The ringing of her phone distracts Meher. Her mind which was occupied with the thoughts of Aliya and her boss - Dr. Rizvi gets distracted because of the phone call.

Smiling throughout, she checks her cell phone. As soon as her eyes fall on the phone screen and she discovers the number flashing on the screen, the smile vanishes away with in moments.

Her heartbeat picks up pace. Moments ago she was having her most pleasurable time and now she has to endure this - a dark secret of hers! She has been avoiding this for many days. She decides to deal with this now, to get into a conclusion, give it closure! She doesn't realize this is just the beginning of the closure!

~*~*~

Inside the room

Naushad lays his daughter on the bed and starts arranging the sheets and her toys that she brought with her properly.

"Abbu!",

Aliya addresses her father, nervously.

"Hmmm...",

says Naushad, whilst preparing her bed.

"Aap Dr. Meher Didi se gussa ho?",

she asks, nervously.

This catches Naushad's attention. Surprised, he turns to look towards his daughter. With his brows creased, he asks,

"Ye apko kisne kaha Aliya?"

'Has she heard their conversation?',

wonders Naushad.

"Kisi ne nahi Abbu. Par aap kabhi Meher Didi se gussa mat hona. Wo bohot achi hain. Wo meri tarah shaitani bhi nahi karengi. Promise!",

says the little angel, nervously.

This drags Naushad's attention. His heart clenches as he realizes how afraid his daughter is of him.

Inside her heartbeat increases, as she gets afraid that anytime her father might end up scolding her.

Before he could react, she adds further,

"Unhe maine hi bola tha ke mujhe Bano Didi ke paas jana hai!"

Taking a deep breath, Naushad slowly sits on the sofa, around Aliya's feet.

Looking at his daughter lovingly, he explains,

"Aliya beta aise zada bahar jana achi baat nahi. Aap janti hain na Abbu apko kahin akele nahi chorte?"

Aliya lowers her eyes, feeling guilty.

"Bacha aap Abbu ki jaan ho! Apko Abbu humesha apne paas rakhna chahte hain. Agar apko jana tha to Abbu ko boltin aap",

explains Naushad, lovingly.

"Meher Didi buri nahi hai Abbu!",

says Aliya, her heart contracts all the more on realizing that her father doesn't like her Meher Didi.

Smiling at her innocence, her father explains her lovingly,

"Nahi beta. Abbu apse ye nahi keh rahe ke apki Meher Didi buri hain!"

(Naushad-Meher tune begins as he starts thinking about Meher and her goodness!)

Looking back towards Aliya, Naushad explains her,

"Par beta bahar kab kya ho jaye koi bharosa nahi. Abbu ne isi liye apki school bus nahi lagayi aur apko khud lene jate hain school ya Rahim Uncle ko bhejte hain!"

"Apko wahan jana tha aap Abbu ko bhi saath le chalte!",

explains Naushad.

"Haan ye baat to hai ke Abbu bhi jo hua usse nahi rok patey, par beta jab apke apne apke saath ho tab ek tassali rehti hai."

Sighing, he adds,

"Mujhe pata hai ke abhi aap bohot chotey ho ye baat samajhne ke liye. Par ye yaad rahe ke agli baar aap Abbu ko bina bataye kahin nahi jayengi. Okay?"

"Okay!",

promises Aliya.

"Chaliye ab aap aram kariye. Abbu baad mein aatey hain. Theek hai?",

smiles Naushad, lovingly.

Aliya nods her head into affirmative.

"Aap Meher Didi se sorry bologe na?",

asks Aliya, hopefully.

This comes as a surprise and skips Naushad's heartbeat and he feels guilty about scolding Meher. He considers Aliya's words.

Naushad stares away, giving it a thought, while Aliya waits for her father's decision holding her breath, staring him throughout, nervously. Naushad looks back towards Aliya, all serious. With in moments he smiles with all his heart.

