"Bir, if you keep running your fingers through your hairs like this, then dude in some hours you'll become bald and I'm pretty sure my sister won't like a bald Kabir," said Aarav mockingly, who for last fifteen minutes was observing Kabir.

After seeing off Anaisha, a sad and dull Kabir came back to hospital only to be reminded of all the moments he had shared with her. As soon as he entered the hospital, millions of memories attacked his mind. Each and every place in this hospital reminded him of his Anaisha!

While on his way towards his office, he went passed the Nurse Station, which reminded him of Anaisha's first day here and her expressions when she got to know that he was her Incharge. He smiled to himself thinking about his childlike girlfriend's behaviour that day, the first day of hers in his life.

On the very first day, she had proved that only she was the one who could affect him so severely. Otherwise, he wouldn't have taken his frustration out on her, as he had never did that before. Maybe he was always destined to be with her that's why he was never attracted toward anyone else before. And maybe that's why he always felt connected to her. Hi mother and GM were right, Anaisha was made just for him. Only me!

He kept moving toward his office while reliving his beautiful memories with her. He entered his office, and went to sit on his chair. He leaned his head back on the chair and closed his eyes.
A few minutes later, he opened his eyes and sighing, picked his file up to read it but he wasn't interested at all.

He was worried as hell for Anaisha, infact he didn't even notice when Aarav came and sat on the couch kept in his office. His mind kept going back to Anaisha and her tearful face when she looked at him for the last time. He kept running his fingers through his hairs. Dammit! He couldn't even call her and check on her. It had been only two hours, since she left but he was already missing her terribly.
Her talks, her eyes, her smiles, her lips..... gosh he couldn't stop thinking about her!

And he thought he could survive three year! He should've listened to her and shifted to US with her but.... stop thinking like a kid. Stop being so stupid! It's for her and her dreams. And he had to be strong for her.
He was mentally scolding and chiding himself and really didn't know how much that amused his best friend, who was trying to suppress his chuckles.

Aarav came to see his dear best friend after he got to know about his arrival from Sister Dimpy. Well honestly, if anyone ever wanted to know anything about Kabir's whereabouts, they should just contact Sister Dimpy. She had all the information about Kabir, though except his personal life as Kabir was very much private and reserved.
Aarav was amazed to know that his baby sister wasn't even a bit jealous of Dimpy because according to her, she was the only girl in Kabir's life and would always be!

He went to Kabir's office only to find his dear best friend lost and occasionally running his fingers through his hairs. He thought maybe Kabir would notice him but that didn't happen for almost fifteen minutes. After which, having no choice Aarav mocked fun at Kabir in his loud enough to bring Kabir back to his senses.

Kabir was startled hearing Aarav voice all of a sudden and said, "What? When did you came here Avi?"

Aarav shook his head and said, "I'm here since last fifteen minutes. But seems like you were mentally somewhere else!" Saying that he got up from the couch and came to sit in front of Kabir.

Kabir just gazed at Anaisha and Samyra's framed photographe kept on his table.
Aarav noticed that and smiling weakly at him, asked, "Already missing my sister?"

Kabir looked at him and sighed. He indeed was missing her. He spoke after a couple of minutes of silence, "Yes! I'm missing her already! It's not easy for me to be away from her. Each and every thing reminds me of her. How will I manage three years without her? Never in my life have I ever thought that I'll ever fall in love with someone let alone being this much in love! She has changed me so much. If not for her then maybe I would've never thought of falling in love or ever being in a relationship!"

Aarav silently listening to Kabir and when Kabir finished his little rant, he gave out a chuckle, earning a angry glare from Kabir. Seriously, Aarav never even in his wildest dreams thought his best buddy would ever talk like this. It was indeed funny. But he was glad that Kabir loved his sister so much.

He chuckled again and said, "Kabir, no offence but you're talking like a lovesick teenager! Seriously, I never thought that one day I would ever hear you talk like this. This is really funny!"

Kabir got irritated with Aarav as he once again started laughing. He picked up a small paper weight and threw it at Aarav.
Aarav, who was laughing merrily, got shocked at his best friend's sweet gesture and said, "Are you nuts? You wanna kill me? Have you even thought if I die what would my wife and kids do?"

Kabir rolled his eyes and said, "You and your sister both are so dramatic! And by the way, you don't have kids!"
Aarav huffed and said, "Of course I don't have kids right now but that doesn't mean I won't have them in future!"
Kabir just raised his eyebrow and gave his 'you-are-crazy' expression!

