Life's unpredictable and unprecedented for everyone, and Khushali Mehra was becoming well aware of it. That's why, just as she start to believe in something, a new angle, a new perspective to it arise and change the conclusion she reach after much thinking. Something, she wasn't very amused about.

She stood transfixed to the same spot she had been standing at when Mayera introduced Arjun as her husband. She hadn't moved as much as a millimetre from there, completely shocked on becoming aware of Mayera's marital status, along with Mayera's claim of finally telling her the truth.

Just a day back, her husband had told her that he'd let her know the truth when it'd be the right time. But Mayera didn't seem to follow his lines, rather she was, what Arjun had said, going against Sidharth. Why? Khushali didn't know the answer for this, or as a matter of fact, any of the 'whys' that she'd been coming across since last few days.

With multiple things going on in her mind, Khushali couldn't keep herself together anymore and sat down on the couch, holding the armrest of the couch as support. But it didn't appear anymore supportive as the images from the day, Mayera and Vivan had told her the apparent version of the truth, rushed back to her, spinning mercilessly in her head, which seemed on the verge of exploding.

Letting go of the couch armrest, Khushali held her head in her hands, unable to bear the excruciating ache, which without being physical, was numbing her. And the puzzlement that she was being bestowed with, only accelerated the process of her numbness. It was just too much for any sane person, and enough to drive them insane.

Just yesterday, it was revealed to her that her husband was innocent, which she knew since the beginning. Along with it, she also got to know that her ex fiancé was murdered, and the reason behind his murder by the culprit, was something she desperately wanted to know.

But will that all be answered now, Khushali doubted that. If Sidharth was going to be here, then it seemed highly unlikely for Khushali to final learn the truth. Yet, there wasn't just Sidharth, Jay would be there too, and he was the only person, whom Khushali believed to reveal the truth to her.

Of course, it was Mayera who had promised to tell her the entire truth. But wasn't it like last time, when all she told Khushali was a realm of lies and deceit, created to only sow the seeds of mistrust for Sidharth. Khushali was ought to be apprehensive and skeptical about trusting Mayera once again, atleast as far as the truth was concerned.

A small groan escaped Khushali's lips, catching Mayera's and Arjun's attention, both of who were busy talking about yesterday. Both knew that Khushali needed some time for sinking in everything that happened now and didn't disturb her.

But now as Mayera realised that it was time to speak to Khushali, atleast to explain to her about certain things, which needed to be cleared before Sidharth arrived here.

"Baby, why don't you go and make coffee for us three?" said Mayera, looking at her husband.

"Er ... sure," said Arjun, understanding the underlying excuse of Mayera's for some privacy.

He got up and left for the kitchen. Once he was out of sight, Mayera went and stood infront of Khushali. Keeping her hand on Khushali's shoulder, Mayera gently said, "Khushali, you okay?"

"No." came Khushali's reply bluntly.

"I know," said Mayera, settling beside her, "And I also know that I'm the one of the chief reasons for this condition of yours."

"Then what are you trying to do? Couldn't you have just told me the truth instead of feeding me all those lies and sowing seeds of mistrust for Sidharth?" said Khushali, her disdain for Mayera's lies, heavy in her words.

"It was necessary ... or atleast Sidharth believed," said Mayera.

"What do you mean?" asked Khushali bewilderedly. "Why are you now intending on revealing the truth to me? Won't Sidharth be upset with you for this, like Arjun said?"

"Look, Khushali, I wouldn't have decided on this, had I not been informed by Jay about you guessing the culprit or if Arjun hadn't goofed up. I think it's time you learn the truth. And as far as the reason for the drama is concerned, you'll have to wait till Sidharth comes here," said Mayera. "But, I can clear a few other things ... only if you want."

The lump in her throat didn't allow Khushali to speak. So, she only passed Mayera a curt nod.

"I think, it must be clear to you now that Sidharth and I don't have any affair with each other, since you know how much your husband loves you and how much I love Arjun. It was just a show that we both had to put up ... to fool someone," said Mayera, looking extremely peaceful.

Although, Khushali was sure about this, still it made her feel quite at ease to know Sidharth and Mayera's alleged affair was just an act. Atleast it won't be debilitating for her now, even if she wouldn't be told the truth.

"I knew that, Mayera, I just knew it. But the doubt was there, and it wasn't nice to see my husband acting all indifferent and my friend being an affection stealer," said Khushali, not knowing how to actually put forth her feelings.

Mayera shifted close to her, and gave her hand a squeeze, understanding the turmoil Khushali was feeling. She could atleast ease off some of her stress by unveiling a few things.
"Sidharth and I did love each other, Khushali, but never as lovers."

"What?" questioned Khushali, disbelief in her tone. The revelation that Mayera made seemed unreal to her. Sidharth and Mayera weren't in love?

"Yes, we weren't," said Mayera, quite calmly. "But I'm not denying that we weren't together or hadn't have dated each other."
"What?" asked Khushali, again, this time impatient and baffled.

"We did date each other. We got together when he was in 12th std and I, an 11th grader. Initially, it was puppy romance, we believed to be madly in love with each other. But then, reality hit us as we started growing up. Though, we were together, there was something missing. It wasn't a relationship, despite being a relationship. And we both started being awkward around each other, maybe because the feelings were burdening us and our friendship. Still, we didn't break up, because we were best friends and it seemed better to be with him than date someone else. And that's why we decided to get married when my parents started pushing this subject. But just when Sidharth planned to propose me, things turned ugly in our lives. With Sagar's death, everything went downhill for us, and an year and half later, we broke up when he decided to marry you." sighed Mayera, pausing for a moment to get a grip on herself. She held onto the same armrest that Khushali was holding a minute back.

"You guys were engaged before what landed Rehaan in that case, right? And how come Sidharth's family never came to know about you, though they know Rehaan?" asked Khushali, her curiousity at its peak. Though, she did hear the marriage part, she decided to keep it for later with a question whose answer Mayera had to give Khushali at any cost!

"Yes, we were," said Mayera, her voice trembling. "What happened with Rehaan, left me and my parents extremely devastated, because we didn't even know what was true and what's not. Sidharth seemed like my only support system that time, and I'm glad he was there with me through that low phase of my life. Though, by then we both had realised that we weren't in love with each other, but anyway stuck by each other's side. It was only when he saved you from those attackers, that he decided to end our engagement, leaving me shattered. But I'm glad for it, now.

