colour code: present in normal font, past in italics, differentiated by different colours
Arjun groaned and lifted himself from the bed.
It was not new to him to wake in the wee hours of morning
after sleep late at night. It had become his routine from the time roshni left
him.
Or I rather say his life left him.
"Arjun, I can understand what you are feeling right now"
commissioner Raghav Dubey said with sympathy plastered on his face.
Arjun stared at him blankly. His eyes were empty, no light
in them.
He sat immobile on the white sheets of hospital bed, clad in
pale blue gown, his arm, head and abdomen heavily bandaged that had already
turned to red due to blood.
"I know Arjun how painful it is to lose your loved"
"But you need to
forget roshni and move on"
"Can you forget to breath?" Arjun asked him and silently
slipped below the covers.
It seemed as though emotions that deserted him.
Everyone sees sunrise in different ways. Some find it
beautiful; some say soothing, some say it is irritation as they need to get up
after the sunrise.
But Arjun saw the sunrise as punishment. He had to drag himself
through the day without roshni.
He quietly slipped into his jogging suit and made his way
out of the house.
"Its not acceptable sir" Raghu for the first time raised his
voice against his senior, Commissioner Raghav Dubey.
"Have you seen him? He doesn't speak, he doesn't cry, he is
not even sleeping without sedatives."
"But that doesn't mean we have to send to psychiatric care.
He is..."
"I don't care for anything else Raghu. I am sending him"
"I am sorry. But as his mentor, I will deny this. I will take
his care. And I don't need your permission for this SIR" with that Raghu was
out of the cabin, leaving an astonished commissioner behind.
Roshni was dressed in simple white salwar kameez and red
dupatta. She was looking angelic. He was so lost in her that he did not hear
what she was telling.
"Arjun... Arjun dekho na baba... ye puppy kitna cute hai
naa... Arjun... arre... kahan khoye hue ho?"
Arjun shook his head and grinned sheepishly.
He sat next to her and held the puppy in his hand which
tried to jump on roshni.
"arre... kahan uchal raha hai. Roshni ko tang nai karna.
Samjhe yaa.. samjhau?"
Roshni giggled at the scene in front of her.
"has kyun rahi ho roshni?"
"Arjun... ek tum hi ho jo iss chote se puppy ko bhi samjhe
ya samjhau kar sakte ho... tum bhi naa"
Arjun jolted out of his reverie and saw himself shaking
uncontrollably. His tore his gaze from the puppy on the road and tried to hold
the glass with his trembling hand. It just slipped from his hand and fell on
ground with clatter, breaking into pieces.
His legs could not support him any longer and he just fell
on his knees and tears left his eyes.
"Sameer ko bulaliya tumne Raghu?" new commissioner of
Mumbai, Dustin Coelho asked his best friend Raghu.
"Haan. I had called him days back Coelho. Wo aa raha hai.
Shayad uske aane se Arjun ki haalat mein koi sudhaar aaye?!"
"hopefully Raghu. Mujhe Arjun ko aise dekha nahin jaata. He
was so lively and energetic. Par ab he is no better than dead"
"sach Coelho. Maine
kabhi ye nahin socha tha ki ek din aisa bhi aayega jab mujhe Arjun ko iss halat
mein dekhna padega"
He just stared at the ceiling, lying there on the bed. He
wanted to cry out loud, ask her to come back to him, but...
It was as if there was a deep valley between him and his
mind, his emotions. His heart yearned for her, but his mind was numb. He could
not bring himself to move out of that place. He wanted to kill himself. But how
could he when his roshni had left him? she did not want him next to her in the
other world. He had to live alone.
Sweat poured down his body as he completed his 5th
lap in the park. It was her birthday today, Birthday of his love. She had
celebrated her two birthday's with him. one before marriage and one after.
"Arjun mujhe ye gulaab ke phool bohut pasand hai. Par ye
tumse kisne kaha?" a perplexed roshni asked Arjun who was grinning.
"roshni, agar mujhe ye pata nahin hoga ki birthday girl ko
kya pasand hai, to main kaisa premi bana tum hi bolo?"
"KYA??? Kisne kaha ki aaj mera birthday hai aur ye
premi????!" she was really very confused.
