Happily ever after....

Part 5: Wiping the slate clean

A/N: Thank you all for taking the time out to read and vote on the previous part! Especially appreciate your comments:)) Having so much fun reading them. On to the most crucial Dev-Sona conversation now...

Previously:

Sona could clearly see now that Naina and Dev had a bond that was, in some ways, far deeper, far more meaningful that she and Dev had shared. They were, as Naina said, bound by choice, just like Dev and Sona had been but Naina and Dev also knew that they would only break apart by choice. Perhaps this was the part that they had failed to understand 7 years ago.

"Naina??", Dev's voice interrupted Sona's train of thoughts and before she could collect herself, Dev walked out of the bedroom, obviously fresh out of the shower, drying his wet hair with a towel. He was dressed in track pants, and a half unbuttoned old plaid shirt, clearly unaware that there was anyone in the penthouse apart from Naina.

"Nain....", he started to call out again when he caught sight of Sona at the table along with Naina. Sona promptly looked away, blushing furiously at his somewhat half dressed state. Naina, looking behind her shoulder at Dev, said in a perfectly normal tone, "Oh, you are up? Coffee's in the kitchen and I am heading down for my swim", she said getting up from the chair, but her eyes had caught Dev's awkward pause when he caught sight of Sona and then his quick buttoning up of his shirt.

It surprised her because she had never seen Dev feel particularly self conscious about being shirtless around people, avid swimmer that he was. Usually they would both head down to the pool at ground level and the many women there, some of whom would conspicuously stare, never put him off. She realized that it was one of the things that only the old Dev and old Sona would know about and let it go.

She sketched a quick wave to Sona and threw a quick "Don't eat up all the breakfast. I want some", to Dev. And then Naina left the penthouse, leaving Sona and Dev alone, once more, drawing respect from Sona for her understanding that she would want to talk to Dev alone.

She left a strange silence in her wake- Dev still standing right outside the bedroom door, looking at Sona with an undecipherable expression, Sona still sitting at the table with her coffee mug, looking keenly into it as if it held the world's secrets. And then he cleared his throat, "Good morning, Doctor Bose".

Sona physically flinched at the 'Doctor Bose' knowing full well that she had driven that wedge yesterday quite deliberately between them.

Dev casually threw the wet towel on one arm of the couch and queried, "Shall we go into the kitchen?"

The normalcy of the tone threw her off balance for a minute before she nodded, picked up her coffee mug and followed him, wondering why he could not just grab his coffee and come out. The kitchen was a compact space and she was forced to get close enough to him to be able to smell his fresh after- shower smell that was a combination of shampoo, soap and that surprisingly well remembered unique scent of his skin.

She was near enough to see the way his slightly wavier hair curled where it touched his neck and how it flopped over his forehead, the ends nearly getting into his eyes. Acutely conscious that the physical closeness brought back too many memories of times when she cherished these little moments and affected her in a way that was simply not quite right now, she forced her mind to stop thinking of him and focus on something else, like what he was doing.

Sona's eyes widened when she saw that he was pulling out veggies from the little fridge and setting a pan on the stove. "You are going to COOK??", she blurted out, not even bothering to conceal the incredulous tone. This was the man who once told her that he had never learned to even fold his own handkerchiefs.