"As for Sidharth's family not knowing about us. I think Sidharth never actually told them about me or my family much, since we all met in a boarding school in Doon, and our families didn't know each other personally. His family only knew about Rehaan, because he was doing his business here, while me and my parents were in Mumbai. From what Sidharth used to tell me, he wanted to be sure of our relationship before making it officially public. I have never been to Delhi before Rehaan's fiasco, and that time it wasn't right for us to go public with our relationship. Only Kavya came to know about us, and Sidharth purposely did that since he had to keep my gifts hidden," chortled Mayera, looking certainly more cheerful than she was a little back.

For a moment, Khushali forgot the reason for her presence here with Mayera, and felt like a teenage girl, listening to her girlfriend talk about her secret love affair. She smiled, feeling like a happy high schooler, whose best friend just confided in her about her relationship. It felt so normal!

"I'm pretty sure Sidharth had to pay a good bribe to Kavya for keeping mum about you two," said Khushali, grinning.

"Yes, he told me how Kavya once nearly blurted out about us when he was home for his vacations from London. Somehow Siddy had handled it, otherwise I'm sure everyone in his family would've come to know about our hidden relationship and all those secret rendezvous we had had whenever we were in India for our college vacations. Infact, Sidharth used to make up excuses at home to visit me in Mumbai, saying like he's visiting Rehaan when infact Rehaan used to be in Delhi! That was such a good time of our lives," said Mayera, slight poignancy in her tone, recalling the best moments of her life.

This reminded Khushali of her time with Sagar. During the initial phase of their relationship, even they were a secret couple and it was a wonderful time keeping it hidden. The memories of that time, moistened Khushali's eyes, prompting her to ask Mayera one question, whose answer she desperately wanted to know, even if that disturbed the lighthearted feeling that surrounded them in that moment.

"Was it hard ... breaking up with Sidharth? You guys were so happy together, it seems hard to imagine that you both broke up with each other, in such a heartbreaking manner. It seems cruel to me, that you both had to separate like that. It wasn't right!" said Khushali guiltily, her eyes on the floor. "In my case, Sagar's gone forever, I know. But still it is impossible for me to move on. And that's why it will still take me some time to accept Sidharth in all the senses. But for you, he's right in front of you, happy with another woman. Doesn't it hurt you, to see the guy you loved for so long, loving another woman who came in between you two? Don't you loath me for breaking you two apart? How can you be so fine, despite knowing that this could've been your life, which I'm living? How can you be so strong, Mayera?"

For the first time ever, Mayera fell silent, much to Khushali's embarrassment. From her own personal experience, Khushali knew it was heartwrenching to see someone you loved for so long, go away. And the fact, that Mayera had handled her heartbreak with such ease and grace, made Khushali envious. Why couldn't it had been easier for her? And the fact, that somewhere it was her, who broke Mayera and Sidharth apart, had been eating her insides for long. And today, she finally spoke it out, lessening her burden, but increasing Mayera's grief.

"It was hard," whispered Mayera, her glassy eyes not meeting Khushali's. "I won't lie, but honestly I hated Sidharth for abandoning me like that, when I needed him the most. That was time of my life when I was badly dependent on him, and that somewhere made me very possessive of him. And this, for days made me feel horrible about my own self after we broke up because I thought it was my overbearing nature and neediness that drove him away from me. I was already going through a rough phase because of all the drama that took place in my brother's life, and this just added more to my suffering. For days, I just used to sit and cry, not knowing what else to do.

"Nothing made sense to me. What my brother was going through, or what Sidharth was planning to do. Everything seemed to be going downhill for me. But then, I decided to collect myself. For my parents and my brother, who was paying the price for someone else's sins. I resumed my work there, and some time later, Sidharth contacted me. He had made a plan to save Rehaan and get done with this problem for once and all. And for that, he needed my help, despite my bitterness. I agreed, for my brother, despite being reluctant to stay in touch with Sidharth after his betrayal and his marriage to you. With time, things changed and I learnt the reasons behind all the actions of Sidharth. And that's how I ended up being here.

"And honestly, I'm very happy. Because had I not agreed to help Sidharth, I wouldn't have met Arjun, and that's something I would've regretted. It was because of Sidharth only, that I met Arjun, and I'm very grateful to him. And now that I think, I feel it was in our fate to go through that low phase, so that we could find our soulmates, be it you or me!"

"Coffee, ladies!" announced Arjun, walking toward the couches with a tray laden with three coffee mugs.

Mayera passed him a warm smile, and affectionately gestured him to sit beside her. Smiling back, Arjun settled beside her and the two continued to gaze at each other, much like a madly in love newly married couple, making Khushali smile.

"How long have you both been married?" asked Khushali, trying to ease the anticipation building up in her about what would happen after Sidharth arrived here.

"Four months and 15 days!" answered Arjun, smiling idiotically, which made Mayera giggle like a school girl.

"Yes, we got married after a month of dating, because my Waqil (lawyer) Sa'ab wanted to have the legal rights to take care and look after me. So, before I came here, we got married in a simple court marriage with attendance from Sidharth, my and Arjun's parents." said Mayera smilingly, her eyes glued on her husband, who blushed lightly and scratched the back of his neck in self consciousness.

"That's so sweet! I remember Sidharth did fly to Mumbai few months back for some work. Now I know what that work was," said Khushali, somewhat calmer. "So, love marriage, huh."

"Absolutely, otherwise my parents wouldn't have found a woman as dominating as her for me, and not to forget her mood swings! But I love that about her!" said Arjun, winking at Mayera, who slapped his arm.

"Well, she's a lovely frien--"

"And the stupidest woman I ever had the privilege of meeting!" remarked Sidharth, walking inside the living room. Jay followed behind him. "I really thought you were smart, Mia. But now I'm doubting if I'm dumb to believe that you won't goof up!"

"Sidharth," said Arjun calmly, "I think we can talk about this."

