Chapter 3 - Naseehatein Naa Maani, Apni bune Kahaani..
"Smile. Talk. Be normal. I'm ok. You're ok."
Rey was giving a pep talk to to himself. His face in the mirror was far from ok though,
"Ah crap!" He exclaimed and turned around. Today the gang had all planned to hang out with Taani. He was guessing she would be leaving soon and well, it's ok, he could spend time with her normally, not like he had to face her alone, it was a gang hangout. He decided that he'd stay strong. It's ok, she would be gone and then he wouldn't have to face her. A sad smile graced his lips, he could move on properly then, hopefully. Memories from her engagement came back to her but he couldn't afford to get sad now, he pushed them to the back of his mind and sighed,
"I'm ok, atleast I will be ok."
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She sat in front of her mirror and started combing her hair. The last time she just had fun like that with everyone was in her farewell party. She thought back to the promise she had asked of him, he seemed like he was keeping it. He may not have moved on but he wasn't mourning anymore, at least completely. She would be facing him too today. Her mind took her back to the moment when he apologised for the breakup and how it made her realise the heartbreak he had seen. This engagement had broken him, and it was fake! She felt like a traitor and knew, whether she wanted to get back with him or not, she couldn't lie to him about the engagement. She obviously couldn't even tell him the real reason, opening up about Vishesh's secret was out of question! She had to tell him though.
Another thought hit her, was it right to tell him like that and get his hopes up when she wasn't even sure if she wanted to be with him? The question came back to being did she want to be with him? Yes, yes she did! A part of her definitely did but at what cost? Another part of her questioned. She thought back to the low phase of her life. At that time her focus was only her career, well that was convenient. Focus on work to get over the breakup and it had worked. Almost. Well atleast her career was on track! She was doing well now and could clearly see the career lie as what it was, not enough. Her career wasn't gona get any less demanding to enable her to focus on a relationship later, she might as well start working on both simultaneously now. Could she get back with him though? She realised that she hadn't really forgiven him and that meant what was between them was far from being over.
She remembered how he respected her decision in the engagement, she remembered him dancing, promising her that he'd be happy and sighed.
"I wish hum jab saath the tab aapne meri wishes ko itni importance di hoti."
She opened her diary, and her own words came back,
"What do I want?"
To hell with what I want!
She left a few lines and wrote,
What I need is:-
1) To be able to forgive him.
2) To settle in Mumbai properly.
3) Make friends.
Swayam knocked the door just then, and walked in as usual, without waiting for an answer. She quickly shut her diary in response and asked in annoyance,
"Aap knock karte bhi kyu hai?"
He looks at the door and then back at her,
"Maine knock kiya? Sorry, didn't realise."
She hits her forehead at his reaction, he thought she was annoyed because he knocked!
"Kya hoga aapka bhai!"
"Muddai lakh bura chahe toh kya hota hai; wahi hota hai jo manzoor-e-khuda hota hai"
"Ok Ghalib sahab, ab chale?"
"This was actually by Sayeed Ghulam Mohammad."
She pulled him out while rolling her eyes, not sure what else she could respond with.
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They were all at a mall, having started at the trampoline park and after playing at the fancy game zone they were finally enjoying a meal at the food court.
"Aaplog pure hafte rehearsals karne ke baad bhi aaj itne energetic kaise hai?"
"Ab toh aadat hai Taani, kuch bhi na kare toh ajeeb lagta hai" Said Vicky and everyone affirmed.
"Tum batao, what's up with you?" Simmi asked as the boys' side of the table got busy in their own conversation.
"Exploring some things with Tauji bas, my college there is very lenient with attendance so mai internship pe hi focus karrahi hu.."
"That's so cool, business me toh experience hi important haina?" Sharon asked,
"Tauji ko bhi yehi lagta hai, kaafi ideas hai humaare paas, we should start working on them soon."
"Iska matlab tum Mumbai me hi rahogi?" Aashi asked excitedly,
"Kuch sure toh nahi hai, hopefully I guess.." Her eyes found him, laughing at something Bharat said and a doubt clouded her mind, if he's happy without me should I still talk to him?
He turned at her with his leftover grin and his smile got wide, wider than before when he sees her. He looked back at Bharat and in a while got up and walked in the direction of the food shops. In that moment, something within her bloomed realising that it was her he gave that big smile to. He deserved to know the truth, she just knew that she had to tell him, maybe it wasn't that bad an idea to give this a try. They were quite happy together, even Bhai thought so. She'd talk to him today, she resolved and then decided to focus on Aashi's story of the Ram Leela.
