2017

Tumse Pyaar Hua (My Entry For The 2021 Santa Prompts)

3 years ago

Diya

@foreverlazy

Reyaansh Singhania couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the obnoxiously handsy teenagers that some cruel force had placed in his path. He made his way around them, his dress shoes tapping rhythmically against the barren, cobblestoned streets of Prague.

“As if turning Christmas into Valentine’s Day wasn’t bad enough, now New Year’s Eve has to be thrown into the mix too?” Rey muttered to himself. There was only supposed to be one day where he felt alone and awful and take it out on the rest of the world like an absolute jerk, and it was not supposed to be today.

Rey sighed as he felt his phone buzz for the fourth time that night. He knew what would follow once he picked up, having memorized the following scene as though it were a script.

“You’re an idiot,” his best-friend Saara informed him matter-of-factly.

Rey simply rolled his eyes. “Hello to you too Saara, how are you? I’m doing great, by the way.”

“Don’t patronize me, Singhania, or I’ll get Kriya to kick your ass.”

“Kriya loves me.”

“Right, because it’s still 2011 and you and your monstrosity of a mullet somehow managed to chisel its way into the stone fortress that is Kriya Ghai’s heart, even though everyone knew that you were the two most incompatible people on the planet.”

Rey couldn’t help groan - as one does when their best-friend brings up everything that they have ever done wrong without actually getting to the one thing that’s pissing them off.

“What do you want, Saara?”

The woman in question simply scoffed. “What I want is for you to get your ass back to my cousin’s party because if she finds out that you broke best-friend bylaws-”

“We are almost 30 years old-”

“-she will kill you, and then start crying, so obviously I’ll have to bring you back so I can kill you myself.”

“Obviously,” Rey said mockingly, 10000% sure that she would strangle him with his own tie before he could even finish saying ‘viously’.

Saara let out her cousin’s patented battle cry, ready to manifest the ability to reach through her phone and smack Rey upside the head. “I don’t know who’s more infuriating - you, or that so-called date of yours who’s trying to hit on Swayam. How did you even meet this girl?”

“I met Sandy last night and she drank me under the table in ten minutes, so I thought that she’d be fun to have around.”

“Her name is Sanju and she most certainly is not fun to have around, you friggin’ lightweight. Why the hell would you bring a stranger to Swayam and Sharon’s very first wedding anniversary?”

“As opposed to what?” Rey couldn’t help but snap. “Be the thirteenth wheel instead of my usual third? No thanks.”

“Rey-”

“Just stop, okay?” Rey cut in as soon as he could, because if he didn’t, he knew he would say something he’d regret. “I’m happy that you guys are all happy, I really am! But when you’re all together, all I see is everything I don’t have and it sucks. I feel alone, Saara. Do you know what it’s like to feel alone when you’re surrounded by everyone you love?”

“But you don’t have to be!” Saara exclaimed, her tone softening. “There is a girl who you still love with every fibre of your being, one who I know for a fact still looks at you like you’re her entire world because that’s how you still look at her. So why can’t you just stop being an idiot and do something about it?”

“What do you want me to do, Saara?” Rey yelled, running his fingers through his hair as he swiftly darted his eyes away from the swirls of chocolate pastries on a nearby bakery display before they could turn into a pair of familiar orbs of warmth that he knew he would instantly melt into.

“I can’t just go up to her and say ‘hey Taani, I’m so sorry that I broke your heart and we’re barely even friends now, but I still love you so let’s get back together?’ She avoided me throughout the entire wedding and left before the reception! I don’t even know how to get her to talk to me again, how- Look, I’ve been down this road before, I can’t put us through that again.”

“So your solution is to continue to shove random girls into the Taani-shaped hole in your heart?” Rey didn’t need to see her to know that her free arm had been thrown up in the air in frustration, definitely knocking over one of Sharon’s ridiculously expensive centrepieces in the process. “Universeji ki kasam Rey, when I find you, I will shove my foot so far up your a-”

Rey grinned as he heard Saara squawk indignantly, cries of ‘babe, what the hell?!’ sputtering from her lips.

“Hi Rey, please excuse my girlfriend and her lack of respect for other people’s feelings, you know she means well.”

