TaaRey FF- Away from you updt 29/4 - Page 28

Few days later

Rey no more interaction with taani- hes angry hurt about her refusal to tell him

her problems . He doesnt know what to do and as hes been mentally absent and

physically present, rey hardly knows anything about the constant fights between the two teams.Taani s still preoccupied and has ducked from telling swayam also.

During one fight, all equipment is damaged and VP sirs called both teams , banned

them from the RH, blamed rey as well for being not responsible enough after having

been GS AGS etc.,

Outside VP sirs office

Some students including taani waiting and trying to overhear whats happening.

They all came out looking daggers at each other. reys extremely angry with everyone

and everything - taani saw his anger and joined the gang involuntarily as the girls

started telling her what happened.

Some Classroom - d3 and taani at one end with rey screaming at them for getting

into fights.Everyones bugged as they are trying to tell him the other teams at fault

and hes not listening.

" and again because of you guys VP sir ne mujhe blame kiya..."

Taani s looking not knowing what to do- swayam s trying to make peace as usual.

Sharon fuming

" and of course everytime its the other team, other person at fault. Like ...the time

when you girls spilit juice on sonali- uski galthi thi?"

taani looked at the girls, they frowned at rey as swayam looked at her once and

then at other guys hoping everyone would just shut up

"tum phir se sonali ko support karrahe ho? "

"dont start that again! And anyway why shouldnt I support her?

"humpe trust nahin ..." nil

"trust? nil jitna maine tum logon ki pranks dekha haina uske baad tho i ll be a fool to .

"rey whats wrong with you ?" sharon voice raised," that teams been really bad- they

have not even attended the plot discussion sessions" everyone nodding

"achha... jaise ki tum log bada plot discussion karthe ho. Half the time goes in some nonsense masti , tum log on ko seriousness nahin..."

"aur tum kya karrahe ho rey?" vicky interrupted standing up and glaring at rey.

Rey looked at him for a second confused at what he meant."vicky" swayam

immediately walked warningly..." matlab"

" matlab hum atleast try tho karrahe hain kuch karne keliye...jitna humein samaj

aatha hain utna but" unusual sarcasm in his voice," I wonder if you know ki humne

teen baar story change kiya tha us team ki wajah se, bharat ko lekar do baar jagda

hua hain...aur ab tak yeh decide nahin hua hain ki lead role kaun karega- drama mein aur

dance mein...tum tho pata nahin kis duniya mein ho, tum kisi mein bhi interested

nahin ho..its like... "

For a second rey stared at him , taani changed colour slightly and then reys face turned

red anger , rest of them knew vicky had crossed a line " vicky! Stop it...rey"

"no swayam its fine!" and still staring at vicky," its like what? Vicky bolo..." vicky

didnt answer looked at his hurt lost expression and suddenly cooled down

" rey dekh...we know tumhaare mood teek nahin hain...especially the last few days .."

"what has my mood got to do with any of this? yeh meri mood ki baare mein nahin

hainlet me tell you this- its just that tum logon ko aadat padgayi hain ...i keep doing

stuff for you and you are used to it bas.. Jab khudh ki karne ki baari aathi hain then

you just end up having unnecessary fights sabke saath"

everyone including swayam stared at him...taani shocked at his rudeness clutched

her bag as she saw rey hurting the team without even being aware of it, " its not my

responsibility to ...find plot ya routine ya kuch..." he shot at them

"not really rey!" sharons sharp voice cut in as the rest of them stared at rey wondering

what to do," its not your responsibility alone but jo tumhaara hain wo bhi tum kuch

khaas teek se nahin karrahe ho" swayam now turned to sharon but she continued

sarcastically as rey looked at her looking like he wanted to hit something just then

tum team ke spokesperson ho if you remember- tho its definitely your responsibility

to keep the team in working condition with the rest of the world...plus you have missed

two last performances jo humne d3 ke liye kiya tha ...and..." her voice blaming

" as far as the drama team s concerned, you dont see anything ,vickys right, you are

still in your world since NDC finals and..."

STOP IT Swayam stood right in front of her and the frown on her face stayed at

the stern look on his face, his expression changed to one of please stop it and she

went quiet

Taani bent her head looking at the bag on her lap that she clutched and felt her eyes

sting, she couldnt look at rey or at any of the others.

Rey stared at sharon and then moved away from them saying," fine then i quit as

spokesperson" and as swayam held his arm saying " rey , wait.."