Aarav smiled and then muttered softly, "I know Bir this is hard. I've been through that. But just think it this way, maybe you guys are destined to face this distance now so that you both can stay together later. So just try to divert your mind and pay attention to some other thing. Why don't we go on dinner? It's been long since we both had some 'Avi-Bir' time."

Kabir thought for a minute and then agreed. Maybe this would help him in distracting himself for a while.

He pressed his lips together and then said, "Okay done! Let's go to Orchids, it's been ages since we went there."

Aarav smiled and replied, "Yes sure! I'll make reservations for us. 9 would be fine?"
Kabir nodded and said, "Yep, it would be great!"

After around some ten minutes Aarav left and Kabir thought to read his file as he had a surgery scheduled for 2 pm. Somehow pushing his thoughts away, he resumed reading the file.

While reading he wondered what Anaisha must be doing at the moment. He smiled and thought, 'As usual she would've busied herself in her Harry Potter books. I wonder if her Potter fever is gone or not...'

Since Anaisha had almost one month to relax, she was catching up on books and movies. One day, she watched 'Harry Potter and the Socerer's Stone', which brought back her 'Potter fever' and unfortunately this drove Kabir mad as Anaisha would talk about her favourite fantasy series at lengths with him and he couldn't do anything!

But still Kabir was glad for it since her 'Potter Fever' was better than her 'Twilight Fever', as atleast it was better to talk about Lord Voldemort and Dead Eater than talk about the love triangle in Twilight which reminded Kabir of Nikhil and it was a little awkward for him.

And coming to Nikhil, Kabir still felt a little insecure with him. But that's different that while leaving Nikhil promised Kabir that he would take care of his girlfriend and sister. Kabir wouldn't have trusted him if he hadn't seen the genuineness in Nikhil's eyes. Yet if only Kabir knew, his insecurities would be ending soon!

The flight took off around an hour back and Anaisha, as Kabir had thought was reading 'Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows'. While Yuvraj and Rhea sat across the aisle of hers, Nikhil was sitting one seat ahead of Yuvraj and Rhea. There was a girl sitting beside him, who looked same as their age.

Nikhil wanted to switch his seat and sit with Anaisha but he didn't know how to ask his co passenger. He was feeling unusually nervous looking at his co passenger, who looked kinda cute to him. Finally mustering up some courage, he spoke to her, "Umm Miss, I...wanted...to...ask...you...If...you...could..."

"Exchange seats with you? Look Mister, whatever reasons you have I won't exchange my window seat with your aisle seat. I'm going to sit here only!", said the girl. She shot one glare at him and then went back to reading her book.

Nikhil looked at her, mesmerised and collecting himself, said, "No you got it wrong. I was wondering if you could exchange seats with my friend sitting there?" He pointed towards Annie who was seating on the window seat, focussing hard on reading her book.

The girl looked where he was pointing, and thought for a minute before saying, "No! I won't! I don't want to sit with an oldie there. My experience with oldies is not good. So please don't ask me. I'm sorry!"

Nikhil dropped his shoulders on hearing her answer and said sadlt, "It's okay. I understand!"

The girl looked at his sad face and said, "Look please don't be sad. I would've exchanged my seat with your friend if her co-passanger wasn't an old grandma. But the way, I'm Piyali, Piyali Sood." She forwarded her hand for a handshake.

Nikhil looked at her hand and introduced himself while shaking hands with her, "I'm Nikhil, Dr. Nikhil Malhotra."

"Oh you're a doctor. I must say your personality suits your profession!" said Piyali.

"Really?" asked a surprised Nikhil. Most of his friends said that he looked more like forced into medicine. Piyali's remark sort of astonished him and increased his attraction towards her.

Piyali smiled at him and said, "Yes it does. Anyone would guess that easily that you're made for this profession by looking at your kind yet determined eyes. Not everyone is devoted enough to actually be a true savior."

Nikhil smiled with her remark and replied, "Thank you Miss Piyali for the lovely compliment. By the way, would you mind if I ask you what you do? I mean which profession are you in?"

"I'm a pharmacologist. I've completed my masters a couple of months back and now going to Boston to join the company who has hired me. You're going for PG, right? I heard you and your friends talking while I was keeping my bag in the cabinet above," said Piyali.

Nikhil softly smiled at her and replied, "Oh..yes I'm going for my PG. I'll be doing my specialisation in ophthalmology."

And so their conversation kept going, one topic to other and they felt like they have known each other for ages. Maybe Nikhil finally found his someone special!

Anaisha after sometime, took off her reading glasses and looked out of her window. She had thought reading book would help her calm herself but it was of no help rather it worsened her situation. Reading the book, brought the memories of the time she tortured Kabir with her fascination with Severs Snape, Voldemort's horcruxes, Dumbledore and what not. But Kabir never complained about it. He rather keenly paid attention to her while she described her favourite scenes from the movies over and over again.