The far stretched smile relaxes Aliya, as it confirms that her father will apologize to her Meher Didi and hence she won't be denied to meet her Meher Didi again! And this also leads her to hope again that she might finally get a chance to meet Bano and checkout her jamming session.

As for Naushad, his daughter's request gives him a hope, that he and Meher are going to talk to each other, again!

"Meher Didi ko mere paas bhej do pleaseeee Abbu!",

requests Aliya, stretching the word 'please' to emphasize on it.

Naushad takes a deep breath and stares her, after few seconds he smiles. His smile confirms that she is about to meet her Meher Didi!

~*~*~

While Naushad was with his daughter, Meher receives the call.

"Tumhe kitni baar kaha hai maine!",

she says to the caller.

And hearing the reply of the caller, she replies back,

"Baar baar ye kehne ki zarurat nahi hai!"

After few moments of hearing the reply of the caller, she says,

"Mera ab uss baat se koi taluqat nahi hai!"

"Nahi bikul nahi!",

as she says this a lump builds in her throat.

Her eyes start welling up gradually.

"Aur meri zindagi ka kya? Aur isse hasil kya hoga? Tum apne duniya mein firse...",

she trails off, getting emotional.

She gets another reply from the caller.

"Galti thi meri! Ab wo bewakufi fir nahi karungi!",

she says, controlling her emotions.

"Tum jante ho, tumne..... tumne kis majdhaar mein lakar rakh diya hai meri zindagi ko?",

she asks, her eyes start welling up.

"Main ab ye aur nahi kar paungi!",

she says crying, in a shaky voice.

But she controls herself yet again, she won't break down! Not in front of the caller at least!

"Wo sub kuch khatam ho gaya hai ab."

She gets yet another reply from the caller, which irritates her to the core. Unable to resist herself any longer, she shouts,

"Mujhey phone karna band karo!",

and in anger she throws away her phone in the bush.

After gaining back her equilibrium, she realizes what she has done. She looks here and there through her peripheral vision to notice if someone has seen her throwing the phone or not. Satisfied that no one has, quickly she picks up the phone from the bush and starts fixing it. Suddenly through her peripheral vision she realizes someone's eyes are on her.

She looks up towards the stairs and discovers Naushad standing there, his hands tugged into his pockets, staring her seriously. This skips her heartbeat. She gets startled! Goes numb! Her ears start warming up instantly, out of embarrassment. After few moments of stare when her mind starts working, although in slow pace, she decides that today if he asks her anything regarding the caller, she of course won't be able to set the question aside or ignore it altogether, that's his effect on her! But this she would surely ask - Who is he to ask her that? If he dared to cross his limits, she wouldn't shy away from crossing her limit! But deep down both know that they don't have any limit set when it comes to a matter between the duo!

"Boyfriend ke saath argument hua hai?",

he asks, all serious, in a no nonsense way!

Meher begins to explain but he doesn't even let her say anything, and continues,

"Don't worry, pyar mein aksar aisa hota hai!"

Meher doesn't understand why his words pinch her so much. Just moments ago she was prepared to retort back if he dared to cross his limit. But now that he has, all that she does is lower her eyes, as if accepting his thoughts. Only if she would have dared to make him understand the situation! But why would she? Afterall he too jumped into conclusion without asking her all about the matter! When he doesn't have faith in her, then he doesn't even deserve any explanation.

Meher lowers her eyes, inside her heart gets divided into two and begins a war. Where half of it pleads Meher to confront Naushad and explain the situation to him. There half of her heart asks her to stay strong and deal with the situation herself. Telling him won't make the situation easy. It would rather affect his life too, adversly, just like it has affected her life! It rather still is! Does she want that?

And that's it the second half wins the argument over the first half of her heart!

As about Naushad, only he knows how much courage it took him to blurt out those words! Imagining Meher with someone else is torture enough for him, let alone verbally saying that! But no! he won't let this happen again! He won't let his heart break again because of a woman. Not this time! It's good that he got the alert signal before his heart crossed the limit!

