BEFORE 12 HOURS.

Gaining courage from his mom, He went to Khushi's house which was decorated with flowers and exactly looking like a Marwari wedding. Then too, It didn't stop him from reaching her. He knocked on the open door where her every family member were chit-chatting about the wedding busily. 

"Yes" - A man in his mid-sixties asked him. 

"Khushi is there?" - Avinash asked him. 

"Yeah, Inside... But who are you?" - That man asked him. 

"Her..." He took a quite long time to think "Friend" He completed the sentence finally. But his expression, His dressing sense and his tone never failed the gather everyone attention on him. Khushi emerged out from her room and shocked to see Avinash at her doorstep. 

"Khushi..." - Avi whispered her name when his heart finally got relieved to see her before him. The gaze from her eyes told him that she expected him. 

"Avinash..." - Khushi whispered his name but she controlled her urge when she saw everyone's eyes focusing her suspiciously. 

"My collegemate, Paa..." - Khushi introduced her to that man who interrogated him. Avi passed a faint smile to him and directly asked Khushi that he wanted to talk with her for a minute before everyone who was sitting. Khushi shrugged but eventually took him to the balcony while passing a consoling smile to her father. 

"Yeah, Tell me Avinash..."  - Khushi asked him coldly. Even though her tone snatched the half confidence from him, He started the conversation.

"Getting Married?" - He asked her, She signed and nodded yes to him while crossing her arms. He became silent, He wanted to say many things but he stayed silent and stared the outside view. 

"Avinash... You came here just to ask me whether i am getting married or not..." - Khushi asked him. 

"Are you happy?" - He posted another question which created a huge lump in her throat but it didn't stop her from lying him.

"Very happy... Dev is a good man, We are going to settle in Delhi after getting married..." - Khushi replied to him when he asked her the most unexpected question. He chuckled up to her surprise, turned aside, wiped his lone tear. She smiled at him when he turned back. 

"So... Packed..." - Avinash asked her. 

"Going on..." - Khushi replied. 

"When we are in college, You used to guess what's going in my mind with my expression..." - Avinash said. Khushi's heartache, It became very difficult for her to speak. 

"Avinash, We were in college by then..." - Khushi managed to speak, She had no idea what she's speaking but words escaped from her mouth. 

"Yeah, You're right... You moved on... You should... Okay, why i came here? Hmm... Happy married life..." - He said and made his way towards the entrance without even turning back. She was shocked, She could sense the yearning in his eyes but she was feeling so weak to talk anything further. Before she could gather anything in her mind, He left the place. But Khushi was standing at the same place. After he left, Her father came to her side and asked her about him. Khushi couldn't make any sentence in her mind. The yearning in his eyes, The urge to say something to her, Fixed in her mind like anything. 

On the other hand, Avinash dragged himself back to his apartment. Upto his shock, The door was closed from outside, When he opened the door, He could see the only jahaan, His mom was missing in spite promising him that she never leave that place till he comes back. Everything became dark to Avinash. He leaned to Jahaan's level and asked about Anika. Jahaan scratched her head in confusion. He became dumb but seeing him blank like that, Jahaan hugged him and patted his back. But that didn't help him to get rid of the pain what he was going through. 

**************

NOW...

Shivaay was perplexed when Anika's father told him about her missing since the morning. He couldn't able to think. He experienced her missing once and dragged her from the Entrance of death. Now he couldn't even able to imagine the same thing again in his mind. Aru supported shivaay by holding his shoulder. 

"What happened exactly?" - Aru asked Anika's father. 

"Today morning daksh called us for filing the complaint against your brother for misbehaving with him in the previous night" - Her father started to narrate the whole story. The doubt raised in shivaay's heart about Anika remembering the past slightly got confirmed. But For now, Nothing matters to him expect anika. 

