“Hey, do you want to play? You never know when they’ll put a stop to our outdoor activities.” Raima asks but Mishti shakes her head in an answer. 

“Periods.” She says, her hand clutching in her stomach and that disyllabic words is enough for her cellmate to click her tongue in understanding, cooing at her. 

Mishti smiles at the girl who then rushes into another group of girls, immediately mixing up with them. 

Raima is like Mishti’s old self; carefree, spontaneous, and happy. The time when she had been surrounded by people she loved; had Raghav to make her some delicious food when she didn’t feel like cooking; Ranvi irritate her till no end but also make her laugh until she couldn’t breathe; Ruhi to caress her hair to sleep when she felt down on a particular day; and of course, Mihir, her brother, her parents, her everything who would do anything just to see her smile.

Oh, she misses them a lot. 

The cramps in her stomach coincide with the cramps in her heart, making her blink back the stinging tears, wiping them away with the back of her hands. As a childhood habit, the snot soon follows the tears but in prison, you don’t get tissues, and so as she goes to wipe that too with her hand when a handkerchief is flailed in front of her eyes, her hands immediately going to grab it. It is only when she has cleaned up her nose, and wiped the underside of her eyes, does she look up, turning her head slightly to thank the person for the emergency accessory, both the people and accessory being rare to be found in a place like this. 

It is a man, a constable. 

Mishti flinches as she takes in the sight of the uniform, the handkerchief dropping from her hand.

“Th-thanks,” she says because not everyone is the same but is unable to winnow the stutter from her voice, afraid. 

The constable that she hasn’t seen the place before frowns behind his glass-covered eyes, irises of an unusual grey colour, the lower part of the face covered with beard. 

The man then climbs down a step only to keep a hand on her shoulder, bringing his face closer to hers. 

Mishti’s eyes widen at the action, her teeth gritting and hand going to push away the man’s hand. 

“G-Get away!” 

Only the man has a tight grip on her shoulder that isn’t hindered by the swat of her hand. 

He then brings his face even closer to her, his face turning towards her ear. “Don’t you recognise me, Chutki?” the man whisper asks and Mishti pulls back looking at him with her eyes wide as saucers, disbelieving. 

She must be dreaming again.

To assess the statement, she pinches herself and the pain makes her jump, but it also makes a small ray of hope spring in her heart.

She tries to look at the man carefully, trying to look at his dark brown eye under the grey lenses, and the skin beneath the beard. She reaches out to peel it out and the man shrieks, rubbing the spot.

“Ah, Chutki, it is real. That hurt!” Mihir whines and Mishti jumps up to her feet, her period cramps forgotten, the painful tears getting replaced with those of shock. Of disbelief. Of sheer joy.

“Oh My God, Bhai! It’s you. It’s really you….” She says and goes to hug her brother when he stops her from doing so. 

“Shh, not here, Chutki, come with me.” He whispers, choosing to not hold her hand when she tries to. She holds at the back of his shirt and Mihir squirms while walking trying to get her hands off him to avoid suspicion. 

Mishti grins. For the first time in months she does.

As soon as they are outside the playing ground and behind a wall that Mishti didn’t know existed in the place, she quickly lets go of his shirt in favour of turning him around and slamming herself into his chest. 

Her brother’s arms are quick to come around her, a laugh bubbling out of his mouth as he caresses his baby sister’s hair.

“I can’t believe you are here.” One moment Mishti mumbles in her brother’s chest and the other starts bawling like a baby, trembling in her brother’s arm.

Mihir thickly swallows, wanting to be strong for his sister but can’t stop the tears that rolls down his eyes and his arms tighten around the light of his life.

“I missed you so much, Chutki. It was – it was unbearable without you.” He murmurs in her sister’s hair, pressing a kiss onto it thereafter as if to seal the words. 

“I did too, Bhai. I can't believe you're here, right in front of me.” Mishti mumbles, and then shakes her head. “I just wanted to see you once. How did you ev --”

“Get inside! Activity time is over. Anyone found on the ground would be handcuffed straight for a week even while going to the bathroom.” The warden says, making Mishti stop in her tracks and bring her back to reality from where she had gone into an alternate, much sweeter dimension.

The difference being that this is a reality as well.

“Bhai…I have to go. They’ll see me.” She mumbles sadly in her brother’s chest who nods immediately, reluctantly pulling away from his Chutki.

“But…I – I d-don’t want to go. I j-just found you.” Mishti admits brokenly, her hands refusing to release her brother’s shirt from her grip. 

Mihir though simply smile at the innocence, taking a step forward to place a calming kiss on his sister’s temple, and then taking a step away.

“I’m going nowhere, alright? Now that I am here, I am not going anywhere. Just don’t spend much time eating dinner today, I’ll be waiting for you outside the mess. We have a lot to catch up to, don’t we, Chutki?” Mihir asks and Mishti excitedly nods, giving her brother one last hug and running to the ground. 

Mihir is unable to forget how his sister had flinched when she had first seen him in the uniform, disguised as a constable.

