Okay? Okay.

komaliyaaa

@komaliyaaa

Saturday, 11.54 p.m, Tripathi House

"Is it worth it?", Aryan asked Imlie, drunk, furious and maybe, just may be tired.

"Maalum nahi...", replied Imlie, heartbroken and more tired than Aryan.

Aryan scoffed at her reply, he looked to all the Tripathi's as they stared at him making a scene. He grabbed Imlie's upper arm and pulled her to himself, in front of Aditya, for maybe the last time, he pulled her to himself, and said, "Well maybe, you should figure it out."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday, 12.03 p.m. Tripathi House

"Toh yahi hai sach Mr. Aditya Kumar Tripathi, wahi sach jisse mujhe toh koi fark nahi padta, but shayad yeh sach aapki puri life change karne ki taaqat rakhta hai. Woh sach joh Imlie ki life change kardega. Woh sach joh Ms. Malini Chaturvedi ki life barbaad kardega.", revealed Aryan to Aditya.

Aditya was stunned at this reveal, and he was even more stunned by the person revealing this to him.

He had outsed Malini from his house, and her mother had followed her, raving and ranting, some nonsense about revenge and grand babies.

Honestly, in this moment he could care less about babies and whatnot. At this moment, Aditya only cared about Imlie. Imlie, who was not at fault at any point in time, who had actually never wanted to divorce him, who is not actually in love with anyone else.

Hell, for all he knew, she had tried her best and still loved him.

He looked at her, standing just behind the man who had revealed the truth in front of him. Like she was hiding from Aditya. Like she didn't know what to do now that all the truth was in front of her.

Thankfully, Aryan Singh Rathore's business in Tripathi's house was done, so he moved from in front of Imlie and went to stand beside his mother and his sister, and as he was about to urge them to leave with him, he saw Aditya fall on his knees in front of Imlie.

Aryan Singh Rathore knew what would happen now.

He knew that now, that damn man, Aditya Kumar Tripathi would beg for Imlie's forgiveness and Imlie, Imlie was yet not strong enough to not forgive Aditya.

Imlie, while she may not love her Babu Saheb as much as she used to, was not yet out of love for him.

And obviously the next step would be marriage. Again, her Babu Saheb's fourth marriage preparation.

He snorted when his predictions were right to the T. Except, he noticed the hesitation in Imlie before accepting the proposal. He noticed her glance at him before looking back at Aditya. He noticed her reluctance before she nodded her acceptance.

But it seemed that it was only him who noticed it.

That is the reason why he assumed it was his hallucination.

He did fall in love with her.

He scoffed mentally.

Aryan Singh Rathore, in love, with Imlie.

His life sure did like to play games with him.

What did not go according to his plan was Aparna Tripathi coming to him. What did not go according to plan was Pankaj Tripathi coming to him.

Aparna Tripathi folding her hands in front of her, said to Aryan, "Thank You Beta! Thank you so much, Aditya ko sach dikhane ke liye. Thank you, agar aaj aap yeh sab nahi karte toh pata nahi mera beta kya kar baith ta!"

And after her, Pankaj Tripathi followed, "Sach main beta, aapne joh Aditya ke liye aaj kiya hain, humhe maalum nahi hum aapka shukriya kaise ada kare. Aur yahi nahi. Imlie ke liye bhi. Thank you so much."

Aryan was silent looking at them for a moment, his face expressionless, but he himself was incredulous.

How to tell these people they were wrong in their assumptions?

How to tell these people that they could not be more wrong?

Just as Narmada was about to reply in face of Aryan's silence, he broke it, he said, "Mr. & Mrs. Tripathi, teen baatein aap achhe se samajh lijiye, pehli ki iss duniya mein, there is no one I hate more than Mr. Aditya Kumar Tripathi, aur yeh sab maine un ke liye nahi kiya hai. Doosri, agar aapko jaanna hai ki maine yeh sab kyun kiya, toh uski wajah, uski wajah sirf Imlie hai. Imlie jiski maine -- meri family bahut parvaah karti hai, woh family joh ab pehle jaisi hogayi hai, Imlie ki wajah se, aur teesri baat..."

