âªâ« Raahon mein jo bhi aaye,
Vo baadal banke mushkilon ke
Unko bata dena re,
Pare rehna re, zinda dilon se
Ho.. andaz hai tera,
Befikar mauj tu
Ke abb mutthi mein duniya saari hai,
Udd jaa ab teri baari hai...âªâ«
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"Hey, I have brought food!"
Kabir walked into Ahana's cabin and saw her standing near the glass window as she looked over her shoulder to look at him. She looked stunning wearing black suit pants and a white shirt, and her suit jacket was hanging on the back of her chair.
He realized she was on a call so he set the food on the coffee table near the couch. After a few minutes, she came and they had their food while a light conversation flowed smoothly between them.
It has become their routineâwhenever they are free they join each other for lunch.
It has been a week since they came back from New York. He remembered, the morning they were supposed to leave, he woke up on the sofa with Ahana sleeping flushed against his chest and her head pressed into his neck. They were watching a movie and maybe didn't realize when they fell asleep on the sofa.
He knew that if Ahana woke up in that position she would be awkward and then eventually again become her old closed-off self, so, he kissed her forehead and somehow stood up from the sofa without disturbing her sleep.
He also wrote a note which managed to put a smile on her face. It said,
Do you know waffles are just pancakes with abs?
Well, they are waiting for you to devour them. Come fast!
Your friend,
Kabir
He was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard a baby's voice.
"Masi!"
He turned to see Inaya there with a small baby in her arm who was doing grab-y hands towards Ahana. She went towards Inaya and took the baby from her. "Hi, Ziya!" she whispered, tapping her nose to which she let out a happy giggle.
Both the friends talked in hushed voices for a minute and then Ahana walked toward her desk and put aside all the things to make room for Ziya. She looked like she had forgotten everyone in the roomâher whole focus was on Ziya.
"Hey!" he greeted Inaya who smiled and greeted him back.
"She loves kids!" he exclaimed as they saw her sitting on her chair while she sat Ziya on the desk and started playing and talking to her in a baby voice. Ziya looked at her like she understood every word that came out of her mouth.
"She does! And miraculously, kids love her too." Inaya grinned but her grin turned into a sad smile in a few seconds. "It's unfair to her, you know, that she can't have kids. And instead of showing sympathy, people show her cruelty."
They were standing away from Ahana, so she had no idea what they were talking about.
"You are talking about Vikram, right?"
"Him, along with the people."
He frowned and looked at Inaya. "What are you talking about?"
"You don't know?" Inaya looked at him with surprise written all over her face.
"I know about Vikram but what about others?"
"Why do you think she never goes to social events?" when he didn't answer she did for him. "Because those people make her feel not welcomed. They make snide comments about her accident, infertility, and not getting married. It may seem that she's overreacting by not going there anymore but words can cut deeper than a knife."
He saw her grinning, showing things to Ziya from the glass window. "But she used to go there."
"She used to, yes, but then she realized that after every event she used to get angrier and frustrated. She felt drainedâthe events took a toll on her so, she stopped going. A lot of people would think that she's hiding but that's not the case here! She isn't hiding she's restraining herself that's all. Those stupid people don't realize that the accident didn't make her weak instead it made her more dangerous. They don't realize that she can still show them their places in a blink of an eyeâshe can ruin their businesses and lives. She can ruin them if she wants to and after what they had made her go through? I bet if she does, she would enjoy every bit of it!"
"But, that's not her, right?"
"If you had asked me that question a year ago then my answer would have been a no. But this darkness is a part of her now." Inaya smiled suddenly looking at Ahana.
He saw that Ziya threw her small hands around Ahana's neck and rested her head on her shoulder, she walked and sat on the couch and adjusted Ziya on her shoulder so she could sleep comfortably while Ahana gave soft pats on her back.
When Ziya was fast asleep Ahana gave her back to Inaya after telling her to take Ziya back here when she woke up.
After Inaya held her daughter in her arms she walked towards the door but stopped before him. "Ahana doesn't know how to talk about her feeling, Kabir. So, if she does tell you about something in the future, you should know that it is very difficult for her." Saying that she left the office.
He was in deep thought that evening.
Kabir had been drawn to Ahana from the moment he saw her 11 years ago and over the years he has observed her closely when she wasn't looking, but now that he has started to know her deeply he realized that he had always liked her but now the feeling has started to get a little more intense.
Ahana has been in dark places and everyone knows that, maybe that's why people had always treated her as the bad guyâthey tried to make her the villain. She has spent so much time in those dark places that she let the darkness grow inside of her without realizing but there is also light in there which surfaces from time to time without her knowledge.
She isn't a bad person, just misunderstood and hurt. She was forced to mature at a tender age. She had started protecting people around her when she was just a child and all her cold, emotionless, closed-off behaviour is just her defense mechanism to keep herself safe because no one did that for her when she needed it.