"Did you guys reach the airport?", asked an anxious Sidharth.

"Yes we just reached. I'll inform you as soon as I drop him to Arhaan's apartment", said Jay from the other side of the phone.

Sidharth rubbed his forehead nervously while speaking, "Okay! I'll be waiting for the call. And make sure no one sees him, get it?"

Jai replied immediately, "Yeah sure!"
And the call ended.

With the end of the call, Sidharth's seemed extremely tensed, after all today, 'He' finally came back. And that meant, telling Khushali the truth, that too as soon as possible because without her knowing anything, they couldn't go ahead with the last part of their plan. She was their only chance for coming out of the mess.

But to tell her the truth, he himself first need to become confident because he knew how much of a risk it would be for Khushali, her life will be endangered once she's aware of the truth. And if that's not enough, then there was a high chance that she might misunderstood everything and could go against him. And that's worrisome for Sidharth because even a small mistake could do a lot of damage now.

He was thinking about how to start about it, and decided to first tell her about his and Mayera's relationship and then the rest. But before that he need to make sure that Khushali won't react unexpectedly to the truth. He need to first know what would Khushali think when he will tell her the truth because then only he'd decide on how to tell the truth.

He was pacing in his room, when Amaira came in, to call him for dinner.
"Chachu let's go downstairs down, dinner is ready!" Amaira said in her usual chirpy voice.

Sidharth forgetting his tension, smiled happily at his niece and replied, "Yeah let's go princess. I'm very hungry."

He scooped Amaira in his arms, and went downstairs for dinner. He made Amaira sit on her chair and went to sit on his place. The dinner was then served and Khushali came to take her seat beside him. As she sat down, she passed him a affectionate smile, which Sidharth returned with his warm smile.

After the dinner, Khushali was helping out the maid to keep off the plates and all, when Sidharth came and stood behind her. Khushali was talking to the maid, so she didn't notice Sidharth standing behind her and was left startled when he whispered in her ears.

Sidharth was cheesily smiling to himself as he wife didn't see him and slowly whispered in her ears, "Wifey, when you get done with this, please come upstairs with coffee. There's something I want to talk to you about."

Khushali turned back and spoke in a shaky voice, "Gosh Sidharth you scared me! Anyway you go, I'll get coffee for us when I'm done here."

Sidharth chuckled and replied, "Okay wifey!"

He left from there and Khushali resumed her work. Once she was done, she made two cups of coffee for herself and Sidharth, and went upstairs to her room. Entering the room, she saw Sidharth pacing around with a mixed expression. He looked nervous and scared at the same time and was constantly muttering something to himself.

Khushali kept the mugs down, and went to where Sidharth was pacing. She tapped his shoulder and said, "Sidharth? Still worried for your client? I told you na, don't be so tensed about it, everything will be fine."

Sidharth looked at her and replied unsurely, "Yeah I, I know that." Since he was worried about 'His' return, Khushali was doubtful and asked him why was he so tensed. To convince her that everything was fine, Sidharth lied about a client who was battling over company shares. To his good luck, Khushali was convinced and didn't ask him any question further.

Khushali smiled at him and gestured him to sit on the bed. Sidharth nodded and sat down. Khushali too came and sat beside him and passed him the coffee mug, and picked her mug as well. She then looked at Sidharth and asked curiously, "What did you wanted to talk about Sidharth?"

Sidharth's peaceful expression was instantly replaced with a distressed look as Khushali said that. He gulped a little and looked at her, who was intently waiting for his response and fiddled with his cup before he finally got some courage to speak.

He bit his lower lip and proceeded to speak in an unsure voice, "Umm Khushali wo I was thinking since it's been around six months of our marriage, we should, we should open up about our past now and get clear of it. I mean till how long we should let our marriage to go on like that. We do have to one day accept each other and move on with this relationship."