"Have you called her friends, Bhavya, Khushi... Khushi...? Have you called her?" - Shivaay started to stammer in a tensed tone.  Arushi tried to call Avinash in the meantime. But it was not reachable. On the other hand, Shivaay tried to call Khushi, she took the call in the second ring. Without wasting time, Shivaay asked her about anika in the very next second. Khushi, Initially, Couldn't able to gather the reason behind his tone and anxiety, Khushi figured it out, something very bad happened. 

"She came to my house this morning... But she left long back..." - Khushi said in a confused tone. Shivaay conveyed this message to everyone, Including aru and Anika's father. 

"Avi is not picking my call..." - Aru yelled in tensed tone.

"What exactly happened?" - Shivaay asked anika's father. He told that he broke daksh and anika's marriage. For a second, Shivaay and Aru couldn't think anything but they both guessed who would be the reason behind. 

On the other hand, Hearing to their whole conversation through the phone, Khushi ran towards shivaay's house, Her father stopped her going outside, But she didn't hear anything. Khushi was literally running ignoring her fiance who came in her way. She knocked on the door. It was open. She slowly peeped inside but found none. 

"Av...Avinash" - Khushi called his name. While moving towards the room from the drawing-room. Her feet slipped by a table and the photo frame fell down. Khushi kneed down to take that photo frame, In turn, Became shocked to see young anika with young Avinash in her lap and the photo dated 18th July 1991. 

Khushi became spellbound. Her feet rooted in the same place. She started to recall everything from the first, Her unwanted worries with Avinash and Arushi. The name and most importantly, Avinash's unconditional care for anika. His weakness when he saw anika in an unconscious state. Everything. Even though, Her heart cracked everything. Her brain wasn't ready to believe anything. 

"What? What happened to mumma?" - She heard Avinash's sound from one of the room. She kept that photo frame in the table and stood. Avinash was taken back when he saw Khushi in his apartment. 

"What? What happened? Are you there Avi?" - Aru asked him through the phone. But he completely forgot what he was about to say when he saw Khushi before him.

"Khushi..." - He whispered. 

"Anika... is missing..." - She whispered to Avi when she had nothing to say to him. 

***********

"Why it's taking too much of time?" - Ritwik asked the taxi driver on his way from Bangalore to Chennai highway.  

"Sir, Heavy traffic... I think it probably takes two hours to reach Chennai..." - The taxi driver said with a frown. His kept his hand in his forehead in frustration. He really wanted to surprise his wife, Arushi on her birthday with very happy news. But everything happening in reverse. He missed his flight, Now struggling in the road trip. 

"Is there any shortcut to reach Chennai soon?" - Ritwik asked the taxi driver. 

"No, sir" - He replied firmly while waiting in the car nearer to the toll gate. The cars are parking until two kilometres distance. And the humidity made ritwik too sick. He wasn't aware, fate will play with him like this when he desperately wanted to meet his wife after two weeks of separation. He went outside of the car when he saw the shops in either side of the road, Towards Bangalore. 

"I will come within minutes..." - He told to the taxi driver and crossed the road. There crossed the Patrician and moved towards and asked for the chewing gum as he stopped smoking before three years as jahaan was allergic towards the smoking smell, which led her to the continuous cough. 

"Thank you..." - He said and moved towards the road, The car started to move towards Bangalore but the cars and vehicles were at the same place, He signed disbelief and moved toward the car, But he literally got jerked when someone held his hand from the car shield. He turned back, But immediately someone dragged her inside and closed the car shield. Ritwik got confused and tried to bang the door. But up to his shock, The car hit almost all the cars from the front and take the immediate right turn. Ritwik tried to focus on the lady who grabbed his hand when her silhouette clearly visible. But when the streetlight hit on the car, Ritwik became rooted in shock. 

"It's impossible..." - He whispered. His instinct made him call Arushi in the very next second. Aru took his call in the second ring. 

"Hello, Ritwik..." - She spelt in a tensed tone. 

"I know it's very hard to believe, Aru... I saw your mom in the highway... towards Bangalore..." - Ritwik said as soon as she replied to him. She became shocked at the same end.  And the time is 11.00 PM.  

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