Vanraj stood there unmoving, taking in the blissful scene in front of him. Anu was leading Anuj. And that man was proudly following.

He tried to clear his throat to indicate his presence but there was no sound.

The two parted for breath, bringing their foreheads closer to touch. Anuj whispered something that made Anu blush furiously. He smirked. She blushed even more. Tiptoeing, she placed a kiss on his forehead and tried to turn only to be pulled by Anuj and crash forcefully against his chest. He wrapped his hands around her, caging her near him. She laughed playfully and swatted his hands away. He smiled. Bringing his head closer to her neck, he pecked her nape. She closed her eyes, her face displaying the emotions she was experiencing.

Vanraj continued to stand still, his feet refusing to move. His mind focused on the pure unadulterated joy that was being exhibited on Anupama's face.

"ANUPAMA!" Leela's voice reverberated throughout Anuj's cabin ending their beautiful tryst. Anu opened her eyes and looked towards the cabin door to see the mother-son duo staring at them, one in anger and the other in pain. Instinctively, she sighed and moved away to put some distance between herself and Anuj. But Anuj held her hand firmly. Pulling her closer to him, he wrapped his hand around her shoulder. 

"Aren't the two of you ashamed?" Leela asked Anuj and Anupama. 

She looked at Vanraj. And the expression of hurt on his face further fuelled her anger.

"Ashamed of what?" Anuj asked calmly.

"This, this shameless behavior of yours. In a public place," she fumed.

"Public place?" Anuj chuckled. "Last I checked, AK Group belonged to me. And this office is my private property."

"So what if this is your private property, these types of activities don't suit big people."

"What exact types of activities are you referring to Mrs. Shah?" he sneered. Anuj was getting irked. And Anu, looking at his patience wearing thin, gently placed her hand on his to calm him down. He looked at her and took a deep breath. Mistaking their gesture, Leela gloated.

"What's the use of feeling ashamed now? You should have thought about this before you did all that."

"DID WHAT?" Anuj hollered, momentarily scaring Leela and Vanraj. GK who'd stayed outside to ensure all of the Shahs were able to get to the 30th floor without any challenges, rushed inside.

"All that hugging and ...I even feel ashamed to say what you both were doing." She looked towards the floor.

"But you don't feel ashamed that you walked into MY cabin without knocking? Or you don't feel ashamed that you are here to BEG Anupama to come back to your 48-year-old son, after having mentally abused her for 26 years?"

His eyes bore through the mother and son. 

"Oh, I know what you feel ashamed for. You feel ashamed for having GIVEN BIRTH to Vanraj."

Leela looked at him, her eyes spitting fire. "Why would I be ashamed of having given birth to Vanraj?"

Ignoring Leela's question, Anuj turned his attention to Anu and asked: "You didn't tell me Vanraj was God?"

Anu smiled, understanding where Anuj was going with this. But Leela, who'd had less experience with sarcasm, answered: "Vanraj is not God. Why did you say that?"

"Because of your feeling of shame, Mrs. Shah. If love and physical attraction are shameful to you, how did you give birth to two children?"

"Anuj Kapadia!" Vanraj hollered. "Mind your tongue. You're talking to my mother."

"And Vanraj Shah," Anupama hollered back. "You watch what you say." Placing herself in front of Anuj, she added: "You're talking to my husband."

Oblivious to the fact that Hasmukh, Toshu, his wife, Pakhi and Samar had all made their way into the room, Vanraj continued: "Husband? Husband? You do know that for you to call him your husband, he needs to first marry you. I didn't know you were already married."

He smirked at her. "As far as I know, from the media reports, your wedding is on Feb 14. And from what my phone is telling me, today is Jan 26."

"So?"

"So, you know women who refer to themselves as married, when they are not; society has a special name for them."

"VANRAJ SHAH!" GK screamed at him as he came and stood near Anuj and Anupama. "You will not insult the Kapadias daughter-in-law. You will apologize to Anupama now."

