Raghav's POV:

Eighteenth birthday; usually known as the first benchmark, after which 25th, 50th etc benchmarks follow.

Of course nothing physically changes between our 17 year body and 18 year body, but many other things does. That's the day when we turn into adults. It is a special day, which most of us desperately await.

Sia did too. Not to acquire the voting rights or to get allowed to the places that were 'adults only', but to get away from her father.

Yes, she had stayed with us in the name of vacation; but now she legally wanted to part away from him. And I supported her decision. I had already prepared everything and was just waiting for her birthday. After becoming an adult, she didn't need her parent's permission to change her surname.

Sia removed herself from her family tree and joined ours. From that day onwards, she took on our surname and became my sister legally.

It was our luck that Tanya's parents didn't realize anything. They gave into my sweet talk (actually Rishi's because I don't have that talent) and let it all happen.

Rishi had gone to them, dressed as their son-in-law(me) and took out all the necessary documents. They readily agreed thinking I was investing in their name and that money would come back to them.

The means were wrong, but our intention wasn't to harm them. It was the opposite. We wanted to save Sia from getting harmed by them.

We were happy that Sia was free from their clutches and won't have to go through the situations Tanya did. Sia was finally a free bird. However in all these, the girl never got to celebrate the birthday like an regular eighteen year old would. There was no party, no enjoyment, only the relief that she was free.

Tanya was already sad that Sia didn't get the happiness she deserved but her leaving the town in the following week totally destroyed her. She tried hard to look happy and encouraged Sia with all her might. There wasn't a single moment where she showed her sadness. But the second Sia left, the spark of Tanya's eyes disappeared too.

Unknown to herself, Tanya was really expressive. Her eyes gave away her true feelings. It was only through them, I understood her fear at the start of our marriage. And now her eyes were the only ones who informed me about her sadness behind her wide smile.

★★★★★

Tanya was missing Sia's presence. And to avoid thinking about her, she spent almost her whole time in her academy. Even after coming home, she busied herself with the house work. We tried stopping her as she was overworking her body, but she didn't listen. She even went as far as to clean everything. Just think: Tanya and Cleaning.

I didn't want her to go on the path I did. Becoming a workaholic to keep my mind away from Naina. That routine made me miss so much of the fun, family moments and so many things, life had to offer me. Even now, I had trouble adjusting while trying to stop overworking. It was so hard to leave that nature.

Although I wished to spend more time at home, I rushed off to work whenever something happened. The time didn't matter, my wish to spend time with my family didn't matter, I just couldn't stop it on my will.

I understood that she was missing Sia. Heck, we all were. When we got attached to Sia in such a small time of her living with us, then Tanya, she was her sister. It was obvious that Tanya got affected the most. I understood all of it, yet I couldn't let Tanya follow the same path like me. I had to do something and hence I called upon my most trusted people.

"Don't you think, calling us in the office for anything other than work matters isn't fair?" Rishi asked with gritted teeth.

"Like you only work and don't do anything else", I snorted.

"What do you mean?" He asked defensively.

"Oh please, don't act like I don't know you. You were playing a game, weren't you? There's no way you would be this angry if I called you in between the work".

'Ah! Seriously. This man doesn't really acknowledge that I know him inside out'.

Trisha laughed at my guess. "He was at the last level. Lost badly as your call interrupted him", she informed me amidst her laughs.

At least Rishi had the decency to look guilty upon getting caught.

"Everything aside. Please help me. I can't see Tanya like this", I requested, hoping that they would have some ideas.

"Only for Tanya", Rishi muttered, letting me know that he had no intentions of forgiving me for destroying his game.

They pondered over the situation silently. My legs kept bouncing in anticipation as they took their sweet time.

"Hey! You didn't go to the honeymoon, right?" Trisha asked suddenly.

"What's the connection between honeymoon and my problem?" I questioned with annoyance.

"Perfect Idea", Rishi jumped in the conversation, while slapping his thigh with joy.

I looked at him with wide eyes, shocked by his sudden enthusiasm.

"Seriously. Take her to the honeymoon. A few days away from everything and beautiful scenery will do wonders", Rishi said, before cheekily adding, "And of course you two will get some alone time, which is impossible in our house".

"Shut it", I glared at him but my glare didn't have its usual effect because of my blushing cheeks.

★★★★★

"Let's go for honeymoon", I blurted out to Tanya as soon as we entered our room.

I wasn't expecting her to jump with joy but I didn't expect her to give out an tired sigh either.

"What's with the reaction?" I asked, baffled by her reaction or rather her lack of reaction.

"Just because you married me out of sympathy, it doesn't mean that you need to take me for honeymoon out of sympathy too", she spoke, looking at me sadly.

"Huh? Who said that it was out of sympathy?" I was flabbergasted at her assumption. Why would she think like that?

She gave me an 'Are you for real?' look, but ended up explaining.

"Aren't you doing this because I am sad? You would have thought that since I love you, this idea would make me happy.

"But what about you. You don't love me and if you take me to honeymoon for my one sided love, then what is it if not for sympathy?"

"You are an idiot", My subconscious commented and rightly so.

I was an idiot, a total idiot. I felt like kicking myself for my blunder. She didn't know about my feelings. In all the mess, created by her father, I never got to tell her about my feelings. Of course she would mistake my idea as something else, when she didn't know. "She does not have any idea about my love—

"WHAT?" Tanya's loud 'what' made me come out of the thoughts.

"What?" I questioned back, not understanding her wide eyed look.

"You mumbled something...", she trailed off.

"I did? What?" I scratched the back of my neck.

'What did I do? How much did she hear? How can I speak instead of thinking?'

"She does not have any idea...that sentence...", she replied, still in shock.

"So...you love...", she trailed off, looking at me expectantly.

"I...this isn't out of sympathy or anything. I wanted to tell you since long but I couldn't because of the situations. I seriously—"

"Stop rambling and come to the point", Tanya ordered with gritted teeth.

"I love you", I blurted out with closed eyes, seemingly afraid of her anger.

"Don't tell me we lost her because you took so much time to fall in love with her", My subconscious yelled with fear.

My legs shook with fear of rejection. I was about to lose my balance when Tanya jumped on me with her fiery hug.

"Thank you, Thank you, Thank you", she yelled with happiness as her legs wrapped upon my waist tightly.

I held her tightly, the fear leaving my body from her positive response.

Wait a minute! I loosened my hold and helped her get down on the floor so I could face her.

"Thank you?" I asked incredulously.

"Then what else did you want to hear?" She asked, looking at me innocently.

"Obviously I love you too", I replied, still in shock at her audacity.

She laughed and came near me. I went stiff from her nearness, as she roamed her finger on my face- from my forehead till my cheeks.

"Oh my dear husband, I think you are forgetting something", she said slowly.

"What?" I asked still in trance.

"You see I was the one who said I love you first. So what you said today is supposed to be- I love you too.

"How can I give you a reply when what you said is actually a reply to my confession?"

And just like that the cheeky little thing ran away laughing.

I stood there open mouthed at being fooled so easily. I turned to leave the room with a huff, when she hugged me from behind and sweetly whispered, "I love you too".

I clasped her hands that were around my waist and stood like that, enjoying the moment with closed eyes and a wide happy smile.