Tera Zikr

Chapter - 23

'There's a girl with her face covered but is peeping out from side', something heavy dropped inside my stomach and my heart broke as I heard those words but still I managed to maintain a smile on my face. "Seriously Darshan, amazing work. I'm very impressed", Mr Sinha said and extended his hand towards me. "Thank you so much sir", I said and shook hands with him. Mr and Mrs Sinha then said something to the sponsor but I didn't pay attention and looked towards the photo with 'the girl'. There she stood. The girl in the picture stood right in front the picture with the 'sold' tag on it and looked at it. She suddenly turned towards and our eyes met. The moment I saw her, the feeling of guilt which had started growing inside me after knowing that Mr and Mrs Sinha had bought her photo, vanished. What she did, the reason why she left me, and the way she felt me all alone when I'm in need of her love and support, filled up my mind. After seeing her, anger filled up my mind and I wanted Mr and Mrs Sinha to take away her picture at that moment only. In front of her. I wanted her to see that my pictures are doing well and the picture she stood in front of, was the most expensive one. Was I being rude or revengeful? Did she really deserve what I was doing? I don't know. All I knew was that I had truly loved her but maybe she didn't. I forced a smile at her and raised my eyebrows. She softly nodded her head in response and forced a smile too; and I looked away and again started talking to Mr and Mrs Sinha. After some time they left and I again turned towards Malhaar's picture. She wasn't there anymore. I looked all around the hall but couldn't find her. Maybe she left, and I was glad that she did because I didn't want her as a distraction anymore and didn't want to waste my time on. "Finding someone?", Mohit said and came towards me. "No", I said and shook my head. "Well she went away, she just now left. She was crying", Mohit said. "So? Why are you telling me?", I asked and looked away in disgust. "Because I know that you were looking for her", he said. "Why would I Mohit? Now don't disturb me please", I said and turned around to leave. He held my hand and dragged me out of the hall. "What the fuck is wrong with you?", I snapped in anger and jerked my hand out of his grip. "Darshan I know that you love you her a lot. I know that there's something you are hiding inside you which is driving you crazy. And trust me man, because of it, you yourself don't know what your doing", he lectured. "Look Mohit. I don't want to create a scene here. I'hv already told you that we'll talk about this later so let me concentrate on my work for now", I said and started leaving. "That's how you concentrate? By looking at her picture in every few minutes and being heart broken when it gets sold", he said from behind making me freeze to my ground. I wanted to focus on my work and suppress all my feelings but he didn't let me do so. The more I tried to ignore that not only did Malhaar's left me, but she herself also left, he every now and then wanted to know everything. I don't know what pleasure he gets in reminding me that I love her and she left me alone. Why don't he understands that now I hate her, or at least I wanna stop thinking about her. "Darshan, I know that right now, being inside is very important for you but, I can't see you like this anymore. It has been so many days that you pretend to be happy but are extremely from inside. Trust me Darshan, you can let it out to me and once you do, you'll feel better. Suppressing your feelings inside you and allowing them you eat you isn't the solution, ever. Feel free Darshan, let it out", he said with a warm convincing smile on his face.