Rey bit back a chuckle as he dramatically declared, “Pata tha mujhe! Ek tu hi meri sachchi dost hai Kriya.”

“Oh please, mere itne bhi bure nahi aayein hai ki main Swayam ki jagah le loon.”

“Kriya-”

“Uh uh, I’m equally as pissed at you for bringing that parasite to the party!”

“And people call you the nice one!”

“Reyansh,” Kriya hissed, her tone scathing with an underlying threat of ‘don’t push it or I’ll sic Saara on you’ that, thankfully, did not go unnoticed by Rey.

“Your girlfriend is mean,” is all Rey could say.

“My girlfriend is mean because she’s right and you never listen to her,” Kriya bit back and Rey could feel her piercing glare even from afar.

“Kriya-”

“Nope, my turn. Now, I’ve talked to Taani-”

Rey’s eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. “You’ve talked to Taani?”

“Zip it! The two of you, and I say this with love, are absolute fattus and watching you dance around each other all these years has been the most frustrating thing ever! I-”

Kriya cut herself off the second she heard a loud thud on Rey’s end.

“REY?!”

“Relax Baatcutter,” Rey chimed in instantly, “I just bumped into someone.”

“Thank god-”

“Don’t know why since these streets were practically empty a few minutes ago.”

“Aaaand you’re talking to yourself.”

“It’s not even close to midnight- GO HOME!”

“Please don’t yell at complete strangers.”

Rey rubbed his temples as he leaned against the brick walls of a nearby cafe, looking up at the sky.

Bad idea.

“I hate this city and its f*cking purple skies,” he grumbled into the phone, unphased by an alarmed Kriya telling Saara to start tracking his phone.

Good luck with that, he thought to himself, groaning as he felt a soft breeze kiss his face.

“What the hell?” he grumbled to himself, glancing around at the growing number of people on the street. His gaze finally trained towards a large crowd that seemed to be gathering around the main square, right where the Christmas tree still stood tall.

A familiar hum began to drown out the sound of his friends’ voices, pulling him in. The hum was accompanied by the strains of a guitar strumming his heartstrings, and Rey swore that he felt his heart stop at the voice that followed.

“It can’t be,” he whispered, making his way to the front of the crowd.

There she was, sitting on that bench with her eyes shut as the mellifluous tones of the song she sang wafted over him with the softness of the breeze, becoming one with her music as though it were the easiest thing in the world. As though she didn’t know that her syrupy sweet voice had him frozen in place. He couldn't move an inch from where he stood, mesmerized by her voice. Without it, he probably wouldn’t have even recognized her.

Gosh, she looked so different! Her hair just barely brushed her shoulders now, its deep red hue similar to that of the blazer he wore. The white leather coat that she had on swallowed her petite frame and a multitude of rings glittered her fingers - except for the one that he would drop to the ground, right then and there, if he saw a ring on.

Flakes of snow fell on her hair, shining like stars getting lost in her galaxy. He always told her she was a star, but like most things when it came to her, he was wrong. Taani Shekhawat was no ordinary star; she was a goddamn galaxy and he would let himself be swallowed by her in a heartbeat.

As if on cue, right as she began singing the chorus once more, she opened her eyes. They found his instantaneously and he felt his heart leap to his throat.

She blinked at him once - her way of saying hello - prompting him to wave back. Noticing the questioning glance she sent his way, he glanced at his hand, only to find that he was still holding his phone.

“Kriya?” she mouthed during a brief guitar riff, sending a knowing smile his way as he nodded yes. Mumbling a swift apology to Kriya, he shoved his phone in his pocket, and Taani somehow managed to fight through the giggle that nearly burst through.

Rey couldn’t help but let the song take him back to that fateful night when he had sung this very song to her in front of that giant campfire. Back then, they wouldn’t let their eyes meet, hearts torn open by one another; knowing the hurt, seeing the pain and smiling through.

The sound of applause jolted him from his spiral down memory lane, soon dispersing until it was just the two of them on that street, barren once again.

“The great Taani Shekhawat singing on a lonely street? What would the people say?” Rey remarked, adding in a gasp for good measure.

Taani chuckled as she closed up her guitar case. “It’s nice to see you too, Rey.”

