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Word Count : 3400

Audio Theme : Kaise Mujhe |Ghajni|

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54 | Two Hours And Twenty Minutes

14 Years Ago

May 29, 2009

Friday

| 1340 Hours |

"Run fast!" Jaidev whisper-yelled while holding her hand tightly and rushing towards the towering boundary walls of the Dogra Manor.

"Who do you think I am?! One of the sepoys working under you in your platoon?!" Darshana yelled back, panting heavily, while trying to match his speed.

"Good Lord!" Jaidev cried out, ceasing the fast movements of his limbs right in front of the tall boundary wall. "I really had to fall in love with this mad woman!?"

"What did you say, you cow?" She bellowed out. "Come again!"

"Correction." He replied, crouching down on the ground to tie her shoelaces. "A cow is a female. I am a male, on the other hand." He paused, raising his head up to meet her eyes. "Now, sit on my shoulders."

"What?!"

Jaidev clicked his tongue. "How do you think we will get out of here for our sneaky little rendezvous, your majesty?" He heaved her closer by her waist. "Obviously, we will have to vault over this boundary wall, and with your tiny little legs, I have to piggyback you while I vault over it." He explained. "First of all, I don't know why your ancestors even created such a tall boundary wall. They were worried about someone stealing their adult diapers or what?"

"My ancestors didn't wear adult diapers!" She placed both of her legs on both sides of his shoulders one by one, winding her arms around his neck. "Also, you climbed the boundary wall to get inside?" Her lips curled up feebly.

"Yes, I did. Now, let's not waste our time anymore, mad woman!" He got up, carrying her on his shoulders. "We have only got two hours and twenty minutes. Moreover, I don't want to get caught by your 'Amrish Puri' of a father and serve my kidneys to him as his evening snack!"

"He is a vegetarian." She interjected.

"And I am a blood thirsty pig."

Five minutes later, both of them found themselves standing next to a Royal Enfield bullet.

Clasping the straps of the helmet around her chin, he said, "Get on it."

She did as she was instructed to do while he got on the bullet and fastened his helmet straps around his own chin.

The bullet came in to life in a trice, just as sun beams made a soft touch down on her loosely falling black mane over her shoulders and back underneath the helmet while the ends of her long skirt flailed in the air.

"Tuck in your skirt." She heard him say.

"Okay." She carefully tucked in her skirt. "Where are we going?"

"Guess your self." He challenged.

"School?" She shot back in one go.

He chuckled, nodding his head.

"Lets go then!" She exulted in pure joy, lifting her fists up.

Jaidev laughed, hearing her excited tone.

Around thirty minutes later, he parked the bullet next to the back side of the boundary wall of their school.

"Summer holidays are going on." He said. "So, all the gates are closed."

"Yeah, Devi told me the same." She nodded. "He had come here to collect his marksheet a day before school closed for the summer vacation." She paused, walking closer to the intricately designed metal barrier. "We will have to climb this thing as well?"

"Yes." Major Jaidev Kanwar shrugged. "Just like we used you to, back when we were in school."

"Alright." She chuckled.

"You go first." He voiced out. "I will follow behind you."

Nodding her head, she slowly climbed up the crisscross-patterned metal barricade with practiced steps, eventually settling herself on the capping rail of the fence. He shortly followed behind, mirroring her actions but with much more agility.

"3"

"2"

"1"

"Go!"

Both of them jumped unitedly on the school grounds on the other side of the fence.

"Thirty-five minutes down." She whispered softly, her aureate eyes coruscating under the bright afternoon sunlight. "One hour and forty-five minutes more."

Jaidev immediately felt a lump forming in his throat. "Let's go inside." He mumbled, intertwining their hands together.

Suddenly, a mischievous smile spread across her lips. "We are doing a race!"

"3"

"2"

"1"

"Go!"

And she took off, like a bullet fired from a pistol, running towards the main building of their school, her hair flying wildly in the air.

Jaidev looked on with a smile while shaking his head. "Idiot."

He then himself dashed in her direction. "Cheater!"

The moment his steps matched with hers, he enclosed his arms around his waist and picked her up, her back in close contact with the anterior side of his torso. "For the only woman who will own me in every life, those seven vows are not in our fate, but maybe these last seven rounds are."

