CHAPTER 3
Kabir all panting and sweating entered the gate of his house while wiping his face with a small towel he accompanies with himself to his jog. His phone buzzed as he loosened his muscles by stretching his arms and he smiled looking at the caller ID.
"Hello Taarini... have u reached... oh that's great that u have reached safe and sound... Yeah Anurag and Anshu are fine... they are sleeping and I have just returned from my jog... Haan baba... I will send them school on time... ok bye"
Kabir smiled at her motherly concern for both hers and his kids and rang the doorbell to his home.
Kabir was dumbstruck as the door opened and a young man dressed in casuals and reading glasses perched up on his nose, probably in his late thirties engulfed him in a tight hug.
"Hey buddy... how are u yaar?" he said bringing Kabir back to his senses.
"Armaan... tu yaha... aise achanak... kab aaya tu...?"
"Meri jaan... I have come half an hour ago... but what's this... Na hi na hello... I guess you aren't happy to see me visiting you suddenly to surprise you" Armaan mock pouted.
"Bas kar draamebaaz... tujhe bhi pata hai... there is nothing in this world which can make me more happy than you and of course your unexpected visit" Kabir replied as they both moved in.
Rachel walked in the room with a tray having 2 mugs of hot coffee.
"Kabir baba main kab se Armaan baba ko bol rhi thi ki coffee pi le... but he wanted to have it with you" she said as she placed the tray on the table. Armaan smiled as he said, "Rachel aapko pata hai na Kabir, meri aur coffee ki yaari toh saalo purani hai"
Rachel smiled affectionately at both of them before she moved in the kitchen to prepare the breakfast.
"Aur bata Kabir kaisa hai tu... meri Anshu kaisi hai..."
"Main theek hoon... tu bata... achanak Mumbai mein kaise... has Breach Candy thrown one of their best doctors out of it. " Kabir asked as he leaned on the couch comfortably sipping his coffee.
"No yaar... unki itni himmat kaha... I have shifted here for a couple of years... have taken a sabbatical for completing my research and book on 'Paediatric Neurological Disorders and Behavioural Interventions'... so I needed a break from work... Aur waise mere kaam ke liye Delhi se behtar jagah kya ho sakti thi" he said as his eyes moved away from Kabir's and he looked out of the door.
"Armaan...thats great buddy... I am so happy ki do saal tu yaha mere saath rahega... but is that the reason you came here... sachhi bol" Kabir asked trying to gauze his truth looking into his eyes.
"Haan... Aur kya yaha tu hai... Anshu hai... Anurag Rachel sab hai... Aur kya reason hoga" he said as he forced a smile on his face.
"Aur Taarini bhi hai..." Ashu replied.
"Kabir yaar... tu sab samajhta hai... Phir kyu pooch raha hai" Armaan said and buried his face in his palms. He looked up after a few moments and continued, "Taarini still thinks that we cannot be together... Use lagta hai main Anurag ko ek pita ka pyaar nhi de paunga... us incident ne phir se hamare rishtey ko bikher kar rakh diya hai..."
"Don't worry yaar... sab theek ho jaayega... Give her some time... usne bhi zindagi mein kam nahi sahaa hai..."
"Hmm... I will talk to her ASAP after she returns from her trip"
They were sipping onto their coffees catching up on things when they were ere disturbed by the ringing of Armaan's phone... Armaan saw it be a call from his hospital back in Mumbai and hence excusing himself moved out in the lawns to attend the same.
Kabir has just placed his cup on the table when he heard Rachel shriek, "Madam... plz you are still very weak now... plz rest...Aha jaa rahi hai aap...?"
Kabir turned towards the room fron where the voice was coming only to see a stumbling Ananya coming out of the guest room with her hand pressing her bandaged head near her temple. Ananya as soon as she had woken up was startled to see the surroundings and then an old woman offering her coffee... she slowly recalled last night's incidents and tried to rush out of the room. She stumbled again and Kabir rushed to help her. He put his one arm around her right shoulder while another arm went to hold her left arm.
"Ms. Kashyap aap abhi weak hai... please aaram se..." Kabir uttered as he took her to the nearby couch.
"Kabir sir... main yaha... aapke ghar par kaise..." she asked still reeling under the effect of her sudden tour to the living room from the guest room.
"Ms. Kashyap mai aapko mere ghar le kar aaya tha... first you please sit down and have some water..." he offered her a glass of water as he took a seat on the singlel seater couch.
"Feeling better..." he gently asked. On her nod he explained how he had found he injured and lying unconscious on the Janpath road and he had brought her home.
