Chapter 21

Devakshi FF: Reaching Out

Part 19

"Kya? Ranveer practically roared.

"Tu Natasha se milne gaya tha? he couldn't believe what he heard.

Dev turned around, "Pagal hai tu? Main ussey kyun milne jaunga? he snapped at Ranveer.  Ranveer furrowed his brows, "Toh? Woh kahan se ayi? Dev folded his arms across his chest and said, "Uss din restaurant se nikalne ke baad main seedha office gaya. Sara kaam jaldi se niptake main wahan se penthouse ke liye nikal gaya...

**Flashback**

Dev drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, willing the light to turn green so that he could get to Sonakshi soon.  He needed to tell her. God knows what Sonakshi was thinking, with the way he was avoiding her. Dev was sure she had thought of the worst thing possible. She would most definitely interpret his absence in a negative way.

With this thought in his mind his eyes landed on the big departmental store to his right. After looking at it distractedly for a while, something clicked. Sonakshi often purchased tubs of ice-creams from this one. She absolutely loved them. He remembered having fought with her over which flavour to get, on one instance. He smiled. Now he knew exactly how he would cheer her up. With his confession over a tub of her favourite ice-cream. His smile widened.

He quickly took a turn, when the light turned green and drove up to the store. Parking his car swiftly he stepped out. Stepping into the store, he made a beeline for the ice-cream shelf. On arriving there, he dove straight for a carton of the vanilla flavoured ice-cream. Sonakshi loved vanilla ice-cream. If it was up to her she could just survive by eating tubs of vanilla ice-cream. She indeed had proudly claimed so during their fight over which flavour to choose.  Dev chuckled at that thought, "Puri pagal hai! Without wasting any more time he decided to pay for it and leave.

But the moment he turned around, he came face to face with someone he didn't want to see ever again.

Natasha.

"Dev! Natasha exclaimed giving him an overly sweet smile.

Dev wanted to grimace. But he was too much of a gentleman for that. So he did the next best thing. He brought back his impassive expression. In reply, he gave her a very curt nod and said, "Natasha. Natasha was stunned into silence to get such a cold greeting from him. Dev could clearly see that. After all these years he was at an upper hand for once with Natasha. And that was because he had learnt to read people very well. He wasn't always accurate, but he did well.

Natasha eyed him for a few seconds and then said, "Bohot badal gaye ho tum. Dev didn't react at all. He knew that she was trying to provoke him. She was trying to check if he still held feelings for her. After Natasha had exited from his life, he had realised something. Under the facade of helping everyone, she wanted people to admire her, like her, love her even. So that she could gloat about it and in the end, choose to keep the ones that she wanted while the rest suffered. And this wasn't just from the lover's perspective. It was the same for friends too. That was just how she was.

Dev just tilted his head to one side slightly and said, "Usually log time ke saath badal te hi hai. That's pretty natural. His reply seemed to shock her even more. She was speechless for a few seconds. Then she cleared her throat and said, "Mujhsey nahin poochogey, main kaisi hoon? Dev squinted his eyes, "Tumhey dekhkey poochne ki zaroorat hi nahin padi. Bilkul theek toh lag hi rahi ho. Natasha couldn't take it anymore, "Kya hua Dev? Tum mujhsey aise kyun baat kar rahey ho? Dev furrowed his brows, "Aise? Main toh sab se aise hi baat karta hoon. To the point. Ghuma firakey baat karne ka kya faida? he said glancing at his watch.

Natasha caught that. "Tumhey kahin jana hai? Dev looked up at her with an amused face, "Departmental store me toh koi reh nahin sakta. So obviously mujhey kahin toh jana hi padega. Natasha's anger simmered, "Tum mera mazak uda rahey ho? Dev nodded his head solemnly, "Bilkul nahin. His expression just made her angrier, " Theek hai jao jahan jana hai. Jaise koi intezaar kar raha hoga tumhara she said rolling her eyes. At that statement Dev's face broke into a big smile. Natasha stared at him wide-eyed. She seemed to be sort of dazzled by the smile.

