Chapter 09: A POEM TITLED YOU

Well I noticed a comment in German language under my story and understood there might be international audience also reading it too hence I would try my best to provide the cultural references translation too. And yeah a HAPPY ROMANTIC SUNDAY guys. Hope all of you enjoy today's update too.

CHAPTER-09

A POEM TITLED YOU K-Ost Language: Korean

Looking at you
Since when did I start feeling this was fate
Like a star shining in the night sky
Be by my side for a long time

Whenever I think of a poem called you
I want to memorize it, so I can remember you
When a sad night comes, I’ll protect you
Can you hear my voice?
Don’t forget

In the passing seasons, my heart
Do you know that it doesn’t change
With one look of your eyes as I am looking
It feels like I have got the whole world

Whenever I think of a poem called you
I want to memorize it, so I can remember you
When a sad night comes, I’ll protect you
Can you hear my voice?
Don’t forget

Even when days of flowers blooming and falling come
Remember this one thing
My heart for you

Although we may grow apart one day
If it is you, I could wait
Even if time passes, I’ll be standing here
Don’t hesitate
If that time comes...

A POEM TITLED YOU

Imlie saw Aryan and Niti leaving, she made her way to the backyard of the abandoned house. The place was not known to many but it was famous once upon a time among young villagers during the Nokia era for signals who are now in their prime age, that's what she heard from her Dadda. As of this time this place wasn’t visited much but still holds an important place among many hearts.

She passed some bushes and ended on the edge of the pond that was behind the house, she walked a little more and the overgrown bougainvillea flowers became visible to her. She walked past it and saw a guy working with a laptop and some equipment, he saw her and stretched the gun at her. She grabbed the knife’s tip from her back pocket after giving him the impression of mellowing a little at the sight of the gun and threw it at him when he was off-guard. The knife spined in mid air and went straight inside his right shoulder and got stuck, he lost his balance at the sudden attack. Imlie ran and thrashed the other knife in his left hand and snatched his gun away. She choked his neck from behind and said, “Open your laptop and type its password. Fast...”

“You… Are you really with the police?”

“Mr. Whoever you are… You are in no position to ask me questions. Do immediately what I asked you to do else I don’t waste seconds rethinking my decisions when it comes in the context of taking lives. So don’t you dare to test my patience…”

The man opened up his laptop and typed the password, after that she hit his head with the gun’s bottom and he fainted.

“That was neat,” Imlie muttered under her breath.

Imlie took out a pen drive from her pocket and searched his laptop’s contents. To her not so surprise she found the content she wanted and copied the files to her pen drive. She felt pride in herself for buying the pen drive before meeting Harshit. She closed the laptop, lifted it with her left hand and grabbed the man’s back collar with her right hand. She made her way to the house’s back entrance by dragging the man by his collar. When she was near the house Harshit saw her and came running towards her. He looked at the man whose kurta was soaked with blood flowing from his chest.

“Before you ask anything I would like to say he isn’t dead, he had just fainted” exclaimed Imlie.

Harshit called the officers to take him and Imlie informed about the setup of equipment near the pond. The officers went to take them too.

After all the officers were gone Harshit asked Imlie, “Will you like to return to Delhi with us or will you stay with your family? I should inform you that I might give a lift to Aryan Singh Rathore too as his car is in Chautaalgarh police station”

“Bro, do you think they would accept me in this avatar? You must have heard my mother’s remarks while saving the kidnapped villagers”
“If you ask me, they are ought to be scared after all they are civilians”
“I have the same point but will you return now or later?”
“Maybe a little later, I would like to check the medical facilities provided before leaving. Also as time is passing by, many NGOs will come to help the villagers from the nearby cities”
“Glad to hear this, I have a little job to do so I will catch you later. Other’s have went to the village square already I guess”
“Yes, this place now really looks abandoned. The dead bodies have been removed and the others have already left with the terrorists for jail. The paramilitary forces had also left, now the local police force from Chautaalgarh is here to handle the aftermath of the situation.”
“Oh! Then I will see you half an hour later”
“Okay”
“Please keep up the act of me being a mute person in front of Aryan Singh Rathore too”
“Okay, But keep this with you. It might rain any moment.”
“Umbrella?”
“Niti sent it by the hands of an officer. She is using police forces as courier service now”