Thinking about this, made her miss Kabir more. A lone tear rolled down her cheek from her watery eyes. She took out Beany from her handbag and hugged him to hide her crying face. She cried softly for a few minutes, remembering Kabir and his presence around her. She was missing him a lot.

While she was still crying, she felt a hand stroke her hairs. She looked at her right side and saw her fellow passanger, the old grandma looking at her with affectionate eyes. Anaisha wiped her tears quickly and looked at her again while passing her a smile.

Her fellow passenger smiled at her and said, "Don't worry dear. It'll be all fine. I know you're missing you're husband a lot but it'll be fine. Believe that!"

Anaisha blushed a little when she heard the word husband and replied, "Yeah I believe that too. But I'm not married yet, and it's my boyfriend I'm missing. Thank you for your kinds words. I'm Dr. Anaisha Gujral, you can call me Annie if you want."

The old lady smiled at her again and said, "You're welcome dear. I'm Theresa Johnson. You can call me Theresa, I won't mind Annie! So you're going for your studies or work?"

"Studies. I'm going for my PG. It's for three years and I'm already missing my family and Kabir, my boyfriend," said Annie.

"Oh I see, don't worry dear it will be fine! Just be calm! You know I'm going home now. I was here to meet my grandson, who's posted here since last two years. At first it was so hard for both us but now it's all okay. As long as you're close to someone from within, the distance wouldn't matter a thing. But once you become weak, the distance would trouble you a lot. So just think it this way, your loved ones are always going to be close to you, in your heart. And no one can take them away, not even the distance between you and them. It's all in the perception, you see," said Theresa.

Annie nodded her head and said, "I guess you're right. And it's great that you're my flight mate today, after all not all grandmums are as young as you!" She winked at Theresa, who winked back at her. Both of them then burst into giggles.

As Anaisha stopped giggling, she looked at Nikhil who was continuously talking to his fellow passanger. While she was still looking at Nikhil and the girl, Theresa followed her gaze and spoke to Annie in her wise voice, "I'm absolutely sure that boy and girl are going to be something, you know couple sort of, by the end of this flight."

Annie replied to Theresa, not averting her gaze from Nikhil, "Yes I believe you. If that really happens, I'd be the happiest person!"
She prayed in her heart, what Theresa said became true as Nikhil really deserved that. Him being alone all the time, saddened Anaisha because somewhere she thought it was her fault. But seeing him happily talking to a girl, that too so comfortably, gave Annie a little hope for him.

She and Theresa then talked about random stuff and enjoyed their entire journey by troubling the flight attendants and Anaisha's friends. Though Theresa's words, changed Anaisha perception about this whole three years separation thing, yet she still missed Kabir.
'I hope Kabir, everything goes fine and these three years get over in a blink of eye. I really hope you be okay without me. I miss you so much!'

"Dumbo Avi, where are you? I'm waiting for you for last 20 minutes. Still no sign of you. If you don't reach here in 5, I'm leaving!" threatened Kabir. Like decided earlier, he and Avi were supposed to meet each other in the parking lot of Orchids Hotel at 9. But it was twenty minutes passed nine, and Aarav still hadn't reached. Kabir was extremely miffed, being Mr. Punctual, he hated when someone was late. 'One more common trait of Gujral siblings!'

As a matter of fact, all the Gujral siblings, except Advay, had some terrible problem with being on time. In their professional lives, they were perfectly punctual but when it comes their personal life or to say when it comes to outing with Kabir, be it Anaisha, Aarav or even Aarush, all three of them were never on time, though Aarav being worst amongst them, because after all Anaisha being Kabir's girlfriend had actually learned to be punctual but Aarav even after 23 years of friendship, still was a 'Late-Latif'.

After around 10 minutes Aarav reached the parking lot, and was welcomed by verbal abuses and life threats from Kabir. And even then he managed to say, "C'mon Bir, I was just half an hour late! Stop being a sissy!" Which did nothing except from infuriating an already miffed Kabir. But Aarav managed to apologise to him and they both went in the hotel. This hotel was there favourite and sort of food adda since they were in school.

The dinner was going quite well. It was after a really long time when Aarav and Kabir were out with each other without any other company. Last time they had a dinner like this was when they were on a double date after Anaisha's internship was over. But it wasn't anything like this as their respective wife and girlfriend were present with them.

Aarav while talking, asked Kabir, "Kabir would you mind if I ask something very personal?"