"Tum has kyun rahey ho? she asked him curiously. Dev shook his head saying, "Kyunki jo tumney kahan usme ek chhoti si galti thi. Intezaar kar raha hoga galat hai. You should have said kar rahi hogi. With that he walked past Natasha, seemingly having forgotten that he met her at all, and finding a new resolve to reach Sonakshi soon. As he finished paying, he made his way out of the store when he heard Natasha call out, "Dev?! Dev turned around in the direction of her voice. Natasha walked up to him and said, "Phirsey kisise pyaar kar baithe? She had meant it in an offending way. Dev knew that clearly.

She clearly wanted to remind him of how she had left him. But surprisingly, the words didn't bother Dev a bit. In fact he went on to correct her yet again. "Nahin Natasha. Pyaar toh mujhey pehli baar hi hua hai. And I'm so glad ki ho gaya. Natasha's jaw nearly dropped to the floor, "K-Kya matlab? Dev sighed, " Matlab yeh ki agar tum mere life se na jaati, toh mujhey pata hi nahin chalta ki pyaar kya hota hai. He smiled genuinely, "thank you for that Natasha. Tumhari wajah se aaj mere paas Sonakshi hai. I owe you. With that he opened the door and got into his car, leaving Natasha standing there like a ghost.

She stood gaping at him, not knowing what to say. As he put his seatbelt on she broke out from her trance. "Bohot badi galti kar rahey ho Dev. Dev didn't acknowledge that he heard her. Nevertheless she continued. "Tum ussey kabhi khush nahin rakh paoge. Tumhey sambhalte sambhalte woh ek din thaak jayegi. And then she will suffer. Dev started the car, gripping the steering wheel tightly. "Issey pehley ki woh suffer karein, tum duur chale jao ussey. For her sake. Dev couldn't take it anymore, so he stepped on the accelerator and zoomed away, leaving her in the dust.

But the damage had already been done. Dev couldn't get Natasha's words out of his mind. It was like she had engraved them in his brain. "Kya woh sach keh rahi thi? The more he thought, the truer they seemed. "Kya Sonakshi sirf pity aur sympathy ki wajah se mere saath hai? he thought sadly. As he let himself into the penthouse he kept thinking, "But that kiss. Tab toh laga ki woh bhi...? He flopped down on the couch, "Kya woh dosti aur sympathy ko pyaar samajhke misunderstand kar rahi hai? He held his head in his hands, "Natasha theek keh rahi hai. Sonakshi mujh jaise pagal ko kaise handle karegi? He shut his eyes tightly, "Main nahin reh sakta uske paas. I have to let her go...set her free. He opened his eyes, "yahi sahi hai.

**End of Flashback**

Ranveer couldn't take it anymore. He had been listening to Dev's narration, sitting on the couch, while Dev kept pacing. He got up, walked up to Dev and whacked him on the head very hard. Dev clutched his head in pain and yelled, "yeh kya tha? Ranveer looked furious, "Gift tha tera. Itna mahaan kaam jo kiya tune! Dev just blinked with his eyes wide. Ranveer looked at Dev incredulously and said, "Dusre log apni puri life laga dete hai, Sonakshi jaise understanding and loving friend aur partner dhoodhney ke liye. Tere paas jab woh gift wrap hoke ayi, tune kya kiya? Khud hi dhakka deke gift ko wapas bhej diya?

Dev blinked again, "Yaar tu pagal hai kya? Ek aisi ladki jisney tujhey life me buss dukh hi diye hai, uski baat sunke tune uss ladki se duur hone ka faisla le liya, jisne tujhey khushi di thi? Ranveer was frustrated, "tere pair chhune ka mann kar raha hai. Mahaan hai tu. Dev remained speechless. Ranveer had had enough. "Buss. Ab bohot ho gaya tera yeh natak. Ab tu issey theek karega.'