"Maine doctor ko bhi bulaaya tha... to check in case if the injury is serious but by God's grace you had minor injuries and a slightly severe injury on your head... so he sedated you and you were resting in my guest room. Tension mat lijiye maine aapke ghar walo ko inform kar diya hai... you will reach home as soon as you wake up..." he continued.
"Thank you so much sir..."
"Ab aap bataiye ki kal raat hua kya tha... how did you reach there..." he asked with a slight loud tone now.
"Sir vo main Karol Bagh gayi thi ek rave party mein lead follow karne.. mujhe shak tha ki Aditya Bajaj ke case se judaa koi suraag hame yaha milega... and I was right... we not only got clues related to his case but I also hot to know that he is even involved in human trafficking... I got to talk to a girl and also came to know that there were a few girls who were forced into this work..."
"What... tum yeh sab karne akele gayi thi... you could have informed me at least..." he fumed cutting her flow of words.
"Nahi sir... maine sunny ko call karke bula liya tha... and I had tried to call you amd when you did not pick it... I texted you...abt the lead and the address... but then when you didn't respond...I went ahead coz I thought you might be busy..." she replied meekly.
"Text.. maine nahi dekha..." he got hold of his cell to check it only to realise that what she said was true...He had forgotten to check the text after charging his phone.
"Oh god... Phir kya hua?" he asked.
"Sunny aur maine spy cam se kaafi sari footage le toh li par phir pata chala ki waha toh police ki raid bhi padte wali hai... they all tried to rush and in all the hotchpotch my ID card fell somewhere and they came to know about us being reporters from KKN... maine kisi tarah sunny ko bhaga diya footage ke saath kyuki mujhe un ladkiyon ko bachaana tha.. main nahi gayi... I informed the police there abt my identity and helped him to free the girls... jab main jaane lagi toh kuch bando ne mujhe chupke se pakad liya... they had sealed my mouths with a cloth so could not even scream...they tried to take me with them in their vehicles. I bit one's hand and ran away... main kisi tarah main road tak aa gayi... tab hi unki car doosri or se aayi and due to the speed they ran the car into me... thankfully I had tried to escape but still I was hurt and the injury on my head resulted in me to become unconscious... shayad unlogo ko laga ki mai mar chuki hoon... aur vo dar kar bhaag gaye...and you know the rest sir..." she lowered her eyes.
"I am extremely sorry Miss Kashyap... maine aapka text dekha nahi tha... we will discuss more about this in the office... pehle aap kuch kha lijiye" he stated concerned.
"No sir... my family must be waiting for me sir... plz I would like to have it with them.. Thank a lot for whatever you did... I will take your leave Kabir sir..." she said as she stood up to go.
"Ms. Kashyap aap breakfast nahi karna chahti... it's okay but my driver will drop you..." seeing that she was about to argue, "And no more discussions on this please...it's an order..."
Kabir made a call to his driver and within minutes Ananya after bidding a good bye to Rachel and thanking Kabir left his place in his car. As soon as the car exited his gate Kabir took hold of the newspaper while Armaan walked in...
"Kabir... I saw a woman in your car... though I didn't see her face but by appearance she looked young and beautiful... who was she yaar... anything I should know" Armaan teased only to gain a Kabir Sharma look and he burst out laughing.
"Papa... Good morning" cried a sleepy Anshu as she rubbed her eyes while walking in the living room. She walked up to where Kabir was sitting and hugged him. He smiled looking at her lovingly before picking her up in his lap. She snuggled in his arms and closed her half open eyes again.
"Good morning baby... kya baat hai... School nahi jaana? Good morning wish karke dobara so rahe ho aap" he asked as he planted a kiss on top of her head playing with her cute ponytails.
"No papa... no school today... pleashee" Kabir chuckled as she pouted and before he could answer her he was cut by Armaan's "Anshu baby... dekho kaun aaya hai aapse milne..."
Anshika looked at the direction of the voice only to squeal with happiness to see him. She quickly jumped off Kabir's lap and sprang in his arms.
"Armaan uncle... yay... no school today... Armaan uncle - Anshu do lots of masti"
Kabir shook his head smilingly at the two when a sleepy Anurag too walked in the room. He saw Armaan there only to scream in joy "Armaan uncle...wow" and ran towards him to hug him. Armaan held both the kids in a bear hug as he closed his eyes in bliss.
"Toh how are my both little prince and princess... hope u both missed me"
"Armaan baba the way they are squealing after seeing you what do you think? Anshu in a day remembers you at least 10 times" Rachel said as she came in.
"Chalo bachha log... school ke liye ready hona hai" she said trying to take them in.
"No... papa... no school.." Anshu said.
