dushyant, exhausted, from another long day at college, entered the society with hopes that the lift would be fixed today.
"jamaar bhaiya, lift thik ho gayi kya?" asked dushyant, as the guard, without even looking up, nodded in agreement.
"seriously?" confirmed dushyant in excitement, as the guard disinterestedly nodded again in agreement.
"oh thank god!" exclaimed dushyant, as he ran to the lift, with the sole purpose of crashing on his bed, as soon as he reaches home.
***
ishita came back home on an auto-rickshaw, that she paid for and entered the society. suddenly, her phone rang.
"haan nani bolo." she received the call.
"kya! do ghante lag jaayenge? aisa kya kar rahi hain aap gurudware mein!" yelled ishita.
kavin, who had just parked his car, noticed this.
"hey!" he greeted after walking to her.
"woh, main, kavin, dushyant ka bhai..." stated kavin as ishita remembered.
"so, aap ghar nahi jaa sakti apne, do ghante tak?" questioned kavin.
"yeah, and this had to happen when i'm in a completely society...i don't even know anyone in here...except of course, aapka bhai..." remarked ishita.
"right, aap humare ghar mein wait karlijiye na?" offered kavin.
"oh no-no, i mean thanks, but..." refused ishita.
"arre, kyun nahi, hum log toh khaana bhi khaane waale the, aapko bhi bhook lag rahi hogi.." convinced kavin.
"haan, lekin.." detested ishita.
"see, you don't have any other place to go for now, and isn't this better than sitting outside of your house for two hours?" persuaded kavin, as ishita admitted defeat.
"fine, but dushyant..." conditioned ishita.
"yeah, don't worry, i know you are mad at him..you can even yell at him all you want.." remarked kavin, as they shared a chuckle and followed him.
***
the elevator was about to close with dushyant inside, when he stopped seeing kavin and ishita.
"arre, tum dono?" questioned dushyant.
"haan, woh, iski naani do ghante se pehle ghar nahi aayengi, toh maine offer kiya, ki humare ghar hi wait karlein..." explained kavin, as he winked at dushyant.
"oh." responded dushyant, as ishita already looked away.
suddenly, someone kept their hand in between the closing doors of the elevator and got inside.
"oh thank god!" exclaimed purvi, only she wished to retract her words, when she turned to see the trio standing behind her.
everyone, had made their minds, this was the worst situation for them to be in.
"tumhe kuch bhi seedhe tarah se nahi karna hota hai, chalti gaadi ke saamne aa jati ho, band hoti hui lift mein aise ghoos jaati ho!" scolded kavin.
"main kuch bhi karu, tumse kya matlab!" aruged purvi.
"right, tumhe hi apni jaan nahi pyaari, mujhe kya fikar hai phir..." retorted kavin.
"guys, do second bina ladein, hum bus apne-apne ghar nahi jaa sakte?" intervened dushyant.
"nahi dushyant, kuch log aise kaam karte hain ki ladai hote hi hai unke baad...jaise ki kisiki private baatein kisi aur ko batana!" remarked ishita.
"right, aur phir kuch log jinse jhagda karte hain, ussi ke ghar dusre din aake baith jaate hain!" quipped dushyant.
"see, this is exactly why i didn't want to come.." pointed ishita to kavin.
"aur tu, kya zaroorat thi isse bolane ki! sadne deta garmi mein do ghanta apne ghar ke bahar isse..." yelled dushyant at kavin.
"hadd hai! woh tujhse naraaz hai, main kahan se aa gaya beech mein!" exclaimed kavin.
but all of this went downhill, when the elevator crashed and all the lights went out.
***
"yeh ho kya raha hai!" yelled purvi, as ishita turned on the flashlight in her phone.
"lift kharab ho gayi hai...guard ko phone karta hoon." said dushyant, as he got up and picked up the emergency telephone in the lift.
"haan, jamaar bhaiya, woh lift kharab ho gayi hai, lagta phirse.." informed dushyant.
"kya? abhi isko theek karwana tha...arre toh mujhe yeh kyun kaha ki lift thik ho gayi hai!" yelled dushyant.
"dhyaan nahi diya, yaar kya aadmi ho tum! haan leke aao usse...thik hai." hung-up dushyant.
"toh kitne der tak hum hain iss jharnum mein..." remarked kavin.
"woh banda laa rahe hain, do ghante lag jaayenge..." informed dushyant.
"chalo, andhera hai, tumhari shakal dekhna toh avoid kar sakti hoon..." taunted ishita.
"matlab duniya khatam hone ko aa rahi hogi, tumhe phir bhi bass mere upar hi khundak nikalni hai!" argued dushyant.
