Kashmakash - RK FF

Hello everyone,

Yes, one more fanfic 😆 (I am sorry, if you are tired of them)!!
I had already posted these scenes under the RK scenes thread as separate scenes but have now decided to convert that into a full-fledged fanfic.
So i apologize, you will have to read quite a bit at the first go itself.

This fanfic will run parallel to the current story line in the serial. It starts after RaK wedding is solemnised.

Please do read and comment... and I hope you all will like it!!!!

Assumptions :
There are 4 junior Sabharwals only - Alaana, Robbie, Shivani and Divya
And only 1 junior Singhania - Raunak

CHAPTERS INDEX

Parts 1 to 5 on Page 1
Parts 6 to 11 on Page 2
Part 12 on Page 3
Part 13 on Page 6
Parts 14 and 15 on Page 7
Part 16 on Page 9
Part 17 on Page 12
Part 18 on Page 13
Parts 19 and 20 on Page 16
Part 21 on Page 18
Part 22 on Page 20
Part 23 on Page 23(RK are married in this)
Part 24 on Page 26
Part 25 on Page 29
Part 26 on Page 32(honeymoon)
Part 27 on Page 36(ahem ahem)
Part 28 on Page 39
Part 29 on Page 42
Part 30 on Page 44
Part 31 on Page 46

PART - 1
Raunak and Kasturi have a talk on their wedding night and Raunak says he wants to give time to Kasturi to settle down and that he will sleep on the sofa.
Raunak is sound asleep on the sofa and Kasturi is lying on the bed, unable to sleep, very restless. She has changed from that heavy wedding dress to a simple churidar and has removed all the jewellery. She is going over in her mind all that happened that day when she hears a crash from the adjacent room, which is Robbie's. She sits up on her bed and looks at Raunak to see if he has heard it too. But Raunak kharaate maar raha hai.
She thinks for a minute, gets worried for Robbie and decides to investigate. She peeps outside to see if anybody is up. Nobody is around and so she slowly approaches Robbie's room. She pushes the door to see if it is open and the door opens up!!
She walks in and sees Robbie sprawled on the bed in an odd manner. She quickly approaches him and calls out
K : Sir, Sir.
He does not get up. She shakes him and calls out for him repeatedly. He still does not get up and Kasturi starts imagining that he also consumed poison like her parents. She is worried sick, shakes him vigorously, asking him to get up all the time. Suddenly Robbie ko hosh aata hai and he sits up on his bed. Seeing Kasturi, he is shocked and he gets up from the bed asks her
R :Tum yahaan kya kar rahi ho?
K : Maine aapke kamare se koi aawaj suni, bas dekhne aai, kahin aap...
She looks around the room and sees an empty alcohol bottle smashed against the wall. She heaves a sigh of relief. Then she looks at Robbie and says
K : Sir aapne mujhe itnaa daraa diya. mein samjhi, mein samjhi......
and she cannot continue.
R (with a wry smile): kya samjha tumne, ke meine kudhkhushi kar lee? ki mein mar gayaa?
Kasturi looks at him with a lot of pain in her eyes. Robbie continues,
R: nahin Kasturi mein itni jaldi nahin maroonga. mein apne aapko itni aasaani se mukti nahin doonga. mujhe bahut praayashchit karna hai. maine tumhe aur tumhaare parivaar waalon ko jitna bhala-bura kaha, mujhe un sabka hisaab chukaana hai.tumhe aur raunak ko ek saath dekhkar, mujhe pal pal tadapnaa hai. Tab jaakar shaayad tum mujhe maaf karo.
(all this time tears keep flowing down his cheeks)
As soon as kasturi hears this, she is shocked and for a moment forgets everything and embraces Robbie. They hug each other tight crying all the time and Robbie kisses her cheek and Kasturi thinks in her mind, rishta toh bandh gayaa Raunak sir se, par mein woh rishtaa tabhi nibha paaungi, jab mein aapko bhula paaungi aur mein aapko tabhi bhula paaungi, jab meri saans ruk jaayegi while Robbie is imagining the time they spent together and then suddenly he remembers that Kasturi is now married, Robbie separates her and tells her,
R: ab tum jaao yahan se,
K: par sir aapki haalat??
R: main theek hun, tumhe yahaan koi is waqt dekhegaa toh, accha nahin sochega, jaao. Kasturi does not budge. Robbie turns away from her so his back is to her and says,
R:Kasturi, jaao, kahin mein………kahin mein apna sayyam na khodu aur woh na kardu, jiss se mein tumhaari nazaron mein aur bhi gir jaau!
And then he raises his voice and says
R: Please Jaao.
Kasturi slowly turns and leaves, crying all the while. Robbie turns back slowly and sees that she has left and stares emptily at the door.

PART - 2

Kasturi goes back into the room and gets into the bed. She thinks, how could I go to Robbie sir? How can I forget that now I am married to someone else? She decides not to commit that mistake again and closes her eyes. She does not know when she falls asleep, the next thing she knows is, she is hearing voices near her bed.

Raunak: sone do na maa, woh bahut thaki hui hai
Nandini : Beta, samajh sakti hun, lekin pandit ji ab kisibhi samay aajayange, puja ke liye der ho jaayegi.
Kasturi gets up feeling very guilty and says
K: sorry aunty ji, der ho gayee uthne mein
Nandini : koi baat nahin beta, ab uth gayee ho toh, jaldi tayaar ho jaao, puja ke liye deri ho rahi hai. Yelo, puja mein yeh saadi pehen lena (She gives a beautiful saree to K).
And then with a smile says to Kasturi
Nandini : mujhe aajse aunty ji nahin, maaji karke bulao.
Kasturi looks at her and Raunak and shakes her head in agreement.
Meanwhile, Robbie is already up and ready. He goes to his music room, closes the door and starts rehearsing. He has a concert in Kolkatta the next day and has a flight at 6 PM in the evening to Kolkatta.
Kasturi is ready and starts to go downstairs where everybody has assembled for the puja. She passes through Robbie's room and slows down. The door is closed. She wonders if Robbie Sir is OK. Then she remembers her decision and looks away from his room and goes downstairs.

The pujs starts and everyone prays. K keeps thinking about Robbie and keeps looking at his door, expecting him to step out, any moment. She worries, why has he not opened his door yet? I hope he is OK. Then she chides herself that she is thinking about Robbie again. Her mind is in turmoil with these 2 conflicting thoughts. Then the pandit ji asks Raunak and Kasturi to do the aarti together. When they are doing the aarti, Robbie comes there with a plan to attend the puja. When he sees Ra-K doing the aarti, he becomes pale with anger and goes back to his music room, slams the door and starts rehearsing with a vengeance. After the aarti, pandit ji asks Kasturi to pray to God and seek his blessings. Kasturi closes her eyes, but all the time she can only think about Robbie and hopes that he is doing OK. She prays to God

K:Bhagwan, Robbie Sir ko kuch nahi hone dena. meri yeh prarthana sweekaar keejiye.

After the puja, everybody sits for lunch, still no Robbie. She becomes really restless, but does not dare to ask anybody about him. She can hardly eat anything. After the lunch, the muh-dikhai ceremony is conducted. Everybody gives Kasturi beautiful gifts, make fun of Raunak, pull Kasturi's leg, have a lot of fun, but her heart is waiting only to catch a glimpse of Robbie.

