Jasmeet anxiously peeked out of the window to get in a fresh breath of air. The whole day had gone by and there wasn't even a mention of Karishma. Had she already met Mishti? But the whole day, Mishti seemed fine, or maybe she hadn't observed her. When she returned from the office, she was acting normal. Unsure if she should talk to Mishti about her mother's letter, she was stuck in a dilemma. When she saw a shadow walking inside, she was going to shout when she realized it was Mishti. Where did Mishti go in the middle of the night? Before she could call out to Mishti, her phone buzzed loudly.

An unexpected caller, she picked it up, "Anshuman." He never called so late at night.

On the other side, a loud voice greeted, "Hi Jasmeet! How are you?" After waiting patiently for a few seconds, "Jasmeet? You there?"

She glimpsed at her watch, "Yeah," her throat felt clogged, he was calling after a whole month. His ritualistic calls were nothing new, brought nothing new to their dead relation. She kept her voice calm.

"I called at the wrong time?"

"No, it is okay." It was very strange to be talking to the person who had fallen in love with nearly two and a half decades back. What had gone wrong in the last few years? Was it the long-distance or had they gotten so involved in their professional lives that they didn't have time to live their personal lives? Who was to blame?

He checked his watch, "It is eleven! Do you sleep early these days?"

"No."

Anshuman coughed, "Is everyone doing well?"

She made a short sound...hmm

"How is Nannu?" A question or two more and that would end the conversation.

"He is fine."

"Right," he took a break. Surely he was contemplating if that was the end of the conversation. Jasmeet sprayed a vanilla pillion mist on her pillow and put the kettle on, waiting for him to say his natural goodbyes, but he spoke, "He is in London, right now?"He asked her as usual.

"He is," she responded, he knew answers to his questions, yet he never got bored to asking them again and again and again like listening to the same old cassette.

"Could you ask him to call me whenever he is free?"

"Why can't you? " Her reply was abrupt, but she had too many things in her mind and Abhimanyu was least of her concerns right now.

"Because he is closer to you," he accused, then changed his tone, "I don't want to disturb him." When Jasmeet didn't care to reply, he continued, "Right, well, I hope everyone is doing well at home. I'm just going to a friend's house. If you want anything from here, I have a friend coming to Ahmedabad next month, I'll send..." She nodded, controlling her anger, "Oh, and if you need any money, I'll..."

She huffed, "I earn fairly well. I don't need your money."

"Jasmeet," he lowered his voice, "I'm not so sure if this concerns us much, but I know Mishti's guardians are Tau Ji and Tai Ji." Now she gave her full attention to her nearly- estranged husband. "Karishma dropped a message some days ago, asking if I was in touch with Naman. Of course, I'm not. I'm not so sure she is in touch with Mishti or not, but I thought maybe you know why she would message me? Are you in touch with her?"

"No, no, I'm not," this had confused her, "Why would she..."

"No idea," he cut her off, " I gave her a short reply, only pondered about it just now. " He laughed, "I'm glad to be out of all the dramas of the Maheshwari family. Life here is so much more sorted, no complexities, live the life you want to live. You should seriously consider moving out too..."

He had insulted her and his entire family and she couldn't take it any longer, "Thanks," she knew he didn't ever mean her to move in with him, " I have an important call coming in, I need to attend it." And before he could say something, she ended the call. Abrupt, but at the right time. He found pleasure in belittling the family that gave him his name. What had all these years done to him was one question she always had in her mind, what was it that made himbecome the man she barely knew.

While Mishti sneaked into the room, Kuhu was busy talking to her friend. Frowning at the way Kuhu laughed hysterically, Mishti swore she had heard her snoring half an hour ago. She slid her diary inside her bag. Smiling to herself and slipping beneath the duvet when Kuhu startled her and abruptly ended the call, "Where did you go?" She inquired.

Mishti turned to her sister and frowned, "why should I tell you?"

Kuhu had faked a call and now sat on the bed, looking no less than a strict girl hostel warden. She crossed her arms and searched for an answer on her face, "I saw you leaving the house, do you have a secret boyfriend?" She winked, getting excited for the same yet trying to keep her posture strict and serious.

Shaking her head in disbelief, "no Kuhu!" She had never dated anyone, why would Kuhu think she would now?

Nearly pouncing on her side, "You were out for half an hour," she noted, "that only means you are hiding something from me!" She crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes. Something was off, she got up and walked to Mishti's bag, " you put something..."

Mishti got up quickly and grabbed her bag, "What do you want? I just went out for a stroll," she responded after thoroughly remembering how far Abir's car was from the balcony. It was hidden by the darkness and the trees.

"If you have found a boyfriend, you can tell me," she held her shoulders, "I'm good with secrets."

She pushed herself out of Kuhu's grip and put back the bag, "I will tell you when I have one and now sleep!"

"What did you put in your bag?" She gleed mischievously, "Only if you tell me, I won't tell Dadi that you sneaked out of the house."

