A variation of the story **To tell or not to tell**PG8 update - Page 5

Hi guys! another update. I decided to write about how this relationship impacts Kasak and promises to take away her loneliness. It was inspired by something that happened to me and a friend as were driving home. It's a bit on the dark side, but let me know how you guys like it! Coming up: couple moments between Dev and Kasak and their weekend dates.

Kasak was driving home in her antiquated 2001 Maruti car on a slow Friday morning. It was barely 5am, and Delhi was not awake just yet. She had to stay at the hospital for the night. She had been called in last night for an emergency case where about twenty passengers of a bus were fatally wounded due to an accident. The bus driver was not drunk, rather, he was overworked and tired, which had led him to drive very carelessly resulting in the crash. Kasak as well as the other doctors at the hospital had been very busy, treating each patient as he or she was brought in. Thankfully, they managed to save all the patients, though many had fractures and many others were in the ICU. Kasak was thinking about how eventful the night had been while driving home. She herself was also extremely tired. "WHAAAM!!!" the car behind her honked, as Kasak was driving serenely.

"What?" she thought as she glanced in the rearview mirror. Suddenly, she realized that the traffic light she had just stopped at was not red; it was green and she had failed to recognize that. So, she had stopped her car for a minute or so and then continued driving. "Oh, my bad," she thought. After a few more minutes of driving, as Kasak was about to pull into her apartment complex, she still observed the car from the traffic light a while ago following her. Since it was so early in the morning, she did not observe any other cars or vehicles on the streets. She purposely did not take the turn that would lead to her apartment complex. Rather, she stopped her car on the side of the street and pretended to park it. Suddenly, the other car also stopped to the right of her car and the driver and passenger rolled down their windows and knocked on Kasak's window. They were both young boys of about twenty years old. They wore dark sunglasses and leather jackets. At first, she was hesitant to roll down her window, but she thought they might need help due to some kind of an emergency. So, she rolled her exactly 2 inches of her window.
"Yes?" she said quietly. "Is there a problem?"

"Do you know how to drive a damn car?" exploded the driver. "What the hell you think you doing?" he continued in an assertive tone.

"What?" said Kasak, trying to sound affirmative. "The traffic light? It was a slight error on my part, and I was not speeding or anything; neither did I stop short. I came to a gradual stop and then as soon as I realized the light was already green, I started to drive again," she explained.

"Who the hell gave you a license? LET ME SEE IT," said the passenger in a harsh tone, shaking his beer bottle at her. "Look, you better not mess with us next time,"

"Look," Kasak began. But, by now the driver of the car had restarted his car and began to turn around.

"Get lost, you loser!" the passenger yelled as the car whizzed by. Tears rolled down Kasak's eyes as she sat in her car wondering exactly what had gone wrong. Being confronted by such a situation, she suddenly felt so lonely. Two unknown strangers had reprimanded her harshly for committing a minor mistake. It was not that they were necessarily wrong to be angry at her since she was at fault, but it was the way in which they spoke and the fact that they insulted her so blatantly. In a single moment, they took away all of her pride, all of her self-righteousness and all of her educational merit. It was these moments that reminded Kasak of her status. Had she been a rich person's daughter driving a Lexus, dare the boys stop their car next to hers and raise their voice? Had she been someone like Natasha, dare those boys knock at her window? They would be so afraid of her father's power that they would not say much. Hell! Even if someone from Kasak's family like her brother or father were with her this morning, none of this would've happened. Other doctors often had family members pick them up after night shifts, but for Kasak, there was no one. She felt so utterly alone. After a few minutes of crying, Kasak drove to her apartment.

After showering and eating breakfast, she tried to fall asleep but the words "Get lost, you loser!" echoed in her ears.

"How dare they call me a loser?" she thought. "Just because I don't have a luxurious car? Do they have any idea how hard I have worked to become a doctor? Do they know how hard it is to survive in Delhi alone? Do they even realize that saying stuff like that may hurt someone's feelings?" She contemplated a thousand possibilities as to why and how she should not take those comments to heart. Yet, she could not but help do so anyways. They driver's face, masked by his gigantic black shades kept on appearing before her eyes every time she closed them. She was terribly upset over this drama and she simply could not get it out of her mind.

After a few minutes of tossing and turning in bed, Kasak decided to visit Dev. She texted Dev: "what time are you going to work today?"

