She rose from her sleep, to the sound of sirens blaring in her head. Anupama groaned as she rubbed her eyes, for the ceiling was hazy and so were her senses. Sitting up to support her head against the headboard, she winced as a jolt of splitting headache hit her.

"Why is my head so...?" She trailed, pinching her eyes shut as she pressed the side of her head.

Looking around the room then, she found a familiar silhouette seated at the opposite corner of bed and called out to him, "Anuj...aap yahan...." She winced again, vaguely recalling the colors, the dance, the drink...

She tried again but failed to recollect anything beyond that point. She addressed the man again. "Anuj!"

"Haan, Anu. You are up. I'm sure your head must be ringing. I have placed a crocin on your side table, so help yourself".

Heeding to his words, she reached for the medicine and swallowed it in another gulp, hoping for the drug to start working soon. But something was weird.

Anuj was behaving strangely. He was still sitting with his back facing her, and had not even bothered to turn while speaking.

"Aap theek hain?" She asked, as she got off the bed and walked around it, towards him.

Instantly he turned his face away, baffling her. "Anuj, aapne aise muh kyun fera?" She asked, taking hold of his shoulder.

"Nahi woh...mere face..par..pakka rang lag gaya hai. Kafi funny...lag raha hoon"

"I don't mind. Muh idhar ghumaiye!" She replied as she tried to turn him by his shoulder, but Anuj resisted unnaturally hard.

"Anuj!" Bewildered, she moved over to the other side and this time he hid his face in his palms.

She caught hold of his palms then, and tried to pry them off. "Why are being so adamant?! Show me!"

"And why are being so stubborn?! Just let me be!" Anuj shouted in response but Anu refused to be deterred.

"Aapko meri kasam! Haath hataiye!" His palms fell loose at her words, and finally she pried them off, and taking his face in her hands, made him look up.

And the sight stole her breath, as her eyes blew wide and her palms slipped off his face.

"Ye..kya..."

Anuj looked down ashamed, biting his lips. "I am sorry, Anu. I should have resisted harder". He looked up again, tears gathering in his eyes. "I am sorry".

Her gaze shifted below his face, and travelled over his throat before going over to his collar bone. Gulping, she moved a step closer and opened another few buttons of his kurta. The view made her gasp, and she looked into his eyes horrified. "Ye sab kya..."

There were lipstick marks all over his face, neck and chest.

"Did something happen...between us?" Anupama stammered, and as Anuj stole his gaze at her query, she slumped on the bed, by his side, too shocked.

"Kese?"

He buttoned himself up, and apologized again. "I am so sorry, Anu. You were drunk but I wasn't. I should have resisted. I should have held onto reason rather than going with the flow. But you were coming so strongly that I—

He shook his head then, his expression pained, "No, these are just filthy excuses. I-I am not even in a position to apol—

"Ek minute!" She interrupted his rambling, "I was coming strongly?! M-Matlab?"

He pursed his lips shut at her prodding gaze but she shook him by his elbow. "Answer me, Anuj!"

He dawdled for a few seconds, trying to phrase and rephrase the words before he recounted the situation- her drunken dance, how she was making pass at him, how she tried to kiss him and when he turned his head, she bit his ear. Anuj showed her his bruised ear at that, and Anupama covered her mouth with her palm.

"I-I wasn't against any of this happening, Anu. I wasn't! It's just that I wanted both of us to be lucid when we took our relationship forward. I tried to get my point across too, but you were so far gone in the moment, and I also fell weak against your seduction and...things happened". And he turned his face away.

Few seconds later, Anuj decided to turn to check her reaction. But he heard a sob, and zipped around to find his Anu, bawling her eyes out.

"Anu! Arre, don't cry please!!" Anuj panicked as he rushed to console her. He wasn't planning on taking the joke this far!

"Anu..Anu..kuch nahi hua!" He tried to placate her while she kept on profusely apologizing, "Surri...surri..surri..."

"Why are you saying sorry? Main sorry...I mean I am sorry, I was just—

"Aap kyun sorry ho. I was the one at fault. Just because you l-love me doesn't mean I-I am allowed to force myself on you like that!"

And Anuj froze, as it dawned on him that she wasn't per-se crying over the fact that they had slept together, she was crying because she thought she had slept with him against his consent!