"Aisa kuch...",

begins Meher, lowering her eyes, only to get interrupted by Naushad,

"Aliya apko yaad kar rahi thi!",

his sudden intervening comes as a surprise for Meher, she looks towards him.

She goes dumbstruck yet again! It wasn't easy to calm her inner turmoil and answer him, but she did it! She didn't ignore his words. She rather took it as her duty to reply him back. Courtesy or something else, say whatever, but she did reply! She didn't say NO to you!

And here he is showing audacity to ignore her reply? What is he? Why is he doing this?

Had someone dared to touch her cheeks this moment, that person must have realized how this situation she is into, is affecting her.

She wants to tell him something! explain him something! but what? she knows not!

Accept it Meher despite the fact that you are feeling glad that he didn't ask you anything about the phone call, deep down you wanted him to ask you about the same! You wanted him to take the initiative to start this conversation. Because deep down you know, that only he has the power to drag you out of the chaos you are in right now. You know only he is someone who might lend an ear to your story and in the end won't leave you all alone.

Having said that, Naushad gives her a look that explains how he is disappointed on discovering what he discovered, and leaves for Aliya's room not caring to even know whether she is coming or not.

As for Meher until he vanished from her sight, she kept expecting that may be now he would turn and ask something? Anything? His cold behavior towards her instead of calming her down, gives her adrenaline rush! What a contrast! How can someone do that to her? How can he do that to her?

Realizing that he won't listen, Meher lowers her eyes and gains back her equilibrium. She reminds herself that she is about to meet Aliya, she can't keep that look of horror on her face intact.

~*~*~

As she reaches the thresh of the room and finds Aliya busy spending time with her father, a smile automatically touches her lips. Her eyes twinkle seeing Aliya indulged into playing with a doll.

"Meher Didi!",

Aliya's innocent and melodious voice fills the room.

Naushad half turns his face to right but avoids looking towards her. Giving her all the signals about how he is not in any mood to talk to her. But when are you ever ready to talk to her anyways Naushad? Oh yes, may be then when you need to scold her for her deeds!

Meher's smile diminishes a little as she feels awkward at Naushad's presence there.

"Meher Didi aap mere paas akar baitho na!",

says Aliya innocently.

Meher smiles a little and nervously walks towards Aliya, fully aware that Naushad might not like it after the fiasco that took place. But she of course can't avoid Aliya's demand. What would she say anyways, that no, she can't get closer to her, or else her father might hurt her again? Though not physically but emotionally?

With a throbbing heart, Meher reaches Aliya, ignoring to look towards Naushad. While Naushad stares her as she crosses by him to reach Aliya.

As she sits next to Aliya, Aliya tells her,

"Meher Didi, Abbu aap par aj gussa ho rahe the na?"

Her bold statement skips Meher's heartbeat. She widens her eyes a little secretly at Aliya, indicating her to drop the topic. Aliya does understand what her Meher Didi wants but inside, she promises herself that although she is afraid of her father, but she would protect her Meher Didi from him and hence ignores her Meher Didi's widening of eyes.

Nothing goes unnoticed by Naushad - neither Meher's nervousness; nor Aliya's innocent boldness.

Inside, Naushad smiles, enjoying witnessing these two girls - his personal possessions!

Whatever it is, Meher would never let Aliya think anything negative about her father. He might be a strict boss to Meher, but he loves his daughter immensely and Meher is completely aware of the fact.

"Nahi Aliya!",

says Meher, widening her eyes a little, out of surprise.

"Beta Abbu ko apki fikr hai!",

explains Meher.

Her words have their effect on Naushad. His cheeks start warming up by her warm gesture towards Aliya and knowing-unknownigly towards him as well!

"Aur jab humein kisi ki fikr ho, aur unko kuch ho, to hum aksar aise hi react karte hain jaise apke Abbu ne kiya!",

explains Meher.

(Naushad-Meher's background tune begins)

The fact that she understood his position, swells Naushad's heart. But he chooses to keep it a secret.

Aliya doesn't understand why but she gets the urge to hug her Meher Didi, not for herself, but for her Meher Didi. As if she can feel it that she desperately is in need of a hug.

