Mishti bedazedly stared outside the bus window, too sleepy to function properly let alone participate in whatever lively discussion her group was having at the front. She had returned pretty late after helping Abir, at least, Aparna and Jia were already asleep by that time.

Thank God, Kuhu called her because her roommates were out to watch sunrise and none expected Mishti to break her early rising streak.

Sleeping late had far reaching consequences for poor Misti, she wasn't only running late but it caused her to miss out on breakfast, had it been only that the damages might have been equivalent to the slight cracking on walls during minor tremors. True catastrophe was missing out on the accompanying tea with it.

Her headache wouldn't budge the whole journey if she didn't get her morning fix. A small tea stall entered her line of sight, barely visible due to the glasses edge. Mishti stood up, out of the bus in seconds, she needed it.

Lesson learnt from rummaging through her purse in the middle of the road for about half an hour, she kept changes handy. Ordering her tea specifying it to be to her taste, Mishti glanced at her wrist watch.

Fifteen minutes till the bus left.

Fine, she didn't make it herself and there was a lot of room of improvement, it was tea. Mishti sipped again, enjoying the warm liquid hitting her senses.

Paying the tea vendor, she turned around to be rooted at her spot.

How?

The creases on her forehead deepened as Mishti stared down at her watch.

"She will be fine," Abir offered an assuring smile.

Didi nodded, "You didn't need to come till here, your exhibition is going to begin in a few hours."

He shook his head, "I am not listening to a single word from you. Aunty is admitted, and you didn't care to inform me. If her health didn't deteriorate, I wouldn't have come to know about it..."

Huffing, he added, "You call me Bhai, but that's only to say, you don't consider my brother, do you? Five years, Didi. You didn't tell me about Aunty's operation. I am sure, you spent all your savings on it."

Abir observed her crestfallen face from his peripheral vision and sighed, "It's not fair, if you keep making such sad faces, how am I going to stay angry at you?"

The corners of her lips turned upwards, "Don't be angry Bhaiya, if I am in any sort of trouble next time. I will call you."

He hummed, "Now go inside, the bus is about to leave."

Aasha Kiran came to being five years ago after a long wait for permission. Abir was in the last year of college at that time, quite alone as he didn't want to take his mother's help. Yet determined. It so happened, he travelled to Kutch for a personal photography project, leaving his broken phone behind.

Agonised, his soul saw a path to respite when he met Mohan. Monsoon failure had driven him to jump into a dried up well. Abir was nearby clicking pictures such that his camera recorded the incident. Saving him, he saved himself.

His savings for the trip went towards helping Mohan and his family, but it wasn't enough. Abir was walking through the narrow path by the barren fields' side having a mental conversation with his partner for the first time in months, and it was not for himself. At that exact moment, women clad in traditional attire walked across with water filled clay pots. One of them lost her footing either due to stone or hem of her Sari, but the pot crashed in front of Abir.

He found his answer in the design painted on the piece of baked clay.

While Abir found Mohan suitable to head his region's branch of Asha Kiran, he was at the time studying in Mumbai and managed that branch of the NGO. A chance meeting with a self help group in a small village near Rajkot was how he found most of his workers, both the ladies who rose to manage Mumbai and Rajkot branches respectively belonged to the same.

These people were his family, not based on any obligation but because they were by each other's side through thick and thin.

Abir wasn't alone in the financial struggle in the initial period, now that he had a few apps in the market doing well for themselves and his city, Rajkot, considered him a superstar, how could he not share it with his family?

Didi should have told me earlier.

Shaking his head, Abir glanced around as the bus left, wondering where Mohan went. Instead of him, his search came to a halt on someone else. Her frown for the day was a little too unnerving. He walked over to the unmoving girl in front of the tea stall.

Panic.

The decreasing distance didn't change his initial analysis, it was Mishti and she was panicking. If he broke her trance, she was bound to get hysterical.

"Angry chorni?"

Something, which needed to be done.

A familiar voice brought her attention back to the present, and tears clouded her vision. The whole day is against me, first I woke up late, then I couldn't have breakfast, now I missed my bus all because my stupid watch decided it was a good day to stop... Phone? Phone- It of course, was in her bag which was in the seat behind Jia on the bus.

"Mishti?"

He repeated, reaching out to hold her hands.

