Chapter 13:
Life for Mayank and Nupur was not just that anymore. Their love and togetherness made it seem more like a dream come true. Their long hours of separation during the day seemed almost like slow torture. When they should be concentrating on the task at hand, their minds would be somewhere else altogether.
Nights weren't that great either, because there eventually did come a time when they had to bid good night to each other and go their own ways. But of course, this didn't happen before Shilpa would come to check on the two 'kids' and scold them for sitting up in the kitchen, chatting over unfinished cups of hot-gone-cold coffee/ gazing at the moonlight in the balcony and yapping non-stop/ 'watching television' till odd hours of the night. She would catch them off guard and thus, send them rushing back to their respective places. Not that Shilpa minded it much; actually it was the *deer caught in the headlights* look on their faces that she loved to watch. And of course, the embarrassed morning-afters would keep her in splits for hours.
But it still goes without saying, that Nupur had never felt happier in her entire life. Not just since the accident, when she had started doubting the reason of her entire existence, but even before that, when she had thought that her life couldn't get any better. Mayank cared for her like no one ever did and she doubted if anyone ever could; he made her feel so special, like no one else mattered. He made her smile, whether he was with her or away from her; like right now.
She smiled as she chewed on the edge of the pen in her hand. She glanced at the paper on the table and a frown replaced her smile. She couldn't believe how time had flown. While it seemed just yesterday that she had come to live with Mayank and Shilpa Aunty, in reality 10 days had already gone by. 10 blissful days. She smiled yet again as she thought about them and blushed as the wonderful times replayed in her mind. And with this passing time, she had also eventually discovered that Mayank's birthday fell the very next day.
And damn! I have not thought of ANYTHING special yet!! She tapped the pen impatiently against the table as she went through the list. Cake ordered? Check! Reservations at --- She paused. Should we go out or should I plan a dinner at home? Or wait, does he have plans already? No, no... He probably won't. Should I check with him? Uffo, it's not called a surprise for nothing, Nupur!!!
Annoyed, she decided to keep this one on hold for the time being. Next on the list were red roses. She made a face at herself. Mayank's your boyfriend, Nupur! What roses and all?? Quickly, she struck it off from the list and replaced it with Champagne. Champagne!? Ugh! You're hopeless, Nupur... It's his birthday, not golden-jubilee anniversary!! She crumpled the list into a ball and aimed it towards the dustbin, missing it narrowly. Here also, hopeless!
Sighing, she rested her arms on the table and placed her muddled head on top of it. She really wanted to make this day as memorable as possible for Mayank. She hadn't really gotten a chance to show him how much she cared for him too. But this was proving to be a herculean task; even more difficult than getting out of her boss's endless tasks. Men really had it so easy: such simple steps to woo a woman – red roses, a romantic candlelit dinner, a long drive in the moonlight and a sweet good night kiss, and the woman is floored. And of course, gifts were an added attraction.
But for a woman?? Roses – yeah right!! Candlelit dinner – Umm, at home or at a restaurant?? Long drive – Sure, just that I'm short of a leg for it.
She got up with a jerk at that thought. She cursed herself mentally for thinking of it at this point of time. Happy thoughts, Nupur, happy thoughts!! She closed her eyes and thought of Mayank's smile. That always brightened her mood, however foul it may be.
"I'm back, you can stop thinking about me now..." The naughty whisper in her ear jerked her eyes open as she shook at the unexpected intrusion.
"Mayank, tum!?" She glanced at her watch. He was earlier than usual by 2 hours. "How come you're back so early?" She asked, still not out of the shock.
"Uh, I thought you'd be happy to see me, but I guess not..." He made a sad face. "I'll go back..." He made a pretense of turning towards the main door, when she grabbed at his hand. He smiled naughtily, satisfied on getting the desired reaction.
"Arey, I didn't mean that, by God!!" Nupur pulled him back as she stood up and balanced herself against the table. "I'm really happy to see you...See?" She smiled broadly at him – too broadly.
"Yeah, yeah... you can cut the act... I was just pulling your leg!" He pulled his hand from hers and took a seat at the couch. "Waise bhi, main tumse milne nahi aya hun!!" He made a face at her which she very obediently returned in the likewise fashion.
"Maine aisa kab kaha?? Hmph!" She took a seat beside him and played along, looking away from him. A second later, both of them looked at each other at the same time and burst out laughing at their childishness.
"Tum bhi na, Nupur!!" Mayank spoke in between his spasms of laughter and pulled her closer. Nupur laughed even harder.
"Waise really, how come you came back so early today?" She asked, once they were a little sober.
