"Accident? Are you hurt? Where are you? I'm coming." Narain dropped the sandwich in his hand to the plate and hurried out of the kitchen. His voice was low and serious but did not give away his concern.

"I'm okay, I'm okay, don't worry, nothing happened to me. But my car...."

"Okay, no one else is hurt, right? Wait, I'm coming. Quickly, tell me where you are." He snatched his coat and his car keys, as he rushed out of the apartment.

"No, no one's hurt. I'm at the second lane going left from our apartment street."

"Okay, relax and wait right there. I'll be there in a minute." Narain had already reached the car park in the ground floor of the apartment and started his car engine.

"Alright." She sounded calmer by now.

* * *

Narain's car screeched to a halt. His eyes scanned over the area before he spotted Anuradha speaking to a policeman. She is fine. Relief rippled through him. Her white car stood askew, with bits of broken glass strewn on the ground reflecting the glare of the sunlight. The vehicle that crashed into her, an old grey SUV, had it's front almost buried into the front of Anuradha's car.

Narain strode over to Anuradha and asked, "All okay?"

"Yes, all fine." She smiled a bit. She had pulled herself together before he had arrived and just seeing him seemed to have given her more strength. Her voice had lost the quaver he had detected over the phone.

"What happened?"

"I had my left signal on and I was about to turn when that car hit me head on."

"Where's that driver?" Narain glanced around. It didn't take long for him to know as the elderly man who had been driving the SUV stood looking rather subdued at his car.

Anuradha gestured towards the same man before saying, "Everything is settled already. Just the tow truck has to come to take my car now. I'm sorry I called you and made you late. I didn't know who to call and I was so scared earlier."

"It's alright, I'm not late and it's not a problem at all. It's good you called me."

"Yea." Anuradha smiled a bit, letting herself relax a bit since she now had Narain by her side.

"Ah, here it is," Narain glanced at her as the tow truck had arrived. "Wanna take anything from your car? It's better not to leave anything personal in there."

Anuradha quickly stepped over and grabbed her bag and a few things from the seat before turning back to face him. "But how will I get to work now? I am so late!"

"Don't worry, I'll drop you. But are you sure you're fine?"

"Yea, I'm fine." Narain took her bag from her hand as she stuffed the other things into it. "Ouch." Anuradha yanked her hand back when his hand accidentally touched hers.

"That does not look fine to me." Narain glanced from her hand to her face. "You can think about work later, okay? First your hand needs to be looked at."

"But-"

"One day away from work won't hurt. Come on now, Miss Workaholic." He held the door to the front passenger seat of his car open for her.

"Hello, who are you calling a workaholic? I'm not a workaholic like you, okay? But I'll get into trouble if I'm late today! You know it's a Monday and late on Monday is a complete no-no, because Mr. Chief will be there on time-" Anuradha went on talking about her problems at office as she seated herself in the car.

Narain grinned a bit as he started the engine and drove off.

* * *

Later that night, during dinner, Anuradha was still lost in thought with a miserable face as she thought about the condition in which she had last seen her car.

"Why are you still thinking about it and feeling so dull? Leave it na, accidents are common. Your car will be back soon after servicing."

"Soon? Not anytime soon. They said two weeks, right? It will take at least one month, knowing them." She sulked again.

"That's okay, leave it. If you want, I can drop you every morning from now. Anyway, I don't have to be at office early, so I have plenty of time to leave you first."

"Hmm, okay. In the evenings, I'll take the metro train. It won't be much crowded since my work ends early."

"So, that's settled as well."

"Hmm."

"Now, why are you still feeling sad?"

Silence.

"What happened? Tell me what's the problem, Anu."

"What should I say? I never had a single accident before, you know? I never even drive at high speeds. I was always so careful everywhere. Today also, I was going carefully only but that Uncle didn't see me and came and crashed into my car."

Narain chuckled and averted his gaze.

Anuradha frowned at him. "Why are you laughing now?"

