ManVeer SS: Fallen Angel - Chapter 21 - pg. 145 - Page 101

Chapter 20.5

What did this woman want now?! Ranvijay thought after reading a text message from Manyata who wanted to meet him urgently.

Ranvijay was going through a difficult phase in his life. And here he used to think that his life couldn't get any worse and messed up than it already was and now thanks to Manyata he was worse than ever. Ten times more lonely.

Women. They were literally the root of all trouble. Five years ago, it had been Meera who had stripped him of his friendship, and now it was Manyata who had stripped him of his love.

He tried hating Manyata so much. Even though there was constantly a part of him that wanted to love her and only love her. To remember the sweetness of the memories he had with her. And now it had become an everyday thing, a horrid fight that took place in him everyday, ripping him apart piece by piece.

His father noticed. The only problem was that just like always...just like every other time..Mr. Oberoi noticed, but after it was too late.

***

Ranvijay's eyes scanned the crowds for Manyata. Where had she disappeared after herself calling him here? It made him hate himself, but he couldn't ignore the ache in his eyes to see her. To finally see her after so many days. To finally hear her teasing voice and see that brilliant smile that made time itself stand still.

His dad had called him a coward. A coward for letting go of her so easily. But only he knew the reason why. Ranvijay swore that if it hadn't been Uday but someone else, he would have taken Manyata long time ago.

The first time he realized that it was Uday that Manyata was betrothed to, he was more than just inclined to steal her away from that b******. Ranvijay hated Uday. Hated him with all his being. But even that hatred had been unrightfully snatched away from him. Crazy stupid love. He hated Manyata for doing this to him, for stealing away his hatred from him. But he couldn't do it. It seemed like all that hatred had been replaced with something just as lethal and dangerous. Pain. Pain and grief. Grief that Manyata belonged to Udayveer. She belonged to Udayveer since childhood.

Irritated with Manyata for not being there, Ranvijay finally took a seat at the bar and ordered another drink. Usually a girl or two would have come to cling on him by now, but Ranvijay didn't blame them for maintaining their distance this time. Ranvijay Oberoi was barely recognizable.

Hair dishelved, an unshaven beard, crumpled clothing, but more than that, the look in his eyes. There was no fire. No mirth. He was dead. And so his eyes said so as well.

He turned around and the glass in his hand fell to the floor and shattered into a million pieces as a lady bumped into him.

Ranvijay stared frozen at Meera as she stared at the floor with her mouth wide open. She then looked up.

"I'm so-" Meera froze her sentence midway and her eyes widened more if possible as she slowly recognized the man standing in front of her. Then a long and distant pain, an emotion she had kept locked up in her heart since so long resurfaced in her heart.

Time. It is known as the biggest healer. Everything wears down against its unmatched supremacy. Everything. Everything except... crazy stupid love.

After so many years Ranvijay had expected her to be rude, to scream at him for coming in her way, or to simply pretend he didn't exist and walk away. Anything but what he received.

"Ranvijay, yeh saab kya?" The shock and surprise in her eyes was soon replaced by a deep sadness at seeing his condition.

She raised her hand to run it through his messy hair, but froze midway. her hand curled into a fist and went back to her side.

"What the hell did you do to herself!?" She demanded instead.

"Meera what the hell are you doing here?" Ranvijay asked.

"Oh...well thanks for the warm welcome Ranvijay," Meera said taken aback with the roughness of his tone. Had five years not even been enough to end the bitterness between them?

"Whatever." Ranvijay ignored her and instead ordered another drink.

"You can't ignore me like that!" Meera said angrily and held onto his arm.

Ranvijay turned around.

"Oh please Meera. For so many years it was YOU who was ignoring me and now all of a sudden you remembered your so-called best friend...Jab mujhe tumhari sab se zyada zaroorat thi tum mujhe chod ke chali gayi thi! Do you get that! After all I was the person who took advantage of you!" Ranvijay mocked, the memories of five years ago still fresh in his mind.

Meera shook her head painfully.

"Filth like me is not worth Miss. Meera's divine attention, remember?!" Ranvijay spat out.

"Ranvijay, STOP! What is your problem!? I swear I feel like I'm talking to a stranger..tum kabse itne serious ho gaye!?" Meera asked sadly.

"Enough Meera. You and I both know what changed me..."

