Check if you've read the previous update. Don't skip the chapters please because it is a short story anyways.

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Sidharth drove Sana to a restaurant as it was late than usual.

"Will have dinner outside since it was a tiring day and we are already late.", He said to her while unfastening his seat belt.

Sana nodded okay with a straight face without looking at him. They both went inside the restaurant and occupied a seat.

"What would you like to have Sana?", He asked.

Sana looked down at the menu and pointed her finger at a dish to the waiter. He nodded to her and wrote down the order.

"Get two of whatever she ordered", Sidharth said showing two fingers to him.

The waiter nodded his head and went away. There was a complete silence between the two. Sidharth read the menu for the 20th time while trying to gather courage to start a conversation. He lifted his head up and glanced at her. Her eyes were fixated at the something at his back.

His eyes fell on the seat behind Sana where a father was feeding his little son from his plate. He remembered how Shreyas liked paneer (cottage cheese) just like him. Whenever he took him out to a restaurant they would order only paneer dish. Once the order arrived, Sidharth would eat only the gravy because he fed all the paneer in his plate to Shreyas.

Sidharth smirked at the scene thinking probably the person on the other table might have to face similar fate as him in future.

He looked at Sana again and found her eyes still watching in the same direction as earlier. He slowly turned around to see what she was looking at.

It was a middle aged married couple who were lost in their own world as they gazed into each other's eye and a subtle smile brightened both their faces. Their fingers were entwined as they met on the centre of the table.

Sana was reminded of how her ex-husband never took her out to public places. While she took it in a positive way calling it his possessiveness, he secretly had an affair outside which came out when he married that lady and asked her to leave.

Sidharth kept gazing at her and when Sana looked at him, he lowered his eyes within a fraction of second and started reading the menu again. Sana felt hurt.

She had been ignoring him since the time he had scolded her. If it was any other person she would have rebelled against them but she couldn't rebel against him. She didn't find any fault in Sidharth because she realised it was her mistake to think that he loved her too.

She cursed herself for believing in love again after what she had already went through. She cursed her unrequited love which was proved time and again when Sidharth didn't find it necessary to converse with her after that day. The bond that she thought she shared with him once was back again to being strangers.

The waiter got food for them. It was a South Indian meal. He said a quick prayer as usual and looked at her. She had put her head and was silently eating her food.

Sidharth was fighting a battle with himself since the day he scolded her. He was scared of losing her hence it triggered such reaction. The calmer person in him who strangulated his desires all this years was pushed back by the thought of losing her. He feared he would lose himself if he lost her.

He thought, she wasn't wrong in loving someone but he didn't deserve the love she wanted to shower on him neither would he be capable of giving her the love she might desire. Fighting with world was easier but fighting a battle with himself was difficult. He would lose to himself regardless. Her chirpy side was lost and with that even he had lost a part of himself which he had found only after her arrival in his life.

The man who feared of hurting anyone's sentiment the whole life had successfully killed the innocence of the person who at that moment meant a world to him. Yes, she meant a world to him because when nobody was with him, she stood with him.

She went to wash her hands and the waiter came upto him.

"Sir, should I get anything else for you or your daughter?", He asked.

"Huh?", He felt a sharp dagger pierced into his ears which travelled straight to his heart. He bit his lips and nodded no.

While the waiter went to get the bill he got up silently and went to wash his hands as soon as she had returned. He returned back and paid the bill and walked towards his car. While she left after eating the fennel seeds.

"Excuse me Ma'am", the waiter called Sana before she exited the restaurant.

She turned around and the waiter passed her Sidharth's mobile which he had forgotten on the table itself.

"Your father had forgotten his phone on the table.", He said with a smile.

She glared at him.

"He isn't my father. He is my...", She paused as she didn't know what was the name of the bond she shared with him.

"He is my boss", she said.

"Oh, sorry Ma'am. Sir, didn't say anything when I called you his daughter few minutes back so I assumed it to be true.", The waiter apologized. Sana felt an excruciating pain listening to it.

How could he just accept the waiter's word without raising any concerns against it? Huh! I forgot, he doesn't love me the way I do and he doesn't feel for me the way I do. Why does it hurt when I already know he doesn't really care for my feelings towards him?

She was as much angry as she was hurt.

"He is a man of few words. Probably he didn't feel a need to answer you. But you should understand that it's wrong on your part to assume things. Best would have been you addressing us Sir and Ma'am only.", She said sternly.