Tears rolled down Mishti's cheeks, clearing her sight enough to recognise it was Abir through the stained glasses. She wasn't stranded, as it dawned upon Mishti, her hands flew around Abir. Instinctively, he held her to keep both of them from falling.

Kyun udaas ho, kya baat hui jo itni pareshan ho,
Mishti, angry violent chorni wale roop chhod ko,
Kyun gale lagi ho aise, jaise behaal ho,
Bala kya aayi sar tere, sajha karde,
Bahut pyari hai ye maula,
Iski musibaton mein sath de sakoon,
Itni himmat ata karde.

"Mishti, what happened?"

His query reminded Mishti their position, in the middle of a crowded bus station. Clearing her throat, she stepped back staring anywhere but at Abir, "Actually, I missed my bus. All my luggage, phone and money was in it."

He hummed, "So, you are saying you have no way to go back home?"

Mishti frowned, "I thought I was stranded, but then you jumped out of nowhere..."

That's why such a passive-aggressive welcome, Abir shook his head, "I didn't jump out of nowhere. I came to drop one of my Didi, she's returning to Rajkot."

"She is in my bus! Call her!?"

He sighed, his gaze wandering constantly, "Where's Mohan?"

Mishti wanted to strangle the ajib insaan in front of her, when she was saying they should contact his Didi- "I don't use phone."

Her eyes went wide at his admission, she momentarily forgot why she needed a phone in the first place staring at him. Strange man, apt naming Mishti, she decided, "Who doesn't use a phone nowadays?"

Abir shrugged, "One of them is in front of you."

"Very smart," Mishti offered him a tight lipped smile, "But now how am I going to contact my group in the bus? I don't know if they even noticed I am missing or not, and I also need to call Badi Ma and Kuhu-"

Noticing she was beginning to turn hysterical, he held her hand guiding her to the tea stall behind, "Let's have a cup of tea."

She hummed, "But what will we do?"

"Drink tea?"

The glare was back, "It's all because you can't keep a phone with you."

He smiled, "I am sorry, I am not used to getting lost in such places without having any means of retracing my route."

"Don't mock me, I just wanted a cup of tea," she complained, "I didn't know my watch was lying, I thought I had more time."

Abir nodded, "It's fine, it happens, life happens. Today this was the only bus to Rajkot from what I checked. Let Mohan find me and then you can contact your friends and family. Then, we can decide what to do? Does it sound good?"

Mishti agreed, sitting down on the same bench for the second dose of her favourite beverage. She couldn't catch what he instructed, but this time the tea was much better, "Thank you."

She uttered, taking another sip from the glass, "And I am sorry as well."

Abir turned to face her with an incredulous expression, "What did you do? You missed your bus, accidentally. And it's fine if it's for screaming near my ear because you were worried. Though, I will say the timing was wrong, if you had been that loud in the bus, your friends would have sure noticed a missing chorni."

She giggled, shaking her head, "Abir?"

"What?"

"I was saying sorry," Mishti drew in a deep breath to compose herself from reacting to his lame attempts at making her smile, generally she didn't care for such humour looking past it easily, but his earnest attempts hit the spot.

"Because you are sitting here with me trying to calm me down and today is the inauguration of your exhibition," she explained.

Abir shook his head, "I have a few hours to spare since refreshment etc are being managed by Didis, thus, I am fine. My portion of work is already done and sealed thanks to a rather violent person."

Mishti nodded, "Violent?"

"Yes, even I am surprised how such a violent angry person offered to help, but she turned out to be a pretty decent chorni after all," she sighed, her usual frown off paving way for a beautiful smile. Abir could have kept up with the charade for longer, but Mohan's voice reached him, removing the need for it.

Standing up, he extended his hand for Mishti, "Come, I think he is nearby." 

***

Insaan- lit. man

Kyun udaas ho... ata karde- lit. why are you sad? what happened, making you so upset? Mishti, an angry violent chorni, why isn't in her form? Why have you embraced me as if you need strong support at the moment? Share your problmes with me, and then he turns to converse with his partner, saying she is lovely and he needs strength to help her out if she's indeed in trouble.

Not proofread.

Freshly typed out, you might received spam notification in future if I stumble upon a typo or error and if you do so, pretty please bring it to my attention. And yes, I have fixed a day for this fic, In Sky's Embrace will be updated every Friday that way I would have enough time to write out chapters even if at the turtle speed.

Mishti missed her bus, and who else but Abir would find her? Any guesses, what is going to happen next?