Finally the muh-dikhai rasm is over and everybody disperses and Kasturi goes upstairs to her room. When she is passing Robbie's room, she goes very close to the door and puts her ear against it to see if she can hear any sound from inside, just then the door opens and Robbie steps out with his bag, ready for the flight and crashes into Kasturi!!

Kasturi grabs his arm to brace herself, while Robbie holds her shoulders to stop her from falling. He steadies her, they stare at each other for a moment. Kasturi's eyes are filled with an expression of relief. While Robbie's eyes are filled with an expression of worry, ki kahin Kasturi ko koi chot to nahin aayee. As soon as he sees that everything is fine with her,he says
R: Sorry
He grabs his bag, pulls his arm out of Kasturi's hand and walks away. Once he takes his arm out of Kasturi's hand, that's when she realizes that his arm was burning!! He was running a very high fever!!! She rushes after him, but by then he has already reached the bottom of the stairs. He takes the prasad that his mother gives him, takes her blessings and leaves without turning back and looking at Kasturi even for a second. Kasturi remains standing there, her eyes filling up with tears. She notices someone coming up the stairs and quickly goes to her room, closes the door and bursts out crying. After a while, she slowly comes back to her senses and goes to her suitcase (she just came yesterday, so she has not unpacked her suitcases yet) to change into something lighter. When she approaches the suitcase, she notices a piece of paper and a small box on the suitcase.
She picks the paper up and reads it. It will be from Robbie and he has written...
R: Sorry Kasturi, mein tumharee muh-dikhai rasm mein nahin aa sakaa. Mein tumhe kisi bhi uncomfortable situation mein nahin daalna chahta tha. Lekin is box mein mera gift hai, hopefully tumhe pasand aayega.

Kasturi quickly opens the box, stares inside and again bursts into crying.......... The box will contain the black thread that she had tied to his wrist in the temple!!

PART - 3

It will be a week since RaK wedding. The Sabharwal and Singhania group of companies will be subjected to an income tax raid. Raunak will become very busy with his work and so he will cancel their honeymoon trip. Kasturi will be a little relieved as she is not at all ready for it. And Raunak will also not mind, because it was anyway going to be done for the family's sake. Robbie will be elated. He will still be giving Kasturi the silent treatment. Finally K will decide that enough is enough. Robbie needs to move on with his life and for this he needs to let her go. And unless he lets her go, she will never be able to fulfill her duties as a wife. So she will go to Robbie one evening.
K : Sir, mein aapse baat karnaa chahti hun
R : Sorry, mein abhi busy hun
K : I don't care, aapko mere se baat karni hi padegi
R turns around to look at her. She will have a very determined look on her face.She will be looking lovely in a beautiful green color saree. He cannot take his eyes off her. But he will turn away from her and say
R : Kaho, kya kehna hai.
K : Yahan nahin, mein aapko kahin le jaana chahti hun.
R is surprised
R : Kahan?
K : aap chaliye toh sahi, raaste mein bataati hun

They both leave in his car. Both of them will be remembering all the times that they travelled in the car.

R : ab toh batao, kahan jaa rahe hai hum?
K : DeviMaa ke mandir
R will understand that she wants to take some promise from him in the mandir, where he cannot lie and looks at her angrily and say
R : Mein koi mandir nahin jaana chahtaa hun. (And then he will say very sarcastically) Phir bhi mein tumhe mandir kyun le jaao? Tumhaare patidev kahan hai? Unke saath jaao.
And he will plan to turn his car back
K : Sir, please gaadi mat ghumaaiye. Aapko meri kasam!!!!
R will stop the turn and stop the car and look at her angrily
K : Sorry, meraa matlab hai, bas yeh aakri baar meri baat maaniye. Phir mein aapse kabhi kuch nahin maangungi.
Her eyes fill up with tears.
R will start the car again and then they will reach the temple.

It will be windy and cloudy, like it is going to rain.
They will walk up to the temple. And both of them will remember the Shiv mandir scenes. Robbie will constantly be looking at her and she will try her best not to look at him. Suddenly Robbie will come close to her, very close. Kasturi will be shocked and she will get tensed that he might lift her again. But Robbie will reach for her hair and remove a dried leaf that will be stuck in her hair due to the wind. And then he will turn and go into the temple. Kasturi will heave a sigh of relief.

In the temple, they will take aarti from the priest and then she will do pranaam to pandit ji and he will look at both of them and think Kitni sundar jodi hai and then he will say,
PJ : Sadaa suhaagan raho
Kind of indicating that he thinks Robbie is her husband.
Kasturi will be shocked and she will want to correct him, but by then he will turn and go inside.
Robbie will look at her with a smile and go outside and call someone on his cell phone. After finishing the call, he will come and sit on the steps. Kasturi will come slowly and sit besides him.
R : Bolo, kya kehna chahti ho?
K : Sir, woh..... woh aap kab tak yuh gusse mein rahenge? Jo hona tha woh ho gayaa hai. Ab hum kuch nahin kar sakte. Hamaara sath zindagi bhar ke liye nahin likha tha. Ab aapko yeh baat maanana hoga. Aur main yeh bhi.....
R : Kya abhi tak tumne yeh baat maana hai, ki hamara sath khatam ho gayaa hai??
Kasturi is shocked and looks at R confused and does not know what to say.
R : Kya tum abhi bhi mujhse pyaar nahin karti??
Kasturi does not answer.
R gets very intense and says
R : Tum jawaab nahin dena chahti, theek hai. Yaad hai ek baar tumne mera haath tham kar kahaa tha ki tum zindagi bhar isi haath ko thaam kar chalogi? Yaad hai tumhe??
K : Sir, mei hamesha se aapka hi haath thamnaa chahti thi, lekin aapne hi apnaa haath mere haath se alag kar diya.
R : Lekin mein lautke bhi aaya tha Kasturi.
K : Tab tak bahut der ho chuki thi, Sir
R : Der tumhaare liye hui hogi Kasturi, mere liye nahin. Mei zindagi bhar tumhaara intezaar karunga. Yeh meraa vaada hai tumse, Ek din tumhaare gale mein, mere naamka mangalsutra hoga, aur tum maang bharogi mere naam ke sindoor se.
Kasturi (gets agitated and thinks), Sir toh meri baat sun hi nahin rahe hai. Inhe kaise bhi aaj mujhe samjhana hoga, ki meri shaadi ho gayi hai.
K : Suniye Sir...
R cuts her off
R : Hum mandir mein baithe hai aur mein jhoot nahin bolunga aur mein chahta hun ki tum bhi jhoot mat bolo. Mere khuch sawaalon ke jawab dogi???
K (defensively): Mein bhi yahaan baithkar jhoot nahin bolungi Sir, poochiye
R : toh phir kaho, kabhi tumhe mujhse pyaar tha?
K (looks down) : han
R : Aur tum yeh maanti ho ki maine bhi tumse pyaar kiya?
K : han
R : yeh tumhe maalum hai na, ki mein abhi bhi tumse utnaa hi pyaar karta hun?
K : han
R : Mein jaanta hun, tum Raunak se pyaar nahin karti ho, right?
K (looks at him) : han, Sir....
R : Phir bhi tumne Raunak se shaadi ki?
K (gets restless) : han, lekin.....
R : Lekin tumhe lagtaa hai ki tumhe shaadi ka farz nibhana hai?
K (gets more restless) : han, lekin meri baat suniye
R : Aur tumhe lagtaa hai ki tumhaara, aur raunak ka, zindagi bhar ka saath hai?
K (gets tired) : han, aur....
R : Aur tumhaara parivaar is shadi se khush hai?
K (looks at him in a tired manner) : han, khush hai lekin......
R : Lekin ab bhi tum mujhse bahut pyaar karti ho?
K : han, bahut pyaar karti hun......
Kasturi stops! Robbie looks at her smilingly!! Kasturi is shocked, and fumbles
K : Mera matlab hai....mein, mein yeh kah rahi thi ki.
Robbie grabs her and brings her very close adn says looking into her eyes
R : I am sorry, tumhaare dil ki baat hothon tak laane ke liye, mujhe tumhe trick karna pada. Magar yeh acchi tarah se samajh lo, ki hum dono kab ke pati-patni ban chuke hai. bhale hi hamaari shaadi is duniyawaalon ki rakhi gayee rasmon se nahin hui ho, lekin sacche dil se di gayee kasmon se zaroor hui hai. Tum hamesha se meri thi aur meri hi rahogi.
Saying this, he scratches his thumb very roughly against the sharp edge of the pillar base and blood starts flowing from his thumb. Kasturi is shocked and stares at him, while he applies that blood on her maang and says
R (with determination): Ise mitaana kisike bas ki baat nahin.
And then he surrounds her face with his palms and looks so deeply into her eyes that K is completely lost. In the background we hear
Band aankhon se tumhe, aankh bhar ke dekh le,
Dil jo kehta hai chalo, aaj kar ke dekh le, katraa katraa apni khushboo, saanson mein ghul jaane de..........Jaaniye Ve.........
(Song from Dus)
And then he kisses her forehead and gets up and says
R : Meine tumhaare liye Taxi mangaayi hai, jo neeche khadhi hai. Usme tum ghar chali jaana.
and leaves with Kasturi staring at him completely dumbfounded.

