"How's Jijaji? Is he doing fine?" asked Shikha, chewing the vegetarian pulao mixed with the rich gravy of paneer butter masala fed by her elder sister. Vikram had insisted on the choicest of foods for the recuperating pregnant lady.

Sunaina's hands, mixing the rice with gravy, stopped for a moment before she let out an anxious sigh and continued with the task at hand. "Doctors say he's doing okay. The stitches seem to heal well. If it was not for the timely intervention of those men..."

Sunaina could not find her voice to complete the sentence. The menacing cackles of the hooligans sent to tackle them reverberated in her eyes, and she shut her eyes to erase the merciless glimmer in their bloodshot eyes.

"Jiji..."

Sunaina's eyes flung open, and she pushed the stray tendrils of her hair behind her ears with a sniffle. "Sorry. I don't think we should talk about whatever happened at the safe-house for a few days."

Shikha looked down into her lap and gave a slight nod. Her right hand, free from the blood pressure cuff, rested against her belly and her fingers ran across the curve, muttering an apology to herself for posing danger to her little one on that fateful day.

Sunaina filled another spoon and directed it towards Shikha's downward curved mouth. "I didn't expect Vikram to agree to marrying you. He appeared quite distressed and despaired to see you in an unconscious state. He's changed a lot," she said.

Shikha's pale and chapped lips set into a thin line in response to her sister's observations and deductions. She swallowed the morsel in her mouth without masticating it to a fine paste. "I'm not keen on showering praises on him, Jiji. My heart cannot accept he's doing it without an ulterior motive, and he has no one but his past self to blame for that."

Sunaina shook her head as she arched her eyebrows at the predictable reply from Shikha. "I agree. I know you spent every moment over the past five years under the terror of Vikram tearing your new life apart. I know that, Shikha! I know it snatched every remnant of peace from you. Which is why you have to let go of that fear and animosity towards him."

Wrinkles marred the root of Shikha's nose and creased her forehead. Her eyes narrowed, and she cast a look of disbelief at her. "What do you mean, Jiji?"

Sunaina clasped her sister's hand with her free hand and contemplated over her choice of words for a few tense moments. "The emotional upheaval he causes in you is not worth it, Shikha. Not with your current condition. I will not result in an environment fit for an impressionable young child if you don't call a truce and develop an amicable relationship with him.

Shikha wretched her hand out of Sunaina's grip. "I don't know how to call a truce or develop a friendship with him, Jiji."

Sunaina gave her younger sister a wry smile. With her nostrils flared and eyes averted, her disdain for the topic was more than clear. "You won't know till you try it, Shikha. You can either hold on to the past and make it tougher for everyone, including your own baby, or have a fresh start and ease the torment of your own heart. The choice is yours!"

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Shikha had not expected to see Vikram Singhal's face when she gave permission to the person knocking at her door to enter. The doctor had discharged her after words of great caution and had placed several restrictions on her daily activities.

Shikha had taken to eying the lifeless and bland walls of her room. The bare grey colored walls reminded her of the blandness of her own life. The faded colors of her pilled kurtas, the ashen face of hers, and the colorful dreams of her which had turned into ash; the semblance was unmissable to her.

Vikram left the door open behind him and made his way towards her with his head tilted towards the ground. She had not missed the file in his hands, and it took little thought or time for her to identify the documents in them.

"The affidavit for marriage registration. Sunaina provided the documents on your behalf. You just need to sign," he said, forwarding the opened file towards her.

Her fingers wrapped around the file, and anticipation and apprehension wrapped around her heart. She disengaged the pen's cap from the file and alternated her nervous gaze between Vikram and the stamp papers ahead of her.

The space for the husband's signature bore the extravagant, elegant and almost calligraphic signature of Vikram Singhal. She had not imagined signing another marriage affidavit, least of all one bearing the signature of Vikram Singhal, but she had knocked at the door she had herself shut close in the past.

"So, we'll be husband and wife from today! All the more reason for me to tease you, Ms. Cautious!" said Samar, leaning towards her with a mischievous smirk as they waited for their turn at the sub-registrar's office. Their group of witnesses, including Sunaina and Rajeev, sniggered at the to-be wed couple.

Shikha rolled her eyes and punched at his shoulder. "Careful, Mr. Overkill! You might find yourself on the couch on your wedding night!" she said, with a playful smirk dancing on her lips alongside a rosy hue over her cheeks.

"Oh! I didn't know couch romance was on your mind! You should have said it before, sweetheart!" he said, transforming the rosy hue into a crimson splay and she shook her head in mock annoyance.

"It's been ages since I saw my sister in such exaltation, Samar! I hope and pray for your long and prosperous togetherness!" said Sunaina, beaming at the giggling couple.

"Whether it's long or short, I hope she doesn't forget to smile. With or without me, I want her to have every happiness of the world!" he said, placing a gentle kiss at her knuckles.

Tears swirled in her desolate eyes and they rolled down to kiss the gentle upward curve of her lips at the resurfacing of the bygone era. Her desperate eyes traveled over Vikram's shoulders and towards the photo capturing their cheerful faces. With a sharp inhale, she looked down at the papers and scribbled away her signature before her resolve dissolved into nothingness.

'Shikha Singh Rathore' read her signature, and he did not miss the way the tips of her fingers caressing the signature with a reverence that rattled him from within. She returned the file without meeting his gaze after signing on the other pages.

"Shekhar will file them with the sub-registrar. We will let the news leak after the confirmation. Let me know if you need something," he said, turning on his heel to leave when she wrapped her trembling fingers around his wrist and stopped him.

He searched for a hint of the reverence bearing semblance to the time she ran her fingers over her signature, and instead of the adoration he craved, he found apprehension and anxiety ravaging her from within. In that moment of stark contrast, Vikram realized how a conqueror had lost and how the bestower had won.

"I know we have a lot of going on in our minds and we have a lot of baggage pulling us into a whirlpool of emotions, Vikram. I...I want to make a fresh start. Can we be friends?"

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