"duniya toh abhi khatam ho nahi rahi hai, tumhare saath phas gayi hoon! toh aur kiss pe gussa karo!" yelled ishita.
"wow, you have even surpassed kavin's pettiness." remarked purvi.
"excuse me, my problem with you, is not because i am petty! it is because you killed my dad!" yelled kavin.
"it was a mistake!" argued purvi.
"oh come on, just admit it! you are a fu***ing murderer!" yelled kavin.
"it's not a murder kavin, for the love of god, you are a law student, you should know that.." retorted dushyant.
"dushyant, yaar dost ko bhi defend na ke hadd tak kiya jaata hai!" exclaimed kavin.
"you know what, kavin! at this point, it's not the fact that she killed your dad, it's the fact that you can't move on from your father's death...i mean for god's sake, tu kyun naraaz tha apni maa se iss shaadi ko lekar? because she moved on kavin, and you didn't! and now you have the perfect excuse to still hold onto his death..." ranted dushyant, as silence caught the air in the room, so tightly.
dushyant face-palmed himself, regretting how harshly he went about this.
"i, i didn't mean to be, so rude about this....you just, kavin, somebody had to tell you." stated dushyant.
"you are right...it bothers me how everyone just moved on from it, and , i just, can't....for three years, i couldn't let go of the fact that his killers are free, and mom just kept on saying that how will it even matter if they get caught, dad won't come back! it made me think, that maybe it was more about peace for me, than it was for him...." confessed kavin.
"i guess, kabhi woh peace mila nahi mujhe, maybe that's why i took it out on you....i am sorry..." apologised kavin to purvi.
"no, it's not your fault entirely, i did commit a crime...and, i do mean it, when i say that i'm guilty for it everyday! i, i didn't mean to, do it!" responded purvi.
"i guess, iss baat ka zyada bura laga ki tum thi...tum toh pasand thi mujhe...." admitted kavin.
"you know, this would have been so better agar hum ek andheri, kharab lift mein nahi hote..." remarked dushyant, as everybody chuckled.
"ok, my battery is dying, koi aur apni flashlight use kar sakta hai, please?" announced ishita, as dushyant switched his on.
"ok, so ek ghanta toh ho gaya hai..." said dushyant, as he saw the time from his phone.
"one more to go..." added kavin.
"ishita..." called purvi.
"hmmm..." responded a perplexed ishita.
"sorry, maine woh sab kaha tumhe, uss din..." apologised purvi.
"i am sorry too..." replied ishita.
"i guess, mujhe joh gussa tumhare papa pe tha, woh tumpe nikala. tumhari koi galti nahi thi..." clarified purvi.
"i guess, tumhe bura banana, mera guilt kam karne ka tareeka tha..." admitted ishita.
"you know, i really tried hard to hate you too in the beginning..." said dushyant to kavin.
"i did that too, i thought i was just supposed to..." agreed kavin.
"you are tolerable now..." remarked dushyant, as they both shared a chuckle.
"uhh, so almost, sabne maafi mangli hai...." said purvi as she glanced at ishita, and kavin did at dushyant.
"i don't know why i am supposed to, but you are hurt, because of me, so..i am sorry..." apologised dushyant.
"it was not about you, i am sorry..." responded ishita.
"that night, was the first and last time, i, i was with a guy, like that..." revealed ishita.
"uhh, i, ended up telling you, a lot of things, i never told, to anyone. it was the first time, someone was, that nice to me...and probably the last time, that i did something, i knew won't make my mom happy, but i did it anyway...she was always mad at me, i never knew why, i always did things to make her happy, be the best daughter for her, and i was, tired of it....so i did something that would make her mad." confessed ishita.
"did it, make you, happy?" questioned dushyant, as he focused the flashlight on her, and she nodded in agreement.
suddenly, they felt the lift crash again.
"bhaiya ji! thik hai aap?" yelled the guard.
"haan!" yelled dushyant.
the lift doors opened, unfortunately, they were a stuck on third floor, so to get out of the lift, they'd had to jump.
they all got out of the lift, jumping one by one.
"agli baar, sun lena jab koi kuch puch raha ho..." scolded dushyant to the guard.
meanwhile, ishita's grandmother appeared.
"tum yahan kya kar rahi ho? kya hua tha?" she asked.
"bahaut lambi seedhi chadni hai, batati hoon." responded ishita, as they started to climb the stairs, but before that, she looked and smiled at dushyant once, which he noticed.
"so, i don't hate you, anymore..." joked kavin to purvi as they shared a chuckle.