"Bas yahin rok dijiye bhaiya", Naina paid the autowala and stood infront of the gate of Moon Way Apartments. She crossed the gate to go in and the security immpediately stopped her asking who she was. "Jee main Naina, Mr. Rawal ne kaha tha aaj aane ko. Main yahan shift hone wali hoon." Upon hear this the security pointed towards a room adjacent to the building hall saying Rawal sahab will be in there. Thanking him she went towards the room. Entering the room she saw a man in his mid forties sitting on a bench reviewing some documents. She knocked on the open door to grab his attention. "Kon?", he asked looking at her. "Namaste. Maina Naina. Ek hafte pehle baat huyi thi humari."  "Haan... Naina, Mumbai se.  Aayiye", he offered her to sit in the chair in front of him. "I hope apartment dhoondne mein koi dikat nahi huyi."  "Nahi nahi Rawal ji."  "Apke apartment toh lagbag taiyar ho chuka, re-paint ka kaam bhi khatam ho gaya. Bas todhi safai ki zaroorat hai. Aap chahe toh main woh bhi clean karwa dhoonga."  "Kya main apartment dekh sakti hoon?". "ofcourse dekh sakti hai".

Naina followed him inside the main building and climbed up the stairs. Her apartment was located in the second floor. Rawal gave her the key. Taking the key from him, she opened the door and stepped in. The smell of freshly painted walls welcomed her inside the apartment. "Darwasa band rakte hai na isiliye paint ka smell abhi bhi hai, warna toh paint suk gaya hoga." There were two large windows in the living room on the right side wall with a few feet gap between them. She opened the windows letting the smell out and fresh air in. Looking around the room, she noticed the sunlight covered the room well. Since she wanted an already furnished apartment, there were furniture lying around with large cloth over them. Overall the place looked neat. Having already informed Rawal to keep the apartment ready when she comes, she observed that the place did not require much cleaning. "Yeh furniture theek se rakhne ka time nahi mila, aap chinta mat kijiye main kal tak sab kuch theek kar doonga."  "Thank you Rawal ji, bas furniture ka positioning dekh lijiyega. Main kal dopehar yahan shift ho jaungi, par usse pehle main kuch arrangements karna chati hoon"  "ofcourse kijiye. Main neeche wale room main wait karta hoon, sab hone ke baad bula lijiyega mujhe." Once Wawal left Naina closed the door and looked around the house. A small pathway connected the living room to the kitchen. Opposite to the kitchen was a small room, space enough to fit a single cot bed and a cupboard. Next to that room was the master bedroom, spacious compared to the previous room an an attached bathroom with bath. Another small bathroom was in between the kitchen and the living room but a small one without a bath. She liked the place, it was enough for her and windows let in ample amount of light into the bedroom and living room. She checked the time in her watch, it was 2:30, another thirty minutes and Preeti and Swati would be there with the things she had asked for.

At 3:15, the bell rang and Swati and Preeti greeted Naina. "Yeh lo tumhara saman", Preeti handed a bag to Naina. "Yeh kya hai?", Swati asked. "Chal dikhati hoon tumhe". The three girls sat in the middle of the living room with Naina carefully removing the contents out of the bag. "Wow itne saare photo frames", Swati exclaimed. "Saare purane photos hai woh maine bohot pehle he frame karwaya tha, Chachaji ke ghar pe hi the, maine socha naye apartment mein acche lagenge. Haina?"  "Bohot accha kiya Naina, issi bahane purani yaade bhi taza ho jayegi."

Taking out each photo the girls remembered the time it was clicked. "Naina yeh fourth standard ka class photo haina?", Swati excitedly showed the photo to Naina. "Haan Swati, dekho Pandit ka rotlu chehra"  "Dekhao mujhe", Preeti snatched the photo from Swati's hand. "Lekin Pandit ro kyu raha tha?"  "Tujhe yaad nahi", Naina asked. Preeti was blank but both the girls started giggling. "Has kyu rahe ho?", Preeti asked looking at the her two friends. "Tu ghar jaake ussi se pooch"  "Bata na. Kya hua uss din>", Preeti scratched her head not able to recollect any detail. "Tu uske samose kha gayi na isiliye", Naina spoke in between her laughter. "Woh bhi pura samosa ek dum se muh mein tus liya uss bechare ke samne", Swati blew her cheeks big, imitating mouth full of food and even Preeti couldn't stop herself from laughing. "Sach mein aaj bhi mujhse zyaada Samose se he pyaar karta hai".

