The previous chapter had been printed twice last time because of a glitch. It has been fixed now.

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Naina was standing alone in the balcony, looking at the night sky and stars. Her mind as blank as it was in the morning. She hadn't spoken to anyone the whole day.

"Bhagwan jhooth na bulaye kuch dhang se khaya bhi nahi hai." Bela said. She was watching Naina with Preeti from a distance.

"Kya hua hai Mummy?" Preeti asked for the nth time that day.

"Tere matlab ki baat nahi hai." Bela brushed her off.

"Aise kaise mere matlab ki baat nahi hai? Haalat dekho Naina ki. Kya ho gaya hai Mummy? Sameer ki wajah se -"

"Kuch nahi hua hai."

Naina walked inside and looked at her mother and sister.

"Sone jaa rahi hu." Naina said before lying down on the bed.

Preeti gave Bela a worried look.

"Preeti bahar jaa aur darwaza band kar de." Bela said and sat down next to Naina, who had been staring at the ceiling.

"Mai kahi nahi jaaungi. Aap mujhe batao Naina ki ye haalat kyu hui hai?" Preeti demanded.

Bela didn't reply to her. Instead, she turned to Naina and said, "Bhabhi tujhe deliver karte huye mar gayi thi. Rakesh Bhai sahab ke paas itne paise nahi the ki wo do baccho ko sambhal sake aur Bhabhi ke jaane ke baad toh ..."

"Mummy!" Preeti was too shocked on hearing this. "A-ap ..."

"Mai teri behen nahi hu Preeti. Mai Rakesh Tauji ki beti hu." Naina said in a small voice. "Agar Tai- Mummy zinda hoti toh bhi Papa mujhe chod dete? Arjun Bhaiya ko kyu nahi choda?"

"Kaun Mummy Papa? Teri Mummy zinda hai. Mai hu. Samjhi?" Bela scolded her.

Naina nodded again, quietly and closed her eyes.

"Mummy?" Preeti needed her answers.

"Bhabhi ke jaane ke baad Rakesh Bhai sahab ko lagta tha ki Naina ki wajah se wo ..." She felt a lump in her throat. "Bhai sahab choti si bacchi ko Bhabhi ki maut ka zimmedaar samjhte the. Dhyan bhi nahi dete the. Humne toka toh bhai sahab ne bola ki tum kyu nahi god le lete? Toh tere Papa ne Naina ko kanoonan god le liya."

A lone tear escaped out of Naina's eyes and dampened the pillow.

               ________________________

Sameer had to meet Naina and discuss the letter but this topic was too important to discuss over call and too serious to discuss at their Sangeet. Then?

"Swati keh rahi thi ki Naina har somwaar mandir jaati hai." Munna suggested.

Then it was decided. The next day, Monday, Sameer was going to the temple to meet Naina and talk to her. Pandit was going to accompany him and Sameer was going to call Preeti too. The two had to be guard just like they did for Swati and Munna.

"Haa tum dono ka Shravan Kumar mai hi hu na." Pandit joked.

But they could not contact Preeti or Naina directly. If they called it was mostly some random relative or their parents who answered. So, Munna talked to Swati and told her to inform Naina.

Swati left all her work and went to Nirmal Jyoti Society. She was welcomed by the festive environment of the society as a whole but when she entered Naina's home, even if it was crowded by guests it felt empty for some reason.

"Namaste Aunty!" Swati greeted Bela. "Naina kaha hai?"

"Bhagwan jhooth na bulaye beta wo toh so rahi hai."

"Iss waqt?"

Bela nodded with her head down.

"Wo kal mandir jaayegi na?" Swati asked.

"Lagta toh nahi hai. Mera matlab hai ki ab haldi lag gayi hai toh bahar kaise jaayegi, hai na?"

Swati nodded in agreement.

"Mai chalti hu fir."

"Sangeet par time se aa jaana, haan."

And the night fell again.

Naina was wide awake. She had been sleeping all the time to numb her pain. She was trying to but couldn't sleep anymore.

The walls of her house were closing in on her. She was feeling too suffocated inside her house. She had to go out.

She waited for everyone to fall asleep. It took a lot of time for the hustle to die down. All the guests sitting in her house left for all the rooms they were allotted and everyone staying in her house went to sleep.

She quietly tip toed out of her room, just like she had when she was running away for a day to escape this alliance. She didn't turn around to have a last look at her parents or her sisters. This time she was running away from them.

She walked into the street. A cool breeze was fanning her face. She had no idea where she was heading to. She would return in ten minutes or an hour or by dawn, she wasn't sure. She kept on walking in the open but the emptiness and suffocation never left her side.

The road was dimly lit with the light of the lamp posts. Not a living soul walked on the streets. All the shops had closed.
She just wanted to run away from every circumstance, every person that reminded her that she wasn't the daughter of Anand and Bela Agarwal.

             ________________________

In another corner of Ahemdabad, Sameer Maheshwari was having a restless and sleepless night.

Something wasn't letting him stay in peace. Something was disturbing him. Where was Naina? Did he do something wrong? Even Swati couldn't contact her. This didn't feel right. Something was terribly, terribly wrong.

He had changed into his night suit but he couldn't sleep at all. After tossing and turning for a while he decided to walk around but it didn't give him any peace.

With light footsteps, taking complete precaution not to wake anyone, he sneaked into his Nanu's room. He slowly opened the door of his room and took the car keys out of the key holder. He pinched his ears in front of his sleeping Nanu and sneaked out of the house. He ignited the car's engine and zoomed out.

         _____________________________

"Woof! Woof!" Naina heard a dog bark behind her.

"Dekho aaj bhi mera mood bahut kharab hai. Please aaj mat darao." Naina tried to shoo the dog away.

"Grrrr" The dog growled.

She shook a little with fear.

"Aisa karoge mere saath?" She asked.

In an instant, the dog began chasing her and she was running as fast as she could. She crossed all known shops and ran for her dear life.

She found stray tables on the road and hid beneath one of them. The dog got confused and lost track of her. After what seemed like ages, Naina got out of the table and began walking.

She had entered a distant colony. She recognized the place instantly. Fate has twisted ways of working.

She was looking around and was walking backwards when her waist hit something very hard.

"Ouch!"

She turned around and saw that she had hit a parked car's bonnet.

"Chalti gadi se takkar khane se koi marta nahi hai. Kaho to gadi start kar du fir iske aage kud jaana?" She heard a very familiar voice.

Yeh Un Dinon Ki Baat Hai
Jab Ishq Saccha Hua Karta Tha

Yeh Un Dinon Ki Baat Hai
Jab Ishq Mein Padna Accha Hua Karta Tha

Rahiman Rahiman Ye Preet Re
Jaane Na Maane Ye Reet Re