Karthik stared out of the window of his bedroom watching vacantly at the heavy downpour outside. The storm outside was nothing compared to the storm raging within his body, mind, and soul.

The divorce papers had finally been made and delivered. He did not know why his hands shook as he leafed through them. A strange shiver ran down his spine and he felt cold sweat break out from his tensed brow. Regaining his haughty resolve, Karthik marched resolutely to her bedroom, divorce papers in his hand.

He was desperate to know what would she do ?!! Will she sign it ?!! Will she not sign it ?!!

She was sitting on the bed in a pink T-shirt and plain white shots. This was one of her night wears. It indicated that she had not gone to the workshop today, nor had she bathed. The sun’s rays from the window gently touched her hair and gave it a soft brown hue. Her beautiful face had its usual pink glow.

No one had moved him like she did. No one had mesmerized him like she did. Aware of what he was about to do, Karthik stood quietly for a while , staring at her as she wrote something in a diary unaware of him. His eyes and his mind hungrily took in and memorized every detail of her appearance as if those details were going to be used as life support later on. Then he took a deep breath and started to walk towards her.

Naira heard his footsteps. She stopped writing and stood up as if understanding that something of importance was about to take place.

“ I need to talk to you.”, Karthik said, sliding his gaze all over her face.

“What ?!!”, Naira aked, her voice deprived of any emotion.

“You know why I had married you. Also I had stated in the contract that you would only have to live with me until the land comes under my possession”, Karthik started explaining, when Naira cut him off.

“ I already know that.What’s new ?!!”, She asked looking him in the eye.

Karthik was taken aback by her blunt question. It threw him off. Regaining his composure, he continued.

“ The land has been transferred under my name. The divorce papers have been prepared. They need our signature. Once signed, they will be processed and soon our divorce will be final. I will be free of this meaningless marriage and you will be free to do what you please. Also you would get your own place for you dance academy as per the contract. Here are the papers.” Karthik said trying to read her expressions. He wanted to know what was she thinking exactly.

He handed the papers to her. She stared at him as she took the papers from him. Her eyes were blank but her lips quivered. That gave him an urge to kiss them which in turn infuriated him. She doesn’t love you, Idiot, was all that his mind shouted.

Naira stared at the papers in her hands. Karthik’s heart beat grew faster with every passing second. But then she had started signing on the papers. His jaw dropped. He felt a sense of panic rising up in his chest.

“What the heck is she doing !! Why is she signing the paper so easily ?!! Why didn’t she cry or show sorrow. Does she feel nothing for me ?!! How is this possible ?!!” Was what his mind shouted.

Outwardly, he just watched her sign the papers stunned into disbelief. Eventually, she took his left hand with her right hand and turned his palm upwards. Her touch sent a hot flush through his entire body. Then she slammed the papers in his hands and walked out of the room.

For few minutes, Karthik stood motionless trying to grasp the full meaning of what had just taken place.

One thing was clear now, she clearly didn’t love him. Else why would she sign on the papers ?!! His love was impeccable. He would never reach out to her now.

If they didn’t meet, the challenges, the fights, the makeups, the thank yous & sorrys, if they had’nt come from fighting against each other to fighting for each other, it would have been better. Even after she broke his trust, He wanted to hurt her for hurting him, but it pained him more.

Karthik came out from his trance, and looked around for her. She was not there, maybe she didn’t want to see anymore of him. Sighing his eyes moved to the bed, there was a dairy over it, the one she had been writting in, he opened it reluctantly.
——-
My Heartbeat.

Every time we were together, we fought. But even fighting with him was fun. He cared for me, when I was in trouble. He got affected when I was hurt, I too felt the same.

He was my dream catcher, keeping all my nightmares at bay. He used to cuddle me in the night, and I felt contended in his arms. There was no other safest place for me to be.

He had also made me confident and stronger. He gave me the push that I needed to achieve my dreams. He didn’t abandon me like I had been since my childhood, instead he always had my back and supported me in whatever I did.

But then when he did so much for me, he also ruined it at the same time. He had been soft and sweet to me since the last few days but then he had suddenly turned cold to me. I couldn’t love him, he didn’t deserve it. But I had deeply and gradually fallen for ‘him’.