Khushali heard him keenly and said, "I agree with you Sidharth. Even I was thinking the same thing. You know when I got married to you, I always thought I would never be able to move on. But I believe I was wrong Sidharth. I really think we should talk it out now to finally accept our marriage whole heartedly."

Sidharth smiled and took her hand in his. He caressed it softly with his thumb. He glanced at Khushali who too was smiling. He knew this was the right time to know how much she trusted him and also her opinion of him. So he took a deep breath and spoke unsurely, "Khushali, how much do you trust me?"

Khushali frowned a little and asked in a not so pleased voice, "What sort of question is that Sidharth? You're out of your mind or what?" She was somewhat baffled with this sudden question. They were married for six months, and if trust wasn't there then maybe Khushali wouldn't have thought about moving on in her life. She wondered what was wrong with him, why was he so serious. The only time Sidharth called her by her name was when he was damn worried about something or wanted to talk to her about some important issue.

"No I'm not but I want to know if you trust me or not!" Sidharth spoke in a very serious voice. He knew it was a weird question but he really wanted to know this.

"Of course I trust you Sidharth. Otherwise why would I even married you. There's nothing to question it." Khushali tried to explain.

Sidharth gave a slight nod and again asked, "Fine but how much do you trust me Khushali?"

"What's wrong with you Sidharth? I said I trust you? Why are so keen on knowing the extent of my trust? C'mon I trust you is that not enough? I don't know what's wrong with you Sidharth. You act so weirdly these days. One minute you're so nice and all and the other minute you're just weird and secretive. I think it's you, who should answer this question rather than me!", Khushali grumbled. She was starting to get irritated with Sidharth's weird behaviour. One second he was all fine but other, he showed this alien behaviour. Something was damn wrong with him!

"I'm your husband Khushali! I do have a right to know how much my wife trusts me, especially when she's still in love with her ex, who's been dead for over two years! Don't try to deny it Khushali, I know well that you're still in love with Sagar and still lamenting over his death. That's why you still think about him, whenever your alone. That's why you still haven't completed accepted me as your husband. That's why we are still doing this drama of being friends. That's why you don't have any feelings for me!" Sidharth muttered angrily, not realizing what he was saying.

He had tried his best to keep his calm around her, but things were going out of his control. He was worried with the things happening around him, and Khushali not answering a simple question like that infuriated him. Without realizing, Sidharth was weakened by his emotions and was on the verge of revealing his true feelings for Khushali.

Khushali stared at Sidharth, frozen with what he said. She was astonished with what she heard him speak. Was he accusing her? But for what and why? Just because she didn't answer his question, so he spoke so bitterly to her. Was he jealous? And how come he knew that she still think about Sagar? And feelings? How could he say she didn't have any feelings for him? Was that what he thought about her?

She couldn't speak anything as a lump formed in her throat. A lone tear escaped from her eye and she looked away. This wasn't the Sidharth she knew. He was someone else. But what if he was the real Sidharth behind his calm and happy demeanour? She didn't know!

For a few minutes, she was motionless. But then, collecting herself together, she got up from the bed as she no longer to could face the bitter look Sidharth had worn on his ever so merry face. But while getting up, the coffee mug, fell from her hand, burning her other arm with its hot content and then scattering on the floor in uncountable pieces. She flinched a little as her arm pained due to the hot coffee but managed to muffle her shriek as she didn't want to create more scene. She went to stand near the wooden bookshelf as she was losing her composure.

Sidharth felt better after he took his frustration out. To be honest, he was hell tired with his life. He couldn't talk to anyone about his issues because he'd never want anyone from his family to get in trouble because of him. And the keeping all the things to himself, was finally taking a toll on him. He knew he could talk to Jay or Arhaan but they weren't really his closest friends of him and he couldn't bare his soul to them. He couldn't tell them about his deepest fear, the fear of losing Khushali forever.