"Sure, Mayera's lovely hubby, we can surely sort this out now as you and your darling wife have messed up big time, if not Jay has done enough damage," said Sidharth, passing a glare to Jay, before throwing daggers at Arjun and Mayera, amongst whom, Mayera seemed completely unaffected.

"Of course, you can think whatever you want! But just know that unlike you, I wouldn't prefer my spouse to get humiliated and suffer through mental agony without any mistake of his, even if that's done to save his life!" retorted Mayera, her words loathsome.

"Really, Mia?" said Sidharth, walking upto Mayera. "How dedicated wife like quality is that! I wonder why I'm not like you? I think because I know how grave things can be because of this one mistake of yours!"

Before Mayera could retort, Khushali came and stood between them. From what it looked like, a heated argument between Mayera and Sidharth seemed inevitable now, but Khushali still tried to cool the situation.

"I think we can sit and talk about this!"

It was then Sidharth noticed Khushali. He hadn't actually noticed her before, too blinded by his anger. Now as he did, he could see the worry on her face, her eyes watery again. When will this torture end for us? he wondered.

"Why did you come here, when I strictly have told you not to press on the truth thing? Don't you trust me enough to wait for the right time?" said Sidharth, dejected.

"I can say the same for you, Sidharth." said Khushali, not actually looking at him, but that didn't lessen the stinging pain she felt in her heart, nor his.

By now, Sidharth appeared to have forgotten that there were three other people in that room with them, who were wise enough to leave this couple to talk, before the discussion for which they had gathered here could begin.

His hands on her shoulders, Sidharth stared down at her. For few minutes, he didn't say a single word, nor did Khushali speak anything. The only sound was of the silent tears of Khushali, which disturbed Sidharth quite badly.

With the thumb of his right hand, he wiped her tears. Putting his fingers under her chin, he made her look at him. Her eyes were slightly red, bothering him.

"Wifey, please don't cry. I don't like to see you cry like this," said Sidharth, his eyes watery a little as he spoke to her. "Why do you have to cry all the time?"

"Why do you have to hide the truth, Sid? Don't I deserve to know it now, when I already know who's behind everything? Why are you tormenting me with the mystery behind Sagar's death and the main reason behind your break up with Mayera and marriage to me? What's the benefit of hiding it from me, when I already guessed half the things?" asked Khushali with despair in her voice.

But Sidharth didn't respond. He gazed at her with an array of emotions playing on his face, as if he was contemplating hard on something. His black eyes were clearly showing the inner battle he was fighting for so long. A few times he opened his lips, making Khushali gaze at him unblinkingly, waiting to hear what he would say. But he stayed quiet, almost as if he lost his voice. It was only when Khushali tore her gaze away from him, dismayed on knowing this time too Sidharth won't let her know the truth, did Sidharth sigh before finally breaking the silence.

"Will you be able to handle yourself after knowing the truth? Will you believe every single word I'd tell you, without raising any question about its authenticity?" questioned Sidharth, devoid of any emotion. "Everything's damn confusing. I, myself was gobsmacked after I learnt the truth. If, despite knowing half of the things, I was so badly puzzled, what will happen to you? I don't want you to see broken after knowing what happened to Sagar that night."

Though, Sidharth had resorted to speak in an emotionless manner, somehow Khushali still understood the poignancy and lament that he was unable to conceal in both, his voice as well as his eyes.

"If you can survive through it, so can I. And I don't know why you always question the trust I have on you. I love you, Sidharth, and I have full faith on you, which though did deter slightly, but that doesn't mean I stopped trusting you," said Khushali, cupping Sidharth's face. "And I have you, I'm not scared of anything."

"I know that, and I promise I won't ever leave your side," said Sidharth, kissing Khushali's hand which had held in his hand. "But are you sure, you wanna know the truth? There's no compulsion that you have to learn it today!"

"Honestly, Sidharth, I'm tired of this continuous drama that we've been going through for last so many days. One day someone tells me a tale, and the very next day someone narrates a contradicting story. I feel I have enough of this! So, it's better if I just learn the truth and get done with this!" explained Khushali, a little frown of annoyance on her forehead.

Something about her childlike frown and the way she spoke, made Sidharth smile and he pecked her forehead, which calmed both of them.
"If that's what you want, then fine. Let's get done with the bloody truth!"

"Yes," nodded Khushali.

"You three can come back here, I won't kill you guys now!" said Sidharth in a slightly loud voice. Khushali shook her head and walked to lock the door, which Sidharth had let askew when barging inside the apartment.

"I'm glad to hear that, Siddy," said Mayera sarcastically.
Jay and Arjun followed closely behind her, while Khushali rejoined the group.

"How nice is that to hear from you, Mia!" said Sidharth sassily. If Mayera was throwing daggers at him, Sidharth was not so kind either.

"Enough, guys! Why are you both being so rude with each other?" asked Khushali irritably. "I thought you guys used to get along well."

"Of course, they still do get along well. But they have their 'insulting-each-other-till-both-accept-defeat' episodes. And this definitely is that episode only, haina, Mayera?" said Arjun, looking admiringly at his beautiful wife.

"Haye, Mayera ka deewana!" said Sidharth dramatically, settling on the couch and dragging Khushali with himself. "I now believe love is not just blind, it's deaf, mute, blah blah other things, and even mental! You both are a living proof of it."

"Really?" said Mayera with a deadpan face, settling down on the two seater couch opposite him along with Arjun. "Even I believe that Khushali's the epitome of tolerance, since living with a narcissistic man isn't the easiest thing in this world!"

"I'm not narcissistic, I just love myself." defended Sidharth. Khushali almost choked with laughter.

"Yes, you love yourself. But you have crossed the thin line between self obsession and narcissism. Accept that, Siddy," said Mayera, smirking.

"Acha! And why don't you accept that you're dominating and bossy, haan, Ms. Drama Queen?" said Sidharth, slyly grinning.

"Wow! I didn't know we all gathered here to see Mayera and Sidharth sing such lovely praises for each other!" commented Jay, who had been quiet ever since he came here. As he was sitting on a single seater couch which was perpendicular to the couches occupied by the two couples, he first irritable passed a look to Sidharth and then to Mayera before speaking again.
"I think you both should keep this for later. We should better get going for what we came here for, before 'he' surprise us all like 'he' did yesterday."

