KAREENA: A Love Story

7. Dimag v/s Dil

Ishq par zor nahin hain yeh woh aatish Ghalib
Jo lagaye na lage aur bujhaye na bane...

On Wednesday morning Haseena Mallik was woken up by the soft sunlight filtering through the parting in the window curtains. A distinct feeling of warmth and peace surrounded her being. As she slowly opened her eyes, she found out the reason for this feeling — Karishma Singh was soundly sleeping in her arms.

A smile appeared on Haseena's face as she watched the sleeping woman. A bhaukaal-displaying basket of trouble in her waking hours, the loaded-bandook was now looking so innocent in her sleep. Haseena affectionately tapped her on the nose. Karishma scrunched her nose and made a cute grunt of annoyance but otherwise showed no sign of waking.

Kash har subah aise hi shuru hoti... The thought appeared in Haseena's mind out of nowhere. Her smile faltered. She quickly dispelled the idea. What the hell was she thinking!

Haseena sighed. A headache was steadily building up and she needed to go to the washroom. She tried to pull her arm away from Karishma's grip and that finally stirred the other woman to wake up. Karishma adorably rubbed her face into the pillow before squinting her eyes. Her sulky expression immediately cleared when her eyes landed on her Madam Sir in such close proximity.

Today they didn't spring apart upon realisation of their closeness. Today they smiled at each other gently, whispered good mornings and slowly got up — content, and in no hurry to be anywhere else. Today it was just them.

But Haseena's headache had just grown exponentially and she groaned as she held her head in her hands. She mumbled curses and expressed confusion for this inexplicable pain.

'Sirf aapka nahi, humara bhi sar dard se phata jaa raha hain Madam Sir,' Karishma groaned quietly. 'Yeh sab kal raat ka asar hain.'

'Kyun kal raat ko kya hua tha?' asked a puzzled Haseena.

And that was the moment when she saw Karishma's face fall. She went from looking well-rested to surprised to devastated in a matter of seconds. And Haseena had no idea why.

Haseena also had no idea why Karishma's voice shook slightly when she asked to confirm — 'Aapko sach mein kal raat ka kuch bhi yaad nahi hain?'

Haseena shook her head in the negative. Karishma's look of devastation deepened and lasted for a few more seconds before she controlled herself and a mask fell over her face.

She then mechanically informed Madam Sir about the alcohol-spiked oranges — that had debilitated the entire MPT team for the night.
And all the while she spoke, Karishma looked intently at Haseena, trying to look for any sign of recollection. It made Haseena wonder what it was that Karishma was so desperate for her to remember.

The last thing in Haseena's memory was them watching a movie together. But when she asked Karishma if she had said or done anything crazy or stupid when under the influence of alocohol, Karishma had clamped up and given her only vague answers. This only worried Haseena further.

...

Memories started slowly filtering back once she was in the shower. Chapter by chapter, her drunken adventures revealed themselves and the more Haseena remembered the more she wanted to just die of shame...
Or at the very least disappear somewhere where Karishma and Pushpa Ji would never find her.

What had she done!

She had no idea how to face up and address her behaviour from the night before, so for the first time in her life, Haseena Mallik chose the cowardly way and kept on pretending that she didn't remember anything.