"Yeh dekho, madam ka best student trophy wala photo, yeh first grade ka, yeh second, yeh third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh??? Naina eleventh ka photo kaha hai?", Preeti searched the rest of the bundle. "Ah... Yahin kahin hoga...tu.. tu.. shayad.. usse ghar par he bhool gayi". "Nahi maine saare pack kar liye the". "Chodo na Preeti", she said and picked up a random photo and said, "Yeh dekho, yeh toh...", her face lost the smile seeing the picture in her hand. She kept staring at it, but tried her level best to wrench her eyes away from the picture, which was once her most favourite photo.

*

7th December 1990

"Munna yeh Camera lo aur mere aur Naina ka ek photo keech do na."

"Haan haan kyu nahi." He had given the camera and stood beside her.

"Arre tum dono itne dur dur kyu khade ho, todha paas aou. Yeh Ahmedabad nahi, Mt.Abu hai, Mt.Abuuu..."

He looked at her for approval. She nodded her head and he shifted closer to her and wrapped his arm around her waist. Shocked by his action and proximity she looked at him and he too looked right in her eyes and then click.

Munna clicked a photo of them, both lost in the moment, looking into each others eyes and close to one another.

*

Preeti snatched the photo from her hand and placed their graduation picture instead saying "Humara graduation yaad hai na". Naina faintly smiled and nodded her head, "Main abhi washroom ho aati hoon". She rushed to the washroom and closed its. She let her tears fall free from her eyes. Why had her life changed so much?, the pictures that brought her joy were now filled with pain. She cannot fall weak, especially not in front of her friends, it would hurt then to see her state. Wiping her tears she slowly opened the door and stepped out and went towards the hall. Preeti was absorbed in looking at the photos but Swati, she sneaked a photo in her bag when Preeti wasn't watching. Naina noticed this but kept quiet and joined them, pretending as if nothing happened. "Tum theek ho?", Preeti asked her. "Haan main theek hoon".  "Woh Sameer ka photo..."  "Aisa kuch nahi. School ki yaad aa gayi bas. Swati woh khidki zara band karna please." While Swati got up to close the window, Naina peeked in her bag to see what was the picture that Swati sneaked in and her guess was right. It was Swati's photo with Munna, clicked at the hill top in Mt.Abu.

One more hour was spent in looking through photos and items in the bag. It contained a lot of Naina's belongings, like her diary, a small doll that her father had gifted her, a beaded hanging chime that she made in school and more. Preeti noticed that certain things were missing from her bag of treasure, like her eleventh grade student of the year photo, a bracelet that she considered to be her luck charm, the pen that she used to write important exams and few others. When asked about these items Naina would casually reply by saying probably it got mixed with other stuff or maybe she took them to Mumbai or got lost in the years. Her constant reply was "Chod na Preeti, yeh dekho yeh yaad hai tumhe", showing some other photo.  All those missing items were very dear to Naina, more than those that were in the apartment at the present. So why did Naina ask her to drop the topic of those items and immediately tried to change the topic. Did she know where those items are or the response she gave now was true? Anyway she decided not to ask her, if Naina does something, there will be a reason behind it. Or probably that reason maybe painful and she would never do anything to hurt her sister.

After arranging the frames and items in Naina's room and the living room, Swati and Preeti, took their bags and prepared to leave. "Aaj raat kahan rukegi?", Preeti asked Naina. "Chachaji ke ghar, kal shift ho jaungi yahan" "Main aaj wapas ghar jaa rahi hoon".  "Koi baat nahi Preeti. Main samajh sakti hoon, Pandit bhi zyaada comfortable nahi tha kal raat. Tum dono aate rehna." "Yeh bhi koi kehne wali baat hai, main toh aati rahoongi", Swati hugged Naina. "Aur agle baar Pandit aur Arun ko bhi saath le aana", Naina looked at her sister and she nodded her head. Suddenly overcome by emotion Preeti hugged Naina, "Apna dhyan rakna, agar kisi bhi jeez ki zaroorat pade toh bata dena."  "Haan Preeti. Pehli baar nahi hai, main pehle bhi akele reh chuki hoon." "Par ab apne aap ko akela mat samajhna hum sab hai tumhare saath. Theek hain meri ma", Preeti tightened her arms around her sister. "Main bhi", saying so Swati threw her arms around the sisters.