"Nothing." He tried to suppress his grin.

"Tell me, no?"

"Nothing, I know how slow and carefully you drive."

"Why are you talking like as though I don't drive slowly and carefully? I truly do. You know, right? You're the one who always drives too fast but still I don't know how you manage to escape without having any accidents."

Narain laughed out loud. "What are you trying to say? You're wondering why haven't I had any accident even though I drive fast? Now, that's a joke."

"Joke? I'm not saying any joke. It's true, you drive too fast! Each time I'm sitting in the passenger's seat while you're driving, I can't help but wonder if you'll have an accident seeing your speed and how closely you drive near other cars."

"Haiyo Anu, are you that scared of my driving? Why didn't you tell me before? I would have made sure to make you more scared!"

Hearing the last line he uttered, Anuradha's mouth fell open. "You!" She punched him on the arm. "I'm scared of your speed but I'm not scared of your driving."

Holding his arm, Narain chuckled. "Hello, driving at high speed doesn't necessarily mean accidents will happen. It is reaction speed that matters. When you saw that Uncle's car coming straight towards yours, you should have quickly tried to swerve towards the side of the road if you could, so that his car wouldn't crash into yours."

"Yea, you're the driving expert and all that's remaining is that I need to get lessons from you now."

"I'm not a driving expert but I've learnt... from experience, I guess."

"Oh, so you've also had an accident like this?"

"No, I meant the experience from driving a car."

"Oh, okay."

Narain shook his head from side to side, with a lopsided smile, noticing that Anuradha had gotten distracted while playing with Veena.

* * *

Later that night, while Narain was working on his laptop, Anuradha was tidying up her things lying around in the bedroom.

Wondering if the bedside drawer was empty, she opened it to keep some of her stuff but was surprised to find it filled with newspaper clippings and magazine cutouts. She recalled noticing some of them when she had been staying with Narain in Shiva's and Shalini's apartment.

'Forced abortion against her will - reason for Swetha's death?' was the headline that blared in the first newspaper clipping.

Anuradha frowned. How easily the media twists stories without knowing the full account and inside facts! No one knows the truth about her abortion and no one ever will. That's the sad fact about well-known people. Everything about them would be in the news but sometimes hardly any of it would be true unless they told the media every single detail.

Anuradha skimmed from one article to the next in the stack of newspaper clippings and magazine cutouts. Her heart wrenched inside as she realized how awful Narain would have felt while reading some of them during that difficult phase of his life. How difficult it would have been for him to answer some of their questions when they would never be able to understand the other side of Swetha. Anuradha sighed. There were nice articles that traced back up to when Swetha and Narain were one of the most loved and talked-about couples but then there were bitter articles after her death too. Why does he still keep all of these?

Anuradha cautiously leant back and glanced at Narain in the living room. His eyes were still glued to the screen of his laptop and his hands busy at work on the keyboard. She glanced back at the stack of articles in her hand.

We can't erase dark memories from our mind but we can remove the evidences around us that remind us about it. Anuradha stood up and moved towards her cupboard before hiding the stack of articles under her things at the bottom of the cupboard. I hope you won't mind this, Narain. I'm just hiding this with the hope that you won't ever have to recall these memories even just by noticing these articles by chance. I really wish having me in your life makes a big difference that you won't ever need to remember her or keep living in her memories again. Let me stay, no? As your better half, with you, in this home I love more than I have ever loved any other.

* * *

The next morning, Anuradha walked into the kitchen searching for Narain once she was ready for work. She hadn't seen him since morning. She was quite taken aback to see him ready for work and preparing breakfast already.

"Good morning, Mr. Narain, what happened? You're up and ready extremely early today!"

"What to do? I have driver's duty also starting today." Narain tried to sound pitiful while suppressing a grin.

"Oho, you only offered to drop me in the mornings and now you're saying like this. No need, I'll take the train to work."

