Hamesha, Yours!

-27-

-Mumbai City Hospital: Canteen-

Aryaman looked down bent on his shoulders to find a small boy who served them fiddling his fingers and small key and paper tightly pressed in his palms.

"Woh yeh aapke liye hi!" he stretched out his arm and handed him the key and a paper. 

I won't be there but a hotel doesn't suit you. Trust me, don't bug. Tum dono ki jebein khaali hi. Go home.

Aryaman read the anonymous chit over and over and stared at the key trying to get hold of the feeling that connected him to it. Abhimanyu turned towards Aryaman confused on how suddenly his raving self mellowed. He clicked his fingers in front of him  and snatched the paper off his hands. 

"It's hers!"

-----

-Mumbai: Malhotra Mansion-

"Manik!" Cabir got up from the sofa seeing a rugged Manik at the door. His shoulders dropping, eyes sunken in, drained. Cabir walked to him and held him by the shoulders lightly.

"Manik?" he called him unknown of where he stood in the frenzy of his emotions.

Manik stood there silent, his eyes lowered, guilt-ridden. His flaws, his black mark was visible, scarred and stabbed all over. Him being back was not the problem, what he did to him wasn't a problem. The sting, the angst was the showers of past and memories he brought along. He was alone, his past staring brutally in front of him. Harshad was back, not with the ordinary back-stab of his. He knew he wasn't back for a mere revenge. He had a deeper meaning to drill in, he had more to say than normal, he was here this time to stare at him into his eye, not int he await for an eye but for the mystification of his old wive's tale.

"Manik?" Cabir called him once again in the hope that a response would come and Manik would be out of his thoughts. being utterly failed at his attempts, Cabir gathered his words, 

"You didn't.."

"He's right!" Manik dazed. 

"He is right. I'll do it again and not realize it. I'll do it all over and never realize. I can see but I'm blind. I'm blind to myself, I'm bling y'll" Manik paused, his eyes holding a commotion of regrets and confusions. 

"I was blind to hers!"

A silence fell through the room.

"I was blind to see her that day!" Manik squinted and incriminated. "How dumb!"

"Manik, it was..." Dhruv tried to rationalize.

"No one's on the blame here, Dhruv! It was me and only me. Harshad said nothing wrong. I would do it and not realize and may be today, I..." he stammered and looked at his hands that were slightly darkened with blood.

Aliya, who had been sitting quietly following Manik on his trail of thoughts understanding the "hers" stared at his gaze on his scarred hands. A knot twitched her heart, her stomach flipped, legs jellied,

"What did you do, Manik?"

Manik gulped at her voice, biting his lips looking intently worried at his hands.

Aliya raised her voice a decibel, the shiver more evident. 

"Wh-wh-what did you?"

Seeing him still vulnerable like the days from years back, she pulled herself together and dragged herself in front of him. She lowered herself to where he sat and cupped his dropping face in her cold, shivering hands.

"Manik, say something!" she softened a bit.

Manik looked up into her eyes, an unsaid truth and comfort flashed between and he trembled,