It was the best day of Ananya Kashyap's life.
She was soon going to become Mrs. Ananya Kabir Sharma and there could not be a more beautiful feeling in the world. A misty film formed over her eyes as she stared down at his ring, wrapped proudly around her ring finger. The memory of the love and tenderness that filled his enigmatic chocolate brown eyes when he had went down on his knees and showed the ring to her still clouded her vision and she could still very well feel the resonance of his breath-taking words of proposal reverberate in the air around her. She sighed and rested her head against the soft pillow on her bed. There was something so surreal and intimate about the thought of spending her entire life in the proximate company of this man called Kabir Sharma, that it almost made Ananya feel afloat. For her, everything about her life seemed perfect at the moment, well almost everything.
Though she was now engaged to the man she loved the most in this world, a fact that had her happiness soaring but somewhere Ananya was unable to see the same happiness in her mother's eyes. She knew that though Anita had accepted Kabir as her son in law but surely she hadn't accepted him as a suitable life partner for her daughter. Though she had agreed for their alliance herself, but something surely seemed amiss about her acceptance. And the fact was enough to steer Ananya out of her day dream. She felt worried and confused, unable to decide how to put her mother's fears to rest.
The next morning Ananya woke up with a slight ache in her body and feeling a tad bit feverish. Determined to make Anita understand her point of view this time, she thought of taking a leave from the office and spending some time with her, finally putting an end to this entire confusion around Kabir's past as she could no longer tolerate playing around the bush and feeling guilty, especially at a time when she was supposed to be happy.
Crawling lethargically out of her bed, Ananya leaned over the side table and picked up her phone, looking at it almost mundanely. But her heart instantly raced seeing five missed calls from Kabir. For a fraction of a second, a surge of extreme worry ran down her spine. She immediately tried calling his number but it was out of reach. Disconnecting the call she then checked for the notifications and saw two voice messages from him. Without thinking twice her hand instinctively reached out for the play button and she tapped it in a jiffy.
"Good-morning my sleeping beauty" his husky morning voice rang like a soft melody throughout Ananya's body.
"I know you will be super angry on me so let me apologize first. I am so sorry to have to leave like this, especially on a day that means so much to both of us. But this is urgent Ananya. In case I don't make up to this meeting, KKN might land in a big trouble and Khalid had almost begged me to come along to Singapore. I came to see you in the morning but you were asleep and even looked tired so didn't feel like waking you up. And now that I know you have almost cursed me atleast thrice under your breathe so let me tell you, please forgive me darling. I shall make up for all of it once I return, I promise. Till then please take care of my fiance and don't miss me too much ok...Love you always...muawh"
Ananya found herself smiling as she finished listening to his message. For a second she could not believe this was the same man who had been so strict and stern to her when they had met. It had been a beautiful journey knowing the real him, and feeling so genuinely loved in his warm company. There couldn't have been a better blessing she could have ever asked for. But that wasn't enough for making Ananya angry at him at the moment. She was annoyed and sad to have not been able to see and meet him before he left but somewhere also felt relieved as this would give her the needed time with Anita to tell her the entire truth of Kabir's past.
Hopeful to have a discourse with her mom at the dining table she made an attempt of talking about Kabir and his past but Anita avoided the topic and in no time the discussion shifted to a more crucial subject, the preparation of the engagement.
Ananya spent the rest of her day feeling extremely uneasy and lost. Since Kabir was off work for a few days, she decided to cancel her leave, naturally feeling more accountable to KKN in his absence. But to her KKN no longer seemed the same happy place with Kabir not being around and she could not concentrate on work. Seeing her distracted, Richa tried to pull her leg with an old bolly song and told in a teasing tone how she had suddenly turned into a devdasi' in Kabir sir's absence. But Ronnie could sense something bothering Ananya apart from Kabir's absence. She had hardly eaten the whole day and requested him to drop her home much before the end of the shift. And even after reaching home when he had asked her to talk to Kabir once as it would make her feel better, she turned down the idea saying she didn't want to disturb him amidst work and would rather wait for him to call.
In evening, the two finally got a chance to talk but Ananya's obvious distraction didn't go unnoticed by Kabir. He had felt extremely worried at the hoarseness of her voice but she brushed it off as a case of common cold and cough. But Kabir had certainly sensed something not to be totally ok with her. He again called at night but she was asleep by then.
It was only in the middle of that night that Ananya had suddenly waked up with a bout of severe stomach ache and high fever. She passed out several times after that and by morning Anita noticed a few blisters appear on the skin of her arms and neck. Extremely worried at her condition, Anita called Ronnie to come over as soon as possible and by the next few hours Ananya was diagnosed with a vehement case of adult chickenpox.
Anita could hardly remember herself or any of Armaan or Ananya catching the disease in the past. And hence the doctor advised her to stay at a safe distance from Ananya to avoid spreading the infection. She felt miserable at the thought of not being able to tend to her daughter and insisted the doctor to let her take care of Ananya but at last had to give in when Ronnie and Richa made her realize how she could not afford risking Armaan, who had his board exams from next week. The doctor gave to Ananya a paracetamol injection, something for the rash and some painkillers to relieve the pain of the rashes. After putting Ananya to sleep and making sure the nurse arrived to look after her, Ronnie and Richa left for office.
CID
Mannat Har Khushi Paane Ki
Ghum Hai Kisikey Pyaar Meiin
