#2~||Akdha SS||~~Woh Bhuli Daastan~~||Important note pg 106 (19/8) - Page 57

The sudden unexpected meeting with the man who was responsible for her state had shook the very base of Jodha's existence. She tried to calm her racing heart and also tried to ignore his gaze, which was almost burning her.

Jalal on the other hand was also not in a better state. The realization of what he had done ten years ago, made his heart cringe with disgust. The understanding that he was the reason behind each of her sleepless nights, that his name was written in each tear drop that fell from those orbs, that he was the reason behind her wretched state, made him hate himself more and more.

As the cool breeze continued to hit his heated face, another sudden realization shook him. Even after wronging the woman beside him for ten years, even after trying to shut her chapter from his life for such a long time, he still loved her. And that was the reason, her tears gave him so much pain, so much self-loathing. He still loved her and he still desired her, but the worst part is that she won't believe him anymore. His heart knew it...

kitni chaahat hai dil mein tu jaane na
kaise dil ko samjhaayein dil maane na

(you don't know how much love is there in the heart,
how do I placate my heart, it doesn't understand..)

His tries to separate himself proved to be futile as his treacherous eyes refused to part from her figure. He understood today, even after being separate for such a long time, still her presence beside him managed to unnerve him, managed to bring the desperate feeling in him.

 baaton ko teri hum bhula na sake

ho ke judaa hum na judaa ho sake

dil mein hai zinda har ghadi tu kahin

ho ke judaa hum na judaa ho sake

(I couldn't forget your talks,

I couldn't be separated from you even after being separated.

You are alive in the heart somewhere every moment,

but I couldn't be separated from you even being separated.)

A sharp brake caused both the occupants to come out of their reveries. The busses standing at a distance marked the Andheri Bus Depot, their final destination for the night. The city which never sleeps.. The view of the bus stop at 2:50 am was enough to certify the line.

The hustle bustle at the bus stop made the place alive. The sounds of bus engines coming to life and also the sound of them going dead, was creating a different kind of music to the listeners' ears. The ever busy city showed every proof against the timepieces.

Jalal and Jodha came out of the jeep as the driver moved the jeep at a place away from the masses eyes.

"We have reached earlier. Let us now get mixed here in the midst of these passengers and wait for the prey", Arnav hurled commands at his policemen who nodded in reply and got mixed in the crowd in no time.

...

At five past three, Jalal's roving eyes got the desired sight of Maham alighting from an auto with her trolley trailing behind her.

Jalal's eyes at once found Arnav sitting at one of the still open tea stalls seeping tea. On his indication that their prey has come, Arnav got up from his seat, paid the stall owner and signaled Jodha sitting on the opposite seat to follow him.

"There she is", Jalal pointed towards the retreating back of Maham.

"She has come in a white salwar. Follow the short haired woman with the blue luggage", Arnav again hurled commands at the policemen in his Bluetooth.

"But Ruquaiya still isn't here", Jalal murmured looking back at the autostand.

"She is coming. My man is escorting her. She'll reach here safe. He is delaying for us to settle well here", Arnav said while smirking.

"Let us follow Maham", Jalal said after taking a look at the forlorn woman standing beside.

"Hmm", humming his answer Arnav pinched the bridge of his nose before trailing in the path Maham had just taken.

...

"There she is", Jalal murmured as he saw Ruquaiya walking slowly into the backyard of the Bus stop. The black scarf which partially covered her face, was providing hindrance to the others to look into her murderous eyes. If they would have looked, they would have seen the fire of revenge burning there.

"At last you came", Maham glanced at the watch fastened on her left wrist to check the time, "You are late".

"So what?", Ruquaiya raised a brow before pulling away the scarf, "I came".

"Yeah", Maham shrugged before continuing, "I thought I have to go to your apartment once again".

"How can I give you so much pain as to go to the apartment again", Ruquaiya continued the game of words that Maham had started.

"Give the money", Maham came to the point.

"Not so soon. I've come, now wait a bit", Ruquaiya said before putting her hand behind her chemise to draw out the dark brown metal revolver.

"What's this?", maham's shriek broke the stillness of the night.

The hustle bustle of the bus stop was absent in the backyard. Apart from four broken, old buses nothing was present in the backyard. The scene was complete opposite of the stop.

"Don't shout! This place is free of any other living beings apart from us", Ruquaiya smirked, "so none is going to hear your shouts".

"Why are you doing this?", Maham pleaded.

"Don't you want money?", Ruquaiya continued in her brutal tone, "And moreover you have become a thorn in my path whom I want to remove as soon as possible".

"I don't want your money", Maham pleaded again, "I'll go now".

"Not so soon", Ruquaiya's voice became a pitch higher, "You have invited this and now you are not going to walk out of here alive".

A cruel laugh escaped Ruquaiya's lips as she went on to talk, "This was also the fate of another lady who came in my path six years ago. Today the same fate is going to embrace you too".

"Whom are you talking about?", Maham asked baffled by this new revelation.

