The chiming of the door bell was persistent and unyielding.
"Who is it at this hour? Anyone expected?" Tarini stacked the files neatly to a side and stood up abruptly. The only other occupant in the room nodded vaguely, totally lost in thought.
"Ok, let me see..." Tarini's long strides carried her to the door in no time.
"Ananya! What brings you here, and that too at this hour?" Tarini was taken aback at the sight that the visitor presented. The usual haughty devil may care' stance was long gone. The eyes were puffed up with dark circles under them darting across the room warily in anticipation.
"Kabir..."
"Yes, he is in his room, packing..."
"Packing? He is going somewhere?" If there was a way to snap the last string of hope, this was it.
"You don't know?"
Ananya shook her head and a lone tear escaped her eye.
"I just came to know an hour back that he has resigned. But then...he is going somewhere? Where?"
"Why don't you ask me directly, Ms Kashyap?" Both women whirled around to Kabir standing in the door holding a neatly folded stack of clothes.
"Tarini, these are for the old age home. And there are the two cartons full of books and toys for the kids at the orphanage. You can have a look at the kitchen groceries etc, and feel free to utilize whatever you need. Also have a look at the refrigerator..."
"Sir!"
"Yes, Ms Kashyap?"
"Sir, I..."
For someone who was known for her chatterbox skills, Ananya seemed incapable of stringing a few words to form a coherent sentence. Tarini picked up the cue.
"I think I will sort out about the newspaper & milk delivery. The night watchman must be on his rounds now..."
Kabir took in the retreating figure and sighed inwardly. This was going to be difficult. He just prayed that his mental faculties wouldn't fail him at the opportune moment.
"You were about to say something, Ms Kashyap?" He recruited his poker faced expression and turned to his reporter girlfriend turned fianc.
"I...Khalid told me that you are leaving. So..."
"So?" The curt dismissal of the concern was an ample indication of the inner hurt. Or was it dissociation? Ananya looked at the eyes, blank, devoid of any expression and swallowed hard.
"Do you really need to go? And where are you going?"
"How does that concern you?"
"Sir...But I am your fianc!"
"Oh really? When you declared in full view that it was all over? I pleaded with you for a chance. Just a chance to explain everything of what I did and why I did. But you were unrelenting. You just jumped to conclusions, accusing me of things that I wouldn't ever have dreamt of doing..." His fingers were fidgetting with themselves, in an attempt to dislodge past memories and hope, dreams of the future...With a guttural exclamation he wrenched his fingers free and extended his hand to her.
"Ahh...it is out at last. Your ring...you can have it back. And trust me, I am not going to throw it on your face, the way you...!"
He turned away, probably to hide his own feelings from her.
"Please leave, Ms Kashyap. The past few weeks have been nothing short of a torture for me. Everything was on stake: my mental peace, my very being, my soul...And then the revelation brought on a strange sense of solace. You father proven innocent by law and the guilty punished, the blot on my conscience eased off...I started breathing again. With a hope that we will be together again, get married one day...have children...settle down in life..."
"Kabir...I only wanted to..."
He continued unmindful of the intrusion.
"And with that came the strange enlightenment...One may label it as an apprehension. One small storm created by our adversaries and you broke off with me. Despite the fact that I did not distance myself from you when the terrorists made you wear the suicide vest. And the fact that I held nothing back when I told you about my past. Maybe there will be some other issue tomorrow... If this sort of eventuality repeats in future, the impact will be huge. In fact none of us will be able to survive!"
He schooled his expressions and turned back to her.
"So it's better we part ways from here. I explained the entire thing to Khalid and he agreed to relieve me from KKN. KL however wouldn't let me go; he asked me to come over to Singapore and take charge of another venture of his. I agreed, for it will take my mind off the memories that ..."
So that was it! The dam broke. Ananya collapsed to her knees, sobbing bitterly. Kabir was in no better shape himself and broke into an impromptu song of yesteryears.
Chalo ek baar phirse...Ajnabi ban jaaye hum dono...'
-----
Index
Part 1 pg 1,
Part 2 pg 5
part 3 pg 7
part 4 pg 14
part 5 pg 20
part 6 pg 26
part 7 pg 35
part 8 (Final part) Pg 43
Epilogue pg 48
Anupamaa
