A violent jerk woke Niyati up and she realised that the doorbell was ringing loud...Her granny was venturing to swing her legs from the bed dangerously...She stopped her in haste scolding in husky voice and then donning her overgown she headed towards the main door in hurry...As the door clanged open her eyes protruded in stark stupefaction...It seemed as if a gush of gale dashed upon her face making her fazed...It seemed as if a shaft of sunlight poured upon her lazy eyes making her animated...
The man was standing with a demure smile over his delicately curved lips...
:'aaap?' she couldn't stem the perplexity to seep through her face
:'office ja raha tha...' replied Daya a little late,:'socha ke...nani ka tabiyat kaisa hai...woh poochh lun...' There was a note of natural generosity that imparted the situation much gaiety...
Niyati squinted her beady eyes making him more flummoxed and just when Daya felt that perhaps Niyati was displeased by his visit and he should turn back,Niyati recalled how she kept burning last night to think about how she would contact him...She was quick to convert exasperated gesture to a pleasant smile and asked him inside,:'andar aaiye naa...'
Daya entered inside with a humble smile while Niyati now with a complacent smile, informed him,:'achcha huya aap khud hi agaye...nahi to...mujhe hi...' she grinned like a child and added,:'disguise me jana parta aap ke bureau me...aap ko lene...'
Astonishment crossed Daya's face and he brows puckered together as he asked,:'aisa kyu?'
Niyati answered with a haughty sigh,:'kyuki kal raat se nani ko...' a wave suddenly welled up inside her with a trembling effect though she continuted maintaining an unruffled gesture,:'bas...aap hi ka...yaad araha tha...' her face became a little reflective; eyes turned a little deepened...
A coy smile spread in his face as he spluttered in hesitation,:'sach kahu to...mujhe bhi...kal se...bohut bar nani jee ka yaad aya...is liye hi...' he stopped flickering an uneasy smile...
Niyai felt a strong urge to taunt the man sitting in front of her and without much thinking she threw it with a sardonical smile,:'aap ko kyu yaad aya?'
She kept relishing to watch Daya's baffled face with a cocky smile until he could mumble a reply,:'pata nahi...kyu aya...' he paused and resumed within some seconds,:'shayaad is liye...ki...woh bhi mujhe ...yaad kar rahe the...'he now allowed his glance to lock in her...while Niyati evaded her glance as a querry was blinking on the back of her mind...
"is it apparent to you? is it? have you felt that along with nani...her granddaughter too..." she bludgeoned her mind and thought and with a flippant smile to cover the embarrassment she asked him,:'chay lenge na aap?'
Daya refused politely,:'jee nahi...main breakfast karke nikla hun...' he paused and added then,:'main bas...ekbar nani se...milkar hi...chala jayunga...'
Niyati gazed at his cringed face with immense gratefulness until the silence seemed odd...:'mmain...' she jabbered,:'mmain...nani ko...bulati hun...'
The lady shuffled with difficulty getting the support of Niyati and Daya leaped to his feet hurriedly as they approached...
:'mujhe pata tha betaa...' she breathed with enthusiasm,:'ke tu jaroor ayega...' Daya was about to say something but he wasn't given a chance as the lady started speaking in a breath,:'Nini ne phone kiya tha na tujhe? aur mujhe keh rahi thi ke tera number use pata nahi hai...pata hai kal se aisa lag raha tha...ke...kab main phir se tera ye pyara surat dekhungi...ajaa...mere pas...'
Daya was not only just perplexed but also astounded to a great extent as it was beyond his imagination that an almost stranger lady would shower so much affection upon him...He stood riveted like a befuddled one until the lady reprimanded Niyati,:'are Ninii...tu use chay nashta ke liye poochha ke nahi?'
Daya hastened in answering perhaps to rescue Niyati,:'nnahi nahi nanijee...main nashta kar liya hai...aur phir mujhe abhi hi nikalna hoga...office me der ho raha hai...'he finished with a suave smile..
:'ajeeb baat hai,'started the old lady,:'tujhe dekh ke...mujhe vishwas hi nahi hota hai...ke...tu...lashein kat ta rehta hai...Nini ke tarha...'
Niyati rolled her eyes and heaved a sigh of tiredness while Daya's lips curled to form a comical smile,as the lady continued,:'zara mere Nini ko sikha dena ke kaise lashein kat ke bhi muskura sakti hai woh...'
Daya's glance once accidentally fell upon Niyati's hardened face and sharpened glance and he this time was quick to interrupt, :'jee nahi nanijee...main...'he once more glanced at Niyati a little nervously and then revealed it,:'mmain...lashein nahi kat ta hun...woh...main to...officer hun...' he flung his hands to make her understand,:'woh...investigation...'
:'oooooo...' the old lady reacted soon ,:'matlab tu police hai...'
:'jee...' Daya answered coyly though with a grin...
