STORY –
This is a story set in Mumbai of a couple who have been in a happy marriage for past three years. Both doctors by profession have managed to set some rules to manage their professional and personal lives. The credit mostly goes to Mauli who believes in planning and organizing life, whereas abhaas takes one day at a time. Abhaas loves showing his love for mauli by doing romantic gestures, whereas Mauli shows her love by the care and concern she has towards abhaas. Abhaas in a way is a bit immature but somewhere friend’s blames mauli for being the reason because of which abhaas has become so dependent on her for small things.
Mauli has everything planned….even abhaas appointments and alarms are set by her every day in advance. Waking up way before time and finishing household chores before heading to work, attending to patients and surgeries as she shuffles between two different hospitals, keeping a tap over her in-laws and family members and not to forget husband too whenever she gets the time in between and rushing back home trying to be on time in spite of her erratic work profile where actually nothing can go as planned. And most importantly to keep the love and romance alive in their relationship, they both have kept Saturdays and Sundays for themselves unless there is some emergency.
Story starts when Mauli breaks the news to abhaas that she has taken up work in one more hospital, an offer she couldn’t resist and now she will be working on a Saturday too. Abhaas finds this shockingly upsetting as they both had mutually decided on keeping Saturdays and Sundays free. For abhaas, working five days a week was enough to pay EMI’s of their house and cars and living a comfortable life. He believed that if they don’t restrict themselves to limits then there is no stopping and their professional life will overpower their personal life and they will be like any other couple living in this concrete jungle. But little did he know the reason why mauli took this new opportunity.
Abhaas is a child specialist and his love for children is far beyond the medical business people are into now a days. He cannot stand exploitation of patient’s family in this noble profession and after resisting to speak against the authorities; he cannot take it at one moment and leaves his job. His dream is to have his own clinic where he is not dependant on the administration and can make his own rules where everyone is treated fairly without any kind of manipulation or exploitation. To make this dream of his come true, mauli took this extra work on Saturday to give him a surprise also because abhaas and mauli had planned to start a family only after abhaas will have his own clinic. What made mauli look like a rule breaker for the first time in abhaas eyes was in fact a sacrifice mauli was making to make abhaas’s dream come true of having his own clinic and also planning a child he always was looking forward too.
Abhaas upset with mauli for taking away their Saturday teasingly tells her that now he will plan guy’s night out on Saturdays, to which mauli was more excited than him as she will feel guilt free too. These cute fights had kept the fire in their relationship alive and understanding and friendship strong.
When abhaas goes to meet his old guy friends who are doing well in their own respective fields, he realizes that one of his friends is cheating on his wife and that doesn’t go very well with him. He shares this with mauli and even after mauli trying to tell him that let him be as it’s his life, abhaas felt that cheating on his spouse was wrong and there can’t be any excuse for it. Though mauli tries to make abhaas not take it so seriously, but somewhere she flaunts this fact amongst her friends about what abhaas feel about infidelity.
After abhaas leaving his job, mauli makes abhaas go for a conference to pune and here he meets Nandini. Little did he know that nandini was the same friend he had always been wanting to know about from mauli, who she had kept under wraps for years without even mentioning her name. all abhaas knew was there was a friend of mauli’s from childhood and they were more like sisters than friends but one day a guy in her life became so important that she left mauli for him. After this wound mauli never took nandini’s name nor wanted to remember her but somewhere she still lived inside her.
Abhaas bumped into nandini under very weird circumstance….she was a victim and he was a savior in the name of doctor. Seeing nandini so vulnerable scared and bruised, abhaas first reaction was that of a doctor followed by a humanitarian. When abhaas meet nandani’s husband it doesn’t take much time for him to figure out that nandini is in an abusive relationship even though nandani tries to cover up. Abhaas being a doctor indirectly tells nandani that even he is married but has never raised his voice or hand on his wife. Nandani is shocked to hear this as she was very use to being around families where husbands treated their wives like doormats. Nandani feels respect towards abhaas which develops into admirations in a couple of meetings. There was something special about nandani too for abhaas.
Though abhaas had discussed about her meeting with this woman but as he didn’t know her first name, mouli had no idea that it was her friend nandini he had met in Pune. Mouli had joked about abhaas preoccupation with this woman’s story too that maybe that’s why men like timid meek vulnerable women so that they feel they can protect them and feel wanted as well as needed. To which abhaas had very clearly stated that if that would have been the case he wouldn’t have fallen in love with an independent woman like her, but then he won’t mind if at times she behaves meek and vulnerable. They had laughed it out as a joke then.
