A/N : I'm apologising for the late update as I am having a tough time concentrating on stories...Please forgive me friends and be with the story

Something terrible welled up within Shreya as she got to see poorly illuminated face of daya in the flickering candle. His face was abnormally calm and poised-so much that she almost impelled to doubt whether he had been checking his emotions with much effort or not...She couldn't resist to ask him,:'kkya ...soch rahe hain ssir?' Her eager face to listen to him once, pervaded with a darker layer as Daya remained silent ignoring her query...but at that moment it seemed to her that she wouldn't get further any opportunity to be with her dream man and that she shouldn't squander this moment...

:'Anila ke bare me soch rahe hain aap? hai na?'

Daya glanced at her sharply with a mixture of surprise and displeasure and then uttered solemnly,:'so jao Komal...bohut raat ho chuka hai...'

Shreya smirked fixing her eyes at him and then she asserted impudently,:'kaash...kaaash...main Komal ban paati...to shayad...' she paused as Daya looked at her with utter dejection and anger but she resurrected to finish,:'to shayad...puri jeevan bhar Komal hi reh jane ki sochti...' she advanced towards daya and got to see his flummoxed and vexed face and his gleaming eyes which reflected utter astonishment..

Shreya asked with defiance,:'kya ssir? mujhe datenge? datiye mujhe...jitna mann kare daat lijiyee...'

Daya felt umcomfortable under her unblinking stare and gritting his teeth he tried for the last time,:'dekho Komal...anab shanab bateein karke jhagra karne ka waqt bohut milega tumhe...abhi tumhe sona nahi hai to kam se kam mujhe sone do...zor se neend araha hai...'

Shreya couldn't resist but rasped in anger,:'chaliye kam se kam...main to anab shanab baatein kar rahi hun...aur aap? aap ko to kuchh bolna hi aya nahi...khamosh reh reh ke...khud ki zindegi bhi bigad liya...aur...aur...' her voice turned whisper,:'meri bhi...'

Daya was gobsmacked listening to her words and seeing her audacity...He put every effort to bury anger into his clenched fists and then typed in his mobile phone screen,:'you are disobeying orders and and I would have to inform if you repeat it..' he came closer Shreya to show this text to her while he stated angrily,:'are kya sir sir laga rakhe ho tum haa? isi liye tumhe leke kahi pe bhi jane ka mann nahi karta hai mera...har jagah ja ke tumhara nautanki shuru ho jata hai...adhi raat me jhagra karna hai to ja ke parosiyon ke sath karo...mere sath nahi...'

:"ha...' murmured Shreya with trembling voice,:'Anila ki nautanki aap ko nautanki nahi laga...isn't it? do bood ansu girayi ki nahi...shaadi kar liya us ko...' she was panting hard with unbridled anger and despair while Daya hissed in dejection; banged over the top of a table and then pranced out of the tiny door..He was fidgeting like a wounded tiger and at last when he could normalise the racing beats of his heart, he almost drenched with perspiration and his serene face crumpled with pain blended with fury..He failed to alleviate the turbulent emotion inside him for atleast ten minutes until his brain started analysing the incidents one after another...Shreya for whom his heart still melted rapidly, for whom he still felt flowing tenderness...how could she allege him in such an outrageous manner and most imperatively,how could she talk in such a demeaning and disparaging manner about his wife Anila? He closed his eyes, in an effort to quell his perturbation and found to his consternation that he had been feeling deflated by the defamatory remarks Shreya made about Anila..It appeared as clear as crystal to him that if She had made that comment only about himself then perhaps it wouldn't hurt him so much...

'I have to keep a strong curb on my straying thoughts..' he murmured beneath his breath, just before he saw Shreya again, who was advancing towards him as if to test his restrain..

She stopped coming before him fixing a venomous glance,saying abrasively,:'soch lijiye sir...ekbar komal ban jau...to phir komal ban ke hi reh jaungi...aap...koshish karke bhi...usko...Shreya nahi bana payenge...'

:'shr...' Daya exclaimed in extreme annoyance and then made himself stopped abruptly and then he hissed gritting his teeth,:'tum agar aise...mera order ko disobey karogi...to phir...mujhe ACP sir se baat karna parega...'

:'ha haa...kar lijiye...' Shreya retorted back vigorously,:'waise bhi...mujh pe jitna daat parega...utna hi khush honge aap ssir...'

Daya was going to give a stringent reprimand to her but he ended up heaving a sigh of distress and then he further hissed in undertone,:'shahar wapas ja ke...ye sab baatein hoga Komal...tab tak...please try to be dutiful...'

:'towards what?'asked Shreya sharply..

Daya with tightened jaws, answered laconically,:'towards your husband and family...'

Before Shreya could burst out in anger, Daya slipped into a tiny room and closed the door...

As stillness descended upon her,a guilt badly kept stabbing Shreya...What did she mutter out? How could she let those impudent words out of her mouth? How could she afford to be so defiant with Daya? How could she be so mean with him? The venom that she was spewing out, could be called anything but not love...She hadn't ever loved him...Had she loved him, then she would wish him a happy married life,from the core of her heart...

