a smile on her face.

"You know, you gave me the biggest happiness of my life by giving my son back to me. Thank you so much." Neyonika thanked her wholeheartedly, holding her hand.

"I have already started to see dreams of you and  Sidharth's marriage, bash ab jaldi se ghar aajao meri bahu banke." As Neyonika talked about their marriage, her lips drew down in disappointment because Sidharth didn't accept her. He still loved Nandita more than her. He would never marry her.

"Don't you want to marry him, I mean don't you love him ?" Neyonika asked worriedly seeing her gloomy expression.

"Aunty, Sidharth is everything for me. I love him a lot but sadly he will never accept me because he still loves Nandita."A lone tear trickled down her cheek and she immediately wiped it. Neyonika was looking at her sadly. It was hurting her a lot but she was a bit happy because his son was getting peace and he was smiling after so many years.

"After seeing you both sleeping on the bed together, I thought.." she paused for a second. "I thought, he has accepted you because he had never shared his bed with anybody after Nandita. Not even with me. That's why I thought.." Neyonika words made Shehnaaz a bit happy that he shared his bed only with her.

"He loves me Aunty but for him, it is not easy to forget his first love. He wants me in his life but then he thought, if Nandita comes back then what would happen. You don't worry, Aunty, now I won't let him fall down and he will get all the happiness which he deserves." She assured him, squeezing her hand.

"My son is so lucky that he got the girl like you in his life who loves him selflessly without any expectation. Seriously you are an angel for us and especially for him. Hope one day you will get your true love." Neyonika blessed her by placing her hand over her head and she gave her a small smile.

"Doesn't it hurt?" Suddenly Neyonika asked when she was about to get up from the sofa.

"You are like my mother, so I won't lie. It hurts, it hurts a lot. My heart breaks into millions of pieces every time when I think that Sidharth is not mine, he belongs to someone else. Dil rota hai aur akhai bhar ati hai (my heart cries and my eyes brimmed with tears.)" As she told him, her eyes became teary and Neyonika felt bad after listening to her words.

"But I am happy because at least, he is giving chance to his life. He is trying to live his life. From starting, my motive is to give him happiness, not to get him. His one smile is enough to give me immense happiness and also to mend up my broken heart. So I am happy." A broad smile flashed on her face as the picture of his smiling face came in her mind. Neyonika was just staring at her in utter disbelief because, for the first time, she was witnessing the true love. The girl who was sitting in front of her eyes, that girl loved his son truly.

Sidharth was listening to their conversation, standing on the door. He felt a sharp pain in his heart after listening to her words. He felt like he was using Shehnaaz. She was doing a lot for him, giving  her all his time to him and in return, he was only giving her pain. He was not understanding that what he should do to make everything fine. He didn't want to cheat Nandita at any cost but his heart was dying to accept Shehnaaz. He left from there sadly.

He walked into his room and found Cabir waiting for him. Cabir hugged him and he hugged him back.

"Cabir, you came at the right time. I need to share something with you." They settle down on the sofa.

"You can share anything with me, Sidharth." Cabir smiled at him.

"I am in love with Shehnaaz, but I can't accept her because I don't want to cheat Nandita. I had promised her that I would never give her right to anyone, come to save her and we would live together forever. It is not easy for me to break her promise, I just can't break her promise by accepting Shehnaaz's love." Sidharth shared his problem with him helplessly but Cabir's words shocked him.

"Sidharth, I was quiet till now because I don't want to hurt your feelings, but this is the truth that Nandita is never going to come back, it's been sixteen years passed and we have no clue about her. So move on, Sidharth. God has given you the golden opportunity by sending Shehnaaz, accept that opportunity or else you will regret." Cabir tried to explain him. Listening that Nandita would never come back, his heart ached.

"Shut up, Cabir." He growled at him, standing up from the sofa. "How could you say that my Nandita is dead. Cabir, she is not dead because our heart are connected to each other, if her heart stops beating then my heart will also stop beating. She is still alive, I am sure." Sidharth said with full confidence. His words showed how truly he loved Nandita.

"You are crazy, Sidharth." Cabir also stood up.

"Why can't you see Shehnaaz's love? She is giving you happiness, she is giving you peace. Why are you not thinking about her? Accept her Sidharth before it gets late and also accept that Nandita is never going to come back." Cabir was trying his best to explain him.

"No, she has to come back." He was constantly saying this while Cabir was trying to make him believe that Nandita was never going to come back. That time only, Shehnaaz stepped into the room and widened her eyes in shock after seeing Sidharth.

"Sidharth, she is never..." Before Cabir could complete his words, Shehnaaz shouted, cutting his words.

"Cabir, please stop it." She rushed to him.

"Shehnaaz, will Nandita, will she never come back?"He stammered and asked from her like a small baby who was asking about her mother. She felt like crying seeing his condition.

"Sidharth, Nandita will come, she will surely come. We both will find her." She clasped his face and assured him, looking deeply into his eyes.

"Shehnaaz, why are you giving her false hope?"Cabir asked, but she ignored his words and kept gazing in Sidharth's eyes.

Next moment, Sidharth started crying, hugging her tightly. Shehnaaz's eyes brimmed with tears, and she hugged him back tighter, pulling him closer to herself.

"Kash ki tum hi meri Nandita hoti. I wish you were my Nandita." He cried, hugging her tighter and she also cried, hugging him back.

"I also wish the same." She murmured while crying. Both were in pain, they loved each other but couldn't accept each other.

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Love Mehak