Khushali stared ahead at the jammed road when she heard a tap on her car window. Her eyes were still swelled up and red, due to crying and because of that she was having a headache too. Wiping her tears off with her hands, she turned to look out of the window and saw a little kid in rags, staring at her with hopeful look in his eyes.

"Didi, thode paise de do. Maine bohat dino se kuch nahi khaya (Please give me some money. I didn't have food for many days)," said the little boy in a very sad voice.

Though Khushali knew the truth of the begging business in which some groups of hell greedy money lovers use little kids for getting money from people in public areas, she still felt sympathetic toward the boy and took out a note of ₹ 500 and gave it to him.

As soon as the boy saw the ₹ 500 note, his face lit up and with gratitude dripping from his voice, he said, "Thank you, Didi!!"

Khushali passed him a small smile and rolled the glass of her window up. Staring back at the road, Khushali wondered how simple and organised her life was, when Sagar was alive. No drama, no fights, no lies, no fears, no hatred, and now she didn't know where her life was heading. But she couldn't deny that her marriage to Sidharth did make her life better, though that's different than it was just like a mirage, a truth that she had been forced to accept, because of the reality of her husband that she was shown some time back.

And this made her eyes to water again, but she knew she couldn't let herself cry now, and needed to control herself for some more minutes. So wiping the tears which had fallen from her eyes, she gripped the steering wheel tightly and as the traffic cleared, made her way to that one place, she knew she'd be free to mourn for herself.

Ten minutes later, she reached her destination and parking her car, she made her way to that one place she was frequent to when her Sagar was alive, a small public park near, Sagar's residence.

Walking inside the park, she made her way to one of the benches installed in the park for the visitors and sat down on a double sided wooden bench. And just as she sat down, an array of emotions rushed through her as the memories which were associated with this place, hit her with such strong force that made Khushali realise that she was now free to cry her heart out.

Closing her eyes, Khushali lowered her head down and allowed a soft pain filled sob to come out through her till now sealed lips, which soon was followed by hysterical crying, as Khushali unleashed her pain, which she didn't have to numb now.

As the tears fell from her eyes, Khushali felt her heart break into more pieces than it already was. Each and every word that she had heard about her husband's infidelity and his crimes, continuously rang in her ears, her heart still refusing to believe that her husband could stoop so low and kill someone, who was his friend. Her husband Sidharth was someone, Khushali could never believe to commit such heinous crime. A murder? For what, a small ego issue, or a petty fight?

No, if the issue would've been bigger and indeed serious, even then Sidharth would've never done something like that. And how could he just kill someone and betray his own friend, his best friend who was like a family to Sidharth and the girl he claimed to had loved who was his best friend's sister?

But even then, Khushali couldn't forget the look on Mayera's face when she was narrating her brother's story to her. It was genuine and there was this air of sorrow surrounding Mayera when she was speaking of her family's tragedies and her own helplessness. This genuineness made it harder for Khushali to ignore Mayera's side of story, which sure enough, created a doubt about her husband's honesty and loyalty with her.

But what was tugging the hardest on her heart, was the fact that the person with whose blood Sidharth's hands were covered in those pictures was of none other than Khushali's first love, Sagar. How could Sidharth kill Sagar, who, to Khushali's best knowledge, was one of Sidharth's fast friends, if not really close.

There had been few incidences during Khushali's elder sister, Meher's wedding, when Sagar and Sidharth had shown great camaraderie amongst themselves and going by that no one, let alone Khushali could say that one of them slayed the other in cold blood.

It was really unfathomable for anyone to even doubt Sidharth for getting someone in trouble, so how could anyone even imagine him doing such cruel thing, Khushali couldn't fathom that. This thought again made her head spin as she couldn't draw any conclusion of whatever she knew.

Apart from this, the revelation that Vivan made about Sagar's death, was like as if someone had stabbed her right at her heart, which had made the pain locked in the deepest chambers of her heart to unleash and engulf her entire being in it. Yet she couldn't allow herself to drown in her misery again, because she knew that won't do any good to her, nor it was the only option.

The fact that Sagar was murdered and not had died in a road accident, had shaken Khushali to the core but the identity of the killer was making it hard for Khushali to believe that Sagar had been murdered, instead of being the part of a fatal car accident.

For past two years, she had been living, believing the reason for Sagar's death that was told to her. Perhaps because before Sagar's death, she had talked with him, and he sounded... normal! Being in his life for five whole years, Khushali knew him too well to even notice the slightest change in his tone or his words.

But not even once he sounded tensed or angry or anything like he was about to expose someone's true colours, he was just normal, the usual happy go lucky guy who was telling her how much he loved her and how much grateful he was to have her in her life. There was nothing unusual, but just one doubt that died down with Sagar's death.