He came back with two trays full of cups that had vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce.
"Dessert's on me!" He announced and handed a cup to each one as they all responded with a variation of the basic statement of thankyou and we love you, and then he came to her, handed her the cup and said a thankyou. He may not have said it, but the rest of the statement was obvious. He had a way of getting his love to her, in the form of his words, apologies or even just her favourite dessert.
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They were in the car, on their way home and Sharon had convinced Swayam to wait back at her place for some "work". Taani could make it out and was only glad that Sharon was really trying and Bhai somehow always ended up supporting her indirectly, even after his initial denial. She had a lot to say but decided to focus on playing good songs in the car while discussing music with others. She got to decide the playlist as a gift from Nil, who occasionally was getting cursed by anyone who didn't agree with Taani's songs. After they were all dropped off, she knew she couldn't break it to Rey while he was driving so she excused herself from a conversation citing some work and began glancing at her phone while also preparing herself for the talk. On the other hand, Rey felt really upset at the fact that she didn't talk with him. It hurt to see her this distant but he consoled himself with the fact that she wasn't his girlfriend anymore. She was engaged and he had to move on. Little did he know what was in store for him.
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"Uhm, bolo" he prompted her, slightly puzzled. They had reached home and she asked him to come in as she wanted to talk to him.
Taking a deep breath she let it out,
"Meri engagement fake thi."
"What?!" He was shocked.
"Ok that came out wrong, I mean meri engagement ka koi base nahi tha, Vishesh and I are not a couple. He just needed help to go abroad and uske parents ko convince karne keliye we got engaged."
"What!?" He asked, louder this time.
"Uhm.. woh hum ek doosre me waise interested bhi nahi hai, this was just an act"
"What?!" His voice broke.
"Rey aap.." She tried continuing and he broke. His morning resolve to stay strong shattered and half in tears he hugged her. Not expecting this strong a reaction she hugged him back and instantly all their hugs came back to her. His hugs could soothe or excite or reassure or just plain make her feel at home. This hug had come after quite a wait. She caressed his back and feeling his heavy breathing tried to break the hug as this conversation wasn't even close to being over.
He felt her move and tightened the hug in response, not prepared to let go so soon and squeezed his eyes shut. Once he broke the hug, out of habit he cupped her face and kissed her forehead. Taken aback, Taani held his arms and lowering them created distance between them. Her stepping back just brought back the reality of it to him, she may have confessed that she wasn't into Vishesh but they were over much before he came into the picture. Did she still want to be with him?
Sensing the pain and question in his expressions she said,
"I.. mai ye kehna chahti hu ki mai.. aap aur mai, hum ye..."
All the pain she had gone through, all the feelings of not being important, of not being enough, all her practicality and defences clouded her mind. She could feel the opposition inside her but she collected all her courage. This relationship had given her hard days but also wonderful times. She pushed herself and her gut instinct knew this was the right thing to do.
"Can we give this another chance?"
His face instantly changed and he said,
"Taani, is relationship keliye ek aur chance mai tab se maang raha hu, jabse maine isko todne ki galti ki thi and there's literally nothing that can make me spoil this."
She felt a sob build up inside her but swallowing it said,
"Rey, ye pehle spoil ho chuka hai, we've seen it go.." the tears started flowing but she maintained her tone,
"I don't want us to be the same, I don't want to repeat this mistake, ye sab ab phir se.."
In tears, he hugged her. All her insecurities and all his pain, the burden they had been carrying along for so long had finally found the one outlet they were craving for since a long time. None of them tried to be the braver one, none of them tried to suppress their feelings to comfort the other. This moment of realisation that they didn't have to ignore themselves to focus on the other, the fact that they could again just be vulnerable with each other, that this wasn't goodbye but a good beginning was reassuring.
Resting his forehead on hers he says with closed eyes,
"We can do this Taani, we can make it work..I just know we can.."
She decided to trust on their love and his confidence. And yes, her gut feeling that was screaming with joy. Her insides screamed the fact that she loved him, but she couldn't get herself to say it to him yet. She still felt scared.
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Hey yo beautiful ladies, I was quite unsure about this chapter but posted it anyway! Taareyyyyy! The truth is out for him and well, they got together! They haven't sorted out their feelings though and so this is just a begining.
The title of this chapter are lines from the song Hogaya hai pyaar tumse from Tanu weds Manu Returns. It means, "The heart doesn't listen to advices, it weaves it's own tales." Well, pichle chapter ki naseehatein nahi suni Dil ne, dekhte hai ab kis raaste jaata hai.
Edited by Trisha49 - 5 years ago
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