MishKan : When They Met

Abir Meets Kanak

WRITTEN IN COLLABORATION WITH
deewaniraat

"Mishtiii!" Abir screams for his wife, wanting desperately to save her, but this time he cannot. He cannot stop her from collapsing now when she's already seen that the object of her greatest fear is closer to her. Same man who had attacked her 3 months ago and who she accidentally killed while trying to defend herself. For the second time, his voice sent a terrible chill down her spine , and the most awful memories came back to her. Combined with the unspeakable terror was Mishti's guilt towards her culprits family, who had lost a member because of her.

Now she found out that his family are very close to her, at an unavoidable distance and therefore so is the sorrow that she has inflicted upon them. As well as that, Mishti feels incredibly pressurised to make Ketki's marriage go as smoothly as possible, and the people who held the key to Ketki's happiness are the very same people who Mishti now cannot face due to guilt. The haunting memory, the guilt, and the pressure are all working together to make Mishti even more weak. Now her panic attacks are going to multiply. Abir realises fearfully, while he sits by Mishti's beside, watching her sleep. Stress stays on her face even when she's asleep, and it hurts Abir so much to see her struggle so much to find any moments of peace.

"I wish I could eliminate just one of her demons at least, that would lighten her load so much. If only I could stop the memory coming back to her, or stop her feeling guilty for breaking a family, I've tried to stop her taking on too many responsibilities for Ketki's marriage but this house won't let her stay away from it without giving her even more guilt. Mishti won't be able to cope with even more at this point... but moving away will also just add to Mishti's guilt. Oh I wish, I wish I could just delete that night from our lives"

Abir is close to tears himself as he is worried sick about Mishti. He is her strength, and he knows that he must stay strong, but he can sense it getting way tougher now that Mishti knows the truth.

"I think it has become even more important now that Mishti gets good help. She needs incredible support now to help her recover, and I need to see my Angry Chorni come back in her true form at the soonest. I should search for a doctor for real"

And then at just the right time, Abir's phone buzzes. He picks it up and smiles on seeing the name. It's Kanak, his dear friend. Her text reads :

"Hey Abir! Mai aur Uma kuch kaam se Rajkot aaye huve hai and we will not leave without meeting you! Waise toh hum bass chance se yaha aaye hai par mujhe tumhare baare me kuch khayal bhi aa rahe the yaha aane se pehle. Bhot mahino se we haven't been in touch na, I hope everything's fine. Anyway, please call back when you can!"

Immediately, Abir calls her, with tears brimming his eyes and a smile on his face. Kanak, the girl with all the world's chirpiness, enthusiasm and fighting, spirit, has a solution to every problem. And she's sounding like a solution right now for him and Mishti. Abir really feels like Kanak's message came as a sign for him to confide in her.

"Hey Abir! Badi jaldi call back kar diya. Kon kahega ke apni shaadi se pehle tum phone use nahi karte the!"