The sudden assault from Aliya's side, comes as a surprise for Meher. But soon she smiles and hugs her back lovingly.

"Ab aap Abbu se gussa mat hona!",

whispers Meher into Aliya's ear whilst hugging her.

This makes Aliya to broaden her smile. The realization that her Meher Didi doesn't only care about her but about her Abbu too, swells Aliya's heart with joy. She has never witnessed such concern for herself and her father, both, coming from someone, for a long time now. In Meher's arms, Aliya feels like this is her home; this is where she belongs!

As for Meher, her eyes get on the verge of brimming with tears. First the call; followed by Naushad's taunt and now this immense love from Aliya the three different emotions, make it difficult for Meher to bear them altogether. She looks heavenwards just to control her tears; refraining them from falling.

Standing at his place, Naushad enjoys witnessing the love that Aliya and Meher share. But Meher's dilemma too doesn't escape his eyes. He knits his brows as it become difficult for him to decipher her present feelings and thoughts.

Slowly, as Meher gets hold on her emotions, her eyes fall on Naushad and discovers him staring her. She realizes that his stare is not a glare but it's different! Feeling uncomfortable by that possessive look of his, Meher slowly lowers her eyes. Her doing so, makes Naushad to realize what he was doing, he lowers his eyes too, feeling a bit embarrassed.

Clearing his throat, Naushad intervenes,

"Ahmm... chalo Aliya, apko ghar chor dun!"

Meher and Aliya look towards Naushad. Naushad gets taken aback on witnessing the sadness in the eyes of both Aliya and Meher. Clearly they are enjoying their moment together and don't want anyone to end it.

Aliya, unable to resist herself, asks her father,

"Abbu kya main Meher Didi ke saath aur kuch der reh lun? Only two minutes!",

she gestures 2 with her fingers and tilts her head to the left.

Meher who finds her gesture so adorable, unable to control herself, for the first time intervenes in a matter between the father-daughter duo saying,

"Awww.... Aliya.... of course hum saath reh sakte hain, only two minutes!",

Meher mirrors Aliya's gesture, smiling loving at her.

"Only two minutes!",

repeats Aliya.

Still maintaining the gesture, Meher smiling constantly, says,

"Okay!",

blinking her eyes lovingly at Aliya.

At this point Naushad intervenes, bearing a sarcastic smile on his face, which of course innocent Aliya takes as a genuine smile but Meher!

"Nahi Aliya Dr. Meher ko aur bhi kaam honge; aur bhi logo se milna hoga!",

taunts Naushad.

His reminding her all over again of the incident that took place moments ago, drains the blood out of Meher's face.

"Aisa... aisa kuch nahi hai Dr. Rizvi!",

explains Meher.

"Well that's none of my business!",

says Naushad, the smile intact on his face, but the way he looks at her, explains Meher, how much it means to him!

Meher stares him, her blushed up cheeks and the smile vanished from her face, explain Naushad how much his words are affecting her, just the way Naushad wanted!

Remembering Aliya's presence yet again, Meher plasters back a smile on her face and turns to look towards Aliya. Aliya doesn't smile back, knowing that her Meher Didi is hurt. Not having courage to say anything to her father, she wraps her Meher Didi into a tight hug.

While Aliya hugs, Meher pats her back lovingly and looks towards Naushad, pleading with her eyes to keep the discussion for later and not in front of Aliya.

Giving her a last look that reflects his anger towards her, Naushad turns to look towards his daughter. Sighing, he walks to her and sits next to Aliya such that Meher is sitting to the right of Aliya and Naushad to the left.

As the hug ends, Aliya smiles looking towards Meher. Meher reciprocates the smile. Naushad doesn't miss anything!

"Apko bhook nahi lagi Aliya?",

asks Meher.

"A...hunnn...!",

says Aliya and shakes her head into negative.

Meher smiles on her gesture.

"To kal se firse school jane ke liye ready ho aap?",

asks Meher.

