FF- Sparkling Dreams (COMPLETED) epilogue pg 43 - Page 2

There were too many funny performances and the crowd went bonkers when Manorama decided to dedicate a special song to the couple. Khushi unable to hold in her laughter, let it all flow, unleashed and unbound. She looked at Dhruv slowly looking down, one hand smothering his red face as Jiya tried listening intently with wide eyes almost caging in the laughter and disguising them craftily with staggering coughs.

Unthinkingly he stood up; shoving his phone into his pocket he made his way slowly up the stairs. If he had to apologize, this would be the right moment, there was no way he was going to catch her alone at this fest of madness.

She turned around to look at him, dressed in a dark black shirt with grey stripes, he looked nothing like the boy who barely ever wore anything without countless wrinkles. She opened her mouth to begin a conversation but whatever she had to say would have to be saved for later. I'm sorry' he said softly, his eyes dull and gloomy yet apologetic, Seeing you here after so long brought back too much bitterness, I shouldn't have walked away like that' he said in a rush, anxiously running his hands though his hair, messing up what had been neatly combed back, looking at him with a few messy locks released and his confused voice adding 'Heck, I'm still very angry Khushi...but' made him resemble the boy she used to know but his eyes conflicting, displayed ageing, they seemed to have grown old, dull and colourless too soon. 'But I shouldn't have been...so distant' , looking at her for a while, he sighed and said softly 'What I'm trying to say is that you deserve better'. Khushi stood still, watching the confusion, the regret and lingering remnants of bitterness playing across his face. He watched her helplessly as she looked at him with a sad smile, wanting to reach out, smoothen those lines of worry over his forehead, brush her fingers across his hair and just make him smile, she wished she could see a glimpse of someone she used to know, someone who probably no longer existed. She reached out and held his hand, her eyes speaking volumes while her brain formulated what to say next. Arnav...' she began, only to hear Hari Prakash rushing up the stairs to inform her that the order placed for dessert was delayed. Her eyes widened, she said she will be down in a minute and turned to Arnav, 'You and I, we need to talk, I have to go, I'm sorry...I just want you to know...I'm not angry...you're not wrong...we just...we just have...we just need to let this out, meet me after the Sangeet, don't walk away like a stranger this time' she said with pleading eyes and walked away not before slowing entangling her fingers through his the same way she did when she apologized or had something she found difficult to say back when they were kids.

Listen to the Silence

Khushi gave Jiya a tight hug before saying goodnight after almost all the guests had left and silence had finally settled in, only Jiya and Dhruv's family remained. Arnav was missing and she assumed he had left with a frustrated sigh, bidding goodbye to everyone and receiving gratitude for rescuing Jiya by lending a hand she walked out with a small smile refusing NK's offer to drop her home, 'No NK, you go along and spend time with your family, I've already called for an auto and my house is just a few blocks away' she said and pushed him back inside, ignoring his dramatic dialogue about being her guardian angel.

Stepping out, she suddenly felt the calming cool breeze drift past her like a song, she was content that the Sangeet was over, she allowed herself a moment to simply breathe and look up at the stars, they were all over the sky, like tiny little silver fingerprints upon a vast dark canvas. Her eyes clouded as a few colours from the past seeped back into her mind.

'Khushiii...' she heard him whispering. I'm here you idiot, shhh...stop making noise' she said with her chubby finger over her pouting lips. It was summer camp, and they made at trip to the woods. After sending a prompt warning to her faithful companion, she lay back down again, her eyes turning dreamy once more as they lost themselves in the little lights above, sometimes she thought they were angels looking down curiously and watchfully. 'How did you sneak out?' she asked Arnav as her eyes followed the patterns in the stars. Everyone was asleep and Deepak was snoring and sometimes snorting like a pig, I couldn't sleep, when I checked Mr. Sharma slept soundlessly, he won't wake up if a bear attacked us' he said as they chuckled soundlessly together. 'Don't you feel like someone is watching you when you look up' she whispered with amazement, 'Yeah...probably the aliens' he said, receiving an annoyed stare and a comment on lack of imagination. 'Ma tells me they are dreams, prayers and your deepest desires that float above to remind you who you are even when you forget' he said this time in a softer voice, his eyes gleaming with silver light.

She held her bag closer, shaking herself back to reality, glancing one last time at the endless, hopeful sky and walked over to the auto. Before getting in she noticed an SUV parked right behind, the headlights shining and the owner unmistakable and familiar. Apologizing to the auto driver she asked him to leave and told him she would call him if she needed a ride.

