Unkahee Baatein

Memories

"Papaaa..."

Aarav called again.

Viaan was startled. He looked at Katha.
She maintained her stoic expression but Viaan knew her well enough to understand the inner turmoil she was experiencing.

To lighten the situation Viaan caught hold of Aarav's extended hands and told him.
"Papa nahi..bade papa.."

The baby gave a victorious clap.

It was after all some Papa..

Viaan felt his walls crumbling. A few minutes more and  he would break down. He had to escape immediately.

Without looking at any of them he left the house abruptly.

Katha sat down on the floor. She was shivering.The effort to remain nonchalant drained her completely.

Four years of pain and heart ache..

...and then he had the guts to ask her to listen to her brain instead of the heart....what an irony Mr Raghuvamshi!!!

Aarav came and sat near her, poked her face..."Papaa... he said pointing towards the direction where Viaan went.

"Bade papa.." Katha muttered absent mindedly.

Aarav then hugged Katha sitting on her lap. Katha hugged Aarav back and reminisced her once normal  life...

Four years back...

Viaan was excited to be back to Mumbai after spending six long months at Singapore. He got the opportunity to work in collaboration with a Singapore Architecture firm whose CEO was impressed by Viaan's small presentation at an architects' meet at Mumbai. Viaan's partner Ehasan was so excited for Viaan that he literally made Viaan sit on a  plane and fly  to Singapore. Ehsan convinced him to look after the firm single handedly until Viaan returned after gaining enough experience.

They both were childhood friends who were inseparable even after growing up. Viaan lost his parents in a road accident at the age of twelve  and soon made Ehasan's house his second home. Ehsan too was fatherless but his mother took upon her to look after the orphaned Viaan. Viaan was a silent brooding child but his eyes would warm up with love whenever he met Ehsan's mother. But after her death they had only each other to rely and care upon.  After they graduated from an Architecture college, Viaan decided to use his family inheritance to start a  small architectural firm. He made Ehsan his partner and they took up few sub contracts of big firms to establish themselves in the market..The commitment and dedication of the two youngsters earned them respect and popularity and they started getting small independent works. That was when Viaan was offered a six month contract with a  Singapore company to set up a new Office building for an IT park.

On Ehsan's insistence Viaan decided to go to Singapore and assist the firm to construct and set up the building . Ehsan was ecstatic. He was sure Viaan's exposure will soon help their company gain immense popularity.

Over the next two months ,Viaan was immersed in the designing work of the firm. Over phone Viaan and Ehsan would communicate everything related to their company and employees. Actually they had very loyal employees like Jeetubhai, their financial advisor, Jenny the secretary, Nivedita and Shika  two young architects.

On one such occasion Ehsan mentioned  about hiring an architect for filling Viaan's absence  for a six month period. Viaan gave his approval since he knew Ehsan was struggling alone to complete the undertaken works with very few helping hands.

It was a week after this discussion that Viaan first  heard the name" Katha"..

"Katha who?" , he enquired..

"Katha, our new architect"...Ehsan replied

Then this name started appearing in every second sentence of Ehsan..

"Woh Katha ne aaj hame aise bachaaya presentation mein...Katha ka latest design is a master piece..Katha ne aaj budget phirse banwaaya and we could save a few thousands"... The Katha jaap went on and on  every week..Soon Viaan realised that Ehsan was smitten with Katha.

So today after six months Viaan was finally in Mumbai. He searched for his friends face in the crowd. Suddenly he felt someone hugging him from back...The comfortable  touch in the form of a bear hug ..

" Bhai..." Viaan turned around and hugged Ehsan back.

"Viaan tu itna patla kaise ban gaya? Dieting? work out? "

Viaan just ignored Ehsan's constant bickering and led the way out.They entered the car and drove away from the airport to Ehsan's home.