Aditya hurried towards his room, he needed to talk to Anjali before she fell asleep. The drive back home had been quiet, he had made several attempts to talk to her in the car, but she had not responded, she had gone to a place where he could not reach her. When they arrived home, she had immediately disappeared to kitchen, and all through dinner she been quiet. No one, except him, had noticed the unusual lost look in her eyes.

After dinner, his uncle had wanted to speak to him about a project so they had immediately closed themselves off into the study, and it had taken longer than he anticipated, and now it was almost eleven o' clock, and he didn't want to take a chance on Anjali going to sleep before he could speak to her.

He sighed in relief when he saw her standing by the window, lost in thought. He quietly closed and locked the door. He walked towards her and stopped inches from her and quietly observed her. She looked sad and disconcerted. "Anjali, are you ok?" He stepped closer to her, stood beside her and waited for her to answer him.

Anjali glanced at Aditya. She had been so lost in thought that she hadn't even heard him come in. She sighed, leaned her head on the windowpane, and starred back at him. "Tell me something Aditya, what am I missing?" When he looked back at her with puzzled expression, she continued. "I mean what is it about me, that makes you guys hate me so much? It is something I can't figure out."

He didn't know why but her question angered him. She had acted all calm since she left her father's house, but inside she must have been thinking about her father's words to her, and now they have taken a strong hold on her and if he didn't bring her back, she is going to be lost to them forever. "I don't know about your father, but I can promise you, your brother and I don't hate you. Yes, we were swayed by wrong people and believed them instead of you, but that does not mean we hate you." He could see that he was not getting through to her. He grabbed her and pulled her against him roughly.

"Does this feel like I hate you?" He didn't wait for her to answer, he brought his lips down to hers and kissed her roughly, she froze for a moment, then struggled to get out of his arms, he tightened his hold on her and softened the kiss. He felt her relax against him and finally put her arms around him. He felt her lips part slightly and he immediately deepened the kiss by tangling his tongue with hers. Pretty soon the kiss spiraled out of control. Somewhere in the recess of his mind, Aditya thought if he didn't stop soon, they would reach a point of no return. He didn't want to take her when she is in no condition to make the right decision. He forced the kiss on her to prove a point, but if he didn't stop soon, things will backfire on him.

Anjali had stopped thinking the moment she felt his lips soften on hers, she had lost all her senses when she felt him deepened the kiss. The moment they left her father's house, she had stopped feeling anything but fear. She had felt nothing but cold from the inside, she had feared she would never warm up again, but the instant he took her in his arms she felt the warm feeling returning slowly.

She tightened her arms around him when she felt him start to pull away from her, she didn't want to loose the warmth of his arms around her, the more she tried to come closer to him, the more she felt him pull away from her. She came crashing down to her senses when she felt him stiffen in her arms. She froze, it seems she did it again, thrown herself at him, to be rejected once again, when will she learn? She dropped her arms to her side and took a few steps back, away from him. She couldn't look at him, so she turned away and took a few deep breaths to control her emotions, she did not want him to see the hurt in her eyes at his rejection.

The minute she turned away from him, Aditya realized he just made things worst between them instead of making them better. Aditya Mehta, you are a first class idiot. He groaned when he heard the mocking voice in his head. He had thoroughly bungled things with her, and how was he going to fix this? He took a step towards her, "Anjali...." She didn't let him finish.

"Aditya I am really tired, can we talk about this some other time please?" she gave him a fleeting glance without meeting his eyes and walked towards the bed.

He could not do anything but stand there and watch helplessly as she got in the bed and turned away from him. He wanted to kick himself for making her feel worst instead of better. Now he has to wait for tomorrow to explain to her why he pulled away from her. He walked out of the room to give her the space she asked for instead of getting in the bed beside her.

When Aditya woke up the next morning Anjali was already gone from the room. He had come back to the room late last night, she had been sleeping peacefully, but he had noticed the tear tracks on her face. He wished he had kept things light and not added to her misery. He got up quickly to get ready for the day. They will be going to office late because of Rakshabandhan, but he needed to get ready for the rituals.

Meanwhile Anjali was in the kitchen preparing sweets for puja and also lunch for everyone. She had informed her mother-in-law and Hina auntie about her brother coming for Rakhi, the night before. They had been delighted at the news.

