Chapter 39

Khushi felt giddy. Her heart was break dancing and for someone who never thought to be happy, the moment was so jubilant that it gave her vertigo. They had danced for so long, arm in arm. It was a dream come true moment for her. All this while, she had imagined that her true love would come back. Her Rinnie would come back and ask her hand in a dance and somehow he had made that possible. What if this wasn't her Rinnie...he was his blessing, at least.

 

Khushi knew Rinnie would never be back. Her Rinnie, Sr. Avantika, her friends of Sunshine, all had passed away when that evil man burned down her orphanage. She could do nothing to save them and for months those screams and vision haunted her. She had come back to a carnage with bodies lying around, and even after so much of efforts couldn't find her Rinnie and others. The officers there told the little her that the rest of them were burnt down alive while trying to save the other kids and her Rinnie was one of the people who had run into the orphanage while it was burning down, to save the other kids. He was always like that...

No, she couldn't think about Rinnie now. He wouldn't like it. Arnav was a blessing from Rinnie, Sister and all of her loved ones and she couldn't ruin this moment by being sad. No...

 

She had to be happy for all of them. They had sacrificed their lives to save her and she had to be happy in order for their sacrifice to be respected. She had to and she would be.

 

She smiled at Arnav who was still staring at her intently and let go of his hand to sit on the grass, near the lake. She dipped her legs in the water as she patted down the space next to her, indicated Arnav to sit beside her. He obliged immediately, smiling.

 

"I never thought something like this would happen..." she whispered softly, hugging her knees. Arnav scooted closer to her and put his arm around her, cocooning her in a blanket of love and warmth, "me neither..."

 

She smiled, a smile that reached her eyes, "it feels magical..."

"Couldn't have described the moment better," Arnav smiled as he kissed her forehead, "I never thought my life would be happy again but ironically, here you are..."

"Ironically..." she smiled, "you are my ocean of happiness..." and they both looked at each other, gazing deep into the depths of their hearts as the meaning of their names defined a whole new significance to their relationship. Both were grinning like idiots, soaking every bit of happiness and joy that had finally come knocking.

 

"Without speaking, without conveying, you have managed to melt down all my worries..." she said, "how do you do that?"

"Well, you have done the same for me..." Arnav smiled, "I guess we both understand each other and when there is understanding, you don't need words to express yourself."

"You should do that more often..." his voice dipped with such sincerity that Khushi's head snapped up instantly to look at him. His eyes glowed softly in the moonlight. They were filled with love, even though he hadn't said it. They were so passionate, caring and strangely very familiar. Khushi's heart skipped a beat as she stared into the depths of molten brown eyes. They gave her Goosebumps, "stop looking at me like that..." she whispered, averting her gaze, blushing furiously.

 

His hands tightening around her, "I cant... you are too beautiful to stop looking at you."

 

Khushi's cheeks burned as he came closer. His lips touched her cheeks, smouldering her in a vortex of passion, excitement and need. His lips traced her cheeks as his hands roamed her shoulders. Her hands trailed up his chest, clutching fistfuls of his wet shirt as his lips traced her jaw, making her shiver in the heat. Eyes were closed, breathing became heavier as they came closer and their lips met for the second time that night in full frenzy. Gone was the slowness, the languid comfort. This kiss was ardent, passionate and aggressive. It was all their feelings, frustrations and anger at staying apart for such a long time. Their lips razed,  tongues battled in a craze, hands clutched each other tightly as though they were afraid that this was a dream and would vanish any second. It started raining again as they kissed each other like it was the last day of their lives...

 

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

 

"Hellooo..." a voice stuttered as soon as Lavanya picked up the call. Her eyes widened in surprise, "Chris..."

"Yesss..." his voice slurred again.

 

"Are you drunk?" Lavanya couldn't believe her luck. Here she was trying to have some semblance of sanity in her life and Chris calls her in the middle of the night, drunk. God!

 

"Yess... I am drrrunkkk..." Chris giggled, "this stuff is yummy laaaonyyyaaa..."

"Chris go to sleep..." Lavanya muttered exasperatedly, "we will talk tomorrow..."

"Nooo..." he panicked, "nooo...please listen to me... after a long time I have felt this brave. I need to tell you something..."

