It was two weeks since their deal was struck. Meher and Abeers study and music sessions were going on in full form with neither sandhir nor future mehbeer having any idea how to set it right. Things just kept on getting worse as their sessions kept getting longer and longer. Past meher and abeer were almost friends rushing towards becoming best friends. They had their food together along with saasha and nisaar, sat together in all their classes. Meher made notes for him while abeer gave her new chords to practice on. But today was the last straw. RD and Sanyu were beyond furious.
Meher and Abeer sat in two chairs having their lips sealed as they got lectured by sanyukta and randhir. They didn't dare to point out that this whole mess was sandhir's doing to begin with fearing more bashing.
"Care to explain your past selves?"
Randhir scolded.
"Guys don't your past selves have even a little restraint?" Sanyukta added.
"Do you have any idea how difficult your past selves are making our job?" randhir chipped in.
"But..." abeer started.
"DONT" sanyukta intervened.
"Pehle apni kartoote toh dekh lo. Then justify yourselves and your past selves" randhir said throwing them a dirty stare before connecting the handy cam to the tv and playing the stuff they had recorded.
-----
Sanyukta had been curating the hostel campus and trying her best to figure out how to prevent the collapse. She realised a patch work wasn't the best idea and re-constructing it would mean the students had to move out which would lead to their earlier issue of past meher and abeer having to live together. Trying to figure out what to do when she heard abeer's voice coming from the music room he was singing, she had followed the voice to see him in live action only to find meher sitting on the steps in the room with her elbows rested on her thighs and her hands cupping her face as she listened to abeer with a smile to her face.
This is bad.
This is very very bad.
'We need to do damage control. But for that everyone needs to know how much this thing has escalated and see it with their own eyes. ' she thought.
Removing the handy cam she was using to take details about the hostel campus to work on solutions for it. She started recording meher and abeers session.
tanha mai guma galiyaan sheher
aaya khayal tera aayi na tu nazar
---
Jis din tu mujhe mil jayegi
Tham jayegi meri awaargi.
----
Meher laughed. Abeer stopped singing and playing the guitar flabbergasted.
"What is wrong? This is one of my best songs."
"It sounds...umm...made up? A song touches the soul when it is real and has real feelings." Meher spoke though she had no knowledge about music she knew how to recognise when someone was being true to their heart, she didn't know music but she knew how to appreciate good music.
"Hey, I can be searching for that special someone with this song." Abeer defended his favourite song.
"Well are you?" meher smirked knowing his answer before he nodded a no.
"I liked that song better which you were singing with your band that day. It had such a nice feel to it. Felt real." Meher smiled as she re-collected how the song had transported her to her happy place'
Abeer instantly knew which song she was talking about. He had seen her listening to their practice session that day. The smile she had on her face while she closed her eyes and listened to them was worth a million bucks. It was one of the things that had given him the strength to ask her to teach him, realising that he would be giving her something equally special in return. Holding his guitar close to his heart, abeer started singing his most special song.
Aankhon mein sapne liye,
Ghar se hum chal to diye,
Jaane ye raahein ab le jayengi kahan,
Abeer started smiling a sad smile as he started circling around meher strumming his guitar strings, while the lyrics just flowed out of his lips like he was breathing. It felt that natural.
Mitti ki khuhsbu aaye,
Palkon pe aason laye,
Palkon pe reh jaayega yaadon ka jahaan,
Manzil nayi hai, anjaana hai kaarva,
Chalna akele hai yahaan,
This song for some reason bought out all of meher's bottled up emotions to the fore-front. She remembered the night her father had left them. How her mother had cried that whole night. She remembered how her bua had been the wall that had held them together those initial few weeks. She remembered tunnu waking up screaming at night having nightmares and crying about how the bullies at school teased him about his father leaving them. Day in day out she had heard her mother beg her father to come back but he never bothered. That was when she had realised no one in this world was your own. If you had to survive, you have to learn to fend for yourself, no matter how hard or lonely the path gets.
Tanha Dil, Tanha Safar
Dhunde tujhe, phir kyun nazar,
Tanha Dil, Tanha Safar
Dhunde tujhe, phir kyun nazar,
Tanha dil...
He now sat beside her handing her the guitar, wrapping her fingers around it on the right strings. He trailed his left hand and lined it with her left hand. While his right hand travelled around her and lined itself against her right hand, catching hold of both her hands he started moving her fingers across the guitar strings.
As abeer pulled away from her giving her the lead, meher caught hold of the guitar and started singing mimicking abeer's motions on the guitar taking inspiration from everything that had ever hurt her, everything her father had done, and then remembering his sweet voice as he sang this song which kind of soothed all those wounds.