And thinking this, Khushali shook her head in denial as if pondering over this thought was a crime. No, that doubt was wrong, I was wrong. Everything was normal before Sagar's death and his death was an accident, not a murder. She just can't make herself believe that, even if there were proofs and evidences proving the murder.

Maybe because her heart just didn't want to believe Sagar could've been murdered because he was too nice and well behaved to ever offend anyone. And also because it was her husband, the most helpful and friendly man Khushali's had ever known,
being blamed for it. And this made it all seem paradoxical because both the facets of the so-called truth were hard for her to decipher or even accept.

Yet a small part in her, was telling her that maybe what Vivan had told her about Sagar's death might be true. Maybe Sagar knew what was awaiting for him yet he didn't tell her, just not to worry her. Maybe he was killed, not part of a road accident. But what part of that Khushali didn't want to believe was that Sidharth was behind it all.

Out of all the people Khushali knew, Sidharth was the one person she could never doubt. Never! Since day one, he had been nothing but caring and friendly toward her, a girl who was a wreck, whose life had made her a brutal joke. He did everything in his might to make her laugh, to make her smile, and she had laughed that day, after two whole years, just because of him. And certainly that was why she agreed to marry him.

As the tears continued to cascade down her eyes, she recalled the day when Sidharth had come to meet her and proposed her.....

Sitting near the window of her room, on the window side couch, surrounded by her prized possessions, her books, hundreds in number arranged on the two book shelfs, Khushali was staring out at the winter sky which was turning darker and darker as the sun was going back into his hiding till the next morning.

With her knees closer to her chest, Khushali kept her hands on her knees and blankly kept staring out. The view of the sky was metaphorically similar to her life. Like the sky was getting darker with each passing second, her life too was turning darker and darker with each passing day as she was losing her all her strength and hopes to survive this world and it's harsh remainders of her loss.

Tilting her head a little, she searched for the orange blazing ball of fire which people commonly called the Sun, which was trying to hide behind the layers of the translucent clouds, that weren't able to hide the magnificent ball of fire and were reddish orange, the same colour as the ball of fire. This view reminded her of her own situation as the Sun of her life, her love, Sagar too had gone away into some hiding place, maybe extraterrestrial, maybe heaven, or maybe in this sky, she didn't know. And before going into hiding, he too was covered with stains of the thick red fluid imprinted on his skin, pretty much like the sky, which was supposed to keep him alive, yet the fluid, which conveniently is called blood, failed its function.

And the thought made her wonder if everything in this world, when ready to meet its dead end, presumably dissolved into singularity, gave out this one colour, red, which Khushali with her everything, despised to an indescribable extent, to mark the end of its journey. Though she knew, the setting of the Sun is a routine, a tradition that the Sun has continued to follow for millions of years, yet everyday its end is with the same red colour, Khushali hated. And just like it, the human beings too, have continued to follow this tradition of ending the journey of life with either the red blood flowing out of our body with all our energies attached to it, leaving the body bloodless or buried under the ground with deep brownish red stains on the area of injury or those reddish flames with which the human body returns back to dust, perishing the very existence of the master of that body.

Maybe that's why she hated the colour red, and see only this colour, camouflaged as death, had snatched her Sagar away from her, ruining her life, and killing her soul.

Two teardrops, very stubbornly, escaped her misty eyes and rolled down her cheeks. But before they could even cover half of their journey, a soft, warm hand stopped those tears, erasing their existence, and rescuing Khushali from her melancholy filled soul, mind and heart.

Feeling the unknown touch of someone on her cheeks, Khushali jerked the hand away from cheek and looked up at the person who had dared to invade her personal hell and soothe her pain, without her permission, probably because she didn't want to live without her pain, rather she wanted to let herself drown in it so that she too like her Sagar, would be free of this life and its struggles.

Just one glance at the person sitting in front of her was enough to make her even miserable and she turned her head away from him, simply because she didn't wish to see him, either now or any other time as he wasn't ready to understand her or her unconditional, undying love for Sagar and not even her concern for him. Staying quiet, she stared out of the window at the sky that was now witnessing the birth of the red moon, which was finally ready to shine with the death of the Sun, abstractly.

"Isn't this weird that the same sky which some minutes back witnessed the end of the brightest star of this galaxy with reddened clouds, is now welcoming the red Moon, born from the terminus of the Sun, just like a newborn human baby, who comes out from his mother's body with blood smeared everywhere on his body, and his mother's eyes red with cries of pain, mirroring the red sky when the Sun sets. And just as the Moon brightens up, leaving the patches of red, the baby too is cleared off for any stain of the red fluid which ironically is what keeping the baby alive from inside, just like the Moon which only shines because of the red Sun. I really believe everything in this world is strange, because the same colour which is released at the terminus of one object, is the same colour with which the new object starts it's journey. Similar human life, one life perishes with blood, while the other life starts with the same blood. And I don't know if I'm even making any sense now," said Khushali's intruder, who didn't desire the silence to prolong, so spoke up to end the deadly tranquility of the room.

