Asrar kept his hand on her shoulder and said, ‘It seems you’d seen today yesterday itself.’ Asrar’s words left Hina puzzled. Was it déjà vu? Or was it just an illusion which had taken the form of a picture in her head instead of being a memory? She had read a brief book on déjà vu a few months back. She had read that déjà vu meant ‘seen before’. It was that mental state when a person thinks that what they are experiencing in the present has already happened in the past, irrespective of whether it has actually happened. Probably that was why she was puzzled. Seeing her lost in thoughts Asrar said, ‘Let’s climb down and sit on the rocks to enjoy the sea better.’ She picked up her purse and once more peeped below the hill to look at the sea. The sea water jolted around the beautiful black rocks. She stared at the rising waves, the seashore, the black clouds in the sky and the rain that fell into the sea. She had never seen a view more beautiful. She was lost in the lap of nature. She held Asrar’s hands in hers tightly. She imagined that the entire scene before her eyes was looking at her. Hina was now a part of the scene’s soul.

Black clouds had gathered over their heads, resulting in darkness all around. They stayed there in each other’s arms. A few teardrops collected in Hina’s eyes, but Asrar could not notice them because of the rain. Those drops in Hina’s eyes were the expression of the bliss that every layer of her being was experiencing. Asrar was her life’s greatest happiness and achievement. She was seeing that person in Asrar which was the antithesis of her father. Her father was a very good human being but had failed to love his wife. This had become a knot in Hina’s heart. She didn’t want herself to be the continuation what her mother went through. She was in search of a life of her own with her individuality. Sometimes, when she looked at her mother, she thought that she would only spend her life with the man who would love her infinitely and whom she could love infinitely. Her adoration for Asrar had soon changed into love.