Jay's admonition suddenly changed the atmosphere of the room from playful to sombre in just a matter of few seconds. It finally dawned on everyone how serious this situation was, and how fatal it could turn out to be for all of them!

Khushali noticed the change in Sidharth's body language. There was an austerity in his body language, his hands fisted and jaw clenched. The same was the case with the ever so polite Arjun, who appeared to have difficulty in restraining himself from breaking the cup of coffee in his hand. Mayera and Jay too seemed to have become stiffer and grim.

"What happened yesterday?" asked Khushali, attracting every eye on herself, but she didn't mind it much. "I remember Mayera had called Sidharth, and Sidharth seemed somewhat worried. Does that has to do anything with Mayera's injury?"

"Yes, her injury is because of that coward!" said Sidharth, answering instead of Mayera, who became completely quiet now.

"Just few more days, and he'd pay for each and every sin of his!" said Arjun in a menacing manner.

"But why did he harm Mayera?" asked Khushali, her temper again.

"Because he believed her of fooling him, which is actually true. He thought Mayera was misleading him, but Sidharth somehow managed the situation yesterday." answered Jay, his unusually indifferent.

"Okay, but what's exactly you guys are doing?" questioned Khushali, forgetful of yesterday's events.

Her question only met with silence, as none of the four people replied to her, everyone of them waiting for the other to speak, which only prolonged the silence.

"Do you know how Sidharth and Sagar became friends?" asked Mayera, finally having enough of the silence.

The three men stared at Khushali, waiting for her reply. This made Khushali a little nervous, but she recovered and said, "Yes, through Rehaan."

"Exactly! And do you know how Sagar and Rehaan came to know each other?" said Mayera, looking intently at Khushali.

"No. Sagar only told me the day I met Sidharth that he's a friend of friend. That's all I know." said Khushali, fidgeting with her dress fabric.

"Well, then in that case, I'll tell you how they became friends, and how somewhere my brother's responsible for Sagar's death." said Mayera, her face showing no emotion.

"What? But you said Rehaan's got no hand in Sagar's death, then what are you saying now?" asked a mystified Khushali, unable to accept this piece of information.

Sidharth, understanding her puzzlement, held her hand in his, and softly said, "Calm down, wifey, we'll explain everything to you." Turning to Mayera, he added, "I think we shouldn't waste our time on this Q and A session, and rather skip to the main part."

"I agree," agreed Arjun.

"Fine," said Mayera. With various emotions playing on her face, she sighed before resuming speaking, "The person behind all this mess, Khushali, the one who introduced Sagar and Rehaan, who framed Rehaan in a fake case of Sagar's murder, who took your Sagar's life, who ruined all of our lives ... he's ... Vivan Malhotra! Vivan, Sagar's own cousin brother, who didn't even think twice before killing his own little brother who used to love him so dearly!"

For a moment, Khushali thought she misheard Mayera. It seemed surreal to her that Vivan would do something so cruel to Sagar, who he claimed to love more than his own sisters. How could he do such gruesome sin of killing his own baby brother? That seemed absurd to her!

But the conversation from yesterday that she had with Jay, reminded her that it was Vivan's ring which was found in her house. And she knew beforehand that Vivan was the culprit, then why did it seem so hard to believe it now when it came out of Mayera's mouth? Maybe because she was more rejoiced on learning that Sidharth had nothing to do with Sagar's death than despising Vivan for what he did. She had only remembered that Vivan had framed Rehaan and fed her lies about her husband's sincerity toward her. How can a brother be so atrocious, to slay his own brother in cold blood?

"How can that ... that be possible? Vivan loved Sagar dearly, for him Sagar was a little baby. Then how can he kill Sagar and for what?" said Khushali, not trusting her own voice. It hit her now what crimes Vivan had committed, half of which she was yet to know.

"C'mon, Khushali, what can be the reason behind such atrocities, especially in business families? Property, money etcetera. Malhotras are no exception to this," said Arjun nonchalantly. "I have seen many brothers kill their darling sibling because of property. Infact almost every fifth case of mine has been about the crimes committed by a guy/girl over family feuds."

"Maybe, but Malhotras aren't like that! They're such a close knitted family," said Khushali, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Khushali, yesterday you took the revelation so calmly, but why are you not believing it now?" asked Jay, bemused with Khushali's reaction.

"Because yesterday I was more relieved on knowing that Sidharth has nothing to do with Sagar's murder, it didn't hit me then that Vivan has actually committed Sagar's murder," whispered Khushali, now looking at Sidharth.

The people in the room understood her situation. For each of them, the truth was disturbing, and took them time to come to term with it. But it was necessary she accept it sooner, for that would only help them go smoothly ahead with their plan.

"I understand that, Khushali," said Mayera, passing her a warm smile. "But that's the truth!"

"I know," said Khushali, "What actually happened then that led to Sagar's death and why you guys were doing this drama?"

Her questions muted everyone for a few seconds. Though, her questions were simple, but their answers were complicated and Khushali needed to know much more than she had prepared herself for!

"We'll answer these questions, Khush, but for that you'll have to know about all the events that led to Sagar's death and everything that followed," said Mayera plainly.

"Okay," answered Khushali, holding on to Sidharth's hand for support. Sidharth tightened his grip on her hand.

"So, for starter, let me tell you that Rehaan and Arhaan are completely unaware about Mayera helping Sidharth, or that the only reason I'm being friendly with Vivan is because I'm trying to extract some very crucial information. One of them being the case filed against Rehaan, which is not only fake, but a cop had helped Vivan manipulate and tamper the proofs to trap Rehaan and drag Sidharth and Arhaan in it, too. Infact the actual filed case was closed within hours because there was nothing much do investigate." said Jay, utter seriousness in his words, but he neither was looking at anyone, nor was occupying the single seater couch anymore. Rather, he was gazing out of the glass window.

"What? Fake case? How?" said Khushali, astounded. She glanced at Mayera, who was in turn looking at Arjun, who appeared to speak in an inaudible tone to his wife, before speaking to Khushali.

"For that you need to listen to what happened before that," said Arjun, motioning Sidharth to go ahead and speak. The other two remained silent.