"Haan Armaan uncle... hame aaj school nhi jaana" Anurag said as he narrowed his eyes pleading.
"Kabir let them be at home today... mujhe ghar pe thoda kaam hai. Mai thodi der mein aa jaunga... I will play with them... kyu kiddos"
"Yes" both said in chorus and Kabir had to give in. What can a grown up man do in front of his three dear kids. Though one of them was physically grown up into a 30 plus man but was still a child at heart.
"Chalo theek hai... Armaan you freshen up and we'll have breakfast together"
"No Kabir... I told u once my aunt and cousin stays here... I am staying at his place... infact mein airport se directly vahi gaya tha"
"Par kyu yaar... tell them you will stay here"
"How can I Kabir? waise bhi din bhar toh yahi rahunga... my aunt amd cousin are very sweet...they won't mind me being here more than their place... but officially I need to stay there...Aunty will understand that I need to stay here for my work"
Kabit gave in and went to get ready while Armaan after playing some time with the kids moved to go to his aunt's home.
~~~~
Ananya greeted the receptionist with a polite smile as she entered the office after two day of the Karol Bagh lead fiasco. Her mom after seeing her bandaged head was hypertensed and was fretting about her being injured so much while she had pacified her saying that this wasn't a big deal in a journalist's life. After freshening up when she had tried to step out to go to office her mom had strictly prohibited her and when she tried being stubborn and her mom called Kabir to ask whether Ananya can rest at home. And worst part was that Kabir ad readily agreed and assigned her an official 2 days leave earning a relieved sigh from her mom. Those two days were like hell.. sitting idle on the bed without any work at hand and she had realised that her brain can never sit idle...
"Ananya was coming after covering a cylinder blast accident in a residential colony... too horrible to describe but the way Ananya had covered it... not only telling g people about the fiasco but about the pains behind it... She was reporting with such empathy and her words added even more beauty to the news making people feel the story she was capturing.
Kabir was watching the recording of her story as it was to be aired in Manav's 7 pm bulletin "Manav se Manavta tak". Kabir was truly impressed the way she diagnosed and presented the news with so much originality yet not letting it pierce the heart of the viewers but making them empathetic towards the victims. He was starting to find her very passionate about reporting... she had a spark in her...something what he had in himself when he was a budding reporter like her.
But no... her good qualities and expertise in reporting doesn't mean that she can do whatever she wants. He had seen her entering the office and he moved out of the PCR to settle the scores. He still needs to talk to her on the Karol Bagh case and her nature to become Jhansi ki Rani on wrong occasions.
"Ms. Kashyap... in my cabin right now..." he uttered seething as Ananya realising the reason behind the anger gulped and moved in. Her friends were confused to see Kabir so angry at Ananya as Ananya had not informed them anything about the case only telling that she was injured while covering some story. The footage Ananya brought was exposed the next day in Rohan's morning bulletin and was expertly presented again in Kabir's bulletin the same night earning double TRPs to the channel.
"Yes sir... Aapne bulaaya.." she uttered meekly as he looked at the wall behind not facing Ananya.
"Ms. Kashyap... what do you think... you are a superwoman.. you can anything you like..." he roared still not turning his chair to face her.
"I am sorry sir.. maine aapko sab kuch toh bata diya hai... plz forgive me for my my silly act" she apologised. Although what she did wasn't wrong professionally... but it was a task she performed with her heart in her mouth. It was utterly dangerous and could have taken her life in a blink... but thank god she was safe and sound.
Kabir turned around... his expressions softened seeing her downcast eyes and sulking face.
"Ms. Kashyap... I know you are very passionate about your work but you also need to think of the outcomes of your act... aapko kuch ho jaata toh.." he said even before he could think what he is saying. Ananya's head shot up to see if what she heard was true. He respects her.. she had understood that on her very first day... but he cares for her... that was a news to her...
"I mean... vo.. I mean.. KKN ko zimmedaari uthaani padti and your family... they would have been so hurt..." he tried to mend the damage.
The sparkle that had lighted Ananya's eyes hearing his concerned tone dampened but she still understanding why he said so nodded her eyes in a yes before saying, "Yes sir... I completely understand. Thank you so much for this pearl of wisdom. I will take care of it from next time"
Kabir couldn't help being amused at the girl standing in front of him. He was already impressed by her confidence and intelligence. He didn't need much time to understand that she has an amazing ability to shine bright in the profession. But then her not taking even a moment's time to admit her error... it was not even a err... A fresh intern has done much more that expected from her... and what she did was her mind's decision taken in haste... and she should be excused for that...but he never wanted that a girl like her ever possesses a ounce of a weakness in her. And his telling her that was just due to the same reason. Kabir nodded and she smiled as she left his cabin.