Dev finally reacted by sighing dejectedly, "par kaise? Ranveer shook his head, "Mujhey kuch nahin pata. Tune bigada hai. Tu hi theek karega. Par ussey bhi pehley, tu khana khayega, aur phir dawai lega. Phir sochengey. Dev just stared at his friend. It seemed like Ranveer had taken charge and Dev merely complied with orders. "Mujhey kya dekh raha hai? Laptop utha aur chal. Tere chakkar me padhke maine aur unn teen bechariyo ne bhi khana nahin khaya. Chal treat dega ab tu. Ranveer literally dragged Dev out, gave instructions for Tina, Riya and Neha to accompany them, hauled them into his car and set off in search of dinner.

While Neha picked the restaurant, Ranveer narrated the oh-so-exciting story behind Dev's actions. While his sisters wanted to strangle him, Tina blew out a breath saying, "Aur maine kitna kuch soch liya tha. Thank God sir ka problem yeh hai. Issey jaldi fix kar payengey. While she was saying all this, she didn't dare look at her boss, who at that moment, was glaring at her and the rest of them. Neha had chosen an Italian restaurant. On reaching the destination, they went in and found themselves a comfortable place. Having ordered whatever they wished to have, Ranveer turned to Dev, "Ab bol Dev, kya socha hai tune?

Dev looked at Ranveer, "Kuch nahin socha. Neha kept her hand on her brother's hand, "Toh socho. Unke bina aapney apni halat dekhi hai naah? Riya followed Neha, "Aur Sona di ko humne dekha hai. She looked absolutely miserable. Dev looked at each of them, "Par agar woh mere saath khush nahin rahi toh? Ranveer rolled his eyes, "Yeh question tu Dr. Sonakshi se pooch lena okay? Woh humsey toh better answer degi hi pakka. The ladies giggled while Dev glared at Ranveer.

Then he sighed, "theek hai. Main milunga ussey. Baat bhi karunga. Sab samjhaunga. Ranveer patted his friend on the back, "Shabash!

Their dinner had arrived by then, so everyone dived in. All the thinking had made all of them quite hungry, especially Dev, who hadn't had a decent meal in a long time. After they finished, Dev paid and the lot made their way out.

But then Neha voiced her concern, "par woh toh aapsey milna nahin chahti. Aur Sonakshi ko yeh bhi nahin pata ki hum jante hai woh kahan reh rahi hai. Tina agreed, "isiliye aap unseye Mr. Shukla ke ghar jakey toh nahin mil sakte Sir. Dev nodded, "Kuch aur sochna padega. He turned to Ranveer, "Tu ussey kab milne jayega? Ranveer promptly replied, "baat tohh kal dopahar ki hui thi. Dev nodded thoughtfully. After a moment he said, "Ek kaam karna, tu ussey Aahar' me bulaley. Main wahi aunga. He then smiled to himself, "Agar woh mujhsey bhagna bhi chahey, toh Ranveer ke saamney aisa nahin kar sakti.

Tina smiled, "Arey waah Sir, aap toh Dr. Bose ko bohot achhey se jante hai. The whole group laughed at that, as they passed the restaurant's reception area. But Tina suddenly stopped laughing and said, "par Sir, jo bhi karna hai, jaldi karna aap. All of them came to a halt beside her. Dev frowned again, "Kyun?

Tina then pointed in front of her. Everyone turned to see what she meant and were presented with a sight, none of them had expected in their dreams. There before them stood a man, almost as tall as Dev. He leant down a bit and asked the receptionist, "A table for two? Booking by the name of  Jatin Gupta. But that's not what bothered Dev.

What bothered him was that he knew the woman the man was with.

Sonakshi.

No, no. Correction.

His Sonakshi.

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Love

Mishti