I had suffered all my life, the glimpses of my childhood, my dad beating me and my mumma. Scaring the hell out of me, were still embeded in my heart as well as my mind. They were my scars. But he was like a remedy for them.

I know, there will be no ‘us’.

I was going to confess my feelings to him yesterday but he backed off from me as if burned. That blew me off. He didn’t want me. He didn’t love me. I meant nothing to him…..
——–

Karthik read the whole dairy again & again to make sense of it, was he just hallucinating ?!!

Karthik closed the dairy with a thud, he couldn’t come out of all that just happened. She had openly confessed her love for him, detailed her sufferings, the extend of hurt he had caused her.

He again looked at the divorce papers on which she had SIGNED. He felt like a complete looser. He had again trusted the wrong person and doubted on her . He had hurt her all over again.

Karthik fell on his knees as if lifeless. All the accusations hurled at Naira by him revolved in front of his eyes like a horror movie and he felt like his brain was going to bust a nerve.

Then he rushed to find her in the mansion. He looked for her frantically. He started searching the mansion shouting “Naira !! Naira !!”

She was no where in the mansion, all of her other things were still there. But Naira was nowhere to be found.

His love, His babe, his life had left him. All he was left with were those memories of hers he had captured and they were the only life support he had.

One year later…..

In his room, Karthik dressed in a formal business suit quickly went through the contents of a leather bound folder. Making some mental calculations, he walked out of his room.

The month after Naira left was straight out of a nightmare. Karthik went berserk unraveling the entire city. For how long his heart had been telling him to recognize his feelings while there was still time !! But alas, he had doubted her. Again. He had not trusted her for the second time.

The search went on for 3- 4 months and brought no desired results. Then, Karthik lost it. He worked from eight in the morning to 10 at night. Then spent sleepless nights either turning in his bed or pacing his room restlessly. He hardly slept, barely ate, rarely spoke, and almost never smiled.

Sometimes in the middle of the night, he would be sitting on his bed staring at nothing. He would often go to her room and sit there rummaging through the things she had left behind. Naira had almost left her whole baggage behind except a few dresses.

Karthik used to look through her clothes, bracelets, earings, accessories and most importantly her pair of ghungroos. Touching them and feeling them used to ensure him that she was still there with him.

” Sir, the clients are waiting for us.” Swayam interrupted his chain of thoughts.

“Yes,Let’s go.” Karthik answered.

Karthik picked up his coat and walked out of the house following swayam to their car. Swayam got in the front seat while Karthik sat at the back lost in thoughts.

This meeting was really important for him. He had got his father’s dream land a year ago, and now he wished to start a school on that land. He wished to provide free of cost education for children through the medium of that school. It was the only way he could get inner peace.

But there was this construction problem going on due to which this meeting was organized. He also had to hire the faculty who would be handling the running of the school. As he was thinking, the car reached his office and swayam got down to open the door.

Karthik and Swayam walked towards the conference room, wherein the clients who had agreed to construct the school were already present. The meeting lasted for an hour or so. A decision was passed during the meeting that shaked Karthik to his core.

It was decided that Karthik would once have to visit Udaipur to follow up on the construction and worker’s issues and also view the progress on the site. Karthik was very much terrified with the idea of visiting the same place where it had started on the first place.

Udaipur was where he first met her. Married her. Fell in love with her. The only mention of that place brought a swarm of memories back to his mind. But then he had to go their for his Father’s soul to rest in peace.

He wondered where was she ?!! He had tried searching for her but it all went in vain.

How was she ?!! Did she miss him ?!!
———
Udaipur.

A girl gets out of her room and rushes towards the Daance school Building opposite to her house. She is mumbling to herself and walking fastly.

She reaches the rehearsal hall and her mumma greets her with an unusual sarcasm

“ Is this the time to come, Naira ?!! You have been running this dance school for almost a year now, but yet you have not been on time for a single day. Where have you lost you punctuality ?!!” Her mumma said.

“ Sorry mumma, I didn’t realise the time.” Naira answered sheepishly.

“What would you teach these kids when you yourself don’t know the importance of time ?!!” Her mumma continued with the scolding.

