It's All In The Mind √

Chapter Twenty Nine

Saajid returned at eight in the night only to find his sister sitting like a stone in the living room.

" Sakina? What happened? "

She suddenly got back to senses, ran upto him and grabbed him tight.

" That scoundrel tenant of yours...
He.... He..... He....... " , she began wailing tremendously.

Saajid could not make out a thing.
" Where is he? Where is Shaahid? "

Sakina pushed him and ran away, into her room.

Saajid ran as well, but she had already closed the door behind.

He stood dumbstruck at the door.

Shaahid left?
How could he, without informing me even?

He called him thousand times over. In vain.

______

Sophia sat at one corner of the garden, wiping the tears that trickled down her eyes like water from a tap.

The early morning made her sad. She couldn't look at Shaahid's empty room. She felt as if she was standing in the middle of a desert with no oasis nearby.

How could he just go away like that?

Yes, he dumped a huge responsibility on her and Rubina's shoulder before leaving.
But who knew, he was here only to shoo away that ghost from Sakina Aapa's shoulder? That he would leave anytime soon, and won't ever return? 

Sophia began sobbing.
But soon she realised, it wasn't only she who was sobbing.
Rubina sat behind her and sobbed.
At a distance, Murshid sat digging and he too sobbed.

" The man was so good. Sakina aapa messed everything up. Look at how she was shouting on him last evening. I wanted to kill her from behind the curtains. " , Rubina said.

" Why didn't you call me? I would have shot a plate at her!! " , Sophia's voice cracked.

" And I would have thrown a ball of mud at her face. " , Murshid added.

They sat cribbing for some more time.
Then dispersed. They had a huge role to play today.

_____

Saajid sat in his jewellery store, terribly worried. He had left home in the morning, only to confront a sleepless Sakina. She did not say anything, neither did the stupid maids utter a word.

How could Shaahid be so irresponsible? How even? He did not answer a single call for a long time, and then had switched off his phone.
How mean of him!! 
Did Saajid raise him all these while for nothing, to gain betrayal in the end? 

He sat dancing his fingers on the table in front.
The illiterate dumb old guard walked in.

" Saab, there's this envelope Shaahid bhai left for you last night. "

Saajid jumped up and snatched it from him.
" Okay go. "

He swayed and walked away.

Saajid tore away the envelope and brought out the paper. On it, in calligraphic handwriting, was written the following.

' Burn this letter after use. Just as Hindus burn bodies after use.
Hehe. Good morning. By the time you read this letter, I will be gone from Fareedpur, to someone who has been waiting for me since the last fifteen years.

Just like how Sakina awaits Salman.
In her subconscious. Her brain knows he won't return. She had seen him dead eight months back. But the immense love she held for her, did not let the fact sink in. It passed away superficially.