She is watching the vehicle approaching. hoping it'd be pooja and she'd go with her daughter from here as soon as possible. saira is sleeping in a tent cuddled with warm blankets. she is perfectly warm for now. she feels bad for her. but the truth that she can't leave her behind at any cost also makes sense and gives her reason to move past this city. all she wants for both of them is to be away from here. as far away as possible...the vehicle stops and a young man appear behind the rolled-down window. she is disappointed. it is getting dark by each passing minute. she wants to be away. it is becoming so clogged. everything is just coming onto her. it's going beyond her endurance. her heart is also fragile if someone cares to know. she is also a human. she also feels things....she has a freaking heart and that's beating. 

she is impatiently standing and watching vehicles passing. suddenly someone calls her name out.

'hello?? you're mrs. naina Rizvi, right? sorry, lt. Pandey aapko pahchan nahi paya. aap aise bahar mat bhigiye. it's so uncomfortable. aap bimar pad jaaoge. aap under aa jayiye. I'll make a call to sir.'

she does double-take. this man knows him. and he is going to call him! why!! 

'no need to call anyone, officer. I am...Its just that I have an emergency. aap takleef mat uthayiye. and rules are rules. aap aise har kisi ko chhod nahi skate. you guys have duty to perform. meri dost docs leke aati hi hogi. i'd have taken care. such an ignorant i am!'

he looks at her intently, trying to figure her out. he pushes it further. being the wife of a senior commanding officer running away from privileges that too in a stormy night what the hell she wants to prove? he once again tries.

'no, ma'am. no need. me aapko rizvi sir ke sath dekha he. I know your his wife. me ek kaam karta hu, i make a call to sir. aap captain thakur se unki baat kara dijiyega. you'll be free to go. hold a sec, i'll call him.' before he can make the call she snatches his phone. 

'no, no need. mene bola na. pooja aa rahi he mere documents lekar. why are you guys not performing your duty? aap aise har us bande ko chhod doge jo kisi army wale ka rishtedaar ho! is it even appropriate? koi rule of conduct nahi hota kya army me?' she hands him his phone with anger.

he is astonished. he senses her anger and something else too. he has seen naushad sir many times. he doesnt seem the person who'll show his family off. but he has seen him multiple times impatiently running from base to receive his daughter. many times he has been going for two hours break just to pick his daughter from her school in the afternoon and then returning very soon just after he drops her at home. And here, his wife is hell-bent on abiding laws. he smells a rat. he leaves her and goes to his fellow officers.

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

Naushad is sitting by chair in his room playing with switch of the table lamp. He has no explanation to himself why he was so eager to escape her and at the same time when he had spotted her picking a sleeping saira while crying vigorously his feet never moved an inch. he couldn't even move and tell her that she was not allowed to take his daughter away with her. he was not sure which ghost caught her, what made him paralyzed he could not move. he saw her crying, he could not budge. whom he should blame, there itself is something heavy and dark within him. there is something phantom.....holding him back.

 he switches on the lamp then switches off. then again switches on and then switches off. it goes on. same way as his life has been. same way as he has become. 

his phone rings. he doesnt bother to pick it up. naina is not going to call and other calls dont bother him for now. he is staring at nothing and it goes on...

his phone rings once again. he in irritation picks up.

'hello!'

what he hears on the other side just ignites something. he gets angry. he searches for his jeep keys and within minutes he is off.

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

naushad reaches check post. it is still raining. not as heavy as earlier but still enough to make you wet within minutes. 

'jai hind sir.' one of the officers greet him the moment he comes out of the jeep. he nods. he spots Lt Abbas. he approaches him. 

'jai hind sir. wo madam picchle aadhe ghante se bahar khadi he. mene bola tha ki aapko call karu, sidhe mana kar diya unhone. bol rahi he ki documents dikhayengi. unki koi dost lekar aa rahi he.' he continues briefing him about naina and her actions. naushad has his jaw clenched.

he spots naina drenching and looking at road impatiently. he dismisses lt. abbas and approaches her. before she can protest, he holds her wrist and drags her to a nearby tent.

'what's all this?' he is staring at her. she doesn't speak. she is completely drenched. her eyes almost swollen and a bit red. he doesn't know how she managed them to look so sane after she has been bawling her heart out. unknown to his true self his heart feels something. 

'Why are you hell-bent on showing your documents? and on top of that why the hell are you wet? arent there tents in this check post? tumhe bhigne ka jyada shauk he?' she says nothing.  this gets Naushad very angry. he holds her elbow and pulls her to himself.

'what do you wanna prove, Naina? what exactly do you want to prove? you leave the house in the middle of the night. you take saira with you. you are held up by officers of my base and you deny to tell them that you are my wife. and now you are waiting for someone to turn up with your documents. what is all this? what is going on! and your completely drenched. itni rat me kaun se adventure tour par nikali ho? saira ko uthao aur ghar chalo.' he tries to turn. Naina doesn't move hence he also has to stop. he is now glaring. his aura changes and naina sees red.

'i had told you, Mr. Naushad Rizvi. I'll never ever step foot in that house. in fact, I don't want to be close to you. if not for this bad weather, I'd have been away from this cold city and on to Delhi exactly the way you had wanted. now, if you'll excuse me, I have to see if pooja comes or not.'

he takes deep breathes.

'naina, please don't create a scene. this check post is held by my officers. don't make a scene and come with me. you should know, as a doctor, how the rain and cold affect people.'

she snorts.

'out of all people you should know too how much I care if I am wet or not. so please, don't pretend as if you care. it's your reputation you care most for, I get it. but I too have no interest in entertaining your officer by staying here all night and carrying out this drama. so if you please allow me, I'll leave this place as soon as possible. I think pooja will be arriving any minute short.' she takes few steps and walks past him.

he is completely out of his mind. he has no idea how to deal with all this. his temper is rising but at the same time, he doesn't know what to do, what to say.

'naina....please. itni raat me kaha jaogi? bimar pad jaaogi. please com with me. ghar chalo please.'

she turns back. this time her eyes are completely red. 

'that's your home, naushad. i don't feel that house as my home. mujhe ab us makan me mera ghar najar nahi ata.' she leaves. naushad is standing where he was.  

after few minutes he can hear pooja shouting and calling Naina. he can hear her bombarding her questions on Naina in one go. Naina doesn't reply to all of them. she just asks her about Ali being home. when she denies, she asks her if she can stay night with her. for few seconds naushad doesn't hear anything. his heart starts beating fast. then footsteps move past. he feels suddenly bit calm. he can hear his another version laughing at him. asking if that's what he always wanted. if that's how he was supposed to treat naina. and if that's what he was supposed to give her...he has nothing to say. his words have died. his voice is lost. what he has with himself is nothing but his solitude....

lt. abbas comes in. he asks nothing. but he gives naushad a long stare. then he leaves. naushad is well aware no one can ask him about what has happened today. why his own wife denied to claim her relation. hell she didn't even recognize it. why he was not aware his wife is running her car on roads in the middle of the night. what kind of husband he is if he has no vague idea of whereabouts of her wife. 

he sighs. at least she is with pooja. she is safe so is Saira. 

naushad looks out. the roads are not visible. it is the darkest hour of the night. he stares in dark. his insight tells him...no light is gonna come. this darkness is becoming his destiny...isn't it!