His smile widened to a degree that he didn’t think was possible as tilted his head, gesturing for her to follow. Taani shook her head as she swung her guitar case over her shoulder, tripping as she made her way towards Rey. His hands reach for her waist almost instinctively as hers wrapped around his neck.

“Still falling at the drop of a hat I see,” Rey noted.

“Maybe I just got used to having you around to catch me,” Taani added cheekily, her eyes boring into his once more.

“Get a room!” They startled as they heard someone shout in their direction, allowing for the space between them to grow. Their smiles faltered as their gazes quickly trailed off one another, Taani squeezing the life out of the strap of her case and Rey stifling his hands as far down his pockets as he could.

They soon began to make their way away from prying eyes, unsure as to where they were headed. Rey cleared his throat, unacquainted with this kind of silence given the noise that cluttered his life daily.

“So, were you just not gonna show up to the anniversary party?”

Taani blinked up at him in confusion, as if slowly realizing the weight of Rey’s words.

“Shit!” she exclaimed, smacking herself on the forehead. “My flight was already delayed and then this little girl recognized me and I couldn’t say no… and then I just sort of lost track of time.”

Rey raised an eyebrow at her ramblings, having forgotten how Taani spoke a mile a minute. “You couldn’t say no to a little girl? Why am I not surprised?”

“Shut up,” Taani grumbled, lightly shoving into him, desperately fighting back a fond smile that threatened to escape her lips. “At least I have an excuse!”

“How do you know I don’t have an excuse?”

Taani gave him a look, the look, and he quickly rectified, “Yeah, I don’t have an excuse.”

A triumphant smile graced her face, one that Rey immediately wanted to wipe off… with his lips.

Damn, he had it bad.

“Whatever, it’s not like Sharon wouldn’t yell at us regardless,” Rey pointed out, trying his best to keep his eyes off the inviting gleam of her lips.

Taani groaned. “I know! I got an earful once she found I left before the reception.”

“Then why did you?” Rey cringed at the aggression in his tone. He knew if Kriya or Saara were there, one of them would punch him in the face.

“I had to go back to work.”

Rey glanced up at the sound of Taani’s sheepish response. “What?”

“Yeah, I thought I’d booked enough time off to be there for all the events, but something changed at the last minute and I had to leave.”

If Rey could kick himself, he would.

“You could’ve said goodbye,” Rey couldn’t help but add, albeit faintly.

“We weren’t exactly talking to begin with,” Taani made a point to remind him, eyes darkening.

“You weren’t talking!”

“You weren’t either!”

At least they were finally looking at each other, fury in their eyes and god knows what pumping through their veins. Anger? Love?

Taani sighed, bumping her forehead with Rey’s as she murmured, “What are we doing?”

Rey smiled as her breath fanned his face. “I don’t know, maybe it’s just this time of year.”

Taani looked up at him suddenly, a wide grin overtaking her face as she said, “We first got together on New Year’s Eve!”

“You remember?”

Rey knew that Taani would jump up in glee if she could. “Of course! You scaled my bedroom wall like a freaking weirdo-”

“You thought it was charming!”

“Absolutely not, now hush, I’m having a moment.”

Rey started to laugh, which prompted Taani to start laughing as well, their laughter only increasing once the New Year’s countdown began in the background.

10!

“Reeeey, I’m being serious!” Rey mimed zipping his mouth shut and Taani didn't know whether she wanted to hit him or kiss him.

“Okay, so you came in, and then you started walking towards me like this,” Taani mimicked Rey’s walk, prompting him to start walking backwards until his back hit a nearby wall, “and then that happened.”

“And that worked on you?” Rey wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and Taani rolled her eyes, albeit fondly.

“Hell yeah,” she said softly, and Rey pulled her to his chest in an instant, her breath hitching as their eyes locked.

“We probably have a lot to talk about,” Rey said to her lips.

“Probably. And we will!”

“Definitely.”

The two of them were absolute liars, allowing their faces to inch closer and closer to one another.

Taani’s hair began to get lost in Rey’s jacket and Rey’s hand trailed up to cup her face.

Their lips met the second the fireworks went off, nothing compared to atom bombs in their hearts, yearning for one another since the very moment they split up.

Maybe this was the stupidest thing they’ve ever done but f*ck it, they’ll be stupid together.

“Happy New Year,” they whispered softly, before their lips met yet again.