"no swayam, let me be " and walked off without looking at anyone.

Swayam looked at them once," why dont you give him space?"

"swayam tu akela nahin hain yahaan uska friend. We know that but aaj wo kya

nonsense bolrahaan tha " vicky ,"kisi ko tho usse sach bolna chahiye na"

"haan swayam , its been a month breakup ke baad and hes still sulking" nil

"aur tu tho nahin bolega, tu tho..."bharat

"khudh mein confused hain ki tu bhai hain ya friend" vicky

" hum kya types karein ?"

" uska dil hi nahin- na dance mein, na drama na musical...ek idea ek solution nahin

nikaltha hain usse, forget solution usko koi problems bhi nazar nahin aathi" simmi

"upar se RH ban bhi"rinni

"kya doosre problems kam hain ?" neha

taani heard the lot of them talk of rey with concern inspite of being so irritated

with him.everyone looked at swayam , he looked at taani s expressionless face and

as he turned to go behind rey heard sharon say in an im bugged voice

" see taani this is what i meant when i said its not over ! Its affecting everything "

and swayam turned back but taani stood up and not looking at anyone, no tears in

her eyes said her voice strong, " im sorry about everything sharon bhabhi ...but main team ke liye apni self respect ignote nahin karsakthi...and started going out when

"main team ki nahin , rey ki baat karrahin thi " sharon called back at her but

taani walked out pretending she hadnt heard her.

Swayam looked at sharon , sharon ," i wasnt blaming her...swayam. I was just trying

to tell her how affected he is bas ...he cant afford to be like this swayam. He has

to get back , he has to get back to his friends, to his dance, to his team..."

Maybe he just has to get back to her...swayam said and ran behind taani

The gang stared surprised he of all people was saying that.

Taani in the corridor, swayam came running behind her and placing jis hand on her

shoulder, stopped her," look taani , dont take anything that anyone especially sharon

saying seriously... and koi tumhe blame nahin ..."

"i know bhai" she smiled slightly ," sab upset hain and rey ke liye worried bas.."

he sighed and gave her a hug ,holding her said

" sirf rey ke liye nahin. Im worried about you too...i...im sorry taani, i wish i could

do something..."

Her eyes went moist and she hugged him back for a second and waited till the urge

to cry went away and then pulling herself back away from him said smiling more

" bhai i know aap mere saath ho, aapko itna guilty feel karne ki zaroorat nahin hain

Main sach mein teek hoon. Aap na sabke beech phas gaye ho bas - me, rey sharon

bhabhi , team sab- aap yeh sab chodke sharon bhabhi par concentrate karo"

He smiled back at her teasing smile and shook his head wondering why he couldnt

bring himself to tell her about his and sharons relationship status.

---------------------

College terrace - late in evening- rey s sitting on one of the platforms head bent and

generally remembering the whole stuff , confused angry and upset - where the hell

was my mistake? Sab kuch meri responsibilty kaise? But rey sharon was right tune

do performances miss kiya hain and tera dil nahin lagtha kisi mein bhi

He looked around , saw the place where he had sat with taani in their first date

when swayam had got to know about them and how the gang had tried to help he had a glimpse of him telling taani long time back once that he couldnt give her

time as he had practices to do- and she had understood.

Somehow wo hothi thi tho everything felt right...sab kuch stupid lagtha hain ab meaningless

lagtha hain. musical, team aaj ka fight sab ...why the hell isnt she with me? And held

his head in his arms as he remembered her saying kis haq se pooch rahe ho aap? In FE

the mobile rang loudly..he picked his up and it wasnt ringing, he looked around as

it stopped and found taani desperately trying to shut it standing some feet away

from him. By the looks of her, she seemed to be standing there for quite sometime

looking concerned and upset -He stared at her suddenly getting angry with a why the hell r u here look?

" sorry sorry ...main aapko disturb nahin karna chahthi thi... Main yahaan bas aise

hi aayi thi...mujhe laga aap FE mein ..." she spoke hurriedly

"mujhe laga FE mein tum hogi " silence. She hesitatingly began

"rey, aap teek ho?" he met her eyes , his own showing lot of sarcasm- " no i mean

rey...if you dont mind main ...can i say something?"