Sure, Jay and Arhaan both knew he loved her, and really didn't want to lose her but they didn't know how much he actually feared losing her. He had never loved Mayera as much as he loved Khushali and he didn't know why. Mayera was the perfect girl he wanted in his life but maybe Khushali was the perfect woman he needed in his life. He himself didn't know when he came to be this much in love with her, but he did.

Maybe because he felt like he belonged to her. Or maybe because she cared for him all the time, or maybe because she was there for him all the time. But Mayera was like that as well, then why didn't he flinch when he left her? Why wasn't he so much hurt when he broke up with her? Why wasn't he haunted by the empty feeling in his heart, which he experience with just a mere thought of losing Khushali? What's in her that he couldn't bring himself to terms that she may not love him as much as she loved Sagar? Why does it hurt him so much? Doesn't he deserve her love? Doesn't he deserve her after all the things he had been doing for her without her even knowing that?

And what bothered him the most was, he couldn't just tell her about his feelings for her! He wished, oh how he wished they had married each other in normal circumstances! Then maybe their lives could've been better. Though he could still tell her about his feelings but the fear of rejection and losing her, made him keep his feelings to himself.

His chain of thoughts was broken by the sound of shattering of glass on the ground. It was then he realized, Khushali wasn't sitting with him anymore, rather she was standing near the bookshelf, with tear cascading down her cheeks and coffee spilled on her right arm. Seeing her tears stricken face, realisation dawned him. He felt guilt engulf his heart, as he realized how much he had hurt her with his words.

He got up from bed and saw her coffee mug lying on the floor, broken into million pieces. He carefully walked up to her and spoke guiltily while cupping her face, "Khushali I'm sorry! I really am! I never meant to be such a jerk to you. I really didn't mean any of the things I said to you! Please look at me Khushali. Please! I'm sorry!"

Khushali jerked his hands from her face and turned to the other side. She knew Sidharth never meant to say those nasty things but he did, didn't he? She was badly hurt with this because for once she thought he was different from all the other guys, and maybe even better than Sagar because unlike others, Sidharth was always patient with her and never forced her to accept him. Maybe that was why she was disappointed with him.

But maybe it was Khushali's fault too. Somewhere she forgot to see, that not unlike others, Sidharth too had feelings and he wasn't perfect enough to always be patient without bursting out even once. He was just a guy, who wanted his wife to, for once, understand the turmoil he was going through, and to see beneath his cheerful exterior, how much of a wreck he had become, unintentionally because of her! Because if not for her, then maybe he wouldn't have gotten himself in this mess from where he couldn't see any escape! But then how was she supposed to know something when Sidharth never told her?

He groaned at his own foolishness. What the hell had he done? Wasn't he suppose to talk it out peacefully with her? But instead of that, he lashed out on her. How could he even let his emotions loose knowing well how much damage they could do to him and her? 'Damn me!'

He took a deep breath to calm himself down as he knew, he now need to handle this maturely because he couldn't afford more damage now. He held Khushali by her shoulders. Putting a finger under her chin, he made her look at him. He wiped her tears with his thumb and whispered softly, "I really didn't mean that Khushali. I really didn't. I don't know what took over me a while back. I wasn't being myself. I know I hurt you, but I swear that's not how I believe things to be. I know you love Sagar, and I would never stop you from doing so. He's your first love and as long as you want to cherish his memories, you can. I would never invade your personal space. I'm sorry for yelling out like that and saying all that rubbish!"

Khushali looked down again and tears again fell from her eyes. Sidharth released her from his hold as she needed to sort it out with herself. Thinking she don't want to speak to him, he turned to leave the room, accusing himself to ruining his relationship with Khushali like that, when he actually was supposed to be on great terms with her.

He was about to open the door of their room, when Khushali started speaking. He turned around and saw her staring at him with watery eyes and a sad smile on her lips. He was still guilty for his actions.

Khushali saw him moving towards the door, when she finally decided to speak. She knew she had to speak now to make things better between them. It was high time for her to speak her heart out.

She turned to him and said firmly, "Wait Sidharth!"