"Mujhe kal school nahi jana!",

says Aliya making a puppy face.

"Awww... kyun Aliya? Aap school nahi jaoge to badey ho kar apne Abbu ki tarah doctor kaise banoge?",

asks Meher, lovingly.

"Mujhe doctor nahi banna!",

says Aliya, wrinkling her nose.

"Doctor nahi banna!",

exclaims Meher.

Hearing their on going conversation, Naushad realizes, he has never cared about asking his daughter what she wishes to become when she grows up!

But then can he be blamed for that? A child of Aliya's age, should it be put into priorities list of a parent to think about what she wants to be as she grows up? Or rather what he wants her to be as she grows up? But the initiating of such a conversation from Meher's side, does make him to wonder!

Is it because of this that they say a father can never provide as much care to a child as a mother?

Meher looks towards Naushad in astonishment. Her pursed lips tells Naushad that she is making fun of him. He knits his brows, staring her, indicating her not to mock him.

Laughing still, Meher shifts her attention back on to Aliya and asks,

"To fir apko kya banna hai?"

"Mujhe Bano Didi ki tarah singer banna hai!",

says Aliya.

Her innocent wish clutches Meher's heart. She doesn't even know what might be the consequences if she dares to become a singer in a place like Kashmir. Meher slowly looks towards Naushad. Naushad gives her an understanding look. He feels guilty for having scolded her earlier. The possessive father took over a practical doctor; practical person.

Lowering his eyes, he thinks about apologizing to her, but his male ego comes in between!

Holding Aliya's hand lovingly, Naushad starts explaining her,

"Aliya, apna raasta khud chunne mein koi burayi nahi hai. Aap badey ho kar kya banna chahte ho isse mujhe koi problem nahi hai. Bus ye hai ke sahi raaste par chalna. Kabhi kuch aisa mat karna ke Abbu ka sir jhuke. Aur na hi kissi se kabhi darna. Beta succhai ke raste par chalna kafi mushkil hota hai. Par uss par chal kar, thoda zid; thoda khud par bharosa rakh kar hi hum apne sapno ko pura karte hain. Aur iss mein kuch galat nahi hai!"

Saying that to Aliya he looks towards Meher. More than to Aliya, his words were indicated towards Meher. And Meher doesn't fail to realize that. A knot forms in her throat as she realizes that he does understand.

Naushad realizes that Meher hasn't talked to her sister Bano yet! She must be very tensed about her. But here she is taking care of his daughter. The realization clenches his heart but he doesn't speak to her about the same. After all she has committed mistake by taking his daughter along, it is her punishment, he won't ask her whether she talked to her or not. And then if she had time to talk to 'that person' who so ever he might have been, so she must have had time to talk her sister as well for sure.

~*~*~

After sometime

Assured that Aliya is fast asleep, Meher pats her lovingly one last time, smiling, looking at sleeping Aliya. Aliya was to go home with Naushad, but here she ended up sleeping in the hospital itself, soundly. Unable to resist any longer, Meher bends towards Aliya and kisses her forehead lovingly. Naushad happens to enter the room at that moment and gets surprised on discovering Meher there. He checks his watch and realizes that it's late and she must leave.

With his hands tugged into his trousers pockets and his hesitating eyes on Meher, Naushad enters the room and takes Meher by surprise by speaking suddenly,

"Bohot der ho chuki hai. Apko ghar jana chahiye".

His voice skips her heartbeat and drags her out of her thoughts.

"Hmmm...?",

she says involuntarily, getting out of her daze and looks towards Naushad.

Her eyes tell Naushad about her disturbed state. She surely wants to be with her sister and then the way he treated her after that phone call, she must be going through a lot of turmoils. Naushad realizes this yet again and secretly feels guilty.

Smiling sarcastically, Meher, still in a state of daze, says,

"Ghabrayi hogi Bano!"

Her words drag Naushad's attention. He stares her seriously, starting to feel her pain.

