As the sun shone outside and brightened the bedroom through the windows, Megha found herself sitting on the floor beside a sleeping Rimjhim. She looked around in drowsiness and her eyes landed at the wall clock. "It's 9 am! Mohan might have waken up. He would be hungry! God knows what he have eaten last night over there..." she wondered worriedly and rushed outside.
After freshening up and getting ready, Megha restlessly was packing breakfast for Mohan. "Jiji! I am going to meet Mohan... Please take care of RJ and make sure that RJ---"
"Don't worry! RJ won't know the truth..." Jiji interrupted and assured her with a motherly smile, placing her hand on Megha's arm.
Slightly smiling after being absolutely certain that RJ would be fine since Jiji was there, she started walking quickly out of the house.
"Tanu, what's the date today?" Renu confusedly asked Tanu. "6th July!" Tanu replied while eating breakfast.
Megha froze at the doorstep. "6th July?" she repeated in a low, quiet voice. The next moment, tears gushed from her eyes. Her lips quivered in a way as if she wanted to say something, but words did not support her for a while. "It's his birthday today and he is in... jail..." her voice was shaking in grief.
**
Sitting at a corner of the prison, Mohan leaned against the wall, sleeping with a peaceful expression on his face. Suddenly he felt a familiar hand entwining her fingers with his. He opened his eyes steadily as he realized that it was Megha.
"Good morning..." Mohan flashed a delightful smile.
Megha grinned with moist eyes. "Happy Birthday, Mr. Mohan Bhatnagar... My darling hubby, the adorable father of my kids and the best person on earth..." she embraced him tightly with her eyes shut as if she wanted to hang onto the moment forever and never let it go.
Mohan was at a loss of words for a while. He had completely forgotten his birthday in the midst of all the mess he had been in. "Thank you..." he replied with gratitude in his voice and tears in his eyes, and wrapped her in his arms securely, only wishing if he could save her from all the pain of the world. He knew how Megha's heart was sinking and ripping apart to see him in such a state on his birthday. He sighed helplessly and drew her closer in the hug.
After a few minutes, they broke the hug. "I promise I will get you out of here today, and we will celebrate your birthday together in our home!" Megha determinedly said to him and wiped off the tears on his cheeks. "Anyways have breakfast...I know that there must be a cricket match going on between all the cats and mouses in your stomach by now..." she chuckled while opening the tiffin box, preventing herself from looking in his eyes.
Mohan gazed her in awe. Reading her silence and knowing why she was not meeting his eyes, he gently grabbed her wrists, stopping her in what she was doing. Cupping her face delicately and brushed off her tears with his thumbs, "I am fine..." he calmly assured her and pecked sweetly on her forehead.
Megha faintly smiled. "I know you are...My hubby is strong..." she proudly said and continued arranging the boxes of the food in front of them. "But I am getting weak, Mohan...I can't see you in such a state..." she thought and her eyes were wet again.
As Megha aligned the dishes in front of Mohan properly, Mohan's face glowed gleefully, just like a child, to see his favourite dish. Megha stared at him in admiration. "How can you smile in pain? How do you do this?" she asked him inwardly.
"Here you go..." she fed him a morsel of Roti with Bhindi ki sabzi with a content smile on her face. Seeing him relishing his favourite dish with a kiddish and joyful smile on his face, she sighed in relief as she understood that he could not eat the food of the jail properly.
Mohan forwarded his hand with a morsel, and Megha smilingly and happily ate it. They kept on feeding each other, enjoying their blissful moment in their own world of love, magic and dreams, forgetting all their problems for sometime.
"Chaachiii..." Tanu arrived running excitedly. He was literally huffing.
Megha turned around and asked with a hopeful expression "Did it happen?"
Tanu nodded with a smile of relief. "Mohan Chaachu has gotten bailed. Addu... I mean... Munna secretly came to the police station and informed the inspectors with his drawings and gestures how you guys did not know the truth and took care of him like your own son. And the families whom Chaachu helped in Project Talash... they came and testified in favour of him..."
Mohan and Megha looked at each other with tears of happiness in their eyes. Megha pulled Mohan in a hug as she could not control her overwhelming emotions of joy. "Finallyy..." she took a deep breath in relaxation and hugged him tightly, while Mohan embraced her back with watery eyes.
**
"Megha, where are we going?" Mohan confusedly asked, perhaps for the infinity times during Megha taking him somewhere, covering his eyes with her palm. "There is something called patience and you should have it right now..." Megha stiffly told him in a commanding tone.
Finally they stopped. "Where are we?" Mohan demanded an answer sternly. Megha smiled and removed her hand from his eyes. He opened his eyes slowly and was pleasantly surprised to see a room filled with their photos on the wall. In the middle of the room was a Black Forest Cake, kept on the table.
"Beauty lies in simplicity...that's what you always say, right? This is why, it's just our photos that I used to decorate the room...After all, it's our moments that made our lives beautiful..." Megha softly and affectionately said to him, looking at him with all the love of the world.
Mohan faced her with a smile of satisfaction and contentment. "I loved it..." he exclaimed in joy and squeezed her in his arms.
After sometime, they stood behind the cake. Mohan bend down and gestured Megha through his eyes to do the same. Megha did so, and together they blew the candle off, while staring at each other lovingly. Afterwards, they held the knife together, beamed and cut the cake together. "Happy birthday to you...happy birthday to you...happy birthday dear Mohan...happy birthday to you..." Megha sang in the meantime. She fed Mohan a piece of cake with a sweet smile and made Mohan feed her his leftover. They shared an eye-lock filled with love and respect.
"You've got a bit of cake on your cheek..." Megha casually informed Mohan. Mohan touched his cheek, baffled. "Where?"
Megha gave a naughty look and hurriedly applied the cake on his face. Dumbfounded at the recent happening, Mohan stared at her in disbelief, while she broke in an amused laughter.
Mohan pouted in an adorable anger, and in no time, he grabbed her arms and brushed her cheek with his. "Aahh.." Megha whined, feeling a sense of itching on her skin, and stepped backwards.
Showing a winning smile, Mohan irritated Megha more. "Your beard hurts my skin, Mohan..." she huffed and cutely became furious.
"It's not the first time, of course..." Mohan mischievously winked at her, while she stared at him, finding no defense to hide the fact that she was not furious but was actually blushing, hearing what he said. "Hopeless..." she called herself and smacked herself in her mind.
Mohan chuckled, seeing her trying so badly to be cold, but falling weak every time. "Don't even try to hide the blush on your cheeks, Mrs. Bhatnagar..." he said to her teasingly and rubbed his cheek with hers a little more.
Megha ended up smiling in bliss and enjoyed the moment without moving back.
Mohan grinned from ear to ear, realizing this and pulled her in a warm, tight and squishy hug. "Thank you so much..." he thanked her softly in a loving tone.
Megha slid her arms around his back and closed her eyes as she was resting in her world's most peaceful place - the arms of her love, her husband. She missed his closeness so much, and thinking of the time she was away from him and the barriers of the jail were in between them, her eyes were filled with tears, yet she smiled as she finally had her Mohan with her. Clutching his jacket, she pulled him nearer to never let him go away from her, even for a second.
Feeling his shirt wet, Mohan understood that Megha had been silently crying since she could finally be near him after so long. Breaking the hug, he wiped off her tears, and shook his head, signaling her not to shed tears anymore. Megha managed to smile contently, and again, she cuddled close to him, closing her eyes, placing her head on his chest and holding his arms with a serene smile on her face.
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