Imlie smiled after seeing Harshit’s annoyed face.
“Don’t you like Niti at all?”
“No” Harshit was fast with his reply.
“Why?”
“Because she is someone who isn’t worthy of liking”
“That’s mean, but I asked why?”
“Well how should I explain? She is young and not someone with the personality I can look up to. So she ended up in the disliking sector”
“Bro I am young too”
“Well, you emit a serious nature from you, more than serious I should say a mysterious one. But she doesn't have that aura where respect would be my feeling. If I can’t respect a person, how will I be able to work with them? Since she isn’t serious, she doesn’t seems to be reliable too”
“Bro, I understand what you say but”
“But what? I have seen her stealing glances of mine. I know she has every right to enjoy her teenage years but she can’t ruin people’s working mood. She was blatantly making me uncomfortable with her ogling.”
Imlie thought for a few seconds and asked, “Is she the total opposite from your ideal type?”
“Now just from where is the talk about my ideal type coming from?”
“Nowhere just know that you have been triggered and opposites attract”
Harshit rolled his eyes and exclaimed, “See you later then.” He was in no mood to stay here as the conversation was about to turn to a romantic context according to him.

'What's wrong with him? I was only talking about how opposite people attracts and can become a good professional team too. In my last life I did have Madhav who was totally opposite to me but when we used to work together we used to be the perfect team' thought Imlie.

Imlie nodded her head for showing a temporary farewell without uttering a single word as Harshit was leaving and then she looked at the time, it was five o’clock.

“Why isn’t Aditya here yet?” uttered Imlie and made her way a little deeper in the forest near the house. She followed a small road in between bamboo groves and went a little higher from where she wasn’t visible much to the people who would be in the house area.

Suddenly she saw two cars coming, both had ‘Bhaskar Times‘ written over them.

Imlie smiled a sly smile and looked at the cars, she took her cell and made some videos and took some pictures. She saw Aditya coming out from the first car with two members and four members came out from the other car.

“Now the real fun will start. Aditya, you should have thought twice before messing things up by bringing Aryan '' exclaimed Imlie.

Aditya was there standing in front of the address the terrorists gave him. He asked his chief editor about it and he provided the news channel’s car for coming here along with two people from other teams. His own team members made their way from Kanpur. But the house seems abandoned, completely empty though there were traces of cars on the ground. Aditya made his way inside the house alone and saw the house completely empty with traces of blood everywhere, he felt fear surrounding him with the thought that this blood might belong to the villagers. Suddenly he heard a manly voice from behind, “Who’s there?”

He slowly turned around and saw a police officer standing behind him.

He got calm after seeing the officer and said, “Sir, I came from Bhaskar Times. We heard about a terrorist attack here in Pagdandia”

He also showed his identity card to the officer.
“Oh! The terrorists have been arrested already. The special forces performed their operations yesterday night and all the people have been rescued. Now medical treatments are being given to the injured in the village square”
“Thank you so much for the information Sir”

And Aditya made his way out of the house to inform his team members. When he was out of sight the officer exclaimed, “Strange, this was a secret mission. No media outlet has come, how did Bhaskar Times know about this?”

Aditya came out and saw his team members waiting outside.

“Sir, what is the situation?”
“The police forces has cleared the terrorists. Two of you stay here and take pictures of the area. Send it to the office, it’s only 5:09 am. We can still add this news in today’s newspaper with last minute changes. And the other four hurry with me to the village square. We need to cover villager’s statements.”
“Yes Sir”

As the four of the members parted with Aditya by car, one team stayed on the spot to take the pictures. Imlie who had seen everything from far exclaimed, “Okay, then this is done here. Hope Niti does her work before Aditya arrives there”

Imlie slowly walked between the bamboo grove and used a shortcut through the forest to reach Pagdandia village square.

Meanwhile Niti has finished making a video of Meethi and Dulari, she asked the questions about the kidnapping and also the terrorists. Meethi said everything to her as she introduced herself with the police force before. After recording them she said, “Thank you for telling the truth but please try to not say this to the police force at any cost, your daughter Imlie said to pass this message”

Meethi and Dulari looked baffled and asked, “So we won’t say that the city journalist Aditya is the reason behind the kidnapping of Aryan Singh Rathore?”

