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2016~

Sidharth was sitting in his room while his eyes were fixed at a ring on his finger. It was his engagement ring. He remembered the day when she made him wear this ring and they both got engaged. How happy and excited he was that day! He was going to marry the love of his life. But in his excitement of getting married, he didn't even notice that she was not happy at all. She was hiding something behind her fake smile. And he understood everything just few days before their wedding when he caught her cheating with another guy.

"I'm sorry Sid. I should have not cheated on you. Rather I should have told you earlier that I don't love you anymore. There is someone else in my life."

Those were the exact words Kavya said to him before leaving from his life. The words were still echoing in his ears. How easily she said that she didn't love him anymore. But what about his feelings? What about the emotions he spent on her in the past three years of their relationship? Is it that easy to forget everything and move on?

Maybe not. That was why he was still wearing their engagement ring. Maybe their was still hope that one day Kavya would come back to his life.

Sidharth's thought broke when Preeti kept a wedding card in front of him.

"Shaadi hai aap ki uss Kavya ki." She said sternly.

Sidharth looked at the wedding card. Kavya's name was written with some other guy. His heart broke seeing it.

"Aur paata hai yeh kya hai?" Asked Neetu coming there with an envelope.

Sidharth nodded in no.

"Khud padh ke dekh li jiye." Said Preeti giving the envelope to Sidharth.

He opened the envelope and took out a letter. He became surprised seeing the letter.

"Job lag gayi hai teri, US mein." Said Neetu.

"Ab bohut hogaya Bhai. Bhul jaaiye uss Kavya ko. Aap ko har waqt dukhi dekh ke hum mein se koi khush nahi hai. Aankhein khol ke dekhiye, saamne ek nayi zindagi aap ko bulava de rahi hai. Purane saare gham ko peeche chhor ke iss nayi zindagi ko apna li jiye Bhai." Said Preeti.

Sidharth didn't say anything. He first looked at the wedding card and then his job confirmation letter.

Understanding his dilemma, Neetu said, "Humare liye naa sahi, at least Mom ke liye...."

Sidharth sighed hearing that. He finally removed his engagement ring. Holding it in his hand, he kept looking at it for sometime and remembered all the memories he had with Kavya.

Soon he dropped the ring on the floor. And suddenly he remembered the words which someone told him once.

"I strongly believe that sab ki life mein happily ever after hoti hai....Tumhari bhi zald ho jayegi."

"Happily ever after!" Murmured Sidharth and chuckled bitterly.

Meanwhile...

"Milord, jo aurat apne newborn baby ko akela chhor ke aise bhag ke chali aayi, woh aur jo bhi ho, Maa kehlane ke layak nahi hai." Said the lawyer.

Tears rolled down Shehnaaz's cheeks hearing that while her parents kept their hands on hers to give her mental support.

"Milord, yaaha saaf paata chal raha hai woh apne Bacche ko chhor ke bhagi nahi thi. Meri client depression mein thi, apne career ko le ke tensed thi aur iss wajah se unko thoda break chahiye tha." Said her side of lawyer.

"Phir toh baat hi khatam hogayi. Iss se yeh prove hota hai ki Ms. Shehnaaz Gill, mentally unfit hai. Isliye Shaurya Sukh ki custody uske father, mere client Mr. Paramjeet Sukh ke paas hi rehni chahiye." Said the lawyer to which Param smiled.

Shehnaaz got scared. She didn't want to lose her Shaurya at any cost. She knew that she did a huge mistake by leaving him. But now she wanted to give him mother's love, she wanted to stay with her husband. But maybe she was too late.

"Dono paksh ke vicharo ko sun ne ke baad, adalat iss natize pe pohuchti hai ki Shaurya Sukh ki custody apne Pita Paramjeet Sukh ke paas hi rahegi."

Shehnaaz closed her eyes hearing the statement. The little hope she had, ended today. She lost everything.