He looked to Imlie at that, only to find that her eyes were already on him. He searched for something in her eyes, something that would give him courage to speak the third point.

No, Aryan Singh Rathore was not a coward, but it felt hard, confessing to be in love with a woman who was in love with another man. It needed courage.

Courage he neither had, nor could find in her eyes.

Instead he looked back to Aparna and Pankaj Tripathi and continued, "Teesri baat udhar rahi."

With that he began his journey towards the exit from the Tripathi House, beaten and discouraged. He knew his mother and sister would follow him. He knew he would have to wait.

He didn't have the strength to wait for them to say goodbye to Imlie.

He didn't have the strength to say goodbye to Imlie.

God, he was so stupid, an idiot for doing this. He was really a masochist for revealing this truth in front of Tripathi's.

Aryan Singh Rathore had never really imagined that there would come a day he would curse the day he was born.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday, 9.37 p.m., Unknown Bar

Aryan was once an alcoholic, right after his brother-in-law died, he had fallen hard into it.

He had made decisions he had come to regret under influence.

None of them came even close to the regret this decision made him feel. Regret that was once again driving him towards the bottle.

He thought of his mother and his sister, their awareness of his location, their reluctant acceptance of his decision to be in that location. His worry for his mother and his sister stopped him from ordering a drink.

The vision of Aditya on his knees for Imlie made him order his sixth glass.

He was drunk, he was, but he could not stop thinking.

He wanted to drink till he could stop thinking.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday, 11.07 p.m, Unknown Bar's Parking

Aryan Singh Rathore was drunk.

More than he should be.

Enough that he could not walk or think straight.

He reached his car, well aware that he could not drive in this condition. But what he could do was call a cab and go somewhere.

What he could do was go to Tripathi House, to say his goodbye to Imlie.

He had liquid courage on his side now.

He laughed, as drunks often do and grabbed a bag from his trunk. The bag he had grabbed in haste while leaving his house.

He saw his cab arrive and he climbed in it, awaiting the moment he would see her again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday, 11.26 p.m, Tripathi House

"Imlie!", shouted Aryan, ringing the doorbell continuosly, banging the door, creating a ruckus.

He saw the lights turn on in the house, he heard the member's exclamations to his shouting, he couldn't care less.

"Imlie!", he shouted again. Banging the door relentlessly.

He knew he would regret it in the morning, he knew he would, but it was still night.

"Imlie!", he banged the door again, only to be stopped at it opening suddenly. He looked up, and saw Aditya standing at the door.

God how Aryan hated that man. Absolutely hated him.

But he also saw Imlie behind him, so he shoved Aditya aside, and pulled Imlie out of that house. He didn't care that the whole Tripathi family could see him be like this. He didn't care that Aditya Kumar Tripathi was seeing him, Aryan Singh Rathore, like this.

He cared only about Imlie.

When she came rather voluntarily outside the house, he was suprised, and happy.

Ecstatic really.

He smiled down at her, like he was drunk, which he was and said her name.

He frowned, and said her name again.

This led Imlie to come near him and sniff him, which led to her pretty eyes to widen up.

Imlie looked at him and questioned, "Tum pike aawat ho?" and he smiled.

He looked at her, and cupped her cheeks with both hands, gazing into her eyes he said, "That's what I like about you. You are so smart. Smart and Pretty. Yeah. Imlie. Smart and Pretty.", and he smiled at her again.

Imlie blushed, looked to her left to watch all the Tripathi's watch them, their interaction.

She looked at her Babu Saheb, and his accusatory eyes stared back at her.

Aryan followed her gaze and snapped in front of her eyes, bringing her attention back to him. She looked at him again and said, "Rukiye, hum Arpita Didi ko call kare jaat hai. Do minute."