She moved towards him and muttered while gazing into his eyes, "It wasn't rubbish Sidharth. It was true what all you had said. That's what you actually feel, don't you? That's how you think about our dysfunctional marriage, don't you? That's what you think about me?"

Sidharth tried to reason with her, "No Khushali that's not true. You're taking it all in wrong context. That's not true..." But he was shushed by Khushali.

"I'm not taking anything wrong Sidharth. I'm finally getting everything right. Yes, I'm still in love with Sagar. Yes, I still lament over his death. Yes, I still cherish him and his memories. And yes, he's still in my heart!" Khushali spoke angrily, not caring to lower her voice.

Sidharth's eyes showed nothing but pain, as Khushali accepted that she loved Sagar. The hope of Khushali having feelings for him, had vanished now as her words sank in him. And without his permission, tears came into his eyes. Does it felt this bad when the person you loved so dearly, loved someone else?

It was poignant for him to think about Khushali's feelings for Sagar and knowing well he couldn't replace her. But in midst of this, Sidharth forgot all those times where it was completely obvious that Khushali harboured feelings for him and even Meher's words when she had told him about Khushali's feelings for him.

At the moment, he only thought about what Khushali told him and it hurt him more and more. But this pain didn't stay long, as what Khushali said next, took him completely by surprise!

Khushali could see the pain in his eyes, as she saw her words getting registered in his mind. She felt a twitch in her heart, as Sidharth's eyes turned moist. Seeing him in such agonising state, tears flowed from her own eyes. But she quickly wiped them as she glared at him with anger flaming in her eyes.

She gulped the lump in her throat, and started speaking again, but this time hitting Sidharth on his chest, which made him move backwards but he didn't stop her. "You know what, the things I just mentioned are true. But the other things that you said are pointless and meaningless! How could you even think we are still just friends? How could you even think that I don't have any feelings for you? How could you even think that I still think about Sagar all the time, when I actually think about us? How could you even think I don't trust you, when you're the most trusted man in my life? How could you even shout at me like that? How could you? Even after you saw my affection for you, you accused me of not feeling anything for you? Are you blind? Or deaf? Oh no no, you're actually dumb! The dumbest guy I ever fell in love with! You're dumb Sidharth Mehra! Really dumb!"

And then Khushali cried. She knew she had feelings for him, but over the time, those feelings had turned so strong that she always felt the urge to tell him about it. But she couldn't muster up the courage to do so. She knew Sidharth reciprocated her feelings as both Meher and Raima had told her this but she didn't know how to approach him.

At first she didn't know if her feelings were just attraction or more. She reasoned out with herself, pointing out things that he did for her and asking herself if that was gratitude towards him, but she knew it wasn't. If it was just gratitude and gracefulness, then maybe she wouldn't have felt so much comfortable with him and their closeness, both emotionally and physically.

This fact left her absolutely shocked as even with Sagar, she took a great deal of time, to finally accept her feelings and become comfortable with him. But with Sidharth, everything was happening on its own. This was strange yet she wasn't complaining. The small moments between them were actually what made her realize his worth in her life. He meant alot for her. A lot more than she herself thought him to be.

The reason she was worried for him wasn't her caring nature, rather it was her growing feelings for him. The reason she was so much comfortable with him wasn't her friendliness with him, rather her growing attraction for him. The reason she always waited for Sidharth to be home was because she wanted him to be with her. The reason Sagar was fading from her heart and becoming just a cherished memory wasn't her decision, rather it was her love that made her start giving Sidharth a bigger place in her heart, though Sagar still lived in her heart. Yes she was in love with Sidharth. Not as much as she loved Sagar but she did. Maybe this was why she was so much affected by Sidharth's strange behaviour.

And finally today, the situation and Sidharth's dumbness made her confess her feelings for him. She never thought she would confess her feelings like that to him. 'But what can I do when my husband is so dumb? He's dumb yet adorable as well!'