“Wait a second”, Niti replied and turned a voice message on.

Meethi and Dulari heard Imlie’s voice, “Amma, your Gudia(Doll) here, please listen to this girl. I know her personally so I am sending this message to you through her. If you say that the city journalist instigated the kidnapping of Aryan Singh Rathore then it might make the police suspicious of Dadda too. Hence hide the whole thing, please for Dadda.”

Meethi and Dulari took a little time to think about this and decided to keep silent about the whole kidnapping issue of Aryan.

“And that is Aryan Singh Rathore”, Niti said and pointed her fingers towards Aryan who was getting his head bandaged under a medical tent.
Meethi and Dulari looked at Aryan from afar and tears accumulated in Meethi’s eyes. Niti smiled and left.

Meethi exclaimed, “Amma that guy”
“Yes Meethi, Imlie said he is our future son-in-law”
“He has a face like Lord Ram. Gudia(Doll) used to take his name even in her sleep”
“Yes Meethi but Lord Ram couldn’t stay with Devi Sita so…”
“Yeah I know what you mean Amma… Let’s not talk about it much.”

Suddenly Meethi and Dulari saw some volunteers and villagers bringing Satyakaam to the medical tent and also his team members. The mother-daughter duo ran there to check on Satyakaam.

“Satya… What happened to Satya?” Dulari asked.
Meethi helped Satyakaam to sit on the plastic chair.

One villager replied, “The terrorists were spying Satyakaam and his team. When they decided to gather every villager to fight the terrorists, they attacked them from behind. Three members of Satyakaam is taken to the Chautaalgarh hospital for getting shot by guns and one of them died”

Meethi and Dulari panicked hearing this. Tears flowed from Satyakaam’s eyes for the dead guy as he exclaimed, “I hope the terrorists gets punished with no mercy”
“Don’t worry Satya, we saw how they saved us. From now on I trust the police force a lot” said Dulari.

Aryan came out of the medical tent with a packet of medicines that he needs to take after eating something but as he looked around he found no shops open and the whole village was in a state of turmoil. He suddenly saw commotion in the medical tent far left and didn’t understand what was happening. He saw a villager passing by and asked what happened…

“Sir, our leader of honesty Satyakaam tried to go to save the villagers from being kidnapped by the terrorists but they hit them badly. Three of his members are fighting for their lives and one died”
“Oh so sorry to hear this”
“Sir, why are you sorry? I heard even you were kidnapped. Wait a second..” The guy ran and brought a plastic chair for Aryan to sit and rest.
“Thank you, but “
“No but Sir, we have also suffered so we know it. You have bandages too, please sit and have a rest”
“Thank you” Aryan exclaimed as the guy left to help others.

“Uff! It’s been ten minutes yet I am still struggling. Please Connect, please Mr. Music System. Don’t be like the one who uses you. Or are you also judging me like your Mr. Khurana? Please get connected to my cell” Niti exclaimed sitting on the Driver’s seat of Harshit’s car.

As she was trying her best she didn’t notice that it started to drizzle.

Harshit came to his car and saw Niti sitting on the driving seat and doing something with her cell. He looked at her confused and asked, "What are you doing?"

Niti who was tackling hard to connect her cell's bluetooth signal with the car's music system got annoyed and replied, "Can't you see I am trying to connect my cell with the music system"

"And who gave you that permission?"

"I to myself" replied Niti and turned to her right when the systems finally got connected.

Harshit was looking at her with a furious face; Niti was taken aback as well as got scared with his expressions, she tried to disconnect the systems but by mistake the song 'Sanam Teri Kasam' played in the loudspeaker of the car which was one of her most favorite song so she changed the decision of disconnecting the systems immediately.

Sanam Teri Kasam Language: Hindi

[Music]

Niti panicked at the music of the song and exclaimed, “I didn’t mean to play it so loud”
She reduced the volume a little.
“I am sorry,” uttered Niti.

"Betahasha dil ne

Tujhko hi chaaha hai

Har duaa mein maine

Tujhko hi maanga hai"

Harshit's gaze softened a little with her sorry but he was angry, he exclaimed, "Do you have any idea this car belongs to the Police Force"

Niti nodded her head in an anxious manner.

