~ You know what you see, but sometimes what you see, is just an illusion~

Kabir looked at his wrist watch impatiently, some tenth time in the last ten minutes, wanting Shaheen's flight to land as soon as possible. It was ironical how he had waited five years patiently for Roshni to get better, and now waiting for an hour seemed like such a big deal. He had so many hopes from Shaheen's presence, he always knew that she had some kind of healing aura, but today he was vulnerable about it, wanting a miracle to happen.

Post the flight's announcement, it took some fifteen-twenty minutes more for Shaheen to walk out of the airport, and she smiled noticing a restless Kabir waiting for her in a corner. He hadn't seen her yet, so she took a moment to absorb what she was seeing in him - the changes, precisely.

It was true that Samaira was her closest pal, but there was something very different about the bond she shared with Kabir. Neither of them ever acknowledged it, didn't define it, but Shahen had always respected Kabir's maturity. Because he didn't have a stable home, he was emotionally more grown up than the others, and was the most reserved out of all of them, and at the same time, someone who tried to look at things with a broader perspective. That was more why it had pinched Shaheen to know about Kabir's apparent hatred for Abhi.

When Kabir saw Shaheen, a subtle smile graced his lips, and he stared at her with so much softness that it made her grin. He didn't know if she was comfortable hugging him, he had always respected whatever boundaries she set for herself, because of her spirituality, but Shaheen walked towards him, into his arms, softly patting his back. She had always thought that if she had an elder brother, it would be like Kabir given he used to be so protective of her before and her sentiments for him hadn't changed a bit.

"You have no idea how much I missed you Shaheen", Kabir sighed into the embrace, cautious enough to not make her uncomfortable. Shaheen smiled and broke the hug, holding his arms, blinking in assurance that she was here now.

"You were our anchor. You left, and every thing fell apart!", his voice held this ancient sadness, his eyes immediately turned glassy. Shaheen squeezed his hand in support, trying to make him feel better. Kabir realised the same, and gulped, trying to get a control over his emotions, and guided her to his car.

"Shaheen, I don't know how Roshni would react okay, or if she will, at that. Don't be baffled to see her, she hasn't been in a good place since -", he stopped abruptly, fixing his seat belt. Shaheen who had been buckling hers paused and looked at the grave expressions on his face.

"Since?", she prompted, and Kabir was brought back to this world at her voice. Starting the car, he drove out of the airport, and looked at her.

"What do you know? And how are - they?", there was a stagnant pause before his last word, and Shaheen felt the wedge. She had no clue if Kabir knew anything about Abhi.

"Do you have any clue about them?", she also refrained from taking the name, and Kabir shut his eyes for a second, shaking his head.

"I couldn't. Samaira, she went out of her way to side with him, even after she knew what Roshni's condition was! I could not be cordial with her even, I was afraid I would hit him if I ever came face to face with him!", he confessed, avoiding to look at her.

"Roshni had you, but Abhi had literally no one Kabir. Were you even aware where Sam was when she denied you help over that call you made her?", Shaheen questioned back, in a very calm voice.

"Where else? Must be at his house, sitting comfortably in his huge lounge! And he had no one? Please, he has always had an army with him! And he didn't care about anyone, did he? You too left because of him, didn't you?", Kabir fired, tilting his head to look at her face, but when he read the question in her eyes, he mellowed down.

"A few students from school came to see me in the hospital, they told me about the fiasco and you running out of the canteen in tears", he answered the unasked question, and she chuckled, shaking her head.

"You made the same mistake I made. Trusting everything and everyone except the Abhi we should have known", she commented, making him frown but she didn't clarify anything and he could not ask.

After all he didn't care about Abhi at all, or so he told himself.

Parking the car, they made their way inside the house. Shaheen kept her bag aside and eagerly looked at Kabir who pointed towards a room, exhaling deeply. Shaheen looked at the half open door, before she paused and looked at Kabir again, and then decided to take her steps towards Roshni.

With baited breaths and slower steps, she reached the room, and pushed the door open. Roshni was lying on her side, her eyes staring at nothing in particular, her eyes so dull and her face so pale that Shaheen felt tears stinging the back of her eyelids. The Roshni she remembered was so vibrant, full of colours, and now this Roshni lay clad in a dull blue kurti, looking like someone had sucked her zeal out of her.

"Roshni?", Shaheen called out from the door and everything froze for a second, especially Kabir who was standing right behind Shaheen, his heart thudding so bad.

Roshni heard the voice and blinked twice before slowly tilting her head, her eyes moving from the wall to the door. She had to slightly squeeze her eyes to focus, and see clearly if it was who she thought it was. Shaheen waited with baited breaths, not wanting to flood Roshni with too much emotions but it was already too late. Tears rolled down Roshni's cheeks as she forced herself to sit up, making Kabir gasp out loud in happiness. He could not believe it was finally happening, Roshni was doing something out of her own will and not because she was being forced.

It went all too slow, Shaheen taking steps towards Roshni, and Roshni sitting on the bed, her eyes fixed on Shaheen, both the girls heavily in tears and before Kabir knew, Shaheen had hugged Roshni, who immediately hugged her back, breaking down in her hold.

The sobs were so bad, it reminded him of the day after that incident when she had opened her eyes in the hospital. That day too, she had cried and cried, hopelessly and endlessly, and it had taken him hours to calm her down, but once she had, she had calmed down in the worst way possible, embracing the silence for what had seemed like forever.

Shaheen held Roshni and let her cry, but everytime she sobbed louder, it broke Shaheen's heart too, for she too was crying with her, holding her. Roshni was trying to speak something, but all that was coming out was gibberish in between her sobs. Kabir was awaiting the moment, he just wanted her to speak something, anything would do, even if she called Shaheen's name.

It was almost an hour now, but Roshni couldn't stop crying. Her sobs had died down a little, and Shaheen was more composed now, but Roshni hadn't left her for a second, and was now lying with her head in her lap, occasionally hiccuping and silently sobbing until she finally fell asleep.

Disappointed and lost, Kabir walked out, and sat on the couch with his head in his hands. Some moments later, Shaheen walked out too, and sat beside him.

"Hey, It's okay!", Shaheen tried to comfort him, but Kabir shook his head.

"It has been five years Shaheen, five years I am trying to make her talk but she won't budge. One day changed everything for all of us, didn't it? Oh wait, not for all. He must be happy, destroying our lives, isn't he?", Kabir spat, and Shaheen looked at him, silent.

She understood well what he was doing. Escaping the situation by blaming it on someone else, and in this situation, it was Abhi.

"If living like a shell, where the only emotion you feel is pain, and where your castle is made of loneliness, is called being happy, then sure he is very happy", Shaheen answered, with a sad smile, Abhi's desolate eyes roaming in her mind.

"What?", Kabir looked at her baffled, but Shaheen didn't continue. She didn't know what to say, but that made him angry.

"He should feel the pain Shaheen. He should feel the pain for objectifying your friendship in front of our classmates. He should feel pain for breaking Roshni's heart and telling her that he was just playing around with her. He should feel the pain for playing with her emotions and manhandling her - ", Kabir was cut short by Shaheen's loud gasp as she shouted a loud 'WHAT' and another loud sound that made them aware of a visibly shaken Roshni who stood near her room's door, the vase near by now lying on the ground!