* 

“So, you stayed?” 

“I did, Chutki, I couldn’t have just left you here. I promised I’ll never go away from you.” 

The words make fresh tears pool in Mishti’s eyes as she sniffles in her brother’s chest.

Currently, they were sitting in the spot that her brother had told her about. Mishti hadn’t even bothered to eat her dinner let alone finish it. When asked by Raima where she was heading in such a hurry, she had once again made the excuse of period cramps, mentally promising herself that she’ll tell the girl about her brother once the time is right.

She deserved to know it.

“Did anyone else stay?” Mishti asks in a low voice, pulling back to look up at her brother.

Mihir shakes his head. “They wanted to, but I sent them away. I couldn’t put their lives at risk.” 

“What about Ruhi?”

“What about her?” Mihir gulps.

“You must miss her,” Mishti says and Mihir lets out a wet chuckle.

“The person I missed the most is sitting right beside me.” He exclaims, letting a big grin bloom on his Chutki’s face as she hugs him once again, his hand continuing to stroke her hair, though he can’t help the way he gets transported to the day everything happened when everyone left.

“Why haven’t they reached yet?” Ranveer looks at his watch impatiently, tapping his feet nervously.

“They’ll come, I’m sure they will, we just have to wait a few seconds more,” Ruhi says, keeping a hand on her brother’s shoulder, squeezing it in warning because she can already see the colour draining out of Mihir’s face.

Mishti and Tara, both are an hour late since the decided time and the flight will take off anytime within the next fifteen minutes, they wouldn’t even have the opportunity to fill the formalities if they’ll come any later than this.

“Flight Number 6033 is ready to board.”

An announcement echoes through the airport and all four of them get alerted.

“This not good. None of the two has reached yet.” Raghav, despite being the oldest frets, a panic growing in his chest. 

That’s when Mihir turns around to his friends, a determined look on his face.

“I’ll stay here.” He says and the rest of the three members look at him with their mouths agape.

“What? But the police, the agency… they are planning to catch us.” Ranveer says and Mihir’s gaze harden listening to the already known fact.

“They are planning to catch my sister as well, I can’t let that happen. Though I am sure that they don’t have anything to do with Tara. She wasn’t even involved with us. If she hasn’t reached till now, it must be because of her wish.” 

“How can you say –” Raghav protests, the furrow deepening between his brows and voice loudening. Though he is interrupted by Mihir.

“But I’ll look for her, she is my friend as well, remember?”

Ruhi though is left unsatisfied.

“Mihir…. it’s – it’s not safe.” She murmurs helplessly because she knows that Mihir won’t leave Mishti here alone, neither does she want him to. But she also wants to see him safe, always in front of her eyes. 

Mihir’s gaze flits at the girl before settling on her brother’s.

“You both go. It wouldn’t be very wise to board the plane last minute considering our situation.” Mihir says and even though Ranveer wants to protest he knows better than doing it and so he simply nods. But the case isn’t the same with Raghav.

“I want to stay as well, Mihir. What if something happens –”

“Nothing will happen, Raghav. I’ll let nothing happen to my Chutki…or Tara. Trust me. If you’ll also stay, then it will be a lot easier for police to trace our location.” Mihir reiterates and this time Raghav nods, albeit reluctantly. 

They both leave. 

It is then Mihir approaches Ruhi, his steps hesitant and Ruhi’s eyes fixed on the ground. 

“Ruhi…” he says, voice afraid. “Hey, look up at me.” The girl only sniffles in return, a drop of tear falling to the ground. 

“Ruhi…” he whispers again, this time taking a step forward and cupping her face with his hands. It is when that the girl looks him in the eyes, her own pooled with tears. 

“I don’t want you t-to stay h-here,” Ruhi confesses brokenly and Mihir’s heart shatters in his chest. 

He closes his eyes to stifle the witness that covers his eyes, closing the rest of the distance between them, resting his forehead on hers. “I’m sorry, love. I too want to go with you, but I can’t leave Mishti –”

“I know,” Ruhi states, voice breathy. “I won’t ask you to, I just wish we c-could’ve come with you.” She says in that sweet voice of hers that has Mihir exhaling a stuttering breath. 

“I don’t want anything to happen to the two most important people in my life. I’ll go and protect one and you…. you be safe for me. You will, right?” Mihir asks.

Ruhi nods, albeit not being able to look the man in the eyes. 

Mihir reaches out to take her hand in his, as he does the girl looks at him. He smiles and brings the hand to his lips, leaving a gentle kiss on the back of it. 

“I’ll see you soon.” He says and the girl nods, turning around to board her way far away from him. Though before she can take more than a few steps, she halts, going through her purse and turning around. 

“Mihir,”

“Yeah?”

“I had been meaning to give this to Tara. I had found it outside her room. I think it’s her father’s photo. When you find her…. if you do, please give this to her.”

“Of course.” Ruhi goes then, leaving Mihir to face the biggest reality of his life alone as he gazes at the photo.