With the cat well and truly out of the bag, the couple did away with the smoke screens and quite openly sought out each other's company - in April 006 at the IIFA awards in Dubai; during the shooting of Guru when they sneaked off to see Mission Impossible 3 in Chennai's Satyam theatre and, from there, went to a discotheque where they partied all night.
Going out together was one thing; admitting a relationship something else again, especially for Aishwarya, who had by then been burnt at least twice, in full public glare.
"When I get married you all will know," Aishwarya told rediff.com in November, revealing her talent for the perfect non sequitur.
Abhishek meanwhile played the perfect gentleman: he would not address the rumours, he said, because it involved a woman's life.
As the year wound to a close, the couple went into an overdrive of piety, being spotted together at various temples across India.
Don't Miss: Tracking the Abhiwariya saga
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