“And you are sorry for playing it at a loud volume but not sorry for playing it at all in this situation?”
“Haven’t we taken the biggest risks on our shoulders yesterday night? So what’s wrong with relaxing with music?”

“Do you have any idea that people won’t respect you if you do such stuff?”

Niti was silent at Harshit’s words.

"Tera jaana jaise koi baddua

Tera jaana jaise koi baddua"

"Turn off the song you are playing," he said angrily.

"But we will be returning now and a relaxed journey without music is awful. Who would judge us just for listening to music? Also listening to music is a personal choice that doesn’t make a person less respectable. Please for us pesky civilians sake, O Big Hearted Lord; Please refrain yourself from shutting off the music…" replied Niti trying to convince Harshit that he shouldn't stop the music.

"Door jaaoge jo tum

Mar jaayenge hum

Sanam teri kasam o..

Sanam teri kasam o..

Sanam teri kasam.."

“It’s absolutely useless to talk with you as you know nothing about how life works. You teenagers are dependent on your parents. How will you even know that a person’s behavior reflects a lot about whether he would be respected by others or not” remarked Harshit.

“That was absolutely a mean remark Mister and not everyone is lucky enough to be dependent on parents…” Niti said angrily.

"Come out of my car right now" yelled Harshit.

"Yes Sir!" Niti opened the door and closed it again, "But...It's raining. I will get drenched if I come out"

"It’s just a drizzle and can't you see I have an umbrella in my hand? I will keep you safe from rain"

Niti looked at Harshit annoyed and replied sarcastically, "Oh okay then Mr. Savior of humanity”

"Tumhe dekhte hi aankhen ho jaati namm

Sanam teri kasam o..

Sanam teri kasam o..

Sanam teri kasam.."

But as Niti was about to come out her hand touched Harshit's hand which was on the frame of the car's window and they looked at each other intently. She couldn’t explain what kind of spell he had put on her from the moment she laid her eyes on him. His looks perfectly match the ideal man of her dreams but once he opens his mouth nothing matches with her.

‘Why are you such a judgmental person and also rude?’ thought Niti

‘Because you infuriate me with every single antics of yours’ thought Harshit looking down at her.

Their trance broke when an officer came and asked, “Sir, since Aryan Singh Rathore’s car is in the police station. Should I inform him that he could go back to Delhi with you Sir?”

[Music]

Imlie reached the village square when suddenly it started to rain. She opened her umbrella and saw Aryan who was sitting a little far. She pulled her hoodie up and made her way to him.

"Huaa ye kya hashar mera

Judaa huaa sabar mera”

Aryan was sitting on the chair thinking how to get back as his cell phone was missing and he doesn’t remember the numbers. He cursed mobile phones to make it unnecessary for people to remember numbers, now he just doesn't know how to go back as his wallet was also not with him.

“Main tere bin ek lamha

Kyun kabhi naa jiya"

As he was pondering over what to do next, it suddenly started to rain.

He freaked out and exclaimed, "Why the hell is it raining now?"

Suddenly a black umbrella covered him, he looked up and saw the girl in black hoodie standing on his right. Her face was not visible as the hoodie was covering her.

He looked at her clothes and understood she was the same girl who saved him.

“Aren’t you the girl who saved me?”

Imlie nodded her head subtly as a yes.

“Thank You”

A smile came to Imlie’s face which Aryan couldn’t see.

Suddenly a police officer came to them and enquired, " Are you Mr. Aryan Singh Rathore?"

"Yes," Aryan replied to him.

"Sir, your car is in the Chautaalgarh police station but it can't be retrieved right now. We will send it to the Delhi Police station. Please retrieve it from there. It would be better if you leave with our senior officer; his car is there" said the man pointing towards a white Mahindra Scorpio.

Aryan saw a guy and girl sitting in the car and talking but both were wearing black masks like the girl who was holding the umbrella for him. He had already seen three of them so he decided to leave with them without having any doubts.

"Okay I am leaving with them", Aryan assured the officer and saw the girl who was still standing holding the umbrella above his head. She was still invisible to him in the color black.

'One more fateful meet with umbrellas I guess...' thought Aryan.

