7:00 AM — At Aniket’s House
Ira had just woken up from her sleep when there was a knock at her door.
Still half-asleep, she got up and opened it.
The person standing outside took one look at her sleepy face and flicked her forehead lightly.
“So much sleep! You’re the female version of Kumbhkaran!”
Annoyed, Ira muttered, “Why are you bothering me this early…?”
But her sleep vanished in an instant when she saw who it was.
“Brother?!”
Aditya smiled, “Go get ready quickly! I came to have breakfast with you.
If you’re late, I’ll have to leave without eating!”
Hearing that, Ira smirked, “So, you suddenly remembered me early in the morning? What’s the matter?”
Aditya sighed, “Not everyone is greedy like you, my wild cat!
You came back yesterday, right? Ruhi told me!
I wanted to see you, but it was too late at night. Now hurry up and get ready!”
“Fine!” Ira replied, and only then did Aditya leave the room.
With a mischievous smile, she muttered to herself, “No matter where my brother goes… he always ends up coming back to me.”
Downstairs in the living room, Aditya found Shekhar sitting with his usual morning routine — newspaper in one hand, tea in the other.
Aditya smiled and greeted, “How are you, Uncle?”
Shekhar looked up. “I’m fine. But you — so early in the morning?”
Aditya sat down beside him with a deep sigh.
“What can I say, Uncle! You know how it is… Ira’s here, but I hardly have time for her.
Aniket told me last night that she seemed upset.
When I asked Ruhi, she said Ira came to have lunch with me at the office yesterday… but I wasn’t there.”
Shekhar shook his head. “You never learned how to manage your time, did you? Useless boy!”
Aditya stared at him as if Shekhar had just stabbed him in the back.
Seeing his expression, Shekhar smirked, “I’m speaking from experience, you know!”
Aditya raised an eyebrow. “Experience? Oh, I remember… there was a time when people complained about you even more than me!”
Shekhar’s face stiffened. Seeing that, Aditya stood up quickly.
“Hey, I was just joking! Anyway, I should get going!”
But then Shekhar spoke softly, and Aditya’s steps halted.
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“Yes… I know my mistakes.
And from that experience, I can tell you — when you finally realize you’re losing the people you love, it’s already too late to make time for them.
And sometimes… you no longer have the courage to fix it.”
Aditya turned around. Shekhar’s expression had shifted completely.
Aditya looked at him for a moment, then turned back and whispered to himself, “I don’t even have the courage to offer him comfort.
It would take me seven lifetimes to truly understand this man’s emotions.”
Shekhar said one last thing, “From your face, it seems like you want to say something.”
Aditya thought, How does he always know?!
Then he turned toward Shekhar, looked into his eyes, and said, “Uncle, I just wanted to say one small thing — as long as we’re alive, we should keep trying to erase every regret.
I know… Aunty isn’t with us anymore.
But Aniket still is. So don’t give up. Try to erase your regrets through him.
After all, we don’t want to carry our regrets to the grave, do we?”
Aditya smiled — the kind of smile that could melt hearts — but Shekhar’s face remained unchanged.
Then, slowly, a faint smile formed on Shekhar’s lips.
Seeing that, Aditya’s face lit up with a wide grin.
He then asked, “By the way, where’s Aniket? He wasn’t in his room when I came.”
Shekhar replied, “He went out wearing jogging clothes… but I doubt he actually went jogging.”
Confused, Aditya asked, “How do you know?”
Shekhar shook his newspaper and said, “Come on! Who takes a car for jogging?
And my lazy son would never wake up this early for exercise!
If he ever works out, it’s only at night!”
Aditya smiled proudly, “You really know him well!”
Shekhar flinched slightly and hid his face behind the newspaper.
Meanwhile“Where could that idiot of a friend have gone so early in the morning?”
While Aditya kept guessing all the possible places Aniket could be, the one place not on his list was exactly where Aniket’s car stopped —
Aniket stepped out, took a deep breath, and whispered to himself, “You can do this!”
Just as he was about to ring the bell, the door opened.
Standing there was Saaniya — her hair tied up in a bun,
with one loose strand gently brushing against her cheek.
Her eyes looked puzzled.
Before Aniket could say anything, she muttered, “Move aside.”
“What?” he asked in surprise.
She sighed, grabbed his arm, and moved him a bit to the side.
Aniket realized he had been standing on the morning newspaper
the delivery boy had just dropped off a few minutes ago.
Saaniya shook the paper to dust it off and said without looking at him, “Actually, I was meaning to meet you.”
“I know,” he said.
She looked up, surprised.
Aniket continued, “You came to the office yesterday, right? And then home too.
Dad told me. I figured it must be something important, so I thought I’d come myself.
Tell me — why were you looking for me so desperately yesterday?”
Without a word, Saaniya walked inside.
Aniket followed her to the living room.
She went into her room and returned holding a small box — the very same gift box Aniket had once given her.
He looked at it, disappointed.
Extending the box toward him, Saaniya said coldly, “I told you, I don’t like meaningless gifts.
I just wanted to return your earrings.”
Aniket took the box and said softly, “I wouldn’t waste my fuel for something this small.”
Saaniya’s eyes flickered toward his hand — the bandages were still there.
And suddenly, she remembered the night he broke his car window in anger, when she had said, ‘I’ll never shed a drop of blood without reason — unlike you!’
Turning her gaze away, she asked quietly, “So, no anger today? Not like that night?”
Aniket smiled faintly. “Anger? No… it only hurts me in the end.
Actually, I gave you that gift because I wanted to tell you that…”
He trailed off, hesitating.
“What?” Saaniya asked. “What did you want to say?”
Aniket looked into her eyes. “Do you know what a butterfly symbolizes?”
She shook her head.
He smiled. “Then you should read something other than medical books someday — stories, maybe poems — then you’d know.
Anyway, I gave you that gift because I didn’t want you to feel jealous of your friend.
Anamika was getting so many gifts, and you weren’t, so I thought…”
Before he could finish, Saaniya interrupted sharply, “I’m not that kind of person!
Maybe I’m selfish, but I’m not petty enough to be jealous of someone’s happiness!”
Aniket gave a small smile.
“Hmm… sorry! I was just explaining why I gave it.
You said you don’t like meaningless gifts, that’s why!
Anyway, now that you know the meaning—”
“I don’t want it,” she cut him off coldly.
Aniket lowered his gaze. “I knew you’d say that.”
He turned to leave, but paused at the door and said softly, "You know, I like frozen lakes.
But not because they’re frozen — because beneath that ice lies a beautiful world, a world words can’t describe.”
Saaniya didn’t quite understand.
He walked back to her, gently touched her forehead, and asked, “Tell me — do you like rivers? Or seas? Or lakes? Or mountains? What do you like?”
Saaniya brushed his hand away.
“The meaning behind your words doesn’t sound that simple.”
Aniket smiled, leaned slightly closer, and whispered, “Smart girl. Then figure out what I meant. I’ll wait — for the day you understand.”
He turned and walked out.
At his car, he looked at the small gift box in his hand.
His heart ached, but he smiled softly and said, “For now… you’re a promise. The day she trusts me… you’ll return to her.”
His smile carried hope — and with that hope, he drove away.
From the balcony above, Saaniya watched his car disappear.
Her eyes were filled with questions — but whom could she ask?
So, with those questions and that silence,she quietly returned to her work.