Darshana's eyes turned watery, but then immediately she found herself being spun around on her own axis by the man carefully holding her in his embrace. And instantly, memories from bygone years flashed across her eyes; effervescent squeals started escaping her mouth; her thick black locks feathered against the visage of the man she was in love with; the ends of her long skirt flowed in circles while her eyes never stopped shedding tears.

Just as he had promised, he spun her around seven times, under the buoyant rays of the sun. Similar to what he used to do back when they were in school. "After you get married, maybe someday you will fall in love with him." His throat constricted. "And fall out of love with me." He whispered into her ears while his honey eyes shone with unshed tears. "But just don't forget me. Please don't ever forget me." Tilting his head against hers from behind, he continued. "He might be the one for you, but Darsha, you will always be the only one for me."

Her lips shivered as she shut her eyes close.

A minute down the line, reaching the main building, both of them inched closer to the main gate of the senior high school building. It was open.

"They didn't close it?" She looked on in confusion.

"Weird ass school." He muttered under his breath. "Weird ass management."

She chuckled, still trying to come out of the moment from before.

"Come in, now." He pulled her inside the building along with himself.

"By the way." She trailed. "Do you know what Padmaja ma'am is doing these days?"

"Baking cakes in heaven," he replied.

"What?!" She stopped in her tracks, shocked at the newly found piece of information. "And Manav sir?"

"Eating her cakes in heaven."

"Can you be serious for once in your life?" She hit him on his shoulder.

"What am I supposed to say then?" He placed his hands on his waist. "When they got retired, both of them were around in their sixties or something. A year back, the administration wing pinned a notice on the official notice board of the school, providing condolences on their sudden demise. They were both in their late seventies last year. Shayan saw the notice and called me and that's how I got to know." He paused, tapping on her forehead. "And you idiot, you were doing, I don't know what, in Kashmir, breaking contact with everyone in your contact list. No internet as well. So, obviously, you don't know about this."

"So, they are no more?" Her voice dropped extremely low.

He sighed. "No." Taking her in a hug, he stroked her cheeks. "And you know what's the most interesting fact?"

"What?" She wiped the corners of her eyes.

"Both of them-both husband and wife-died on the same day." He replied.

A faint smile spread across her face as a look of wonder crossed her aura.

"Anyway, let's go to our old classroom." He interrupted her chain of thoughts.

She nodded as both of them resumed their walk to the second floor.

On the second floor of the senior high school building, in a secluded corner was class 12th A, meant for science with math branch students. The location of the classroom was in the west direction, so natural sunlight filled the insides of the classroom at all hours of the day.

Jaidev entered the class, followed by Darshana.

"It's still the same." She breathed out softly, slowly wending her way in the direction of the bench they always used to sit in, almost ten years ago-the last bench of the last row, which had a window next to it.

Jaidev strolled behind her, his visual senses traversing through the whole classroom. Nothing had really changed in the British-era lecture room other than the always well-maintained and now whitewashed walls, which were creamy in color back when he was studying at this place.

Darshana traced her fingers across the panes of the window while sitting down on her old bench. Jaidev sat beside her.

She always liked to sit inside and look outside the window, while he liked to sit beside her and look at her.

Abruptly, he pulled her hair.

"Stop pulling my hair!" She cried out, in indignation.

He chuckled.

It was their thing-him pulling her hair.

"So, how is life?" She gradually asked him.

"I got discharged from service last week, and here I am now." He shrugged.

Her eyes widened instantly. "What?!" She placed her hand on his shoulder. "Why?"

"I was anyway a short-service commissioned officer, Darsha, but the injury I received on my lower back last year only increased the speed of my retirement from service. I was not medically fit for combat roles anymore." He explained.

"Oh." A look of worry took over countenance. "What are you going to do then?"

Jaidev chuckled, shaking his head. "I think you need to eat more almonds, my love. I am a lawyer by profession. I had a law degree before I joined the academy. In fact, even in the Army, I used to work as a military lawyer in the JAG branch. So, you don't need to worry at all." He paused, caressing her cheek. "I plan on either opening my own chamber or joining some MNC as a legal aide."