Kabir sipped on his wine and said, "C'mon Avi, since when did I started minding your question. You know you're amongst the very few people who can ask me anything they want without asking for my permission or offending me. Go ahead with your question."

Aarav played with his fork and then spoke, with a very serious tone, "I know Kabir you love my baby sister a lot but are you really serious about her? I mean will this relationship sum up into something much more committed and serious, marriage? Look I don't want to offend you but see it's been just seven months since you both are together. I do need some assurance from you as it's about my sister's life. Just know there's no sort of compulsion for you from my side."

Kabir wasn't offended at all with what Aarav asked him. There were many similarities between Aarav and Anaisha, one of them being completely open about their doubts and thoughts. Unlike him, both Avi and Annie talked their doubts out, which honestly Kabir liked a lot.

And then he could perfectly understand Aarav's worries for his sister. Maybe if it was Samyra then Kabir too would've been this much worried or maybe worse. He smiled softly and replied, "I understand your situation Avi, you're ought to be anxious about your sister's future. Coming to your question then Avi, your sister means the world to me, she's means everything. I'm going to repeat the same thing I told Anaisha, seven months or initial phase, my love and feelings for her are genuine and real, and I'm going to be with her as long as I'm alive. Even if she would want to leave, if okay? I'm talking if, then also my love for her won't diminish. Believe me! And if there's ever going to be any compulsion for me to be with her then it'll only be my love for her, and nothing else."

Aarav smiled brightly at Kabir as if a heavy burden was removed off his chest. Kabir smiled back at him and they resumed their dinner. It was almost quarter to eleven, when they both left the hotel and went to their homes.

After reaching home, Kabir went to his room directly since it was half past eleven. Changing his clothes, he sat on his bed with the scrapbook that Anaisha gifted him. He was opening it, when his mom came into his room with two mugs of coffee. He passed her a smile and she returned back an equally bright smile.

She sat beside him and kept the tray on the bed. He looked at his mother and asked, "You up this time mom? Aren't you suppose to be sleeping? It's going to be 12, late for you."

Shilpa stroked his hairs and answered, "Yes I should be, but I'm making up for all the time I lost with my son because of my own foolishness." Her voice quivered a bit.

Kabir noticed that and took his mother's hand in his hands. He then wiped the lone tear which escaped his mother's eye and said sweetly, "Mom, how many time do I have to tell you to forget it? It's okay mom, what happened in past, cannot be changed. So leave it like that! I don't want to think about it anymore mom. Please for me, forget it and let's just move on in our lives. And by the way, you can spend your time with me whenever you want, I would always cherish your company."

Shilpa smile a little and cupped her son's face, "I don't know Kabir what good I have done in my previous life to get a son as loving as you. But it will take me some more time to forgive myself completely for all the wrong deeds I did, to you, Karan and our Samyra."

Kabir listened to her and smiled to himself. He saw his mother still a looking sad, so to cheer her up, he kept his head on her lap and said, "Don't be so sad mom. We're almost a happy family, just the way I always wanted us to be. It took time, but see it's going to be fine soon."

Shilpa smiled widely seeing her son lie down with his head on her lap, a thing he used to do when they both were very happy or when Shilpa used to be in a good mood. But because of her own actions, she distanced her son away from herself.

But brushing those sad thoughts away, she caressed his forehead and said, "Yes it is. And it's all possible because of my little angel Anaisha. I'm very proud of you Kabir that found someone as amazing as her. If not for her, then I don't think we'd ever been able to normalise things in our lives."

"She found me mom, I didn't! I never expected to find someone like her ever. It was surprising for me, when one day she entered my life like a tornado, fought with me, challenged me, troubled me, appreciated me, cared for me and made me fall in love with her unconditionally. She changed me mom, in a way I never thought. You know she's just like a dream mom, a dream which we never expect to become real. But she is. And I can't believe my luck that she's part of my life.

"You know I can talk lengths about her yet never get tired. I can spend my entire life, trying to describe her in every beautiful phrase possible yet be unsuccessful in that. I can wait my entire life for her yet never get exhausted. I don't know mom what exactly love is, but whatever I feel for Anaisha, I know it's pure and sacred. I can never even in a thousand lives, love anyone more than I love Anaisha. She means everything. Everything to me. And I know she feels the same way I do!" Kabir said in a trance. He felt like Anaisha was with him, though he knew she was away from.

Maybe this is what true love is all about, you could feel your love close to you even though they're miles apart. And Kabir was truly, madly and deeply in love Anaisha.

Shilpa smiled softly hearing her son's praises for his girlfriend. She knew one thing for sure, her son was much, a far better than her and Karan, at understanding relationships and love. His words themselves explained his sincerity and loyalty to his love. And she was glad for this!