"So, you know that me and Rehaan are childhood friends who met in a boarding school in Dehradun, after which we went to London for our higher studies. When we returned back to India, I guess eight years back, I joined my Dad's law firm for internship and started helping Aditya Bhai, while Rehaan stayed in Mumbai to help his father in their family business." said Sidharth, his voice again devoid of any emotion.

"Few months after coming back, Rehaan decided to extend our father's business in the national capital and shifted here, while I stayed back with my mom and dad. Arhaan being a family friend of ours, invested with him and things were smoothly going for Rehaan. Some months later relocating here, Rehaan met Vivan in a party which was hosted by one of his clients, who happened to be Vivan's friend. They hit it off immediately, given how charismatic Vivan is." said Mayera, her disgust for Vivan quite manifest in her tone. She tore her gaze away from Khushali and stared at the photo frames on the wall of her family.

"That time Vivan was handling Malhotra's family business, but I heard that his grandfather was waiting for Sagar to complete his MBA and join their business. As far as I know, Vivan was at discomfort on this. Probably because everyone in Sagar's family favoured Sagar over Vivan, given the way Sagar showed himself so good at handling business, despite being completely uninterested in joining business." said Sidharth, his voice frail, but his words didn't lack enunciation.

"I know that, Sagar did tell me about it. His grandfather had transfered 70% property on Sagar's while the remaining 30% property was transfered on Vivan's name. It was done to get Sagar join the family business for full time instead of as pastime, like he used to consider it. Sagar's wasn't happy about it since he wanted to pursue photography and painting, and maybe open an art studio later. And also because he thought it was unfair with Vivan, who was working full time in Malhotra's family business." explained Khushali, her voice slightly lumpy.

While she spoke, Sidharth gazed at the royal blue walls, looking deep in thoughts. Khushali noticed that and nudged him lightly, breaking his trance.

"Well, we consider this as one of the pivotal reasons for what Vivan did." said Sidharth, somewhat distracted. The other three except Khushali, seemed to understand what he actually meant.

"What do you mean one of the pivotal reasons? Are there other reasons for it, too?" said Khushali, baffled. She glanced at Sidharth, but he wasn't looking at her. But like her, all the other eyes were on Sidharth, as if he was the only person who knew the answer for her question.

"There are some more reasons, which we aren't aware of," said Sidharth thoughtfully. "But apart from the property thing, I do believe that there's one reason I'm very sure of."

Khushali stayed mum this time, letting Sidharth explain it himself without her asking for it. But her eyes stayed fixed on Sidharth, who was avoiding her gaze now, for reason unknown to her.

"From what all documents we've come across and what Sagar confided to me, that has led me to this conclusion that Sagar ... he came to about some of the fraudulent business deals of Vivan, which he gained by defrauding his own family business as well as the company he was running with Rehaan and Arhaan as business partners. I also think the reason why Rehaan was framed by Vivan was because ... Rehaan had majority of the shares on his name, about which Vivan wasn't very glad. So what has happened, was like killing two birds by one stone. Sagar was off the way of Vivan, and Rehaan was forced to transfer his shares to Vivan for being freed from the alleged charges of Sagar's murder," explained Sidharth, still deep in thoughts. His eyes were on the floor now, continuing to avoid Khushali's gaze, which stayed glued on him, partly in confusion, partly in despondency.

Since he wasn't meeting her gaze, Khushali looked around at the other three people, all of who seemed to be in deep thoughts, as well. Arjun was gazing hard on the floor, as if trying to change the colour of the white tiles. Mayera's eyes still were fixed on her family photographs, while Jay was staring out of the window. The only sound that was in this room was of the room heaters.

Their actions puzzled Khushali, who couldn't decipher why these four were acting so strangely. And even made her doubt that there was some details, which were much more complex that these people were finding hard to explain to her. Yet, she couldn't live with assumptions and suspense, so she broke the silence.

"I understood some of details you guys have explained to me, but what about this fake case? I don't understand that!" said Khushali confusedly. This was something she had never heard of, and so it surprised her.

Jay, who had been staring out of the glass window, turned and walked where to Khushali was. But he didn't speak anything, rather he picked up a black officer bag, which Khushali hadn't noticed he was carrying himself when he entered Mayera's apartment. From the black bag, he took out two files, one in a transparent plastic folder, while other in a paper folder.

Occupying his previously occupied couch, Jay passed Khushali the first file in the plastic folder and said, "Read this, it's the copy of the original FIR filed after police reached the site of Sagar's accident and the closure report of this case after the investigation."

Following his instruction, Khushali read the file. In that it was clearly stated that two cars had collided with each other, in which the hired driver of the one of the private vehicle was intoxicated. The final report suggested that it was a mere case of road accident, which could've been avoided, had the hired driver of the private vehicle hadn't died out of heart attack.

"Here, now read this report." said Jay, passing the second file to Khushali.

Khushali took it with shaky hands and read it. Her eyes grew wide in shock as she read the entire case file. Unlike the original report, this case report had a completely different account of the accident. According to this version of the report, the FIR was lodged as an road accident that claimed the life Sagar Malhotra, which later turned into a case of planned murder. The suspected culprit here was Rehaan, the name of the intoxicated driver wasn't mentioned even once in the entire case file. The names of Sidharth and Arhaan were mentioned as well, but for the offence of helping Rehaan and hiding/destroying the evidences.

What surprised Khushali the most was the closure report that stated that due to lack of evidences and proofs, Rehaan was declared as innocent, while Sidharth's and Arhaan's names were cleared off from the case.

"What the hell is this?" said Khushali astonishedly. "How can these reports be so different? That's so confounding!"

"Do you think the second report is also legal, like the first one?" asked Jay, sounding cool. Amongst all the people in the room, while Jay seemed composed, Arjun and Sidharth appeared abashed and ashamed.

Khushali analysed both the reports again, everything seemed legal. Even with the lack of knowledge about legal documents, Khushali was sure these two were original and legal files.
"I think it's legal, it similar in appearance to the original file." said Khushali, handing the files back to Jay.

"No, the second one's fake!" exclaimed Arjun, with fury mingled with shame.

"But it seems legal!" said Khushali, finding the reports legal.

