Part 5
The next morning as she came out of the bath, she met a smiling Shaad, who brought a bunch of flowers and a packet of Indian sweets, back from his morning jog. She accepted the flowers and said her thanks.
She lingered over the flowers, deep in thought when she felt Shaad's arms go around her. In a reflex she pushed his hands away and scooted away in shock. Shaad put up his hands in surprise and laughed.
"Whoa, sorry I surprised you.. " He came closer and held her by the shoulders and placed a kiss on her forehead. Jannat closed her eyes, her heart beating anxiously.
Why does this feel all wrong?
His breath blew hotly on her hair as he lingered. He hesitated a moment , then using a finger he tilted her face up to meet his.
Calm down Jannat. He's your husband ! Of course he can kiss you!
Shaad placed his lips upon hers, and pressed gently. Jannat held her breath, distracted with the heat coming from his breath on her face. It was a chaste kiss, one she pulled out of because she was holding her breath for so long. Gasping she turned away.
Thinking she was shy, Shaad laughed softly and hugged her from behind.
"I love you Jannat. It's time we made it official. We'll have a new Nikah ceremony, wherever you want. We'll make new memories, Go wherever you want to go. Anything, for you..."
Jannat just smiled wanly, the thought of getting married again seemed pointless. Who did they have to prove it to?
Why didn't Aahil's kiss feel awkward like this? I lost myself there, and here ...
She ruminated frustratedly in the thought, when suddenly Shaad's phone rang.
Immediately he went serious, pulling his hands back and standing ramrod straight as he spoke with his army contemporaries. He answers affirmatively, and begs his leave for "important" work.
Shaad is funny like that. Sometimes when there is no distractions, he is very attentive and companionable but whenever work calls, he just drops everything and disappears like he couldn't leave any faster.
Not that she was complaining. She needed this time alone. His "I love you too" last night bothered her. Because the sentiment didn't fill her with excitement as one would have expected in such situations.
All she could think of was Aahil. How devastated he looked when she had vented at him. She couldn't bear the thought that her words had hurt him, and the feeling plagued her through the night. Sometime before she closed her eyes in the wee hours of the morning, she had vowed to apologize to him.
Almost an hour later, she was standing in front of his house, walking into the huge driveway in a daze. This place seems so familiar...Have I been here before? Every thing about this town screams familiarity ! Was I from here? Hometown maybe?
Jannat stood at the foyer, struck at how the luxury of the house seems normal to her. Surely an army man's wife isn't used to such opulence? Who was my family before my marriage?
Did I elope with Shaad?
A large girl walked along the far corridor, humming a tune. As soon as she spotted Jannat, she exclaimed and ran towards her. She ran right up to her with a huge tearful smile, and Jannat awkwardly put her hand out to shake her hand.
"Hi, I'm Jannat. Is Mr. Aahil here?"
Her words seem to have shocked the girl, or was it a boy dressed like a girl? She now just stared at her confusedly. Spotting her outstretched hand, she takes it, "I'm Lateef. Mr. Aahil's house keeper. You're... Jannat? Sorry , Mr. Aahil is at his office. Can I help you? Give you an address maybe?"
"Oh yes, please! I need to see him. "
Lateef quickly wrote the address on a piece of paper and Jannat watched. Out of impulse she asked, "Listen, if you don't mind, how was Mr. Aahil this morning? Was he alright?"
"Aahil baba was awesome ! He worked out so hard it was such a joy to watch !! Hayyee, such display of powerful muscles !! Ufff, he made my heart beat so fast, my delicate body couldn't take it !!" Lateef gushed, as it brought a reluctant smile out of Jannat.
Seeing Jannat smile softly, Lateef continued, "But if you're asking if he's alright, I won't say he is. He hasn't eaten properly in days, surviving only on coffee mostly. This morning I cleared his room and found a few liquor bottles by the bed. I think he's not sleeping well at all."
Jannat felt an anxious pull in that statement. She looked up to see Lateef staring at her intently, as thought expecting her to say something in response.
"Oh no, I hope Mr. Aahil is okay. Drinking never solves problems...Thanks for the address, I'd best leave now."
As she turned, she heard Lateef say, "I hope Aahil Baba find his most dearest one soon. It must be awful, for her to be so near and yet so far..."
Jannat smiled confusedly and waved goodbye. She hailed a taxi and made for Aahil's office, Lateef's words worrying her as to Aahil's condition.
As she walked into the big posh building, she was welcomed on sight by the guard and the receptionist with a huge smiles. She was treated like an important guest and ushered straight into Aahil's office. He was in a meeting and would be informed , they said.
She sat in his plush office, looking around at the decor. The walls were lined with posters of his development projects and excellence awards certificates. His table was adorned with multiple framed photos, all placed face down, the glass broken . Curious, she picked one up.
And saw herself. It was a picture of her.
How could this be? How did he have a photo of her? Did he have it taken at the event the other night?
Could be. ..
She suddenly heard footsteps, and hid the picture in her bag, rushing back to her seat. Aahil entered the room and stopped abruptly at the door. He searched her eyes for a second, then schooled his face into a frown and walked to his desk.
"What can I do for you, Jannat?"
Impersonal. Cold. Like an impenetrable wall had suddenly appeared between them.
Jannat just stared at him, wondering what to say to the cold man watching her.