She smiled seeing his astonished face. He looked really adorable with that shocked expression on his face. It made her forget their fight and for once, just adore him with her loved filled eyes.

How would you feel when someone picked you up from the deepest pit of the Earth and then put you up on the seventh cloud, in just a matter of few moments? Shocked? Astonished? Happy? Dumbfounded? Amazed? Or like what Sidharth was feeling at the moment!
He couldn't believe his ears! Did Khushali really said that she loved him? Did she really? But how could she? That's unbelievable!

He was trying to reason out with himself that Khushali really was in love with him and let all the things she said sink in. He was trying to grasp all the things that happened just now. Their fight, the yelling and the confession! She really did confess her love for him! She really did! And he really was in the paradise at this moment!

Since he was thinking to himself, he didn't notice when Khushali started giggling seeing him so much astonished. He looked up at her and saw her tears had dried up and all that was visible in her face was sheer happiness and love. He smiled a little, and taking her hand in his, said, "You really love me Khushali? Right? You're not kidding with me, are you? Please don't say that if you're just kidding me. Please don't mock my feelings and love for you."

"No Sidharth, I'm not mocking your feelings or fooling you. I really love you, not as much as I love Sagar but I do. Please don't feel sad about it. I know in some time I'll fall more in love with you, just not like how I feel for Sagar. I don't know how could you even think that I don't love you or have any feelings for you. I'm so much comfortable with you Sidharth. I love spending my time with you. I love having you around. You know it may sound funny but those two slaps that Suhasi aunty gave me that day, literally made me realise my feelings for you along with other things. Anyway now would you please do the honour and say those three words to me or are just going to blush like that?" Khushali said while raising her eyebrows at him.

Sidharth grinned at her and said childishly, "Oh haan right!" He scratched the back of his neck and continued, "I love you Khushali! I really really do! You mean the world to me Khushali. I really don't know how, but I fell for you after just a few weeks of our marriage. You know this means a lot to me. I'm really sorry for being such a jerk to you and not confessing my feelings for you."

Khushali placed a finger on his lips and muttered, "Now please don't apologise. Maybe if you hadn't behaved so foolishly then maybe we wouldn't have confessed our love today. We should be happy about it."

Sidharth agreed and engulfed Khushali in a big hug. Khushali smiled and snuggled into him. For them it was the perfect moment! Their blissful moment of love! Who knew that even fights could help in confession love!

While hugging her, Sidharth accidently touched Khushali's arm where hot coffee fell a while ago. Khushali shrieked as it pained her. Sidharth quickly came out of the hug and examined Khushali's arm. It was red and was giving Khushali a burning sensation. Sidharth frowned at Khushali and chided her, "You call me dumb, and this is how you act? Wait let me collect those glass pieces then I'll get the first aid box."

Khushali immediately responded, "You leave that, I'll clean the floor." But she became mum as Sidharth frowned at her. She smiled to herself and thanked her parents in her heart for getting her married to Sidharth.

Sidharth carefully collected all the glass pieces and put them in the dustbin. He then mopped the floor with the mopping cloth. After washing his hands, he took out the first aid box. He first made Khushali splash her arm with cold water and then he applied ointment on it. Once done with that, he kissed her forehead and said cheesily, "Today is the best day of my life! I'm so much happy."

"Of course Chachu you'll be happy because today I'm sleeping in your and Khushu Massi's room." Amaira squealed in Sidharth's ear, literally scaring the hell out of him.

Sidharth turned back and saw his dear niece beaming at him. He glanced at Khushali who was trying her best not to laugh at him but was unsuccessful. He looked back at Amaira and said, "Baby, you can sleep in your own room na, then why do you want to sleep in our room?"

Amaira slapped her forehead and explained to him in a chiding tone, "Offo Chachu, you're so stupid na! Today is Saturday and Massi promised me that today she'll watch Disney movies with me. That's why I'm here."