As she turned to leave Aryan grabbed both her hands, stopping her from leaving. He said, "Arpi Di ko call karne ki zaroorat nahi hai, maine unhe call kar diya hai. Aur agar main sahi hun toh unko exactly aadha ghanta lagega, yaha pahunchne mein, joh kaafi hai."

"Kaafi hai? Kahe ke liye kaafi hai?" Imlie asked him.

Aryan smiled again and said, "Kaafi hai, tumhe goodbye ke liye."

Imlie was confused and continued her line of questioning, "Goodbye, tumka kidhar jaana hai ka?"

Aryan laughed at her question, and then answered, "Arey meri pagli jungli, main nahi tum jaa rahi ho, apne uss, Babu Saheb ke pass.", and then he pointed to Aditya.

Imlie looked at him again, not understanding him.

Aryan sighed and sat down cross legged there, tugging Imlie to follow. Imlie, having no other option, followed him.

Now both Aryan and Imlie sat at the threshold of Tripathi house, as all the Tripathi's watched them.

Aryan pulled out the bag he had with him. He looked to Imlie and began, "Tum sahi thi Imlie, mujhse bada stupid shayad hi iss duniya main koi hoga. Main tho bada pagal hun, meri wajah se aaj jiss insaan ko mein sabse zyada nafrat karta hun uski shaadi uss insaan se ho rahi hai jisse main-" Aryan stopped talking, or more like he was unable to complete that sentence.

Imlie looked at him with knowing eyes, eyes that always seemed to know too much.

He shrugged and continued his rant, "Anyways, I can't believe ke Aditya Kumar Tripathi ko apna pyaar meri wajah se waapas mila. Ugh. I hate that man. I can't believe ke meri wajah se tum, tum Imlie, usse wapas mili."

He laughed again in disbelief.

He continued, "Well, joh ho gaya so ho gaya. Ab tum unse shaadi kar rahi ho. Toh gifts toh bante hai na. Toh yeh, yeh bag mein hai tumhare liye gifts."

He leaned forward and motioned her to lean forward too, and as if sharing a secret said, "But gifts sirf tumhaare liye hai, uss Aditya Kumar Tripathi ke liye nahi."

At this Imlie chuckled softly and said, "Thik hai, par tum humka ee gifts kal de sakat ho na. Phir aaj, chalo tumka ghar leke chale."

"Nahi!" Aryan interrupted Imlie, "Nahi, kal main jaa raha hun, Mumbai, tumhe pata nahi, mere dus aur business hai, aur main agar yahan aur raha toh log kya kahenge? Aryan Singh Rathore, ek chote se business ke peeche pagal ho gaya hai. Kal 12 baje."

And he nodded, like he was sharing a conspiracy with her. Imlie was shocked. So he was actually leaving.

Before she could ask him why, he put a finger on her lips and said, "Bus ab meri baari. Matlab meri gifts ki bari. Shh...!"

Then Aryan slowly took his finger away and opened up the zipper on the bag. He rummaged through it for a minute and then presented her with an old copy of The Bhasker Times.

Imlie looked at him questioningly and he understandingly answered, "You know, jab tum mujhe pehle pehle mili thi, I hated you, I hated the way you talked, I hated the way you dressed, I hated the way you butt in business that was not yours, but mostly, I hated that you were his wife,", Aryan pointed at Aditya while he said this, "but fir tumne woh article likha, and I was impressed, really, because I may hate people but I do not hate talent and woh toh tum mein kut kut ke bhara hai. Toh main ek baat ka udhar chuka raha hun tumhein Imlie. Baat yeh hai ki maine yeh article front page pe isiliye nahi dala kyunki yeh zyaada log padte, but isiliye dala ki yeh asal mein mujhe meri Maa aur meri Di ki yaad dilata hai. Toh yeh raha mera pehla gift aur mera pehla udhar."

Imlie looked at him in a new light, this famous, silent mode, fast forward akad baka was talking so much. It was frankly too much for Imlie.

She watched as he rummaged through the bag again, sitting there like a little child and could finally see what Narmada and Arpita were on about when they said their Aruu wasn't always the way he was.

