Yuvaan took me to a surprise shopping spree to a mall because he thought that I was still bothered about our last dinner night with Raghuveer and Tamannah. No matter how many times I told him that I wasn't concerned about his ex-girlfriend, he didn't listen, and thus, we were currently going through a range of spaghetti tops; Yuvaan was of no help.

"Take all of this and go to the changing room. I will pick more clothes till then," he said and retired to the gowns section.

I picked up the pile of various clothes and managed to reach one of the changing rooms without knocking the other customers. For the first dress, I picked up a pretty white frill skirt and matched it with a purple spaghetti top.

It looked so cool!

I swirled around and giggled when the hem of the skirt moved like a whirlpool. I checked my appearance and touched my belly fat — I was gaining a lot of weight. I admired the back view and rolled my eyes when my pervert inner voice chimed in.

Oh look, Reyna. You do have a butt.

Can't you say anything without being sarcastic?

That's my job, girl. And... you look great in these clothes. Why don't you quickly try all of it before Yuvaan comes with some more?

Just as my inner voice said that, I heard a knock on the door, and a salesperson handed me some more clothes sent by my husband. I took a deep breath and got in action. By the time I exited the room, I had tried about over two dozen clothes; I was exhausted.

I shook my head vigorously and ran towards the billing counter when Yuvaan forwarded the shorts he had found. As my bill was getting processed, I told Yuvaan that I was hungry, and we should do some shopping for him.

He made a weird face at that and refused, but I gave him a warning look which was enough for him to oblige and follow me to the men's section. He instantly dived towards the tank tops, so I decided to grab some full casual clothes for him; if allowed, he would wear tank tops even to the office.

"Where are you going?" he asked when I maneuvered to the shelf where the jeans were kept.

"I will be right back."

"Don't go too far."

"I won't. Stop worrying so much."

Yuvaan's face fell, and I furrowed my eyebrows. I assured him that I would return in a jiffy, but he seemed reluctant. I wasn't going to a war, so I was confused why he was making such a sad face. After staring at him in confusion for a minute, I told him to call me if I got late, and he nodded after a lot of contemplation.

What's up with him? Why was he looking at me as if I was gonna abandon him?

I was busy in finding a reason while rummaging through everything in my sight when I noticed a familiar presence some distance away. Shaurya was standing with a pissed off expression and was staring daggers at something which wasn't visible from my position.

Should I call him? But what if he was with someone else and didn't want to be disturbed?

I decided to ignore him and continued shopping. Few moments later, Shaurya himself spotted me and came over to say hi. I kept my distance and gave him a short smile when he complimented my dress. I thought he would leave, but he didn't, and I wasn't finding any excuse to escape too.

"Are you here with someone?" I asked.

"Unfortunately, yes."

I tilted my head at his reply, but when Advait arrived seconds later with two outfits in his hands, I understood why Shaurya was unhappy about being there. Advait acknowledged my presence and quickly left to try the clothes which his friend chose out of the two options.

"By the way, what are you doing in men's section?" he inquired.

"I am picking up some outfits for Yuvaan," I said.

He raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Yuv came here? With you?"

"Yup."

"That's a surprise. He never came whenever we tried to take him along with us," he grumbled. "But again, he still hasn't gotten over his fear of malls."

"He is afraid of coming to shopping places? Why?"

Shaurya thought for a moment, and I thought that he wasn't going to reveal it to me, but he told me not to tell Yuvaan that he told me about the childhood incident, or Yuvaan would beat him up for that.

"When Yuv was about six years old, Shruti Aunty took him to a mall as an apology for missing his birthday. As she was handling two businesses at that time, she didn't get much time for him, so Yuvaan spent most of his time with Grace Nana or alone.

"His mom forgot to take him with her when she got an urgent call about a legal dispute. She was really worried and couldn't think straight; she rushed off to her office and got aware of Yuvaan's absence when her manager reminded her.

"She was scared, and at that time, mobile phones were also not available much, so she drove back to the mall and it took her two hours to reach. Fortunately, she found Yuvaan unharmed and sitting in a corner at the same place she had lost him," Shaurya informed.

"How could she forgot him though? Where was he when she left?"

"He was playing with other kids in the mini play area and wasn't aware that his mom forgot him in the mall. Shruti Aunty was really sorry, but Yuvi thought that she abandoned him on purpose as other people always called him names and bullied him. It took his mother one month to convince him that it wasn't intentional, and Yuvaan to forgive her for her mistake."

I felt bad after listening to what Shaurya told me and widened my eyes when I realised that I hadn't returned to Yuvaan. I moved my feet in a hurry but halted when I noticed him coming in my direction with an accusatory look.

"You got late," he said.

"Why didn't you call me?"

He narrowed his eyes at me and then snapped his gaze at his best friend. When I explained him the reason of me getting late, he calmed down and asked his friend about his presence.

"Advait forced me to come here," Shaurya said.

"What did he do this time?" Yuvaan asked nonchalantly.

"Punched Heena's boyfriend."

"No surprise."

I was confused, so Shaurya told me that Advait had gone to Heena's house to check up on her, but there he saw her boyfriend trying to degrade her, and when he raised his hand on her, Advait punched the guy. So he had come to shopping to distract himself or he would have ended up wreaking havoc in Heena's home.

"You can't keep a secret, can you?" Advait taunted Shaurya when he joined us.

Shaurya shrugged, and Yuvaan assured Advait that he would talk to Heena. After the small counseling session, we got our stuff and went to fill our stomachs. While Shaurya and I relaxed in the cafe, Yuvaan and Advait left to get us our orders. I was admiring the interior while drumming my fingers on the table when I noticed a family of three outside: Dad, Mom, and a small girl between them.