His words, though as he said, weren't exactly making any sense, but philosophically held a great depth and meaning and attracted Khushali's attention, who couldn't stop herself from turning to face him. And the intruder saw her turn to his direction, with a goofy smile, he spoke again, this time making Khushali smile a little.

"What? Don't stare at me like that! I'm no English major, nor a philosopher. So I'm bound to sound stupid and that's my right too. And besides, though unlike you, I haven't even studied psychology, but still I can guess by your facial expressions that you want to laugh at my obtuseness in the department of philosophy, yet are restricting yourself. But never mind you can laugh, not all lawyers are arrogant or egoistic," said the unexpected guest of Khushali Kapoor, making her smile and then laugh wholeheartedly.

And with this, he too laughed along with her and some minutes later, when Khushali had laughed much, she looked keenly at her guest and then with her hung down, guiltily said, "Why are you doing do this, Sidharth? Why don't you just back off? Why do you want to ruin your entire life by marrying someone like me when you can easily find someone much more deserving and better than me for yourself? Please don't do this! Please back off!"

Her intruder, her guest, her sister's brother-in-law, Sidharth Mehra, took her hand in his hand and with a very calm yet firm tone, said, "I hope, you're not thinking my proposal was just a rhetorical question because if you were and that's the answer you have for it then I would say I'm not happy with your reply."

Khushali, who was till then nervously staring at her hand in his hold, looked up and tried to say something but Sidharth stopped her with his hand and continued, "C'mon Khushali, what's wrong in marrying me? We both have been friends for some 6-7 years and pretty much comfortable in each other's company too. I don't see any problem in marrying you and becoming your husband."

But this just made more tears to fall from Khushali's eyes as her heart, which only had love for Sagar, couldn't even bear to imagine her life as someone else's wife. Infact the thought of marrying someone else was so horrible that her heart went berserk and was mortified, making fears creep upto her.

Sidharth stayed quiet, observing Khushali and the array of emotions which were playing on her face. He knew what her problem was, but then marrying her was the only option left with him. So taking a deep breath, he squeezed her hand and very softly said, "Look, I know Khushali, you very deeply love Sagar and can never replace him in your heart or your life and I don't want you to either. All I'm saying is, just marry me. I'm not telling you to forget Sagar or give me his place. I just want you to marry me and come out of that pathetic hole you've dig up for yourself after Sagar's death. That's not where you're supposed to live. I understand living without the person we love is terrible, but that doesn't mean that person was the only that mattered. Your parents, your sister, your friends, and everyone one who loves you and cares for you, don't they all matter even a little? Can't you try and move on in your life for them? Don't they deserve to see you happy and jovial again? Was Sagar, the everything in your life, your parents don't matter at all? C'mon answer me!"

But Khushali didn't respond, which made Sidharth grimace. He knew it wasn't easy for her, but it wasn't any way easier for him. Yet he needed to make her say yes. Since he knew Khushali couldn't help her laughter hearing his jokes. So few minutes later, in a very lighthearted tone, Sidharth added, "Of course you won't speak up because you think I'm this guy who just wants to marry you since he can't afford a maid and wants you to do all of his household work. But sweetheart, I'm quite rich you know. I can afford atleast two domestic helps and you can easily live a comfortable life. Don't worry, even my parents are very cool, my mom won't be like all those daily soap like mother-in-law. She's quite cool and modern."

He paused and saw Khushali smile slightly and very dramatically, he said, "But it's okay, I know you don't want to marry me even after knowing all this. Koi nai. It's okay. I'll find some other girl for myself, who'll torture me, but it's okay. But let me tell you, you won't find such handsome husband material guy again, but it's okay."

"Sidharth, I'm very sorry but I can't marry you, really. You're very nice, adorable but I can't marry you. In fact I can't marry anyone. I just can't. Please understand. Please don't make this hard for both of us," said Khushali pleadingly as she couldn't take it anymore.

"All the jokes apart, I just want to say it clearly that Khushali, I genuinely want to marry you. I'm not being pressurised, nor do I want to do any favours. It's only because I really want to marry you. I promise, your life will exactly be the way it is even after our marriage. You don't have to love me, you don't even have to play an ideal wife. We'll just be friends. But please Khushali, don't turn down this marriage proposal. Not for me or yourself but for your parents. They are really broken after what happened with you. This is the least you could do for them. Please. I'm not asking for any favours, but if you could, then please say yes to marry me. For your parents, for your sister, for your family, for me, please say yes. Life's too hard to live without a companion. I just want to become your companion, no expectations, no conditions, no demands, no rules. Just pure companionship," Sidharth stopped and releasing her hand from his grip, said, "That's all I had to say. I'll respect whatever you'll decide. No hard feelings."

