The Change: Unveiling The Mask Of Pretence

17.5. 𝘼𝙣 𝙀𝙥𝙞𝙘 𝙍𝙚𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙤𝙣

That's when I heard Monami say, "Jaante hain, ab samajh mein aarha hai ki Karan me nightmares kitne valid the! Uska pain, uska guilt sab samajh mein aarha hai because aaj vahi feel kr rahi hoon main!"

On receiving this piece of information, all six of us looked at her startled not knowing how to react when she revealed, "Bhai, aapko pta hai Karan ko aapke jaane ke baad nightmares aate the...."

I looked at her and then Chotte who quietly stole a glance at me, as tears rolled down his eyes when Monami chuckled sarcastically when she told us, "But main toh usse bhi ek step aage nikli, last ke 2-3 weeks se, I am suffering from insomnia."

Insomnia? I didn't knew what it was exactly except the thing that it's related to sleeping when she said, "It's the sleeping disorder. Jab insaan nahi so sakta, lack of sleep or no sleep. Khud ko es guilt mein rakha hai, just taaki main Charu ko khatam kr sakun, es vajah se apni Mumma ke colleagues ki jaan khatre mein daali!"

"Yash, Rishabh, Ajeet, Anubhav, unki teams aur Gunjan ma'am ko on-field bhej diya aur khud yahaan academy mein thi! Just ordering them.... Aur kuch nahi! Aaj Yash aur uski team missing hai, Sneha isn't alive! Sab meri galti hai! Sab!" she shouted broken and I realised that she is taking everything in a negative way...

I tried my best to not to break as I spoke up in order to console her, "Baccha, staying back is the bigger responsibility. Tum peeche rahi taaki tum backup plan kr sako, mission successful rahe us baat ka dhyaan rakho, because unhe bhi pta tha Baccha, ki yeh mission end of the day sirf tumhare haanthon pura hosakta hai, tumhara stay back zaroori tha."

"Aur rahi baat order dene ki, toh you know what? Esse ordering nahi, supervising kehte hain.... Jaanti ho baccha, a perfect team requires six things. Ek planner, ek executer, ek superviser, atleast ek fighting expert, ek technology expert, aur ek diverter." I told her but she didn't respond, and I knew that she was confused with what I wanted to explain.

I inhaled deeply as I elaborated, "Baccha, tumne 6 logon ka kaam akele kiya hai. Planner banke, yeh pura mission plan kiya, sabke roles decide kiye. Executer banke, yeh plan execute kiya jo bohot crucial part hota hai. Supervisor banke, sabko sahi instructions diye, unhe mentor kiya even though they were elder to you."

"Diverter banke, you distracted Charu from focussing on one thing. Fighting expert banke, you are the person jisne Aashna ko rescue kiya, and you are the only one jisne Karan aur baaki sab ke saath ladi. Technical kaam bhi tumne khud kiye, like hacking Charu's phone, voh pure mission ki details nikalna." I concluded.

I received silence but I was trying to keep myself positive that she is thinking about my words but then she said, "But you can't change the fact Bhai, ki yeh mission aaj bhi incomplete hai. Aashna ki jaan bhi meri carelessness ki vajah se khatre mein aayi. Aneesh ke time maine Karan ko misunderstand kiya, jiski vajah se baat itni badhi. Sneha isn't alive usme bhi meri galti hai. And you can't deny to the fact, ki jo maine plan C banaya tha usme ek bhi galti se yeh pura mission barbaad hosakta tha...."

"Sab barbaad hosakta tha!" Monami yelled and finally fell on her knees broken but before I could go near her, Karan, Faizi, Sid, Sanju, and Koel rushed to her and going on their knees, they pulled her into a warm hug and I smiled.

Six of them were crying in one another's arms and here I am smiling because I know that it's their reunion.

Monami was startled for a moment before she reciprocated the hug, as six of them were getting the solace in that hug as I just adored them from afar, and after what felt like an eternity they separated from one another and looking at their red faces, I tried to suppress my laugh.