Meera for the umpteenth time in her life, remembered once again, her guilt-ridden flashbacks... But it hadn't been her fault! She had been too broken, too disgusted with her own self to do anything! So she had let herself get distanced from Ranvijay. She had listened to Uday without a word when he broke all ties, his own and hers with a lonely Ranvijay.

Those days, Meera felt like she was living in some subconscious state, aware yet at the same time unaware to what was happening around her. Somewhere in her head she knew the rumors were true. Yes, she knew it when Ranvijay had started hanging out with the wrong crowd. Drugs, gangs, guns...girls. Girls, but this time it was different. He was always a player. But now there was a crude ruthlessness attached to his actions. Not the harmless playing around that he used to do.

Meera looked at Ranvijay's eyes, years after those bitter memories. There was something changed in them. Something was so...vulnerable.

"Toh ab. Ab kya hua? I thought you had gone so high up that nothing could bring you back down again. Then why are you like this?" Meera asked.

"For the second time in one life...Udayveer!" Ranvijay slammed his fist on the counter leaving Meera confused...No, it couldn't be!

"Udayveer took my Manyata away from me!" Ranvijay said confirming Meera's suspicions for once and for all.

"You're the one who..." Meera couldn't finish and for a few seconds stood frozen in shock. Ranvijay couldn't help but look up at her curiously...Was she gonna start crying or something?

However, this was Meera we're talking about. A Meera with years of practise. It didn't take her long to regain her composure and then before Ranvijay saw it coming he felt her slap his face.

"You tried to rape Manyata!? You stupid idiot...and if that wasn't enough, you fell in love with her! Aur woh bhi mere hote hue!? What has this world come to?" Meera slapped her hand on her forehead.

Ranvijay just looked at her with the same dead expression.

"What the hell man...That has to be the funniest reaction you could have gotten from a girl after breaking her heart...twice. And you still won't give me that you're-so-crazy look?" Meera asked kind of sadly.

"Meera leave me alone," Ranvijay said very simply.

"You don't actually mean that Ranvijay. So I'm going to stay right here until you talk and act nicely to me," Meera said adamantly but Ranvijay could no longer bear her carefree attitude. It was irritating him. Why couldn't she just give up on trying to cheer him up.

Within seconds he had held her by the arms and pushed her against the counter.

"Meera what the hell is your problem!? Why don't you get it? Things can't go back to what they used to be...I can't go back to how I used to be. It's too late for that!" Ranvijay said every word with so much frustration and anger that he was basically shaking her body in force.

But it didn't seem to make a difference to her. And he hated her for that.

Meera continued to stare in his eyes and very casually put one of her hands on his that was still holding her arm tightly.

"Ranvijay it's never too late. You don't have to do this to yourself," Meera said calmly.

"But I do Meera. Why shouldn't I? It's not like anyone cares. She doesn't care. Mujhe yahan bulaya aur khud hi yahan nahi hai!" Ranvijay said frustrated.

"Kaun?" Meera said confused for a second.

Ranvijay let go of Meera and now there was a lost look in his eyes that showed that he was standing with Meera, yet deep in the thoughts of someone else.

"Manyata aur kaun?" Ranvijay said very simply. It was so simple, so easy to say those words, but if only he could see the effect they were having on the girl in front of him.

"Oh yes of course...Manyata. You're right, she's the only one who's important. You're worried-as-hell father barely exists and I...I don't care about you one bit," Meera said attempting to hide all her pain under a thick layer of sarcasm.

Ranvijay looked at her cluelessly.

"For heaven's sake, Ranvijay. Oh my God. Why the hell do I love someone so stupid!?"

"Wait did you say you still love-"

"No Ranvijay, I don't love you. I just really badly wanted to see you clean-shaved so I'm doing all this drama," Meera said rolling her eyes.

"With you. Anything's possible. But let me make it clear, the only girl who actually has any importance in my life is Manyata-"

"We will see!" Meera interrupted him loudly before he could finish and then smirked at him mischievously.

Ranvijay shook his head at her and decided to walk away. This girl!... Actually no, no way she could be classified as a girl. Damn, was she even human?

***

He didn't love her.

She loved him with all her heart and more.

He didn't love her.

