ArSha OneShots - Art imitates life imitates art - Updated Page 13 - Page 8

There's a pattern behind everything that happens.

Before something happens in our lives (an event, a revelation, a person), more often than not, there are always small signs, tiny hints. Thing we don't really pick up on even if they are staring us in the eye. Things that only seem obvious in hindsight.

Even the most bizarre, absurd, irrational things.

--

Away from all semblance of sanity and convention, in those moments where dreams and thoughts collide, where words and memories clash with hopes and desires, there's a thought that lays wedged like a thorn. A what if that he's been battling for years. He wonders how life would've been different. Where he would be now. How things would have played out. What would have happened if they hadn't been paired together that first time.

It's a frightful thought, except sometimes he thinks maybe it might have been better, maybe they'd have been different, convinces himself they'd have been one or neither - not this almost but not quite.

--

They have been dancing (sometimes together, always around each other) for eons it seems. Their bodies know how to turn, how to mold, how to twist to accommodate the other as if its second nature. But that wasn't always the case.

He still remembers the first time Terence Sir decided to pair them together. He remembers the shiver of anticipation and fear that had run down his spine. She had earned quite a reputation and he wasn't sure he could match up.

And he wasn't just talking about dance.

--

He looks at peoples as possibilities, as case-files. He divides them into cans and can'ts.

It's a hereditary trait, a family tradition. Some of his earliest memories include him and his brothers playing with miniature army men as his grandfather challenged his sons to a game of chess while they discussed the most defining encounters. It wasn't until he was in 5th standard that he understood what they had been talking about all these years (his brother told him). And it was only in 7th standard that he understood it didn't always have to be this way.

He learnt about reforms and rehabilitation. He became obsessed with the idea of changing, of transforming. Of making the world a better place one reformed criminal at a time. It wasn't until he saw his brother battling for his life first year of college that he realised the world wasn't that simple after all. He was a policeman yet they couldn't arrest the son of the MLA responsible. That is when he realised righteousness always bowed before the rich. And that some people can't be changed. Can't be reached. Can't be touched.

She was a can't.

--

He didn't exist for her. He realised this the minute he stepped into the rehearsal hall the first time. She turns and looks him once over and goes back to stretching. In fact he bets she's never even really seen him until now. Two weeks later, as they share a pizza straight out of the box after a late night rehearsal, she owes up to it. The sudden wave of resentment shakes him to his core. He leaves quickly after.

--

They're stark opposites and, he reasons, would be completely incompatible together.

While he's like fire - impulsive, quick, fierce; she's precise, perfect, sharp just like ice. In fact, he has no idea what Terence Sir was thinking pairing them together for a duet. That is until they move into position and the music starts. And then everything falls in place.

He pushes himself harder, giving more of himself than he ever has before. He wants to prove to her that he deserves to be here just as much. He wants her to see him. Notice him. He becomes a better dancer when he's with her. And she begins to melt.

From his corner of the rehearsal hall, Terence Lewis smiles.

It is only late at night, when he is lying awake in his bed, his body sore and aching in ways he's never experienced before that he begins to understand what happened. Of course they would have worked, he should have seen this coming.

They're the standard cliche after all. And sometimes cliches work.

--

He's always seen her as perfect. So much so that the first time he realises she has some weaknesses too, he's soo taken aback he actually laughs in her face. And immediately wishes he hadn't when he sees her visibly go cold and draw on her steely mask.

He spends the next twenty minutes apologizing and cracking poor jokes that make him cringe on the inside while he spins her around. It is only when he promises to stay back after hours to help her get the emotions right that she finally cracks half a smile.

He feels the weight lifting from his chest.

--

In an interview years later (though it seems like decades, ages, lifetimes ago), she casually mentions how he has never dropped her. And in that moment, his chest swells with pride and his entire existence feels validated.

It's a foreign feeling.

--

Their first duet together, Khuda Jaane, brings the house down. The performance shocks the audience, surprises the judges and defines the course of their lives. With dance and with each other.

They think it's a simple story of two star-crossed lovers (they enacted puppets) pulled by attraction, bound by dance and separated by destiny. It takes them a long time to see it for what it really was.

--

They should have heeded the warnings - the signs were all there, but they were too busy trying to get the act right.

--

a/n: This part breaks away from the semi-chronological order the series had been following so far but I figured after the last update, I needed something to lighten things up a lil. Or well, you know as light as it can possibly get with these two. I hope you enjoyed this part. As always, I look forward to your comments.

Amazing update.

I always felt the way u penned down Amar's thoughts.

In reality too..

I feel Shakti doesn't acknowledge him and her mentioning things like never dropped him always makes Amar happy n smiling.

m lovinggg this very much😊

and d way u write makes t even moreee awesomeee😊

fabulous part⭐️⭐️

loveddd amar's pov very muchh😊

sowwie for d delay n unresing😳

plsshh continue soon😊