KAREENA: A Love Story

2. Saans le Ek toh Dusra jee uthe

It took several long seconds for the cobwebs of her brain to clear somewhat. Memories filtering through slowly as she recalled what could have been the last day of her life...
... if not for this woman beside her, looking at her like Haseena was the most precious treasure in the world.

Karishma's fingers gently weaved through Haseena's hair, lightly massaging her scalp. The other hand tightly gripped Haseena's, with no intention of letting go... not in this lifetime.

Their eyes remained locked on each other for some time. Neither said a word. They didn't have to. Karishma slowly bent down over Haseena and hugged her, face hidden in Haseena's hair spread over the pillow. Haseena wanted to hug her back but her limbs still felt too sluggish. So she settled for clutching on to Karishma's kameez.
They stayed like that, just breathing each other in.

Haseena could have happily stayed there for an eternity, but after some time Karishma moved away.

'Hum baki sabko bula kar laate hain. Sab bohot pareshani mein hain.'

Her voice was hoarse and broken. The moment she went out of the room, Haseena instantly missed the feeling of warmth and safety.

Her eyes shut down again. She felt some trouble breathing so she focused on slowly breathing in and out. She heard multiple hurried footsteps in the room and then felt the mattress dip. The sense of warmth and safety returned.

'Arrey yeh abhi abhi uthi thi. Aankhein khola tha inhone!'

'Relax Karishma Singh. Yeh hosh mein hi hain par shayad abhi bhi bohot weak hain. Inko thoda waqt dena chahiye.'

She recognised DSP Anubhav Singh's voice trying to reassure Karishma.

Still focused on getting her breathing under control, Haseena spread her right arm... searching... her hand landed on Karishma's lap and stayed there.

This time when she opened her eyes again, she found everyone standing around the bed, looking anxiously at her.

Anubhav stood on one side with Pushpa ji, Santu and Cheetah. They all looked like they'd been through the most challenging period of their lives. And that was saying something since they were all police officers and life threw challenges at them on a daily basis.

On the other side stood her Mahipal uncle with his daughter Mansi. Relief on their faces was overshadowed by a sense of guilt clearly visible. Haseena knew her poor uncle was mentally blaming himself for everything. Haseena would have to talk to them later, when she had gained back her strength a little bit.

And finally she turned to look back at Karishma, sitting beside her.

They would most likely have gone back to staring at each other... if not for Santu.

'Madam Sir... main Santu,' she said aloud, pointing at herself. Probably taking Haseena's silence to mean her memories were lost or something.

Haseena couldn't help the small smile that came on to her face. Suddenly she felt a little conscious of all these people looking at her while she was lying down. So she tried to sit up. Karishma's arms immediately came around to hold her. Haseena sat up with some difficulty.

'Madam Sir ab thik lag raha hain aapko?' asked Karishma.

Haseena nodded weakly and the tiniest crack of a smile appeared on Karishma's face for the first time in forever.

'Dekha humne vaada kiya tha na ki aapko kuch nahi hone denge. Aapko kuch nahi hua...

'Bas aap... aap thaane wapis aa jayiye. Woh ka hain na hum aapse lade nahi hain na bohot din tak, toh hamre pet ka haajma kharab ho gaya hain. Dialogue-baaji ka bhi humko mauka nahi mil raha hain, dekhiye na. Aap wapis aa jaiye toh phir sabko lagega ki sab normal chal raha hain.'