Just as Sidharth released her hand, Khushali withdrew it and thought about whatever Sidharth had told her. She wished she could deny him, but whatever he had said about her family, her parents, her sister, her friends, everything was absolutely right. He was right, each and every word he said. True, she loved Sagar, he meant the world to her. But her parents too mattered a lot to her, infact equally important as Sagar and maybe, just maybe Sidharth was right. Although she knew, her marriage to Sidharth won't make any difference to her, rather it might hurt her, but it would make her parents happy, her sister happy, her best friend happy. Her parents no longer would've to hear all those cruel taunts, those harsh words of the society. They won't have to walk around with their heads hung down, they would walk freely with no guilt or shame. Everything will be fine for them, her family won't have to live with constant worry for her future, they'll be free and happy.

Yes, yes, she would do anything for making them happy again. She would do everything to bring their lives back to normal, the way they were before Sagar's death. Her marriage would make everything fine, atleast for her family. Maybe she should say yes for this marriage. Maybe, it would. But she would never forget Sagar. Never! He was and he will, always remain her first and only true love. She would never replace him. Not in any condition. But she would complete her every duty as a wife to Sidharth.

And with these promises to herself, in a very determined voice, devoid of any other emotion, Khushali said, "I'll marry you, Sidharth. I'll marry you. For my parents, for my sister, for their betterment, I'll marry you." She wanted to add more words, to explain her decision, but she restrained herself as at the moment only her yes was all that needed to be said.

Although she had a fear in her heart regarding her future with Sidharth and the guilt of ruining his life and keeping him in dark about her actual decision, she didn't say more and kept quiet, thinking it was the best thing. Maybe it was, wasn't it?

A sudden sound of someone occupying the other side of the double sided bench, brought Khushali back from her reverie to the real world. Turning her head to the left side, she saw a man in a black jacket, with something sparking on his cheeks due to the lights, which Khushali assumed were tears.

If it would've been a normal situation, Khushali being the friendly woman, would've tried to talk to that man about his problem and even might've helped him. But since she herself was in need of help, she simply sat transfixed to her own side the bench, trying to think and figure out what was the real truth.

Her memory of that day when she said yes to marry Sidharth, only made her more confused because it made it even harder to doubt someone, who was so kind, generous and considerate with her, to be a cheater, murderer was completely out of question. It was impossible to doubt him, but was it really the reason that Sidharth committing all these crimes seemed possible? Perhaps sometimes people who always wear the facet of kindness, turns out to be the most cruelest.

But even then Khushali couldn't fathom that nor could she completely ignore it, as it concerned her first love Sagar. Maybe Sidharth cheated on her, because it was plausible. On the very first day of marriage, she had told him that she would never fall in love with him, then how could she expect him to not stray and stay loyal to her? Wasn't she too responsible for her husband's infidelity? Hadn't she herself forced her husband to stray and cheat on her?

Yet it pained her! It hit her right at the softest part of her heart, which only harboured feelings for Sidharth, very tiny but yes. She accept, she didn't love him during the initial phase of their relationship, but she did now and he too had told her that he loved her, than why was he still seeing his ex? Just to keep her believing in the illusion he had shown her? To make her keep believing in this mirage, to hide his own deceitfulness? But why? She couldn't decipher.

"Weird, isn't it? The people we love the most, we trust more than anything in this life, even more than ourselves, can so easily break us with their betrayal and hatred, without thinking about its impact on us. Strange, but true," said the occupant of the other side of the bench, in what seemed a like vanquish tone.

At first Khushali couldn't understand whether he was talking to her, or was speaking to himself but then from the corner of her eyes, she saw that his face was slightly in her direction and maybe he had seen her tear stricken which had given him an idea of her situation. And since he too seemed in a similar situation, Khushali decided to respond and collecting herself together, replied.

"I absolutely agree with you. It's not love that actually has the power to hurt us, it's trust, which we do only because we believe the other person, even being capable of hurting us, has the same believe as us and won't hurt us. But then, not everyone thinks like us, nor everyone cares," said Khushali in a soft tone.

"You're right. But what hurts the most, is the feeling of helplessness, of not be able to get even with them simply because we aren't capable of it, of seeing our own heart break into billions of pieces, of the poignancy of our own soul turning into a wreck. We just can't do anything to stop it or make it all right, because somewhere we are to blame as well," said the man from the other side of the bench, with pain reflecting from his words.