She wanted to cry and let it all out. She wanted to question, she wanted to curse her fate. But why and to who? She was Meera, she didn't have the right. She never had the right, She was a fighter, she was strong. She was the one who was always happy. She didn't have the right to be sad! How could she when there was so much to be done? So many people to look after, so much yet to do in her life, so much more to love. When love gives you pain, that means you need to love more. Love more and love everyone, because if you're in pain then something isn't right. Something's amiss. Because there is no pain in true love. There is no pain.

If you're Meera, then you simply didn't have time to break down and drown yourself in misery. How can you? What will happen to the people you love then? Because Meera believes with all her heart, that once you love someone you become responsible for them forever. And if that wasn't true then why...why when it felt like her world was falling apart she felt more remorse, even more remorse for him. For his heartbreak. His uncompleted love story.

"Meera tum teek ho?"

Meera felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Uday.

"Haan mai teek hoon," she said it with as much confidence that she could muster and took a deep breath refusing to let the pain get the better of her.

"You were wrong Uday. I was strong enough to hear the truth," Meera said and one look in her eyes was enough for him to realize that she knew it. She knew it all.

"I knew you are," Uday said after a small pause.

"Then why did you hide it?" Meera looked at him questioningly. He looked back at her inquisitively and his eyes seemed to peer right through and could see...they could see the wall that Meera was building. The wall that built around the emotions that threatened to spill out in front of the world. The wall to cover the cuts and scars that were fresh and bleeding inside her. And Meera too felt it, she knew that if there was anyone who truly understood the real her, then it was Udayveer. Maybe because they were so similar in that way. Always put their responsibility ahead of their feelings, never wanted to expose their vulnerable side to the world.

She begged with her eyes for him to look away but Uday continued to hold her eyes until they had turned shiny.

"That's why," Uday finally said after seeing unmistakable tears forming in her eyes. Yet she was still so determined to not let them fall out.

"Uday why the hell are you trying to make me cry!" Meera almost choked on her breath but quickly caught it, refusing to let herself break into sobs.

"Because I want you to cry. I want you to for once give yourself the right to feel sad. To let yourself break."

"But I...can't!"

"Meera for heaven's sake, will you please cry!"

The second he had said it, Meera started to shake with sobs and Uday walked over and held her to himself, shielding her from the cruel world.

"That's enough."

"No. I still need you," Meera said still holding onto him tightly and although she had become silent, Uday could feel the fresh wet teardrops soaking in his shirt.

"Meera I want to see you happy."

"Uday my happiness lies in him," Meera said firmly and they both let go of each other.

"He doesn't deserve you."

"I know. But then, no one does. I'm too good for everybody!" Meera chuckled half-heartedly at her attempt to regain her usual composure.

"You know that's actually true. And that's exactly why angels belong in the sky, not on Earth."

"Awww...Uday I was joking you know. But like really I'm not all that perfect like I pretend to be. If I was then I wouldn't have let him go all this time. Now look what's become of him-"

"Meera after everything he did with you-"

"Uday tumhe aisa kyun lagta hai ke maine koshish nahi ki? Maine bohat koshish ki usse bhulane ki, lekin..." Meera shrugged her shoulders frustratedly.

Uday sighed.

"If I couldn't forget my Princess in sixteen years then how could you forget your Ranvijay in five?" He finally said.

Meera's eyes shot up and she looked in Uday's eyes expectantly.

"Uday, you-"

"Yes Meera, for the first time in Yuvraaj Udayveer's life, he accepts defeat. Me and my hatred, we lose in front of your unconditional and pure love for Ranvijay. Go for it," Uday put his hand on her cheek.

"But if he hurts you again...I swear I will kill him," Uday warned.

"Uday man, I love you! I really do!" Meera said as she attacked him with a hug.

"Yes I love you too. But Sshh, it's a secret okay? Better not let my junglee billee hear," Uday and Meera laughed.

***

Note: Guys Uday and Meera do love each other but does love always have to be "that kind of love?"🤔 No, right. LOL

Okay somewhere I feel like this wasn't exactly my best work, but I hope you could connect nonetheless to both Meera and Ranvijay.

And to people who missed ManVeer, I promise that the next part will be ManVeer-centric! I WILL be back with a BANG next time for sure...whenever next time is. Soon though. Very soon. 😊 Because honestly as much as you guys miss reading ManVeer, I miss writing them! So guys please do let me know how you found this part, just be honest if you were bored LOL and I promise Imma be back soon! 😃

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