Ishita set her hair straight, as she took one last glimpse of herself in the mirror, when her glance fell on the earrings. She wanted to wear them again, it felt nice getting a gift from someone like that. She put them on, liked the way she looked in them.

"ishita, beta jaldi kar!" exclaimed savita, as ishita composed herself one last time.

"aayi..." she responded, as she left.

***

Today, the door was opened by sameer, to ishita's surprise.

"Namaste uncle." Said ishita, as she got inside.

She looked around, confused, where were dushyant, or purvi?

"uhh, beta, zara andar chalogi, mujhe aur aunty ko baat karni hai zara tumse..." signalled sameer to go to neelu's room, as ishita more perplexed now, followed.

As soon as ishita entered the room, neelu looked at sameer with disbelief, as if she didn't find it necessary to talk about whatever he wanted to, at all.

"beta, yeh earrings, kahan se mile tumhe?" questioned sameer, as he sat on the bed.

"uhh, woh main purvi ka haat bata rahi thi, kuch kamre ki safai mein, tab maine kaha ki mujhe ache lage, toh purvi ne didiye..maine mana kiya tha, par woh maani hi nahi..." replied ishita.

"chalo, maanli tumhari baat...ab yeh batao, purvi ke baaki ki earrings, bracelets, aur necklaces, kahan gaye?" questioned sameer, as neelu glared at him.

"ji?" responded ishita, utterly confused now.

"nahi, kal hi tum dono ne safaai ki, aur kal hi, itne saare pieces gayab ho gaye..." remarked sameer, as ishita just raised her brow at him.

"aap mujhpe chori ka ilzaam laga rahe hain?" questioned ishita with disbelief.

"nahi beta, woh matlab humara bilkul bhi nahi tha..." responded neelu, as she gave him a death stare to shut up at this point.

"tumhe toh yaad hoga na kahan rakhe the woh safai ke baad, bas woh batado..i'm sure purvi ke bas dhyaan se nikal gaya hoga." Attempted neelu to detest all claims sameer tried to make.

"ji, wahi rakhe the jahan rakhti hai apna samaan..." stated ishita.

"acha chalo thik hai, woh usne hi kahi idhar-udhar rakh diye honge, woh toh kabhi-kabhi, main bhi kardeta hoon...pata hai kal dushyant ke bhi wallet se kuch paise gayab hue the...ab mujhe laga yeh ladka phir kahin khaake hi aaya hoga, par, kal toh woh ghar mere saath hi aaya tha..woh kahan chale gaye?" questioned sameer.

"ab, yeh isko kaise pata hoga!" protested neelu in ishita's defence.

"kyun, kal shaam yeh dushyant ke kamre mein nahi gayi thi? maine dekha tha tumhe nikalte hue, darwaaza kal maine hi band kiya tha..." claimed sameer.

"waise, yahi batado, dushyant ke kamre mein kya kar rahi thi tum?" questioned sameer.

"aap seedhe-seedhe kyun nahi kehte hai ki kya kehna chahte hain aap?" asked ishita, disgusted.

"dekho beta, ab aise kya favours liye honge dushyant ne tumse ki usse paise dene padhe badle mein.." alluded sameer to the most disrespectful claim he could make towards ishita.

"sameer!" yelled neelu, as dushyant and purvi walked in.

"ab kya kar diya aapne?" questioned dushyant.

"i can't believe this, aapke ghar se kuch cheeze kya gayab ho jaati hai, aap mere upar chori bhi nahi, yeh ilzaam lagana chahte hain ki main aapke bete ke saath paise ke liye so rahi hoon!" yelled ishita.

"what!" exclaimed purvi.

"how dare you talk to her like that..." enraged dushyant.

"bada bura lag raha hai tumhe..." remarked sameer to dushyant.

"aur nahi toh kya, khush hoon dekh kar, ki mera baap jitna maine socha tha usse bhi gira hua hai!" argued dushyant.

"aur yeh baat aayi bhi kahan se?" questioned purvi.

As ishita just took off those earrings.

"yeh lijiye, rakh lijiye, aur kitne paise gayab hoye aapke bete ke? Chodo, sarre rakh lo, yeh lo..." said ishita, as she took out the money from her purse.

"aur ek baat khaan-kholke sun lijiye, maine aapke ghar se kuch chori nahi kiya hai! Majboor hoon main paison ke liye, par isiliye naukri pe aati hoon, chori karne nahi! Aur paise na ho mere paas aapke jitne, par self-respect hai...meri maa ko shaam ko mera hisaab dedena, kyunki main ab yahan kabhi nahi aaungi!" proclaimed ishita, as she picked up her bag and left.

"ishita!" called dushyant as he went after her, not only before glaring at sameer.

***

"ishita! Ishita! Ishita, ruko toh..."attempted dushyant to stop her, as he grabbed her wrist.

"dushyant please mera haath chodo..." requested ishita, as she was on the verge of crying, it was like all of her strength was taken away from her.

"ishita..." called dushyant softly, as he unwantedly let go of her hand.

She turned to him, crying, as he went in to give her a hug, but she protested.

"dushyant, mera baap mujhe kachde mein phenkna chahta tha na, woh bhi mujhe dekh kar kabhi raste mein, tameez mein rehta hai!" yelled ishita, as she wiped a tear rolling down her eye.

"meri puri life mein kabhi mujhe itna humiliate nahi hona padha...all because of what? Ki maine tum pe bharosa kiya, tumse pyaar kiya, purvi se dosti ki, usse ek gif le liya! You see, i knew, ki hum ek aisi society mein rehti hain jahan mujh jaise log tum jaise logon se alag rakhe jaate hain...i accepted, ki tum hamesha mujhse upar rahoge, aur mujh jaise log saari umar kaam karenge taaki tum log upar raho...but you, you promised me, love, and i lost one thing i had, respect..tum log toh woh bhi nahi de sakte." Ranted ishita.

"i am sorry..." apologised dushyant, as ishita walked over, and touched his face.

"galat the hum, humne socha ki humara pyaar kaafi tha...sahi yahi hoga, ki hum apne raste chale jaayein..." stated ishita, as dushyant looked at her with moist eyes.

"i have lost one thing i had, my respect, i don't have it in me now...i am sorry.."admitted ishita, as she gave him one last kiss, and touched his forehead with hers, till she finally found the strength to part away.

He punched the button to call the lift, as he cried heavily, knowing very well that he could not stop her today, and never see her again.

***

author's note: aaj toh mujhe bhi update karte hue rona aa raha hai, i think the last time i cried was writing kavin's backstory...it's just, that sadly, yeh koi ficitional kahani toh hai nahi...woh jokes toh sune hi honge, ki koi apni maid ke saath bhaag gaya...we make relationships of people from different classes as a joke, because it is not something we see as ideal. hum middle class logon ka yeh hai ki ameeron ko aur ameer banane ke liye pisste hai, aur humse bhi gareeboon ko gareeb rakhte hain, taaki woh humare baraabar naa aaye. aap khudh socho, agar aapke aas paas koi shaadi karegs kisi maid ki ladki se, aaplog apnaoge usse? ameer log nahi rakhte class divide zinda, hum jaise hi rakhte hai.