"roshni relax. Main ek police officer hun and I got all
information aboutr you. Tumhare friends se, tumhare school se... aur...
erm... roshni I ...i love you..."
"Arjun?!"
"haan roshni. I love you a lot... will you marry me?"
"Arjun... main..." she took a deep breath.."
"I love you too Arjun... aur shaadi ke liye... I am ready"
she finished with a shy smile and crimson hue on her cheeks.
Arjun hugged her tightly and she too snaked her arms around
him, resting her head on his chest.
"Arjun, kahan ho? Jaldi ghar aaja. I have already ordered
breakfast." Sameer yelled over the phone, angry on his friend.
On the other end, Arjun sighed and kept his phone back in
pocket and started towards his home, where there was no roshni.
It was roshni's birthday and as the past 3 years, he would
try to avoid everyone. But sameer would be damned if he let his best friend to
return to his shell.
"I promise roshni, I will not let him become what he was
when he lost you. I promise" sameer stood in front of roshni's garlanded photo
and spoke.
Arjun saw a lady in white with red bandhni dupatta. He could
not control but reminded of HIS roshni. His uniform clad body was drenched in
sweat.
His hand trembled, and his breath became short. Her laughter
echoed in his ears. Her smiling face came in front of his eyes.
He sat on the bench and his eyes turned red due to pain. He
felt his heart clawed by sharp object and he had a feeling that someone was
continuously scratching his bruised, ripped open heart. Tears clouded his eyes
but not even a single drop came out. His throat constricted and immediatedly he
let out a scream, hoping that it would lessen his pain. He dialed sameer's
number with trembling hands and waited till he picked.
"hello... Arjun... tu theek hai naa?"
"sa-sam-sameer... i...i m-miss-her... mujhe...mujhe
us-uske p-pp-paas jaana hai.. *sob* pl-plea-please mujhe uske paas
bh-bhej-do... please sameer" he cried out on the phone.
"arjun... Arjun tu kahan hai? Main aa raha hun.. tu ne dawai
lit hi naa...arjun"
"mu-mujhe roshni ke paas ja-jaana hai"
Sameer's eyes snapped open when he heard the front door
creak open. He saw his hand and found no phone in them, no Arjun crying out his
anguish. He took a deep breath and prayed the almighty that Arjun should never
go back to THAT phase of his life.
"sir..." sameer Rathod came running to the corridor where
raghu and Coelho were present.
"sameer... thank god you came this soon"
"sir ye sab...kab?kaise? aur Arjun?"
"he a corpse now sameer. we cannot see him like that. Look
there"
Sameer peeped through the door and saw Arjun staring at the
wall ahead, caressing the bandage which had the tattered tattoo of roshni's
name, his eyes unfocused.
"s-sir...ye..." sameer turned towards Raghu and asked, unable
to see Arjun.
It was just two weeks ago he had left a happy and cheerful
Arjun with his roshni and now... he had lost roshni who he had come to treat
like a sister and also Arjun.
"ab sirf tum usse waapas laa sakte ho sameer. please do
something. He has not shed even a tear from past one week. Doctor is worried
about his condition. They sedate him to make him sleep."
Sameer just kept looking at Arjun who he was unable to
recognize.
"kya hua sameer? itni jaldi aane ko kyun kaha tumne?" Arjun
asked wiping his hair after his bath.
"bulata kyun nahin? Bhul gaya ki hum dono ETF officers hai? Office
nahin jaani? 8 baj chuke hai arju...jaldi se breakfast kar phir hum niklenge.."
"hmm... chalo... meri chai order kiya tu ne?"
"yep" sameer said while laying out the food he had ordered
on the table.
"by the way wo Khurana's ke case ka kya Karen?"
"karna kya hai sam? Tell commissioner sir that we are going
to handle it. No need to handover to other department. Maine kal hi Shree ko call records nikaalne
ko keh diya hai" Arjun bit into the sandwich.
"arre waah... ye tu ne accha kiya dekh. Arjun mujhe lagta
hai ki wo Ritvik ka iss murder se kuch lena dena zaroor hai"
"mujhe bhi lagta hai. Tum chotu ko..."
"maine
chotu ko already uske peeche laga diya hai..."
"chalo den... office ke liye nikle to phir?"
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Edited by princess_pari - 10 years ago
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