he was trembling as he inserted the key
into the door.....
his hands not working due
to the mounting tension....
any second he'd said....
kahin mujhe der to nahi ho gayi....??
the house had been engulfed in darkness
wen his car had approached...
& he'd thought of it as a bad sign...
if naina was safe...freshening up...
why the hell were the lights turned off????
(in his panicky state..he'd completely forgotten
to inform navin or aalekh...)
the door opened..he rushed in...
not bothering to switch on the lights..
as he raced past the tables...
he banged right into a pillar..
& hit his head....
"shit!!!.." he clutched his head...
& felt his fingers moistening....
his forehead was bleeding.....
little things would be taken care of later ...
but the task in hand...
or was it out of hand...
petrified him...
rushing up the stairs....he reached her room...
& banged it hard....
"naina!!!...darwaaza kholo!!...
can you hear me.....?....naina??...
naina?? tum theek to ho!!...answer me yaar!"
not a sound came from within...
oh God....please let her be safe....!!
please!!
he took a deep breath &
decided to break the door open...
...........................................
the assassin had seen raj's car halting
outside the house..
& an anger had filled him.....
BLAST KYON NAHI HUA??!!!!
he was furious wid himself...
aaj mera over-confidence mujhe le dooba...
i spoilt my mission...
then he laughed...
that's wat everyone else would think isn't it??
but no one except him knew....
knew dat there was a timer fitted in the bomb...
ab ek ki jagah do log mere nishaane par hain!!!
dear captain!!!
u don't have much time left ....
kaise bachoge??
wen all u have is 13 minutes!!!!!
13 precious minutes...
is mein to tum bas apni girlfriend
ka haal hi pooch paaooge!!!
the countdown begins!!!!!
....................................
meanwhile naina stirred ....
and then bolted up in her bed...
"kya yaar...koi sone bhi nahi deta hai!!"
she rubbed her eyes...got up..
& turned on the lights...
it was 8 p.m....
then she suddenly heard raj's voice....
& the fact dat he was trying
to break the door down!!!
isse kya hua??
she'd stepped out of her quilt and felt a chill
run through her...
wrapping her gown tightly about her..
she approached the door to open it....
she'd just touched the latch...
wen the door broke open..
& raj rushed right into her.....
forcing her back so quickly that she began falling
...in a state of confusion...
she held his jacket so hard...
dat both of dem fell flat on the bed....!!!
he was breathing really hard...&
she could feel the pressure of his body on her....
"r..raj...tum theek to ho??"
she sumhow managed...
"MAIN??!!...NAINA!!...ARE..U...ALRIGHT??!!"
his eyes had widened....
"ah..not really...."
he got up from top of her...
& rolled next to her side..
then sat up...
"ab theek hoon...raj..tum mote ho gaye ho!!"
"shut-up naina!!"
it finally sank in dat she was alright...
he'd reached on time....
she was right here...lively...smiling as usual
& his eyes moistened...
although tears didn't drop...
"I LOVE YOU NIA!!"
he held her by her shoulders...
& forced her up right into his arms....
hugging her so tightly dat
she had to fight to breathe...
he held her for a longtime...
rocking wid her slowly...
forcing himself to believe dat
she was absolutely fine...
assuring his heart dat she lived....
lived to love him...
finally he looked at her...
meeting her eyes....
naina ke saare baal bikhre hue the..
& to him...she looked like an angel roused from sleep...
she didn't see his concerned eyes....
for wat she saw...troubled her...
it was the sinister cut on his forehead....
blood was still oozing out of it...
"raj..yeh cut??..
bahut dard ho raha hai?"
her voice quivered...
& her hand trembled as she reached out
to touch it....
"shhhhh....."
he held her fingers wid one hand...
& kept a finger on her lips....
silencing her....
all he wanted to do was to take in her beauty...
the love in those eyes..dat melted his heart....
main mar jaata agar aaj tumhe kuch.....
he shivered at the thought yet again..
he kissed her fingers....
& wid his other arm behind her neck...
pulled her closer...
while she wondered wat had gone wrong...
he kissed her gently on her forehead,
& then on her eyelids.....
as she opened her eyes again....
& stared into his beautiful..black ones..
she realised dat he was in pain..
on the verge of tears...
touching his cheek...
she prodded gently into his mental state....
"i know it isn't the cut....
koi aur baat tumhe tang kar rahi hai raj??
tumhaari aankhon mein aansoon kyon hai?
aisa kya ho gaya jo tum itne pareshaan..."
he brushed away the hair from her face &
slowly replied...
"promise me naina..."
"promise.."
she immediately replied..
he smiled...
"pehle sun to lo..."
"zaroorat nahi hai...."
"hai Nia....promise me dat u'll never leave me...
mujhe chod kar tum kabhi nahi jaaogi..."
"tumhe chodkar??...
hua kya hai raj?"
she demanded again...
"u'r not making sense!!"
"promise me..."
he held her hands tightly in his...
she smiled....not understanding
why this was so important for him...
yet it was....
she would've promised...
if raj hadn't suddenly jerked up....
his face had a ghastly look...
"what is it!!!! ab kya hua??...
tum mujhe kuch bataaoge?"
"u haven't taken a bath as yet have you?"
"nahi...i was too tired ...
jaa rahi thi..but changed my mind at the last minute..."
so the bomb was still here.....
ticking away to glory....
"dhyaan se suno..can u hear sumthing?"
a silence prevailed in the room...
she smiled..."your heartbeats!!"
he gave her a look dat said....
"you've lost it"
& her smile disappeared.....
"yahin ruko..."
he went in the bathroom...
the ticking was louder now...
he stared at the geyser...&
finally found a wire....
a wire dat didn't seem to belong to the set
of switches present around....
grabbing hold of it...
he traced it to its source...
it ended somewhere beneath the wash-basin....
he bent down on his knees...
"tum kar kya rahe ho??"
it was at dat time dat
his eyes fell on the mini-bomb...
right behind a thick pipe...
cleverly concealed....
he picked it up....& looked at it..
it read...
00:01:02.....
"dammit!!...naina get out of here!!"
he screamed...
but her legs didn't budge..
she stood there gaping at the black box in his hands...
"dat's..dat's a bomb?"
"exactly nia!!!...GET OUT!!"
"u know how to diffuse it?"
she asked him..calmly...
he shook his head..
"i've never seen this make before....
40 seconds nia..."
he got up & began pushing her out....
"there are 3 wires here...red, blue & green...
main kisi ek ko kaatne waala hoon..."
he met her eyes.."randomly....
please naina...jaao..."
she smiled...
"main kahin nahi jaa rahi..."
he tried his level best to push her out
but she held him tighter....
"wire cut karo raj...
nahi to hum dono marenge..."
"this isn't a joke!!!
zid mat karo nia...20 seconds...
TIME'S RUNNING OUT!!"
"red wire...."
so dat was her answer...
she wasn't leaving him...
"blue..." he replied...
5 seconds to go...
they gazed into each other's eyes...
&
he cut the green wire!!!!
Geet - Hui Sabse Parayee
Bade Achche Lagte Hain Naya Season
66