Akshat's POV

A month. A month since I met the girl I lost my heart too. A month since our marriage has been finalised and a month since she is my fiancee.

Seems unbelievable to me till date. But its true.

Our marriage is only 40 days from now. I have invited all my fellow officers. Naman has been teasing me continuously. Whenever we would talk he would not greet me, he would sing 'Teri rab ne bana di jodi'.

Yeah! He is crazy!

Anyway, talking about Vaishnavi. Dreamy sigh. I love her so much. We share a sweet relationship. I know that she knows about my job because maybe she recognised me. But I can't tell her clearly as you know duty demands.

She loves to tease me and have fun at my expense. I have sometimes caught her staring at me and everytime I did she had blushed profusely and looked away.

And God! That blush! 

I came out of my Vaishnavi land hearing the bell ring.

Mumma just went to temple? Itni jaldi kaise aa gyi aaj? Har baar to do ghante lagte hai unhe.

I think and walk towards the door.

I open the door and she my beautiful fiancee standing there with a smile.

I smile widely at her and she gives me a small smile.

She then tosses me aside and enters in. She looks around and then turns to me.

"Mummy kaha hai?"

(Where is mummy?)

She is asking about mumma.

"Mandir."

(Temple.)

She made an 'o' face and I asked.

"Tum unse milne aayi thi?"

(You came to meet her?)

I thought she came for me.

She nods and says keeping her bag on the sofa. 

"Kuch kaam tha."

(Had some work.)

"Jab tak wo nhi hai unke bete se kaam chala lo."

(Till the time she comes work with her son.)

I wink at her and she raises her eyebrows at looks at me from top to bottom.

She steps closer with that teasing smile.

"Waise unka beta bhi kuch khaas bura nhi hai. Kaam chalau."

(Her son is not that bad. Workable.)

I narrow my eyes at her and she purses her lips to control her laughter.

I pull her closer and hug her tightly.

She rounds her arms around my neck and chuckles.

I inhale her scent and we stay in that embrace until I hear her strained voice.

"Do saal pehle...I was kidnapped...by the human trafficking mafia."

(Two years back...)

I pull back and look at her. She has a pained look in her eyes.

I open my mouth to say that she doesn't need to but she keeps her hand over my mouth and says.

"Please let me!"

I just look into her eyes and hold her hand.

We sit on the sofa and she keeps her head on my shoulder and links her arm with mine. She closes her eyes and starts narrating what she experienced there. 

She told me that she had a best friend named Shreya who was with her when all this happened.

"She took my blame aur...wo usse le gaye...it should have been me...lekin-"

(They took her...but-)

She took a deep wavering breath and I stroked her back softly.

"I kept shouting and shouting but obviously kuch nhi hona tha. Next day we woke up to the door opening aur-"

She stopped and choked back her sobs.

"Uski...uski body...container ki entrance pr...they raped her and killed her."

(Her...her body...)

I remember what she is talking about.

Vaishnavi went limp in my arms after I found her in the container.

I picked her up and carried her out. I laid her in the ambulance carefully and asked the doctor to check her.

Meanwhile a soldier came to me and I asked.

"Reports!"

"All clear sir. Target shot dead. All hostages rescued. Place scanned."

I nod and then he continues.

"Ek body mili hai sir. One of the hostage girls. Naked body wrapped in sheets sir."

(We found a body sir.)

I close my eyes imagining the pain she must have endured and the pain her family will. The soldier who told me himself was barely restricting his anger.

But we have to control our emotions. We are soldiers on duty.

I nod and say.

"Take her in the ambulance. And...inform her family."

"She died my death...meri wajah se ye sab hua...it should have been me uski jagah."

(It all happened because of me...)

And she breaks down and starts crying.

I pull her in my lap and hug her tightly. She snuggles into me like a baby and cries.

Vaishnavi's POV

I miss her so much! I am sorry Shreya.

"I can't lessen your pain Vaishnavi."

I heard Akshat speak. He cups my face and wipes my tears with his thumbs.

"I can't do anything to bring back Shreya. But I know one thing. Wo jaha bhi hogi...she won't be happy seeing you cry. You say she died your death. Why are you wasting her death, her sacrifice by punishing yourself everyday. Make her sacrifice worth by living the life she wanted you to live."

(Wherever she might be...)

I know he is right.

"Lekin I-"

(But I -)

"Tumhe lagta hai tumhari wajah se all that happened with her toh do something jisse log usse yaad rakhe. Do something you think she would have done if she were here today. Aur wo definitely rona toh nhi chahegi na."

(You think all this happened because of you so do something that people remember her. And she definitely wouldn't want to cry.)

He smiled and I nodded and hugged him.

"Thank you so much. For being there."

"I'll always be there."

"Waada?"

(Promise?)

I ask looking into his eyes and he smiles and kisses my forehead.

"Waada!"

(Promise!)

I smile at him and that's when I realise that I was sitting on his lap. I quickly got off and looked down. I am sure that my face must be red now.

"Its fine. I was pretty comfortable."

Came his teasing voice and I hit his arm. He laughed and pulled me closer by my shoulder planting a kiss on my head.

The doorbell rang and he went to open it.

Mummy was here. I smiled and greeted her by touching her feet.

She blessed me and gave us prasad.

I gave her the first card that was printed. She touched her to her head first and then placed it before God.

It is done in many places as a ritual where the first wedding card is giving to God in order to seek his blessing for the new journey of the newly weds.

Akshat informed mummy that his friend, Naman was coming for lunch.

"Tum bhi ruk jaao na beta. Lunch krke jaana."

(You also stay. Have lunch.)

"Haan. Ruk jaao. Wo waise bhi bhut time se milwane ki keh rha tha. Issi bahane mera peechha chhutega iss cheez se."

(Yes. Stay. He wants to meet you since long. He will stop eating my head after this.)

Akshat said and I looked at the two of them and nodded.

I informed mumma and she said that its fine and that I should stay if they were insisting.
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