Thanx a lot Pragalbha... for creating a different thread.... Its superb!!! 👍🏼

Its great... I'm loving it!!!

Sonia

Thank u P.... AAwwwww i can read all the scenes again now 😉 ....

Krishi

PART - 4

K sits there dazed for a while and then slowly gets up and walks out of the temple to the taxi. Robbie is sitting in his car, a little behind, hidden by other cars. He is waiting for her to get into the taxi. The taxi starts and he follows her till they reach the house. Once he makes sure K is safely at home, he drives away to some pub to drown his sorrow in liquor.

For the next couple of days Kasturi goes around in a daze. She avoids Robbie completely as she is not sure of her feelings anymore and Robbie also keeps away from her as he cannot see her in such pain.

But they live in the same house and so invariably they do come across each other and everytime they do, R finds K filled with confusion and guilt and he is unable to see her go through this and so he gets his manager to book him a few concerts and leaves for a couple of weeks.

R misses K like hell throughout the concerts. It will be killing him to stay away from her, but he will still continue. K will be suffering herself. Every time her mind wanders towards Robbie and she thinks of what happened in the temple, she will chide herself and get back to reality. But again after a few minutes, she will start thinking about R again!!!

While this is going on, Raunak notices that Kasturi is looking very depressed and he thinks maybe he should take Kasturi out for a few days and she might feel better. And so he will talk to Kasturi
Ra : Kasturi, kyun na hum thode dinon ke liye baahar ghum ke aaye? I am sorry, aaj kal mai kaam mein itnaa vyasta rahaa, ke tumhaare baare mein bilkul nahin socha.
K gets tensed that maybe he is reviving honeymoon plans and feels she is not ready for it yet and says
K : Nahin Sir, mein bilkul teekh hun. Bas ghar mein baithe baithe bore ho rahi hun. Lagtaa hai mujhe kaam par jaane ki aadat ho gayi hai.
Ra : Arre, aisi baat hai, to pehle kyun nahin kahaa?? Kya tum phir se office join karnaa chahogi?
K looks away from Raunak and says
K : mein phir dobaara us office mein kaam nahin karnaa chahthi.
Raunak understands Kasturi's dilemma and says,
Ra : Samajhtaa hun, tum uss office mein nahin, hamare VayuVihar vaale branch mein kaam karo. Mein tumhe kal he wahan le jaaoonga and wahan ke Manager se tumhaara introduction karaa doonga. Woh zaroor kuch workout karenge.
K : Thank you very much! Lekin aapke maa aur bauji ko eitraaz toh nahin hoga???
Ra : Oh no, bilkul nahin. Don't worry main unko bataa dunga.
K (looks at him greatfully) : Thank you, Sir.

Kasturi is relieved that she will have something to do and that will keep her mind off Robbie. She looks forward to starting work and bringing a semblance of stability in her life.

Next day Raunak will take her to work and introduce her to Sharma ji. Sharma ji will welcome Kasturi, and he and Raunak will decide to assign Kasturi the responsibilities of payroll processing. Then Raunak will leave and Sharma ji will take her around the office and introduce her to the supervisor and others and explain the work to her.

Soon it will be a week since Kasturi starts work. She will pick up the work fast and will start enjoying it.

Meanwhile after one of the concerts is over and Robbie's team is packing up, one of his dancers, Neeraj comes to him and says
N : Sir, mujhe aapse kuch baat karni hai
R : Kaho Neeraj, What's up?
N : Sir, sir woh.......woh
R : Kya baat hai, tum jhijhak kyun rahe ho?
N : Sir, chaar mahine se mujhe, sara, savitaa aur heera koh tankhwah nahi mil rahi hai.
R (is shocked) : What?????
N : Haan Sir, sabko mil rahi hai, sirfhum chaaron koh nahin. Un sab ne kahaa hai ke mein aapse baat karun. Jab meine Kapoor sir se baat ki......
R : Who is Kapoor?
N : Woh payroll supervisor hai Sir. Jab meine unse baat ki, toh unhone kahaa ki mein jhoot bol rahaa hun. unhone proof dikhaya ki hum sabne already salary advance le li. Lekin Sir, humne koi advance nahin li! kisine hamare signatures use kar ke, hamare paise le liye!
R (even more shocked) : Yeh kaise ho sakta hai!!!!
N : Hua hai Sir! Aap jaante hai, mein apni padhai issi job ke wajah se kar paa rahaa hun. Mujhe badi musibat hogi agar yeh issue resolve nahin hua toh!
R : Don't worry. Mein khudh is ki jaanch karunga. Delhi jaate hi tum mujhe iss baat ke baare mein remind karo.

Another week will pass. K will become very familiar and comfortable with her work and R & troupe come back to Delhi. As soon as he reaches home, he will be desperate to catch a glimpse of K. He will search all the possible places, but will not be able to find her. Very disappointed, he will go to his room and close the door. Just then he will get a call from Neeraj about his problem and Robbie will say

R : Don't worry Neeraj, hum aaj hi yeh problem resolve karenge. Tum mujhe Kapoor ke office mein 5:30 PM koh milo. Btw, yeh Kapoor kaun se office mein baithta hai?
N : VayuVihar branch, Sir.
R : OK, see you there.

Then R calles someone on the phone and talks to them for a few minutes.

At 5.30 PM, Neeraj will meet Robbie outside the VayuVihar branch. All the employees will be leaving after the day's work. Very few people will be left in the office. They both go inside and R asks N to wait outside, knocks on the manager Sharma's office and goes in.