The old lady said making her face sullen,:'tab to abhi hi tujhe jana parega...'
Daya lingering the smile over his lips said,:'aap to aaj thik lag rahe hain nanijee...quite recovered...aur ek do me thik ho jayenge aap...'
The lady grizzled unexpectedly making Niyati embarrassed,:'aur tujhe bada achcha bahana mil jayega na...yaha pe na ane ka..haa?'Daya's face reflected perplexity and for some seconds he remained bereft of speech until Niyati interposed,:'nani...tum bhi...agar Daya ko bahana hi banana hota...to aaj abhi kaise ata yaha pe?'
Daya endeavoured to widen his lips to force a smile quite inanely while Niyati batted for him with stout reasoning,:'tumhe pata nahi hai nani...CID officers kitne busy rehte hain...aur kitna kuchh ekattha karke wapas ana parta hai bureau me...Agar woh log...' she squinted her eyes once at him and a sardonical smile rippled through her lips,:'pehle woh log hi to evidence laate hain...nahi to...hum ko katne ke liye lash kaha se mile? aur hum kaam hi kaise kare?'
The old lady nodded with puckered brows indicating both of them that she was getting the meaning of Niyati's words while Niyati looked now straight at his eyes quizzically as if relishing the implied meaning she pointed out by her words...
Daya wasn't an obtuse not to grasp the alluded meaning and amazement blended with a little huff seeped through his hardened face...Just some words of Niyati as if brought him back in the past, when he persisted with dangerous defiance that the credit of solving the case should go to them instead of Niyati as they had assembled each evidence with care and then Niyati had put a hand to ascertain something from it...An abashed smile came into his lips recalling those scattered memories of his childish behaviour...
Niyati smirked with immense satisfaction mixed with a rippling delight as she gazed at the sqirm face of the man...The old lady intruded into Niyati's savoury moments by saying,:'phir to tujhe atak ke nahi rakh sakti hun...magar ye to keh ke ja ki shaam ko ekbar tu ayega hi ayega...Ye Nini mujhe verandah me bhi leke nahi jana chahti hai...aur...'
Niyati chimmed in with affectionate admonishment,:'naniiiii'
A genial smile crossed Daya's face as he inadvertently supported Niyati,:'yee to normal hai nanijee...abhi kal hi to...aap ka stiches huya tha...pehle to aap aur fit ban jaiye...phir...'
The old lady with much impatience sounded a little cantankerous,:'thik hai jaa...do mil ke mujhe aise hi bitha ke rakh le...' she plumped herself down on the couch with a despondent face making Daya very much staggered and at the same time he started regretting for his words...Niyati looked at his befuddled face with an assuring smile and nodded after that cuing him not to worry much about that...Daya ventured in feeble voice,:'thik hai...nnanijee...mmain...shaam ko...aaunga..'he delivered indecisively..
Niyati advanced towards Daya with a fatuous smile perhaps to alleviate the irregular thudding within herself,:'aap...fikr na kijiye...' she managed to utter in seeming to be confident voice,:'main ...mana lungi unhe...'
Daya felt bad gazing at the vexed face of the old lady until his gaze broken with a vauge feeling that Niyati was staring at him with sharpened glance..His glance fell and locked with her and there was a queer poignancy existed in her eyes..Her eyes had a queer language he never had seen it-something like derision mixed with curiosity and ...
He evaded his glance and a flippant smile quickly came perhaps to rescue him from the situation...:'chalta hun..' he breathed hurriedly and turned back...
:'suniye...'her voice floating behind him making him stopped...
Niyati slowly moved in front of him and casting a deepened glance at him,divulged as unemotionally as one could say,:'aap ko pareshan hone ka...jaroorat nahi...Main...meri nani ko...mana sakti hun...'
Daya,with further perplexity answered back,modestly,:'aap ki nani ko...aap se achcha...koi bhi mana nahi payega...ye to...normal hai doctor...'a rueful hue reflected over his face as he added,:'mujhe sirf...is baat ka bura lagega...ke...mere baato se...woh dukhi ho gaye hain...'
:'koi baat nahi,'Niyati countered promptly,:'dukh bhoolne me...unko zada waqt nahi lagega...'she emphasised over her each words without knowing the reason ,:'and she will be fine by evening...'she flashed a courteous smile,:'you just don't worry,' the cavalier manner in which she spoke the last words stabbed Daya deeply and he with a purple face left her residence...
As he was starting the bike...Niyati started feeling a stifling pain in the centre of her heart..Her nose crinkled and her brows furrowed and the vision of her eyes getting blurred immediately...Colour stole into her cheeks as she realised that once more she had been damning cruel to him and once more she reached at the summit of her idiocy hurting the man whom she desperately craving to erase from her heart & mind but who uneradicably existed within her...She gazed at his bike that disspitated fast out of her sight...and when she returned into the sitting room,she discovered a drop of tear coursing down her right cheek...