 

Lavanya perked up. Oh god...oh no...please don't do this. Please don't make his confess. He wouldn't remember anything the next morning, she prayed fervently. This was the heights of playing with her feelings. When she was trying so hard to move on and find some peace and love, god was playing games with her again. Chris was drunk and even if he said he loved her, Lavanya was positive that he wouldn't remember anything the next morning and she couldn't face that rejection again in her life. Please don't do this... she prayed again when the words that came out of his mouth shattered everything, "I think I am in love with you..."

 

Tears broke out of her eyes and she sank to the floor, helpless. Chris continued his ramble, completely oblivious to his other half's breakdown, "Laooonya... I think I fell in love with since the first time I saw you. You are so different from me...that makes me feel so good. I am in love with you and I love you... I love you... I love you..."

 

Lavanya cried her heart out. This was supposed to be the happiest moment of her life but she felt terrible knowing that Chris wouldn't remember anything he said when he woke up from his hangover. What if he felt this was stupid and he shouldn't go about with this. What if he out rightly rejected her claims of confessing to her in a drunken state. What if he thought she was just plain desperate when she told him what he had done? This was humiliating beyond belief.

 

Chris was talking nonsense and Lavanya had no heart to listen to him. She was still clutching her phone and weeping as Chris continued to profess his undying love for her. Both of them were drowned in their own troubles and tribulations and quite rightly, as Lavanya had guessed, Chris would remember nothing but a strange melancholy that would guide his heart in the right direction but Lavanya had to wait...

 

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

 

 Anjali backed towards the wall as Vinay advanced towards her like a predator. His walk was so slow that it was agonizingly irritating for Anjali. That uncertainty and anticipation killed her. She didn't know whether this was the right step. Whether they had to get close when their personal differences were sky high but she also felt that her relationship should be given a fair chance and Vinay had already apologized for whatever he had done. This fight was not between her and Vinay but it was between Arnav and Vinay and Arnav was quite clear that Anjali shouldn't get involved in their personal fight because whatever happened was because of Vinay's undying love for Anjali, something neither of their family had overlooked even when they were kids.

 

Anjali and Vinay were two sides of the same coin, they were different, in their perspectives, their personalities, their mindsets, but they existed together, in harmony, since the time they were kids and being such close friends, they never had any trust issues between them. That's what was mind boggling to her, how did such a huge space created itself between them in such a small amount of time.

 

Vinay's care and concern was vastly responsible for bringing her out of her depression when she had a break up from her ex boyfriend. Being of the same age, Vinay and Anjali were always together but their personal lives differed and she too had her share of relationships when she was a teen and not all of them were serious, except one. Perhaps that relationship was the cementing stone of Anjali and Vinay's lifelong bond. Her suffering brought out a whole new side of Vinay and made her fall in love with him.  Even though they were cousins, being romantically involved was not awkward because they never considered each other as next to siblings. They were always best friends and as they said, the best relationships existed between the best of friends. Neither of their family had any problem with them being together. They actually approved it wholeheartedly because Vinay was adamant on having Anjali as his life partner.

 

Those days were such a contrast to the present day that Anjali honestly did not know what to think. How could she have allowed such a huge chasm to form between them, breaking them apart. How could she not have seen the real reason for Vinay's anger? How could she disobey her brother and insult his sacrifice? She couldn't do it...

 

All these thoughts were running inside her head, muddling her brain as Vinay continued to walk towards her. Her back hit the wardrobe the same time Vinay caught her shoulders and both of them leaned backwards, coming closer to each other more than they were this past few weeks. Vinay's eyes were burning her, demanding from her and she gulped as her knees gave away and she collapsed on Vinay who whispered, "Happy anniversary..."

It was then she realized the fact that it was their marriage anniversary. She cursed herself for being so distant, so aloof that Vinay had to suffer through these days which were always a reason for their utmost happiness. She looked at him to see his eyes brimming with hope and a profound sadness and her heart automatically decided that no matter what issues they had between them, today was the day of celebration and she wouldn't let anything come between them. She hugged him tightly and kissed him with such intensity that in the heat of the moment, every other worry was forgotten.

 

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

 

Payal threw her phone at the wall where it shattered to pieces. She clutched her hair as she collapsed down, in worry and despair that none of her plans were working. Arnav had disappeared, Akash wasn't giving her two hoots and her MMS was about to be leaked to the whole world. Every other door had closed and not even a tiny window of hope was visible to her.