Sharma : Robbie ji aap??? Arre aaj hamare bhaag khul gaye, joh aap yahaan padhaare hai!!! Aap toh yahaan kabhi nanin aate.
R : Ek problem hai joh mujhe yahan kheench laayi.
Sharma : Kya problem hai, Sir?
R calls Neeraj inside and explains the whole issue.
Sharma calls Kapoor on the intercom.
Kapoor comes to Sharma's office and as soon as he sees Neeraj, he goes a little pale but recovers and says
Kapoor : Aapne bulaaya Sir.
Sharma : Kapoor ji, yeh mai kya sun rahaa hun, ke Neeraj aur baaki logon ko 4 months se salary nahin mil rahi hai???
Kapoor : Jhoot hai, Sir!! Yeh sab log baraabar salary lete rahe hai. Iska proof hai mere paas.
R : Zara woh proof mujhe dikhayenge?
Kapoor gets flustered
Sharma : Haan Sir, zaroor.
And calls someone on the intercom.
Sharma : Suno, kya mujhe pichle 4 months ke Salary vouchers aur receipts ki file laake de sakti ho? Thank you!
They all sit staring at each other and somebody knocks on the door.
Sharma : Come in.
Kasturi walks in with the file and Sharma signals her to give to Robbie. As soon as she goes near Robbie, he looks up, and they are both shocked to see each other. The file slips from her hand and falls on the ground. Both Robbie and Kasturi try to reach for it at the same time and their hands touch and they both feel a shock. They look at each other and suddenly realize that there are other people in the room. Kasturi is very flustered, says sorry and leaves quickly.Robbie's heart wants to go after her, but he forces himself to sit there and opens the file. He has completely lost his bearings and his mind is in a turmoil at seeing Kasturi so unexpectedly. Just then he receives a call on his cell.
R : Yes, yahin par hun. Please aap andar aa jaiye.
R puts his cell away and looks up to Kapoor.
R : Abhi pataa chal jaayega, yahaan kya chal rahaa hai

In a short while Kasturi enters the room again saying
K : Sir, yeh aapka office dhundh rahe the
and again RK look at each other and she leaves.
R shakes hands with the newcomer and introduces him
R: Hello Mr.Tripathi, yeh hai Mr Sharma, Mr.Kapoor and Neeraj. Yeh hai, Mr. Tripathi, handwriting and forgery expert. Tripathi ji, yeh hai woh file. Can you please check this up?
Tripathi says this will take him about half an hour and he asks to provide the handwriting samples of all the employees. Sharma provides him that and he sits at the table and starts his work.
As the clock ticks, Kapoor's expression is of shock and disbelief. Sharma ji looks very tensed and Neeraj looks concerned and hopeful. Robbie can only think about K.
R excuses himself saying : mein abhi thodi der mein aata hun.
He walks out and goes looking for K. He hears her voice from a corner and walks there. She is on the phone turned away from him. He stands there looking at her with such warmth and love in his eyes. His eyes expressing all that he can not actually tell her.
K : Koi baat nahin Sir, mein taxi le loongi........... Not a problem. OK Sir, OK.
She ends the call and turns around and finds Robbie standing in front of her.

We hear the following song in the background

Saamne aate ho tum, to jaise ishq kaa deedar hota hai,
tum chali jaati ho toh, tumhaare aane kaa intezaar hota hai.
(Song from movie Dus)

PART - 5

Kasturi looks at him and suddenly realizes how much she missed him. But she will be very worried that her eyes might tell the truth. So she looks away from him and starts arranging her bag and says
K : Aapka trip kaisa rahaa, Sir?
R : Accha tha. Aur tum, tum kaisi ho? Aur yahan kya kar rahi ho?
K : Mein acchi hun. Woh, ghar mein baithe baithe bore ho rahi thi toh, Raunak Sir ne mujhe office join karne ke liye kahaa.
R : Toh, kaise lag rahaa hai tumhe yahaan?
K : Accha hai Sir. Bas abhi.......
Suddenly they hear commotion in Sharma's room. Robbie rushes back and Kasturi follows him. They enter the room and see that Kapoor is shouting loudly.
R : Kya ho rahaa hai yahan?
N (pointing to Kapoor) : Sir, isi ne hamari signatures fraud karke, hamaare paise churaaye hai!!!!
Robbie looks at Mr.Tripathi
Mr.Tripathi (pointing to Kapoor) : Mr.Robbie, yeh inki kartoot hai. I was able to match his handwriting to the forged signatures. He has embezzled the money.
Mr Sharma (angrily) : Kapoor!!!! Mujhe tumse yeh umeed kabhi nahin thi!!! Tumhaare andar itnaa badaa chor chupa hai, yeh mai soch bhi nahin sakta!!!!!
Kapoor (looks at Sharma with anger) : Mujhe in paison ki sakht zarurat thi. Aur aapne meri loan application reject kar di thi, isi liye mujhe yeh kaam karna padaa!!!!
Sharma : Tum already ek loan default kar chuke the, that was worth Rs.100,000. How did you expect me to approve another loan??
R : Sharma ji, police ko phone lagaaiye.
Kapoor (looks at Robbie with hatred) : Aap raison koh hum middle class waalon ke dard ke baare mein kya maaloom hai???? Aapko toh paida hote hi sab mil jaati hai, kabhi paison ke liye tarasti zindagi guzaarne pade toh pataa chale!!!
R : Aur yeh kaaran mil gayaa aapko chori karne ke liye??? (pointing to Neeraj) Aapne kabhi socha ke aap jinkaa paisa chura rahe hai, woh bhi gareeb hi hai!!!
Bahut ho gayee baatien, Sharma ji police ko phone kee jiye!!!
Kapoor suddenly lunges towards Sharma ji's table, grabs a pair of scissors that are placed on the table along with other supplies such as stapler, cello tape etc and rushes towards Kasturi and grabs her!!!!!!

He puts the scissors next to her throat and warns everyone
Kapoor : Mujhe jaane dee jiye, varna iss ladki koh yahin khatam kar doonga!!!!

Everyone is shocked and Robbie completely looses it. He tries to get near Kapoor, but Kapoor pushes the scissors closer to her throat and Kasturi screams in fear. That stops Robbie in his tracks. Kasturi looks at him helplessly. Sharma ji tries to distract Kapoor saying
Sharma : Theek hai, theek hai, mein police ko phone nahin karoonga! Lekin Kapoor, Kasturi ko chod doh. Uss ladki ko kuch ho gayaa toh, tum aur bhi badi museebat mein phas jaoge. Apne family ke baare mein socho...............

And while he is talking, Robbie signals with his eyes to Mr.Tripathi, who is behind Kapoor and Kasturi to attack Kapoor at the same time that he does. Kasturi keeps looking at Robbie and Robbie tells her through the expression in his eyes
"Mein tumhe kuch nahin hone doonga. Mujhpe bharosa rakho".

And the next second Robbie and Tripathi, both pounce on Kapoor from both directions. Tripathi tries to pull Kasturi away, while Robbie tries to take the scissors out of Kapoor's hand. Kapoor fights back hard and while grappling for the scissors Kapoor pushes those into the left side of Robbie's stomach!!!! Robbie winces with pain and blood starts flowing from the side of his stomach. Kasturi screams and tries to go between them, but Tripathi pulls her back and Neeraj and Sharma ji go to Robbie's help and manage to pull Kapoor back. They manage to subdue him and hold him down, while Tripathi makes a call to police and Kasturi rushes to get the first aid box that is kept in the office for emergencies.