Closing the door after the girls left, Naina looked around the house and found the empty bag in which Preeti brought the items, lying right in the middle of the hall. "Yeh Preeti bhi na", she bent to pick the bag when a photo slipped out of it. It was the photo that Preeti had snatched away from her hand. She closed her eyes and was about to keep the photo back in the bag, but stopped. Clutching the photo close to her heart she walked over to her room. A plain cloth was covered over the bedside table to prevent the paint or dust while cleaning the apartment from falling on it. Removing that cloth she placed the photo in it's drawer. She turned to leave but turne back again and opened the drawer, took the frame and placed it on top of the bedside table, caressing the photo, particularly where he stood, she left the room. Locking the house, Naina descended the steps to Mr. Rawal's office. She handed over the keys to him, "Kal dopehar tak apartment ready kar dijiye. Aur haan kuch photos aur items hai joh maine arrange karke rakha hai usse disturb mat kijiyega."  "Haan. Koi disturb nahi karega"  "Main chalti hoon Rawal ji. Kal milte hai".

***

January 20, 2000, Ahmedabad

"Good morning", Vinod wished Sameer and Munna who came to Naina's office to check the brand profile. "So I will be explaining the kind of brand recognition that our companies will receive after the merger. NR's fashion Mumbai ke...", he stopped speaking and looked at Sameer who was looking around the room or probably the door in particular. "Sameer any problem, you look distracted"  "Nahi, no problem, bas woh...ah...Naina?"   "Oh haan, Naina aaj nahi aayegi, I am there on her behalf. She has some other work, isisliye woh yahan nahi hai."  "Work meaning? Company se related? Humme bhi toh involve hona chahiye na, after all we are one. I mean humare companies..."  "Are nahi Sameer work is not professional, it's a personal matter, don't worry she wont be here just for today." Personal matter? What could it be. Yeh Vinod ko uski personal matter kaise pata, company ka legal advisor hai, professional matters discuss kare, personal matter kon batata hai. I don't share my personal matters with Srikant. He thought with a scoff.

***

"Naina... saara saman bandh li na tumne", chachi's voice came from the kitched. "Jee chachiji sab taiyaar hai", she replied closing the zip of her suitcase. Picking up her dupatta and purse she went to the kitchen. "Chachiji main zara bahar ho aati hoon, kuch saman kharidne hai shift karne keliye." "Haan beta". Coming out of the kitchen she slipped on her sandals near the door but the remembered she had to call Vinod to ask few things. Leaving the sandals at the door step, Naina sat on the sofa, picking up the cordless to call her office.

"So, aapka products humare tag ke saath clients tak...", the phone bell rang while Vinod was seated with Sameer and Munna. He excused himself and picked the call. "Hello, haan bolo Naina". 'Naina', that was enough to grab Sameer's attention and he tried his best to listen to the conversation and make sense out of what Vinod would say. "Haan, main le aaunga, dont worry... aree isme takleef ki kya baat hai... nahi nahi tum chachaji ko pareshan mat karna... main hoon na... come on Naina, tum sirf shifting par dhyan do, office ke baad mein le aunga. Ek baar phir address bolna. Haan..., he scribbled something on the notepad. Ok... Yahan sab theek hai. Happy shifting", Vinod smiled as he kept the call.

"So what were we talking about haan, humare clients ke baare mein." Yet again Sameer zoned out, his concentration was on the piece of paper that contained Naina's address. Only if the paper was more near to me. Why did he write with a pencil, pen se likta toh zyaada clear hota na aur upar se iska handwriting, kuch samajh mein nahi aa raha. But wait? Naina ki family shift kyu kar rahe hai. Woh toh unka apna ghar hai na. Ya phir chacha chachi wahin rahenge aur sirf Naina shift ho rahi ho? Par Naina aisa kyu karegi. Pata karna padega...

Even after the meeting Sameer was lost in thoughts. "Accha proposal hai na, mujhe profitable lagta hai, tum kya kehte ho Sameer?", Munna turned to him for opinion and saw him lost in thoughts. Slapping his forehead he added, "Phir se Naina ke baare mein soch rahe ho na, dekha tha meeting mein kaise darwaze ko he dekh rahe the, intezaar kar rahe the na. Sameer kaam pe focus karo, Naina par nahi."  "Munna tunne suna Vinod ne kya kaha", Sameer asked not listening to Munna's rant. "Maine toh suna, lelin tu kahin kho gaya tha meeting ke waqt"  "Woh nahi, shifting ke baare mein. Munna Naina ghar shift kar rahi hai".  "Toh humme kya?"  "Par kyu?", he was still confused. "Naina ka bachpan ka ghar hai woh, aise kaise shift kar sakti hai".  "Woh shift kare ya na kare, humme usse koi farq nahi padna chahiye, dekho Sameer tum uske baare mein sochna band kar do. Woh ab tumhari Naina nahi rahi, woh khud badal chuki hai, agar ghar bhi badalna chahe toh badalne do usse, tum uske baare mein sochke aapna time waste mat karna". Sameer nodded halfheartedly but he was determined to dig more into the issue, why had she come back to Ahmedabad, why was she shifting her house and that Vinod seemed more close to her, he noticed how he addressed Naina's chacha as chachaji and not sir or uncle. Definitely their relation wasn't just professional. But the biggest question was does he still affect her? Does she still think about him like how he does. Did she even miss him 1% during these two years.

