all my stars lead to you

chapter 6

kavin looked at the clock as it struck 11 at night, he fiddled with his food, which was only left enough for the last bite. he unlocked his phone, as he checked for any missed calls or notification for a message. he opened his whatsapp, as he scrolled through the contacts, frustrated to not find the one he wanted to contacted. finally, he just searched for the contact mom, only to find her last seen to be of five hours ago. he threw his phone aside, as he clasped his hands around his lips, only to rush back to the phone at one vibration. 

"hello mom!" he received the call quickly. 

"haan, beta..."

"kahan ho yaar mom, time dekha hai?" 

"kavin...."

"mom, aisa kya ho gaya aaj, huh? itna late toh kabhi nahi hui aap..." 

"kavin, meri baat..."

"ab yeh mat kehna aur time lagega, emergency hai...."

"kavin!" 

"ab bolo na!" 

"main darwaaze pe hoon, kholdoge zara?" requested meera as kavin's lips formed an 'oh', and he hung up and rushed to open the door. 

"bell hi baja deti..." remarked kavin, as meera got inside and kavin locked the door. 

"sab tumhari tarah, aadhi raat tak bhatakti aatma ki tarah nahi ghumte hain...ab unn dono ki neend kyun disturb karni?" said meera as her gaze fell on the plate on the dinning table. 

"yeh kiska hai?" asked meera, pointing to it. 

"mera hai..." retorted kavin. 

"tum itni raat ko chinese mangake khaa rahe ho!" exclaimed meera, as kavin rolled his eyes. 

"mom yahi dinner hai aaj...." replied kavin, as meera was apalled.  

"tum log ek raat ka proper meal bhi nahi manage kar sakte mere bina! arre bas rotiyan banani thi, bhindi padi toh thi..." 

"apne bhindi banayi thi?" 

"haan, maine kaha toh tha satish ko phone pe..." 

"unka hi idea tha yeh mangana!" 

"kyun?" 

"aur batao unhe mujhe khaane mein kya pasand hai!" taunted kavin, as he picked up his plate and threw out the leftover, with meera right behind him in the kitchen. 

"unhone kaha tumse..." clarified meera, as she tried to comprehend the situation. 

"mom, just ask him to stop being so desperate!" yelled kavin, as he put down the plate after washing it by the cinq, shocking meera with his tone. 

"yaar, you know what, mar gaya hai mera baap! i'm sick of him thinking that his pity will make me like him.....it's not like i don't like him, i just don't care!" blurted kavin with his emotions completely taking over. 

"kavin...." said meera in a soothing voice, as she placed her hand on his shoulder. 

"i'm sorry....." whispered kavin with his head down, as he covered his face. 

"i'm glad, actually, you told me this...i mean, i knew you had a problem with this marriage..." 

"it's not the marriage, it's the fact that it took you, like five years ,to forget dad..." stated kavin bluntly, as he shot his glance straight at his mother, and  she felt like her heart had been ripped off. she moved back from him. 

she swallowed a lump down her throat, as her eyeballs moved in all possible directions, not letting those tears drop. 

'how, could he, just say this?' thought meera, as kavin scoffed before he said:

"you seem happy about it too...." and left. 

meera took the support of the counter in the kitchen, as she felt the sinking feeling of a thousand daggers being hit on her heart. she felt worse than the day she felt on her husband's death, something she thought would never happen. 

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kavin entered a dark room, as a shadow figure appeared to be smoking by the window. 

"dushyant?" called kavin, as the shadowy figure turned to him. 

"oh, it's you...." remarked dushyant in a rather taunting way, as if trying to make kavin feel horrible for his mere existence. 

kavin just shrugged off the comment as he switched on the light, and sat on the foot of the bed. when a ciagerette popped in front of him, as he looked at dushyant, who was holding it. 

"lagta hai zaroorat hai tumhe...." retorted dushyant, as he signalled with his gaze to take it. kavin ogled at the ciagerette, as if it was a poor man looking at gold. he swallowed in an attempt to resist temptation. 

"ok..." said dushyant, as he was about to take it back, but was immediately grabbed by kavin. in the blink of an eye, he had already exhaled the smoke off. dushyant, who observed all of this, just sat next to him, as he lit one for himself. 

"toh, kab chodi thi, phir?" questioned dushyant casually, as he exhaled the smoke off, only to receive a glare from kavin. 

"fine, mat batao..." replied dushyant, as he raised his hands in surrender, still sounding nonchalant, and continued to smoke. 

"chod nahi paya kabhi...." said kavin, without averting his gaze to dushyant, who just nodded in agreement. 

kavin's gaze was of distress with intense fury, boiled up and waiting to explode. 

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ishita came out of the bathroom, as her gaze fell on the diary lying on her study table. she had been avoiding it for the entire day, but there was something about it that always drover her back to opening it. but this time, she knew she'll be reading it, as she couldn't keep her curiosity unentertained for this long

20th February, 1999

dear diary,

Aaj ki subha jab main kaampe nikli toh maine bilkul bhi nahi socha tha ki aaj kya hone waala hai, par shayad isiliye woh aur khoobsurat lag raha hai...

meri abhi bhi wahi haalat hai, joh meri tab hui jab ritu bhaagte hue aayi aur mujhe kheechkar khedki ki taraf le gayi. maine dekha unhe, apne kisi dost ke kharab scooter mein aaye the. pehle toh mujhe yakeen hi nahi hua, arre jab rishte ki baat chal hi rahi hoti hai toh achanak se bina bulaye ladka kahan aata hai! upar se unhone pata chal gaya maine unhe dekh liya, sharmake haath hila rahe the meri taraf, bas shukar karo woh chugalkhoor chadha aunty ne nahi dekha! waise, agar sachi bataon, andar se toh khushi ki maare cheek rahi thi main. meri doston ke boyfriend karte the aise cheeze, mera toh khair kabhi bana nahi, par sochti thi ki koi kuch karre iss tarah...

anyways, toh phir woh aaye upar, aur mummy ne toh pehle hi keh diya, ki unhe munda nahi changa laga, idda-kidda aa gaya ithe! par ritu toh puri sewa mein lag gayi unki, pata mujhe bulate hue bhi kaha, didi, jijaji aaye hain! par jo bhi ho, ache lage woh mujhe. naam bhi kitna pyaara hai, riaan..matlab waise, khud bhi woh bahaut cute hain...

par mujhe toh yahi nahi bhul raha, jab maine baaton mein pucha, main kuch zyada hi bolti hoon na, unhone kaha, koi baat nahi, aab bolti rehna, main sunta rahunga aur kat jaayegi humari zindagi...

phir kya? kardi maine haan! 

Ishitasmiled as it was the start of a sweet love story between her parents, that shehad never heard before, and what shocked her the most, that it would be told byher mother.

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hey guys, so this is a long chapter....tell me how you felt about it in comments and please vote!!!