"We thought the same, Khushali," said Sidharth, finally looking up at Khushali, "But the second report is fake and illegal. It's so smartly created, that even Arjun and I being lawyers couldn't pinpoint its authenticity."

"Exactly!" added Arjun, "Blame it on our lack of experience, or the pressure of the situation, neither of us could guess it was a fake report. The first one is an original and legal report, which if we were aware of, would've known that there was no case, it was just a road accident. But we only came to know about it after Rehaan left for London, when we started our research and investigation for the evidences and that led us to meet Jay, who was the junior of the officer who had made the original report."

With these revelations, Khushali felt her head on the verge of bursting up. Nothing made sense to her. Everything was so puzzling and twisted that it only sounded chaotic to Khushali. Fake report, fake proofs, what the hell?

"I'm not getting anything!" said Khushali, holding her head in her hands.

"Well, I think we can explain what happened the night Sagar died," said Jay, still calm. "I think we should first finish narrating the story. Then everything would make sense to Khushali."

"I agree," added Mayera, at last looking at Khushali. Her face wasn't calm like Jay, but Khushali could see how hard she was trying to act in a composed manner.

"After Rehaan and Vivan became friends in that business party, Rehaan shortly introduced me to Vivan. He seemed decent to me and we became friends," said Sidharth in an indifferent tone. "Some time later that, he introduced us to Sagar, who then was doing his MBA. I guess it was few months before Aditya Bhai and Meher Bhabhi's marriage."

He took a pause to look at Khushali, who was keenly listening to him. Seeing her utmost attention, he resumed speaking, his tone still the same.
"Things went quite smoothly for all of us for some four years. Mayera and I had gone back to London after almost couple years of Aditya Bhai's marriage, for her MBA and my Master's. Rehaan was still in India, juggling between Mumbai and Delhi for work. But things didn't stay the same for us for long.

"An year after I came back after completing my LLM, Rehaan and Vivan decided to start a new company, where the chief investor was Rehaan, while Arhaan and Vivan had few shares. Around the same time, I heard from Sagar about his grandfather's will and how he was being forced to join the company for full time working. Since Sagar's father wanted him to handle the finances of the company along with the legal issues, Sagar offered me the post of the legal attorney as he had come across some loopholes in the statistical data of their industry, shortly after joining office.

"Together, we figured out a large scale defraud, which we weren't sure was done by whom. Sagar had taken it up on his self to figure that out soon, as I was asked by Vivan to focus on the new legal deals instead of wasting my time on past deals ... I should've guessed that time only it was Vivan who had done all the defrauding and that same money was being used by him in the company he had formed with Rehaan."

"Sagar never told me about this, except the small loopholes he had come across. He always said that it was common, nothing to worry about, but I knew he was lying," said Khushali, a thoughtful look on her face.

"Well, he told the same thing to his father, too. Probably because he had figured out it was Vivan, and somehow he was trying to save him. Brothers they were, after all. And given the emotional and sensitive guy Sagar was, I now think it was something very natural he did. Maybe that's why he had stopped sharing information about this with me, and kept everything with himself.

"Anyway, I was also the legal attorney for Rehaan. Soon, there were frauds in this company as well. When I came to know this, I was sure that Vivan's the one who's the culprit here, as well. And this led to my argument with Sagar, who still wasn't ready to share any information, citing his relation with Vivan. I wished he had shared it, maybe then he would've been alive." said Sidharth sighingly. He clasped his hands together and closed his eyes, collecting himself together.

Khushali could sense the agony he was feeling. Somewhere, he was blaming himself responsible for what happened. But Khushali knew it wasn't his fault, and so rubbed his arm, trying to soothe his anguish.

"Sagar was acting strangely, and I'm sure he was trying to solve this issue without creating any scene, in a rather peaceful manner. Vivan was avoiding all of us, by not turning up for official meetings or replying to any of our mails or calls. But before any of us could solve it, Sagar's accident happened, which impacted us all," said Sidharth, his eyes again back to staring at the floor.

The room became completely silent, again. None of the people present in the room knew what to speak, atleast for few minutes. But, except Khushali.

For Khushali, it seemed she was transported back to the time when she had received Sagar's death's news. All the images after the events followed, spinned around in her head, causing few tears to roll down her eyes. She continued to be in the same trance, until Sidharth spoke again, breaking her chain of thoughts.

"I was working late that night when ... " Sidharth started the narration of the unfaithful day which changed their entire night.

It was 11 pm, when Sidharth's cellphone buzzed loudly, disturbing the tranquility of his empty office.

"Hello," said Sidharth, putting his cellphone against his ear.

"It's me Arhaan, Sidharth." said Arhaan from the other side, his voice frantic.

"What happened? Why are you sounding so frantic and distressed?" asked Sidharth, worried suddenly.

"It's about Rehaan, Ronak's about to do something," said Arhaan. He then narrated what he overhead Ronak speaking to someone on a phone call.

The hotel in which Rehaan was attending his business dinner, Arhaan happened to be there as well. Neither of them noticed each other, having occupied different corners of the hotel. It was when Arhaan excused himself to use the washroom, that he saw Ronak and overheard what he was speaking to someone.
"I'll bring him there, and don't worry, I've already spiked his drink and he has drunk it, too ... I'm sure he'll be completely unconscious by the time we're ready to leave for the spot you told me to bring him ... don't worry, Sir, everything will go in the manner you have planned it to go."

Horrified, Arhaan searched for Rehaan, but he couldn't stop him as he got in his car with Ronak, leaving the hotel promptly. He immediately contacted Sidharth and told him everything, while following Rehaan.

"Continue to follow him, but make sure you don't get caught. Keep your GPS on, I'll find your location with my cellphone." said Sidharth, rushing out of his office.

Arhaan followed his instruction and followed Rehaan's car. But after some distance, he lost the trail and he informed Sidharth, who caught with Arhaan and together they resumed searching for Rehaan. Some minutes later, they finally found Rehaan, but neither was he in his own car, nor was Ronak anywhere to find. There was only one more car, which seemed to have collided with Rehaan's car.

"He's unconscious," informed Arhaan, checking Rehaan's eyes.

"Yes, and that means he wasn't driving. Ronak's trying to trap him and ... " Sidharth's words trailed off as he saw who was in the other car.