She watched as he produced her Identity Card, her Intern Identity Card and offered it to her, and she was confused again.

Aryan looked at her and said, "Yeh wohi ID Card hai joh tumhaari iss safar par pehli siri tha. Yeh tumhe yaad karaane ke liya ki har woh success joh tumhe mil rahi hai tum uske layak ho. None of that low self-esteem anymore. Ek baat yaad rakhna Imlie, no one can outshine you in this world, not even your Babu Saheb."

Imlie regarded his second gift, realising that his gifts were not the gifts he was giving to her in physical form, but he was making them a token, and every token held a memory for him, which he was sharing with her, and that was the real gift.

Lost in realisations, she startled when he presented a black coat to her and said, "Yeh woh coat hai, joh maine pehna tha jis din meine tumse apna dard baata tha, joh tumne pehna tha jis din tumne mujhse apna dard baata tha. Yeh wohi coat hai, joh meine tumhe pehnaya tha, jisme tum royi thi aur mein tumhare saath tha. Toh kabhi bhi rona hai, toh tum isse pehen sakti ho. Kyuki iske hone pe tumhe mere saath hone ka ehsaas hoga."

And Imlie was stunned by this deeply emotional man, before she could say anything he rummaged through the coat pockets and produced a bunch of keys and presented them to her. He then took her hand and stretched it out, hanging the coat at her arm and placing the keys in her hand.

He looked back at her and said, "Yeh wohi car ki chaabi hai joh tumne tod di thi. But koi nai, ab yeh ban ke waapas aagayi hai, and Aryan Singh Rathore repair ki hui cheezein use nahi karta. Toh yeh gaadi tumhaari. Taaki kabhi agar tumhe iss crazy family se bhagna ho tok tumhare paas gaadi toh ho."

And Imlie jostled out of her thoughts on that. She shaked her heads sideways, about to negate his gift when he placed the keys in her hand and closed her fist, stopping her from rejecting his gift.

He once again went through the bag and then seemed to have realised something, snapping his fingers he went through his suit pockets and smiled wide again, seemingly having found what he was looking for.

He looked to Imlie as he fisted whatever it was he had found. And when he did open it, Imlie was astonished.

Her lost payal from when she dressed up as Simran from DDLJ.

This man surely felt more deeply than anyone else, may be that was the reason why he unsettled Imlie so much, may be that's why, nowadays, her heart raced when he was with her.

"Yeh payal, woh uss din tum bani thi naa Simran, DDLJ wali. Tumhe pata hai DDLJ mujhe kitni pasand hua karti thi. And uss din tum sahi thi, maine tumhe hi cute kaha tha. Kyunki tum thi cute, bahut cute thi tum uss din."

He snickered and mumbled to himself about how she looked almost too cute and Imlie just stared at this man.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday, 11.51 p.m. Tripathi House

Aryan suddenly looked at his watch and then stood up. He urged and helped Imlie to stand up too and watched as she struggled to stand up with all the gifts. He whined, which made Imlie stand up regardless. He then began walking towards Aditya Kumar Tripathi. He stumbled on the way, but Imlie caught his elbow, supporting him and preventing his fall in front of the man he hated.

He smirked at that. Gently making Imlie let go of him, he went to stand in front of him, Aditya Kumar Tripathi.

He scoffed in his face.

Looking at him in contempt, Aryan said, "Mr. Tripathi, I hope aap sirf meri teen baatein yaad rakhe. Agar aap yeh teen baatein yaad rakhenge toh aapke liye hi acha hoga. Pehli, aap iss duniya mein koi top nahi hai, joh Imlie aapko surpass nahi kar sakti. I hope aap unke self-esteem issues ke saath games nahi khele. Doosri, aap Imlie se pyaar karte hai yaa nahi karte hai, I don't care, par agar aapne Imlie ko hurt kiya, toh aapka naam sach main kahi introduce karane ke layak nahi rahega and teesri baat, agar aapne kissi ko bhi Imlie ko hurt karne diya yaa phir usse protect nahi kiya toh aapke reporter bolne se pehle main aapko barbaad kar dunga."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday, 11.55 p.m. Tripathi House

"And when you do figure it out, I hope you know what you want to do." Aryan continued as softly as he was scornful in his previous words. He let go of Imlie's upper arm and let go of Imlie.