"Okay." She smiled. "As you wish. How is Shayan, by the way?"

"He dreams about exactly what every other kid from a family of army officers dreams about." He responded.

"He wants to join the academy directly after grade twelfth?" She inquired, a little surprised.

"Yes." All of a sudden, Jaidev let out a chuckle while his lips tugged up mischievously. "Moreover he has a crush on a girl these days."

"On whom?" She asked in amusement.

"On your niece." He answered, keeping track of her facial expressions.

Darshana's eyes enlarged for the second time in a row. "Nirjhara?!" She bellowed.

"Yes." He doubled over in laughter.

"What even!" Darshana expressed her blatant shock. "You are after me, and your nephew is after my niece?"

He nodded his head vigorously, his chassis still shaking due to the previous onset of laughter.

"What a family! You defense background people don't stop at one, right? Your nephew Shayan has a crush on my niece Nirjhara now."

"Well, practically, we are not from the same family." He tried to curb his chuckles. "He is my eldest sister's son so he carries my eldest brother-in-law's surname. He is Shayan Ganguly. I am Jaidev Kanwar, on the other hand. Our surnames don't match."

"Yeah!" She rolled her eyes. "Very funny!"

"Well, you will be shocked if you hear the next line of this news." He raised his brow in challenge. "Your niece also has a crush on my nephew. Nirjhara and Shayan like each other, Darsha."

"What!?" Darshana shot up from the bench in one go. "But they are still so young! They are still in school."

"As if we were not young and studying in school when we started." He interjected.

"We are different, Jai." She countered while settling down on the bench and placing her head on his shoulder. "We are not even going to end up together at the end."

Jaidev's chest tightened once again.

"And that is why," he whispered. "I don't want them to face the same fate that we did. I want them to end up together at the end and have their happily ever after, unlike us." He smiled. "May they never ever face the same 'two hour and twenty minutes' time crunch that we are facing today."

"Correction, Major." She paused. "It's one hour and fifteen minutes more." She corrected him, as tears rolled down both of their cheeks.

"How is Devi?" Jaidev switched on to a different topic to avoid the impending realization of their reality.

Darshana smiled, understanding his true intentions.

"My child left for university a week back." Her eyes twinkled.

"ICE, right?" Jaidev asked.

"Yes." She smiled proudly, but then a wave of melancholy hit her as she remembered her eldest nephew. "He was this tiny little kid, Jai." She recollected, leveling her palm with her knees. "A chubby one with curly black hair. Aridaman was not that much of a foodie Jai, but Mahadevan on the other hand would only do three things-eat, sleep, and roam around the whole manor in a tiny underwear, whether it was at the Dogra manor or back at Zorawar Mahal in Kashmir." She chuckled. "You give him a piece of brick. The first thing he would do is put it in his mouth and try to chew it."

Jaidev chuckled softly. "Foodie from birth, eh?"

Darshana nodded.

"Now see..." She gently trailed in remembrance. "He is in college. My little kid is all grown up and is at his university at the present moment."

"Time passes so fast." He adjoined, with a faint nod of head, while his gaze didn't leave her face even for a second.

"And it waits for none." She added and lifted her head up from his shoulder to meet his eyes. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

He smiled. "No, just trying to deduce a few things." He paused. "Trying to understand that if the woman in front of me loves her nephew so much, how much would she love her own child?"

Darshana remained silent and averted her gaze, gulping the lump down her throat.

"Is there really no other way out, Darsha?" He sighed.

"No." She mouthed.

Jaidev licked his lips and directed his gaze out of the window. Their classroom was towards the left side of the senior high school building in the west direction. And directly, from the window on the wall beside their bench, there was a flower orchard visible from beyond the school boundary walls. The orchard had a small pond in the middle of it, and it was one of the multiple orchards belonging to the Dogra clan, along with the school.

Coincidentally, they had met each other for the first time in that flower orchard. And that was one of the main reasons why Darshana liked sitting on the bench they were currently settled on, back in their school epoch.

"I miss Atreya Bhai at times." He heard her whispering.

"Me too," he replied.

