Arz kiya he...mulayaza mat farmayiye..

Shama me parwana jala..

Husn se deewana jala....

Now I am on leave..so thats why...

Der se shuru hoga marasim ka silsila...😊

naina comes with sleeping saira only to find bedroom empty. she has not been expecting this. naushad not here that too when it is past his curfew which he himself has put on. first time this whole week naina doesn't see him after nine in night. she is curious and bit of anxious too. she knows she can plainly refuse to acknowledge his advances, talk with him, make amends but she is still here. in this house as mrs naina rizvi. and naushad knows it too, perhaps.

she lays saira down. Little girl has been such a strong baby. always coming in terms very soon. not taking the pain naina unknowingly put her through. she is same as before. this time more naughty and more destructive than before. like this time she has broken two mugs in one week. but she is her life line. she is. and as odds against her has been in past, for a second naina is scared. what if this time too she is left to hang on herself. what if this time again she is left out. all alone hands on deck midst the tempest....

she hugs saira. she engulfs her in her embrace.

'uhhu..naina..saira ko sone do na.'

she leaves her. and adjusts her close. saira is her child. her baby...and it is not a hidden truth. she closes her eyes.

around midnight her phone goes off with a notification. she doesn't bother to check it.

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

one day and two nights the amount of time naushad has been out of shimla. naina sees her watch again. she is sitting in drawing room where she and khala have been talking. actually it is khala who's talking. she is listening only. well, what explanation she can give when every now and then khala repeats that naushad is not a bad person. its just he has a thick shell to break in. she just needs time. she just need give him some time. he will come along.

naina listens and nods. it is the only thing she can do. living with the person you want to escape from is not a solution. it is actually your doom. you'll end up doing what you never want to. same is with naina. she is scared if she continue to live like this, naushad' walls fall or not but her heart'll give in. sooner...way sooner. she'll give up her rights and come along. she'll. she is a woman after all. women understand emotions so well. they are programmed to act on their Que which many times their heart give them.but there are exceptions arent there!

'aap yaha kab se ho khala?" naina asks her...which she wanted to do for a long time.

'jab se naushad army me he.' naina' eyes grow large.

'aise mat dekho dulhan. bahut dino se jaante he hum is pagal ko. arwa se nikah. tab bhi hum iske sath the. bahut hi shant tha lekin muskurana aata tha isko. phir jindagi ne karwat le li aur naushad ne muskurana chhod diya.'

she listens carefully nodding to khala. a deep pang is there in her heart, unknown to her. khala went on telling about naushad. she seems happy, happier to see her back. naina is scared with her happiness cause the light of khala's smiles is burning because of her submission. her ghosting smiles are too much for naina. but she keeps sitting next to her..listening her. humming her response and letting the sun bask her.

when khala leaves for kitchen, she leaves naina with invisible hope and responsibility that she can mend this broken house.

naina looks on...

the orchard is full of dry leaves. it is fall of year. last fall she was fighting with naushad and this fall she unknown to herself is fighting for naushad. complicated things have been here and the hell if they ever free themselves. life has become multidimensional and she is struggling to find her place in any one dimension but entanglement keeps her always out of option.

she looks at her reflection in window pane. she is tired. this time she is really tired. this relation has always been on her nerves. she has at her wits end. no idea what to do with her aspirations, demands, needs and requisites, his issues, fears and then comes saira. saira made her mother. she feels complete after seeing her...but there is also one part of her which begs for naushad. she cant claim him. this is the irony.

she sighs. it would be better if she leaves things for good.

let fate decide for her.

let the almighty play this game of hers.

she cant play this anymore. it has become too much....

she was better off with saira in her bedroom. now with him room feels crowded but without him many nights she feels the house would swallow her...whole of her.

she leaves for saira's room to tidy things or find any of her scattered toy and feel motherly while setting them.

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

SAME EVENING..

AROUND EIGHT IN NIGHT.

naushad enters silently in house. he looks here and there.

'kise dhoondh rahe ho naushad? khala ke alawa bhi yaha koi rahta he?'

he ignores question and pours one glass of water for himself. he is about to drink it when two people makes their appearance at once together..

naina....

khala....

'salaam khala. kaise ho aap?'

khala has lost her words but soon she holds herself together and nods.

'naushad, ye kaun he?' this question is pointed to naina.

he looks at her. she is stoned. her glass face is showing her inner turmoil very well. and this makes him feel something so sharp in his chest. it hurts.

'Naushad...batao na..ye kaun he?'

This question gives him a sudden jolt. He loses his grip and speaks..

'Ye Naina he....

...mere dost ki bahan.'

He sees Naina glaring at him and then leaving drawing room without even sparing him a glance.

He feels pain...inexplicit pain. He sees some of his old wounds breaking open and medicine was her eyes. That assuring glance she sparred him few days ago when he was leaving, was heaven. Right now stuck in tormenting tempest he needs her assuring and trusting gaze..but she is absent.

He longs for her return...but she never comes.

'Kis dost ki bahan? Aur ye hamare ghar me kya kar rahi he?'

'Wo..wo Naushad ke jigari dost Naveen ki bahan he.

Naveen ne wada liya tha Naushad se..ki....wo...uske marne ke bad uski bahan se nikaah kar le. To...isiliye wo is ghar me he. Naushad ki dusri biwi he Naina'

Khala handles situation before more questions are fired on him and Naina..

He finds khala staring at him..like she is also having same questions for him which perhaps Naina has.

Naushad looks down. His vowels dying...

He can hear Khala talking with Arwa..

And he dejected sits on sofa.
This was not how he was supposed to do things. Instead of turning wheel right he has pushed it left. And now he is out of steering. Life is in autopilot mode now. He is only there for facing downs and downs..the bumps in road...and also watching her passing him.