"I am extremely sorry Ma'am. Sorry Sir.", He said looking behind her.

She shivered to learn that Sidharth was standing behind her and probably heard their conversation. She turned around and handed him his phone. He looked at her with guilt filled eyes while she just walked ahead of him without uttering a word to him.

She stomped to the car and waited for him to unlock it. He pressed the button on the car key to unlock and she occupied the seat and looked out of the window resting her chin on her palm which was supported by the window pane. He got behind the steering wheel and kept looking at her for quite some time. He wanted to apologize but she didn't turn to face him even though the car was stationed for good 10 minutes.

He finally shifted his gaze to his phone. His eyes widened to find a WhatsApp message from Shreyas. He opened it. 'Congratulations' the message read with no other details or emoticons.

Hmmm.. he might have got the news of book cafe inauguration. God knows how many eyes does he have on me apart from that nosey neighbour, Reshma.

'Thank you for the warm wishes' he typed and sent it to him. He looked at Sana once again but her face was still turned towards the window. He started the car and drove back home. She got down and went inside the house and directly into her room without speaking a word.
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Sidharth signed off his program at the radio station and drove to the book cafe. He went inside the book cafe and looked around. It looks lively and had quite a few readers who leisurely read books sipping on their favourite beverage and munching on the snacks. The chef was busy brewing coffee while the other employee was guiding a client to find his favourite author's book.

He looked around everywhere but couldn't sight Sana anywhere. After a while when the employee returned to greet him, he enquired about Sana's whereabouts. The employee gave him an envelope and said that she asked him to give it to him.

He opened the envelope and found his house key along with a letter.

Sidharth,

When I was betrayed by my ex-husband, I only seeked for the shelter. Thanks for providing one but as time passed, I realised that I wished for something else and seeking a shelter was just secondary.

I realised that I made a mistake. A repeated mistake in my life to believe that I can actually find love or being loved by someone. I am not blaming you for anything Sidharth. How long will you entertain this stranger in your house for free? I need to understand that and not become a burden on you.

I hope you continue working towards your dreams, ambitions and be happy in your life. Thank you once again for everything.

Sana

He collapsed on the nearby couch. His worst nightmare had come true. He was once again left alone. But this time his efforts were 100% in it. His cold behaviour, his insecurities and his silence led to his loneliness.

He raced to his car and occupied the driving seat, hoping he would find her. But when he turned the key to start the engine, he was blank. He didn't know where to go. She had no place to go when she came and now that she left he didn't know where she would have gone? He turned off the engine and cried bitterly alone in the locked car. He cried for so long that his tears betrayed him from flowing out anymore.

He went back into the book cafe and sat on the couch.

(Voices played in his mind)

***
Sana: When people don't let their house on rent without an identity card or deposit money, how could you allow me to stay in your house even without asking me my name?.

Sidharth: Perhaps, because I don't fear of losing anything in my life at this stage.
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Sidharth: Please don't leave Sana. You will push me into much more guilt. You aren't breaking my home. I don't even call this a home myself. I call it a house because home is where a family stays together. I stay alone because my son who went abroad to study when he was 18 year old never returned.
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Sana: So what brought you home early today?

Sidharth: You! I knew someone was waiting for me today at home

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"Sir.. Sir.. Sir..", his employee called him.

"Huh?", Sidharth's thoughts were broken and he looked at his employee with expressionless face.

"It's time to go home sir.", His employee said.

"Home?", Sidharth asked.

"Yes, sir. Home.", Employee replied.

"Who all are there at your home?", Sidharth asked.

"My wife!", the employee spoke with a smile on his face.

"Hmmm.. your reason to return home.", Said Sidharth and stood up holding the arm rest of the couch as his legs trembled at the thought of him losing his reason to go home.

As he sauntered out of the book cafe, he looked around it. It was the same cafe which Sana had built on the boring old bookstore. It had her presence written all over it because she had carefully planned everything in it.

I wish, the way I trusted her and handed her the keys of my boring old bookstore to refurbish, I had offered her myself, the boring old Bharadwaj, to be resurrected. I said I feared losing nothing to her on the first day but little did I know that one day she will become my everything and I would fear losing her.

He sat in his car and once again drove to the same old park which he had forgotten to visit after her arrival. He occupied the same old concrete bench which was his companion for 7 years. Everything was same except the only difference was that earlier his thoughts were about Shreyas but now it was overwritten with Sana.

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To be continued.. ❤️❤️