Robbie's abdomen starts bleeding profusely and that part of his shirt is soaked in his blood. Kasturi tries to pull his shirt out which is tucked into his trousers. That action causes Robbie a lot of pain and he expresses it. So K stops and cuts his shirt up where the wound is. Then she cleans the wound with alcohol and attempts to bandage it, inorder to stop bleeding. Robbie's eyes are closed in pain and he involuntarily grabs her arm and holds it tight. Kasturi's hand is shaking with emotion but she manages to tie the bandage. Only they both know what is going on between them in their hearts, for the rest of the people looking at them, its just one person giving first aid to another injured person. Tripathi suggests that an ambulance be called.
R : nahin, nahin ambulance ki zaroorat nahin hai. Mein khud hospital jaane ki haalat mein hun.
K (says firmly) : nahin sir, aap iss haalat mein gaadi nahin chala sakte.
Neeraj : Maa'm agar aap chahe toh mein inhe hospital drive karke le jaa sakta hun.
K : Haan, yen theek hoga aur mein bhi aapke saath chalungi.

Meanwhile the police arrive, Kapoor is handed over to them and Sharma ji and Tripathi go with them to the police station to file a report.
Neeraj & K decide to take R to Medicity hospital. Neeraj drives R's car and R and K sit in the back seat. They sit at two opposite sides as much away from each other as possible.
K : Thank you sir, aapne meri jaan bachaayi.
R (looks at her and says) : meine tumhaari nahin, apni jaan bachaayi hai.

They look at each other for a second and Robbie turns his head away.
While driving, Neeraj does not notice a pothole and drives over it. This causes the car to shake quite a bit and Robbie expresses pain. Kasturi feels his pain too but she will dig her finger nails deep into her hand and turn away and look outside the window with tears in her eyes.
They reach the hospital. Neeraj and K take Robbie inside, show him to a doctor. The doctor says timely help has saved a lot of blood loss and compliments Kasturi. Then he gets a nurse to do the bandaging in a more professional manner and gives a prescription for a couple of pain-killers and says within a few days Robbie will become OK and leaves.
N : Sir, mein jaake yeh medicines leke aata hun.
R : Arre nahin Neeraj, kyon takleef karte ho? mujhe dedo, main baad mein mangaa loonga.
N : Iss me takleef kaisi Sir, Aapne joh aaj mere like kiyaa, woh mai kabhi bhool nahin saktaa.(His eyes fill up with tears). Thank you so much Sir!!!!
R : Please Neeraj, don't even mention it. lekin tum pehle kyun nahin aaye mere paas , chaar mahinen kyun wait kiyaa?
N (feels uncomfortable) : buraa mat maaniye Sir, lekin aaj ke Robbie Sir mein aur puraane Robbie Sir mein bahut farak aa gayaa hai. Sorry Sir, lekin pehle aap bilkul approachable nahin the. mujhe nahin maaloom yeh badlaav aapme kaise aaya, lekin aaj aap meraa dard samajh sake!! I hope you don't mind Sir, ke maine ye sab kahaa!!
Robbie smiles and shakes his head implying he did not mind and Neeraj leaves to get the medicines.
Slowly Robbie turns and looks at K. She will be staring at him with varied emotions on her face and in her eyes.
R : yeh badlaav tumhaari wajah se aaya Kasturi. Agar tum meri zindagi mein nahin aati, toh mein kabhi nahin sudhartaa. Aur jab mein sudhar gayaa hun, tum chalee gayee ho.
He walks towards her. Kasturi wants to move away but she stands rooted to the ground. He comes very close to her and pulls her to him and says
R : Please baby, ab mujhe maaf kardo. Yeh sazaa ab aur bardaasht nahin hoti. jab bhi Raunak koh tumhaare paas dehkta hun, tumhe choote dekhta hun, toh har baar ek nai maut martaa hun.
Suddenly Kasturi's phone rings. She snaps out of her daze and sees that Raunak is calling her.
Kasturi looks at Robbie as if seeking his permission to answer the call. Robbie looks away exasperated and Kasturi answers the call.
K : Hello
Raunak : Kasturi, kahaan ho tum. Aath baj gaye aur tum abhi tak ghar nahin pahunchi?
K : Sir, woh mein hospital mein hun........
Raunak : Kya, OMG, Kya hua tumhe????
K : Sir, mujhe kuch nahin hua. Woh Robbie Sir koh chot lagee....
And she tells everything to Raunak.
Raunak : Robbie hai tumhaare paas? Usse phone doh!
K tries to give the phone to R but he refuses to talk to him.
K : Actually Sir, woh abhi abhi restroom gaye hain. Waise chinta ki koi baat nahin, woh ab bilkul theek hai. Aur hum thode hi der mein ghar aa jaayenge.
Raunak : mein tum logon koh lene aa rahaa hun.Kaun saa hospital bataaya tumne?
K worries there might be another showdown between RR again and so quickly says
K : Nahin Sir, hum aa jaayenge. Aap takleef mat keejiye.
Raunak : Isme koi takleef nahin hai. mein ek aur driver ko bhi saath laaunga, joh Robbie ki gaadi drive karke wapas laayega. Kaun saa hospital kahaa tumne?

K : Medicity. Raunak: Mein 20 minutes mein pahunchtaa hun, tum log gaadi ke pass aakar khade rehnaa.
And he ends the call.
K looks at Robbie and says
K : Aap kyun apne dost se baat nahin karnaa chahte?
R : Naam mat lo uska mere saamne, woh meraa dost nahin rahaa.
K : Kyun na loon sir?? Woh jinhe aap dost nahin maante, unhone aaj tak mujhpar apne pati hone ka hak nahin jataaya.
Woh jinhe aap dost nahin maante, unhone aaj tak mujhe chua nahin,
Woh jinhe aap dost nahin maante.............
Suddenly Neeraj arrives and K immediately stops talking.
N : yeh lee jiye, maam, davaiyaan. kya mein aap logon ko ghar tak chod dun?
K : Nahin Neeraj, Raunak Sir hamein lene aa rahe hai. Tum ab ghar chale jaao. Thanks for the help.
N : Good night Maam, Good night Sir.
And he leaves.
Kasturi turns to look at Robbie. Robbie looks shocked, surprised, confused, elated!!!!
R : Katuri, yeh kya keh rahi ho?
Kasturi does not answer and turns and walks towards the parking lot where the car is parked. Robbie follows her calling out her name. Finally they reach the car, and Robbie grabs Kasturi's arm and pulls her around and says
R : Kya yeh sach hai???
K : Haan Sir, yeh bilkul sach hai. Aur aapko kya lagaa, ke dosti sirf aapne nibhayi hai, Raunak sir ne nahin? ke sirf aapne pyaar kiya hai, meine nahin? ke shaadi hote hi mein aapko bhul gayee aur kisi aur ke saath gruhasti basaane chali? Tears are flowing down Kasturi's eyes.
Robbie looked totally crazed out with happiness at the thought that Kasturi also did not accept this marriage and that she still loved him so much!!!! He completely looses control and pulls her to him and kisses her on the lips!!!! Thousands of emotions explode in both of them and unkowingly Kasturi also responds. But within a few seconds she will come to her senses and she will pull away from Robbie. They will look at each other for a couple of minutes. Robbie cannot take it anymore and pulls her again close to him and hugs her so tight that it will seem like they are not 2 different people but 1. Then slowly they break the embrace and look at each other. Suddenly Kasturi feels conscious of somebody looking at her and so she turns to see and is completely shocked. Robbie follows Kasturi's gaze and turns to see Nandini standing there looking at them equally shocked!!!

