OS: Main Jagu, tu so jaye...Part II

The shrill ring of her cellphone jerked her out of sleep. She murmured something about time feverishly and reached out for her spectacles.

The time read 2 AM and the caller ID was unknown. She answered the call in two minds: should she take the call or not? What if it was a lead?

"Hello...Who's that at this hour?"

"Sorry to disturb you at this hour, Ms Kashyap...Do you have a minute?" The voice belonged to a well known person. Only that the signature confident drawl was conspicuous by its absence.

"Yes, Sir. What can I do for you at this hour?"

"Ms Kashyap, I recollect you telling me that your brother suffers from acute asthma attacks. I have a young friend here who is wheezing heavily. Can you help me? Which medicine do you give?"

Ananya jerked up to full wakefulness, her sleep muzzled brain brain trying to see the logic and reason behind the communication. And then it came back to her: Armaan had suffered an acute attack some weeks back and had spent the week in hospital; she had taken leave to attend to him.

So that's how Kabir knew. Of course!

She recollected herself and tried to recollect the logical course of action in such an emergency.

"Sir, this young friend of yours...is he on any asthma medication?"

"Well, he is...and I gave him his puff, the prescribed dose and at the prescribed time. Then he slept off and recently he woke me up with this feeling...Did something that he ate...or some bug at my place...?" Kabir's voice trailed off. Normally for one who used words as a means of getting back at someone, Kabir was quite nervous and blabbering. Ananya wasn't surprised: The vision of somebody doubled over, painfully gasping for breath was enough to unnerve anyone.

"Fine Sir...will be there in about 15 minutes. Can you please message me your address?"

"Done. Please come soon!" Kabir's fingers were already midway on the message.

And surely enough, after 15 minutes, Ananya rang the bell of a penthouse flat in a posh area of Delhi. The door was open.

The scene inside was terrifying. A boy, of about 10 was seated in a chair, leaning forward, his hand clutched to his chest. His face was red and swollen; he hyperventilated a few times before lapsing into paroxysmal episodes of bone racking cough as an effort to dislodge something stuck in his lungs; kabir tried to restrain him into a comfortable position and was largely unsuccessful.

"Sir...Shall I call the ambulance?"

"No...ambulance please! Amidst gasps, the young boy whimpered. "I want my Mom!"

"Ok, Anuraag. She is not answering her phone, I have tried enough number of times..." Kabir tried to explain, but the boy was clearly beyond comprehension.

"I want Mumma..." The voice was a little more than a whisper, a sure shot sign of respiratory failure.

"Sir, did you try his family doctor?"

"I tried, He is currently unreachable. Maybe driving or something...But you try, Ms Kashyap. The number is in the phone, the call before your number in the dialled numbers list...maybe you would be lucky enough to get by?"

Ananya was lucky: her call was responded to within the first ring. She quickly introduced herself and explained the situation; then waited for a while as instructions were given from the other end.

"Fine Doctor. I have the medicines. I will give them myself!"

Kabir waited till she had disconnected before breaking the silence.

"Ananya, what...?

"Sir, he has prescribed the same medicine as what was given to Armaan. I got it with me..." Ananya was digging in her bag as she spoke. "So now, Mr Anuraag, I wanted you to do this..."

"What's that?"

"This is a nebulizer..." Kabir watched transfixed as Ananya fixed a mask on to Anuraag's face. She then attached the mask to a plastic bulb like thing, and poured the contents of a vial into it. Next she made Anuraag hold the mask tight on his nose and mouth and breathe normally.

Ssszzz' the electric switch connected and small puffs of steam emerged from the mask. Anuraag closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, trying to take as much vapour as he could under the circumstances.

The effect was quite dramatic: Anuraag's body language changed from stiff, uncomfortable to slack and easy one within a couple of minutes. He opened his eyes and smiled a grateful smile at Ananya, who smiled back her relief.

"Feeling better now?" She eased him in the armchair and ruffled his hair, keeping an eye on the fluid level in the nebulizer. Another five minutes and it would be over. Then she would switch it off and leave...to catch up with a few hours of sleep at least.

"Could you please help me with the door, Ms Kashyap?" She snapped back to the present. The nebulizer was over and Anuraag was fast asleep. Kabir had gently scopped the sleeping boy in his arms and was standing near a door, possibly his bedroom...

"Sure, Sir..." She opened the door to a spacious bedroom and Kabir walked in. Gently lowering the sleeping boy on to the spacious bed, he reached for the AC remote when Ananya shook her head.

Kabir smiled gratefully and scrapped the idea.

Ananya's thoughts were miles away as she collected her belongings back; the discarded vial going to the trash. Who was the boy? the questionnaire explicitly mentioned that Kabir had no children. Or was he some relative? Quite possible. Kabir had never mentioned him.