"Hamida banu, Jalal's mother", murder flashed in her eyes as Ruquaiya went on, "She had come to know about the truth of the video by tapping our conversation and was going to inform Jalal about everything".

"I couldn't allow her to do that. I couldn't allow Jalal to know that the video was an edited one downloaded from net. That's why her accident' happened and she was found dead", Ruquaiya finished her tale with a triumphant laugh, "But she was unlucky. Her chapter was ended by my goons but your story will be ended by me".

"No please", Maham pleaded to Ruquaiya as the latter raised her revolver.

...

The world stopped for two inhabitants of the broken old bus as soon as Ruquaiya's words had reached their ears. Their brain had become numb after hearing the loathsome truth from the mouth of the criminal itself.

The sound of a gun fire brought them back to the present world.

The first human feeling that Jalal felt was his hatred getting stronger for his own self. What wrongs did he not commit in the past years? From mistrusting his own wife, to giving her divorce, and then living in with the murderer of his own mother. The list was a long one.

As soon as the regret for what he had done passed, it was replaced by a stronger urge to provide the criminals of the same fate as his mother. Looking outside the shabby bus window, he saw Arnav charging towards the two culprits.

"Ammijaan", a small whisper made him look behind. The view shattered him once again. The woman he has wronged the most was almost crouching on the floor, in a futile effort to save herself from any more pains.

"Jodha", he was at once by her side. True that the revelation has hurt him beyond repair, but now was not the time to cry. The woman in front of him needed his attention now.

Quickly bending down he reached for her.

"Jalal", she sobbed, "you didn't tell me that Ammijaan..."

She couldn't complete the sentence as the words got lost in her voice. In an attempt to make herself clear, Jodha raised her fluffy eyes only to meet with the tortured eyes of Jalal.

"I didn't know it was Ruquaiya's ploy", gathering courage Jalal voiced his words, "Let's go outside".

Why?? Jodha wanted to ask, to face more heartbreaks?

"We need to face them. They deserves punishments and we need to give them that", on understanding the question in Jodha's eyes, Jalal answered.

...

A bullet sound broke the still of the night.

"it's over Ruquaiya", Arnav's voice followed the bullet sound.

"Don't move. I'll shoot her", startled on finding that they were not alone, Ruquaiya screamed.

"Shoot. And then you will be shooted also", Arnav smirked and continued, "No body will be proof to anything that happened here".

"Don't", backing away Ruquaiya shouted while the female constables circled them.

"Ruquaiya", Jalal's voice boomed in the open ground.

To her utter surprise, Ruquaiya saw Jalal alighting down from a old bus with Jodha following him.

"Jalal", Ruquaiya's voice lost the strength.

"Enough now. You claimed to love me? How can someone harm her love' so much? You succeeded in separating Jodha from me, and now you killed my mother too?", Jalal's voice got choked as tears came in his eyes.

"Arnav, don't waste any more time", Jalal glanced at Jodha and then continued, "arrest them and just get their faces out of my sight".

Jodha's eyes followed Ruquaiya as she and Maham was led out of the backyard. But nothing seemed to affect her. In the dim light glowing in the backyard, she saw Ruquaiya turn back to look at her.

...

A small thud sound made her look at Jalal.

Jalal was stooped down on his knees, the silent tears making their way down his cheeks, as he remembered his mother.

Jodha's eyes teared again at the sight, but she had as if turned in to a stone.

Controlling her urge to go and console the broken man, she turned her back on him.

"I'm leaving. I hope my work is over", she said in a heavy voice.

The words made Jalal look upto her back turned figure.

"Please stay with me for sometime", he mumbled.

"I can't", she replied in short sentences and made her way out of the backyard, while continuously telling her mind, let him face what I have faced once.

Kho gaya, gum ho gaya

Waqt se churaaya tha jo

Apna banaaya tha..

wo tera, wo mera

Saath nibhaaya tha jo

Apna banaaya tha..

(it's lost, missed,

what was stolen from time itself,

and was made my own..

that closeness that was there,

 between you and me,

that we had embraced.. )

The world seemed to empty to Jalal as Jodha walked out leaving him alone to face the pain alone. He understood that the dream which his heart was seeing again with Jodha was shattered completely, that the Jodha he had known ten years ago was not this woman who had left him just a few seconds ago.

The thought alone pained him a lot. Endless tears streamed down his eyes as he let his guard down. Tonight, he just wanted to be the small Jalal that he once had been, he wanted to hide in the safety of his mother's embrace and just cry his heart out. The pain was too much to bear with. The night provided the secrecy and the muddy ground felt to be his mother's embrace as his tears wetted the already muddy place. He cried and cried and cried till the hands felt limp and the head felt heavy. He slipped into a tortured sleep with the dream of his mother sitting beside him and telling him stories...

Chadariya jheeni re jheeni

Chadariya jheeni re jheeni

Aankhein bheeni ye bheeni ye bheeni

Yaadein jheeni re jheeni re jheeni..

(The sheet is thin, worn.. (the meaning here is that it's a little transparent, as it is wet with tears.)

My eyes are moist,

The memories are delicate.)

...

This much for now..

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