Lamhaat - SidNaaz

Chapter Thirteen.

Sidharth sat in the Major General Rajesh's office room. He had been sitting there for almost an hour now. It was getting harder to breathe, harder and harder. The guilt, the sorrow, the pain - it was eating him up. He chewed on his lip, hiding on the couch next to the door. No one knew that he was there in the office, and there was not a single soul that he could trust at that moment except for that man. He was retired, no more on the field. And he had known him all his life, and he could trust him fully, and there was a reason for that.

"Sidharth!" His voice came as soon as the door opened.

"Rajesh sir..." He sighed, standing up.

"The look on your face tells me that you're not here to ask me about my health, lieutenant." He smiled softly, walking towards his desk.

"No sir." He mumbled, sitting down in front of him.

"Aadhi Raat ko call karke bulaya bete aapne. Tell me what is going on." He said.

"Sir, Gurmeet ne jo kiya... Shehnaaz ko leke gaye. Rangers Vikram and Surbhi were there to keep an ...eye.... Phir pata nai. Maine ladayi ki usse... I shouted at her so much and I left... Mai chodke chala gaya usko... Rozz bolta tha ki kabhi nahi jaunga aise... Lekin gaya mai... And the wapas aaya toh koyi nahi tha sir... Meri galti hai... Woh choti si bohot... Usko zaroorat hoti hai meri... Maine kitna chilla diya uspe.. now they took her away...."

"Sidharth!" Rajesh cut him off.

"I'm sorry... But I know where she is. Mai jaake leke aunga usko. Lekin maa, Neetu aur bacche hai ghar pe akele. Unke liye protection chahiye. I can't trust anyone right now. Vikram aur Surbhi bhi phone nahi uthaa rahe hain. I know they're in on this." Sidharth said, his eyes were full with tears.

"I'll arrange for that. Tum uska tension math lo. Five minutes doh mujhe, I'll have people stationed there." Rajesh said, grabbing his phone. Sidharth sat back, and massaged his temples. He felt like he was wasting his time there, just sitting over there. Doing nothing.

"Tell me exactly what's going on." He said after hanging up.

So Sidharth narrated the entire incident, from the moment Gurmeet died to the point where he was sitting there. And his voice cracked and broke every time he brought her up, the guilt and the worry more than that, it crippled his thought process.

"Show me that note." Rajesh frowned. Sidharth pulled out the diary from his pocket and then ripped out the paper and handed it to him. He couldn't let anyone else read the pieces of her heart that were written in that paper. Sidharth watched as Rajesh read the note again and again.

"She's asking not to trust Surbhi and Vikram, is she?" He muttered.

"Yes sir." Sidharth sighed.

"Are you sure she isn't involved? It seems like a diversion, bete." He asked.

"I'm not just sure, I know that she isn't." He nodded.

"Why?" He asked, looking Sidharth in the eye.

"Huh?"

"A confidence like that must come from somewhere." Rajesh said.

"I know her in a way no one else does. Not even Ranger Gurmeet. I don't need to explain all this to anyone, but I know she isn't involved. You have not seen her break down into nothingness after knowing what Gurmeet did to her. Those kinds of raw feelings funny come out of nothing." Sidharth said.

"Okay. I'm taking your word on this Shehnaaz. Whatever it is that we do, we do it very very fast. Understand?" He said.

"Yes sir." Sidharth nodded, determined.