***

It was 7:30 in the evening, when the bell at Naina's apartment rang. She opened the door and the person who she expected stood in front of her. "Yeh lo tumhara saaman, check karlo sab theek hai ki nahi." She opened the polythene bag and saw the wooden utensils along wit the other things that she had asked for. "Thank you Vinod, main toh iske baare mein bool he gayi thi aur yeh ghar ke paas wale dukhan pe nahi milta na, isiliye tumse kahan, sorry pareshan kar diya na maine".  "Pagal, kaisi baatein kar rahi ho, isme pareshani ki kya baat hai agar meri ek behen hoti yoh uske liye nahi karta kya main. Aur suno", extending another bag he said, "Tumhari bhabhi ne tumhare liye dinner bheja hai".  "Kya? Par kyu? Kya zaroorat thi? Sach mein bohot pareshan kar rahi hoon main tum dono ko."  "Isme kya hai, dinner toh woh waise bhi hummare liye banayagi tumhare liya todha extra bana diya, no big deal Naina."  "Accha theek hai, bhabhi ko thank you bol dena. Aao saath mein khana kar lete hai."  "Are nahi mujhe ghar jana hai aaj promise kiya tha madam se ki main uske saath dinner karoonga aur phir ice cream khane jayenge."  "Very good, enjoy."  "Toh main ab chalta hoon Naina", he turned towards the door but stopped, turning back to face Naina again, he said "Aaj office mein Sameer tumhare baare mein pooch raha tha".  "Toh?", she tried to respond as if she was disinterested in the piece of information. "Toh kya? Come on Naina, jab tum uske saamne hoti ho tab uske ankhe tumpe se hatti he nahi."  "Mujhe kya pata, main toh meeting me busy rehti hoon, aur waise bhi mujhe koi farq nahi padta agar woh mere baare mein pocche ya mujhe dekhte, hum jiss kaam keliye yahan aaye hai uss par focus karna chahiye. In sab faltu k baato mein nahi". "Faaltu baate, sach mein farq nahi padta tumhe, Naina I know it effects you."  "Tum kya chahte ho Vinod. Ok fine. It effects me. Khush sun liya na. Bohot koshish karti hoon, phir bhi his presence affects me."  "Naina ek baar baat karo na usse"  "Nahi Vinod, mujhe usse koi baat nahi karni. I agree his presence affects me par do saal pehle joh hua main usse bhool nahi sakti. Vinod I think ab tumhe chala chahiye, bhabhi ghar pe tumhare intezaar kar rahi hogi" Vinod nodded and silently left from the apartment.

***

Cleaning the kitchen, Naina decided to call it a day. She was tired from the shifting work during the day and the only thing in her mind was sleep. Changing to her night suit she got into her blanket. She turned to her right side to switch of the lights when her eyes fell on the photo frame. Lifting it from its position she looked at it to her heart's content, then placed it upside down back on the table, switched off the lights and drifted to sleep.

***

He tried tossing and turning on his bed, but sleep was far from coming. Naina's shifting kept bothering him, and to make things worse, Vinod seemed to know about every aspect of her life. Did he know about his and Naina's past? He had to find out what happened in the past two years in her life. It looked like her life wasn't like his, waking up every morning feeling miserable and missing her more, immersing himself in work to keep his mind busy and coming back home to eat his dinner and going to sleep. There was nothing more to his life, it was just work and home. He wouldn't step out of his house or meet new people. But looked like Naina made few relations in her new city and Vinod seemed too close to her. Oh god! Is Naina still single? How could he just assume that she would be single. But he knew Naina, she wouldn't move on from his love so soon. But what if she had? What if she has a boyfriend? He can't live with so many questions, he had to find answers. He opened the drawer of the bedside table and took out the box of sleeping pills, that helped him over to years. He swallowed one with a glass of water. For now he relied on his old buddy and waited for sleep to take over.

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