"I don't know how to thank you, Ms Kashyap..." Kabir's voice cut through her thoughts.

"You're welcome, Sir..." Her voice trailed off. "And now, may I take your leave?"

"What's the hurry? Care for some coffee? Anyway it's close to dawn now..."

"Yes, I have to go home, freshen up and be in the office by 9. Otherwise another late mark from the boss..." words tumbled out of her before she could realize their impact. Kabir just stared at her in sheer incredulity.

"No problem, Ms Kashyap...you are excused for being late today. Now, care for some coffee? How do you like it?"

"With milk and sugar...the normal way..."

"Sure. Be comfortable in the living room, I will get it in a jiffy!"

And sure, Kabir was back with two mugs in a tray within five minutes.

Ananya hestitantly picked up one, cradling it in her hands. Kabir took the other one and settled on the chair opposite.

"Is it fine? I mean, the sugar...milk?"

She nodded, her mind miles away.

There was an awkward silence for a while as none of the duo knew how to initiate the mundane conversation.

"I am sure you want to ask me something. So go ahead!"

"Sir...Anuraag...?" Her voiced trailed away partly apprehensive of having ventured in a forbidden domain. Kabir however had anticipated it.

"He is Tarini's son!"

"Tarini Pal?"

"Yes, the same Tarini, who worked as a reporter with me. The same Tarini, whose life was allegedly ruined because of me!"

"And she leaves her son in your care?"

"Yes!" the answer was unflinching and unconditional.

"And what about Anuraag's father?" She mentally braced herself to hear the stab.

The answer took a long time in coming and she cautiously stole a glance at him.

He was leaning back on the chair, staring at the ceiling.

"Ananya...he deserted Tarini when she was pregnant. All because of me...!" She breathed in deeply as the tortured words poured out of an anguished being. "Ananya, I know what you had predicted: You assumed Anuraag to be my illegitimate son, right?"

"Kabir Sir..."

"What I say you have to believe me. Because I have no proof. Tarini was a reporter like you and I was her Editor. We gelled together, we thought alike. We didnt even need to communicate anything through words. A perfect team...Her husband, who was initially quite sportive, started changing slowly, probably at the instigation of people around us who were jealous of our success..."

Kabir took a sip of his coffee and continued.

"The change was so gradual that none of us realized it in time. Then one day we went for a sting, a posh resort run by a prominent personality was being used as a brothel. We went there in the guise of lovers...and got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time!"

Ananya winced inwardly.

"The prominent personality cooked up all evidence to show that we were regular visitors to his resort. We denied vociferously, but it was his word against ours. In that huff, Tarini's husband just walked out on her and filed for a divorce, accusing her of adultery!"

"What?"

"At that time Tarini discovered that she was pregnant. She tried to convince her husband, even offered to undertake a DNA test. But he was unrelenting...Even I tried to talk to him. But to no avail...You know, Shaq ka koi ilaaz nahi hota!"

"And this led to your...divorce?"

"Yes... Shreya just walked out and I was ruined professionally and personally...reputation gone down the drain" He somehow didn't want to relieve those painful memories anymore. Huffing a sarcastic laugh, he continued, "Within no time, I got labelled as being a flirt, a womaniser, a pervert, someone who exploits people for his own benefits, so on and so forth. And I steeled myself to such an extent that nobody's opinion matters to me anymore. I stopped being myself, reminding everytime that being sensitive doesn't pay!"

And she had fallen in the same warped trap, of judging him by what the others said...guilt swamped her. The face of the society, people around her, Manav, Malvika, the social worker...all swam in front of her.

She never realized when she joined him on the sofa and he snuggled up to her.

"All this was fine till you came on the scene. Suddenly your opinion about me mattered to me. Dont know why..but I felt like living again. And that day both of us got kidnapped..."

She put an arm around him and he put his head on her shoulder.

"You slept on my shoulder the entire night. I felt like my fate was offering me another chance to live! The future was uncertain, even bleak. But still I felt hopeful. Even now..."

Her fingers wove lazy patterns through his thick hair and he closed his eyes. And before realizing, she had folded her legs and his head slid down on her lap. Her fingers continued their journey and soon his even breathing indicated that he was in the land of nod.

Ananya smiled her herself. He was so innocent, pure at heart. Despite his past.And she loved him.

Did he love her? Unconditionally! He stirred a bit and she shifted slightly.

"Sleep, my love. I am sorry for whatever I said that day. I just blurted out my turmoil, my emotional burden...Had you been there, I would have talked to you...And things would have been better, much better. But never late than never. What say?

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