Gulaal: What If chp 26(part II) upd Pg 57 - Page 42

Sorry Arti,I am on a surprise holiday☺️ So will try and update tom when we get back😊

Aapke charan kaha hai...This is so beautiful😳

Sorry for the delayed update this week, I was in for a surprise holidays, so here's completion to the chapter hope you guys will like it, I will look forward to your precious comments likes/dislikes...

-Thanks

The lovely poster is by Piyu, who always managed to surprise me with her creativity, it's just beautiful

Chapter 26

all paths leading to the same destination

Part II

The room was pitch dark and eerily quiet, Kesar had finally gathered courage to hold her hands look into her eyes and apologise, silence always spoke volumes between them and this time too, he had been able to convey each everything he wanted to say to her without need of any words……

She had looked into his eyes for a long time, unable to turn away; she was always able to read them, it was mirror to his soul pure and honest, echo of his mind sincere and devoted, reflection of his heart where only she existed, those eyes had a deep sadness, pain, sorrow, helplessness and tinge of tears for her-she wanted to hold him close, comfort him, assure him, he was her Kesar-he would never intentionally hurt her, he was her only friend, confidante ,he was the only source of happiness in her life that was burden with countless promises and responsibilities, he was someone she always waited for to come knocking on her door, his warm hug provided her with sense of belonging, filled her with renewed enthusiasm to fight any adversity, with him beside her she had come so far….

10 years without Vasant…….if he wouldn't have been walking with her all along….if he wasn't there to extend that hand towards her…..if he wasn't there with his wide smile and innocent eyes….if he wasn't there holding on to her pallu pulling her along…if he wasn't…there wouldn't be her either……and she was prepared to condemn him to life of misery, make him suffer for as long as he lived so that she could fulfil her promise, where would that leave her…who always paced up in the courtyard around the time he got back from kharkhana, who waited up for him to have their food together, so that she could sneak away for a ride on his bike and hold on to him for the fear of falling initially to warmth of belonging lately…so that she could escape world of this make believe Gulaal that was binding her, shackling her not letting her be the Gulaal she was, free in the true sense of the word, wild never thinking twice in giving in to her heart's fancy and uninhibited as ever….

When he took her hands in his forcing her to look up into his eyes, her heart had besieged her completely, she was the Gulaal, she once was…. fearless, determined, unwavering who was unafraid to admit to her biggest fears, She spoke softly pausing with every word but determined none the less….

"Kesar, aaj jab panditji ne sagai ke waqt….main…soch bhi nahi sakti…..kissi aur ka haq kaise..."

She was now holding on to his collar and pulling him, …"Mere liye jindagi itni bebas ho jayegi ki tere dur jane ke khayal se hi saas lena durbhar kar degi ……mera haq…mera Kesar……………." She embraced him in a tight hug and cried uncontrollably……

Kesar was numbed with shock, disbelief ,breathing heavily he had tried to push her away to try and look at her face to make her repeat her words, to absolutely make sure he was not hallucinating, this was Gulaal, his Gulaal saying it, she loved him too, he wanted this moment to never end ,he was the happiest man in the world and he was finding hard to believe it, Gulaal had resisted his every attempt to pull her away or move back, she was holding him as if clinging on to a plank in a turbulent and stormy river, he finally gave up all his attempts and hugged her back with equal intensity, both holding on to each other close till darkness descended around them……

Gulaal was first one to stir, slowly releasing her tight grip on Kesar who was holding on to her chunar which was now completely entangled with his bandaged hand, they both had surrendered to days of mental exhaust ,agony, stress, anguish and suffering finally finding the peace and tranquillity that had evaded them both for years, It was impossible for her to move without waking him and she didn't want to let go this chance to see him sleeping from so close, she had done that before when he had been staying in her room with guilty feeling in her heart but now she had no such fears, she had finally broken those shackles, she slowly turned around to look at Vasant's picture half expecting her guilt to overtake and unable to look him in eye but to her surprise, he was there looking towards both of them with his serene smile on his face as if chiding her for taking so long in accepting something that was so obvious, he had left them both in safe hands, there couldn't have been any other way, she smiled remembering something he had told her……

"Dil ki sacchai ko hote pe laye bina jo waqt gujarta hai na Gulaal,jindagi ka sabse kathin aur muskil daur hota hai,na hi aap apni khushiyon ko maarte hai balki unki bhi jo aapki khushiyon ke liye jeete hai,jeevan bada anmol hota hai Gulaal,usse vyarth gavana nahi chahiye…….."

"Aaj samjhi hu Vasant jo tum mujhse tab kehna chahte the…" and then turned around towards Kesar mumbling softly…"main bahut kush hu….bahut kush…"

Kesar heard her mumbling and smiled at her with his eyes still closed; trying to extend his right hand to pull her close again but instead got a rude tap on his shoulder forcing him to open his eyes to the surrounding darkness….

"Gulaal,itna andhera kyun hai,batti kyun nahi jalayi….aur aise kyun dekh rahi hai mujhe,andhere mein mujhe waise hi darr lagta hai aur upar se khule baalo mein tu bilkul bhutni lagti hai…….kissi ne kaha hai tujhe…"

"Acha main bhutni lagti hu,ruk abhi batati hu bhutniya kaise chehera notch leti hai…..".

"Pehle pakad ke toh dikha, waise yaad kar ke dekh le,aaj tak pakad nahi paayi tu mujhe…."and he tried to get up but fell immediately with his hand still entangled in Gulaal's chunar, his bandaged hand had hit the bed and he couldn't help but groan in pain, Gulaal was at his side in an instant untangling her chunar slowly, looking straight into his eyes…."ab nahi Kesar,yeah Gulaal tumhe kahi dur nahi jane degi…kabhi nahi…."

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Edit:

Aditi 🤗🤗🤗

Its such a lovely confession from gulaal😳

Its always been their silent conversations that is enough for them to communicate...n now also its the same...the way gulaal thought about kesar thinking how she is no more without him all these 10 years...thinking how he is hers in all sense n letting him know that he is her haq n her kesar...kesar's reaction to her hug n confession was simply superb...he wants to reassure that its true that she accepted her love for him but here she is not even letting him go away from her embrace for a second n he has to give in na...I loved how u used vasant here after her acceptance of her love for kesar...and they are back to their nokh-jhok which is always a treat...

Aditi...this is too good chapter yaar...

I am grateful for your support and encouragments throughout this FF, which actually started off as SS, Jzee thanks to you I can also call myself creatively inspired individual😳 whatever that term means...I just like the word...But here's something I would like you guys to tell me...

In my opinion this story should end here as it has now reached it's logical conclusion,what now remains is tying up some loose ends which will make it quite cliche...I am casting my vote for ending it here but if majority feels differently I will carry on and end after tying up all loose ends..

So let me know your view guys...and Thanks you for your wonderful comments,much appreciated