Nishant Naik, billionaire MD of Naik Builders gets engaged but without love. Disillusioned, he gives up when a chance encounter leaves him intrigued and confused. For him, loving someone is giving your soul to her. Will he ever find someone to love...
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Aparna started to walk even though she felt the earth slipping beneath her feet. She looked ahead and saw nothing but a blur of activity. She didn't know where she was going or what she was doing. The only thing she felt was a painful ache in her heart that increased with every passing second.
He has moved on.
He has somebody else in his life now.
He doesn't love her anymore.
Shaking her head, she tried to keep her feet falling one before another but the movements got mixed. She collided with somebody and mechanically apologised and went on her way.
Not noticing that the traffic light was already green, she started to cross the road. Screams erupted but she did not hear anything. Her incoherent steps somehow took her to the other side, but she stopped just before stepping on the pavement.
Had he forgotten her?
Was she just a passing phase?
Fresh tears streamed down her cheeks and she closed her eyes. Someone pulled her on the pavement and instantly a bus zipped past her. Shaking the arm off, she picked up her feet and started to walk again. With every tear that hit the ground, her heart lost a beat and she lost the urge to fight.
As Aparna put another step ahead, her world suddenly whirled and she collided with something hard and fell on the road. Her right knee banged against a boulder lying on the road but she did not cry out with pain. Instead, she placed her palm on the road and tried getting up but couldn't. Suddenly she noticed people surrounding her with some picking her things and some trying to help her get up. Slowly she got up and got in an auto, which someone had stopped.
She was going back to her world.
The world where she was only a mother.
The woman was gone.
Aparna had just come home and she could see Prakriti playing with Harish but nothing registered. She wobbled to the bedroom and sat down on the bed.
Tears welled up as the past events came back. Not wanting anyone to see her like this, she quickly got up and closed the door. Then she started to shed all her clothes in frenzy, angry with herself for being so naïve.
Did you really think he will wait for you after what happened?
Doesn't he have a life of his own?
Stark naked, Aparna walked inside the washroom and twisted the shower knob. As the warm water pelted down on her body, every single touch of his, every single word of love, every single gesture flooded her being.
If the body is only a cover for the soul, then hadn't he ripped her skin and lodged himself deep inside?
If she had searched for life and found it, then hadn't she lost it?
This wish to see him, this wish to feel him, this wish to be with him, this wish to belong to him; hadn't this wish of hers destroyed her?
Aparna slowly slipped to the floor and waited for the tears but nothing happened. The burning sensation in her knee did not reach her brain instead the searing of her heart devastated her.
This is your punishment;
This is how you will always live but still not feel alive;
This is how you'll keep looking for him yet not find him ever;
This is how he will always be your cover yet never enter your soul;
This is how he will always be your search yet find him never;
This is how your hope will always end on him yet his will never;
This is how your life will end on him yet never begin with him;
Aparna's mouth opened in a scream and she pressed her mouth with her palms not to let it out. Her compressed screams and howls rang inside her just as anguished sobs escaped her.
The woman in her was dying and she was silently standing, looking at her rational thoughts burying her deep underneath.
Madhu knocked at the bedroom door but no one answered. She called out to Harish, who came and banged on the door twice but still nothing.
"Aparna, what's the matter? Open the door, dammit!" Madhu said her voice little on the panicked edge.
The door clicked open and Harish and Madhu rushed inside.
"Are you okay? Why weren't you opening the door?" asked Harish.
Aparna just nodded and turned away. Right now more than anything else, she needed to block everything inside completely. If only she had a button to shut down her mind and feel nothing at all. She sat down on the bed and dragged the laptop bag towards her. As she opened it mechanically, Madhu came and sat down next to her.
"You okay?"
Aparna again nodded without looking at her. She stared at the laptop screen and wished it would come up faster than usual.
Madhu looked at her intently and knew something was wrong. She gestured at Harish, who shrugged his shoulders clearly clueless.
"Has something happened?" she asked putting a reassuring hand on Aparna's.
The moment Madhu touched her; an electric current ran through Aparna's body. She jerked her hand off and picked up her laptop, and moved away.
Madhu looked at her friend and observed her. Her hair was all wet and dripping meaning she had just had a bath. She was continuously rubbing her eyes, which meant that either she had been crying or she was having an eye infection. Madhu instantly rejected the second knowing well that an infection will not bother Aparna so much. So it must be crying. She looked pale and flustered. The moment Harish went out of the room, Madhu closed the door. Then she came near Aparna and took the laptop away.
"Tell me what's wrong. Now!"
Aparna looked away but Madhu was not giving up so easily. She closed her eyes as Madhu palmed her face and turned it towards her.
Silent tears slipped out of her closed eyes as finally, Aparna gave in.
