It was a very fine morning in Parakram SAF, the sun was about to rise and the sky was covered with the beautiful hew of blue and orange. The birds started to leave their nests for hunt of food.

In one room of the prestigious army academy, two men were sleeping on separate beds. One of them was sleeping peacefully while snoring but the other one seemed disturbed. He was moving his head here and there under the influence of sleep and had clutched his blanket tight with his fists. Sweat beads started to form on his wrinkled forehead and that's when some loud words escaped his throat.

Person - Mujhe ma..af kardijiye! Mu..Mujhe maaf kardijiye!

With each passing second, his anxiousness and voice grew louder, resulting in the breaking of the sleep of the other person. He was Faizi sleeping with his best friend, Karan! 

As Faizi opened his folds of eyes, he saw a scenario which was not new to him, and it was something what he's been witnessing since years. He shook his head and stood up lazily to marched towards Karan's bed, and he sat near his head. He slowly started to caress his hair and what he saw was enough to bring a sweet smile on his face. As Faizi's fingers glided through Karan's silky hair, stressful wrinkles on Karan's forehead started to straighten up and his movements also gradually stopped. Faizi's been doing the same since years to relieve his Janaabji's pain atleast upto some extent and has mastered in it. Looking at Karan's calm sleepy figure, Faizi wanted him to have a nap for 2-3 hours more but being tide by the cuffs of duty, it was time to wake up!

Faizi - Karan! Karan, utha ja! Already chaar (4) baj gaye hain. Gym nahi jana kya?

Being a light sleeper, Karan's eyelids fluttered and soon he opened his eyes and some unshed tears streamed down from the corner of his eyes. Karan was quick enough to wipe them, but Faizi saw them but decided to not to react.

Faizi - Karan, chal..uth ja! Aaj exercise nahi karni kya?

Karan - Na..nahi Faizi, utha raha hoon.

Karan hurriedly rushed towards the attached washroom of the dorm, hiding all his emotions in his eyes. Faizi, who knows his turmoil could just whisper a silent prayer for Karan's betterment, being helpless.

After 10-15 minutes of getting ready, Faizi, Sanju and Karan were in the hanger area of the academy, performing their personal daily exercise.

Today, Karan was a bit lost in himself which was noticed by both Faizi & Sanju. He picked up his towel from the bench to wipe his sweat from his chest. But instead of wiping his chest, he was rather wiping beard and sometimes his vest looking at nothing intently.

Sanju - Sirji, ke hogo? Sab theek to hogo na?

Karan was brought back on earth by Sanju's voice and was quick enough to shrug off everything.

Karan - H..haan Sanju, sab theek hai! Kyu? Aise kyu pucha?

Sanju - Na sirji vo aap paseene ki jagah kapde saaf kar raho hain. Aur aaj kafi idhar-udhar bhi lag raho hain.

Faizi smirked knowing the reason behind Karan's absent mindedness but didn't dare to utter it.

Karan - Nahi Sanju, kuch..kuchh nahi hua hai! Aur tum dono bhi jaldi karo, breakfast ka time ho raha hai!

Karan announced it sternly, confusing both Sanju & Faizi by his behavior.

Soon around 5am, the whole mess was crowded with the cadets & trainers. Monami was sitting with the cadets surrounding her and Karan was on the other bench, with Faizi & Sanju.

Monami was concentrating on her food with laughing and interacting with her friends. While Karan was just playing with his breakfast as if the cereals are the football and his spoon is like the player.

Accidentally, Karan & Monami's eyes met and Monami passed him his heart warming toothsy smile. Though on some other days, her smile was enough to brighten up his day. But today, the things were dull! Today, her smile was just reciprocated with a forced one. Monami scrunched her eyebrows and questioned him through eyes, to which he just shook his head with a small fake smile as if nothing has happened. But Monami being his Rani Sahiba, caught him in seconds. She got that there's something troubling him and decided to confront him later. 

After an hour, all the cadets were performing their daily drills & the trainers were examining and correcting them whenever they'd make any mistake. Suddenly, Bala who was trying to climb the rope a little higher this time, fell down resulting in catching everyone's attention towards himself. 

Bala (in pain) - Aahh!

Everyone rushed towards him and Monami & Karan sat near him as Monami started to examine his elbow and shoulder joint.

Monami (scolding him) - Bala, itna bhi kya upar chadhna tha ki gir hi gaye!

Bala - Ah! Sorry Doctor madam, vo..thoda upar chadhne ki koshish kar raha tha.

Bala closed his eyes tight in pain and wanted to scream out loud, but controlled himself thinking that his Karan sirji would scold him upon being so weak. But to everyone's surprise, Karan was all quite which was very odd of his nature. 

Koel - Oye Popcorn, tu theek to hai na?

Bala was about to reply when Sanju spoke.

Sanju (in a harsh tone) - Ka hi lagi hogi je jhingur ko, uth chal!

Sanju started to pull Bala by his arm on which he got injured. Everyone thought that Karan might agree to Sanju and will order Bala to again practice rope climbing but his words made everyone confused.

Karan - Sanju, kya kar rahi hai? Dikh nahi raha Bala dard mein hai?! 

Sanju immediately left Bala's arm and looked at Karan with scrunched eyebrows. Even Monami was confused looking at Karan who is being so lenient on training ground, which he usually is not. While everyone was surprised & confused, there was one person who was knowing everything.

Karan (while checking Bala's arm) - Logo ko zakhm dekar unka dil dukhana to sabko aata hai, Sanju. Unpar malham lagana seekh!

 While saying this, Karan had some unsaid emotions in his heart which were frankly depicted by his eyes. Monami how was squatted on his eye level witnessed the hurtfulness in his eyes which saddened her much. 

Uttering those words, Karan left towards his room while the rest kept staring at his retreating figure. For the time being, all the cadets and trainers continued with the drills but none of their's mind was involved. All were just thinking about Karan's words and the depth they had. For a second, Sanju definitely felt bad but one assuring look by Sid definitely made her heart feel lighter.

After completing all the drills for the day, Monami left for Karan's room and decided to confront him about the sudden change in his behavior. As she entered, she saw the scenario she never wished to see, and it broke her heart into pieces.

She saw Karan sitting on his bed while hugging his knees. His eyes were red and reflected immense pain. A non-stop waterfall of tears was flowing from Karan's eyes, making Monami's heart ache. She was shocked to see Karan's condition and immediately ran to him.

She saw a photo frame in his hand but observing the finesse of the moment, she kept it aside & decided to not to notice it for the moment. She wrapped her arms around him as if she's protecting him from every evil thing out there. When Karan felt her warmth, he too snuggled in her chest and cried his heart out. Monami started caressing his hair and eventually, his loud cries turned into slight sobs. Karan lifted up his head and both broke the hug.

Monami - Karan, kya ho gaya? Kyu ro rahe ho aise? Kisi ne kuchh kaha kya?

Karan (sobbing) - Vo..vo, ku..kuchh nahi!

Saying so, Karan turned his face away from Monami and forcefully wiped his tears and tried his best to maintain a normal face.

Monami was surprised seeing this behavior of Karan and her heart was thumping faster with each passing second. She turned Karan towards herself holding his shoulder and lovingly caressed his cheeks.

Monami - Karan, you know na you can share anything with me? Batao na, Karan! Aisa kya ho gaya jiski wajeh se mere Khadoos Shergill ki itni pyaari ankhon mein itne mote-mote aansu aa gaye?

Karan shed a few more tears and made up his mind to disclose whatever is in his heart. He took a deep breath to gain some courage.

Karan - Monami....

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