"Do you really wanna go in the crowded train when you have me and my car at your service?" Narain grinned. "Okay, no problem, tomorrow onwards, I'll get ready late."

"Were you waiting for me to say that then?"

"No, but since you're not interested..." Narain trailed off with a smirk.

Anuradha narrowed her eyes at him. "I did not say that I'm not interested."

"Then, don't waste time and have your breakfast. Your driver does not like waiting." Narain grinned impishly, sliding a plate over to her along the kitchen counter.

"Then I shall not let my dear special driver wait for me." She returned a grin as she started eating.

After having his breakfast, he quickly washed his plate and turned to leave the kitchen. "Are you done? Take your time but come soon if you want to be early today."

"I remember you said that you only need ten minutes to drive to my office, right? Then why did you get ready to leave so early today?"

"If you want me to get you there in ten minutes, my speed will have to be extra fast. It won't be possible because traffic will be at its peak at this time. And this isn't Shiva's place, this is our apartment, so the route is a little different, Anu."

Our apartment? Her heart literally skipped a beat as the corners of her lips curled upwards automatically hearing those words from him.

"Anyway, you don't like me driving fast so I won't try to go too fast too. So let's say you might need around 20 minutes to get there."

"You won't drive fast because I don't like it?" She stared at him in disbelief.

"Umm..." He glanced at her, unsure of what to say for a moment and then gave a light nod indicating a yes before adding, "I like driving fast so I'll drive fast but not very fast, okay?"

"Okay." Anuradha was beaming and could not suppress the wide smile on her face.

"Okay, come soon, Anuma." Narain strode over to the door of the kitchen.

"Anuma?" She caught him uttering that again and was not going to let him go so easily this time.

He froze and turned to face her with a sheepish smile before averting his gaze. "Mm... accidentally called you that."

"Accidentally?" She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Yea, Nila calls you Mama and I call you Anu, so last time when she kept calling you and you didn't hear so I wanted to call you, I accidentally combined them, you see."

"That was last time."

"Yea, umm, like that again accidentally now."

"But Nila is not here now."

Meoww! Veena announced her presence as she stretched her paws and trotted into the kitchen.

"Veena is here, no?"

"Veena?!" Anuradha gaped open-mouthed.

"Yea, she's like your baby and you do look after her like a Mama so...."

Anuradha shook her head from side-to-side in disapproval while a lopsided smile cropped up her face before she broke into a giggle.

"I like it." She finally stated after biting her bottom lip to regain her composure.

"You like it?" Narain raised an eyebrow at her.

"I've always been called Anu, Anuradha or Radha sometimes and also Sweety only by my closest buddies. But Anuma... is different, I actually like it." I mean I love it.

"Then, I'll call you Anuma only from now, my dear Anuma." Narain smiled.

"Then why did you have to say all those stories and explanations for calling me that?" Anuradha eyed him knowingly.

"That... I thought you didn't like it. I mean I honestly did call you Anuma by accident. But even I like it."

"You should do what you like." Anuradha smiled before washing her plate and following him out of the kitchen.

* * *

That evening, Narain was standing in the balcony in silence when Anuradha joined him.

"Hey, dinner's ready."

"I'm not hungry yet." He stared into the distance straight ahead.

"Great! It can wait, I'm also not that hungry yet."

Silence.

"What happened? You seem to be lost in your thoughts."

"Nothing, I was just thinking of taking leave this weekend."

"Leave? Why?" Anuradha glanced at him with a slight frown in confusion.

"Just simply. Thought of taking a break and going for a short trip somewhere like you were saying last time."

"Oh, that's a good idea. I didn't expect you would consider it so soon, but it would be really good for you. To refresh your mind and take some time off for yourself, it will definitely be great!"

"Yea." Narain cautiously glanced at Anuradha. "Would you like to accompany me?"

"Me?" She glanced up at him, astonished.

"Yes... you." He confirmed.

