The Exchange

Tumhare Liye

As he watched his Akshu get into the car with Kunal and Maya, he signaled for a taxi and told the driver to follow their car, to not lose sight of it no matter what. "Sir, can you please go faster?" 

"This is the speed limit." 

"Sir. Please."

"Please calm down." 

"SIR,  PULL OVER.", he roared, emptying his wallet, giving the driver all of the cash he had for him to give him his car. And with that, he started driving faster than he ever had in his entire life...he started driving as if he was running to save his life...as that is exactly what he was doing. He made sure to stay far enough behind to remain out of their sight, but he knew that he could not let this opportunity pass. The feeling that he had felt in the pit of his stomach for the past year...the feeling that his Akshu was in some kind of danger...that she needed him...the same feeling that he had dug deep within his soul was now all consuming. The images of her hair that was no more...her broken eyes...he colorless face...the memories of her telling him to leave her alone...the memories of her falling into his arms and then forcing herself away...it all came back to him. He had failed her so severely that she had been living in insolation...as a ghost even for an entire year...but today was the day her pain ended. Today was the day he did what he was meant to do...his only purpose...save her, rescue her, protect her. 

He saw their car pull into the parking lot of a music studio with several guards standing outside. He would not be able to enter from the front door, so he pulled up beside the back entrance, breaking the window to find his Akshu. As he climbed through, he heard her voice. He heard the voice that he would recognize even from the depths of the ocean...he heard the voice that he would recognize even after he was no more. He heard the voice that was the reason his eyes blinked, the reason his pulses flowed through his blood, the reason he was alive. And he followed it as he always had...he followed his fate, trusting  that it would lead him to her. But, when he got to the room and looked through the glass window, he saw Maya standing there, her lips moving, her body moving from side to side. To the world it could have appeared as she was singing, but he knew that this was his Akshu...he knew it more than he knew how to breathe. 

He saw Kunal standing next to Maya, looking down at a piece of paper with her. He saw him patting her back, telling her to keep up the good work. He saw both of them embrace. "Thank you so much bhaiya!", she exclaimed.

Bhaiya....with that one word, he felt the ground shatter beneath him. This Maya...the celebrity who no one knew anything about...who was so famous, yet an entire mystery...this Maya was Maya KHERA. The sister of the man who had saved his hand...the sister of the man who he now believed was holding his wife hostage. It took every amount of restraint he could muster to stop himself from barging in the room and killing both of them in that very moment. He did not care what the consequences would have been, and it would not have mattered. All he knew was that he had to save his Akshu...and he had to fight for her revenge. But, before that, he had to be clear of what exactly was going on here...he had to figure it all out...because the more he thought about it, killing both of these monsters would be the easy way out for them...killing them would take away their pain in one second. He would make them suffer...he would make them suffer more than they could have ever imagined even in their nightmares. 

Just then, he heard her voice again. He heard his angel's voice...he heard heaven's voice. But this time, Maya's lips were not moving. This time, she was not swaying. She was just standing there on her phone while Kunal adjusted her mic.

 A few moments later, he saw her....his love, his life, his everything. She came out through the back closet, not a single expression on her face...the little hair she had left tied into a small ponytail behind her face. "Maya tum ready ho na? Lip sync ache se practice karliya? Aaj tumari performance bahar mountains mein hogi..tumhare liye important hogi..." She said, sounding as if she was living, but not alive...

Hearing these words, his anger, his desire for revenge, his rage...it all faded away. All that was left was regret, heartbreak, pain, trauma...all that was left was emptiness. His Akshu...who had the sweetest, most magical voice in the entire universe... who was born to spread her charm, her love...who was born to make sure that everyone heard her music...that everyone felt a piece of goodness, of her purity....his Akshu had given up her voice. She had given up her voice to the vile woman standing beside her...to the vile woman who was the sister of the same doctor she had found to cure his hand an entire year ago. All of this could not be a coincidence. All of this could not be an accident. And today, no matter how hard she resisted, no matter how hard she tried, he would get his answers from her. He would get the peace he had been searching for for every single second of every single day of every single week for the past year. 

He could not stop the tears from flowing down his cheeks, he could not control his breaths. Normally his Akshu was the one gasping for breath, but today it was him. He started walking away from the recording room, afraid they would see him...there was a right time for what he wanted to do, and he could not let his impulses get the best of him. But, as he was leaving the room, he heard his Akshu tell those monsters that she needed to use the restroom and that she would be right back. He ran into the store room across the hall, waiting to take her into his arms, waiting to push her until she had to melt...until she had to break...until she had to confess. 

As he heard her walking by, he pulled her inside the storeroom. It was entirely dark, but she knew who it was...there would never come a day when she would fail to perceive his touch, his presence. But, before she could say anything, he put his hand gently over her mouth, whispering, "Akshu, kuch mat bolna...koshish bhi mat karna...aaj mein bolunga aur tum bas jawab dogi..." 

She felt his tears dripping onto her face, onto her shirt...she felt his heart breaking with every passing second. He knew. She could sense the pain in his heart, the agony in his soul. He knew.... 

"Kyun, Akshu....Kyun...." he said, grabbing her face and pulling it towards him...pulling it as close as he possibly could. And with each question, his voice got louder and louder, forgetting where they were, forgetting that he had to keep his calm. "AKSHU. I am asking you a question. Akshara Kyun. KYUN. KYUN...Akshara....AKSHARA." 

"Abhi...." 

"Nahi, Akshu. Kyun? KYUN? Maya aur uska bhai...KUNAL....Dr. Khera...tum ne unhe...tum ne unhe apni avaaz kurbaan kardi?" he said, his voice cracking with sorrow. 

"Abhi...please...Abhi mujhe chodo..."

"Chodo? CHODO? Akshu ab toh Mahadev bhi mujhe bolenge ge na phir bhi mein tumhe nahi chodo ga...toh tum kya cheez ho...Akshu aaj mujhe mera jawab chaiye....KYUN???" he sobbed. 

"Abhi..." she started crying, feeling herself falling weak, feeling herself crumbling. 

"Akshara. Bolo. KYUN. Tum ne mera sapna cheen liya...tum ne mera sapna cheen ke unko de diya... KYUN...", he said, on the verge of screaming. 

"Abhi...", she said, pushing him away with every bone in her body. 

"KYUN"

Finally unable to hold herself together any longer, she broke. She broke and fell to the ground sobbing. He fell with her, holding her in his arms, letting her release all of the pain she had been holding in for the past year. But, after a few minutes, she turned silent. She looked at his face, knowing every inch of each and every corner of it despite the darkness that surrounded them. 

"Tumhare liye Abhi. Tumhare liye. Bas yeh jaan lo tum. Aur please Abhi ab tum mere pas bhi mat aana...varna yeh sab...yeh sab joh mein ne kiya hai...yeh sab barbad ho jaye ga..." she said, standing up, heading for the door. 

He followed her, grabbing her arm. "Mein ne tum ko kitni baar bola hai...mujhe seedi seedi baat samaj aati hai...mere liye? Akshu saaf saaf bolo..." 

"Abhi, mujhe jana hoga..." she cried, running out of the storeroom back to those monsters. 

And with that, Abhi knew exactly what he had to do. He wiped his tears away, jumping out of the same window he had entered through. And, he made his way to the amphitheater in the midst of the mountains he knew his Akshu would soon be arriving at.