"ya go on ...sabne sunaa diya hain aaj tho why should you be left behind?" cool sarcasm

"rey...please listen ...jo RH mein hua wo sab accident tha, matlab dono teams ki fight

ki wajah se equipment kharab nahin hue the...it was some wiring stuff.short circuiti asked the electrical ppl" she stopped and as he didnt say anything," and

rey , jahaan tak main drama team ko jaanthi hoon, they also have attitude issues

tho saare fights mein team ki galthi nahin hosakthi..."she said hurriedly

" umm galthi tho hamesha meri hi hothi haina taani?" he interrupted his voice harsh ," i mean

irrespective of what the situation is , its always REYAANSH s fault haina? Chahe wo girlfriend se

breakup ki baat ho ya friends ke saath fights ki " her curls falling on her face

She ignored it, swallowed her own uncomfortable feeling and continued in a flat

tone not looking at him as he stared at her , " aaj ki fight mein rey aap galat nahin

...stupid lagrahe the"

"oh yes ab main galat ke saath saath stupid bhi hoon aur kuch?"

"sabko itni acchi friendship naseeb nahin hothi...aap apne frustration unpe kab tak

nikaaloge rey?"

"tho aur kispe nikaaloon taani? " he looked up and gave her a wry smile," my nice

girlfriend decided to not take my frustration on herself " she looked upset but

frowned a little and his mobile rang by then loudly. He sawswayam- ignored it

" so tell me what to do!"

She shrugged and replied her tone mixture of sarcasm and upset," mujhe nahin

pata,mere dost tho kabhi the nahin atleast aapki jaisa. maine sirf aap par apna

frustration nikaalne ki koshish ki thi and...well somehow that never worked i think "

Rey s face went complete change from bitterness and anger to regret...why was acting

this weird? Ek din fine tho ek din nahin! His heart constricted as he saw her struggle

alone ...remembered her crying in fireescape ... itna selfish kaise hogaye rey! She

herself had something to worry about and here he was going on about how lonely

he was!

She didnt notice it , she didnt notice that his concentration had immediately shifted

from his own frustrations and confusions to her sadness and loneliness as she spoke

again, still not meeting his eyes, her own looking at the floor and hands clutching

her bag ," its upto you rey but atleast main aapko aise nahin dekhsakthi apne friends

ke saath fight karthe hue..." and then looked up at him," its so not like you"

Their eyes met for a second and the mobile rang loud again...rey recieved it still

looking at her

"haan swayam...no im fine...nahin im not alone...I dont know swayam, im just in

no ..."and looking at taani seeing him hopefully said," ok main aajaaoonga"

taani relaxed and turned , he cut the call with a bye and moving towards her said

" taani...tum...you ...i know maine mana kiya tha but is that offer of friendship

with you still open?" she turned to him sideways , he noticed her curls that kept

falling on her face and catching the sincerity in his tone stretched her hand out.

His face broke into a small smile as he held her small hand in his and shook it, not

letting it go immediately and their eyes met as she smiled a little. She pulled her

hand out consciously nodding and turned to go as he said," swayam wanted me

home...coming?"

"no, i had something else lined up"

"i ll drop you home then, chalo" as she shook her head again said," its getting late

anyway chalo" and started walking. She followed in comfortable silence.

---------

Outside taani s apartment

Taani got down from the bike and smiled slightly conscious-

"gang ki galthi nahin hain rey"

"maybe not completely but ...chodo i ll manage that" he hesitated for a second

and asked," is that friendship ka offer still true ya phir tumne aisa hi boldiya tha

like in NDC?"

Her face fell but then she caught his small teasing look and nodded saying maine

kabhi friendship ke liye mana nahin kiya tha

He smiled no that was me and both stared at eachother

She broke the eyelock and the silence thanks rey for the drop her heart feeling

unreasonably light

He smiled looking better ,"thanks taani for everything...for bringing me back"

And anjali saw them from window frowned

----------

swayams place -

everyone s sitting and talking , rey walked in - they all stopped talking .Rey smiled

at swayam , at rest of the gang and said sorry i guess and stopped at sharon, held

his ears.They stared for a second and then all of them came together hugging and patching

up

Hum bhi rey sorry...we didnt mean it...blah blah

But rey how come you left your new friend and came to us? Vicky put his arm around

rey s shoulder.Rey looked at him surprised as nil said tumhaara video games and

Uska remote vicky added

Swayam as he smiled at the loud patch up wondered how reys mood had become

suddenly better while Rey face went embarrassed as all of them laughed at him-

somehow he was glad they didnt know, he didnt want to tell any of them about her

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