An Ishra SS: Sirf Tumhare Liye - Final Part page 13

There were gasps of recognition mixed with happiness and surprises. "Oh my God. Its Ishita right, Ishita Iyer? Wow, how have you been all these years? And you still look as beautiful as ever. "Ishita immediately recognised her as Radhika from her batch and they were quickly engrossed in the conversation. Introductions were made and Raman had already shaken hands with so many doctors, correction Dentists.


"Itne saare Dentist eksaath. Agar kuch bhi ulta bola to sab milke mera ek ek daant alag tod denge. " He chuckled to himself. That is when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and found a tall, slender man looking him. Raman's eyes moved from confusion to recognition in a flicker of second. "Abe saale, Kartik, tu yahan pe. Oh my GOD. Kitne saal ho gaye na. Probably close to 15 years. Kaisa hai tu, kahan hai aajkal." Kartik who happened to be a schoolmate of Raman quickly filled in Raman. Although they were good friends in school; different career choices had made them choose different paths and over a period had lost touch with each other. It turned out that his wife Kavita also happened to be a Dentist and was the batchmate of Ishita. It was indeed a small world.
"Chal udhar bar ki taraf chalte hai. Jaise ki tujhe dikh raha hai hamari respective beewiya apni guftagu me magan hai to in dono ko apna reunion karne de and ham apna karte hai". He laughed.


Raman looked at Ishita as he planned to introduce his friend to her when he noticed Ishita had moved further and was engrossed in an animated conversation with another friend of hers. She looked so relaxed and happy to be among them. Her eyes were twinkling and it was evident even from the distance that she was enjoying this reunion immensely. Being a working mother living in a joint family did take a toll on her ME Time'. Therefore, he smiled and contently moved along withKartik to let Ishita enjoy with her friends.


Ishita had not even realized that she was missing a big part of her old life till she had met with her old friends again. True, things were now pretty different from when they used to be in their college days; now all of them were responsible adults with their respective professional and personal lives, yet it was nice to be reacquainted with her old self yet again. Although, Ruhi did bring out the child in her which she enjoyed and loved immensely, yet all these familiar faces had a strange sense of deja vu to it. And now that she was sure that her fear was baseless as she did not find him anywhere in the party, she had dropped the last bit of anxiety from her mind and was enjoying this party immensely.

Suddenly, the conversation turned to the respective personal lives. That is when Nisha, another friend asked her "Ishita, kaun hai vo lucky insaan jisne tumhara dil finally jeeta. Hame bhi milna hai usse jo hamare College ki sabse pretty girl ka life partner ban gaya." Ishita smiled and started looking for Raman when Nisha's husband Rakesh who was also from their batch and later on married Nisha after courtship immediately added, "Arre Madam, idhar udhar kahan dekh rahi hai ... aapke better half to ye idhar se aa rahe hai. Aur manna padega Ishita, tumne bahot achi training di hai bhai ... ye to acha khaasa baby sitter bhi hai" He laughed.

Confused, Ishita turned left and felt the ground beneath her shake uncontrollably. She had dreaded to meet him even in her nightmares. He was the sole reason she was sceptical to attend this reunion function altogether. Standing in front of her with his arms protectively wrapped around his son was SUBBU.


She immediately felt that she was entrapped in a dark tunnel with not even a flicker of light anywhere near her. The air had become so thick and it became harder and harder to breathe with every passing second. How can it be possible? She had scanned the entire party hall just to make sure he was not there. Over the years, they had a silent pact where they avoided crossing each other's path during family functions or wherever it possible for them to meet.


"Ishita, Ishita", the faint voices calling her name became louder and she was back from her trance. Rakesh smiled and added, "Aur Subbu, to finally tumne cheen hi lia hamare batch ki sabse sundar ladki ko. Yaad hai Nisha, mai hamesha kehta tha na ki ye dono to ek doosre ke liye hi bane hai and in dono ki shaadi hona to pakka hai." Ishita was too shocked and numb to respond. "Vo, vo mai aur Ishita ... aisa kuch ... " Subbu stammered while looking at Ishita; but Nisha immediately stopeed him and . "Arre abhi bhi sharma rahe ho ... unique hi Jodi hi tum dono ki ... Rakesh sahi keh rahe hai ... saare college ko pata tha ki tum dono ke beech me kuch to chal raha tha ... chalo acha hai Rakesh .. hamari tarah ek aur prem kahani bhi shaadi me badal gayi." Then she moved towards Subbu and took the little baby in her arms and started cooing him. "Ekdam tumhari copy hai ye to Subbu. Kitna cute hai na Rakesh."


Meanwhile, the small toddler sensing foreign arms around him felt uncomfortable and started crying. "Alle, baby ko aunty nahi mummy chahiye ... lo beta ... mumma ke paas chale jao ..." and then Nisha passed on the baby in the arms of Ishita before she could respond.


It was as if the entire world came crashing down on Ishita at that moment. She felt as if thousand daggers were pushed inside her heart all at once. She wanted to scream at the top of her voice. But not even a tiny whisper came out.She clenched her eyes hoping that this nightmare will end but nothing happened. She gave a humourless laugh at the irony of the situation. She had imagined, prayed, hell enacted carrying Subbu's baby in her arms. It was her dream to become the mother of his children. But today when she finally holding his baby in her hands; the weight seemed too much for her to handle.

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Raman laughed whole heartedly remembering one of the past incidences of their school and turned around to check on Ishita. It had been a while since he had seen her and he wanted to be back with her before the Jhani ki Rani bombared him with anotherseries lectures about why couples should attend the party together. He could see her with the same group. She was holding a small baby in hands. He smiled thinking about Ishita's natural affection for kids. She had become Ruhi's mom instantly. Not only Ruhi, the kids in the complex, Ruhi's friends, Ananya and for that matter any child was fond of her. It was an irony that she could not conceive but God had his own way to compensate for her loss, he had deduced. He was about to turn around when he happened to look into Ishita's eyes. What he saw will probably haunt him for the rest of his life. His wife's eyes were dead. There was no spark in it, no fury nothing ... simple ... NOTHING ... DEAD. Even from this distance, she looked white like a ghost. Something was definitely wrong. He noticed a man standing next to her fidgeting with the collar of his shirt. He could not place it but he looked familiar. He had definitely never met him but he had a very familiar face. Familiar?? "Oh Shit." Suddenly, every piece of puzzle fell into place and the final result shocked him ... he was familiar because he resembled Bala ... he was looking at Subbu.
Ishita was holding Subbu's kid in her hand.


Immediately, Raman dropped his drink unceremoniously and ran towards Ishita.


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