After coming out of the court, Shehnaaz saw Param and his present wife with her son Shaurya. They were extremely happy and looking like a completed family. Shehnaaz's heart ached seeing it. She was going towards them when her parents stopped her.

"Kya kar rahi hai?" Asked her mother.

"Mummy woh Shaurya..... Woh log usse le ke chale jaayenge..... Mujhe ek baar uss se mil lene di jiye....." Said Shehnaaz crying.

"Puttar woh log nahi milne denge." Said her father.

"Main maafi maang lungi unn logo se. Woh jo kahenge main karungi. Main job chhor dungi. Apna pura time Shaurya ko dungi. Phir toh Param mujhe maaf kar dega na? Hum teeno eksaath reh paayenge."

Shehnaaz was behaving like crazy and her parents was not being able to control her.

"Shehnaaz hosh mein aa!" Shouted her mother jerking her. "Shaadi ho chuki hai Param ki. Khush hai woh apni biwi ke saath. Usse nahi chahiye tu."

Shehnaaz stopped crying hearing that as reality hit her hard.

"Aur mera kya Mummy? Mujhe toh woh chahiye. Apna Shaurya chahiye. Kya meri galti ki koi maafi nahi hai?" She asked painfully.

"Galtiyan sab se hoti hai Puttar." Said her father. "Fark sirf itna hai, kuch logo ko apne galti ki maafi milti hai aur kuch logo ko saza. Tere hisse mein saza aayi hai. Isse tujhe accept karna hoga."

Shehnaaz became quiet hearing that.

Her mother cupped her face and said, "Param aage badh chuka hai, ab tu bhi badh jaa. Apne career pe focus kar. Aur Shaurya ki fikar mat kar. Woh khush rahega apne ghar mein, apno ke saath. Lekin uski Mumma ko bhi toh khush rehna hai, hai na?"

Shehnaaz smiled sadly and nodded in yes. Then her parents hugged her.

"So here is the end of my happily ever after." She thought sadly.

2024~

In Texas...

Sidharth was sitting in his living room and designing his new game in his laptop. At that very moment, his phone started ringing and his mind got diverted. As a result, he did a mistake in designing.

"F*ck yaar!" He uttered and then got irritated by the ringtone.

"Saala kaun phone kar raha hai......"

He suddenly bit his tongue seeing the caller's name. It was his mother.

He picked up the call and said, "Haan Mom boliye."

"Kab se call kar rahi thi? Phone kyu nahi utha raha tha tu?" Asked Rita Maa.

"Mom I was busy. Aur aap aise baar baar call mat kiya karo. Phir se game kharab kar diya mera." Said Sidharth.

Rita Maa sighed and said, "Waha US mein tu pura din kya sirf game hi khelta rehta hai?"

"Khelta nahi, design karta hoon. Kitni baar toh baataya hai."

"Chal jo bhi hai. Zyada game gum ke chakkar mein mat ulajh. Thoda apne liye time nikal, date vate pe jaa, girlfriend bana.... " Rita Maa suddenly paused and asked, "Waise koi girlfriend hai kya teri? Nahi agar hai toh tu mujhe baata sakta hai. Foreigner bhi chalegi, mujhe koi problem nahi hai."

Sidharth rolled his eyes and said, "Just do din pehle aap ne mujhse yeh same question pucha tha aur mera answer no tha. Ab achanak se do din mein koi ladki asmaan se toh nahi tapkegi."

"Arrey phir toh aur bhi acchi baat hai." Said Rita Maa happily. "Paata hai tere liye na ek bohut hi accha rishta aaya hai. Ladki sundar, sushil aur padhi likhi hai. Aur......"

Sidharth widened his eyes knowing where the conversation was going. So he decided to use his same old trick.

"Hello Mom! Aap ki awaz nahi aa rahi. Hello.... Hello....." He started saying moving his phone away from himself.

"Hello Sidharth. Sunai de raha hai?" Asked Rita Maa.

"Hello.... Hello...."

Saying that, Sidharth cut the call.