"Raat bhar ashqo ne tujhko pukara hai

Har dua main maine tujhko hi maanga hai"

Imlie maintained a small distance of one hand and followed him to the car from behind; she chose to walk behind him so that he didn't notice her staring at him intently. As Aryan moved towards the car he felt a gaze on him but avoided questioning, he thought the girl covering him was a mute person. They walked slowly looking at the mud and algae on the ground so that they wouldn't slip.

"Tera jaana jaise koi baddua

Door jaaoge jo tum

Mar jaayenge hum

Sanam teri kasam o..

Sanam teri kasam o..

Sanam teri kasam.."

They reached the car and saw the man and the girl in the car were fighting over the music player.

‘These two… why are they fighting now?’ thought Imlie but didn’t voice it out. 

Aryan waited a few seconds as he didn’t want to interrupt them, but he was also exhausted. Imlie looked at Aryan’s face and knocked on the car’s window loudly. Aryan turned to look at her face at the golden opportunity, but as their eyes met Imlie immediately pulled her cap’s visor down making it unable for him to see her face.

Harshit opened the car’s front door glass and greeted Aryan, “Hello, Mr. Rathore. Myself Senior Officer Harshit Khurana. I proposed for you to return back to Delhi with us”

“Thank you so much. I was wondering how to go back”
“It’s my pleasure to be of help. Your friend Nishant has passed down special instructions by seniors for your safety”

Imlie got a little confused because she never heard about any Aryan’s friend in her last life. She only knew one person as Nishant and he was Aditya’s cousin brother but he was never friends with Aryan.

“Yeah, he’s quite protective of me”
“Please sit”

Aryan noticed he didn't even know Harshit’s face properly as he didn’t pay much attention during the fight though he was wearing a mask, now as it was morning he had already put on his sunglasses before talking with him. The girl sitting beside him also had her face covered with a mask. But he knew her too as she greeted him with her eyes and nodded her head; she was the same girl who took him to the medical tent.

He felt for a second like he was with masked dacoits. But as he was in no position to question he kept mum and looked towards the girl who was holding the umbrella. She looked at him and took one step behind.

Imlie slowly opened the back door of the car for Aryan, he looked at her eyes and sat inside the car. She closed the door for him without breaking eye contact. This time she didn't try to run from his gaze as she was estimating her own boundaries. She was trying her best to keep every emotion of her within the limit of rights a stranger can exercise on someone.

"Tumhe dekhte hi aankhen ho jaati nam

Sanam teri kasam o..

Sanam teri kasam o..

Sanam teri kasam.."

After closing the door of the car as Imlie walked towards the back door of the opposite direction, she passed the car from behind and while passing she rubbed the tear drop which accumulated near the corner of her right eye with her index finger. As she got inside the car's back door and sat along with Aryan; Aryan tried his best to look at her face once again but Imlie pulled her hoodie more so that not even an inch of her face was visible from sideways.

Harshit turned on the ignition keys and they started their journey to Delhi.

[MUSIC]

Aditya’s team members had sent the required materials for the news article and now they were just collecting some extra interviews and materials for extra articles they wanted to publish later. Aditya looked at the members from far, they had dark circles visible. So was his because they needed to leave at midnight to reach Pagdandia at dawn. Suddenly his cell rang and it was his Chief Editor.

“Hello Sir”
“Oh Aditya thank you so much”
“Why sir?”
“For you we became the only outlet who gave a perfect article and news about the Pagdandia terrorist attack. Our newspaper sales also increased today, it’s still 6:00 am though I am expecting a better rise in sales for the whole day.”
“Sir our job is to provide a real scenario of such dangerous things happening in our society.”
“Indeed, we are so lucky to have you. If you hadn’t informed us about the attack we wouldn’t have been able to be the only media outlet to give this news out.”
“No Sir, I should thank you for sending me with a team and also cars”
“Soon we shall celebrate this achievement Aditya after you and your team returns”
“Definitely Sir”

As Aditya cut his call the drizzle changed to a pouring session. Aditya opened his umbrella and saw the rush in the village square. He passed an ambulance parked on the road as he walked towards the village square and he noticed his right foot fell in a mud pit, he cursed his situation in his mind.

