Aniket Rawat stilled in his seat with an astounded silence sealing his lips. The condition put forward by Kriti Chawla had incited equal amounts of disappointment and curiosity in the man. His disbelief did not go unnoticed when his dark brown pools widened and betrayed his emotions to the one craving for an insight.

"Say something, please," she said in a whisper hoarse with raw pain, and her tone had turned desperate.

Aniket was at a loss for words. On one hand was his fidelity to his wife, and on the other was his concern for his friend since adolescence. The vulnerability in her eyes made him go weak and falter on a path which he knew as well as his breath. Kriti was the strongest woman he had known, and to see the vulnerability in her eyes was a turmoil second to none.

"Why? Of all the things. Why this, Kriti?" he asked. While his eyes pleaded to her to dispel the quandary she had left him in, his voice demanded her to free him from the trial by fire of choosing between two impossible options. His eyes launched a search into her conflicted orbs for hints of a prank, which he wanted the entire conversation to be.

For the first time in their friendship of years, he had used her given name, and the occasion was such she lacked the luxury to celebrate by listening to her name from his lips. She had always wondered how her given name would sound in his baritone voice, and when she finally found her answer, she faced myriads of other questions, put forward by the eyes of the owner of that voice.

"I learned how to see, but not reach out, over the years, Aniket. But to not reach out, to not raise my hopes after this...." Her lips quivered, and a pant escaped her trembling lips as she struggled to gain control of herself. "I don't think I am so strong. I want something beautiful to fill my heart with contentment and benumb me from the heartbreak that awaits me."

Aniket wanted to break everything he could lay his hands on. Such an intense and almost unconditional love for him, and he had been dying for such pristine love for years. It almost made him mock his destiny for the irony of his life.

Before he could say anything, a knock on the door stopped his words. Kriti wiped her tears with the back of her hand and straightened herself before she called the person in.

"Ma'am, the patients are here. Would you like to begin with the appointments or do you want to extend your lunch time for some more time?" asked the nurse who walked in.

"Send the first person in five minutes after Mr. Rawat leaves. I need to clean up before I can see the patients," she said with a weak and courteous smile on her lips.

"Sure, Ma'am," said the nurse. She walked out, closing the door behind her.

Kriti turned to face Aniket, whose gaze never left her. Her eyes met his in an intense embrace, trying to understand what would remain inexpressible through words and incoherent to ears.

"I'll take your leave now," he said, breaking the eye lock, while Kriti's heart had not filled enough to satiate the unquenchable thirst of her soul for him. She wanted to drink more of his presence, and let her heart lose the way more. But alas, destiny had not been merciful enough.

She stood to her to bid him goodbye with a forlorn frown gracing her features, wondering why he did not reveal his answer to her proposition. She did not want to put him on the spot by questioning him, but neither she stop her heart from pondering over the worst possible consequences of her action. She could bear rejection, but not silence. Especially his.

"And about... the proposition, can we meet up later? When would you be free?" he asked, relieving her of her agonizing trail of thoughts.

"I am free in the evenings. Text me the venue and time, I will be there," she said, trying to read his eyes, but he had donned a mask which evaded a doctor's eyes.

It took every bit of her professionalism and work ethic to concentrate on the line of patients waiting for her rather than offering consolation to her desolate heart, seeking a man far beyond her limits. She had heard the phrase saying all was fair in love and war far too many times, but was that phrase enough to defend her unwavering love and passion towards a committed man suffering in loveless love marriage?

The afternoon shift dragged on for what felt like eons, and she was left alone in her cabin after she had attended to her last patient. The innocence and positive vibes which her young patients emanated had always kept her going, and that day was no different.

She took out her mobile to speak to Shipra about the happenings of the day when she noticed his message. The mere name lit the heart of hers, which was lost on a dark path.

"Tomorrow. 7:30 PM at Vivanta. Fine with you?" read the message. She responded with a single word, expressing her approval and moved on to speak to Shipra.

"Hello! KRITI! Are you alright?" came Shipra's thundering questions as soon as the line got connected.

"How do you know that something had happened, Shipra? Did.."