"Is that ... is that Sagar?" asked Arhaan, shocked, standing behind Sidharth.

Instead of replying to him, Sidharth walked toward Sagar's car. The door was ajar, and Sagar's head was on the dashboard, blood oozing out of his forehead and abdomen, but It seemed stale. Sidharth carefully tried to check his pulse by making him sit back on the car seat, but soon gasped as it hit him that Sagar was dead!

"He's dead, Arhaan! Sagar's dead!" said Sidharth, and the very next moment he saw the flash of camera and heard the sound of someone's fading footsteps. Within a minute he realised what was happening.

"Let's get Rehaan out of here, someone's trying to trap us all!" cried Sidharth, helping Arhaan carry Rehaan to their car. He didn't wish to leave Sagar's body behind like that, but that was compulsion.

The next day, Rehaan didn't remember anything, which Arhaan explained was because of his spiked drink. Ronak was unavailable, confirming his treachery to his own employer of years. None of them could make out anything. And it got messier, when police approached them all, when they were leaving for Sagar's funeral.

"None of us thought it could be Vivan, but that soon clarified when a day after we contacted him, to help us out," said Sidharth agitatedly, before resuming the narration of the events.

"Vivan, how can you even believe Rehaan would do something so heinous to your brother? And why would he do that?" asked an infuriated Sidharth, banging his fists on Vivan's desk.

After police had arrested Rehaan, Sidharth and Arhaan had tried to contact Vivan, who at first bluntly refused to meet them, citing being busy performing the last rites of his brother. He had agreed to meet them, two days later in his office, the headquarters of his and Rehaan's company.

"I don't know, because it's my baby brother I lost! How can you even expect me to help you guys out of it?" asked Vivan, looking baffled.

"Please do something! It's now a case, and as you're Sagar's brother, you can ask your lawyer to withdraw the case! Please help us, Vivan. In exchange of this help, we'll pay you any price," pleaded Arhaan, ignoring the gobsmacked look on Sidharth's face.

"Any price?" said Vivan, a little smirk on his face for a fleeting second, which Sidharth noticed.

"Yes," replied Arhaan promptly.

"Fine, then ask Rehaan to transfer all his shares and assets that he has on his name of our company. And I want you to do the same as well," said Vivan, the greed in his eyes visible to Arhaan and Sidharth.

"What? How can you ask us for this?" asked a vexed Arhaan, staring at Vivan. Sidharth had grim expression, but stayed mum.

"Yes, otherwise, be ready to say bye to Rehaan ... as well. The cops have enough proofs to show that it was Rehaan who collided his car with Sagar's, not the already dead man who was found on the driver's seat, as reported in the newspapers," said Vivan, turning his back.

Arhaan looked helplessly at Sidharth, who was staring at Vivan with anger in his eyes.
"It's you who has planned this all, isn't it, Vivan? Otherwise how would you have known that man was already dead, despite police claiming the accident took the life of that man. Or even that, that Rehaan was present there on the driver's seat, because you have set up this trap. And proofs you're talking about are the pictures which your pet Ronak clicked, to frame us all! How can you stoop so low, Vivan, as if killing your own brother wasn't enough?"

"I didn't kill Sagar, he died in that car crash! And Rehaan's responsible for it," said Vivan, flustered.

"Really? And what if we don't accept that and prove it in the court that Rehaan's innocent? What would you do then, kill us all?" taunted Sidharth, not bothered by the unsupportive glances of Arhaan.

"Mehra, don't challenge me! I have enough proofs to get Rehaan hanged within few days. How would you prove in court that Rehaan's innocent? Court wants proofs, your argument won't be of any value there. So, it's better to give in my demands, or else, you know better," threatened Vivan, glaring at Sidharth.

After a few minutes of silence, Sidharth reluctantly agreed, having no other choice.
When he was leaving, Vivan stopped him and said, "And you better resign from the post of legal attorney, from both, Malhotra's industries, and my new solely owned company. Get it?"

"And because I didn't have any other option, I agreed to his demand." said Sidharth, ashamed on his action that time.

Crestfallen, that Khushali was now, stared unblinkingly at Sidharth, unable to digest all this. But other didn't pay much attention to her state, and continued narrating the incidents.

"Since Sidharth's specialises in taxation law, I was called on board by him for handling Rehaan's case. We did as per Vivan's orders and soon were informed the case was withdrew by Vivan, and a copy of it was send to us along with a warning that Rehaan should leave the country as soon as possible, which we guess was because Vivan feared that we would try to reveal his true colours. In his threat, he had conveyed by his lawyer that he still had retained the proofs, and can get Rehaan behind the bars anytime he wants," said Arjun, his face mirroring the same expressions as Sidharth.

"Having no choice, Rehaan had to leave for London, while me and my parents were in utter confusion over whatever was happening," added Mayera, her voice shaky.

"But once Rehaan left for London, did we start to focus on all the loopholes we've overlooked in our attempts to save Rehaan. One of them being the reports being filed in two different police stations, which we came to know when Arjun ran into Jay during a court hearing of some criminal," said Sidharth, gesturing Jay to continue from where he left.

"The actual case was reported by me and my senior, as I was patrolling that night. But since Sagar's family refused for a postmortem for some reasons, there was little we could do. So, the case was closed the next day after a little investigation we were entitled to do, which clearly revealed the driver of the other car had died due to heart attack. Yet, no further investigation was done because Sagar's parents weren't in a state to help us, nor Vivan was willing to have an investigation for obvious reasons. But when Arjun contacted me, I came to know that the case they were referring to, was filed in the cop station near Malhotra's residence, which seemed absurd because normally every case is filed in the nearest police station. And later on, I came to know that case wasn't even in the records. It was only created to fool Sidharth and his kin, by Vivan's lawyer and the head of that police station who happened to be a friend of Vivan," said Jay.

"Once my doubt confirmed that the case was fake, I asked Arjun to examine the case documents again and this time we were able to pinpoint subtle errors in the case, which we had overlooked or didn't pay attention to, earlier," said Sidharth, groaning at his own foolishness.

