By the time the doctor left them, Anu was shedding silent tears. Ajay side-hugged her, and Anya moved closer to console her. Anu moved out of Ajay's arms and gave Anya a small watery smile.

"I'm sorry for being like a watering-pot. It's good that she's fine," Anu spoke in relief.

"Come on! Nobody is judging you here. I'm happy she is out of danger," Anya added.

"Yeah, Thank God. I need some coffee. Just to...I, seriously, need coffee. Do you two want anything?" Anu asked.

While Anya shook her head in the negative, Ajay offered, "I'll go get it. Is it the usual?"

He spoke for the first time all morning, in Anya's presence. Anya was instantly filled with yearning to clutch him by her side, to bask in the aura of the masculine vigour that he exuded from those bold, brown eyes capturing and holding hers.

"No, I want to walk and be a bit alone, only for a few minutes. I'll be back," Anu said and moved through the corridor, got into the elevator, in search of the cafeteria.

An awkward silence filled the void when Anu left. Anya was earnestly considering if she should go as her presence was not required now. Uncertainty filled her. She criticised herself at her oversight in coming here.

At that moment, they heard sharp footsteps approaching their way, and Anya noticed Ajay frown. She turned around to find a tall, well-built, impeccably-dressed man halt beside them. He was as tall as Ajay and was good looking. His pride poured out from every fibre of his being.

She took a surreptitious glance at Ajay then and declared to herself that Ajay was exceptional. These past few months, she had missed him more than she would have believed possible. She had wanted his quiet strength and his lazy smile. She had craved their conversations filled with short bursts of silences and laughter.

He still had the frown, but as usual, unexpected longing for him filled her heart.

Then she was forced to look at the exchange between the two men. The stranger extended his hand to Ajay and spoke, "Ajay, I just now heard the news and came immediately. How is she doing?"

The stranger sounded genuinely concerned and dropped his hand when Ajay did not accept it. Anya knew Ajay was extremely professional and well behaved. She had never known him to be uncivil, contemptuous even. The stranger did not care for this behaviour and was looking around.

"Anu is not here, Rajendra. Why did you come?" Ajay asked, being carefully-polite.

Rajendra, the stranger, looked uncomfortable for a minute but replied, "I just came here to know about your mother, Ajay."

Ajay shook his head slightly, "I don't believe it, Rajendra. I'm not sure how you knew about my mother. I don't want to know. She is out of danger for now. Please leave before Anu turns up. She doesn't want this. She has had enough of the stuff your folks put her through. She's reconciled with herself and is trying to move on."

Rajendra started, "I know..." but paused and looked at Anya, dubiously. She took the hint and tried to move away, but Ajay held her elbow to stop her, "She is a family friend. Please tell whatever you wanted to say."

She was struck with his words. Was she a family friend?

All morning, he had hardly spoken to her, and now wanted her to be at his side? She couldn't understand the game that he was playing. Instead of just accepting whatever he wanted to throw at her, she thought it was time she stood up for herself.

"I'm not comfortable to hear all this. Plus, I don't want to be here," she announced to no one in particular, and without further discussion sat down at the same place that they had sat earlier.

Ajay gave her a long, penetrating glance as soon as she sat down. He knew she was pissed off with him and tore his gaze from her. He looked at Rajendra, intending him to continue with whatever he wanted to say. Ajay badly desired to talk to Anya. All morning, he was preoccupied with his mother's thoughts, and now when he got a chance, Rajendra of all people turned up.

Rajendra was a childhood friend. He was four years his senior and two years Anu's. He led Anu to all kinds of adventures, and it was a given that they would end up together and eventually marry.

But things turned ugly, in a couple of years after marriage. Unlike Ajay and Anu, Rajendra came from a large family who still clung to archaic traditions. Rajendra and Anu knew of this, but Rajendra assured he would support her in every possible way.

Soon pressure built on Anu to give birth to a kid. She was compelled to get examined by a gynaecologist though it was a mutual decision to have kids at a later date. She was accused of being impotent and not family-oriented. Rajendra couldn't do anything to elevate the family pressure. Things turned uglier when it was discovered that they were family planning, and she was, yet again, accused of turning Rajendra against them.