"Bohot mulayam dil hai uska. Agar zor se koi baat karle to ghabra jati hai wo",

says Meher, her eyes welling up gradually, her voice shaky. She smiles sarcastically whilst uttering these words.

Naushad lowers his eyes slowly, he starts feeling a kinship with Bano.

"Jab... Jab humein ye ehsaas hua ke usse saaz; sargam se lagaw hai....",

her teary eyes blink as she remembers the moment she is describing.

"Tab Jannat... Jannat ne atkeli lete hue kaha... 'Ghar mein thoda tez koi baat karle tumse to tum darr jati ho. Aur jab apne band ke saath hoti ho to tez tez ga ga kar humare sir mein dard kar deti ho? Tab itni fuurti kahan se aati hai tum mein? Tab tez awaz se darr nahi lagta? Kahan chupa kar rakhti ho tum uss awaz ko ghar mein? Jo bus gatey waqt hi nikalti hai?' ",

laughs Meher.

This makes Naushad to laugh too, noiselessly.

"But you know what Dr. Rizvi?",

says Meher, looking towards him with a new determination in her eyes.

Naushad gives his full attention to her, a smile stretched on his lips.

"I am really proud of her!",

she confesses.

Naushad could feel her happiness. Smiling, he knits his brows a little and turns his head just a little towards right, as a gesture that he is hearing her and wants to know what did she do to make Meher proud of her?

"Isliye kyunki usne kisi ko apne sapno ke adey nahi aney diya",

Meher says proudly.

Anger surges through her as she says,

"Wo sub jo aurton ke saaz nawaz hone ke khilaf the, Bano kisi se nahi dari!"

"And I am really very proud of her for that!",

declares Meher, in a shaky voice, but still the determination and pride are evident in those eyes of Meher which are looking towards Naushad.

Smiling, Naushad nods in affirmative.

"You should be Dr. Mirza! You should be!",

Naushad motivates her.

She feels all the more nostalgic as she realizes that he is not against her. They stare each other transmit their emotions to each other through their eyes. Where on one hand a little smile stretches on Naushad's face there on other hand Meher stays serious.

After few moments of enjoying the eye lock, Meher lowers her eyes out of hesitation. Her cheeks warm up again. But this time the feeling is much different than the previous time!

"Meher!",

he addresses her for the first time by her first name and that too the informal one. He could have said Meherunissa, keeping the formal touch intact. But he doesn't realize why he decided to call her Meher! May be because her co-doctors call her Meher? Or may be Meherunissa is a lengthy name to take; time consuming may be? Or could it be something else?

This skips Meher's heartbeat. When has Mr. Sadu; Mr. Chauvinist; Mr. Judgemental turned cordial? Did she miss something? Any new gossip about him may be? All these thoughts make Meher to blush as she realizes she is thinking rubbish.

Meher stares him waiting for him to speak further because she herself after hearing him calling her by her first name, is at a loss of words!

Despite understanding how this affected her, he doesn't make any effort to rectify himself and address Dr. Mirza instead like always!

"Bano ke saath jo kuch bhi hua... main agar kisi bhi tarah apki madad kar sakun to...",

hesitates Naushad.

This certainly hurts Meher!

Had it been someone else instead of him saying those words, she would have felt offended then too but would have politely declined the help. But the help coming from no one else but Naushad Rizvi, is certainly not acceptable to her.

She hasn't still forgotten their first encounter where he taunted the Mirza women!

"Thank you for your concern Dr. Rizvi. But I am capable enough to take care of my family!",

states Meher, clearly.

This contracts Naushad's heart as he realises that she took him wrong.

Meher lowers her eyes as she understands that her reply has hurt him. Then looks back towards a smiling Naushad, his head bowed. Smiling, but sarcastically; feeling guilty.

She waits for him to look towards her to know that he is fine. He does look up towards her again, the smile intact on his face. His eyes twinkling with pride for her.

Giving him a last look, she leaves. Inside she regrets the fact of choosing to have a normal conversation with him at first place, despite knowing how narrow minded he is!