She could not complete her question. She knew the man whom she was talking about.

"Aniket called me and questioned me. He told me you- you confessed about your feelings to him. He asked me if I knew about it, and if I knew, why did I never bother to tell him or help you come out of this," she said, hoping that Aniket's mind had stabilized since his talk with her.

"I didn't know what else to do, Shipra. He asked me to be a surrogate to his child."

The surprised gasp from Shipra deter her from finishing her monologue. "It was the most twisted way in which my dream could have come true! And if I agree to that, I can never part from the child, and if by some miracle, I can never part from him. And that's why I asked something of him, which is beyond what he can agree to."

"He told me. And what if he agrees to that?" asked Shipra, struck by disbelief that her pragmatic friend had left such a crucial step of her life to mere choice. "Well, if he agrees to it, maybe that one night will be enough to keep me going," said Kriti, lost in a trance as she eyed his picture in front of her.

"Kriti, Kriti, KRITI! Stop doing this to yourself! You will destroy yourself in his love! He will leave you craving for him after this! He cannot give you what you want!"

"There is nothing more to destroy of me, Shipra. Every bit of my soul broke when my unconditional love for him stood defeated, and Ashna's flattering love triumphed. It got torn every time I saw him agonized- every time I realized I could wipe away his agonies, but I had no right to do so. Destiny brought us to this crossroad, let it decide what it wants to do with these puppets this time."

________________________________________________________________________

Preeta eyed at Ashna's lost figure when the approaching footsteps pulled her out of the reverie. She looked up to see Sandeep walking in, emotions rising high in his eyes in close relation to those that of Ashna's as Preeta involuntarily gulped at the irony of the situation.

Two of them were deeply in love, but with different people who reciprocated in the most unusual of the ways- while Sandeep was in love with Ashna, she was in love with her husband. While Ashna's love for Sandeep was platonic and based on years of friendship, Aniket's love for his wife was based on several assumptions he had made up about her.

Preeta offered a curt nod to Sandeep, expressing her solidarity with him, and she staged a walkout to give some privacy to the two lost and star-crossed lovers.

"Sorry, Ashna..."

"Don't, San. It isn't your fault. You are a producer and should look for profits. That will come through appeasing the media, and it is their fault they twist my statements and malign my reputation," she said with a heartrending crack to her voice, eying the various photos of herself with her husband in her vanity.

Sandeep took in a deep breath as he struggled to stop his own tears. "Why don't you tell him, Ashna? You love him, but let him think otherwise. Why?" he asked, cupping her shoulders despite the streaks of frustration in his voice.

"Tell to the one who had fallen in love with my silence and lack of expectations, San? How can I erase his very foundation of love? I know how painful it is when you don't have a reason to love, but you cannot stop loving that person. I don't want to put him through that. And it isn't I never tried. I tried my level best, but the result was his nonchalance, which I dread the most," she said, bringing the wine glass close to her lips when Sandeep toppled it over.

"You don't want to put him through that pain, but what about the pain you cause me, Ashna? Do you have any idea how it hurts to see someone you love in pain because of their love?" he asked, his emotions clouding his intellect as he brought about a revelation which he had never intended to. Ashna stood to her feet and her eyes turned glossy when she tilted her head to keep the embrace of their flickering gazes.

The friend in her suffered the stabs of the dagger named remorse several times over, and the lover in her cried woefully at her fate. "You know we don't have a future. Then why, Sandeep? Why did you put yourself through such a heartache?" she asked, placing her trembling palm over his biceps.

"Strange, isn't it?" he asked with a wry chuckle. "You taught me how to love and now you question me about the basis of my love for you. I expect nothing in return from you, Ashna. Just-just be happy," he said, pulling her into an embrace as he caressed her head to ease the headache he knew she had developed by the subtle narrowing of her eyes and tightening of the edges of her lips.

On one side stood a lover, who had faced the wrath of love which made him spurn away its embrace, and on the other side stood a lover, who did not mind beind brought to naught if the means was love, and flowing in between them and separating them was a river, which had fallen in love with the image of the lover standing by its bank and lost its way. One emotion, three people, many shades. Which shade would destiny choose for them?