"He left for Lawrence Hall even before I was born, and I used to see him very rarely." She trailed. "But even those few times used to have a lasting impression on me. We were close despite the distance, Jai. Men can be soft too-he was the first one to grace me with this reality."

Jaidev nodded with a feeble smile. Suddenly, something else crossed his mind. "Tell me something."

She tipped her chin. "Go ahead."

"Dattatreya Bhai was the chosen one, so he was sent to study at Lawrence Hall in Lovedale. Right?"

"Yes," she replied.

The space between his brows formed folds in a second. "Then, according to my understanding, isn't Mahadevan the chosen one too?" He pointed out. "Why was he made to study here at Dagshai Hall then? Instead of being sent to Lawrence Hall for his schooling?"

Darshana's back tightened. She clenched her fists tightly while swallowing heavily.

"Just like that." She tried her best to act normal. "He has always been a very reserved child, you see."

Jaidev's keen eyes observed the sudden shift in her demeanor, yet he chose to stay quiet. "Oh. Okay."

Darshana gradually stationed her head against his shoulder while he tilted his head against hers.

Silence prevailed for a long while. And instead of breaking it, both of them decided to gaze at the orchard beyond the boundary wall, visible from the window.

This was the last time they were together at all.

Sometime later, she wound her left arm around his right elbow. "Jai," she murmured, her head still nestled against his shoulder, a fragile sanctuary in a world of chaos.

"Yes?" he replied, his voice barely above a whisper.

"I have a wish. Will you grant it?"

Gold clashed against honey in a battle of unshed tears.

"Tell me," he urged softly, his fingers tracing the delicate curve of her wet cheeks.

"Regardless of who departs this life first, whether it be me or you, and no matter where you are, make sure that I am not burned." She smiled. "I want to be buried. Bury me at the same place where we met for the first time."

Bringing her face close to his, she tilted her forehead against his.

"Okay?"

"Why are you saying like that?" His lips wobbled as he caressed the crown of her head.

"No ifs and whys." She replied. "Just promise me. Okay?"

The man breathed in deeply. "Okay."

"By the way," she voiced out. "Forty-five minutes more."

"Yes." He averted his gaze from her, in an attempt to hide the moisture forming at the corners of his eyes. "You will have to get ready as well." He forced out the next set of words from his lips. "Let me drop you back."

"Yes." She exhaled.

***

Sometime later in the evening, Darshana rolled her luggage carrier towards the emigration check-in counter at the airport.

Out of nowhere, she suddenly felt someone's gaze on her back. It felt all so familiar.

She smiled feebly and turned around.

And without any doubt, there he was, standing next to a door, in a corner.

She saw him raising his hand up to wave at her, so she did the same.

In her childhood, back at the age of four, Darshana Dogra had come across a boy one day in the orchard next to her school. She was still in primary school at that time, and he was her new classmate, although a year older to her. New to the surroundings around him, he would follow her around wherever she went. Pulling her hair was his first favorite thing to do while stealing her tiffin box was his second favorite thing to do. Slowly, her aureate globes became his favorite sight to gaze at, just like his honey eyes became her favorite sight to gaze at. Then one fine day, he directed her palm towards her.

"Will you be my friend?" He had asked her, showing all of his milk teeth.

"I will always be your friend." She had replied happily back then, while shaking hands with him.

Time passed, and slowly pulling her hair became his second favorite thing to do while gazing at her sunny smile for hours, became his first favorite thing to do.

Years had gone by since then.

Darshana finally met her favorite pair of honey eyes for one last time. Everything around her suddenly came to a standstill. The owner of those honey eyes was trying to say something.

So, she tried to read his lips.

"In another world."

Perhaps that's what he said while his eyes slowly turned misty.

"In another life." She mouthed back.

Instantly turning around, she strode straight towards the check-in counter.

She didn't dare to look back. She didn't have it in her to look back.

"Zero minutes more, my love." She mumbled to herself.

***

Sorry for the extreme delay. I really don't know what went wrong.

Anyway, how was the update?

I hope I did justice to this chapter. I am not exactly used to writing emotionally packed chapters. They are just not my thing, so I might have messed it up. Pardon me for that.

Target : 120 Votes

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