S̳h̳a̳k̳h̳i̳-̳l̳a̳c̳i̳o̳u̳s̳

EPISODE 16: "The Emperor's New Clothes"

After Shaurya finally confesses that he can't give Anokhi up with a kiss, she stretches up on her tip-toes to kiss him back with the simple answer: "I'm the same as you." They smile sweetly at one another, no other words needed between them. The height of the romantic moment soon gets replaced by freezing winter, Anokhi's bleeding heels, and their inability to find a taxi, and Shaurya worries that Anokhi's in too much pain to keep walking. He suggests going to his place since it's nearby, and Anokhi crosses her arms in a big X and stammers no like he's just invited her to his den of sin. He finds her reaction amusing and accuses her of thinking dirty thoughts, and she says defiantly that she IS not... and then hiccups. Heh. He swears his intentions are innocent (uh-huh), since he just wants to treat her wounds (suuuuure), calling her no different from a stray cat right now. She agrees to just five minutes then, and mutters that any longer than that would be too steamy. He picks her up and piggybacks her with a giant grin on his face. At his apartment, he really does just clean and tape up her bloody ankles, insisting on doing it all himself. He even leads her out in five minutes as promised, only when they get to the door, the doorbell rings and Grandpa and Dad call out for Shaurya.

EEP. Run! Hide!

They throw each other panicked looks, while Dad and Grandpa call out repeatedly, having heard voices inside just a minute ago. Shaurya thinks that maybe this is for the best and they can go ahead and tell the parents about their relationship, but Anokhi's eyes widen and she counters that she wants to tell them, but not like this, when they're going to jump straight to the wrong conclusions.

She's not wrong about that.

So by the time Shaurya opens the door and lets them in, he's stuffed Anokhi in his closet. She barely gets out of sight in time, though he hadn't counted on her hiccups. She clamps a hand over her mouth and Shaurya runs over to blast his stereo while Dad stocks his fridge. Shaurya is busy talking to Grandpa and doesn't notice when Dad peers at something he's discovered on the floor: one long strand of hair that most definitely does not belong to Shaurya. He doesn't say anything about it for now, but as they walk out, he gives Shaurya a pointed look. With the dads gone, Shaurya runs over to free Anokhi, only she's fallen asleep. He gapes at her for sleeping at a time like this, then carries her to his bed and sits with her for a long while, gazing to his heart's content. In the morning, she wakes up feeling embarrassed and tries to sneak out unnoticed. But Shaurya comes out of the bathroom and tells her that five minutes passed long ago, so she might as well wash up and eat breakfast. Now it's her turn to gape and she wonders why them spending the night together isn't weird for him, and he counters that they've eaten, washed up, and farted under one roof for thirteen years - it's weirder for her to be making a big deal out of it. She has no argument for that and goes to wash up, and then the second she's out of the room, Shaurya lets out the breath he's been holding from all the awkward tension. Dad shares his suspicions about Shaurya having a girlfriend with Grandpa over breakfast, and complains about him bringing a girl home when he lives alone.

If you only knew which girl.

Grandpa says that's perfectly normal for his hot-blooded age, but that just gets Dad riled up more and he shouts, "It hasn't even been that long since he broke up and he's already dating a new girl?! You can't do that! How can love change?"

Aww, he's more upset that Shaurya's moved on!

Grandpa just shoots him a glance and points out the irony of a divorced man complaining about love not being everlasting, and Dad silently stuffs his face. Anokhi frowns at the sad little breakfast Shaurya has put together and decides she'll make him something better. He just adorably flirts with her while she cooks, and she fills the table with warm food. As they sit down to eat, she notices the family pictures on his desk - of him and Yash, of them with their parents when they were little-and starts to hiccup. She's still hiccupping as they finish breakfast and walk out, and Shaurya bears the awkwardness to ask her about it. Anokhi admits that she can't really reconcile all of their family issues yet, like having to hide from Dad and feeling bad towards Yash and not being able to cut Mom off completely. She decides that what she needs is time, to get Mom to apologize to Shaurya and his brother, and then she'll be able to stop feeling guilty and just be free to be with him. He figures that him saying it's okay won't make her feel any better, and agrees to give her all the time she needs. At the precinct, Anokhi lights up when she sees Ahir and tells him excitedly about Shaurya sharing the blackbox footage with them, completely missing the giant cloud hanging over him. He leaves her hanging on the high-five she wants, though he mostly seems mad at himself for the things he said last night to Shaurya. Shaan gives Shaurya instructions on how to proceed with the new evidence in the chemical waste plant fire, and when Devi happens to arrive just a few feet away, Shaan gets super loud and gloaty. Shaurya follows suit, and Devi puts up a good implacable front as always, thinking it unlikely that they'll manage to grab the attention they want with new evidence this late in the game. But once inside, the first thing she does is delete Chaebol Mommy's phone number. On their way into the office, Shaurya teases Shaan about seeming pretty friendly with Devi (whom he called senior), and Shaan snaps that that's an insult. They're interrupted by Shagun, who zombie-walks past them still singing Seo Taiji's "Victory" on an infinite loop : "I was thrown away. I was thrown away." Shaurya asks who threw her away, and she just glares at him, "You did," and keeps singing as she walks away. They stare at her like she's crazy, and Shaurya asks what's up with her. Shaan contemplates it for a long beat, and then: "You must've done something wrong." Ha. They find Alok practicing his Russian all of a sudden, and he tells them that he's being dispatched to Sochi to cover the Olympics (since our timeline is before then). That's cause for alarm, because it means both stations are ready to stop reporting the fire and turn all their attention to Olympics coverage. Anokhi is met with resistance at Jagruk Nation, and at Shubh Savera, Shaan argues with his director that they can't let the Olympics bury the fire story. They get the same response-that they've turned the evidence over to the police and the real culprit will be caught now, and their focus needs to shift to the Olympics. Shaurya storms out and stops in the Shubh Savera lobby to stare at the giant screen, remembering that it was exactly the same thirteen years ago. When the story was breaking news, people's rage burned hot and his family had to bear the brunt of that. But by the time those responsible should've been brought to justice, people's interest and anger had subsided and gotten buried under newer, bigger news. As he narrates this, Shaurya turns into Little Karan staring at the screen, and he says in voiceover, "And to change this flow, I am, as ever, young and powerless." Anokhi confronts Mom in the cafeteria, and asks why she isn't fessing up to her mistake. She pleads with her not to bury the story and let it be forgotten just like thirteen years ago, and hopes that the CCTV cover-up really was a mistake, otherwise Mom's opportunity to apologize disappears altogether. Mom wonders why Anokhi is so fixated on this whole apology thing, and Anokhi answers honestly, "Because it has to do with the person I like. I like Shaurya very much, so I would like it if he heard an apology from you." That surprises Mom, and at a nearby table, Ahir hangs his head as their cameraman senior wonders how such a thing is possible. Anokhi goes with a heavy heart to the funeral of the latest victim of the fire, and is surprised to see that Shaurya is already there. He bows in apology and the widow pleads that if he's reporter, he needs to tell her husband's story. Shaurya and Anokhi sit dejectedly, and Anokhi sighs that this story is going to get buried and they're powerless to do anything about it. She's surprised to hear that Shaurya's on his way to meet his team for drinks, because she's meeting her Jagruk Nation team too, and at the same restaurant.