She went and sat beside Khushali, who stuck out her tongue at Sidharth. Sidharth made a face. He thought maybe he would tell Khushali some of the few things he wanted her to know and maybe even know more about her feelings. But Amaira! Uff.. his brother was surely taking his revenge on Sidharth by using Amaira as a bugger against him. After all everyone was well aware of how much Sidharth had bugged Aditya when he got married to Meher.

"Now Sid Chachu would you please go and bring cold drinks and snacks for us while me and Massi will pick out the DVDs. What? Go fast Chachu!" Amaira told or to say ordered Sidharth.

Sidharth made a sulking face and got up to leave, when Aditya came there with popcorns and cold drinks. He passed it to him and said teasingly, "Enjoy your night darling brother. You troubled me a lot na, now it's your payback time. Have fun watching fairytales and princesses."

"Bhai this is not fair!" Groaned Sidharth.

Aditya devilishly smiled at him and replied, "Well everything is fair in love and war and ours is World War 3!" He left from there after wishing Khushali and Amaira a happy movie night, to which Khushali giggled while Amaira smiled widely at her father.

Sidharth sulked and came to sit on the bed as Khushali and Amaira got busy watching some Disney movie. His brother found the most evil way of taking his revenge, Amaira! Knowing well Sidharth could never say no to his niece, his brother would never a single to tease Sidharth. But Sidharth wasn't no poor soul as he had tortured Aditya a lot. So it's tit for tat now!

Having no choice, he sat down beside Amaira as she sat between him and Khushali. Amaira chose 'Beauty and the Beast' to watch. While watching the movie, Sidharth and Khushali kept stealing glances at each other. Every time Khushali caught Sidharth's sulking gaze on her, she teased him by making faces at him. It went on for an hour, Sidharth kept making sad faces at Khushali, who was amused and teased Sidharth even more. At last he gave up and decided to concentrate on the movie as he understood how much Khushali was enjoying teasing him.

After around three hours of watching movies, both Khushali and Amaira fell asleep. Sidharth cleaned up bed which was covered by popcorns and made the girls lie on the bed properly and covered them with comforters. He switched off the television and the lights and went lie down on the bed. He turned to face his niece and wife, both of whom looked beautiful in their sleep. He got up a bit, and leaned down to peck his niece lightly on her head and then kissed Khushali's forehead who mumbled in a sleepy voice, "I love you Sidharth!"

Sidharth smiled happily and replied softly, "I love you too Khushali!"

He lied down again and was about to close his eyes, when his phone buzzed. Not wanting to disturb Khushali and Amaira, he went to the balcony. Sliding the glass doors closed behind, he picked the call, "Yes Jay, what's the matter?"

"Oh nothing really great. I took him to Arhaan's flat and now leaving the place. I've appointed two of my trusted officers to guard him so that no one gets to know about him. He wanted to meet you but I've informed him that you'll meet him tomorrow. I guess that's all. But the way, why are you sounding so happy? Did Khushali Bhabhi got you another present haan?" Jay teased Sidharth. It was the first time after so long when Sidharth sounded so much calm and happy. So obviously it was suspicious and being a police officer, Jay was supposed to investigate!

"Shut up Jay or else I'll punch you in the face. Can't I be happy? Before this drama, I was always happy and polite. Anyway if there's nothing else, then I'm hanging up, it's 2 now. Bye" Sidharth quickly ended the call knowing well Jay would tease him endlessly if he got to know anything.

Jay chuckled and replied, "Sure Sidharth. I'll anyway get the truth out of you. Bye!"

Sidharth hung up the call and looked at the sky which looked serene and peaceful. He knew this peacefulness in his life was for a while as what lied ahead of them would surely harm his and Khushali's relationship, after all Khushali still wasn't aware of the truth. But now he had more hopes than earlier, that Khushali would understand. All he had to do was to find a perfect moment to tell her the truth!

In media section: Harshaali Malhotra as Amaira Mehra! :)