A knock on Anuj's cabin door forced the two to turn their eyes away from the beautiful sunset. Anuj's General Manager Vijay Mathur along with his Head of PR walked in. His secretary who had followed them in simply looked at Anuj and shrugged before making her way out.

"Yes?" Anuj inquired, not too happy to see the two intruding on his personal time.

"I'm sorry," Pankaj began, "but this was just brought to my attention and I thought you should know about it before the world does."

"Know about what?" Anuj pushed his glasses back up, while Anupama turned fully to pay attention.

"This."

And Pankaj handed him the copy to the next day's edition of the Gujarat Samachar. Splashed on the front page were Anuj and Kavya, their bodies entangled, their lips mangled. The caption beneath the cover photo read: Is the fairy tale love story between Prince Charming (Anuj Kapadia) and Cinderella (Anupama Joshi) over? And has Cruella replaced Cinderella?

Two things struck him at once. The first was that the picture was morphed. There was no way he was that much taller than Kavya. The second, that the sub-editor had a rather wacky sense of humour. As he carefully looked at the photo, with her head bent backward, the lighting highlighting her hair at rather odd places, Kavya uncannily did closely resemble Cruella.

He chuckled and then sobered.

"We tried our best to pull the story," the Head of PR quipped in. "But..."

Anuj turned to look at him, a cold look that he reserved for employees he was severely displeased with.

"Be careful," he told his Head of PR. "You're skating on thin ice. One more strike and you're out!"

He then turned and handed the newspaper to Anupama. She looked at the picture. The newspaper dropped from her hands. She turned to look at Anuj and he held her eyes with his. Hers was filled with fear and doubt and his with love and understanding. They stood like that, conversing with their eyes, Anuj assuring her of his love; she sharing her deepest fears with him. And yet, not a word was said between the two.

Clearing his throat to break the awkward silence, Pankaj took leave.

"Thanks, Pankaj."

Pankaj shook his head to indicate it was nothing. "Take care of Ma'am," he told Anuj as they made their way out of his cabin.

*****

As soon as the two were out, Anuj made his way to Anupama. Her hands were shivering. Her lips were quivering. Her breathing, uneven. He took her hands in his and began rubbing them to infuse some warmth. It seemed to work. She momentarily relaxed.

"Coffee?"

She shook her head.

"Don't." And she tightly held his hand refusing to let go.

He obliged. Holding her hand, he walked her to the couch and sat her down.

"I'm right here, okay? Just going up to my desk to get you water. Okay?"

She nodded. As he left her hand, she rubbed them against each other, and then rubbed her shoulders. Anuj looked at her and felt sad. In the short time he'd re-acquainted with her, she'd been quiet, sad, lonely, upset, remorseful, and angry, but she'd never been scared. He walked back to her with a glass of water that she gratefully accepted.

And then he sat next to her, putting his hands around her, rubbing her shoulders, allowing her space while being there for her. As he continued to gently rub her shoulders, her breathing began to even.

"Why?" she suddenly asked after a prolonged silence.

"Why me again?"

When Anuj looked at her, she sighed and placed her head on his shoulder.

"I don't have the energy Anuj. I don't. And I don't understand Kavya. Why me? Why me again?"

When Anuj turned to look at her questioningly, she blurted. "I know that photo is morphed Anuj. The person in that photo is Mr. Shah. This was taken five years ago on a cruise line in Mumbai on New Year's Eve."

"How do you know?"

"Devika."

"Devika? Your friend from college?"

Anupama nodded. "She was on that same cruise. She recognized Mr. Shah but he didn't. And she told me about it."

"And?"

"And I was an idiot Anuj. Instead of believing her and questioning my husband, I told her off, told her that my husband would never cheat on me, that even though he may not love me, he loved his family way too much. He wasn't selfish to ruin the happiness of all his loved ones.

"I also told her that her love marriage and subsequent divorce had left her jaded. So she couldn't see the good in others."

And the Anupama laughed; another of her hollow laughs.

"How pathetic I would've sounded to Devika then."

She took another sip of the water.

"Then only a few people who knew laughed at me. But now? The whole world will laugh. No one will care that this picture is morphed. People will question me. Our relationship."

As Anuj listened to her, he fished his magnets out of his pocket and began twirling them.

"Only two people can have a copy of this photo. Vanraj Shah and Kavya," he reasoned. "Vanraj Shah wouldn't do something like this. He has too much of an ego to put his reputation at stake. And Kavya..."

Suddenly it all made sense. Her flirting, her sensual moves at the press conference, her working at the AK Group, the elevator fiasco. Kavya never believed that Anuj Kapadia was truly in love with Anupama. She was vying for the position of Mrs. Kapadia.

"Anu.." He called. When she didn't respond, he called louder.

Pointing to the newspaper in front of her, he said: "This is an advance copy. All that means is you're seeing it before everyone else. But everyone else WILL see it tomorrow morning.

"Once the story breaks, it will be splashed across other news channels as well. And remember, whatever happens with this, will affect your adoption plans for Kinjal.

"There are two ways you can deal with this - either you can let it run its course which might be a week, where the media speculates and extrapolates and imaginates, or you take the bull by its horns and show everyone who you truly are. Both are acceptable responses. It's all about what you want to do and what you're more comfortable with. Unfortunately, you have less than 12 hours to decide on your future course of action."