Kitni barsaate aayi,
Kitni saugate laayi,
Kaanon mein phir bhi goonjein teri hi sada,
Vaade kiye the apna hoga aashiyaan,
Vaadon ka jaane hoga kya,
Tanha Dil, Tanha Safar,
Dhunde Tujhe, Phir kyun nazar,
Tanha Dil, Tanha Safar,
Dhunde Tujhe, Phir kyun nazar,
Abeer sat mesmerised for a while before joining her in completing the chorus.
Aankhon mein sapne liye,
Ghar se hum chal to diye,
Jaane ye raahein ab le jayengi kahan,
Mitti ki khuhsbu aaye,
Palkon pe aason laye,
Palkon pe reh jaayega yaadon ka jahaan,
Manzil nayi hai, anjaana hai kaarva,
Chalna akele hai yahaan,
Tanha Dil, Tanha Safar
Dhunde tujhe, phir kyun nazar,
Tanha Dil, Tanha Safar
Dhunde tujhe, phir kyun nazar,
Tanha dil...
Tanha Dil..
.Saasha and nisaar hadn't liked the song very much. They felt it was too depressing and were even offended a bit considering they were his best friends and he was still singing that he was a tanha dil', they didn't get the place where he was coming from, the feelings he was portraying in the song, but somehow as mehers eyes welled up with silent unshed tears as they finished the song abeer realised she got it. And suddenly he didn't feel like he was so lonely in these feelings after all. In that moment they crossed the threshold from friends to best friends. Two people connected by different pain's which ached the same. They understood each other at a level no one else could. The mutual dissapointment and pain their fathers had caused them was the stepping stone of their bonding and understanding.
------
Meher and abeer of the future sat dumb struck as they say the video play its last few captured moments where past abeer wiped away the silent tear off of mehers face and she gave him a smile. The kind of smile you give someone who knows all your secrets,the kind of smile you give to a person you trust will never give away your weak moments.
"That is not even the best part. You haven't seen the study session i recorded yet." Randhir said in a serious tone. "There is more."
"And we need to figure out how the hell we are going to get the two of you away from each other RIGHT NOW.! Or there will be issues. We have stayed here for too long already. We can't stay in the past longer lest something goes wrong." Sanyukta added agreeing with randhir.
Abeer paused the video not wanting to see more, They were heading down the same path to heart break for the second time and he couldn't watch anymore. And he knew the same thoughts were going through meher's mind because right at that instant she hastily wiped the corner of her eyes and ran out of the room muttering something about needing fresh air.
Sanyukta and randhir looked at him confused not knowing what to do next.
Abeer followed meher silently without uttering a word to the duo. They understood without any explanations.
-----
"Meher" he called out to her softly as he walked towards the terrace through the stair case door.
He knew when meher couldn't be found anywhere this was where she would be. This terrace was where they always patched up after fights, where they had their most special of dates, their impromptu dances in the rain, their midnight hot chocolate conversations and the place which had seen them going through every heart break. Every memory seemed as fresh as ever, and hit him with double the force as he stepped into the place which had seen their love blossom.
"Meher" He called again his voice a little broken than before, he almost choked because of the memories. There was a reason they had avoided this place even though it had been 3 weeks since they were here.
Meher sat on the terrace parapet wall staring into the great black sky and the majestic charm it held. The lights of the houses all around sparkled at her like stars on earth. Here in the open she let her tears flow freely as she re-called her decision to come back to the past.
The more days passed by the more it seemed like heart break was a destination which was inevitable for them. They'd had to go through it again, in the past, in the future, it followed them everywhere they went.
Abeer spotted her and went to her occupying his seat beside her. They'd spent hours here in each other's arms in comfortable silence.
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her towards him, holding her close. With one hand he wiped her tears while he held on to her with the other.
"It will be alright meher. I will not let our hearts break another time. I promise."
There was a sincerity in his voice that broke her further. He had proposed to her with almost the same words. Burying her face into his chest she sobbed clutching his t-shirt for support.
She sobbed for the broken hearts.
She sobbed for their incomplete love story.
She sobbed for the history that was surely going to repeat itself.
And she sobbed because despite everything,
She found comfort and solace only in him,
And wanted to hide in his arms forever.
-------
Sanyukta and randhir watched meher and abeer from the entrance to the terrace with similar worried expressions on their faces. They knew they couldn't wait for the result of plan A. They had to proceed to plan B. Time was running out.
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