"Anuj, we haven't had a celebration in quite a while, yes?" Anupama hesitatingly mentioned to Anuj over breakfast.

The transition from Anuj ji to Anuj had been rather endearing. Each time Anuj thought about it, he smirked. Each time Anupama thought about it, she blushed. It was the same day she'd surprised him with a visit to his office.

"Anu, what's my name?" He'd asked her, while they were lounging on the sofa after their lunch.

"Anuj ji," she casually replied, focusing on clearing the coffee table of the food remnants.

"Anu," he inched closer as his voice turned sultry. She momentarily stopped what she was doing and turned to look at him. His intense gaze unnerved her. And so, to avoid it, she began to stare at a random painting on the wall.

"Anu," he inched closer again.

"Annn...uuu..jjjj..jjjiiii...," she stammered, "you must have a lot of work. I will get going."

As she got up to leave, Anuj closed the distance and placed his hands firmly on hers, preventing her from getting up. "What's my name Anu?"

She was shivering. Her face was red hot. Her breathing had turned shallow. Her eyes were closed. Was it anticipation or need? Perhaps a bit of both.

Anuj leaned in close enough that she could feel his breath near her ear and whispered, "Anu, what is my name?"

"Anuj," she whispered back, his proximity making her feel butterflies in her stomach.

"Good girl," he whispered, and then kissed her cheek as a reward. Not satisfied with that token gesture, Anu turned her head to kiss him, her tongue darting out and teasing his lips to part. Anuj sighed and obliged, finishing what Anupama had started with panache. As she'd dared to lift her eyes and look at him, he'd winked and then hugged her.

Anupama herself was surprised at her boldness but Anuj had unleashed the wanton in her by teaching her to not be ashamed of things that she liked. With him, she felt safe enough to genuinely express herself. That was his gift to her. He had helped acquaint Anupama with herself. And for that, she would be eternally grateful to him.

If GK had noticed the change in how Anupama addressed Anuj, he hadn't mentioned it. The two continued their clandestine affair, enjoying the late-night jaunts and stolen moments. But Anupama had begun to want more. She wanted Anuj. She wanted to give herself to Anuj. She wanted the two of them to spend the rest of their lives with each other. The intensity of her feelings was this man surprised her. She'd been married once, and she'd never felt anything remote to what she was currently feeling for Vanraj. And that worried her. Because now she didn't know how to define 26 years of her life.

Anupama had also grown closer to GK. From spending time with him to accompanying him on his errands, Anupama had found a funny, kind, and wise father figure in GK. She now understood Anuj's emotions towards the man. Truth be told, she echoed them.

During one of their conversations, GK had casually mentioned that Anuj's birthday was two weeks from now. He'd also told her that he particularly didn't like celebrating it. Anuj preferred to work on that day, and GK on his behalf always fed kids at a local orphanage. Right at that moment, Anupama decided that she would celebrate his birthday. The first of many, she hoped and smiled.

Biting into his toast, the newspaper in his other hand, Anuj hmmed. It had been a month since their lives had synced. Anupama had taken over the complete running of the household. Mohan, Madhav, and Sheela adored her.

Even Anuj and GK seemed more relaxed with her around. Anuj had started working less, he'd started laughing more. Theirs was already a family. A happy one at that. GK, it seemed was still blissfully unaware of the change in their relationship status. Or so the two believed.

Anupama cleared her throat and sighed. Clearly, he wasn't paying attention. Maybe she should use this to her advantage.

"Anuj, what is your favourite colour?"

"Yellow."

"And favourite food?"

"Fruits."

She rolled her eyes up.

GK had started teaching her English, just for fun. Initially, she'd been hesitant about these lessons, believing them to be GK's way to make her worthy of Anuj in the eyes of the world. But soon she realized that GK had no such intentions. He already thought she was perfect.

In fact, by participating in these sessions, she was the one doing GK a favour. He desperately sought companionship and Anuj had little time to offer him that.

So Anupama had agreed. And she was glad, she did. The English classes were such fun, filled with laughter and anecdotes. She'd actually begun to look forward to them. The fact that she could now understand and speak another language was an added bonus. She reluctantly agreed that learning English had also tremendously helped with her self-confidence. She still preferred to speak in Gujarati or Hindi, but at least now she didn't feel out of depth when it came to conversing in English.

She forced her attention back to Anuj.

"Cuisine."

If Anuj had been paying attention, he would've realized that she'd used a word she should not have known. But he was engrossed in reading the market report and without pause replied: "Indian."

"North or South?"

"West."

"What do you mean West?"

"I mean I love Gujarati food, just the way my Mom made it," he responded folding the newspaper and giving her his undivided attention.

"But why are you asking me all this?"

