It was nearly dusk when the driver picked up Mishti from the institute. The ride back home was a silent one, she closed her eyes, rubbing her palms and placing them  on her eyes. The warmth soothed her eyes a bit. She has spent the whole day in front of her laptop, compiling data and typing the testimonies, which the previous intern had failed to do.  She let her head rest of the head rest of the seat and within seconds, she was napping.  

A honk, a skid and then a slam and with a jerk, she flew into the front seat of the car.  The airbag had exploded hitting the driver. Her head felt light and then there were shouts, hands pullingher out of car.  She felt a sting on her cheek, her cheek had scrapped against the seat's covering, but she was fine. The driver was pulled out of the car and quickly his wound of the forehead was covered by a handkerchief

As she looked around her, she saw the little boy crying uncontrollably in a lady's arms.  "Is anyone hurt?" she asked the strangers around her .

"No, thanks to your driver, the child is safe."  They explained how the child left his mother's hands and ran towards the balloon seller, who was standing on the other side of the road.    

The car was hit, though repairable,  she went to the the driver and within a few minutes, an ambulance picked them for the clinic nearby. With minor scraps and a band-aid on the forehead of the driver, Bade Papa gave some money to the driver for his fast recovery and sent him home.  

The night fell silently on Mishti as she stood in her balcony.  Everyone had been so worried about the accident that she didn't realize how fast the time went after she returned. She looked up at the sky,  the north star was shining brightly as usual. The rest of the stars were dim, hidden behind the clouds. Star gazing had always been one of her favorite things to do at night. Along with Nishant, she would spend hours gazing at the sky at night from their porch, rocking on their chairs and drinking lemon tea, telling each other stories of their day, sharing the problems and finding solutions.  Sighing at how warm she felt when her Nannu was around, she wrapped her arms around petite body. The breeze brought in cool air from the desert making her shiver a little bit but she was used to this chill, London would get cold at nights. In three more hours, Nishant would be in front of the porch looking up and pointing, Ms. Teapot, what's the story of that star?  Somehow Mishti and Nishant had learnt to live a simple life, spending minimum time on social media and in front of television and more time  with the nature and their books. They enjoyed this life and wished everyone else did too.  This would always be the best hour they would spend with each other in the day.

"What..." Kuhu asked, startling Mishti and breaking her warm thoughts, "are you looking at ?" Kuhu asked as she rubbed her eyes and looked innocently at her. 

Pointing at the north star, "The sky as usual." Mishti replied dreamingly. 

Kuhu looked at her sister and gave her a brief hug, "Sleep, tomorrow we have a wedding to attend to. You already have a bruised cheek" she examined the face,"and two small cuts, I don't want you to have dark circles too." With that, she went back inside the room. 

Feeling the uneven cheek, she felt the burn, the ointment would heal her skin, but she would have to go with this bruise for the next few days.  Picking up her book, she headed back inside to end the eventful day. 

The night had just begun for Abir. He picked up his paint brush and dipped it in cold blue paint, he had an image he wanted to draw, and his inspiration was right in front of him, the beautiful night with the moon and the one star shining in the sky- his North Star, always so bright and beautiful. 

"I miss you." He picked up a few more colors and painted the canvas with his dancing brush. He glanced at the finished piece and then back at the sky, then closed his eyes and made a wish.

Kuhu's morning started with a scream, not hers. She looked around at the mess that Mishti had created, unknowingly in a pursuit to finding something.  

"What are you doing?" She managed to ask through  a yawn. 

 "MY DIARY," Mishti shouted, extremely terrified, throwing everything she ever owned into different places  in search for a life she had kept so safely.  , "it's missing."

Kuhu was now very curious, "Missing?" The one thing Mishti held closer to her life was this one diary, she used each page, each line recreating her life and her thoughts on it.  For Mishti, her diary held the secrets no one knew, the things she did not want to accept about herself, she would write it down. It was the most honest reflection of herself. 

"Kuhu!" Mishti was holding her waist with her two hands and looking at Kuhu with an expression that she would pounce any second at her if she didn't tell her, "did you hide it?"

"Nannu- ki-teapot," Kuhu attempted to calm her down, "we might dislike each other for many reasons, but you are still my sister. I would never steal this one thing from you, ever." She tried convincing, "Trust me."

Holding her palms on her face, she sobbed. It was the only physical thing she loved the most and now it was gone.

"When did you last write on it? " Kuhu rubbed her back in circles, calming her down."Yesterday?" She asked while pulling her curly hair into a pony. 

Mishti removed her palms from her face and started thinking, "Not yesterday," she could feel the thickness of ruby- red leather cover in her hands, she has held it for so many years now, she could feel its smoothness as if it was invisibly there in her hands, "day before, in the park." 

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