SS: A Bend in the Road [Wattpad link-P.126] - Page 69

I loved how Maan supported Geet when she called home.

Geet wants Maan to invite Dev.

I am still figuring out if Vicky will realize that Geet is Maan's Fiance.

I am little worried about Geet's comment that she will run away on wedding day.

Thanks for updating.

Always love to read a story that runs parallel to the original show yet differ in parts. Already love this Maan who can never reply directly without sarcasm and can still speak lovely words. Nice to see Geet getting to do her higher studies which was missed from orginal show. Dev and Tara are repenting and trying to mend their ways. Still cant accept the blunder they made to an innocent soul. They deserve to be punished just like Brij was punished. Hope Geet doesnt show mercy to them to make Khuranna family united. Vikram and Neelima track is quiet interesting. And he is just like his brother in sarcasm. Wonder who is gonna find first whether Geet that he is her devar or Vikram that she is his bhabhi.

Waiting eagerly for next update.

Would love to get pm about the updates.

Neelima and Vicky's silent story has moved further. Love the song selection. It's one of my favourite. The song transports you to a different world.

Tara and Dev are filling the gaps in their lives.

Geet takes the step to breach the distance between her family and they are more than ready. Love Maan and Geets sense of humour and their lively banter.

"Why did you marry me Tara?"

Tara remembered bits and pieces of fragments of her memory.

Of Mira, her sister, of herself in Nainital, watching over her sick sister, and what had Dev told her the first time he met her...

She had lost her sister three months before the painting exhibition when she was all but locked in her room painting, trying to get over the grief.

She remembered her sister's passing words, when she was sick.

"Beauty." She would sigh "Can I remove it off my face Tara? Will you help me do it?"

She would ask her, when she was in and out of dementia.

And then she remembered Dev. The handsome teenager whom she met, the guy whose eyes didn't slip to her forming breasts like everyone else's. The guy who stepped back and looked at the picture and for once thought about the painter and not the painting.
"Or maybe this place matters a lot, stands out in her memory he told her.

He was the first one to catch her off guard.

At the surface, he seemed like a regular guy, but he was the only one who saw through her, whose smile wasn't worn just to charm her socks off. It was there for everyone.

He had made her uncomfortable then, uncomfortable to stand next to, lest he would read her more than she would want him to.

She had slipped away from him, waving the whole conversation off.

When she had met him few years later, he was a changed man, but that one incident stood in her memory.

She had seen men lose their minds over her, she saw enough men gruel before her, just to touch her, to taste her. And Dev, he had approached her parents to marry her.

It surprised her, and then made her curious.

She was aware of his intentions behind wanting to marry her. He was taken with her beauty too which wasn't a surprise.

But there was something else. It almost seemed like he wanted to prove a point to someone. Maybe to Maan, to prove he got the prettiest wife, or to himself that he is capable of wooing her.

Whatever had gone in his mind, she was sure she as Tara wasn't the outright reason he wanted her.

It was...a relief.

She didn't believe she had it in her to love someone back, the way people professed their love for her.

What Dev was offering wasn't love. And she had an inkling he wouldn't be able to go crazy over her the way others did.

He was too immersed in his own issues, figuring himself out that he wasn't lovesick. Tara had an inkling he would never be. This man knew his power over women to try and be a mere puppet in the hands of a woman.

He had issues and if it were anybody else in her place, they wouldn't have given the consent for the marriage.

But Tara did. Because she was as complicated as him. She believed if she touched any other Man's soul, she would probably malign it. If she married someone else, someone who loved her with all their heart, she would forever feel guilty for not feeling the same about them. With Dev at least, she didn't see that problem.

But then, in the heart of her hearts, Tara knew the actual reason she had said okay to the marriage.

Because she stupidly believed that if there's one person who would not be bothered by the surface and could dig deeper, who would understand her mind, it would be him.

She saw him now, his hair falling on his forehead, his rimless spectacles making him as handsome as ever, looking at her, waiting for her answer.

"I married you because..." She wet her lips buying time. "...because I remembered the first thing you told me when we met"

Whatever he was expecting, it wasn't this.

His brows srunched up in confusion.

"It is stupid, never mind" she said willing to go away but he caught her arm.

"You need an answer too Tara" he said quietly.

"You deserve an explanation"

She waited for him, her nails biting into the inside of her palms.

"Yes?"

"I started it because I never got to know you as a person. I wanted to"

"Isn't it too late Dev?"

"It is" he agreed. "I regret not taking this step earlier. I regret so many things and you come second in the list. I wronged you"

She need not be told what tops his list.

"If we got to know each other better earlier, maybe I wouldn't have done what I did. But Tara, I can't live lying to myself about it not happening. So I have made my decision.

I got myself out of the company and I transferred my shares on your name. You have the rights in the company now. This is the only alimony I could give you."

He felt something against his face and realized she slapped him hard.

"This is for taking decisions concerning me without my knowledge"

"Tara"

"You want me gone, I would be gone. No need to treat me with kid gloves"

She turned away and this time he caught her by her elbow and pulled her towards him, catching her by her shoulders.

"If there's a chance, I wouldn't let you go, ever" he said, his eyes boring into her, something in those light brown eyes turning both earnest and intense that had made it impossible for her to look away.

"But it's late already Tara. Maybe I needed this, I need to know the could haves so that it will be a live throbbing in my heart every day. I don't want to leave you, but I have to do this, for the girl whose life I have ruined. I have to do this because I don't want to pull you down with me for the sins I committed."

"Divorce me Tara"

She felt something in her heart burn, tears clog her throat, as she looked away and nodded.

"You made your decision" she said without any prelude."What are you going to do?" She asked after a while, pushing his hands off her and taking a step back.

"I'll go to Hoshiyarpur. To find her"

She kept her eyes averted. She knew it wasn't going to be that easy. Dev is walking in a death trap. If he got out alive, he would rot in jail all his life. In any way, this is the last time she is going to see him.

Tara looked at him, wanting to remember each crevice, each line on his face. She raised her palm to touch him, surprising both of them.

She wasn't ever the person who would express, by words or touch. Now when she had her hand cup his face, she realized how much she would miss this.

Raising on her toes, she kissed him on the lips, the moisture behind her eye lids threatening to fall. She felt his arms around her, as she wrapped hers around his neck.

It was a long kiss, of good byes and heart breaks.

When she parted, she caught his hand and lead him to their home and then to their bedroom.

That night, they didn't have sex like they had several times in the past three years. For the first time, they made love.

Dev had let her wrap her arms around him and have her head nestled in the crook of his shoulder when they fell asleep.

The intoxicating fragrance of hers kept him awake for a long while, and he fell asleep late in the night, holding her close, knowing this probably is the last time he would be able to do this.

Come morning, when he woke up, he was alone in the bed, and she was gone, left him with as much as an envelope under the bedside lamp.

And that's probably the first time Dev felt what loss is.