They say there isn't a better teacher to learn life from than life itself. And in all true sense, it's true, in all ways possible. When you live with someone, you can't even imagine living without them, but when life throws you a curveball by taking that person away, you know that life has played you. The whole world seems wrong in the beginning, but slowly, slowly, you learn to live, you learn to survive as this is how it is. Because at the end of the day, life itself teaches you the "how to" which seems difficult.

Just like Sana and Sidharth here - Sana had never thought in her wildest dreams that she would lose her army man forever at such a young age. Sure, his profession was risky, but she still dealt with it with positivity. However, life had brought cruelty in the worst way possible, and when the blow came, it felt like her whole world came crashing down. But as time began to pass, she began to find her solace and reason to live in her son.

The same way, Sidharth had never imagined things to go this way. His elder brother was as dear to him as life itself, but the unexpected blow came, crushing everything in him. What he didn't expect was this hopelessness to creep in. But somehow, he found a reason to smile as well - it was in his sister-in-law and his brother's child. He felt responsible for them, to take care of their needs, and everything which belonged to them was now his too.

"Aaru, baby, come here please," Sana called as she ran behind her son in the living area.

"What's happening so early in the morning?" Sidharth asked, making his way towards the living room while rubbing his eyes.

"Look at him! The school bus is coming soon, and he's busy playing around. He won't put on his shoes," Sana said frustratingly.

"You get his bag, I'll handle this," Sidharth said, to which she sent him a grateful smile, and he nodded in acknowledgment before she sprinted off.

"Why are you troubling your mom? You were supposed to be a good boy, right?" Sidharth asked as he locked the little one between his legs as he wouldn't stop running away from him, making his efforts in vain.

"Aaru doesn't want to go to school," he pouted, looking down.

"But Aaru used to love school before," Sidharth said in a childish voice with a frown.

"Hmm, but mommy will be alone now, without me, and then she'll be sad sad, and I don't want her to be sad," he spoke in his baby voice, and Sidharth gazed at him.

"Okay, tell me one thing," Sidharth said, to which he nodded, wanting him to continue.

"Do you trust me?" Sidharth asked, ruffling the little one's hair.

"Hmm," he said, nodding his head yes.

"Then believe me, I'll make sure that your mommy will be happy. I won't let her be all sad sad," Sidharth said, wanting to convince him.

"Really?" he exclaimed as his whole face lit up, and Sidharth saw a little Sana in him at that very moment.

"Really," Sidharth agreed.

"Big brother promise?" Aaru said, forwarding his hand, and Sidharth choked up.

The big brother promise was a Pradeep-Arav thing. Sidharth was the closest to Aaru after Sana, but still, this promise was one thing which he always did with Pradeep, and today, him putting Sidharth in this position made his vision blur.

"Say it," he urged.

"B-Big brother promise," Sidharth managed to get the words out of his throat with difficulty as he placed his hand over the little palm of Aarav, who took his hand and kissed their joined hands before urging Sidharth to do the same in a gesture to lock the promise, which Sidharth complied with emotionally.

"The bus is here, baby," they heard Sana's voice, and Sidharth detached himself from the little boy, wiping his eyes discreetly.

"Take care of her," Aaru whispered in his ear with a kiss before sprinting away.

"Are you okay?" Sana asked.

"Y-Yes," he nodded.

*******

It was later in the evening, Sidharth had just come home from work, and Sana had handed him a glass of water as he sat down on the couch in the living room.

"I need to talk to you. Will you sit for a minute?" he said.

"Yes, tell me," she said, taking a seat and waiting as he gulped the water.

"Uh! I for you, I mean," he started fumbling.

"Damn," he muttered under his breath.

"Just say it clearly, what happened? Remember the truce we agreed to be friends," she said, wanting to calm him.

It had been fifteen days since that truce, and they'd been trying to get better control over things from that day onwards. Whether it was about their family matters, Aaru, sharing the house, or the duties which Pradeep had left behind. No, they hadn't turned romantic all of a sudden, or everything hadn't turned happy in the blink of an eye. It was just that they'd gotten back to the relationship they used to have before February fourteenth. It was like they didn't cry on each other's shoulders, but they did accept tissues from one another after crying sessions.

Remembering all the progress they'd made in the past span of fifteen days, it did calm him down. She would at least not close up from him like before, he assured himself before starting again.

"Give me a minute," he said, excusing himself as he got up and walked away before sprinting back in instantly with an envelope in his hand, making Sana furrow her eyebrows in confusion.

"This is for you," Sidharth said, pointing to the envelope, to which Sana nodded.

"One thing," he said, retreating his hand as she intended to take the envelope from his hand.

"If you get angry about this, you can tell me or fight with me, but please don't turn away from me," he requested, and she smiled at him.

"Well, that depends on what's in here," she said, smirking at him as she snatched the envelope out of his hands before ripping it open.

Sidharth had his nail in his mouth, biting onto it with his foot tapping on the floor continuously as he waited for her to read the contents of the paper and register it in her head to display a reaction.

"A-Are you kidding me?" she blurted out in disbelief as she stared at the paper in her hand, teary-eyed.

"No, I-I'm not," he replied nervously.

"This was my dream, you know that?" she asked, now staring at him, and the way she gazed at him -

Her eyes were so livid, her face had this look of adoration, and she was biting onto her lip to stop herself from crying. Sidharth felt his heart soar at the heartwarming expression which her face held at that moment; damn, he could do anything to see that look on her face.

The envelope had her job letter from a dance academy. Her dream job, one thing which she had always aspired to pursue.

"I didn't know th-that actually, I had just seen you sometimes in the beginning, so I had a video, and you used to perform so aesthetically, so I just thought, but I didn't know you had it this far," he told sheepishly.

"I had always wished to pursue this as my career. Father supported it too, but then marriage happened, and he didn't like all this," Sana said before stopping and then exclaiming.

"Sidharth, your brother wouldn't approve. He never wanted me to do this," she said in wonder as if she had just realized she was committing a crime.