Ishq-e-Watan

Chapter 118- Settling Peace

CHAPTER 118

SETTLING PEACE

Nawaz stared at the box, flipping the knife in his hand idly. There was a note. It still sat on top of the rocks. Innocently. Tauntingly. Mockingly. He took it out again, reading it for what was perhaps the 10th time.

'Chalo. Ek game khelte hain. Ek ulta din hum ginte hain. Ek patthar tum. Dekhte hain kiske pehle khatam hote hain.'

He let the note flutter back down, turning his head to stare at the board. He didn't need to guess who wrote it. He could see his smirk, the smile when he wrote the note. Karan Shergill. He stared at his picture. It was taken on a street, sunglasses covering his eyes, and looking to the side at something with a slight smirk on his face.

He clenched his fist. He would wipe that smirk off his face. He would make him fall to his knees, weeping in misery, begging for mercy, and he would be offered none. He would take his revenge for every bit of this humiliation. He looked down at his hand, spinning the knife once, before letting it sail across.

It hit the picture.

A knock sounded on the door, and he called out, his gaze still settled on the picture. Perhaps a knife across his eyes. Ruin that pretty face. One brother with no legs. One with no eyes. How poetic.

"Ek khabar mili hai", the man at the door said. Nawaz's gaze lifted in interest.

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Karan hurried to the kitchen. They had blown up the warehouse about a couple of hours after they had gotten the signal, content when he had overheard from the gossiping grunts how angry Nawaz was, but the post mission work had lasted far longer than he had expected, and he had to stay in the soot covered uniform for quite some time.

It was dinner by that time, and he had quickly taken a shower. He couldn't go and meet Monami, smelling like gunpowder, soot and smoke. She would worry and fret, and maybe, she wouldn't hug or kiss him, which was a disappointment in itself. And of course, there was the fact that he had blatantly lied to her and told her that he was merely going to meet an old friend.

She was sitting on the slab, swinging her legs on the counter, as she stared at the milk. "Aap late hain", she said, not even looking up from the milk.

"Sorry. Thoda... traffic zyaada tha", he lied.

She looked up, eyebrows furrowing. "Aap nahaakar aaye hain?" He shrugged, nodding. She frowned, eyeing him, and for a moment, Karan was wary she would ask him where he really went. But she merely looked back at the milk, pouring it into the two cups. "Din kaisa tha?"

"Busy", he said. She hummed, handing him one of the cups. "What's on your mind?" He tilted his head. "Did you have a nightmare?"

"I was just thinking about Sid." He waited, and she sighed. "He's having this fight with Sanju ma'am-"

"Bichaara", he commented.

She chuckled slightly. "I don't think Sanju ma'am's 'winning'", she refuted, and Karan's eyebrows raised. That was not expected. "He's upset because he thinks woh unhe time nahi de rahi." He nodded slowly. He had noticed the change in Sanju. But unlike them, he knew exactly where it stemmed from. It was the first time she had a loved one threatened. It rattled the best of them. "Of course, unka kaam zyaada important hai. Sid understands that. Logically. But emotionally, he still wants that attention. I was just thinking..."

He eyed her warily. What exactly was she thinking? "Do... Do you think main tumhe enough attention nahi deta?" He asked hesitantly. He wasn't sure what he would do if she said yes. He just didn't have more time to give her. He already gave almost every bit of his free time to her.