When she slumped down on the floor, she couldn't realise and when her cheeks were flooded with dried and fresh tears it was too beyond her sense and awareness..

Hours elapsed slowly and when the first beam of the sun illuminated the cottage,Daya came out of his tiny room and noticed shreya,in deep sleep,leaning over the wall..A dark gloom pervaded his face as he stared at her dishevelled hair and black corners of her eyes...He held his breath for some seconds as he felt his jaws were bobbing up and down in an effort to repress the surging pain..

-komal...he murmured..fruitlessly..

Shreya's face seemed serene in sleep..A lugubrious smile formed in the corner of his lips as he turned his eyes away from her and advanced towards back-side veranda...But he was startled to see Ishika and Nikhil there..They were speaking something in undertone making bantering faces at each other...

-Madhura...Daya called Ishika loud..

Both as if jolted from some cherishing dream and now Ishika came tripling ,:'ha bhaiyaa...'

Daya keeping his palm over the tangled hair of Ishika said with a smiling face,:'wah...aaj to meri behn bada jaldi uth gayi...'

Ishika's face turned crimson as she answered cringing down,:'hhha bhaiyaa...wwoh...wwoh...'

Daya now glanced at Nikhil while nikhil irresolutely stammering,:'mmera mmatlab hhai kki...'

Daya casted an inscrutable glance at him and then reacted,:'hmmmm...Madhura...teri bhabi ko jaga de...aur kaam me lag jane ke liye bhi keh de...'

Ishika chirped like a little girl,:'ha bhaiya...' while nikhil too advanced towards her saying,:'hhaa bhaiyaa...'

Daya grasped nikhil's hand masterfully and casted a reproachable glance at him while nikhil kept stammering,:'mmera mmatlab jeejaji...'

Daya,with an unblinking stare,whispered,:'saab kaam me lag jaao...'

nikhil lowering his face down,replied back,:"hha jjeejaji...'

Daya let nikhil go and stood there riveted with absolute silence..Shreya's sleeping face kept intruding into his mind..He closed his eyes,sighing with endless dejection and just at that moment he heard the voice of Shreya..

:'ho sake to...' she paused cringing with a culpable face,:'mujhe maaf kar dijiye...' Daya looked at her astoundingly while Shreya added,:' main koshish karungi...humare rishte me jo bhi khamiya hai...mere karan...usko sudharne ki...'

Daya listened to her words ashen-faced though Shreya continued, in a plaintive voice,:' aap ke liye...mere liye aur...in sare bachcho ke liye...' She flung her hand perhaps to indicate the rest of the team members whom she addressed as their 'children'...Daya gauged with an aching lurch in his heart that at last Shreya was trying hard to get into the character of Komal...

A stifling pain was trying to come out of his heart as he breathed for the first time after listening to her; the pain that compelled him to clench his palm into a fist..He gulped it back and then flashed her an uneasy titter and turned his face away...

Shreya stood resignedly for sometime until Sachin abruptly entered there and very quickly turned back too with apology but Daya made him stopped,:'kya huya Sagar? kuchh kehna tha?'

Sachin with a shy smile tried to do his level best acting,:'are nnahi bhaiya...ttum bhabi se...baat karo na...'

Daya gazed at him meaningfully before muttering in low voice,:'kam me lag jao saab...'

Both Sachin and Shreya nodded and dispersed and Daya too cudgelled his brain to concentrate upon the mission...

But even after sparing half day nothing was found in their small cottage...Everyone gathered at the small hall room with distracted faces...Daya as he was pacing up and down,finally sat on a stool and started with a low voice,:'abhi bhi hume satark rehna parega...kahi pe bhi mil sakta hai...aisa bohut sara jagah ho sakta hai jaha pe humara nazar nahi para...'

:'magar sir...bug jaise kuchh milega hi...hum aisa shaq kyu kar rahe hain?'asked Sachin inquisitively

:'is liye Sachin...kyuki pichhle bees din me...ye ghar ka aat aat member lapata ho gaye the...aur bas is ghar ka hi nahi...is area me jitna ghar hai...har ghar se koi na koi lapata to huye hi hain...'replied daya with poise as his face was getting stern gradually with visible fortitude..

:'magar sir hum is ghar hi kyu chuna?'asked Ishika,still being chirpy Madhura

Daya glossed over her naivety and replied in calm manner like a true guide,:'kyuki...is ghar se aat aat log itna kam waqt me gayab ho gaye hain...'

Sachin now said not aggressively but with a conviction,:"mujhe lagta hai ki is sab me local logo ka bhi kuchh hath ho sakta hai sir...'

:'ho sakta hai,' agreed Daya with a grim face and concluded,:'koi bhi shaq ki daire se bahr nahi...koi bhi...so...try to lead a normal household life...'

:'all right sir...' echoed everyone with determination..

Daya's gaze accidentally flew to Shreya's woebegone face and he studied a rare stoicism within her stern face. Daya though felt an irrestible urge but finally refraining from asking her whether she had been feeling comfortable enough to play Komal...Shreya scrambled to her feet and went towards the kitchen to make some food while Ishika too followed her...