'YOU are such an asshole, Anuj!' He chided himself before he clasped her shoulders and tried to drag her out of her shame and guilt.

"Anu, meri pyaari Anu. You can never do me any harm. I am sorry. It was a prank. I-I was just kidding. Nothing like that happened between us. I mean that yes, we may have taken a few steps forward in our relationship but that's it. We didn't s-sleep together. I swear. We didn't!"

As she registered his words, she fixed her gaze on him and repeated, "We didn't sl-slee..p to-together?"

He shook his head in response.

"T-then what about these lipstick marks?"

He wiped her tears with the back of his hand and smiled impishly, "Ek second!" He quickly went to her dressing table, opened the drawer and fisted a few things before rushing back.

Opening his fist he revealed her lipstick and a sponge pad, "I imprinted the sponge pad with my lips, using your lipstick and...then...traced the sponge all over my body".

She punched him on the arm then, for giving her a scare and pouted as he tried to cajole her. "Aap bahot bure hain, mujhe baat nahi karni!"

"Arre, Anu! Really sorry! Please!" He pleaded holding his hear, but flinched on grazing the fresh bite mark, catching her attention.

"Aur ye nishaan?" She caressed the obvious teeth mark and Anuj shrugged, "This one is yours for the taking! I swear!"

Anuj recounted how he was expecting her to go for his lips but she bit his ears instead. As the man narrated the events truthfully, flashes of images started pouring in and Anupama colored as her memory attested to the information, he was providing.

"W-We kissed?"

He nodded.

"I don't recall that", she remarked but failed to conjure the memory.

Anuj leaned closer mischievously, "Shall I help in refreshing your memory?"

She pushed him back by flattening her palm against his chest and narrowed her eyes at him, "Baat khatam kijiye".

"If you insist", Anuj added cheekily as he went into flashback mode.

"Anu", Anuj pulled away from the kiss while his fingers started playing with her tendrils.

She hummed in response, while her chest heaved from the lack of breath.

"Will you be able to remember everything? I, for example, am a horrible drunk. I can never gather my memory of a drunken escapade. Ever"

She nodded in negative, her speech slurred. "I-I do recall b-but in bits and pieces on-nly"

"Figures", he said and placing a kiss against her forehead, proceeded to pull away.

She caught his hand swiftly, her eyes seeking his. "Why are you leaving?"

"Because Anu, ek khoobsurat lamhe ki haseen yaadon ka zehen main theherna utna hi zaroori hai. I want our first time to be so beautiful that its memory will brand itself into our heads for eternity. And I refuse to be the only one, to live in the reminiscence".

She nodded in response, her eyelids heavy. "Sleep with me then?"

"But Anu abhi toh maine—

"Just sleep?" She clarified, her eyes threatening to drop shut and Anuj obliged slipping into the bed next to her and she readjusted her head on his arm, threw an arm over his stomach and drifted into slumber.

And in the next five minutes, Anuj followed suit.

"And when I woke up, I decided to tease you a bit and here we are", Anuj concluded his narration, as he tried to rub the lipstick off with his bare hands.

"Stop! You are making it worse!" Anu remarked as she opened another drawer and pulled out a bottle of make-up remover. Putting it against the tissue then, she started to wipe his face and neck.

"That reminds me, I thinks someone spiked our drinks on intention", Anuj stated as she handed him the bottle to use on the rest of his body, when back home.

"Who would do that?" She questioned back, straightening her hair and clothes.

"There are a few suspects", Anuj replied, before adding, "And so I think, I should get out of here quick before your family comes back".

She nodded to his suggestion, and quietly, unlatched the door, and checked the hallways for anyone's presence. On finding no one, she signaled Anuj to follow, and was almost at the main door of the house when everyone stepped inside.

Kavya grinned as she saw the two together, and then snuck a glance at baa. She was fuming. Kavya had already pointed out the two missing heads, and baa had cursed them enough for their obscene behavior. But seeing them together, inside Shah House, when everyone was outside, was going to spell another catastrophe!

"Tum kya kar rahe thhe andar?" Baa asked.

"Gujiya kha raha tha, baa", Anuj responded revealing the gujiya, that he had nabbed from the kitchen.