They looked so happy — I couldn't take my eyes off them.

When that little girl pulled her dad's hand and pointed at a soft toy in the toy store, he happily picked her up and took her inside to get the toy she wanted as her mother followed behind with a bright smile on her face. I didn't want to feel sad over someone else's happiness, but I felt a little bit hurt as I remembered my not so happy childhood.

I wished my parents were also loving and understanding; why didn't I get good parents? Did I commit some crime to suffer and get my trust broken by my own family?

I saw the previous family exiting the toy store and averted my gaze when my husband and Advait returned with our food. We ate satisfactorily, and then we headed toward the gaming centre. I purposefully slowed down my pace and stopped near the toy shop after seeing Yuvaan being busy in a heavy conversation with Advait.

I ran my finger over the glass window behind which the beautiful creatures of artificial fur were staring back at me. When I was a kid, I had to control my demands because Mom was always running behind Arman, and Dad never had time to listen to what I wanted. He thought that if he would neglect me, I would automatically stop asking and his money would be safe.

That fucking piece of shi—

"You want to buy something?"

I bobbled my head when Shaurya asked me. I gulped nervously as I wondered if I said aloud what I was thinking. I sighed in relief when he asked me again if I wanted to go inside, and I refused him.

"Come on, Reyna, I can clearly see how much you want to go inside," he said. "It is not good to suppress your emotions."

"I am too old for toys," I blurted.

"You are never too old to play." He smiled. "I will buy it for you."

"Will that be okay?"

"Yup."

Shaurya took me inside the toy store and told me to go through the whole place. I looked at him in surprise, and soon, the kid inside me was back. She squealed so loudly that I felt my head spinning. My original inner voice tried to hold the kid voice under control, but it was useless because I was already hopping from one place to another.

When I was done, Shaurya told the shopkeeper to pack the things I got and gave me a small toy gun as an additional gift. I thanked him and took a sharpie from the penholder kept on the reception desk; I quickly carved my name on the soft plastic.

"Now it is mine, right?" I asked.

"Yes."

"You won't take it from me? Promise?"

Shaurya gave an assuring nod. "It's your gift; I won't take it from you."

I thanked him once more, and when we joined our other group members again, I jumped on Yuvaan and showed him my new gift. He chuckled, and I showed him the toys Shaurya bought for me.

"Why did you give a her a fake gun when she has the real one?" Advait asked Shaurya.

"I think I can gift anything to my sister-in-law," Shaurya taunted.

Both guys shot each other glares, and Advait diverted the topic. He told us about the games we were going to play, so we waited in the queue for the arcade gaming. Meanwhile, Yuvaan was checking my toy gun and asked me why I had carved my name on it.

"So that no one blames me of stealing," I said.

"Who will blame you?" he asked.

I opened my mouth to answer, but my throat constricted as the two voices in my head fought with each other. I was sure I was looking like a fish before my kid persona took over as she trusted Yuvaan the most — she wanted to tell him everything.

"Those kids... They always complained of me stealing their toys and wouldn't let me play with them."

"Why?"

"Because I was too old for their age. They didn't want a big girl in their group."

"You didn't have any friends of your age?" Yuvaan asked in confusion.

"I had... but I was cag—"

"I think," Advait yelled out of the blue, "we are wasting our time here. Why don't we go to the shooting range instead?"

"You don't have to shout so loudly for that," Shaurya scolded.

Advait ignored him and glanced at me. "I know you didn't practice shooting your gun, so let's go and do it today."

He stared at me for a long time and kept repeating the same thing apart from complaining about the gaming centre in a loud voice. I blinked rapidly and agreed with his decision. I felt my kid's voice fading out as I looked at Advait and realised that I was going to spill out the secrets in front of everyone.

Remember to say thanks to him later, Reyna.

I made a mental note to be extra careful whenever my kid persona was in full control, or else I would land myself in a big trouble. We left for the shooting range Advait was talking about, and there, Yuvaan taught me how to handle the gun before I practiced my aim.

I was enjoying it a lot, and Shaurya offered a friendly match. As expected, I lost, but Shaurya complimented me for performing well, and I thanked him.

"You don't have to thank me every time," he said.

"Sorry, it is my habit which won't die easily."

"But I am your brother-in-law. It doesn't look good when you keep acting formal with me."

"You yourself told me you didn't trust me, so how am I supposed to trust you too?" I accused. "Will you believe me if I said that I am not trying to hurt Yuvaan and just want to live the rest of my life in peace?"

I knew he wouldn't. What was the use of even asking? Maybe he gave me those toys as a last gift before he succeeded in throwing me out of his friend's life.

"Yes, I do trust you, Reyna. I am sorry if I was rude to you earlier. I was just trying to protect Yuvaan, nothing else," he said.

I narrowed my eyes at him as I still wasn't convinced. He wasn't showing any sign of lies, but he was a fucking lawyer. He could be manipulating me too.

"It is okay if you don't believe me, but remember that I don't intend any harm. As long as Yuvi is safe, I don't have any issue. Other than that, you don't have to be cautious of me; I am not going to hurt you."

Can I believe what he is saying? Hmmm... let's not say anything right now.

I didn't reply and continued shooting at the target board in front of me. I sensed Shaurya shifting in his spot, but I gave no reaction, and when the last bullet was left in my gun, I made a headshot on the target on his side and looked at him.

"Trust is not a joke, so if you ever break mine, I won't forgive you."

"I promise I won't break it."