"Nasha tera dil ko lagaa

Dena nahi mujhko dagaa

Main teri aadat ka maara

Hai kya meri khataa"

As it was raining heavily, Aditya looked at his feet and sighed, he was holding the umbrella with his left hand. His team members were busy collecting pictures of the aftermath of the terrorist's attack hence no one noticed the senior journalist busy getting furious on himself for his own mistake. He looked at the sky and thought; What a game of fate this was? He came for terrorists call and most of the terrorists are dead by now but his right foot still couldn’t be saved.

Suddenly Aditya saw two men who were hurrying with a stretcher carrying a patient to the ambulance and a female nurse who was covering the patient with an umbrella. He tried to move a little behind to give them space but suddenly as they were crossing him, the hand of the patient touched his right hand and he felt as if electric shocks running all over his body. His head felt like it was tearing into pieces. He touched his head as the sudden pain was becoming unbearable.

"Tere bin naamumkin

Apna guzaara hai

Har duaa mein maine

Tujhko hi maanga hai"

Aditya's umbrella fell down from his hand and he couldn’t stand straight anymore, he sat on the mud with the tremendous amount of pain he felt. He suddenly remembered some fragments of his memory which flashed through his mind like tits and bits of some movie.

He remembered a memory where he was smiling and reading a book to a lady who was smiling back at him. But her face was blurred and he couldn’t remember even if he wanted to. She pointed out some sentences from the book he was reading and smiled. He noticed on her right wrist, she had a tattoo but he couldn't remember the pattern.

"Tera jaana jaise koi baddua

Door jaaoge jo tum

Mar jaayenge hum

Sanam teri kasam o..

Sanam teri kasam o..

Sanam teri kasam.."

He remembered another fragment of his memory where he was talking with her for hours sitting on a bench in front of a lake though he didn't remember the content of their conversation. The nature around them spoke for itself that it was some hill station. She showed him some ducks on the lake in front of them by pointing her right hand and again his attention went to that blurred tattoo.

"Tumhe dekhte hi aakhen ho jaati nam

Sanam teri kasam o..

Sanam teri kasam o..

Sanam teri kasam.."

Tears rolled down Aditya's eyes when he found himself in another memory of his memory lanes. He was running in the hospital, panting, sweating and crying. When he reached the door of that room, his destination; the doctor came out and put the hand on his shoulder and said, "I am sorry, she is no more"

Aditya in the memory screamed her name in pain.

But the Aditya who was sitting under the rain on mud, holding his knees near his chest and crying with the clouds exclaimed, "Aahana..."

The ambulance door was closed and the driver started driving it. Chautaalgarh Hospital was the destination. The lady nurse was trying her best to keep the female patient covered and secured at her place but her right hand was swinging with every stone the ambulance passed on. Her right wrist was showing up and the nurse who kept her hand back in place exclaimed, "Oh wow! What a beautiful tattoo...It's rare to see any village woman to have such a tattoo."

“I heard from the villagers she was born in some city and married here in this village”
“What people leave villages to go to cities for better opportunities and she came here?”
The other male nurse asked,  "I heard she is the only raped victim in this terrorists attack. Vinay, what's her name?”
“It’s Sushmita written here and she is actually thirty years old. These two details were only given” replied Vinay.
The female nurse replied, “Thirty, she doesn’t look thirty at all. The villagers thought her to be twenty seven or eight. They told me this age when I asked a random villager.”
“But her in-laws gave me the age thirty. But really what an unfortunate lady”
“Indeed, no female should face such things”

As Harshit was driving Aryan looked outside the window when all of them heard his stomach’s loud growl.

“Mr. Rathore, you seem hungry,” said Harshit.
Niti was busy deciding every song that was playing in the car.

“Oh sorry for the trouble, I last ate lunch yesterday”
“No. No, You shouldn’t be sorry for being hungry. We actually had dinner yesterday in the car only, it was some bread and jam but you had lunch as your last meal yesterday. We do have some food. Would you like to have it? Khatti please give him”
“No, Mr. Khurana I don’t want to be a burden to you guys anymore. Right now I am being enough of a burden to you all and I don’t eat carbs at random time…”

Aryan couldn’t finish his sentence, before that Imlie took out the instant protein shake powder and water bottle from her bag and handed it to Aryan. The motion was quick but she didn’t even turn her head towards him for more than a second, making it impossible for him to see her face.