When Vanraj continued to shuffle his feet, GK repeated. "Now"

Vanraj still didn't respond. "NOW VANRAJ SHAH, or else..." The threat hung and Vanraj muttered, "I'm sorry."

Still angry, GK took his glasses off and walked to Anuj's desk to get a drink of water.

"Why did you want to meet us here?"

Anupama took a deep breath. Holding Anuj's hand firmly, she dragged him towards his desk, closer to GK.

"I received a love letter from Kavya," she told the Shahs.

"You did what?" Vanraj stuttered. Kavya had walked out of his life, promising revenge. What had she written in that letter?

"Let's just say that I am fully aware that I am a crorepati."

Vanraj looked at her dumbstruck, while Leela simply stared at her son.

"What is she blabbering, Vanraj?" He looked down, unable to face his mother.

"Vanraj, what crorepati? What is she talking about?"

"Let me enlighten you Baa," Anu said, and slowly extricated the pieces of paper she intended to share with the Shahs from the envelope. As she passed the papers around as a specimen for all of the Shah household members to see, Leela stared at the document and then at Vanraj. She was looking hurt, her eyes accusing him.

"So as per these papers, Mr. Vanraj Shah has parked all of his wealth in a trust fund that is currently owned by both of us. The trust will be inherited by Toshu, Pakhi, and Samar. I want Kinjal's name to get added to it."

"Kinjal? Who is this Kinjal?" Leela questioned.

"The girl I'm going to adopt."

"Adopt?? Why do you need to adopt when you already have three children?"

"Because, as of now, none of them are mine."

"What do you mean? You're their mother."

"Says who? You?" she said pointing to Leela. "The very person who encouraged these children to act out with me?"

"Or you?" she asked pointing to Vanraj, "whose only aim in life was to tell these kids how classless and useless their mother was. And give them reasons as to why they should be embarrassed and ashamed of her?"

The rest of the Shahs had the decency to look chastised. But Pakhi, who already had an inclination about Anupama and Kinjal's relationship was fuming with jealousy.

"I knew it. I knew you loved her more than me. I knew she'd stolen my mother from me. I warned her to stay away from you. But she didn't listen. Now she'll have to pay."

Anu raised a single eyebrow, another aspect of Anuj she'd begun to mimic.

"Really Pakhi? YOU will make Kinjal pay?"

When Pakhi looked at her mother unsure, Anu smiled and said: "I'd like you to try."

Pakhi looked at Anupama, and whispered: "Why Ma? Why does she mean so much to you?"

"Because she showered me with love and respect when you didn't. Because she filled a void in my life. Because I connect with her on a level I haven't ever connected with you. Because she is kind and caring and considerate. And most importantly, because she doesn't feel embarrassed to call me her Mom."

"I'm sorry Ma. I'm sorry for everything. But that was all in the past. We can start afresh, can't we?"

"Why should we? Why should everything be the way you want Pakhi? When you wanted to ignore me, you did. Now you want to start afresh, you want me to drop everything and listen to you? Why? Because I gave birth to you? Even if we apply that logic, shouldn't it be the other way round?"

Vanraj was tired, already regretting his decision to come for this meeting. He was hoping he could profess his love to Anupama and convince her to go back home with him. But she seemed to have a completely different agenda altogether.

"What do you want, Anu?"

"Anupama. Only my near and dear ones can call me Anu. And let me specify who those people are - Anuj and Kaka. For everyone else, I'm Anupama."

"What do you want Anupama."

"I've already told you. I want Kinjal added to that trust."

"And what if I say no?"

"Then my lawyers will be serving you an alimony notice tomorrow noon. I will also be filing a case for the misappropriation of funds. Get ready to pay out crores and crores in punitive damages. You do realize that thanks to Anuj, I now have access to the best of lawyers across the globe. This will be a cakewalk."