"Yes, somehow we are also responsible for our own condition, because we never think before trusting someone, but then again, how can we not trust our own loved ones? Isn't that's how relationships are built, on the grounds of love and trust, which I believe are inseparable companions, yet love has its own soulmate, hate, and trust is partner of betrayal. So along with love and trust, we also allow hate and betrayal to seep inside our relationships and over the time, gain the ultimate power to hurt us. And we just keep hoping it won't, but it keeps growing in power, gaining much control of us and then when it's strong enough to cause maximum damage, it hit us and breaks everything in us," said Khushali, with fresh tears again filling up her eyes due to all the images of the evening, replaying in her mind.

The silence then again claimed its place as neither Khushali nor the man on the other side said a word. But few minutes later, he finally spoke up, this time sounding even more broken and woebegone.

"I always believed that the people for whom I'm doing so much, investing my time, giving up my dreams, my ambitions, making their dreams, their goals mine, would never make me go through this hell, would never snatch my happiness so brutally, destroy my life so cruelly, and take away my love, without even caring to ask me, if I'd be able to survive it or not."

Khushali humourlessly smiled and said, "But if people start doing that, then wouldn't it be like caring? And as per my beliefs, whenever there's care, targeting someone is next to impossible because our heart won't allow that, right?"

"Right! I forgot that point actually," the man paused and then added, "Seems like we're on the same boat."

"Yes, we are," replied Khushali, "from what you have said so far, I believe it's people very close to you who have betrayed you and broken your trust. Am I right?"

"Hmm... yeah, it's the people, very close to me who have betrayed me and made my love go so away from me, that now I can't even imagine having her back because it feels so criminal. Anyway, I must add that you're very good at guessing the truth," said the man, with a mixed tone of guilt, shame and appreciation.

"I would just say in your case, it was easy to guess who had broken your trust, but I can't agree that I'm good at guessing the truth, because if I really was, I wouldn't have been here, in this park after sunset, talking to you," Khushali replied, in a teary voice.

"Oh," the man said, "I'm not good at guessing either, but why do I feel that you're on the same place, I was in some years back, where trusted everyone but the girl I loved?"

"Maybe because I am in that very same phase. Everything, I really mean everything point towards my husband and proves his crimes. But my heart's not ready to believe that, instead it thinks that my husband can never do anything that he's being accused of," said Khushali with bemusement.

"From my own experience, I would suggest you to trust your husband, who knows that maybe whatever you have come to know about your husband's deeds are nothing but conspiracies, planned by someone to distance you from him for their own benefits. And as far as your understanding that I've seen, I think you're well versed with the truth that facts can be construed and it's not necessary all the facts are true, some are only for presuming, some have their own contradictions," said the man from the other side.

Khushali didn't know if these words of the stranger were actually correct or not but she knew, these words were indicating toward the solution of her own puzzlement. And with a smile coming on her lips, in a very grateful tone, Khushali replied, "I don't know if you were really meaning to help me but your words, did ease up my confusion and I very grateful to you. Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome Ma'am, this was the least I could for someone since I don't know how to help myself," said the man, with an emotion, Khushali assumed was nothing but poignancy.

"It's never to late to make amends. You can always start off a new beginning with an apology said from the heart, and if the person, in your case, the girl really loves you, and your feelings for her are true, then she'd understand you and would accept you back in her life," said Khushali, "and by the way, you can call me Khushali, though I know my name really doesn't resonate with my current self."

"Well, maybe you're right and who knows it might help, so thank you for this little advice," said the man, smilingly, "and I'm Samar, though I know it's almost winter now!"

Forgetting their miseries, both Khushali and Samar laughed their hearts out, as if their lives were normal. Their laughter echoed through the empty and lonely park, filling it with life, though transient, but still enough to fill some happiness in it.

When finally they both were done laughing, they stood up from the bench and without turning back to each other, started walking in opposite directions, knowing well that maybe things would go right now.

Feeling better and somewhat relaxed, Khushali sat inside her car and started driving for her home. After spending enough time in the park, she was sure of one thing, unless and until her husband himself didn't accept his crimes, she won't believe anything. She'd go back home and ask him herself what the truth was, and as Samar said, she would trust him, instead of the facts.

Of course she was calmer, but her questions were necessary to be answered and she hoped Sidharth would do that, because this would help her put closure to all this distressingly horrible facts that she had gotten to know from Vivan and Mayera. Though she still sort of thought that Vivan and Mayera were right, she wished they were wrong and her husband, right.

Repeating this to herself uncountable times, Khushali reached her home after a drive of thirty minutes. She parked the car in its usual place and picked her handbag. Taking a deep breath, she walked inside, preparing herself for the questions, that she knew she'd be bombarded with because of her appearance and her late arrival. Her eyes were still red and swollen, her cheeks with faint tear stains and her nose completely crimson. It was already 9 in night. But she had excuses to to cover that up.