"Bach gaya." He thought and kept his phone silent. Then he again continued his work but couldn't focus on it.

So he gave up and went towards the kitchen to eat some fruits.

"Fruits toh khatam ho gaye. Lagta hai bahar jaa ke le aana padega." He said to himself and got ready. Then he went outside.

Suddenly a car stopped in front of their apartment. Sidharth stopped seeing it. He had heard that his old neighbours got shifted and a new neighbour was coming to stay in the apartment. He understood that this was his new neighbour and he was curious to know who it was.

Soon a beautiful lady came out of the cab. She was wearing sunglasses and there was a suitcase in her hand. She was none other than Shehnaaz.

Sidharth kept looking at her for sometime as she seemed familiar to him. But he couldn't recognise her.

On the other hand, Shehnaaz took a glance at Sidharth and then started entering the apartment without saying anything.

"Excuse me!" Said Sidharth and Shehnaaz turned.

He went towards her and asked, "Have we met before?"

Shehnaaz thought for a while and then said, "I don't think so."

Sidharth was going to say something but she had already left from there. He started remembering, giving pressure to his mind.

"I have definitely seen her somewhere. Maybe sunglasses ki wajah se pehchaan mein nahi aa rahi. Arghh! Why can't I remember?"

After sometime, Sidharth went back to his apartment. Forgetting everything else, he started taking out his old photo albums.

There were several albums like his family albums, school album, college album and other albums. He started checking all the albums carefully. And after a lot of struggle, he finally found a photo in one of the albums.

He remembered their crazy night and smiled happily.

"I knew it. Woh Shehnaaz hi hai. Kitni badal gayi hai yaar. Aur patli bhi hogayi hai. Sayad usne mujhe pehchana nahi. Waise yeh obvious hai. 11 saal purani baat kaun yaad rakhta hai? Oh God! I have to show her this. Khushi se pagal ho jaayegi."

Thinking that, he took out the photo and ran to Shehnaaz's door. He pressed the doorbell and after sometime she came out.

"Hi!" Said Sidharth happily waving his hand.

"Hello!" Said Shehnaaz and then asked, "How may I help you?"

Sidharth remembered something hearing that and said, "Woh mere friends ne mujhe ek dare diya hai. They want me to kiss you.... With your permission of course. Don't worry, sirf ek kiss ki hi baat hai. If you agree then, I can go ahead."

Shehnaaz made a confused face hearing that. Soon Sidharth showed her the photo.

"Yaad aaya kuch?" He asked and Shehnaaz looked at him.

"Hum dono Mumbai ke ek club mein mile the. Tumhari shaadi ke ek raat pehle hum dono ne mil ke celebrate kiya tha. We had a lot of fun. Phir maine tumse kaha bhi tha ki meri girlfriend ban jaao. But you broke my heart." Said Sidharth dramatically and laughed.

After a long time, a smile came to Shehnaaz's face remembering about the night.

"Waise shaadi toh ho gayi hogi tumhari?" Asked Sidharth further breaking her thoughts. "Main bhi kya puch raha hoon? Abhi tak toh Bacche bhi ho gaye honge. Woh log nahi aaye tumhare saath? Agar aate toh accha hota. Tumhare husband ko bhi humare uss crazy night ke kisse sunata."

Shehnaaz's face turned pale hearing all this. She controlled her emotions and said sternly, "I think you are highly mistaken. Photo mein jo ladki hai, woh main nahi hoon."

Sidharth frowned and said, "Lekin....."

She didn't let him finish and said, "Saalon pehle uski death ho chuki hai. She is no more."

Saying that, Shehnaaz went inside and closed the door in front of his face.

Sidharth became puzzled hearing her words.

"What happened to her? Why did she talk like that?" He asked himself.

Then he thought that she was changed now but he didn't know that it was the circumstances which changed her this much.
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Will Sidharth and Shehnaaz be able to mend each other's broken hearts?

Stay tuned...

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