Rishabh and Kuki walked inside Basu Bari late evening, and Kuki ran inside excitedly, wanting to show Prerna all that she has got for them happily, but all her excitement went down the drain when she found Prerna curled in the bed, crying to herself. Rishabh who was just behind her, froze for a second too, but then he took Kuki to her bedroom, and changed her, before handing her a bar of big chocolate.

"Chocolate makes everyone's mood right, go and give your Mumma a big hug!", he ruffled her hair making Kuki grin, she jumped down the bed and signalled her father the lean, who immediately sat on his knees before her only to be rewarded with a chaste kiss on his cheek before she ran out.

Kuki barged inside and hopped on the bed, startling Prerna, but seeing Kuki she found herself smiling. Kuki jumped into her lap, and settled properly, and then leaned to wipe the trail of tears from Prerna's cheeks, shaking her head in a no, making Prerna conscious. Prerna then immediately wiped her face properly and grinned at Kuki, who forwarded her the big bar of chocolate.

"This is for me?", Prerna questioned, laughing and Kuki bobbed her head, and then paused to touch Prerna's tummy, telling her it was for her and her baby. Prerna found herself in tears yet again, realising how she hadn't had one proper moment to herself for being happy about her baby.

Prerna smiled and took Kuki's tiny hand to keep it over her stomach, and Kuki's wholehearted glee made her laugh.

"There is a tiny baby inside, you know, it's not even three months old. It's my baby, a part of me", Prerna laughed and explained Kuki who looked extremely excited. She gestured Prerna how she already loved the baby inside, making Prerna go all aww at her, but a figure caught her attention and she realised Rishabh was standing at the door, listening to them. What astonished her more was the subtle smile playing on his lips - Because as far as she remembered, she had never seen him genuinely smile except when with Kuki. Rishabh caught her eyes, and turned his face away, before leaving the room. He wanted her to enjoy her moments, and he didn't want his nagging presence to disturb her.

Prerna's hand hung mid air, she had wanted to stop him, but she neither could speak, nor could act in time, and before she knew Rishabh was already gone.

------

Anurag stood near the kitchen platform, supping on his tea, while Snigdha cooked them dinner. After the heavy conversation they had had, a peaceful silence had befallen, and while it gave Anurag enough time to contemplate, Snigdha felt glad she hadn't offended him, because he had come to mean so much to her in such a short time.

"You know there was a time when I didn't want to fall in love at all? I thought love wasn't for me. I thought romantic love was way overrated - I always claimed 'Na mujhe aisa deewangi chahiye na dard' and that I would never fall in love. And see the irony, the girl who introduced me to thorn bird's love became the girl who had me fall head over heels for her", Anurag spoke, with a silly soft smile on his face, and Snigdha found herself pausing for a second, but she regained her composure soon.

This was a dangerous territory, she knew he loved Prerna with all his heart. And he saw her as his friend, probably his only friend right now. She could not let her feelings take over, could she?

But then, how can you not fall in love with someone like Anurag?

Snigdha sighed, and forced a smile on her face, her thoughts drifting to Prerna. How in the world had she betrayed someone who loved her insanely?

"Honestly Anurag, Prerna was right. Pain does make love beautiful, Pain and love are like two sides of the same coin. You can't be in love and not be hurt about it", she tossed the veggies in the pan and looked at him, "But I have learnt the hard way that you don't always need that kind of love to feel alive. Happiness is just as important in life as that sweet ache of love. You can not be a thorn bird and still be in love, you can not kill yourself in love and still be in love, you can choose to live a life, and still be in love", Snigha spoke, tongue in check.

She didn't want to contradict Prerna and her romantic notions of love Anurag believed in, but she wanted him to understand that he didn't need to find happiness in and around Prerna only. Love was an important part of life, but it is never life itself.

"What I want to directly say Anurag is the fact that your life and your happiness doesn't need to revolve around Prerna only. You are your own person, find the individuality you seem to have lost amidst this sea of pain and betrayal and love. I am not asking you to not love Prerna, or not pursue her, but don't make that the only aim of your life. You get one life, you should not waste all of it feeling only pain when there are infinite other emotions to feel", Snigdha stated, and turned on her feels to fetch some wheat flour for the dough. Anurag stood transfixed watching her, contemplating her words.

Wasn't she right in all honesty?

He had made his life only about Prerna, more so when she pushed him away. This wasn't who he was, who he used to be. This wasn't who he aspired to be.

He wanted to have his own identity, and not only Moloy Basu's son. He had his own dreams about his business, but he seemed to have forgotten everything about them.

Even Prerna didn't want him to do this to himself, did she?

Snigdha kneaded the dough and then tilted her head to look at him, his silence bugging her. She didn't want to offend him at all, but she then thought if she had been too blunt.

"Anurag, I am sorry, I didn't mean-", she lowered her head and was almost apologizing when she felt his finger on her lips sushing her. Her eyes went wide as she stared at him bewildered, but he was smiling as she started at her. Lowering his finger, he held her hands in his, and squeezed them tight.