Anu was stubborn and strong so bore everything without complaint. She was pregnant a couple of months later, and things improved. She was pressured to quit her job, and become a full-time mom. She was against it and losing the baby was the last straw. All along, Rajendra stood by the side-lines impervious. Finally, they parted ways on mutual consent.

Rajendra made several attempts to get back to her, but Anu didn't budge, and Ajay had intervened when things went out of hand. Rajendra was a good guy, but the way he let Anu down, and the way she had to struggle alone aggravated him.

He always had looked up to Rajendra, but now all he saw was an arrogant son of a b**** who broke his sister's heart. Ajay remembered how Anu followed Rajendra with puppy dog eyes, wherever he went and did not mind jumping from trees if Rajendra had asked her to do it. It was blind devotion that crumbled because of that asshole's foolishness.

Ajay's blood boiled when Rajendra defended his family and said, "They are my family. However, old-fashioned they are."

Ajay noticed that Anu had come back from her walk with her head down. She did not see Rajendra there.

Ajay knew that Rajendra was willing to separate from his family to gain Anu's love—one never knew the worth of someone until one loses them. Ajay looked at Anya at the sudden realisation of what was happening with him.

Memories of them together flashed through his mind, in quick succession, and he held his breath. Memories of her anger and broken trust haunted him even today. He kept staring at Anya, not bothering to look away when she was watching them.

Anu peeked at Ajay and asked, "So did you guys get a chance to talk?"

He did not respond. She was confused to find Ajay's stony expression and panicked, "What happened? Is it about, Amma?"

"Amma is fine," he said and looked at Rajendra.

Anu turned, and her lips parted in surprise. Her surprise turned to delight, then sadness, then anger and ultimately ended in disregard. Rajendra just stood there wearing his heart on his sleeve that Ajay had found annoying, and he scoffed.

Anu closed her eyes, took a deep breath and muttered, "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to talk to you, Anu."

"And you decided that this was the right time and place to talk, and thought to just pop up out of the blue?" she asked in annoyance. Ajay could feel Anu struggling to control her emotions which were all scattered across the floor.

Rajendra was her weakness, but she would never be ready to take him back. She was hurt too much and found herself in an existential crisis, after the loss of their child. She never wanted to be in that situation again.

"I just came to check up on your mother."

Anu snorted at his convenient excuse, "You do know it sounds fake, right?"

"What fake?"

"Your concern about my mother."

"Anu don't be ridiculous. Of course, I'm concerned, she is my mother's equivalent, and I want to talk to you too," Rajendra was irked now. There were chances that Rajendra was genuinely concerned about their mother, they were neighbours since childhood, and it seemed like an extended family then.

They relocated to their maternal grandparents' place when their father had passed away. But, Rajendra's and Anu's communication continued through emails, weekly Yahoo chat messages from a nearby internet café, Orkut messages, then to free SMSes and later upgraded to free late-night phone calls.

Ajay stood next to Anu and put a hand on her shoulder. He was pleased to find Anu smile at him in reassurance. He was still glaring at Rajendra, but Rajendra looked as if he did not mind. Rajendra had not yet stopped treating him as a child no matter where Ajay got himself, both in his career and on the domestic front.

Anu took a deep breath and before, she could reply Rajendra cut short, "I think we need to talk alone, not here. I'm not..."

"Or maybe we should not talk at all?" she interrupted him sarcastically. Ajay saw that Rajendra was about to explode. He was nauseated when Rajendra reined in his temper and gazed at Anu with tenderness. Of course, it was mixed with that little bit of arrogance, that he always seemed to carry.

He then proceeded as if she did not interrupt him, "I'm not comfortable with an audience around us. Could you please come with me for ten minutes? Please?"

There were not many times Rajendra had used the word please with Anu, but she was not foolish to bow before him just because he had used the word twice in his sentence.

Anu slightly nodded her head and tried to move away only to feel Ajay squeeze her shoulder. She looked at him and signalled that she got this. Ajay understood and let go. She walked ahead with Rajendra following her to the elevator.

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Finally we have Rajendra here, Anu's ex-husband. Let's just see where their story is going to go. I know we have very less of Anya and Ajay but the next chapter is full of them.

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