But before he could go, he had to do something. 

Something he would regret more if he didn't do.

He cupped Imlie's cheeks again and looking into her eyes, he leaned down. Imlie waited with baited breath, unsure of what he was going to do and even more unsure how she was going to react.

But he didn't do anything wrong, he couldn't do anything wrong. He leaned down slowly and kissed her forehead.

Softly, gently, soft enough that she wouldn't have believe it happened if she didn't feel it, and gentle enough that it felt more like a gush of wind than a kiss.

He smiled again, his was a beautiful one and walked backwards, saluting her and then waving at her.

He turned around, just in time for Arpita to arrive in her car. He looked back at her once more and climbed inside the car.

He left, and he left Imlie in a turmoil.

He left, and when she turned around to see her family, she didn't know how to look at them.

He left, but he left a thousand doubts in Aditya's mind, doubts that reflected in his eyes. 

He left, and suddenly she was exhausted.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunday, 9.38 a.m, Rathore Mansion

Aryan Singh Rathore was hungover.

Aryan Singh Rathore was hungover for the first time in two years.

He cursed everything, everything that was in his vision, everything that made a sound.

Aryan Singh Rathore was hungover, irritated and hungry.

Aryan sat down at the dining table, listening to his mother shout about drinking too much and how getting married is the solution to this.

Suddenly, a glass of what looks like lemonade is placed in front of him. He looks upto thank the person who was gracious enough to understand his predicament when he is shocked.

Imlie.

It's Imlie who placed the glass of lemonade in front of him and who was now rounding the table and sitting down and what, eating breakfast.

This can't be true. Surely, he was hallucinating, yes, yes he was.

He looked back up again and yes, that was Imlie, in the flesh.

What?

What the f*ck?

"Imlie, tum yaha kya kar rahi ho?", Aryan asked.

And Narmada replied, "Aruu, ab firse shuru mat hoja, usse breakfast toh karne de."

And Imlie grinned and repeated, "Haan Aruu, usse breakfast toh karne do.", and wiggled her eyebrows.

What? He was so confused? And he surely looked it too.

Imlie sighed and said, "Tumka konu baat yaad hai?"

Aryan flashbacked the previous night and replied, "Haan, sab yaad hai!"

Imlie grinned again and said, "Toh fir tumka ee bhi yaad hoga ki tum humra ek hi udhar chukaye rahe."

Now Aryan was even more confused, he was unable to comprehend anything and "Huh?" came out of him.

Imlie sighed again and, "Matlab ee ki Mr. Baaton ka CC, kal tum khali ek hi udhar utare, baki joh bhi udhar hai, uu bhi tumka utare hai."

And Aryan nodded, "Okay!"

And Imlie nodded too, "Okay!"

But Aryan asked again, "But tum yaha kya kar rahi ho?"

And yet again, Imlie sighed, "Arey, tumre saath nahi rahenge toh udhar kaise utare hai. Ab udhar utare ke khatir tumre saath zindagi toh bitani pade haina."

Aryan was baffled and exclaimed, "What?"

Finally Imlie reacted, bursting out of the chair she shouted, "Arey tumka samaj nahi awat hai. Hum Babu Saheb ko chodke aaye hai, tumri khatir. Humko tumre saath rehna hai, eeha, tumre udhar utarne hai. Aur..."

Aryan raised a single eyebrow and asked, "Aur?"

Imlie blushed a shade of red that was honestly too much and stuttered, "Aur... Aur... Aur -"

Aryan interrupted her, "Okay!"

Imlie looked up at him and asked, "Okay?"

Aryan nodded and said, "Okay."

They knew they had to talk, but she had come back and he was happy.

It would be okay.