She stroked his hairs again and said, "You know Kabir, you're lucky that you have the right person in your life who understand you. Make sure son, never to repeat my and Karan's mistakes. Though I know you and Annie both are much more wiser than both of us. Chalo now drink you coffee and sleep. Your darling girlfriend has told me to make sure you take care of yourself. C'mon now, I want you asleep in next 15 minutes or else I'll inform Annie and you know well how intimidating your Little Kitty can be."

Kabir chuckled and said, "Sure mom! I need to careful now since she has made you and GM, her spies. Good night mom, love you!"

Shilpa a kissed his forehead and said, "Good night Bir, love you too! Don't miss her much, she's in your heart after all!"

She left from his room with empty coffee mugs and a smile on her face as she and her son were finally close to each other than they were ever before!

Kabir closed his door, and went back to his bed. Picking the scrapbook up, he opened it and went through the pictures again. He caressed the pictures which his fingers and smiled to himself. For others it might just appear to be memories, but for him, they were the best moments of his life, lived with the girl, who brought love and happiness in his otherwise sorrowful and tormented life. He knew he could never pay her debts but the least he could do, fill her life with as much as happiness and affection as he could and love her till his last breath!

It was around seven in morning when he woke up. He went for his jogging and came back after half an hour. After taking bath, he got ready and went downstairs. Attending his GM's morning aarti, he then joined his parents and GM for breakfast. Oppose to the earlier, the environment of his house was jovial and affectionate. Once the breakfast was over, he left for his work. Getting in his car, he zoomed through the roads and reached his workplace, NLHRC.

He went to office and went to check on his patients. He greeted them all merrily, which surprised his patients since Kabir was never this polite. When one of them asked him the reason for this sudden change, he only said, "Someone worked really hard to make this possible, and I'm not letting her hard work go wasted!"

He then went back to his office and checked his phone. There wasn't any message from Annie yet. As per his calculations, she should've reached her apartment. He decided to wait till 11 am. If he won't received any call or message from her, he would call her.

Throughout there next half an hour, he kept occasionally gazing at the clock. It was just five minutes to eleven, when his phone buzzed with a notification. He immediately picked his phone up, a saw an incoming video call from Anaisha. Swiftly he attended it.

He forgot his world for a few minutes when he saw Anaisha's beautiful face. She looked as fresh as ever. But since he didn't speak anything, Anaisha rolled her eyes and said, "Good morning Kabir. I reached my apartment some ten minutes. Managed to get wifi and called you. My flight was fun. I'll give you a detailed version of it later. I hope you're doing fine now. I miss you and I love you! Oh by the way you look handsome in your white shirt!"

Kabir chuckled and said, "I'm doing great Anaisha. Like I'm promised you, I won't be gloomy and will be as happy as possible. Though people around me would take time to accept this new side of me. I'm glad your journey was good. I love you too and I miss you more than anything."

Anaisha grinned at him and said chirpily, "You know Kabir, it's gonna be fun for us now. We'll Skype each other and have video call dates, that'll be so cool. I'm excited for it. Acha listen, now I have to inform mom and dad. Will talk you in some time. Love you and take care of yourself. It's not just you, your life belongs to, it belongs to me! Bye! Love you!"

Kabir smiled back at her and said sweetly, "Sure sweetheart. Take rest and don't worry about anything. It'll all be great. And I know belong to you, it's best thing about my life! Love you too! Bye!"

Kabir then ended the call. It wasn't as tough as yesterday. Maybe because he had decided to be how she wanted him to be, cheerful and happy. He'd be that because it made him feel closer to her!

Theresa's words removed Anaisha's fears fears and worries and she was much more happy, after all who gets to live through a distance relationship with a loving boyfriend. Okay it wasn't funny but she knew it'll all be fine! Her journey was good, thanks to her flight mate, Theresa. It wasn't as hard as she had thought. Rather it was much easier because she knew Kabir would always be with her, though not in physical form but in her heart and that was enough for her.

As Theresa had said, by the end the 17 hours long flight, something surely brewed between Nikhil and Piyali, who was quite friendly with Nikhil's friends and adorable too. All three of Nikhil's friends, Anaisha, Rhea and Yuvraj, teased Nikhil a lot when Piyali gave him a farewell hug. They all were happy for Nikhil as he was the only single person in their group.

As soon as Anaisha reached her apartment, she searched for a wifi connection and quickly contacted Kabir since she was worried for him. But his genuine happy smile, made her heart merry as she knew he was coping well with their temporary separation. And the video call with him, made her very much convinced that everything will be fine and no one could drift them apart, not even the distance!

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