As expected, she was bombarded by her sister and an anxious mother-in-law, who by any means, weren't ready to buy any of her stories. But thanks to her brother-in-law Aditya, who somehow understood her, made the two worried ladies to let her go to her room, where Sidharth was already distressingly waiting for her.

"C'mon yaar Maa, and Meher, how can you both say she's not telling the truth and rather hiding something? Khushali, you go and take rest in your room. Sidharth's already there," he turned to his mother and wife and said, "And you both, please stop reading too much between the lines. Even if Khushali's hiding something, it's her call whether she wants to share it or not, right? So please calm down ladies and let's have our food."

The two women, reluctant though, agreed and left for having dinner. But not before telling Khushali to have her dinner in her room only with Sidharth. Khushali, not in the mood to talk more, nodded her head and left for her room, with her anxiety and nervousness increasing with each step she took forward.

Calming herself down, she fearfully entered her bedroom and before she could react, Sidharth engulfed her in his arms as if, if he won't then she might disappear.

"Where were you, wifey? I've been trying to call you for last two hours but your phone wasn't reachable. Do you know how much worried I was?" said Sidharth in one breath.

This concern of his, made Khushali forget all her pain and dilemmas for a moment and she enjoyed the warmth and love of her husband, who was holding her tightly in his secure embrace. But it was shortlived as their small, tender moment was interrupted by the domestic help who brought their dinner.

Both Khushali and Sidharth parted away from each other and waited for the domestic help to go, who soon left from there with a small smile on his face. Once he left, Sidharth closed the door of their room and turning to his wife, he concernedly asked, "What happened to you, Khushali? And what have you done to yourself? C'mon now speak up!"

But Khushali just stared at him, trying to rationalise her again mayhemic mind's thoughts and decide what she should speak first and what to ask later. With a sad smile, looking down at her feet, she said in a weird tone of tranquility, "If I answer your queries, would that explain my current and actual situation to you without me putting much words to emphasise on my situation."

"What?" blurted Sidharth, "What are you saying? It's not making any sense to me."

"Exactly, my own situation isn't making any sense to me either," replied Khushali with a humourless smile.

"Wifey, please don't confuse me more. Please speak clearly," said Sidharth with bewilderment, and slight fear lingering in his tone.

He walked up to Khushali and cupping her face, said, "Please wifey, please speak up!"

But Khushali didn't say anything and leaned closer to him. Sidharth assumed she was going to kiss him, but certainly this wasn't on her mind. With her lips just an inch away from his, in an emotionless voice, Khushali whispered, "I was over at Mayera's house and we were busy talking about a few things, you too apparently was amongst the hot topic of our conversation."

Hearing Mayera's name, Sidharth moved a step back from her and with astonishment obvious in his voice, Sidharth asked coolly, "What? You were at Mayera's house, discussing about me, but why?" He paused and then rubbing his forehead, said, "Don't tell me that you still think she's my ex girlfriend Mia, because she really ain't my Mayera."

"No, I don't doubt her to be Mia," Khushali said, that made the ceases in Sidharth's forehead fade but he gasped when he heard what she said next.

"No, I don't doubt her to be Mia because I know she really is your ex girlfriend Mayera, whom you call Mia," said Khushali, "I know the truth, Sidharth, don't refute it now."

Sidharth stared at her with shock written all over his face. But he soon recovered and tried to speak something, when Khushali stopped him and said, "Not just that she's your ex girlfriend, I also know that you've been dating her, for last few months, right?"

"Wifey, let me clear all this, okay? Please first listen to me," Sidharth pleaded, but Khushali wasn't in mood for any more play or lies.

"Let me complete Sidharth! I've seen you with Mayera yesterday, the proofs that Mayera had shown me and I've read messages on your own cell phone, so please don't deny anything now. And anyway I don't blame you, maybe it was my fault only. I had told you that I would never love you, so obviously you're bound to find love somewhere else. It's okay," mumbled Khushali, with tears in her eyes and a weak smile plastered on her lips.

Shaking his head, Sidharth walked back closer to her and cupped her face. Looking in her eyes, he said, "Wifey, I love you, only you. Whatever you have heard or seen or read, that's not what actually is the truth. Please don't draw any conclusion, I only love you." With this he placed his lips on her, but Khushali didn't react.

Feeling her not respond to him, he let go of her lips and stared at her, with fear of being caught in his eyes, which Khushali noticed. Turning her back to him, she moved some feets away from him. With every possible attempts to hold back her tears, she said wearily, "I really do believe you, Sidharth. But there are things, which are too confusing for me and seems too contradictory to me. Chalo for making it simple, let's keep it like this. You say you only love me, but you're having an extra marital affair with your ex, whom you claim to love as well. Now both of them can't be true, right? Either you only love me, or you love Mayera, and not me. Both the things aren't possible. It's contradicting, isn't it? And really I can't fathom which one of them is exactly true. Yet I would add, I want to believe you."