Shrugging at her blackmail, "I went to retrieve my dairy, " she pulled it out and showed it to her, she wasn't just happy, she was at peace. Kuhu touched her diary and shook her head in disbelief. Happiest for her sister, she swung herself to there and held her tight in her hug. "Kuhu, you are crushing me." Kuhu had a strong grip when it came to giving hugs, she kissed her cheek,

"I'm so happy for you," Kuhu looked at the diary, then enacting, "Diary Diary in my hand, what secrets has Mishti penned?"

Waiting for two seconds, Mishti grabbed her diary back, "My diary has no secrets," she said plainly and tucked it back in.

Nodding gently, "at least I deserve to know where did you get the diary?" She had worked so hard to help her retrieve the diary, she deserved to know the truth. Biting her lips, initially, she thought of making up a story, but she wasn't a good liar. "I want the truth." Shaking her and stepping on her bed as Mishti looked at her sister, unsure what to say. "Either the truth or I don't wish to know," tucking her legs in the duvet, "Mishti?"

"Kuhu, I appreciate the time and effort you too out to help me get my diary. And there is nothing to lie about," she smiled, "Abir found it in the park. I got to know today that he had my diary, so he returned it." She tucked herself in the bed and laid down.

"Abir Rajvansh had your diary?" She took a moment to register that, "How did you come to know?"

"Simple, he got to know I'm Mishti and my diary states property of Mishti. He connected the two and viola, he returned it." That was the simplest explanation for the whole revelation.

Kuhu found the reunion rather too boring, "That simple? That is not a story worthy." She laughed, "I'm glad you got your piece of life," she beamed at her, " By the way, I met Kunal today, we had our first conversation."

"Really?" she tried to sound surprised, "then why do you seem so calm?"

Kuhu pondered for a few seconds, looking ahead of her and continued, "Because I have lost the energy while telling Ruby and Claire," they were Kuhu's best friends, "I informed Nanchak too!" Patiently waiting for her to continue, "he is a humble guy," she reiterated the interaction, "he apologized and he was just so different. So mature, likable, and kind, then recalling the beginning, initially very rude"

Mishti laughed, " What? So what do we conclude, your love at first sight..."

She shook her head, "Come on Mishti, you know love at first sight, it doesn't mean love at all. It is only physical attraction, which can only generate desire and infatuation. Only after a conversation, you get to start to know them."

She gave an impressed smile, "for the first time, you sound so damn natural!"

"Are you calling me fake?"

"Just dramatic!"

"Everyone can't be as boring as you."

"Boring and me?"

"Have you not noticed? The only exciting thing that happened in your life recently was your diary went missing and now when it came back, you had the dullest reunion."

"It's okay," Mishti assured, remembering how the whole day had unfolded, first Anjali's reveal then Abir's avoidance then the painting and just minutes ago, they shared a part of their lives before he handed her diary. It was not a dull reunion, rather too dramatic to be real. But her salty tears had smeared her face as a reminder that her sweet reunion was not a dull one.

"So Abir came to return it?"

Mishti nodded, "Yeah." She couldn't go into details, "he has a cute daughter, she got mad at your today."

"Really?" Mishti nodded, Kuhu considered and leaned back on the bed, "Come to think of it, these Rajvanshs and I don't get along well." She laughed recalling her interactions with Kunal, Abir, and Anjali today. "The good thing is the inauguration and the settlement to the building went smooth, or else I was sure Abir would fire me. Can you fire a volunteer?"

"Yes, of course."

"I like the work I do there, I don't want to get fired," she puffed and laid down too, looking up at the ceiling, "all this time, I had dreamt of meeting Kunal and today when I did, I don't know why I thought he is a little too mature and I'm a little too...." thinking of a right word to put up.

"Your Kuhuness and Kunal's frequencies don't resonate?" Mishti said matter of factly. "All love stories don't have to begin the same way."

Kuhu smiled, "You talking about love? It doesn't suit."

"Because I have never been loved? Badi Maa and Bade Papa love me, don't you think?"

"Of course they do, but that is not what I meant."

"My parents didn't love me," switching off the side lamp, "if they had, they wouldn't have left?" A tear rolled down on the side.

"Maybe we don't know..."

"The full truth?" she shook her head, "Even if we did, nothing justifies leaving a child and starting a new life." The betrayal was bitter, very bitter.

Kuhu thought of cheering her sister up, but it was too late, she moved in closer and wiped her tears, "Don't think about them or else I would tell Dadi that you secret sneaking out rendez-Vous?"

"There is nothing to be told!" Mishti said sternly.

Kuhu widened her eyes, "You spent half an hour talking to Abir for exchanging the missing diary or..." she fluttered her eyelashes, " is there something more to the story?"

Mishti pulled the duvet over the head, only to feel the soft pillow beneath her. Her mind racing back to the moments outside. Abir, the very ajeeb Rajvansh, had spent less than half an hour in bringing up her pain and that guilt she held in her heart, the visions of her past that made her feel nothing, simply dirty. Waiting for her mother to put her to sleep after each of those incidents, waiting for her to tell her she would be fine, she is safe, she is with her. But it never happened, her mother never came. But something had changed today, finally, after all these years, she felt feature like fingers tracing her head, putting her to sleep.

Her eventful day had come to end. Her diary held her secrets and now it was Abir's turn.

Half of the story has been written.