He was surprised but said  a ‘Thank you’  stumbling a little as the act of courtesy.

“Can I mix the powder in the whole water?” Aryan asked Imlie.
She showed him a thumbs up motion with her right thumb.

Aryan was absolutely confused why the girl was avoiding him this much.

‘Is she flustered because of the hug that happened in that house?’ thought Aryan.

Imlie took out an energy bar and handed that to him too. Harshit and Niti who saw this happening through the rear view mirror were trying their best to control their laughter.

Aryan was absolutely confused with the girl’s antics.

To tear down the energy bar’s packet Aryan was thinking where to keep the water bottle when Imlie aggressively grabbed the bottle and held it before him. She did everything while hiding her face in the hoodie and not looking at him for once as he was trying to grab every opportunity to look at her face but at her antics Niti couldn’t hold her laughter back and a muffled soft laughter sound was heard. Imlie pinched her left arm from back and she tried to control again and looked at Harshit, he looked at her for a second and he seemed to her like he was telling with his eyes which was visible for the sunglasses light brown shade, “Control your laughter buddy” trying his best to even hide his smile under the mask.

‘This man just puts in more than needed. You can easily smile under your mask…just don’t make any sound’ thought Niti forgetting what she just did a moment before.

Aryan had finished the food, the food was something his cup of tea. After having it, he ate the pills given to him from the medical tent and after fifteen minutes he felt drowsy. He tried his best to keep his eyes open but as fatigue and exhaustion grabbed him with their arms he went in the hands of slumber. Imlie saw him and moved to the middle of the backseat. Aryan’s head felt unstable as he was deep in sleep, Imlie placed his head on her right shoulder.

She noticed Niti was enjoying the song that was playing and Harshit was busy keeping his eyes on the road.

Pal Language: Hindi

“Saaya mera hai teri shakal”

Imlie looked at Aryan’s peaceful face while sleeping.

“Haal hai aisa kuch aajkal

Subah main hoon tu dhoop hai”

Aryan’s hair was swaying with the rhythm of the breeze coming from outside, the rain has stopped already and soft morning sunrays fell on his cheeks.

“Main aaina hoon tu roop hai

Yeh tera saath khoob hai

Humsafar…”

Imlie observed his long eyelashes which once she used to appreciate a lot. She used to give soft pecks on his eyelids in her past life. She remembered a moment from her memory where she was sitting on his lap with her hands around his neck. He was sitting on the railing of the window of their bedroom.

“What’s the mood today?” asked Aryan.
“Romantic” replied Imlie with a smile.
“Uh la la” Aryan teased.
“Lucky is the lady whose husband possesses longer eyelashes than herself. I don’t attain this level of eye lash beauty even with all the mascaras I have”
“Something is burning somewhere”
“ABP, it was a compliment I am not jealous of you at all”
“You are…”
“No I am not!”
"I can see you are"
"No... Not at all"
And both of them laughed at their own conversation.

“Tu ishq ke saare rang de gaya

Phir kheench ke apne sang le gaya”

Imlie looked at his face again through the corner of her eyes, he was the most handsome man for her in this world but more than handsome he was someone who gave her everything in her last life. Her whole essence was for him, he gave everything to her with open arms. He never questioned and never judged. It was not a love of equals but her being dependent on him. When she woke up in this life again then only she knew the real value of him in her life. Last time she used to respect him, admire him, love him and own him. But this time she wants to make this relationship equal, she wants to shower him with love, care, money and everything available in this mortal world.

“Kahin pe kho jaaye jo

Jahaan ruk jaaye pal

Kabhi naa phir aaye kal

Saathiya…”

Imlie took his left hand and put on her lap. Slowly she intertwined her fingers with him and looked at his fingers. She wanted to feel every inch of his finger hence took her sweet time exploring and rating his skin’s roughness, his fingers were long and attractive. As she held his hand with her right hand she thought, ‘Last time only you gave your shoulder to me but this time I will give my shoulder to you. So Lean On Me and leave all your burdens behind.'

“Imlie how much are you going to admire him? Your affection is visible on your face” exclaimed Niti.

“What? No more acting like a mute person?” asked Harshit, surprised when he heard Niti calling Imlie with her name.