“ Sorry. It wont happen again. Promise !!” Naira said pulling on a puppy dog face.

“ Fine. You conduct your batch, I will look out for the other miscellaneous activites.” Her mumma concluded and left the rehersal hall.

As soon as her mumma walked out, the entire batch of kids burst out laughing. Naira too laughed looking at them. After the laughter died down, she calmed herself down and caught her breath. She squared her shoulders indicating that she was in work mode now.

“ Come on now, lets start the rehearsals.” Naira said out to the kids and started the music.

That was her first batch. She had more 26 to go before the day ends. Time travelled quickly with Naira dancing all the way through the day. Her mumma brought lunch for her in the afternoon and both of them had sat down on the rehearsal hall floor and ate it, chattering all the while about random things.

As her last batch got over. A small girl walked towards naira and pulled at her top, asking her to bend down.

“ I really like you. Its fun to learn dancing from you.” The small girl said and kissed Naira on her cheeks and walked away.

Naira smiled at her affectionately. But as the little girl walked away, slowly the smile on Naira’s face faded away and a hint of sadness took over her.

Naira then closed her dance academy and walked out of the building. She crosses the road and walks in the exact opposite building. She takes the lift to the second floor and opens the door with her key set. As she enters the living room, she watches her mumma all relaxed on the sofa watching some saas bahu drama.

Both of them eat their dinner. Talk to each other about how their day has been and then her mumma retires to bed.

The night air has a slight chill and Naira is just as sleepless as she was before. She makes a hot cup of coffee for herself and sits on the reclining chair next to the window covered with a warm blanket and goes into deep thought. She has had her sleepless nights since the last one year. Since she left him…..

A year has passed since she last saw him. When she kept a huge rock on her chest and walked out of his home. The fight about Rithvik had made him mad at her. He didn’t even trust her an ounce.

She already knew that soon she would have to leave his place and never look back, when the land would be transferred under his name.That was the contract between them afterall. She also knew that if she maintained any ties , she would be reduced to a pathetic, pitiful creature. Because afterall he would never ever be able to trust her completely and their relationship would never move forward.

She knew something had happened that night at the party. She also suspected her father being behind this misunderstanding between them. She also knew he had some huge misunderstanding about her and Rithvik. When he had asked her to sign the papers, she had agreed mutely as she thought it was useless to explain him when he wouldn’t even believe her.

She didnt recall ever feeling the kind of pain that she felt when Karthik coldly handed her the divorce papers. She had not been so hurt, when her father had physically abused her. This is not love, this is mental disorder she thought.

The moment she had signed on the papers, she had walked out of the house. She wanted to run from there. She knew she would fall week once she sees him again. She had left almost all of her stuff behind. She had some of her savings in the purse that she had carried out and thus she travelled in a bus to Udaipur.

When she reached her parents house and opened the door. The view that met her infuriated her to no end. He mother was lying on the floor and her lip was bleeding while her father sat on the sofa in their living room. She must have been habitual to this view by now, she thought.

That’s when Naira decided what she wanted to do with her life. She took her mom and left her dad’s house, much to his amusement. Then for the following 2-3 months her mumma and she worked some odd jobs to save some money and lived in a flat on rent. She started her own dance academy once enough money was saved. Now she had her own flat and a dance academy. She also had her mumma all safe and protected.

As she thought about Karthik, she didn’t miss him but every time she closed her eyes she saw him. His face barely half an inch away from her’s and his eyes trying to bore a hole into her soul leaving her with an undefined and maddening craving to touch him. That gave her a new meaning to pure torture.

Naira felt tired and sleepy. She kept the empty coffee cup in the kitchen sink and curled up next to her mumma and fell asleep.

A shining red Audi was waiting for Karthik to take him to Udaipur. Swayam was accompanying him as he had all the details of the work going on the land. Karthik was supposed to supervise the progress of the land and also solve the problem of the workers.

Swayam had suggested that they visit the few schools located over there so as to decide which faculty should they hire for their school. He had jostled down few of the schools and academies which provided the best of teachers in Udaipur.

