Next morning Anjali woke up with a vague memory of a dream where she was in a maze and couldn't find her way out of it.

She turned her head to check the time and was shocked to see Aditya sleeping close to her, holding her hand. She vaguely remembered him putting a cold cloth on her forehead, or had she been dreaming that too?

She moved her hand experimentally to see if he was awake, when he didn't move she slowly slipped her hand out of his. She had just moved to sit up when he woke up and sat up beside her.

"How are you feeling?" He reached up and felt her forehead to be sure. He was relieved to feel the coolness of her skin. He moved his hand down and cupped her cheek while she sat there frozen. He couldn't help caressing the smooth skin under her eye with his thumb. He wanted to sit just like that all day.

Anjali moved away from him forcing him to drop his hand to his side. "I am fine. It's almost six am, I have to get ready." She quickly left the bed, gathered her clothes and went in to the bathroom without looking at him.

Aditya laid back down on the bed, put his hand behind his head and thought about their conversation from the night before. He was still in the same position when she came out of the bathroom little while later. She continued on with her daily routine while his eyes followed her every movement.

She felt his eyes boring in her back but didn't dare turn around. She didn't want him to start the conversation from the night before. She glanced at the clock when he still stayed in the same position. "It's almost seven, are you not going to office today?"

He hid a smile, he had wondered if she would say anything when he didn't get up. He finally moved from his position on the bed, but instead of moving to the bathroom he moved towards her. She stepped back when he kept moving towards her, she finally stopped when the back of her legs hit the dressing chair.

He stopped in front of her, leaned towards her and tucked the wayward strand of hair behind her ear. He looked in to her eyes. "We are not finished, don't think I've forgotten about our conversation last night. You are not leaving me, I will go to any length to stop you from leaving me."

Anjali glared at him and he was glad to see the spark in her eyes, it's better than seeing the hurt and pain in her eyes. She was left speechless. That's how their friendship in college had started, after the meeting in the library he hadn't given her a choice. She remembered the next time she had seen him in the library he had sat beside her without her permission and started talking to her randomly until she gave in and talked to him.

Aditya realized in order to win Anjali's trust he had to use the same technique he had used in college, don't give her a choice in anything. If he gave her a choice, he will never be able to stop her from leaving him. He gave her his best smile and left her standing there thinking about his words.

*~+~*

Two days later the life of Mehta House was back. Kajal Mehta returned home after completing her last year of college. She was looking forward to spending time with her family, especially Anjali. At first she hadn't liked her bhabhi, only because Anita had told Kajal some lies about her, trying to turn Kajal against Anjali. But she had soon realized that Anita was not what she made herself out to be, and realized that her sister-in-law was a genuinely a wonderful person who cared for everyone, especially Aditya.

Kajal had been so disappointed in her brother on the night of the party, when she had seen him blasting at her bhabhi, who had stood there frozen, unable to utter even one word. She had decided right then and there that she would help her sister-in-law.

After that night Kajal had started spending time with Anjali, and gotten to know her, and now she was very close to her, as if they were sisters. Her relationship with her brother had been strained since that night, there was a distance between the three siblings that had not been there before, and none of them knew how to bridge that gap.

While Kajal was making her way home, so was Anjali's brother. Raj Shah was coming home after four years. When he had left India he had broken ties with the most important relationship in his life. Now that he is returning, he has broken all ties with a relationship that had caused him to hurt the most important person in his life, his sister, Anjali.

He looked at the passing clouds as he sat in the flight from Mumbai to Rajkot, and thought about his sister. He knew his sister had gotten married eight months ago, and he hadn't been able to make it to the wedding, because at the time he was fighting his wife for a divorce. He hadn't wanted his father to know about his divorce and he had stopped Nisha from contacting his mami about it also. He had threatened and blackmailed Nisha in order to gain her cooperation.

The divorce had been finalized last week, and Raj left as soon as possible, he couldn't wait anymore to see his sister and start mending their relationship. He hoped it wasn't too late for him to make it up to her.

Anjali unaware of how her life is about to change, is very excited to see Kajal finally returning for good, and was busy making all of her favorite dishes. She was feeling much better, she supposed in all the excitement of Kajal's return she forgot about being tense about everything else, and so she started feeling better.

As for Anjali's relationship with Aditya, she didn't know what to make of it. For the past two days he has been everywhere, always standing close to her or touching her. He has managed to totally confuse her. She had finally reconciled herself to life of lonely existence then he comes along and changes the rules on her again. She refused to trust his changed feeling, she couldn't go through his rejection yet again, so she ignored all his overtures to get to close to her.

Aditya was in his study, trying to finish some last minute work, but he was having hard time concentrating on work. His mind kept going back to the phone call he had received at the office earlier.

He had just returned from an important meeting, when his secretary informed him that a Mr. Raj Shah wanted to speak to him. At first Aditya had been confused, because he didn't know a Raj Shah, but then his secretary had clarified further by informing him that Mr. Shah claims to be Anjali's brother. His mind had cleared instantly and asked his secretary to put the call thru to his office.

