Ho Sake Toh Rehna Tum Saath Mere...

Chapter 14 - 𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘈𝘶𝘳 𝘞𝘰𝘩 𝘠𝘢𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘪𝘯...

दर्द तो दोस्त पुराना है,
साथ में यादें लाता है!
कुछ मीठी, कुछ मुश्किल सी...
फिर मैं, दर्द और वह यादें, लग जाती एक महफ़िल सी!

Parul, along with Anurag, was already there when Abir entered Dr. Anita's clinic. He tried to smile but couldn't and went straight to Parul and took her blessings.

"How is Mishti Parul Aunty?" Abir asked, "She's good Abir, she has gone to the NGO today, Naira is with her." Parul gave a weak smile.

"Come Abir, sit here, we were waiting for you."  Dr. Anita said, "I hope you've read whatever I gave you."  She was checking Mishti's file and looked tense.

Anita looked at him, "What did you notice Abir? I want to hear from you, what do you think?"

"Noticed? Ma'am.."  Abir slowly spoke, "I don't know what you expected me to notice, but I could only see that she was waiting for me. Each of those letters were screaming my name! I didn't know ma'am, I didn't know... I.. I.."  He couldn't say more. He looked at Anita. His eyes showed his guilt, his pleads to heal Mishti...

"This is not the time to cry Abir. This won't help Mishti. Please stay strong. I want to discuss this with you all."  Anita looked at everyone in the room, "Please sit.."

"Mishti had two panic attacks in a month, and that is definitely not a good sign. To be honest, there's no wonder that Mishti is showing symptoms of panic disorder, which normally we can interpret as a warning sign for PTSD."

"But she was diagnosed with PTSD long back when she was.."  Parul was tense, "But recently she has not gone through any trauma!"

"That's where we commit the mistake Mrs. Kashyap"  Anita continued, "We assume PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a one time affair. But no. It can have a life-long impact. It depends on many causes, from the type of trauma to the way it was dealt with. Definitely Mishti took therapy after she was molested and her condition improved. But Mrs. Kashyap, I want to ask you, are you sure nothing wrong happened in these years? Of course the roots lie in her childhood, but there must be something in her immediate past that again triggered her for the worse. She isn't a weak girl, but there must be things that evoked her fear."

There was a silence in the room for a while. No one seemed to find an answer. Parul's eyes were moistened whereas Anurag and Abir looked at each other.

"I think it's all because of me."  Anurag broke the silence, "That day at the party of Rajvanshs, Mishti was not well and I noticed that. Still when she asked me to kiss her, I almost let that happen and she became unconscious and hence..." Anurag lowered his head, "It's all because of me.." A lone tear escaped his eye.

Both Abir and Parul were stunned! What did Anurag just say! Mishti asked him to kiss her!

"I've talked to Mishti already, so I'm aware of that incident. But as her nearest ones, I want you people to understand where she was coming from at that moment. Anurag, you said what apparently happened there, but why did she say so?"

Anurag was silent. He has been wondering that for the last 5 days now, but whatever that happened that day, was still a riddle for him.

"Anurag Basu knows Mishti from school days, but he was introduced in Mishti's life recently. So no wonder he's unable to see beyond the surface truth. Then comes Mrs. Kashyap, what do you think could be the reason?"

Tears rolled down Parul's cheeks. She looked at Abir once and said, "Abir.. I know somehow it was Abir who made Mishti react that way. I also understand it was totally unintentional on his part, but I know ma'am. Mishti never showed this to anyone, in fact, she doesn't accept it herself, but Abir still affects her." Parul wiped her tears.