PART - 6


Kasturi quickly moves away from Robbie and stands away from him. Her face is displaying guilt, pain, shame, fear and helplessness. She cannot even look at Nandini and so has her head bent. Robbie is very surprised to see Nandini, but he does not have any guilty look on his face or anything to show that he is repenting. Nandini finds her bearings and says
Nandini : Mujhe samajh......
When Raunak calls out from behind
Raunak : Yahaan ho tum! and he starts walking towards them.
Kasturi quickly wipes her tears and tries to look normal.
Raunak : Hum teenon, tumhaare liye, ek ek kona chaan maar rahe the! Itni door kaise park kar liya??
Nobody answers him and seeing the solemn look on everybody's face he is surprised and says
Raunak : Kya hua??
Nandini (says quickly) : Kuch nahin beta. Hamara intezaar karte karte bechaare thak gaye hai. Ab chalo jaldi ghar chalte hai.
Raunak : Han maa, chaliye.
And then he looks at Robbie with concern and says
Raunak : Robbie, ab kaise ho? Dard kaisa hai?
Robbie's attitude towards Raunak has undergone a change and he answers civilly
R : Thanks for asking, mai ab teekh hun.
Nandini : Raunak, tum aur Kasturi uss car mein Ramu ke saath chale jao. Mein aur Robbie milkar Robbie ke car mein aa jaayenge.
Both Katuri and Robbie are surprised at this. But they do no say anything.
Raunak : Arre, kyun maa, Ramu aapko drive karke leke aayega.
Nandini : Nahin, mein drive karungi. Waise bhi mujhe Robbie ke saath kuch baat karni hai. Wo itnaa busy rehtaa hai ke mujhe bilkul mauka nahin mil rahaa hai. This is a good opportunity to catch up with him.Toh hum dono aa jaate hai.
Raunak : OK. chalo Kasturi.
And walks towards the other car in which Ramu is sitting. Kasturi starts walking. She gives Robbie a "tumhaari wajah se, mein iss musibat mein hun" kinda look. She does not dare look at Nandini and walks towards the car behind Raunak.
Nandini watches Robbie's expression when Kasturi is leaving. He looks at her with such pain and he is oblivious that Nandini is observing him.
Nandini : Chalo Robbie, hum bhi chalte hain.
She goes and sits in the car and Robbie slowly climbs into the passenger seat. Suddenly it seems like he has lost all energy. Both cars start and head out of the parking lot.

Car 1
Kasturi is sitting completely lost in thoughts and Raunak is talking
Raunak : Actually maa mandir gayee thi. Wahan gaadi ka tire puncture ho gayaa tha. Toh unhone mujhe call kiya ride ke liye. Mai waise bhi isi taraf aa rahaa tha tum logon ko lene, toh unhe raaste mein pick up kar liyaa.
He notices that Kasturi is not responding at all. So he says
Raunak : Kasturi, tum theek toh ho na??
Kasturi snaps out of her reverie and says
K : Haan Sir, theek hun. Sorry, mein bahut thak gayee hun aur mera sar bahut dard kar rahaa hai.
Raunak : I know, it was a long day for you. Ghar jaate hi tum dinner karke so jaana.
Suddenly Raunak's phone rings.
Raunak : Kahiye, Mr.Arora, kaise phone kiya.
Arora : Sorry to disturb this late Raunak. Lekin ek problem ho gayi hai.Woh Shivani.........
Raunak : Acha acha,
(cuts him off, he looks all flustered and glances sideways to see if Kasturi is paying any attention. But Kasturi has closed her eyes and is taking rest)
Raunak : Theek hai mein thodi der mein pahunchta hun.

They reach home, and Raunak tells Katuri
Raunak : Mujhe kuch kaam aan padaa hai. Mujhe baahar jaana padegaa. Tum so jaao.
K : Goodnight, Sir
She goes in does not feel like eating anything and straight goes to bed. She cannot catch a wink of sleep. She will keep thinking what must have Nandini said to Robbie? How will she face Nandini again?
Then at length she will start thinking about what happened between her and R. The kiss, the emotions. And she will think
K : Iss mein poori Robbie sir ki galati bhi nahin hai. Mein bhi toh emotions mein behak gayee thee. Mujhe kya ho gayaa tha? Kaise mein apne aapko sambhaloongi????
She will think and think and think and finally go to sleep at like 4 in the morning. She will not have any idea when Robbie or Raunak will return. Next day, Kasturi will get up very late. Eventhough she is not feeling too well, she will decide to go to work, to avoid Nandini and Robbie. When she is getting ready, she will hear a knock on the door. She will get tensed and will wait for the person to come in. Nandini will come in. Kasturi will go pale with tension and will glance down unable to look into her eyes. Nandini will look at her and say
Nandini (with a smile) : Relax, Kasturi. Itni tension mat lo. Tumhaare chehraa kaa toh poora rang ud gayaa hai!
Mein yeh nahin kahungi ki kal raat jo hua uskaa mujhe buraa nahin lagaa. Lekin mein samajh sakti hun, woh kyun hua. Mein jaanti hun ki tum dono mein kitnaa pyaar hai. Kai logon neh tumhaare kismat ke saath khela hai, nahin toh aaj Raunak ki jagah, Robbie tumhaara pati hotaa.
Kasturi looks up at her and tears start flowing in her eyes.
Nandini : Beta, joh hua uss mein kahin na kahin tumhaari , Raunak ki aur meri bhi galti hai!! Agar tum log jhoot nahin bolte........
Kasturi looks at her shocked
Nandini : Haan, Divya neh mujhe sab kuch bataa diyaa hai. Woh bechari tumhaare aur Robbie ke saamne nahin aa paa rahi hai. Tumhaare dukh kaa kaaran woh bani, yeh baat usse jeene nahin de rahi hai. Thode din pehle, usse rotaa dekh, meine uss se poocha. Aur mere zor dene par, usne sab kuch mujhe bataaya.
Kasturi can only cry.
Nandini : Kaash, meine pehle pataa kiyaa hota ke Robbie ke swabhav mein itnaa badlaav kyun aaya (sighs).(and in her mind thinks, mujhe yakeen hai Devika bhabhi hi iss sab ke peeche hai).
Lekin beta, ab jo ho gayaa, so ho gayaa. Mujhe maalum hai tumhe waqt lagegaa sambhalne mein. Mein hamesha tumhaare saath hun. Bas ek baat ka dhyaan rakhnaa, ke iss mangalsutra kaa sammaan karnaa. Jab tak yeh tumhaare gale mein hai, tumhe hamesha yaad dilaayegaa ki, tum kisi aur ki patni ho.
Kasturi will rush into Nandini's arms. Nandini will pacify her and slowly Kasturi will relax. Kasturi will wonder what Nandini must have said to Robbie, but she will not dare to ask.

(What Nandini said to Robbie is a suspense. Will be revealed later.)

She will reach work quite late. But Sharma ji will not mind.
Sharma ji : Kasturi, How are you doing today?
Kasturi : Acchi hun Sir. Sorry, thodi late ho gayee mein.
Sharma ji : Oh, don't worry at all! Meine 11 'o' clock ek emergency meeting rakhi hai. Poore staff koh Kapoor ke harkat ke baare mein khabar karni hogi aur ek naye Supervisor koh bhi appoint karnaa hogaa. Woh meeting zaroor attend karna.
Kasturi : Yes sir.
Kasturi will reach her desk and she will notice an envelop on her chair. She will pick it up and open and will take a beautiful greeting card out. The card will depict a sailor, all alone at sea in the night. The sea will be in turmoil and the sailor will be desperately trying to keep himself afloat. And far away there will be a light house from where just one ray of light will be shining. And the sailor will be looking at it with such hope and will be steering his boat towards that ray of light. Kasturi will open the card and find the following poem.
Pehle jo gam diye,
woh dhoke mein diye,
phir jo gam diye,
woh pyaar mein diye,
pehle, dillagi samajhkar maaf kar, na kar
ab ke, dil ki lagee samajh kar zaroor maaf kar!