"Itni der se?" Kavya asked next and Anuj and Anupama realized from her scheming smile, that she was the perpetrator of their spiked drinks.

"Kitni der se?" Anupama added, and Kavya grinned, "Picchle do ghanto se!"

Baa's eyes widened at the information while Anuj's closed in frustration.

"Anuj was helping me as I was feeling sick".

"Sick? Tujhe kya hua tha?" Baa enquired next, and Anupama looked at Kavya pointedly, "Kisi ne meri cold drink main alcohol daal diya tha, baa".

"Last time when you got drunk Anupama, there were a lot of things you did but you didn't fall sick", Kavya chimed in with her input before continuing, "And unsurprisingly, both of you are colored the same from head to toe. Seems like you rubbed off on each other".

"That we did. Long back", Anuj interjected, his face schooled and proceeded to leave, "Now if you'll excuse me".

However, the bottle of remover fell out of his kurta pocket and Kavya spotted it. "Since when have you been using make up, Anuj?" Kavya stopped Anuj from behind, as she presented the remover before taking a look at it, "And what a coincidence it is, that this is the same brand as Anupama's!"

"What I give Anuj, is none of your business. Is it?" Anupama came forward in their defense and Kavya smirked before she walked over to Anuj, and catching him off guard tugged at his collar to reveal lipstick marks near his shoulder.

"Your gifts are so thoughtful, Anupama. I am sure, you were in too much of a rush to erase them all, and therefore gave him your remover".

"First of all—

Anupama marched over to Kavya and pulled her hand off Anuj's collar, "--learn some manners".

"Manners?" Baa scoffed, having seen the mark, and added two and two into twenty.

"Mere bête ke ghar main tu paraye mard ke saath gurchhare uddaye, aur meri bahu ko manners samjha rahi hai".

Anuj's jaw ticked at baa's tone, "Jaisa aap soch rahi hai ves—

Anupama however, held his hand and spoke up, "Baa, kisi zamane main aapki iss sanskari bahu ne hi, ek shaadi shuda aadmi ke saath, kisi aur ki sej par..." She left the statement midway and turned her face away in disgust.

Baa rolled her eyes at that, "Toh tu uss baat ka badla, ye besharmi dikhakar le rahi hai?"

It was Anu's turn to laugh bitterly, her heart completely over baa's, at the rinse-repeat game of character assassination.

"Think what you want baa. I am done, with you, with your son and with this house. I kept on coming back, thinking that you will understand me, but I refuse to do this anymore".

"What?" Baa barked, not liking the defiance she was displaying.

"I refuse to live through this constant suffocation. I came back and you wanted me to do all the chores; because your bahu couldn't do them and neither are you capable of arm twisting her into doing the same. Nonetheless, I complied because I respect you. But you continue to hurl accusations at Anuj, every time you see him and he puts up with it, because this is who he is. But baa, I can no longer stand your distaste towards our relationship. Neither can I keep my head down while you walk all over me. No more, baa. No more"

"Meri khud ki life hai baa and I will live it, regardless of your like or dislike. This was the last time, I stepped in this house. And I swear, to never again. Bakuda, please have my things delivered back to the flat".

Samar nodded to his mother's request while Anupama took Anuj's hand in hers and turned to walk away.

"Iske liye tu apne gharwalon ko chhod rahi hai?" Baa asked, shocked.

"Inka naam hai baa- Anuj. Aur isse yaad kar lijiye. Kyuki ab ye Anupama, apne Anuj ke khilaf kuch bhi bardasht nahi karegi. Ek aur cheez—

She addressed Kinjal then, "Kinjal beta, I can't stay here anymore. But do come over, whenever you want to and stay as long as you want to. Vo bhi tera hi ghar hai".

Kinjal nodded her head in agreement, and Anupama and Anuj walked over to bapuji.

Anuj assured bapuji this time, "Nothing happened between us, bapuji".

Bapuji smiled at that, "Mujhe pata hai. Par agar kuch hua bhi hota, toh bhi wo galat nahi hota. Live happily, you two. Live together".

Bending down to take his blessings, the duo joined their hands and walked out of the shah house.

Out of the worst.

For the best.