It was 20 minutes past the lunch break when he finished reading some reports on the latest cases... Kabir took a breath of relief as he closed the last file and lifted his head to relax his aching muscles in his neck... obly to see Ananya still engrossed in a file. All other cabins and cubicles were almost empty... as they had gone to have lunch. But Ananya was still engrossed in her work... typing in sheer concentration.
"Ms. Kashyap it's high time the lunch break has started...and I guess it is for you too. So plz go and take a break... you can do this later." he said breaking her concentration on the file as he stepped in her cabin.
"Yes sir... I was just working on lead..." she flashed her sweet smile again and started moving out of the cabin.
"Yeah.. I know... but relax... you don't need to overwork yourself.. you are still with the bandage on your head..." he replied.
"Oh... this is nothing serious sir... I won't overwork myself... by the way sir you are not having lunch..." she asked casually setting the files.
"Oh... yeah... but I don't eat here... I go home usually..." he stated shrugging his shoulders while she just flashed her sweet smile. She nodded and started moving out.
While she walked out Kabir's phone buzzed, "Hello sweetheart... how are you?" he asked his dear daughter when he saw the call was from Armaan but the sweet "Hello papa" from the other side was his daughter's tone.
Ananya heard Kabir addressing someone as 'sweetheart' while she closed the door softly after moving out.She turned out of curiosity to look at him o lying to see him still standing in her cabin laughing and talking on his cell. She knew a male addresses like this only to a female. 'Maybe his wife has called him. Whom would he address like that?' she thought. The thought itself made her heart sour. She had never given it a thought that a handsome, successful and most importantly in his age of above thirty, he would be having a wife... A partner and a family of his. She didn't know why but the realisation again didn't make her happy.
"Ananya have you seen Saurabh's baby... he has got a beautiful daughter" Richa squealed joyously as soon as she saw her walking in the cafeteria. Their senior and colleague Saurabh and a Sneha, a reporter in KKN had married 2 years back and had become proud parents week back and Saurabh had gone on a week's leave while Sneha had taken a break from work. And when he had come back after his leave... accompanied by his wife and little bundle of joy in his arms... All were jubilant to see the tiny little baby... They were playing and chatting with her making the parents chuckle at their excitement.
"Really... wow! That's great..." Ananya replied excited at the news. Her thoughts regarding Kabir halted and the duo rushed towards Saurabh and his wife. Ananya lovingly gazed the baby... beautiful pink cheeks... rosebud lips... big brown eyes... she was a fairy. Ananya unable to resist bend down to take her in her arms.
"Awww... Welcome to the KKN, baby... aap bhi jaldi se bade ho kar KKN join karlo... apne mumma papa ke jaise..." Ananya said as she engulfed the baby softly in her arms. She smiled warmly at her and kissed her forehead softly.
"Congratulations on the arrival of your beautiful daughter sir... her eyes are just like that of yours mam" she said sweetly.
"Thank you Ananya..." Saurabh replied warmly.
"Congratulations Saurabh on your promotion from being a husband to a father..."Kabir said as he entered the cafe. Rahul had revealed to him about the latest news of the hospital vine. He thought to visit him and congratulate him in his joyous moment. Ananya turned to see him. His eyes halted at Ananya holding the baby in her arms. She smiled as het eyes again moved towards the baby. The motherly warmth emanating from her eyes looking at the child was something his eyes eyes were magnetized to watch at. He couldn't move his eyes from her and involuntarily a yearning that she does the same with his child sprout in his mind for a fraction of a second.
"Sir... thank you very much... plz come in and shower your blessings on my child" Saurabh welcomed him in bringing him out of his stupor. He forced his eyes to look at him before saying, "My blessings and wishes are conveyed to this little bundle of joy as soon as I got the news..."
"Sir plz see her... She is so cute" Ananya said in the same excitement as she showed her to Kabir. Kabir slowly and carefully and took the feather light baby from Ananya's arms in his arms. She smiled as she saw his tender stare at the baby. His eyes looked so soft and his smile while he held her was something Nidhi had never seen on him.
He looked so calm and his eyes radiated joy... Ananya couldn't take her eyes off him. Kabir raised his eyes towards Ananya only to see her staring at him unblinking with a smile gracing her face all the while. Kabir looked in her eyes while she lost her eyes in his. Their eyes locked not lasting more than a few seconds as the baby started wailing and he quickly averted his eyes. He handed over the baby to Saurabh before he rushed out of the room. Ananya looked at his retreating back till he walked out in a haste and becoming invisible to her eyes.
Edited by Amreen... - 9 years ago