"Actually the news channel wanted to do a little birthday interview with me..." He smiled at her 'O' expression as she finally got it. "So I thought, why not call them home? That way, I had a reason to get away sooner from the shoot..." He raised his eyebrows at her as he smiled. She blushed.
"Arey, to ismein itna laal hone ki kya zarurat hai?" He teased her as she blushed harder.
"Main – main kahan laal ho rahi hun?" She tried to cover up but Mayank was totally in the teasing mode.
"Achcha? Phir yeh kya hai?" He cupped her cheeks and lightly traced her cheeks, making her blush even more. She lowered her eyes as she looked away, smiling softly. He leaned forward and kissed her forehead. "You look even more gorgeous when you blush, Nupur!" He spoke in a whisper. She looked up into his eyes and caught her breath when she saw him moving closer to her. Her heartbeat sped as the intensity of his eyes started ruling over her senses.
"Diiiiinggg"
Mayank bumped his head into Nupur's as he jumped, startled at the sound of the damn doorbell. He groaned as he leaned back into the couch, relaxing as he took deep breaths to calm his thudding heart.
"Ouch!!" Nupur cursed and then giggled, looking at him.
"Don't you laugh, ok? I swear I'm going to get the doorbell removed one day." Mayank grumbled as he rubbed his head.
"Now go on... It's probably your friends from the channel, with a cake and all!!" Nupur teased him. He rolled his eyes and got up.
"I'll be in the bedroom for the time being... Don't want to interrupt your little celebration!!" Nupur called out to him playfully and he just smiled at her joke.
Nupur got hold of her crutch and made her way to the room, but she left the door slightly open. The whole world was anyway going to watch it, so why couldn't she snoop around? She chuckled and pulled a chair and sat near the door.
The interview began, like usual. Mayank was his usual witty, charming and friendly self, with pat funny replies to all sorts of questions. Nupur laughed heartily with the interview guys at most of the places.
Suddenly, the next question caught all of her attention – "So Mayank, there's a lot of speculation regarding your love life in the industry. You've been linked to a no. of your co-stars, but none have been proved so far. Would you like to tell your fans if you are seeing someone?"
Nupur held her breath and chewed on her lip as she waited for his response. Would he reveal about them or would he---
"No, I'm not seeing anyone." She heard him say. Her heart sank deeper than she thought was possible. She lost track of the rest of his sentence as her mind went into a hyper drive of seamless questions.
Why did he lie? Is he – is he ashamed of me; our relationship? She got up and slowly walked towards the bed and slumped on it, letting her crutch fall to the side.
No, he probably didn't want to let people know just yet. That should be it. Nupur tried to smile as she thought. But why? Why wouldn't he want to tell them, unless he's – he's not serious? Or is it – Her eyes fell on the crutch that was now lying on the floor. Is it because of this? She closed her eyes and took deep breaths to calm herself down.
The reporter in her kept trying to show her the rational side of the situation, but the vulnerable, sensitive girl within her, deeply in love, felt devastated at having been shoved aside with one simple lie. She kept cursing herself for expecting and dreaming beyond her horizons.
She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice when he came in. She started when he took a seat beside her, smiling broadly. She tried to smile back, but her heart wasn't in it. She needed her answers, however immature the questions may be.
"I believe we have some unfinished business..." Mayank started moving towards her naughtily, when she moved away, facing the other side.
He looked confused. "What's wrong, Nupur?"
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to give herself some strength.
"Mayank, why did you lie to them?" She finally turned to face him.
"Lie? About what?"
Nupur gave a short, mirthless laugh. "You don't even know about what?" Her voice increased in pitch as she emphasised on the last word.
"What are you talk—Oh, ok...I get it... You mean about us?" Mayank finally comprehended her problem.
When she didn't respond, he continued to speak, "Nupur, this is not upto me to reveal. It has to be our joint decision, and we haven't even had much time to ourselves, let alone going public yet!" Mayank explained to her calmly.
"And my being disabled has nothing to do with this??" Nupur asked him accusingly, her eyes tearing up.
"Nupur!!!" Mayank yelled, louder than he had intended to, "How can you even think such a thing? Do you even know me at all??" His hurt voice and pained eyes conveyed the betrayal he felt at her accusation.
Nupur looked away. She still felt torn, caught in the battle of two minds – rational VS irrational.
"Fine!! If that's what you think, then I'd better leave from here, or else, even this may be taken as sympathy!!" Mayank spat out angrily and stormed out of the room, leaving behind a softly weeping Nupur. She flinched as he slammed the door shut in his wake.