"Khushali, no, you're getting it all wrong. There's no contradictions, no confusion. I love you and only you. Mayera means nothing to me, nothing," Sidharth desperately said.

"I don't know but I wonder have you said the same things to even Mayera?" thoughtfully asked Khushali.

"No, I haven't," Sidharth said and then lowering his head in shame, continued, "Fine, I accept, I cheated on you with Mayera. But it was just a small fling, just an affair which means nothing to me now. I only have feelings for you. Mayera don't hold any meaning for me, she doesn't even mean a thing to me. Please, can we end this discussion?"

With astonishment and disbelief, Khushali turned to face Sidharth and bitterly said, "She means nothing to you? She was just a fling? She's not important? But you're still having an affair with her, why? Why on earth do you have to continue this relationship with her?"

"I don't know what that Mayera has filled you up about me, but please, I don't wish to talk about this anymore," Sidharth said stubbornly.

"But I don't wish to end this discussion! You need to answer my questions Mr. Sidharth Mehra!" Khushali snapped.

"There's nothing to answer, okay! I have seen how much trust you have in me, please don't make me regret my decision to marry you!" Sidharth retorted.

His words entered Khushali's ears like molten lava and she stared at him, with anger and hurt. He was telling her that her questions would make him regret his decision to marry her? Really? Wasn't he the same guy who had said there should be transparency between them? How could he just go back on his words?

"I think you have forgotten about the transparency thing, Sidharth. But no issues. Just answer my questions and I'll end this discussion, please," Khushali said, behaving as she didn't hear his last reply.

Sidharth, who was looking down at his feet, regretting his choice of words, looked up at her. Her face was devoid of any emotion, though he knew she was totally shattered from inside. Thinking it would compensate his wrong words, he nodded his head and said, "Okay! Shoot!"

"Why are you still dating Mayera when I'm already in love with you?" Khushali asked. She knew, going by his expression, that he would answer everything now, atleast almost or maybe not.

"Because I was lonely and wanted someone to share my feelings with," Sidharth replied or what Khushali assumed, lied.

"Lie!" exclaimed Khushali.

"I can't tell you the truth. Next question," Sidharth prompted.

"Fine, why did you hide it from me?" Khushali shot her next question.

"Obvious reason and I can't elaborate it more," said Sidharth plainly.

"How many lies have you told me, so far?" Khushali asked, emphasising on 'so far'.

"I don't know," Sidharth replied.

And immediately as he said that, Khushali asked, "Why did you kill Sagar?"

As soon as this question made itself get acknowledged in his mind, Sidharth stared at Khushali, with emotions Khushali couldn't comprehend. He remained quiet and a few minutes later, sighingly asked, "What are you talking about? Is that even a question to ask? Everyone knows Sagar died in a car accident. How can I kill him?"

"Really? But I don't think so. Maybe because someone has told me a very different side of this entire story," Khushali replied and started narrating everything to Sidharth, who evidently being gobsmacked and angry, heard everything.

When Khushali finished narrating everything, he stood rooted to the ground, not moving even an inch. This astounded Khushali as she couldn't make out what he was thinking, whether he really had killed Sagar or was someone conspiring against him. Feeling extremely broken with his quietness, Khushali sat down on the bed and cried, not knowing what else to do.

After what seemed like an endless silence filled eternity, gaining his composure, Sidharth walked to the bed where Khushali was now sitting. Kneeling down on his knees infront of her, he took her hand in his and with tears in his eyes, quietly said, "I know Khushali, after getting to know all this, you're ought to doubt me and hold me responsible for whatever happened to Sagar. And I won't blame you either. Not even for asking me all those questions because it's plausible, it's justified. Because I understand, Sagar's still a big part of you and your heart and anything related to him is supposed to be damn serious and here we're talking about his death, which presumably was either an accident or murder, I can't tell you now."

The word murder, made Khushali cry even harder as she just didn't know what was happening, for the second time in this day. The first time being in Mayera's house. Everything was again becoming nothing but like a god damn mysterious street whose end Khushali couldn't reach.

On the other hand, her this messed and desolate condition was hurting Sidharth to an extent, he just couldn't explain. But he just couldn't tell her the truth, not now or atleast for the time being because she won't be able to bear it nor was it good for her safety.

Sighing, he squeezed her hand and softly said, "I think I should add this, whatever I've told you some time back, like you already guessed was a lie but baby I can't tell you anything, any truth now. I just can't put you in danger, never. But I'm not gonna say what Mayera and Vivan had told you, is entirely correct even with the proofs, still I won't deny any of it and will accept the allegations till you know the truth. I have my own reasons to hide it from you, which I can't disclose now."