When mouli and nandini meet in Mumbai, its nandani who takes the first step and hugs her and mouli forgets all the hurt and pain she had been carrying for so many years. Mouli sees sandeep and nandani pretends that she is very happy in her marriage with him. Mouli feels relief. Soon nandani with her husband and mouli and abhaas start meeting together. Abhaas had told mouli that nandani was the same woman he had helped in pune who he thought was in an abusive relationship, but mouli dismissed it saying maybe it was a one off. During all these meetings Sandeep’s agenda to be around abhaas and mouli is pure business and for the first time he feels that because of nandani maybe he can benefit something. Whereas the more nandani sees mouli and abhaas as a couple she realizes what a sham her marriage is. She realizes what a real husband should be like and its definitely nowhere close to Sandeep but abhaas. Mouli also notices certain things between Sandeep and nandani’s and is sure that her friend is not happy in this marriage but because she had once chosen Sandeep over mouli, she is trying to keep the façade that choosing Sandeep was not a wrong choice. Mouli doesn’t want to dig into it nor wants to make nandani embarrassed, she just tells nandani to remember that if she ever need her….day or night, she is just a phone call away. Abhaas also finds himself getting a little attracted towards the feminine side of nandani but then he shrugs it off telling himself its nothing maybe pity for her and her state. He tries his best to indirectly spell it out in casual conversations that he has very little respect for women who take shit and don’t take a stand for their self respect etc when nandani and Sandeep are around but mouli covers it up cleverly. Mouli tries to make abhaas understand separately that they should not judge people because we don’t know under what circumstances they have done what they have done. But mouli is unaware that abhaas whole stand towards nandani is actually a defense mechanism to keep himself from not liking her as much as he has started thinking about her.
One unfortunate night, sandeep keeps an indecent proposal to nandani which she shockingly out rightly rejects and that makes sandeep so furious that he abandons nandani in the middle of the night on a stranded road. Nandani remembers mouli telling her that she is just a phone call away and she calls mouli feeling helpless and devastated. Mouli and abhaas immediately get nandani home and she starts staying with them. One day an awkward situation between nandani and abhaas makes both realize that it’s not a good idea to stay under one roof. Nandani tells mouli that she wants to shift someplace else as she feels she in intruding in her space, though mouli tries to change her mind but nandani insists. There even abhaas tells mouli that now nandani should go and fiind some other place to stay. Mouli finds it weird but gives in to both of their demands and promises to find nandani a good place to shift soon. Here staying in the same house and sharing same interest in music and food, soon nandani and abhaas become very comfortable with each other and infact start enjoying each other’s company. Also, there are times when nandani is happy and laughing when suddenly a message or call from sandeep disturbs and terrifies her and then its abhaas who is there to pacify and comfort her. This gets them even closer emotionally and abhaas starts feeling the need to protect her even more. Now abhaas and nandani feel more connected and comfortable, this is when mouli comes with the new that nandani’s flat is ready and she can shift tomorrow. Both abhaas and nandani don’t know whether to be happy or sad but they are definitely disappointed.
Nandani shift to a flat close by with mouli and abhaas’s help. Mouli also encourages nandani to start up her own food business and offers to help her in the process so she can be independent too. The distance between abhaas and nandani in fact got them more closer and got them more chances to be together. Where mouli was working hard and even on Saturdays to make abhaas dream clinic come true, there abhaas was spending more time with nandani. And then mouli’s brother’s marriage ceremonies started and nandani got more involved as a family. Some people even noticed nandani and abhaas too close for comfort but mouli dismissed it totally. But as much as abhaas and nandani didn’t want to cross their boundaries and wanted to keep their liking for each other platonic but circumstances and emotions overrule and they give into each other and consummate when mouli was busy attending to her brother’s marriage pheras.
Thus start the most complicated phase for both nandani and abhaas emotionally…..sometimes guilt overpowers happiness and sometimes, selfishness overpowers guilt. The roller coaster ride has just begun for not only them but mouli too, for no fault of hers. Abhaas and nandani started feeling guilty every time mouli would go out of her way to help nandani whether in business or helping her out from her personal mess. How she would take a stand for nandani when the society people pointed fingers on nandani that there is a man who comes to her house in the night and that’s not allowed in their society etc. Mouli assuming its Sandeep who is visiting nandani shuts the society people telling them that its her husband who is trying to make things ok between them. Unaware that it was in fact her husband abhaas who was going to meet nandani there. Nandani and abhaas feel guilty and decide to put an end to their relationship as there was no future and in the process it will hurt mouli. Thus they mutually decide and part. Though difficult but both try to stay away from each other and avoid any get-togethers mouli tries to keep. But yet again destiny pushes them to each other. Mouli has to take a few days off as she has to set up abhaas’s clinic’s and give it her personal touch as he would have liked and give him a huge surprise, so she lies to abhaas that she is going out of station for a conference. While she was away, abhaas meets with a small accident and mouli requests nandani to stay at her place and take care of abhaas till she is back. Nandani and abhaas both try to resist and make mouli understand but mouli insists. And once again nandani and abhaas are in that uncontrollable state where they forget the promise they made to stay away from each other. Mouli is there excitedly arranging everything for a big surprise for abhaas but when she lands up home to surprise him with the same, she is shocked to find him in bed with nandani. Mouli’s world comes crashing down. Not only did she lose her husband but her best friend too.