"Just like that," Anupama muttered, picking up another piece of toast and buttering it to avoid looking at him. "I was only trying to make small talk."

He smirked at her and she blushed. She'd been doing a lot of that recently. And every time she did that, his eyes turned a stormy grey. Beyond a few stolen kisses and moments of solitude, their relationship hadn't progressed much further.

While they had talked a lot about their past, neither had discussed the future. Anuj hadn't mentioned anything and Anupama was hesitant to ask about what was next and more importantly, when.

"Toast?" She offered him the bread after having buttered it and he reached out to grab it but instead grabbed her hands. A jolt of current sped through her entire body.

She sat there, waiting for him to leave her hand, unwilling to be the one to break contact. He sat there, holding her hand, lazily caressing her carpals, purposely brushing this thumb against her palm, sliding his hand further up her arm, teasing her, and watching her blush harder; the forgotten toast pinched in-between her finger.

"Annnuuuuuj," GK's call broke the spell. Grabbing the toast from her hands, Anuj got up and winked at her before making his way to GK's room. Anupama let out her breath that she didn't realize she'd been holding.

Anuj had been super annoying and unhelpful. But she would still throw him a party. She wanted an occasion to show him how much she loved him. Because she truly did. For the first time, since she remembered, she was happy, carefree, doing the things that she liked. And it was all thanks to Anuj.

She wanted to do something for him that made him feel just as special. Because, as far as she was concerned, that's who he was. The nicest, most special person in the whole world.

*****

She'd turned her bedroom upside down when GK had walked. Seeing the messy state of her otherwise immaculately neat and clean room, he looked at her with concern in his eyes. She looked back at him and sighed.

He walked up to her and placed his hand on her head. He'd begun doing that a lot recently, blessing her silently for turning this house into a home.

Unknowingly she'd turned into the thread that bound all of them together. Due to her insistence, Anuj had stopped working long and tiring hours and started focusing on his health. Due to her insistence, the family had begun eating breakfast and dinner together. Ever since she came, days in the Kapadia household began with morning prayers.

She indulged GK, she pampered him, she cared for him as a daughter would. They smiled more. They laughed more. She was Goddess Lakshmi, bringing prosperity to their household and GK prayed fervently each day to Kanhaji for a miracle that would keep Anupama with them forever.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Her eyes nearly had tears. "Anupama did Anuj..?"

She shook her head to absolve him. She knew that otherwise, GK would rip the man apart.

"Then what's the problem? Did someone say something at the school? Did the Shahs...??" GK got out his mobile phone to dial Anuj's number when Anupama gently took the phone away from him and placed it on the dresser.

"What is it beta?" His anxiety was growing with each passing second.

"Kaka," she struggled with expressing herself.

"You're scaring me Anupama, what is it?"

"Recipes.." She blurted.

"Recipes??"

She nodded.

GK was now perplexed. Anupama was a fantastic cook. GK loved her food. And the ever-health-conscious Anuj Kapadia had also started eating a little bit more and indulging in the food that Anupama prepared.

"But you're such a good cook...."

"I know," she sighed.

But even her sigh had a resigned feel to it, which further perplexed GK.

"Next week is Anuj's birthday..."

"And I told you he doesn't like to do anything on his birthday.

"But I still want to do something special for him. He has done so much for me. This is my chance to do something for him."

"You've already done more for him than you give yourself credit for, Anupama," GK said lovingly. "You've made him smile more, reprioritize his life, given him a reason to spend more time at home, forced him to take care of his health, you've turned his life around. And I can only say thank you for it."

"You don't need to thank me, Kaka. Anuj deserves all this and more. His beautiful heart deserves wonderful things."

GK looked at her and smiled wistfully. Both Anuj and Anupama felt the same way about each other. He only wished that they confessed their feelings to each other before it was too late.

Unaware of the thoughts in GK's mind, Anupama continued: "Today, when I asked him what kind of food he liked, he said he liked his mother's food. So I was looking for some...." Her voice trailed while she turned a deep shade of tomato.

GK smiled with glee. It seems Kanhaji was answering his prayers. He walked up to her and gently lifted her chin until she looked at him.

"You're looking for Gayatri's recipes."

She nodded, her embarrassment choking her voice.

He walked up to the little armoire in the corner of her room, opened it, pulled out a treasure box, and handed it to her.

"They're all in here."

She smiled at that.

He then walked to another cupboard right next to the armoire and pulled out a beautiful bottle green and orange patola sari and an exquisite bottle green meenakari choker set with matching earrings. Placing it on the bed, he told Anupama, "These clothes too belonged to Gayatri. Wear them for the party."

Placing his hand once more on Anupama's head, he made his way out. But there was a spring to his step. GK was suddenly feeling younger.