"Do not ever apologise to me again for showing me the side of my story I didn't want to see", his voice held so much gratitude that all her fears melted right away, and she found herself nodding, with a silly smile.

Anurag smiled back watching her smile. He could never explain in words how much her friendship meant to him because she had given him a hand and held him when he felt like he would fall down the abyss and get lost forever.

He only hoped that she won't leave him for any damn reason, like Prerna, at the least.

---------

Prerna waited in the room post her dinner for Mr. Bajaj to come back but he didn't. She had been wanting to atleast wish him a happy birthday, but it was already past 11 and there was no sign of him. Kuki hadn't had her dinner saying she was already too full with her adventurous day with her father but the Little girl made sure Prerna had eaten sufficiently, before drifting off to sleep in her lap. Now she slept on the bed without a worry, clutching the hem of her saree tightly, the reason Prerna could not go and look for Mr. Bajaj.

The shrill ringing of her phone startled her and she immediately toned down the ringer, lest Kuki would wake up, but watching her mother's name flashing on her phone immediately worried her.

"Maa? What's wrong? Are you okay? Is everyone okay at home?", she blabbered receiving the call, and Veena found guilt creeping inside.

This was her Priyu, her daughter - the one person always too concenerned about her loved ones. How had she had the heart to be so heartless to her daughter?

"Why? I can't call my Priyu without any emergency?", Veena chided playfully, surprising Prerna.

"Maa?", her voice didn't hide the happy surprise she felt, "I thought you were angry with me".

"I was, but I should have given you the benefit of doubt. If your father had been alive, he would have trusted you more than anyone, even more than what your actions. You are my pride Priyu, you always had been. It's a shame that Rishabh had to make me see what I should have seen and realised myself. Forgive me Priyu, forgive me for abandoning you when you probably needed me the most", Veena apologized, already in teats and Prerna found herself smiling with her tears rolling down her cheeks.

Her mother had always been her closest pal, and the last month - the oh so formal interactions with her, and the anger in her eyes had cut her deeply.

"No Maa I am sorry, I caused you so much pain but I didn't want to Maa, I did what I had to", Prerna broke down, clutching the phone tight, but Veena's soft soothing words felt like the warmth she had been missing all these days. She felt loved and wanted all of a sudden, she felt better than she had in days.

Before Veena kept the phone, she spoke something Prerna never thought she would hear from her.

"Rishabh might not be the best person and a ruthless businessman, but he sure knows how to care for his people".

Prerna could not deny that, and it kept revolving in her mind after the phone had been disconnected. She had seen him around Kuki, she had seen the respect he had for maasi and she could not deny that he had always gone out of his ways to keep her comfortable.

She sighed and found Kuki sleeping on her stomach, her saree now free. She stood up and walked out, trying to find where Rishabh was. She found him on the terrace, looking at the moon. He still hadn't changed, she realized he had been here for hours, probably since he walked out of the room.

The clock showed 11:40 pm, and she walked upto him, standing beside her. He didn't seem to acknowledge her, he was deep in his thoughts, and that was a first for Prerna because he otherwise always knew whenever she was around.

"Happy Birthday Rishabh", Prerna spoke, addressing him with his first name, and Rishabh was astonished- he could not decide if it was because Prerna was standing beside him, or because she called him with his name.

"Uhh, thank you", he nodded, and awkwardly stole his eyes away from her, fixing it back to the sky.

Prerna kept looking at him, for a while. He, aware of the stare, tried his best not to look back.

"I don't understand Rishabh. In one moment, you barged into my life and turned it upside down, making this marriage a deal, snatching away the love of my life from me, snatching my unborn baby's father from me, and in the next moment, you are putting up the broken wall brick by brick - doing things for my family without letting me know, reconciling me and my mother, taking care of my baby more than I do. I don't understand you", Prerna spoke, finally letting the burden of her thoughts free.

Rishabh chuckled, though it seemed more of a painful one, and turned his head to look at him.

"I can't explain you, I don't want to Mrs. Bajaj. I wish I had an explanation for you, but all I can say is don't - don't try to understand me. Don't try to force yourself to see my non existing good qualities. I am what people say I am, there is no other side. Sometimes bad guys are just bad guys - the villain of the story, like I am of your love story", the evident sarcasm in his tone wasn't missed by Prerna, but for the first time she wasn't hearing what he was saying, she was trying to understand what he actually wanted to say.

Rishabh's eyes fell on his watch and he saw it was ten minutes to twelve. The day was about to end.

"Prerna, if you don't mind, I would like a few moments to myself", his voice was lower than a whisper and Prerna walked away, without another word, only to stop by the door of the terrace, her eyes fixed on Rishabh.

The moonlight illuminated his half visible face, his eyes fixed on the moon. Then with horror in her eyes she watched two lone droplets escape his eyes as he closed them shut, and exhaled.

Prerna had never seen him look so defeated like he did in that moment.

Rishabh felt the agonizing pain he felt every waking moment on this day as the clock showed 11:55 pm, remembering his mother and her suicide, done at that very moment of his sixteenth birthday.

"Happy death day Maa, I hope you feel free and happy away from me, and this world!"