Sitting on the bench near the bus stop, Abir exhaled, his heart getting heavier by each passing second. There were two school of thoughts running through him- One, where he didn't want to miss this chance of being near Mishti, take in her essence as much as he could, without Kunal or say, anyone's prying eyes, and hope that it would help him darg himself through the rest of his life, and the Other - where he wanted to run away so far that Mishti's hand in someone's else's hand would become a far fetched memory, where every thought of Mishti being someone else's would not draw a stake through his heart. His aviators did a really good job at hiding the anguish in his eyes, but the way he would shiver every now and then, clenching and unclenching his fist, anybody could tell the depths of his despair.

Well, anybody except the people who claimed to love him, who called himself his family and were either so oblivious of the world of ache he was struggling to breathe in, or didn't care enough.

Either way, it only broke him further, if there was anything left to break, at that.

Standing a few feet away, Mishti and Nishant stared at Abir and his forlorn figure, clearly at battle with himself. Nishant looked at Mishti and squuezed her shoulders, and Mishti smiled back, drawing strength from his comforting gesture.

"How long until the bus leaves?", Rajshree, who was standing beside them, questioned and Mishti took a glimpse of her Badi Maa whose eyes were stuck at Abir.

"Half an hour".

That's all Rajshree wanted to hear - that she had time, that there was still time and she could help her son gather himself back. Nodding at Mishti, she walked towards the very bench, while Mishti and Nishant hid themselves from the site.

Abir was too lost in his thoughts to notice a familiar figure coming closer and sitting beside him.

"So, now my son won't even give me a greeting?", Rajshree spoke, trying hard to keep her voice normal, and making it sound like a tease.

The warmth in the voice penetrated the strong walls of his thoughts and he jerked his head to look at her.

"Badi Maa?", Abir could not keep the surprise out of his voice, it was more like a shock. He could not believe she was sitting right beside him.

All these months, they have met every week, but she hadn't faced him, or looked at him even once. He had craved for her, as much as he had craved for Mishti, but he then also taught himself to be satisfied with whatever specks of care he was getting from his Badi Maa, especially when he believed he didn't deserve even that.

Rajshree looked at him and shook her head. Slowly she raised her hand and pulled away the aviators off his eyes, and Abir closed them immediately. He didn't know what to say, how to explain the tears that were wetting his lower eyelashes, the dark circles that told the stories about his sleepless nights or the anguish clearly shining in his eyes.

Rajshree didn't say anything, lest she would break down herself. In that moment, she cursed herself for not trusting him enough, for not seeing what was so visible all these days. Mishti's inconsolable tears had blurred her vision too, and as much as she knew it wasn't entirely wrong on her part, she also now know that it wasn't right either.

She stretched her hand and held Abir's right hand in between hers, and then squeezed it lightly. All that Abir was holding in broke at that, and he turned to keep his head on her shoulder, despite the fact that it was highly uncomfortable physically, given he was so tall and he had to lean a bit too much.

Before he knew Rajshree had wrapped her arm around him and he clutched her saree with his free hand, letting his tears flow in her bosom. She rubbed his back and held him together, and Abir couldn't even express how grateful he was.

It had killed him, Meenakshi's demand because less than twenty four hours ago, his Baba had already left him in tatters. And that, coupled with a the worst blow he could ever expect, from a woman he called his mother, and then the loss of the only thread to his sanity, his Mishti, it was only natural to loose himself in that ocean of betrayals. He had hoped for his mother's support when he needed it the most and she had instead hurt him where it bled the most.

When Abir broke the hug, he sniffed adorably and Rajshree wiped his tears, finally seeing the glimpse of the Abir she had wanted to see all this while.

"I am here for you, okay? Everything will be okay!", Rajshree patted his cheek and smiled, and Abir smile back. These were the few words he was wanting to hear from someone all this while and had found no one every time he looked back.

The bus honked, and Abir looked ahead. He had completely overlooked the fact that if Rajshree was here, Mishti was supposed to be here too.

Mishti was already crying and Nishant was holding her, feeling emotional himself. The moment between Rajshree and Abir had really touched him.

After Rajshree left, Abir looked around and saw Mishti and Nishant talking. Mishti's back was facing him, and though he could not hear a word of what they were talking, he saw Nishant cupping her face and running a finger through her hair. And then, suddenly, he embraced her, patting her back.

It made him nauseatic and he turned away, trying to hold his own tears back. The fact that it was his right once, to hold her so close, but it wasn't him right now doing so, made his heart ache in ways he didn't know was possible.

He assumed because they were together, they would sit together, in the bus. He didn't know if he wanted to see that, so he decided to settle on the roof of the bus. The memories of the trip where he had seen her for the first time, immediately began to flood his mind. The first meet, her ear ring, her words, her actions - he remembered everything in vivid detail. 

"Ohh Mr, move aside. Other people also need to sit", Mishti's voice made him look up, and he was astonished to find her standing in front of him.

Wasn't she supposed to sit with her best friend?

"Move na Ajeeb Rajvansh, are you deaf also now?", Mishti made faces, and it jolted him out of his reverie.

He didn't trust himself to speak, so he shifted his bag and settled a little far. Mishti dusted the are and sat where he was sitting, facing her back to him.

"I was right only, see. When it's sun, you don't wear youe cool sunglasses, but yesterday inside the shed of the resort, you were flaunting them. Ajeeb Aadmi!", Mishti began a conversation and looked back, Abir was pouting angrily at her. She bit back a chuckle.

"Why are you even concerned? Don't you have a boyfriend to talk too?", Abir snapped and Mishti found it more funny than she thought.

"I do, but he trusts me enough. And once in a while it is good to talk to strangers".

Abir didn't know what seemed like a harder punch in his gut- the fact that she talked about trust or that she called him a stranger.

Mishti saw through the shadown passing through his face, she knew her words cut him deep. But if jealousy and hurt were what she needed for him to speak up, she would do that.

And she knew it wasn't out of her ego. It was from her raw need of getting the Abir she loved back. He was holding too much in, Abir was fundamentally a person who talked his heart out, at least with her if not with everyone. He always stood with right and protested against wrong. Loosing that very quality, and because an abyss that was trying to hold every punch, every bruise, every heartbreak inside was what corroding him.

"Strangers? Well I think you are right, because I can't seem to recognise this Mishti who gave up her identity for someone", Abir replied a few moments later, he couldn't not say something back to her.

" Who said I gave up my identity?", Mishti turned to face him, and raised her brows.

"No one, I know it. My Mishti treated her specs as her identity, and you wearing these lenses only contradict that", Abir shrugged, missing his slip of tongue when he addressed her as his. Mishti felt her heart swell in happiness.

"You know what Abir? Sometimes we have to fight for what is ours and sometimes we have to let it go. I think nobody understands that better than you", Mishti answered, her eyes locked with his and his orbs dilated in response.

Instinctively he clutched her ear ring resting in his hand tighter. To say, he had let go of Mishti and was holding her memories back, with the same intensity.

Mishti averted her eyes and looked towards the sky, thanking her Kanha Ji for the opportunity.

If nothing, she will at least bring back the Ajeebness of her Ajeeb Rajvansh before the trip ended, or so she thought.

Abir raised his eyes and looked at the sky with a complain for his partner. The harder he was trying to hold himself, the easily his guard was slipping away. He just hoped to not ruin things more for Mishti, and himself at that.

But what was about to happen, was something neither of them were hoping for.