The car started on its journey. It was almost a four hour journey. Soon the beautiful landscapes and mountains rendered Karthik awestruck and speechless. The journey was a splendid one but Karthik was in his own zone. His life could never be beautiful again without her.

They reached Udaipur and he could almost feel her presence in the air. Karthik had engrossed himself in the work at his father’s land. The school was shaping up pretty good and he was happy with the progress. This had almost become his passion after Naira left him. He had poured his heart out in this project.

After the site visit and the meet with the construction workers, Karthik and swayam went on their trip to different schools. He spent the next few hours selecting the faculty for his school. He found all the specialists in every subject. He wanted perfection.
———

As Naira was working at her dance academy. She had a growing sense of uneasiness and restlessness. She hadn’t been able to keep any food down since this morning. She felt a strange chill go up her spine and cold sweat broke out on her forehead. Her hands shivered as she tried to tie her Ghungroos on her feet and she felt that a nerve in her brain was going to bust. She felt terrified and she had no idea why.

“What’s wrong with you ?!! You haven’t eaten anything since last night. Are you fine Naira ?!!” Her mumma asked worried to the core.

“Yup, I just don’t feel like eating anything.” Naira answered smiling fakely so as lessen her mumma’s worry and stress.

But she could feel that something was going to change. Today was going to be memorable day for her.
———-

“Sir, we are almost done. This is the last academy. She is one of the best dance teacher Udaipur has to offer. If we get her on board then our school would excel in the dance section.” Swayam informed Karthik, who was lost in some thought.

“Ohkay, I will try to convince her to join our faculty.” Karthik answered, paying little attention to the information provided.

His red Audi screeched to a halt, at the main entrance of the Dance academy. Karthik stepped out of it. He had convinced all the teachers that he had wanted to teach in his school. This was his last stop. He knew swayam had choosen only the best and thus he didn’t want to let go off anyone of them.

Karthik climbed up the stairs and opened the front door of the studio. It was almost 9 in the night and so he assumed that no class must be going on right now.

As he stepped inside the studio, Karthik felt a deep sense of craving within him to hold Naira in his arms. He had gotten used to such thoughts . She would dominate his thoughts many times in this one year that had passed. It was no use fighting this feeling as then it only got worse. But what he felt now was much stronger.

Suddenly a slow music started playing in the background. Karthik walked towards the direction from where the music was played. He found himself standing in front of the rehearsal hall. The hall was separated by a translucent glass which allowed only blurred images to be seen from outside.

“ Tu joo nazron ke samne, kaal hoga nahi,
Tujhko dekhe bin mei marna jauu kahi,
Tujhko bhul jau kaise,
Mane na manau kaise, Tu bata,
Roke na ruke naina,
Teri oor hai inhe toh rehna.”
——–

As the day had officially ended, Naira had played one of her favourite song and was dancing to its tune. She loved the song as it described her feelings and gave them complete justice through the melody. She had lately been fond of dancing to this song, whenever she used to miss Karthik beyond her control.

“Hatho ki lakire doo milti jaha hai,
Jisko pata hai bata dee jagah woh kaha hai,
Ishq mei jane kaisi yeh bebasii hai,
Dhadkano se milkar bhi, dil tanhaa hai,
Doorie mei mitau kaise,
Mane na manau kaise, Tu bata,
Roke na ruke naina,
Teri oor hai inhe toh rehna.”
————–

Karthik was lost in the song and the view of a girl dancing inside the rehearsal hall. He could only see her form through the partial visibility glass. But he observed that she was really good at the art.

His breathing got heavy and he felt restless. He removed his wallet from the back pocket of his pant and opened it. There was a small passport size photo of Naira in it. After she had left him, he had downloaded her Facebook profile picture and had it printed so that he could carry it everywhere.

He softly caressed the photo with his finger tips and then brought it upto his lips and gently kissed the photo. He took a minute to compose himself and then wiped the small tears that had formed at the corner of his eyes with his thumb. He took one last look at her photo and kept it back in his pocket.

He made his resolve and pushed open the door to get into the rehearsal hall, what he saw next shook him to the core……

Precap : And they meet again !! Naira's decision!! Kartik and Naira!!!A week later!!! Life in Delhi!!A talk!!