He got up and sat beside her, wrapping his arms around her. Feeling his arms around her, Khushali instantly hugged him, completely blank. Sidharth stroked her hairs and whispered softly, "But if, even after all this, I have the right to request you something, then I'd say, wifey please have faith in me. Don't stop trusting me. I know I'm not worthy of your trust for the countless lies I have told you, but still this will only help you to get the truth and I promise, I'll let you know everything be it my own secrets or the mystery of Sagar's death, though not exactly anytime soon but some day for sure."

Her silence only confirmed her faith in him. They sat like that for some minutes when Khushali finally came out of his embrace and looking at him, chokingly said, "I-I t-trust y-you S-Sidharth. I-I r-really do. Please don't ever break my trust, though at the moment you have broken my heart."

"I'm sorry, but I can't help it," Sidharth replied guiltily.

"I don't know if I believe what Mayera and Vivan had told me completely or if that's the truth or any DAMN truth. But I do know that my trust and faith in you is intact and I love you. I know you can never do anything wrong, I know that well," said Khushali in her most miserable yet strong self.

Wiping the tears off of her face, Sidharth kissed her forehead and said, "I love you too! And thank you for still trusting me, but I can't assure you that I haven't done anything wrong."

"I don't care," Khushali said, "But can we please stop talking about all this now? My sorrow won't leave me without killing me if we continued about all this. Please save me."

"I won't let anything happen to you, I promise you, even if I have to put everything in stake. And yes, we don't have to talk about it now," Sidharth replied. He let go of her and brought the untouched plates laden with food toward her and sat down back on the bed.

Forwarding the plate to her, in his usual spirit, he said, "I know this food is cold now, but rats, cats, dogs and even elephants are jumping in my stomach. So I don't care if the food is cold, I'm gonna eat it. What about you?"

"Me too! Even I'm very much hungry. Give me five minutes, I'll just wash my face and come back," requested Khushali, winking with both of her eyes like little kids.

"Sure love, but if you'll take longer than five minutes then I can't guarantee if I'll save anything for you," teasingly said Sidharth, making Khushali giggle.

Still giggling, Khushali entered the washroom. She opened the faucet and washed her face with cold water. Closing the faucet, she stared at her reflection and shook her head. She'll believe Sidharth, not matter what be. But she needed some time alone to make amends with her past, as whatever happened today, brought back her past into her present, which by any means wasn't a healthy thing. So she'd talk about this with Sidharth, but after having her dinner with him.

Wiping her face with a towel, she walked out and both she and Sidharth proceeded with their dinner, pretending as if nothing ever happened, like everything was like usual.

Some time later, Khushali was lying on the bed with her head resting on Sidharth's chest and his one arm wrapped around her waist while with the other, he was caressing her face.

Making up her sentence in her mind, she held his hand caressing her cheek and said, "Sidharth, if you don't mind, then can I please go and stay in my parents' house for 2-3 days? Please."

She hoped he won't take this in wrong context, but seemed like he did and with an fake offended look, he said, "You want to stay away from me for few days? Why? You want to leave me, wifey?"

Honestly he was sounding like a little kid, even looking like one, which made Khushali grin and pull his cheeks, which offended him further and he glared at her. But it didn't make her grin vanish and playfully, she said, "No hubby, I'm not leaving you. How can I leave you alone baby? After all, I still have to make you bankrupt with my shopping adventures and fancy dinner dates. So don't think I'll leave you alone. But I do want to spend some time with my parents. Can I please go?"

"Okay, you can, I'll drop you tomorrow to your parents' house. And wifey, your hubby's got lots of gold in his bank account, it'll take you many year to make me bankrupt," replied Sidharth, sounding cocky.

"Yes, you do have. But don't provoke me to become a typical wife or else, you don't know a woman can turn a millionaire into a beggar in just one day with her shoppin...," Khushali was saying this when Sidharth sealed her lips, preventing her from speaking further.

She smiled against his lips and wrapped her arms around his neck as he hovered above her. This kiss, unlike all the previous kisses, was much more passionate and both of them could feel their desires coming to surfaces, not wanting to let go of each other tonight.

But Sidharth knew, this wasn't the right time to go ahead in their relationship because Khushali still didn't know major chunk of the truth and he didn't want to consummate his marriage with her while she was still in her dark.

Halfheartedly, he broke the kiss, leaving Khushali and himself craving for more. Giving her a quick peck on her forehead, he lied back down and whispered, "Good night, wifey! I love you!"

"Good night, hubby! I love you too," Khushali blushingly replied. Few minutes later, both of them fell asleep, leaving all the problems and pain awaiting for them, to wait for some more time.

A/N: These two are very stubborn people, didn't allow me to create any misunderstanding, but I'm glad about it! :)