“Humara nikaah fix hua hai aur parso engagement hai… Hum aap sab ko invite karne aaye hai…” Zubair said… AS could hear his heart breaking into million pieces… “Aur aap sab ko zaroor aana hai…” HM added with a smile… “Kya hua Pushpa ji?? Aap sab aise kya dekh rahe hai??” HM asked looking at their frozen figures and pale faces… “Koi… koi baat nahi hai MS… Mubarak ho aapko… Hum sab aa jayenge…” PS said trying to act normal… “Aap h…” before HM could complete her sentence Zubair cut her in between… “Haseena… I think hum late ho rahe hai… Shopping pe jana hai… Ammi pohch gayi hongi…” he said… “Ohh haan… Sir… Hum aaj jaldi jayenge toh chalega please??” she asked AS’s permission… He could only nod as words had betrayed him… “Thank you sir… Chalte hai… Jai Hind…” with that both HM and Zubair left…
As soon as HM left, AS’s legs gave away and he could no longer stand… He stumbled back and reclined on the table behind him for support… He had lost her forever. She was going to be somebody else’s in the matter of some days. Had he been too late in confessing his feelings?? Was he going to get punished for it?? He thought… Soon realisation hit him… He was at MPT… Here he was a DSP, he had to control himself and his emotions… But when he came back to his senses, he was overwhelmed… His right hand was being held by CC who had tears in his eyes… CC was definitely his true friend… Though his MS was a sister-figure for him, CC had chosen to be by AS’s side… On his left, PS was holding him by his arm… She was rubbing his back in an attempt to soothe his pain… She was indeed the motherly warmth that MPT was proud of… Though she taunted him, she loved him like a son… He raised his head and looked at SS… The ever strong and calm SS was standing with eyes filled with tears… He stood straight and gave CC and PS a look assuring them he was ok… He walked up to SS and placed his hand on her head… “Yeh galat hai Sir… Aisa nahi hona chahiye sir…” she burst out crying… He looked behind towards PS for help when he found Billu wiping his tears on his t-shirt sleeve… There were multiple police stations under his command but MPT members loved him like their own… They were happy in his happiness and sad in his pain… After all they were his Haseena ji’s team…
KS was observing everything from afar… She was angry at her brother for hurting her MS… But he didn’t deserve what he was suffering today… He had already suffered enough punishment for his wrong doings… She had no courage to face him or console him… She somewhere blamed herself for his condition… Had she not betrayed MS’s trust, she could have convinced MS to not marry Zubair… she could have convinced her to give her brother a chance… But now, she could only watch him walk out of MPT with a heavy heart and tear-filled eyes…
AS walked out of MPT and drove towards his house… The road kept blurring behind the wall of his tears that refused to stop flowing… He entered inside… The emptiness of his house escalated the chaos inside him… He was missing Maa… She had been out of town for some days now… He moved to his room, changed and went in to take a shower… The cold water mixed with his warm tears but nothing seemed to soothe his heart… He had lost sense of time; he didn’t know how long he stood below the shower… Once he was back to his room, his eyes fell on HM’s picture on his bedside… He picked the picture and sat by the window… It was already dark outside… His mind travelled to the day when HM had confessed her feelings for him… How stupid he was to break her heart, to not understand his love for her… Efforts she took to spend some time with him; she had literally rung his door-bell at mid-night… How possessive she was of him even after their breakup; she had knocked out Tanya in a single punch… It pained her when he was hurt; the tears in her eyes while dressing his wound, had given their testimony…
He felt like the world was at his feet when she was in his arms… “Yeh duniya nahi hai mere pass toh kya… Mera yeh bharam tha MERE PAAS TUM HO…” he thought looking at her picture… He could no longer sit there… He left his house and drove away… He subconsciously drove to a Dargah and went inside… He had heard that places like these could heal anybody’s heart… He sat in a corner with arms around his knees and head resting on the wall behind… All his precious memories with HM kept flashing before his eyes… She had asked after arresting Boondi Singh, “Aapko kyu lagta hai ke hum fir milenge??” “Pata nahi… par lagta hai milte rahenge…” he had said… So true… They had kept meeting till the time he had deeply fallen for her… She had hugged him for the first time when KS had defeated the dreaded wrestler… How perfectly she fit in his arms… The split second had caused him to crave for more… How was he going to survive now?? “Humne aapko mukt kiya” is what he had said to her… But will he be able to free himself of her?? Of her memories??? Of his love for her?? He had promised her uncle, “Hum apne prano se adhik aapke prano ki Raksha karenge…” Unknown to him, she had long back become his life…
The night had turned to day… His tears dried leaving behind painful marks… He was brought back to reality by a person who was cleaning the Dargah… He got up and left for his house…