"Speak up Jannat. I came out of a meeting for this."
Jannat stuttered nervously, "I... I was.. wondering ... how you were... if you're okay?"
Aahil raised one eyebrow inquisitively.
"What's it to you anyway, Jannat wife of Shaad? "
Confronted by that stark reminder, she swallowed hard and stared back. Tears of confusion welled at her eyes, and he uncrossed his legs.
"Look, if you have nothing to say..."
"I met Lateef... I mean.. I went to your house..."
Aahil stood up impatiently. When he made to walk out of the room, she sputtered, "Lateef said you were drinking. And you're not eating well. I just wanted to..."
Suddenly Aahil was bracketing her chair, one hand on each side, his face really close to hers that she leaned back in surprise.
"What's it to you, huh? Jannat, wife of Shaad? What would Shaad think, if his wife is here asking after my health? One only worries about their own, Jannat. Is there a reason you're worrying about me??"
Something in Jannat's welled up eyes made him stop his angry tirade. He stood up trying to control his breathing, turning away. She stood up awkwardly, touching his suit sleeve.
"Mr. Aahil..."
He suddenly turned around and pulled her close , trapping her in his arms. Their face inches from each other, eyes staring deeply. His eyes looked tortured, his hands gripped her arms tight, but she didn't feel any pain. She looked into his soul and saw the pain he was in.
Entranced, he cupped her face urgently and kissed her. Jannat closed her eyes and surrendered as he kissed her deeply and thoroughly , even a touch desperately. Jannat lost herself in the kiss, all thoughts suspended.
He stopped the kiss, and looked at her upturned face.
"Comparing kisses are we?"
The hard way his voice rasped broke the spell. She opened wide eyes, as he stepped away with a smirk. Tears started to fall from her eyes, as he resorted to cruelty.
"Get out of here Jannat, if you know what's good for you. GO back to your vanilla butter cream Shaad. I only want my Sanam, willing and passionate. I don't want Jannat, or whoever else Shaad made up for himself. Nothing less than my Sanam. Now, Leave...!!"
He banged at the table so hard, she jumped in fear. Scared by the seething anger in his eyes, she ran out of the door, and soon out of the building, watched by the concerned guards.
She ran to the one place she felt peace recently. The Dargah. She just sat there for hours, as people came and went about their lives, drawing in the quiet and peacefulness of the place to collect her thoughts. In the calm her thought process rearranged itself.
Who am I, really?
Other than the wife of Shaad Aftab Khan?
Who is my Ammi and Abbu? My sisters? Grandma, Grandpa?
What did I do for a living? What am i good at?
Who is Aahil to me?
Then she realized, that all her answers would come if she knew for sure who she really was. She needed to see something concrete on paper, her identity and some kind of registration. Surely Shaad can't be the only person who knew me in the world!
Resolutely, she walked into the main police station of Bhopal. Looking for the missing persons' unit, she pushed open the door, and went in. The officer inside choked on his peanuts and stood up in shock.
"Good day to you Inspector. I need to find my family. I have a strong hunch I am from Bhopal, and I wanted to know if you had a missing persons' file on me?"
The Inspector coughed and hacked on his peanuts and after awhile recovered. He invited her to sit and he quickly brought out one file and sat across her at his table.
"Tell me Miss. Where did you come from just now? We have been looking for you everywhere!"
"You were ?? Where were you looking? Who is looking for me? Tell me?"
"Why, your husband of course? He tore open the city in search of you, and we went as far as the Pakistan border , where we found your phone. You had left phone messages for your husband from there. When a local found your phone and turned in on, we could trace it to the place where we assumed you were involved in an accident. We've been stuck since then..."
"Who am I? Tell me sir !! I don't remember anything! Who is my family? Where are they? "
"Miss, what happened? You can't remember anything? "
"I can't. I lost my memories in the accident. I don't remember anything. I really hope you will tell me!"
"Here, have a look at this file..." He looked her over and left her alone with the file, as he peeped out to call for some tea. She's going to need it, he thought.
Slowly , Jannat opened the file. A form stood first, Missing persons report.
Name : Sanam Ahmed Khan. w/o Aahil Raza Ibrahim.
Age: 25 years
Parents : Asad Ahmed Khan and Zoya Farooqui.
The picture compiled showed a happier version of her, and another a wedding picture of Aahil.
They looked like a handsome pair, right there in the very house she went to couple of hours earlier.
Aahil is my husband! Right here is the proof!
She pulled out the photo from Aahil's desk and looked at it.
This was not recent. She couldn't even remember this sari!
Oh God. Am I really Sanam?
Is that why I feel so much around Aahil? Because he's my husband?
My poor husband must be so tortured seeing me with another man like this, fighting him!
Her head spun with the wild discoveries. She turned to the inspector.
"Do me one favour, can you check if there's missing person report under that name Jannat across the India-Pakistan border? Please?"
A quick check on the database and she got her answer.
Missing person report of "Jannat" with her photo, closed at the request of Major Shaad Aftab Khan.
Reeling with shock, she gave the inspector her particulars and helped him sort out the closing of the case. What would happen after this , she wasn't sure. Aahil would be informed, of course.
But she had to deal with Major Shaad first.
To be continued...
Part 6
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
Cricket
CID
126