Teri Lakeerein

14. Start of Something New

[The above song is from one of my all-time favorites. And somehow it was perfectly going with this chapter. So do give this song a try!]

It was already 1 by the time Karishma reached home.

Taking off first thing in the morning towards hospital without knowing a thing to realizing Inspector SHO was perfectly okay and performing her duty at the thana, from fighting the urge to check on her personally to selecting the best fruits for her, from threatening Billu Champat to place the fruit basket in MPT, to barely survive getting caught by the Head constable, Karishma had experienced a lot in the first half of day and was absolutely drained, and famished.

"Usha, hamara khana laga dijiye!" Karishma shouted passing through the hall and ascending the stairs towards her room to freshen up.

And another hour had passed by the time Karishma had her meal and retired to her room.

Settling her back against the pillows then, she started going through the various proposals that had poured in for the pathshala redevelopment. After going over the 10 proposals twice, she finally shortlisted two vendors whose quotation was fair and within her estimates too and so she informed Kishan to fix a meeting with them as soon as possible.

It was three by the time she finished her work, and she could feel the low thrum in her head intensifying. Not wanting to take any unnecessary painkillers, Karishma decided to sleep it off, and had about lied down on the bed, when she recalled that she hadn't checked her phone all this while and decided to give it a look.

However, as she powered on her phone, the notification on her lock screen stole all her attention and she quickly jumped up to sit attentively.

Inspector SHO

2 messages

Quickly unlocking the screen, Karishma Singh almost fell off the bed as she read the messages.

'Kya aap aaj shaam free hain?'

'Aminabad main Firoz Cafe hai, inki lemon tea kafi achi hoti hai. You like lemon tea?'

Karishma looked at the time when the messages had been sent and realized it had been more than 4 hours now.

"Ama o topa insaan, kaahe apna phone silent rakhti ho!" Karishma chided herself and hastily typed out a reply.

'Ji avashya! Aap samay bata dijiye, hum pahunch jayenge'

And for the next ten minutes, she waited desperately with eyes glued to screen, dreading if Inspector Sahiba had been offended by her tardiness or if she should have apologized for being a tech crippled moron who hated the sound of her phone or if she should have just called her.

Her brews drew together however when she realized that she had been panicking over something very trivial. "Hum topa gaye hain kaa! Kesa mafi? Kaam main ulajh gaye thhe toh nahi de paaye jawab! Itna kaahe tilmila rahe ha-

Her phone pinged then, and she quickly picked it up, restlessly.

'See you at 5 then, Miss Singh'.

And before Karishma could stop it, she pumped her fist in excitement forgetting all about her earlier dilemma.

.

.

Throwing over a yellow salwar suit with black waistcoat, as Karishma stepped in front of mirror and started to wear her earrings, a memory resurfaced out of nowhere.

'Bindi hoti toh baat hi alag hoti'

'Aaj aap bahot pyaari lag rahi hain'

Karishma snapped out of her trance suddenly and realized that she had picked up a patta of bindi in her hands.