This entire revelation takes a toll on mouli….mixed emotions of anger, confusion, self-doubt, pain and betrayal makes her a wreck within but she needs to decide….needs to take control….needs to end this….needs to move on. She confronts abhaas but hears nothing. Nothing he said made sense…and neither it did. But she was sure that they can’t live under same roof anymore. She opted out but abhaas asked her to stay and left the house. Nandani too had tried to explain herself to mouli, how she never wanted all this to happen but everything fell on deaf ears or broken heart.
Here mouli tries to put herself back together and gets back to work wanting to forget abhaas battling the emotions within. There abhaas goes into guilt and self destructive mode when he gets to know that mouli was working overtime just to fulfill his dream. He drowns himself into liquor and lives in his car. There nandani is all alone wondering what happened between abhaas and mouli. The thought of whether mouli forgave abhaas and they are back together also made her uncomfortable. She tried calling abhaas but he didn’t take her call. There when mouli joined work she got to know that abhaas is not coming to clinic and she assumed that he and nandani must be together enjoying now. As much as she didn’t want to accept him back in her life but still it pained to think that abhaas and nandani were together. One day mouli got to know that abhaas is in a bad state and have been drinking a lot and not staying with nandani, in fact abhaas had not met nandani after that day. family and friends try to make mouli understand to try to make things ok and see if she can forgive him. Mouli with great difficulty decides to go and meet abhaas. When mouli goes to meet abhaas, she doesn’t find him there and someone tells him that he has shifted to nandani’s place. The news shatters mouli yet again. She feels betrayed once again. Mouli now decides to send him divorce papers. Abhaas is shocked to get divorce papers from mouli and tries to go and talk to her but in vain.
Nandani and abhaas start staying together and nandani tries her best to keep him happy, even abhaas tries to be happy but somewhere he starts missing mouli. He feels incomplete. He had never imagined his life without her and after a lot of mental turmoil he tells mouli that he will not sign the divorce papers because he loves her. He decides to go and tell nandani that even if mouli doesn’t want him back ever but he will not stay with her too as he loves mouli only. But when he reaches home, he finds nandani on seventh haven when she discloses to him that she is pregnant. Abhaas doesn’t know how to react seeing nandani so happy and hopeful about the future for the first time. He refrains himself from hurting nandani by telling her that he doesn’t love her. There mouli again had felt a ray of hope when abhaas told her that he won’t divorce her whether she wants her or no because he loves her and now will tell nandani the same. But in few days mouli discovers that nandani is pregnant and abhaas is by her side. Due to certain complications the case lands in mouli’s hand but mouli is not sure she wants to take this case. Nandani surely doesn’t want mouli anywhere close to her as she feels mouli would never want her to have abhaas’s child. But abhaas could trust no one but mouli to take care of nandani’s complications. Seeing the trust abhaas has for mouli, nandani’s insecurities rise. Without informing anyone she starts treatment with some other doctors in much discretion. Abhaas thinks nandani is taking mouli’s medication unaware that nandani is putting herself at risk because of her insecurities. When one day nandani’s health worsen and she is admitted to the hospital resulting in losing the baby. The entire blames goes to mouli and for once abhaas feels guilty that in spite of nandani not wanting mouli to do her treatment, he had insisted and now she had lost her baby. For once his trust on mouli is shaken. Mouli is confused and shocked too because of all this because she knows she did her best to save nandani’s pregnancy. Nandani grieves but doesn’t tell abhaas that she lost her child because of her own mistake of taking medication from an unknown doctor. Fear of losing abhaas made her keep quiet. Abhaas felt more guilty and responsible towards nandani’s condition and once again he got close to her. But then the media made a huge news out of this entire episode of a doctor taking revenge by killing husband’s child with another woman. Mouli is arrested and abhaas is affected and knows she has not done this on purpose. Nandani is scared but quiet. Abhaas tries his best to fight for mouli and to prove her not guilty and finally one day he comes across all the medicines which mouli had prescribed to nandani intact hidden and some other doctor’s prescription with medicines which clearly had harmed the baby. Abhaas confronts nandani and she admits to it. Abhaas rescues mouli from jail and from getting her doctor’s license cancelled. Nandani realizes that abhaas loves mouli and decides to leave without telling anyone.
Abhaas and mouli get back together…until one day past reappears…