The 'Un' Attached String

Chapter - 16

[ Present ]

The luggage bags which Bela was holding fell from her hands as soon as her eyes met Maahir's as they had never seen each other's face since past 8 years. A few droplets of tears formed in the lap of her eyes which were struggling to flow down and by God's grace Bela allowed them to do so. 8 years, in matter of words might take only 1/10th of a space in one line but in real point of view, peoples' lives change, their surroundings gets changed but in case of Bela and Maahir nothing changed except for the fact that they were heavily successful in their professional lives and their lives have been filled by the love of their daughter, although separately but still it has, which was also the only common things in their lives and also the other most important fact of their life was that both of them never stopped loving each other no matter how much they had pretended to hate in front of others but the fact that they still love each other and will always love each other only would never change... at least in these lives. So when after such a long time, Bela and Maahir were standing in front of each other, the first thought that came in each other's minds was not that they were separated but how much vacuum had been created in their lives due to their separation. To both of them, it was like a dream as none of them had ever thought that they would be going to meet each other like that and they both were desperate to feel that it was not a dream and even if it was a dream they didn't want it to end. Maahir continued staring at her without blinking as he already got lost in his memory lane where Bela was not just the woman with whom he got married but also a cute child whom he had to literally raise just like a father sometimes. Bela also remembered when she just used to cuddle to him while sleeping and just how he tolerated each of her childish acts without getting mad at her and how much and how boundlessly they loved each other that without seeing each other they used to die every single second and they never missed any opportunity romancing with each other no matter what their surroundings were. Bulbul, on the other side, was very scared as she knew that whenever her parents would meet, there would be a huge fiasco or world war III but she got confused as nothing happened and they were just staring at each other. On getting an opportunity, Bela ran to Madhu and asked, "Naani ye kya ho raha hai? Maine to socha tha ke ye dono fighting karenge par ye to kuch bhi nehi kar rahe hai?" Madhu just put her finger on her lips and looked at Bulbul asking her to remain quiet. Both Bela and Maahir started to walk towards each other as if they were in some kind of trans.

Tumko dekh ke yu lagta hai

Koi bichda khwaab aaya hai

Barso lambi raat se guzre

Subha ka jhonka laut aaya hai

Bela and Maahir stood in front of each other like decades after and both of their conditions were so similar as both of them wanted to hug each other, to feel each other desperately and both of their eyes were not moving away from each other. She, slowly like a hypnotized being, raised her hand which was actually shaking, to put it on his cheek and Maahir desperately wanted her to so that. No one could even imagine the raging storm of emotions that was blowing inside their hearts.

Bohot der jaagi

Bohot door aayi

Khwaab ne chodi na meri kalaayi

The moment, Bela put her hand on Maahir's cheek, her lips shivered as tears continued flowing down. With her shivering lips, she uttered, "Ye... ye sach hai na?" Maahir too was too overwhelmed with emotions to reply but still somehow, he managed to answer back, "I... I... hope so!" Maahir put his hand on her hand and kissed on the palm of her hand. Bela and Maahir both held each other's hands and they both burst out into tears as Maahir kissed her hands and Bela again asked, "Ekbaar...???" She raised both her arms a bit but could not complete her sentence and Maahir could not help but chuckle and said, "Itne saalo mein tum shaayad bhul gayi ho ke tumne aajtak kabhi kisi bhi cheez ke liye mujhse permission nehi maangi hai..." Before he could complete his sentence, Bela almost jumped over him and hugged him tight by his shoulder and Maahir too hugged her back by her waist as tightly as possible as if his dear life depended on it.