Aditya and Anjali's brother had talked for a while, before Raj informed him that he needed to meet Aditya and speak to him about Anjali. He invited Raj to come to the house, but Raj refused, telling him that Anjali might not be ready to see him yet. They agreed to meet at Aditya's office the next day.

"Bhai?" Aditya turned his chair when he heard his sister call him.

"Kajal, come in, did you need something?" He watched as his sister stepped into the study and closed the door.

"No, I didn't want anything, just wanted to see how you are doing." Kajal could see her bhai was stressed about something. In the past she would have teased him out of his somber mood, but things changed after that night.

He got up from his chair and came around to the desk to lean on it. "I am fine Kajal, I can see you are still upset with me."

"Yes, I was upset with you, but I could also see you have regret about your behavior, so I can't stay mad at you. I take it you tried to make it up to bhabhi, but she is having no part of it." Kajal raised her eyebrows and smirked at him.

He was annoyed at how easily his sister read him. "How do you know I am trying to make it up to her?" Thank god she didn't know that Anjali and he knew each other in college, and what had happened in college.

Kajal laughed at his annoyance. "The way you kept starring at her through dinner, then trying to get close to her, but all she kept doing was moving away from you or glaring at you."

He crossed his arms and shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, well, she is not ready to forgive yet. But don't worry she will eventually, she loves me." Kajal raised an eyebrow at his arrogance.

Just then Vishal also joined them in the study. "Hey, what are we talking about?"

Aditya raised an eyebrow at him. "Couldn't stay away could you? We are not talking about anything."

Kajal spoke up before he could ask what Vishal wanted. "Bhai claims bhabhi loves him and I want to know what makes him so sure."

Vishal looked at Aditya thoughtfully. "Even I noticed you trying to get close to bhabhi." Vishal couldn't contain the teasing glint in his eyes.

Aditya threw up his hands in defeat. "Like anything gets by you, you were hardest to keep secrets from when we were kids."

All three of them laughed at their childhood memory, and just like that their relationship was back on track. As children the three siblings had fought like any other, but hadn't been able to stay mad at each other for long, this was the longest that Aditya's siblings had been upset with him, but that too with a justifiable reason.

Kajal looked at him waiting for answer to her question. "Bhai, you didn't answer me, why are so sure that she loves you?"

He was saved from answering Kajal, because object of their conversation picked that moment to call them to family room. Kajal and Vishal spoke at the same time. "Saved again."

Aditya glared at them, while Anjali gave them a confused look and walked back out of the room.

Later that night he was sitting on his bed, with his laptop open in front of him, but really not working, he was still wondering why Raj wanted to see him first, and not come see Anjali right away.

She walked in few minutes later, took her clothes from the closet and went into the bathroom.

He looked up and saw something fall out of her closet. He got up from the bed to check. He noticed it was some kind of an envelope. He picked it up. It felt bulky so he turned it around to check the front.

He saw that it was addressed to her brother, but was surprised to see the return to sender stamp on it. He quickly put the envelope back in the closet and went back to sit on the bed.

Anjali came out of the bathroom wearing a simple pink sari. When she finished with her nightly routine, she sat down in the chair to make the list for Rakshabandhan. She wanted to make sure they had everything her mother-in-law had requested for the puja. When she finished the list she looked up to see if Aditya was finished with work, seeing him engrossed in his work she didn't want to disturb him so she decided to read a book. She picked up the book and turned the page to read, but all she did was stare at the same page without reading it for five minutes.

Her thoughts kept going back to what he said to her two mornings ago. She still couldn't figure out why he didn't want to divorce her. She leaned her head back and observed him. He had a slight frown on his face as he typed on the keyboard, he seemed angry at something.

Her eyes roamed over his face, he had been handsome in college but it seems he was more so now. His face had filled out as he matured. Her eyes drifted to his heavily muscled arms, and her mind automatically thought what would it be like to be held securely in those strong arms? How would it feel to lay her head on that broad chest? As always her heartbeat increased at the thought of being held in those strong arms. Anjali never knew when her eyes drifted shut completely and she fell asleep sitting in the chair. Her book fell on the floor from her hand and made a soft thump sound.

Aditya looked up at the sound, and was startled to see Anjali asleep in the chair. He had been so busy trying to finish the report he hadn't even given her a thought. He quickly packed his stuff in his laptop bag and placed it on the table. He walked towards her and just watched her for few seconds. Should he wake her? He extended his arm to shake her shoulder, but changed his mind, and instead lifted her in his arms. He felt her cuddled into his arms as he walked towards the bed. As he bent to put her gently on the bed, he felt her arms go around him. "Please, don't leave me." He lifted his head to see if she was a wake, but she was fast asleep. He frowned thinking he had imagined her saying not to leave her, but when he tried to move away from her he felt her arms tighten around him. He gently unwound her arms and kissed her on the forehead before getting up and covering her with a blanket.