Watching her approach, he stepped out his eyes observing how troubled she looked before he told her quietly 'Get inside'. Khushi buckled up her smile still tense and her eyes carefully watching him drive, his eyes seemed to contain a wall, she tried helplessly to decipher the emotions swimming within them, trying to understand how they had lost so much.

Arnav wondered why he was doing this, was he bipolar? A while ago her presence rekindled anger so furious that he found himself falling back into the past and now as he watched her eyes, confused, hurt and lost, all he wanted to do was just talk, listen to her. Without realizing or wanting to he searched desperately for a part of who he used to be in her.

There are moments when silence creeps in and says all those things that you cannot and paves way for the words to fit in sometime later. Two pairs of eyes absorbed the drifting silence that hung thick between them, the faint lyrics of a song slipping through them whispering a few unknown dreams.

Honey you are a rock
Upon which I stand
And I come here to talk
I hope you understand
The green eyes, yeah the spotlight, shines upon you
And how could, anybody, deny you
I came here with a load
And it feels so much lighter now I met you
And honey you should know
That I could never go on without you
Green eyes

GREEN EYES- COLDPLAY

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Khushi sat huddled over the rocks, her knees pulled to her chest as she listened to him. She listened as he quietly told her about everything, the past eight years, the changes, the turmoil, everything.

Arnav looked into her eyes as he spoke, anger, betrayal, all forgotten for the moment. Khushi had been his best friend, she knew corners of his heart that many others didn't, yet right now as his heart lay treacherously surrounded by a million shards of glass picked up along the course of eight long years he somehow believed that she would be able to see through it, she would be able to understand and probably find the changes and still vividly remember or recognize a shadow of him that used to be. Maybe she would find a tiny rainbow reflected somewhere on the surface of all those bleak empty shards.

While he spoke to her, his mind registered the way concern flooded in her eyes and the manner in which she involuntarily flinched each time he told her how life had taken a turn for the worse.

He told her about how his dad had bailed on all of them while his mother suffered the disease, Arnav and Neetu aunty had moved to Pune a few months after Khushi had left Delhi, they stayed with Anjali and her husband Sameer until her demise after which Arnav had moved to the United States to complete his graduation.

'Ma...' He whispered as he fiddled with the sleeve of her gown, plastering a strong smile on his face as he observed his mothers face, ashen and crumbling, her eyes still glimmered when she spoke to him, a striking contrast to her pale fading, translucent skin , 'Did you have your breakfast this morning son?' she turned to him and asked curiously, 'Yes, of course I did' he bit out a lie, earning a weak tap on his shoulder for being able to spew lies without a blink. 'I think I should ask Anjali to enhance the surveillance on you' she added with a smirk to which he rolled his eyes and muttered 'As if she does not shadow me enough, already!', to which she laughed feebly.

'Did you call, Khushi' she asked quietly, 'I will soon, don't worry' he shrugged off the question and avoided his mothers knowing eyes.

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Nani and the whole family was gathered yet his father had not arrived. Arnav closed his eyes, refusing to cry, the flames burnt brightly before his eyes, burning away a part of his heart and scorching the rest into a hardened, impenetrable mass.

Suraj Raizada had sold their home, and gambled his way through life, dying of drug abuse a few years later, a fazed death in his own paradise devoid of his children, wife or any responsibility.

Arnav's jaw clenched as he recounted how his dad had not only walked out on them but also thrown away whatever they had, his knuckles turned white under Khushi's hold as he recounted his father's treachery.

'And you walked out too' he thought, he bit back the words knowing how much it would hurt her. He was aware deep within that if Khushi had inkling of what he went through she would have come back, he did not doubt that, and keeping this in mind he tried carefully placing the blame aside, knowing it was not right to blame her when she knew nothing. He may have become ruthless and defiant yet he did not believe in blaming someone else for what he went through, especially when it was someone who knew his heart better than he did once.

Arnav had moved back to Delhi six months ago, setting up his branch in India had been fairly easy given his experience, ruthlessness and huger to not find himself lacking anything he had been denied, yet somehow the previous years had taken a toll on him, he turned out empty and hollow, still unfulfilled, lurking somewhere in between, feeling so incomplete, despite everything he had accomplished.

Still with a heart wounded and unhealed, he simply stared blankly ahead as Khushi softly lay her head on his shoulder, knowing that anything she could say would not be sufficient to mend scars so deep. So she sat there with him, guilt washing over her, guilt that blankets our heart when we escape scratch free while the ones we deeply care for struggle to hold on all alone, guilt of not being there when they need us the most.

Quietly they sat by the noisy waves, her tears slowly soaking his shirt and his eyes staring questioningly at the sky above.

"Fix You"- Coldplay

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