"Sure." She smiled a bit. "I'll need to apply for leave too but that won't be a problem."

Narain once again turned back to face the view straight ahead from the balcony.

"But Nila's having some tests next week so she won't be able to come...."

"I thought about that. Shiva and Shalini won't be able to take leave too so they're out of the question. And it's a bad time for Nila since she needs to study. Though it would have been nice to have her with us."

"Yeah, true."

"So it will have to be just us this time. It's a relaxed week for me this month so I think it's a good time to go."

"So it will be just us." Though she was now used to having Narain around, the thought about just the two of them going on a trip together did give a different feeling inside.

"Yea."

"So, where are you planning to go?"

"Still thinking."

"Where shall we go? Kochi? I've heard about the backwaters there from one of my friends before."

"How about Agra?"

"Agra?" Anuradha froze and glanced at Narain.

"Yea, Agra. What do you think?"

"I don't know. I have not been there."

"Neither have I. Taj Mahal is a world famous attraction, wouldn't you like to visit it once when it's so nearby to us?"

"Mm yes, it would be nice to visit it actually."

"Then there's the Red Fort too. The good thing about Agra is that it's quite nearby so we don't have to waste too much time for travel since we only have three days. We could go over on Friday, visit all the places around on Saturday and return by Sunday. What do you think?"

"That sounds like a good idea."

"So, shall we make it a plan then? Trip to Agra this weekend."

"Yes done." Anuradha smiled, feeling excited about the trip.

"Okay." Narain smiled. He watched Anuradha, wondering if she had anything to add but she remained silent and cool about it.

* * *

On Thursday morning, while Narain was driving Anuradha to her office, she glanced at him to ask and reconfirm about their trip to Agra the next day. He seemed to be very busy with work all the time and had not mentioned about the trip or plan again after they had first discussed about it.

"So our Agra plan is still on, right? Are we going tomorrow?"

"Yes, haven't you applied for leave yet?"

"No, I already did yesterday. I was just asking to be sure about it because you seem to be quite busy these days."

"Oh, that. It's just I have an important meeting today. So I'll be free once it's over."

"Okay." Anuradha smiled.

"Actually, I would be out early today. Maybe I can pick you up later so you won't have to go in the train."

"Oh." She glanced at him earnestly. "Are you sure you want to take the trouble?"

"It's no trouble. If I'm free, then why do you have to travel alone in the train? You might as well go home with me in the car."

"Okay, if you're free, then it's fine with me."

"The problem is I can't say yet if I'll be free since I don't know for sure what time the meeting will be over. Perhaps you could just give me a call when you're leaving from your office in the evening. If I'm free, I'll answer and you can just wait a few minutes, then I'll come and pick you up. If I don't answer, that means I might be busy, so don't wait for me, you can just go back home in the train."

"Alright." Anuradha smiled at Narain before descending from the car as he brought it to a stop in front of her office.

* * *

Later that evening, as Anuradha walked out of her office, she dialled Narain's number to check if he was free.

He picked up the call on the first ring itself, making her smile wide.

"Hello, Narain. Is your meeting over?"

"Yes, I'm just on my way back now."

"So, will you be coming to pick me up or shall I go by train?"

"Oh, no, Anu. If I've to get the car and come all the way there, it will be late. You just take the train also today, okay?"

"Okay." She felt a little disappointed though she didn't let her voice give it away. He's free, we could have been going back home in his car together. It's okay, he must be tired. He really did want to pick you up but he can't, that's why he said no. She slowly headed towards the train station near her office.

She waited a while for the train in which she usually travelled in the evenings to arrive at the station. While waiting, she suddenly felt the familiar presence of someone approaching her on the right side. She glanced up and her mouth fell open in surprise upon noticing him.

To be continued...

A/N: Hey peeps! Hope you liked the chapter.

I think you know who has come to surprise Anu at the train station, right? Waiting for your comments on this chapter. :)

Please vote, comment and share. :)