“There’s no more need for it, thanks to our great Niti ma'am. He will sleep for the next five to six hours straight” said Imlie.

“What did you guys do?” asked Harshit.

“We are not going to say it to you even if you put me in jail” said Niti to Harshit.

Niti remembered how she explicitly instructed the doctor of the medical tent where she took him for treatment to give Aryan a dose of sedatives too as he had insomnia. So the painkillers he was given also had properties to make a person fall into a deep sleep.

And Imlie remembered how she called back Niti when she was taking Sushmita out of the room.

“Niti…”

Niti asked the officer to hold Sushmita in a princess hug position to bring her out of the room and went back to Imlie.

“Do you have anything to say Imlie?”
“Are medical tents being set up?”
“Yes they are setting up in the village square”
“Aryan is hurt on his head, please ask the doctor, the one who will treat him to give pain killers and as well as sedatives or sleeping tablets. He have insomnia”
“How do you know?”
“Remember I told you there’s a guy I like”
“Yes. Don’t tell me he is this guy?”
“He is, fortunately”
“My oh my, my future jiju(brother-in-law)” said Niti happily.
“Listen I have more tasks for you, first give me your mobile”
As Niti handed her cell to Imlie, she recorded a voice message and instructed Niti to make a video of Meethi’s statements and pass down the message to not say about Aditya’s involvement to the police.

Imlie was brought back to present with Niti’s words, “By the way Imlie I begged this Kharoos(Mean) Khurana for you to bring Aryan with us. You need to give a treat for my hard work”

“Definitely” Imlie replied.

“I can guess a little what stunt you pulled, but why?” asked Harshit.

“Because I need to talk with you bro”
“About what?”
“I want my business account activated by today or tomorrow, the one I applied for yesterday as I couldn’t use the check your man Mahesh gave me yet”
“You want to start a business?”
“Yes, I want to be a rich person in the future.”
Harshit gave a glance to Imlie's face through his rear-view mirror and focused back on driving.

Aryan woke up and found himself on his bed. He saw Arpita, Narmada and Nishant relieved. Narmada hugged him and asked, “Aru are you okay?”
“Maa, I am okay”

“Thanks to Mata Rani(Goddess Sherawali), Arpita and Nishant, please take care of Aru. I am going to visit Mata Rani’s temple. I asked a vow from Mata Rani for Aru’s safe return. Now that he has woken up I need to go for Mata Rani’s Darshan(See/Sight).”

“Okay Maa”
“Aunty, I will take you to the temple,” said Nishant.
“Okay, beta”

Nishant and Narmada left for the temple and Arpita helped Aryan to sit on the bed by placing a pillow behind his back.
“UNB, are you okay? You are not hurt right?”
“Di, You will still call me UNB?”
“You are UNB, Useless Nalayak(Useless in Hindi language) Bhaisa(Bull)”
“By the way Di, how did I end up at home?”
“Oh, a police officer in civil dress dropped you here.”
“Only an officer?”
“Yes, are there supposed to be more people?”
“No”, as Aryan replied he saw a black cap on the pillow next to him. He grabbed it and looked at it intently.
Arpita looked at Aryan who was holding the cap and observing it carefully. She said, “You were wearing this when you were brought here. Do you know to whom this belongs?”

Aryan remembered how Harshit uttered the girl’s name in the car and exclaimed, “Khatti’s”

Songs Used:-

~A Poem Titled You(Taeyeon) [Hotel Del Luna Ost]
~Sanam Teri Kasam(Ankit Tiwari, Palak Muchhal) [Movie: Sanam Teri Kasam]
~Pal(Shreya Ghoshal) [Movie: Jalebi]

To all getting it hard for Desi Reference,

Khatti - Sour
Di/Didi - Elder sister
Maa Sherawali - Goddess in Hinduism.

Why did Niti call Aryan her brother in law?
-> Because in India we take sistership in friendship too.
Why did Nishant call Narmada as Aunty?
-> Aunty is commonly used for non related elder women in India.

Well guys this chapter itself contains 6500+ words. Please do shower me with your comments and I am open for any kind of criticisms too if you don't like any parts. Happy Sunday once again, also Sushmita's character's face will be added tomorrow in the Character's Face list. Keep an eye for more.

Yours Mimi