"And then we continued our investigation, with Jay's help. But nothing was of help. We were unable to find anything that could help us prove that it was Vivan who had killed Sagar, except the autopsy report of that drunk man. Ronak was underground as well, so we couldn't get hold of him. But that day when Sidharth saved you from those two goons, we came to learn that Vivan was searching for something, which can prove to be lethal for him, and that just changed the game for us," said Arjun, leaning against the wall as he was standing now.

Khushali, who had decided to stay quiet, finally broke her silence, still not having digested everything that was revealed to her.
"But I don't have anything that Vivan would be looking for! In fact I didn't know any of the things you guys revealed to me in last one hour!" said Khushali, trying her best to not show her bemusement and fear.

"Of course, Khushali, we know that you don't have anything for either ours or Vivan's help," said Sidharth, the look in his eyes contradicting what he spoke, which perplexed Khushali.

"So, yeah, where we were ... the goon part," said Jay, continuing to speak while passing Khushali a file of legal documents, "Though, we knew that you didn't have any evidences, Sidharth thought that you needed protection because there was a high chance that you might be attacked again. But the protection I provided you seemed vain, because those two goons were still trying to monitor your every move. And thus, Sidharth decided to get you the ultimate protection by marrying you, as that would help us to keep you out of any trouble."

"And this lead to our breakup, and my relocating back to Mumbai with my family, as Sidharth asked me to completely unassociate myself from this. But after a few months, Sidharth again asked me to get myself involved in this, but not directly, rather indirectly by helping Arjun in finding some crucial information about Vivan's associates who were helping him hide Ronak. We did this, till Sidharth asked me to attend a party that Vivan was attending, and befriend him. Apprehensive, that I was, still went and attended the party and Vivan immediately recognised me as Rehaan's sister.

"Since I wasn't directly involved in anything, he believed that I was oblivious to everything that happened. And so, he tried to convince me about Sidharth's treachery and backstabbing, by feeding me fibs. Of course, Sidharth had already told me this would happen and I was supposed to go ahead, acting as if I believe Vivan and was ready to help him in whatever he needed my help," said Mayera, grimacing with disgust and perplexity.

This revelation, made Khushali join the dots and she immediately concluded the next turn of events on her own, for which she was glad, and squeezed Sidharth's happiness in her moment of excitement.
"So this means, you coming to Delhi, taking up the job of event manager, meeting me, befriending me, subtly provoking me to make it appear as if Sidharth's the culprit; was actually all the plan you were following!"

"Exactly, Khush, that's what I was doing! And Vivan believed that I was helping him, but he didn't know that me and Sidharth had already planned all this. Even Arhaan didn't know about this, as the lesser the people involved the better. And so Sidharth asked me to run into Arhaan at a party, so that he informed Sidharth that I'm back in the city and Sidharth could make him believe that he's worried about me meeting you, when infact it was all our plan!" said Mayera, smiling after a long time and passing Khushali's a thumbs up sign.

"Yes, and that included all the messages, blank calls, all of our secret rendezvous, and even us hugging behind the college building on the literature festival day, which Vivan thought was planned by him, but he didn't know we were one step ahead of him," commented Sidharth, smirking now, passing Khushali a wink.

"And while Mayera busied Vivan in distancing you from Sidharth, Arjun and I doubled our efforts in finding Ronak, whose whereabouts we found a couple days back. Once we get hold of him, no one will be able to save Vivan from us or the law," said Jay through gritted teeth, fisting his palms.

"And once that happens, I'm going on a long well deserved vacation cum honeymoon with Mayera," said Arjun gleefully, pecking Mayera's cheek lovingly.

"Yes, the past few months have been so hectic and stressful for us. I couldn't even enjoy wearing my Chooda for more than two days, or change my name officially to Mayera Khanna from Mayera Shah," said Mayera, scrunching her nose like a little kid.

Suddenly, from sombre and no nonsensical atmosphere, the room seemed lively again. It felt as if everything was normal, and it was just a group of friends catching up with each other after a long time.

"Yes, Mia, if you won't change your name soon, then how would you turn Arjun bankrupt with your shopping endeavours? And that's an unforgivable sin!" remarked Sidharth sarcastically, passing Mayera a wicked smile.

"You better stay quiet, Mr. Narcissistic! You don't know how hard it is to live without your newly wedded spouses for weeks at stretches," said Mayera, gazing Arjun with a sweet pout, who side hugged her.

Khushali smiled seeing them all in a playful mood now, and hoped for it to remain the same way, though her heart bled for Sagar. She herself breathed a sigh of relief on seeing the topic change, as she wasn't ready to talk about something she wasn't believed to be aware of.
But suddenly, Jay spoke of something which changed the environment of the room into grim and suspicion, and made Khushali uncomfortable.

"But we still don't know where the package! If we get our hands on it, it'll be a cakewalk for us to get Vivan behind the bars, after all it has all the proofs against him that Sagar collected before his death," said Jay vaguely, his hands clasped together.

"Yes, but we don't know where that package is or with whom Sagar left that package," said Arjun, looking thoughtful with few creases on his forehead. Believing Khushali wasn't aware about package, he explained, "You know, Khushali, whatever documents and evidences Sagar came across against Vivan's fraud, he packed them in a package and hid it somewhere."

"But I don't know why Vivan believes that Khushali has that package," said Mayera, not noticing the drained face of Khushali. "That's why he came here yesterday, thinking I was lying to him about that package not being in Khushali's possession. Thank God Sidharth came here on time, otherwise I don't know what would've happen."

"Well, I'm grateful to Sidharth for this, and also for informing me about it," said Arjun gladly, "But even I'm confused as to why Vivan thinks that Khushali has that package."

"Maybe because Sidharth married Khushali, which seems plausible and supports this theory. What do you think, Sidharth?" said Jay, looking at Sidharth for his answer.

But Sidharth's wasn't paying much attention to him. Rather he was staring at his wife, who looked shaken, pale and vague, the reason behind which he was quite well aware of. And that's what he spoke of, shocking Khushali as well as the other three people.

"Well, maybe because he thought Sagar trusted Khushali the most, or maybe because Khushali indeed have that package," said Sidharth suspiciously, staring at his wife, who's face turned even paler when everyone's attention turned to her.

Perhaps, it was time for Khushali Mehra's lies and secrets to come out in light!