 

Within a matter of days, her life had rotated a 180 to throw her into a deep abyss from where escape was impossible. She had finally realized that it was Shyaam who had created a video of her and that had pushed her limits. Her trust had broken so badly that it was just hopeless and she had no faith in herself. The man who she actually cared for had insulted her, used her and thrown her aside like she was trash. Humiliated beyond belief, Payal truly felt alone in the world.

 

Even though she had money, considerable fame and a nice family, she felt unwanted. For the first time in her life, she felt ashamed as she cried her heart out, alone and helpless. Her family was unaware, her dad didn't think she was his ideal daughter, her sister didn't care, her mother was caught up in her own frivolous issues and her aunt was way too immature to understand anything. Khushi was somewhere else, doing her work.

 

Khushi...

 

Her name hit Payal like a resounding slap. Every mean thing she had said to Khushi pricked her like red hot knives. Every time she had called her a bitch or a wh**e came back to her like a freight train. Because her heart knew those words suited better to Payal than to Khushi and though her ego was not allowing her to accept it, she knew Khushi was way better than her in everything. Actually, it was a sheer insult to Khushi's character to actually compare her with someone like Payal...

 

SHUT UP!!!! She screeched as she hit herself and fell back against the wall. Even now she was unable to feel anything but baseless hatred for the girl who had snatched her dad and her sister away from her. Payal probably wouldn't have turned out to be like this if she wasn't left alone with her mom and her aunt, for whom apart from money and fame nothing was worth considering. But they hadn't mentioned that character was priceless. In her hurry to get fame and money, she had lost that one thing which valued more than anything in this world. Her character.

 

Tears flowed down as she lay between the shattered remains of her room, experiencing torture while she tried to fight her demons away and only one person's kept flashing across her eyes. The person who actually could help her out of this mess but she was too egoistic to ask her.

Humiliated, to have a better word.

 

Khushi...

 

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

 

After weeks of avoiding him, Diya couldn't do it anymore. She couldn't even ask Payal to do it because from a past few days, she was acting really strange. Not that Diya gave a damn about her but still it was worrisome to see Payal blowing her fuse off, not even talking to her parents. Meh...

 

Right now the only thought was Akash and how she hadn't seen him from such a long time. Her heart ached to see how he was doing but every single time the thought of coming between Lavanya and him, pricked her like hell. Why did she had to go through so much?

 

However, it all fell through the drain as she thought how much she loved Akash and how badly she longed for his smile. She missed her buddy, her guy more than her sister if that was possible and this was the indication that she had to go meet him.

 

Before it was too late.

 

Thinking that, she was here, outside his door in the hospital, waiting to turn the knob when she heard voices. Lavanya...

 

Diya froze outside and strained her ears to hear what they were talking even though she knew that probably her heart was going to suffer more. But curiosity took the better of her and she listened.

 

"Did you tell him?" this was definitely Akash's voice. Diya scooted closer to the door.

 

"No..." Lavanya said meekly. Her voice was unbearably sad.

 

"Why?" came Akash's exasperated voice, "oh come on Lavanya... he told you, didn't he?"

"He was drunk, AK..." she replied, her voice breaking, "he wouldn't have remembered anything he told me the previous night..."

"And so you just left it at that?" Akash sounded annoyed, "you love him, he loves you and you just left everything abrupt? Just coz he was drunk?"

Wait, what?

 

Lavanya was in love with someone else? What? Diya's heart soared at the news. Lavanya and Akash weren't in love. Oh my god! They weren't in love...shit! Diya felt so happy that if Lavanya hadn't talked more, she probably would have barged right in to hug Akash.

 

"You need to get yourself out of the self apathy zone..." Akash said, "for how many days will you keep thinking that if you make a move, you are going to seem desperate?"

Khushi's friend? Her Di's friend? Chris? Lavanya was in love with Chris? What the hell?!

 

Siblings...shit! dammit!

 

"No AK..." Lavanya sounded like she was in tears, "I only told Khushi because I felt she would understand. Like a girl... not because I don't love you like a bro anymore..."

 

Diya stood there, grinning like a Cheshire cat, nodding to everything Akash was saying but not understand a word. All she could make out from the conversation was Akash and Lavanya weren't a couple as she had feared and that was all that mattered to her...