|| Behind The Veil Of Lies: A NiBir SS || chap 7: pg 42, 30/7 - Page 17

A stunned silence enveloped them. None spoke a word. Kabir couldn't believe what he heard. No! No way in all three worlds could Nisha ever do this! Definitely not to her friend. He must have heard it wrong. Yes he did. To reconfirm,

"What did you just say?"

"I killed Priya"

"Nisha are you in your senses?! Do you even know what you're speaking? You were with me the entire evening and how..."

"And that's how I killed her Kabir! I wasn't there for her! All this could have been avoided if I stayed back! So, it's all my fault. I killed..."

"Shut up Nisha! Just shut the f**k up! I'm telling you it isn't your fault that she got killed, why don't you just understand?!", shouted Kabir, as his shock, anger, relief had all merged into frustration and he was losing his patience.

But, Nisha heard none of it. Her sobs were back and she was murmuring incomprehensible words to herself. This side of Nisha was new to Kabir and with each passing second her condition worsened. Kabir looked at her helplessly, as all his efforts to distract her, to gain her attention, had failed miserably.

He decided to drive them back home as there was nothing he could do to console her.

They had covered half the distance. Nisha's sobs had ceased and she was asleep, exhausted with all the sobbing and hiccuping.

"Nisha? Nisha! Wake up!", he tried waking her up.

"Huh? What? Did we reach home?", asked Nisha, groggy from the sleep.

"No, we will reach in another hour. Let's eat something na Nisha? I'm starving.", pouted Kabir. Nisha giggled at his cute expression, much to Kabir's relief, as she was back to her former bubbly self. He didn't like the self-blaming Nisha one bit. His Nisha was a fighter and he never wanted to see her so helpless and miserable again.

"Ok! Let's go. Truth be told, I'm starving too", she giggled, getting down from the car and both headed to the dhaba.

"Hush! Finally home!.", declared a tired Kabir. Nisha had fallen silent, again.

"Nisha? Not again!", groaned Kabir as he didn't have the strength to withstand another of Nisha's 'I killed Priya' outburst.

"Kabir? Let's not tell about this to Maa-Papa! Please? If maa gets to know about all this, then I'll have to let go of my dream of going to Singapore. She'll never let me go Kabir! Please don't tell her?", pleaded Nisha.

"Ok", agreed an uncertain Kabir. He didn't like keeping secrets from Ramesh and Lakshmi. They were the ones who had given him the love and warmth of a family. His parents were divorced. He was brought up by his mother and his maternal grandparents. But, his mother too had to leave him when he was 17 years old, after 3 years of unsuccessful battle with cancer. He had met these wonderful people when he moved into the neighbourhood with his grandparents.

"Surprise!!", shouted Nisha trying to sound cheerful, startling Ramesh and Lakshmi who were engrossed in their respective work.

"Nishu? Kabir? You both were supposed to come tomorrow right? Then what happened? Is something wrong? Why are you both quiet? Answer me!", Lakshmi went on with her questions. She was already worried about Nisha and seeing her like this, all of a sudden, doubled her anxiety.

"Offo! Lakshmi relax me! We wanted to surprise you maa! So, we did not tell you about us coming tonight. Now, if you're question answer round is over, Can I go sleep please? I'm very sleepy and I missed my bed so much!", said Nisha, stifling a yawn.

"Oh yes!, you must be tired na? You both take rest we'll speak in the morning. Kabir, you stay here tonight. You can go home in the morning ok", said Lakshmi with finality in her voice and Kabir knew better than to argue with her. So, he just smiled and nodded his head like an obedient kid.

"Good night maa-papa"

"Good night beta"

"Nisha I feel we should tell about Priya to papa atleast. He will surely..",

"Kabir please. Let's not go back to that topic. Now good night.", she said kissing his cheeks. Before he could realise what happened she was out of his sight.

He let out a tired sigh and turned around to find Ramesh standing there with a knowing look. Kabir gulped hard, as he knew he couldn't lie to Ramesh. Ramesh could read him like an open book.

"I'll be on the terrace. Fresh up and come".

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"What is it Kabir?", Ramesh started right away once Kabir had joined him. Kabir narrated everything to him leaving out Nisha's weird behaviour. He didn't want to worry Ramesh.

"Hmm, what about Nisha's behaviour? You won't tell me about that?", asked Ramesh smiling. Kabir was flabbergasted would be an understatement. He just stared wide eyed, open mouthed at Ramesh, making the latter chuckle at his expression.

"Tell me Kabir. How did Nisha react to it?"

"Very weird papa", and he told about all the weird changes he had noticed in Nisha's behaviour.

"As expected", sighed Ramesh.

"Huh?"

"This is all because of Dolly", said Ramesh.

"Dolly? But, she's no more", asked a confused Kabir.

"It's her death that made Nisha like this Kabir. Dolly died right in front of her eyes and she couldn't do anything. From thereafter, any death of her dear ones, she holds herself responsible for it. At first, we thought she was in shock of Dolly's death. But, it's recurrence when her dada-dadi died, made us seek medical help. The counsellor told us to give her time and she seemed to get better as time passed. But, now i'm afraid that she'll be back to square one.", Ramesh expressed his concern.

"I'm there for her papa. I'll never let her go through what she went through in her past. I've promised her of a happy future and I'll do everything I can to keep her safe, to keep her happy.", reassured Kabir, earning a fond smile from Ramesh.

"But papa, how did Dolly die?"