Her mother-in-law had taken her aside that morning and asked how she was felt now that her brother was back, Anjali hadn't been sure, but Ramila had eased her upset by explaining to not hold on to her anger, and now that her brother knows the truth, she should take the chance and mend the relationship.

Anjali had thought long and hard about what her mother-in-law said, but she was still unable to bring herself to forgive. It is so much easier said then done, and she was having hard time coming up with any resolution in her own mind. She will do her duty as a sister today and tie the rakhi on her bhai's wrist, but this time without any expectations.

Her brother was not the only one she was having hard time forgiving. Her feelings for Aditya are really unbalanced. She still couldn't figure out why he had pulled back from her last night after initiating the kiss in the first place. Her doubts re-surfaced once again. Has he changed his mind about her again? What kind of game is he playing with her? She is almost afraid to find out, that is why she hadn't given him a chance last night to talk, and for her reason to be up early this morning to stay out of his way.

She looked at the clock it was almost seven. Aditya must be up already. She prepared his tea and took it up to the room. He was still in the bathroom. She quickly remade the bed. Laid out his clothes for the day, and made sure she put all his other things with it. Her back was turned to the bathroom door so she didn't hear when he stepped out and quietly closed and locked the door to their room.

Anjali froze when she heard the click of the lock. She closed her eyes to compose herself before turning towards him. When she turned towards Aditya and saw him standing there with nothing but towel around his waist, she immediately wished she hadn't turned.

Her brain screamed for her to turn away, but her eyes and feet refused to move, in fact her whole body was frozen in reverence. Her eyes roamed over his bulging biceps then moved to his broad chest and finally to his six pack abs. She avoided the bottom half of his body and moved her gaze upward retracing all parts with her eyes again. She wished she had her sketchpad in her hand, she wanted to capture him just like this. Her eyes moved up to his face, when she met his eyes, her gaze was immediately snagged by his, and refused to let her look away.

Aditya moved towards her without taking his eyes off her. He had immediately noticed her reaction to him, and was relieved to see what he was looking for, he wondered if she knew how much she gave away with just one look. He watched as her expression turned blank as he moved closer to her, but it was too late, she gave herself away with that first look. He stopped in front of her, and she gazed at him helplessly, she couldn't hide her reaction to him when he was this close to her.

"Anjali, how do you feel?" When she looked at him questioningly, he clarified. "I mean, how do you feel this morning after the events of yesterday? Because what I am about to do will not leave any doubts in your mind about how much I want you, and the only reason I stopped last night was because I didn't think you were ready to make any decisions rationally regarding our relationship. I did not want you to regret anything and that is why I pulled away, not because I changed my mind about you." He waited to see if she understood what he was saying. She dropped her gaze to her feet.

He wasn't expecting a response from her, but waited for her to say something. When several moments passed and she still didn't say anything, he sighed. He took her chin in his hand and brought her gaze back up again. He put his arms around her to pull her closer to him.

He kept one arm around her to keep her from moving away from him. He brought his other hand to cup her face, Anjali had closed her eyes. Aditya kept looking at her and waited. After a while she finally opened her eyes, when she opened her eyes and stared back into his, he leaned forward and placed his lips on hers in a light kiss without closing his eyes, when he saw her eyes flare in response he closed his eyes and deepened the kiss. He placed both his arms around her to bring her closer.

As soon as he deepened the kiss, Anjali was lost. She tentatively brought her hands up and placed them on his bare chest. When he felt her hands on his chest, he felt a electric shock go through his body, he groaned and lifted Anjali off her feet of bring her even closer, to let her feel his body's reaction to their closeness. When he lifted Anjali, her arms automatically went around his neck to hold on tight.

The kiss lasted for few moments, but felt like an eternity. He finally broke away from her lips and gave her a series of kisses down the column of her neck, then buried his face in her neck, Anjali in turn also placed her head on his shoulder. After a while Aditya finally placed her on her feet, but continued to hold her. "If I had more time I would show you just how much I want you and to what extent I can go to, to prove to you that you are my one and only."

Just then they heard a knock on the door, and Mani, their maid, calling out to Anjali.

"Anjali bhabhi, Ramila mam is calling you downstairs."