Phir Le Aaya Dil - Mishbir FF

Chapter 18: A Shocker for Abir, Mishti

Chapter 18: A Shocker for Abir, Mishti

Fifteen Days Later

"Didi, aapne toh kaha tha aap sab sambhal lengi," Abir crossed his arms, "toh mujhe dobara Champaner kyun aana pada?"

The NGO Didi glanced around hesitantly and lowered her gaze. She had been in a fix. Whether to play along as instructed or spill the beans to Abir, she couldn't decide. Abir had gone to Umreth for a village setup project he had been invited to, right after he left his house. All his luggage of treasured belongings that he took away with him, he had them delivered at his school in Champaner, shocking the daylights out of his NGO Didi. She had been stunned to receive a humongous parcel – a box full of Mishti's paintings, right at the Champaner school and had immediately dialled Abir's number, unknown of the fact that Abir left his home and his phone in Rajkot.

As luck would have had it, Kunal had received the call. And then came Abir's Nanko in action. From hacking Abir's email account to having a private investigator find out his whereabouts, from having the NGO Didi lie to him about facing problems in the School to keeping Abir's Bade Papa informed of his arrival, Kunal did it all.

"Kuch bolengi?" Abir snapped her out of her reverie.

"Woh..." the NGO Didi pointed to Abir's shed on the far end, "Gaon ke mukhiya aapse milna chahte hain." She shied her eyes away, "Thode... naaraz lag rahe hain."

Abir furrowed his brows at her uncharacteristic behaviour. Shaking his head, he strode up to the classroom to meet whoever was desperate enough to make him leave a village project midway and come to him.

"Bade Papa?" 

Abir stood rooted at the doorstep. In one moment, he realized the entire thing was a plan to bring him here, to Champaner. Because his Nanko very well knew that Abir would leave anything and come, even if he finds the slightest obstacle in fulfilling Mishti's little dream - this Champaner School.

Bade papa stood firmly with his hands at his back. He stared right through his son's eyes – swollen, tired, defeated. What had one ugly twist of fate made of his brightest lamp, of the man who always had a chirpy smile on his face?

Abir on the other hand got worried on finding Bade papa here when he should have been with Mishti. Bade papa observed the change in his expressions from shock to hesitation to confusion to terror.

"Aap? Yaha?" Abir walked up to him, "Mishti kaisi hai? " His voice trembled, "Mish... Mishti theek haina?" Abir raised his voice, "Bade papa aap chup kyun hai?" he touched his shoulders, "Aap mujhe darra rahe hain."

"Mishti theek hai." Vishambar paused and stared at him calmly. "Par... Kya aap theek hain?"

His question came like a thunderbolt to Abir. He wasn't asking as a formality - he was asking a question in all its seriousness; a question he wanted to be answered truthfully.

Abir lowered his gaze.

"Mishti kal ghar lautne wali hai." Vishambar sat down on Abir's bed and sighed. "Doctors aur therapists ne bahut koshish ki. Uthna, baithna, khaana, peena, baatein karna, sab kuch seekh gayi Mishti lekin..." he glanced at Abir pitifully, "memory mein koi farq nahi. Usmein time lagega." He noticed Abir's red eyes fixated at the ground.

"Abir beta," Vishambar touched his shoulder, "Mishti apne zindagi ke sirf do saal nahin bhooli hai, woh apna saara bachpan bhi bhool chuki hai." he sighed. "Saaf shabdon mein kahe... toh-"

"-apne zindagi ka har dard bhool chuki hai." Abir replied blatantly.

Vishambar didn't know how to ease Abir of his pain. Abir was trying so hard to not express his misery, but his eyes gave away all the turbulence brewing in his heart. The fact that Mishti had wiped his entire existence from her life felt like a knife constantly pierced through his chest, bleeding him closer to death.