- Robbie
Kasturi can only stare at that card, with tears flowing down her eyes.

(Since, Kasturi gave him that glance when leaving yesterday, Robbie thinks he has hurt her again and so he writes the above lines. I hope you can relate to the poem, now)

PART - 7

Kasturi will be still looking at the poem when her phone will ring. She will qickly pick it up. It will be Sharma ji asking her to join them for the meeting. Kasturi will quickly go to the conference room. Everybody (the office will have a staff of about 14) will be assembled there and Sharma ji will tell them all that happened the day before and give the employees a small lecture on intergrity etc and then will say
Sharma ji : Ab mujhe ek naye Supervisor ko appoint karnaa hoga. Aur meine yeh decision liyaa hai ke mein Mrs.Kasturi Singhania ko iss position ke liye appoint karnaa chahungaa.
Kasturi is shocked and looks at him surprised. Everybody looks at Kasturi and claps.
Sharma ji : Ruby, Mrs.Singhania ke promotion orders type karke mere paas laao. Kasturi, tum aaj se hi iss naye position ko handle karogi. Thanks everybody.
Everybody comes to Kasturi, congratulates her and then they all leave.
Kasturi : Sharma ji, Mai sabke saamne toh kuch bol nahi saki, lekin yeh decision aapne kaise le liya? Meine toh haal hi mein yahaan join kiyaa hai. Itni badi responsiblity shaayad mein sambhal nahin paaongi.
Sharma ji : Nahin Kasturi. Mujhe poora confidence hai tumpar. Aur maine jitnaa bhi tumhe dekha hai, ussse meine andaaza lagaa liyaa hai ke tum bakhubhi yeh zimmedaari nibaaogi. Aur phir tum pehle bhi toh iss company mein kaam kar chuki ho (when she worked for Robbie). Kabhi koi doubt ho, toh feel free to ask me. All the best and Congratulations!!!
Kasturi (with a huge smile on her face) : Thank you very much.
Kasturi will get back to her desk. Her face will be all lighted up. For a few moments she will forget the misery in her personal life and bask in this new glory of her professional life. She will remember what her bauji had told her when she started to work.
Bauji : Puttar, Kaam mann lagaake karnaa. Meri yeh iccha hai ke tum apne kaam ke oochaiyon tak pahuncho. Woh dekhkar, sabse jyaada khushi mujhe hogi!!!!
Kasturi will be so happy that today she was able to fulfill one of her dad's wishes. She has reached a higher level.
Meanwhile in Sharma ji's office.....
Sharma ji : Sir, jaise aapne kahaa, waise hi maine kiyaa. Kasturi ji ko Supervisor ki promotion de dee hai.
The person on the other end : Sorry, Sharma ji, kahin meine aapki authority koh override toh nahin kiyaa na?
Sharma ji : Nahin, Nahin, Mujhe bhi unki kaabiliyat par poora bharosa hai. Mai yeh decision leker bahut khush hun.
The person on the other end : Good, Thank you very much.
Sharma ji : You are welcome, Robbie Sir (surprise???).

Meanwhile lets catch up and see what is going on with Katuri's family.

Its a month since Kasturi's wedding and slowly all of them are trying to get accustomed to life without Kasturi. And Alka is helping in this process quite a bit by creating constant fights in the house!!! Everyday she will raise a new issue about money. She will always look for opportunities to disgrace Kausalya and JP. Taunt the kids. Basically she will make life hell for K's family.
One day JP will go out for his morning walk. He will be so immersed in his thoughts and so tensed and worried about his situation that he will go and dash against a person on the road, who had bent down to tie his shoe laces. This pushes the person down on the ground and he looks up angrily and shouts "andhe ho kya?". JP starts apologizing and gives his hand to that person to lift him up. They look at each other and the other person shouts.
Oye jai prakaaash!!!!
JP : Surjeet, TU!!!!!!! (He lifts him up quickly)
Surjeet (his face all excited) : Oye yaar, JP !!!! Oye mujhe toh yakeen hi nahin ho raha hai ki tu hai!!! Arre, gale mil mere yaar!!!!!!
And they embrace each other tightly with such warmth and affection.
(JP and Surjeet will be childhood classmates and from the same village. Surjeet's family will continue to live in the village and do farming but JP's family had moved out.)
JP : Yaar, tu yahaan kya kar rahaa hai? Kab aaya Punjab se? Itne saal ho gaye tujhe dekhe!!!!!!
Surjeet : Sach, dus saal ho gaye tujhe dekhe!!!! Pichli baar jab to gaaon aaya, tab tujhse milaa tha! Lekin chitti vithi toh bhejte rahe hai, ek doosre koh. Aa bhaithkar baatein karte hai.
They both sit on a bench in the park.
Surjeet : Aur haal sunaa. Bhabhi kaise hai???
JP : Acchi hai. Agar gussa nahin hoga, toh ek baat kahun???
Surjeet : Arre, bol na.
JP : Haal hi mein Kasturi ki shaadi hui hai. Aur yaar, shaadi itni jaldi mein hui ki mein tujhe khabar nahin kar paaya. (Feels guilty)
Surjeet : Leking uski shaadi toh cheh mahine pehle hone waali thi na???? Yaad nahin, tab tune mujhe card bhi bheja tha. Phir tu yeh kya keh rahaa hai?
JP (heaves a deep sigh) and tells Surjeet the whole story..... Girish's dhoka, K falling in love with Robbie, Robbi ka 'dhoka', then finally Raunak coming forward to marry her, the shop burning down, and he not having a source of income, Alka's issues and all.
Surjeet (has a shocked expression on his face) : Yaar JP, itnaa sab kuch ho gayaa aur tune kabhi khabar bhi nahin ki????
JP : Kya khabar karta??? Zindagi ne achaanak ek aisi modh leli, ke kisiko kuch bolne ki himmat nahin rahi.
Surjeet : Accha yeh bataa, woh dukaan jalne ke insurance ke paise nahin mile?
JP (with a wry smile) : Woh paise toh Insurance ne cancel kar diye kyun ki dukaan jaan-bujh kar jalaayi gayee thi(arson), woh kisi haadse ke wajah se nahin jali thi.
Surjeet (shaking his head) : bahut bura hua!!!!
JP : Accha ab meri ram kahaani chod, tu bataa, tu yahaan kaise?
Surjeet : Kya batau yaar, mere chote waale ne kheti-baadi karne se inkaar kar di!!! Woh koi business karna chahtaa hai. Mere laakh manaa karne par bhi, chala aaya dilli. Aur yahaan ussne ek kapadon ki dukaan kholi hai, uskaa kuch ajeeb naam hai kuch 'baateeek', aisa kuch. Bas usse dekhne ki iccha hui, toh chalaa aaya. Abhi do-teen din hue hai, yahaan aake.
JP : "Baateek"????
Surjeet (with a frown) : Haan wahi jisme chote chote, fashion waale kapde bikte hai.
JP (bursts out laughing) : Tumhaara matlab hai "Boutique"?
Surjeet : Haan! wahi wahi.
And they continue talking......