She sat still for a few seconds, going over whatever she had said to him. Tears poured from her eyes uncontrollably, as flashes of Mayank always being there for her flashed in her mind - right from their first dinner at her office, to being right beside her at the hospital, from understanding her pain and shattered dreams to fulfilling them in the rain, from the first confession of something different to the revelation of his love for her – all of it played in her mind like a film.
"What have I done?" She cried "The guy who had not left even one single opportunity to make me happy, is now seriously hurt because of my silly, baseless accusation. How could I?" She wiped her tears and bent down to pick up her crutch.
She had to find him. Find him and beg for forgiveness. But she wondered if that would be enough? Her mistake seemed unpardonable to her. She limped to the door as fast as possible for her and pulled it open in one fluid motion and stopped.
Mayank was standing right outside the door. His eyes were red and puffy and his lips were pursed in a thin line. More tears made way down her cheeks as she realized that she was the one responsible for giving him so much pain; for making him cry.
"I swear I don't feel that way, Nupur!" His voice was merely a ragged whisper.
Nupur threw her arms around him, wanting to comfort him and take away the pain that she had unintentionally given him in such intensity.
"I'm sorry, Mayank..." She sobbed uncontrollably "I'm really really sorry..." She hiccoughed as the tears choked her voice. "I'm the most terrible person ever..." She continued to cry.
Slowly, Mayank wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer to him. "Ssshhhh... Don't cry, please..." He patted her back as she coughed a bit.
She pulled back slightly to look at him. "See, even now you are concerned about me and I?" She looked down, hanging her head in the shame and guilt she felt terribly, "I don't deserve you, Mayank..." She sniffed.
"Look at me, Nupur..." She kept looking down resolutely. Mayank held her chin and pulled her face upwards to look directly into her eyes.
"Nupur, you have to trust me and my love for you...Please..." The pleading in his voice touched her deeply. "It's not going to work otherwise..." She could see the tears glistening in his eyes. The guilt hit her hard with double force.
She nodded in agreement as she looked away from those soulful eyes, which seemed to be emanating so much pain at that moment.
"I don't know what happened to me, Mayank..." She whispered "I – I just lost all my senses, which I shouldn't have..."
Mayank reached forward and wiped her cheeks with his index finger. "Atleast I know one thing now..." he said, his voice a tad bit brighter.
"What?" She sniffed as she looked up at him.
"That you have hell good hearing abilities...I mean from the hall to my bedroom?? Commendable!!" He remarked, trying to smirk.
She frowned and tried to pull away when he pulled her back in his arms and sighed. "Please Nupur, I just can't take it when you let these thoughts cloud your judgement... Is my love that weak?"
"No Mayank, no!" Nupur stopped him immediately "It's not you... I – I need to clear my mind... I can't be this cynical all my life..."
"You're not cynical." He cupped her face in his palms "You're just more fragile than you pretend to be... You should come with a 'Handle-with-care' labelling."
Nupur smiled at that. "Finally! Now I feel at peace..." Mayank said, pointing to her smile. She smiled wider.
"How, how do you know me so well??" She asked him, her voice in awe of his patience towards her tantrums.
"It's not that tough, you know... I just had to watch a couple of SRK films and some sappy romantic flicks... Job done!" He joked. Nupur hit his arm and both laughed.
"Come here..." He pulled her back in his arms and closed his eyes, feeling her warmth, their closeness and relishing the floral smell of her hair that was just hers.
"Mayank?"
"Can you shut up, Nupur?"
Nupur whined in response. He chuckled. "Alrite, what is it?"
"Do you realise we are still standing in the doorway?"
He sighed. "I do. What's your point?" He tightened his grip around her.
"Aunty should be here any minute..."
"It's barely 5 30, Nupur...She won't be here for atleast an hour..." He dismissed her irritably.
"What!?!? It's 5 30?? Already??" She pulled out from their hug roughly and frowned. She had completely forgotten that she had to pick up Mayank's cake by 6.
"What happened?" He asked her roughly, irritated at having been interrupted again.
"I have to go..." Nupur rushed to the room and grabbed her purse.
"Where to?? I'll drop you!!" Mayank called out.
"No thanks!!! Byeee..." She yelled back.
He was just turning towards his room when he heard her again "Mayank??"
He turned back to see her standing at the main door. "Hmmm??"
"I love you..." She smiled.
"I love you too, Nupur." He smiled back and she blew a kiss at him and left.
He chuckled and shook his head. Love was so strange – Just some time ago, he had felt his entire world crumbling around him, and now, it was as if that fight never even took place. Suddenly the importance of 'talking' in a relationship didn't seem so overrated to him anymore.
Shiv Shakti
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