Meanwhile Kaushalya gets worried that its been an hour and a half and JP has still not returned from his walk, She sends Navneet to check on him. Navneet reaches the park and sees her dad talking with somebody. She reaches him.
Navneet : Bauji.....
JP : Arre puttar, aaja
And introduces his daughter to Surjeet
JP: yeh meri sabse choti waali hai, Navneet.
Navneet : Namaste uncle!!
Surjeet : Jeete reh beta.
JP : Chal yaar, phir milte hai. Aisa kar, apna number de. Mein Kaushalya se baat karta hun aur tujha bataata hun. Tu aur tera beta, ghar khane ke kiye zaroor aana.
They both exchange numbers, addresses etc hug again and then go their different ways.

Back to Kasturi........

Katuri calls Raunak to share with him the news of her promotion. Raunak is very happy.
Raunak : Congratulations Kasturi!!!! Mein tumhaare liye bahut khush hun. Chalo aisa karte hain, hum iss occassion koh celebrate karte hai. Shaam mein dinner ko chalte hai. Kahaan jaana pasand karogi?
Kasturi : Coconut Grove
Raunak : Arre, ekdum se jawaab de diya!! Lagtaa hai yeh jageh tumhe bahut pasand hai!
Kasturi : Haan, mein Robbie ke saath wahan kaafi ja..............
Suddenly she stops. There is an awkward silence on both sides.
Kasturi (slowly speaks again) : Actually Sir, hum kahin aur chalte hai. Aap apni pasand bataaiye.
Raunak : Nahin, Kasturi hum Coconut Grove hi chalte hai, kyonki woh jagah mujhe bhi bahut pasand hai. Chalo, shaam mein 8 'o' clock tumhe pickup karloonga. Tum tayyar rehna.
He cuts the call. Kasturi also cuts the call and is totally shocked. She thinks, he is present in my every thought. I am always thinking about him consciously or unconcsiously. She again picks up the card and looks at it for a long time and then gets back to work.

In the evening, Kasturi gets ready. She decides to wear a salwar. Her hand automatically reaches for a green one. She wears it. And while she is waiting for Raunak, she suddenly feels like talking to her dad. She calls him and they talk so warmly. She tells him about joining work again and getting a promotion. Her dad is very happy. Then she talks to Kausalya, her sisters and itne mein Raunak aata hai. She says bye to them and ends the call. Raunak comes in to pick her up
Raunak : Wow Kasturi, badi khoobsurat lag rahi ho!!!
Kasturi blushes : Thank you Sir.
Raunak : Lagtaa hai 'Green' tumhaara favourite color hai. Meine jyaadatar tumhe green mein hi dekha hai.
Kasturi is about to say "Nahin Sir, yeh Robbie ka favourite color...."
But stops herself just in time! Her mind is completely in a turmoil when she realizes that she unconcsiously always wears what Robbie likes.
Raunak : Accha chalo, der ho rahi hai. Tumne maa ko bataa diyaa na ke khaane pe hamaara intezaar nahin karna?
Kasturi shakes her head in positive.
And they both leave. They reach the restaurant. They take a corner location and place their orders. Kasturi has become very quite.
Raunak : Kya hua Kasturi, ekdam quite ho gayi ho?
Kasturi : Kuch nahin Sir.
Raunak : You know, mujhe tumhaare baare mein jyaada kuch nahin pataa. Tell me, tumhe kya accha lagtaa hai? Tumhaare interests kya hai, hobbies etc.
He slowly relaxes her and they start talking. There is live music here (This is like a retro restaurant and the music here is more like ghazals etc).

Their food arrives and they start to eat. Suddenly, there is a commotion, everybody is looking at the door. Kasturi is sitting facing the door. She also looks up and completely freezes. Raunak looks at her surprised and follows her gaze. Robbie is in the restaurant! He has come with Ishita. (Ishita still has feelings for Robbie and hence is running around him.) Robbie does not notice them and he and Ishita are escorted by the manager to a table close by to Raunak's. As soon as he approaches their table, he sees them and stops in his tracks shocked!!! His eyes meet Kasturi's and a myriad of emotions are hitting them both. Raunak gets up and approaches him.
Raunak : Hi Robbie, tum yahaan?
Robbie tears himself away from Kasturi and looks at Raunak and fumbles
Robbie : Woh..
Ishita : Hi Raunak, Aaj mera birthday hai. Aur mai Robbie ke saath dinner pe jaana chahti thi. Robbie ko yeh restaurant bahut pasand hai, iss liye hum yahan aaye. What a surprise to see you and Kasturi!
Raunak : Happy Birthday Ishita! Haan, Kasturi ko aaj promotion milaa, hum wahi celebrate karne ke liye aaye. (immediately Robbie looks at K and she feels that he is thinking that she has not shared this with him and looks away from him). Why don't you guys join us? Sab milke celebrate karte hai.
Robbie : Thanks Raunak, lekin accha hoga agar hum separate baithe. Please continue your dinner. We would hate to spoil this for you.
Ishita agrees and they go and sit at their table. Their table is parallel to Raunak and Kasturi's and everyone is visible to everyone.
Kasturi is trembling inside with conflicting emotions. She wants to look at him! She is scared that she will look at him!!!.
She tries her best to continue eating her dinner. As far as Robbie is concerned, even though he is not directly looking at her, it seemed like his eyes are only on her. Ishita is talking but he can hardly concentrate. He is thinking, OMG she is looking so beautiful and she had completely filled his mind. And in a flash he remembers their last meeting. It gets very hard for him to sit. After they place their order, Ishita excuses herself to use the wash room and leaves.
Robbie signals to the Manager and calls him. He gives him a piece of paper and asks if the ghazal-singer can sing the following song.
Just then Raunak gets a call. The signal is weak inside the restaurant and so he steps out.

The singer starts singing the song. (Guys, this ghazal is sung by Jagjit Singh in the movie Arth. One of my most most most favourite ghazals!!!! You need to listen to this, if you have not, to imagine how romantic it is!!!!!!!!!)

Kasturi is listening to the song with her eyes cast down.

Jhuki jhuki si nazar, bekaraar hai ke nahin.
Dabaa Dabaa sa sahi, dil mein pyaar hai ke nahin.

Tu apne dil ki jawan dhadkanon ko ginke bataa,
Meri tarah teraa dil, bekaraar hai ke nahin. (Dabaa....)

Woh pal ke jisme mohobbat jawaan hoti hai,
us ek pal ka tujhe intezaar hai ke nahin. (Dabaa....)

Teri umeed pe tukhraa rahaa hun, duniyaa ko,
Tujhe bhi apne pe yeh aitbaar hai ke nahin. (Dabaa....)


As soon as this first stanza is sung, she looks up to see Robbie and finds him staring at her with such love that she cannot move her eyes away from him!! They look at each other so intently remembering the love they had felt for each other, the first time K had acknowledged her love. They can't take their eyes off of each other. Robbie is holding the table corner so tightly that it is hurting him. That is all he can do to physically stop himself from going to her. And when the last stanza is sung, he looks at Kasturi with such an earnest look in his eyes asking her to come back to him that Kasturi grabs her mangalsutra and presses it hard against herself and manages to look away from him. Tears are flowing down her eyes and she is trying hard to wipe them away. The song ends but Kasturi is still crying. Raunak comes in and sees Kasturi completely broken down. He immediately looks at Robbie's table, but finds nobody. Robbie and Ishita have left!!!!!