He replied back saying that he had a 9.00 am meeting. She asked him if he can get to his office by 8.30 am because she wanted to talk to him. He agreed, and Kasak left for Dev's office. Tina greeted her warmly as she walked towards Dev's cabin. She also informed her that he was not in yet. Kasak decided to wait for him inside the cabin.

After a few minutes, the door opened, and Dev walked in. He smiled broadly at Kasak. "Good morning. Kuch kaam tha tumhe?" he asked, putting his phone and laptop down on his desk. Seeing his smiling face, Kasak began to cry again. She couldn't help but expose her vulnerability in front of Dev.

"Dev!" she said as he quickly ran to the couch where she was sitting.

"What the...why are crying?" asked Dev, very concerned and sat down next to Kasak. She buried her face in his chest and began to cry hysterically. She muffled something into his blazer, but it was incomprehensible.

""Kasak?" said Dev. "Please tell me what happened. Is everything okay at the hospital? At your home? Your family members...are they okay?" Dev said, gently pulling Kasak's head out of his embrace and cupping her face.

"Dev, aaj subhe..." Kasak explained the whole situation to him. By now, she had stopped crying. "Dev, I don't know why those comments got to me. I really don't. Usually, I am very strong and I can fight with anyone, but today, when those guys pulled up next to my car and knocked on the glass, I felt so vulnerable. I felt like a nobody. I felt like my self respect had been snatched away," she said as Dev wiped away the final tear from her cheek.

"I understand," he said finally. "Look, we can't always avoid situations like these in Life. In fact, we must endure them. We simply must suffer through them. There's no other way out. And I know that you know that. And you've even faced such situations. But, the thing is"it's okay for you to break down sometimes. It's okay for you to have pity on yourself once in a while instead of fighting through the whole Universe and just say I'm so done!'" Dev explained gently.

"And remember, when you feel alone, you're not really alone. You always have someone who is always praying for you and wishing you well, whether it's your family or me," said Dev, as Kasak looked at him with bloodshot eyes. She had cried so much that every blood vessel in her eye was visibly red. Dev continued: "Everytime you face another obstacle. Fight. Fight not for yourself, but fight for those you love. Trust me, it's amazing how much strength you can gather by doing that,"

"Dev," said Kasak. "Thanks" she hugged him.

"You know, I myself used to go through the same kinds of things when the well-established businessmen initially rejected my ideas and threw me out of their offices because I didn't have a degree from a well-reputed university or because I didn't have any political connections,"

Suddenly, Kasak realized that Dev was not the hero she had made him out to be. Rather, he was a self made man. He had struggled through life and made it to the top without any connections or help from others. Truly, what an admirable quality that was. Perhaps, that's why he was so edgy sometimes. Inevitably, he had seen the worst of human nature and perhaps, that's why it was so difficult for him to trust others. Dev's words pierced Kasak's heart like a sharp arrow and settled inside of it. She took each of words into herself and those kinds words slowly began to replace the harsher words of the two boys from this morning. Dev had effectively managed to turn Kasak's heart inside out; he had replaced anger and hatred with his kindness and wisdom. For the first time, Kasak experienced yet another colour of their relationship; this time it was the colour white. Peace pervaded through Kasak's mind as she sat in Dev's office, hugging him and smiling.

Kasak realized that she was no longer alone. The loneliness that had haunted her for so many years finally went away as Dev entered her life. He was no knight in a shining armor; he was better. He was the commoner who had paved his own path to success and captured the fortress by sheer hardwork and persistence. She realized the profound impact that this relationship was about to have on the rest of her life.

Originally posted by: Autumn_Hue

Great update.. It was a good read but what I want to point out here is that you could have reflected on Dev and Kasak's feelings after she had agreed to give their relationship a chance, it would have been better that way..

About progressing the story, well you could show them indulging in couply moments, spending time with each other and all that..

Really nice read.. Update the next chapter soon..

Love,

Kashmi

Originally posted by: .FlyingClouds.

Mazaa aavi gaiyu!!

See, I was in Gujarat for 6 years, so I do know Gujaraati.

But, haven't sspoken it from past 5 years.

But your writing compells me to go back to my gujarati lessons

Its lovely

Cont soon

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Kasak?!" said Dev, as he saw Kasak's smiling face flash across his sleepy eyes. She gently ran her hand through his hair and said:

"Dev, 9 baj gaye hai. Please uth jaiye,"

"Kya? Lekin Ma..." In his sleepy state, Dev realized that Kasak was sitting on the edge of his bed.
"They left for your Mama's house," Kasak explained, still running her hand through his disheveled hair. It didn't matter. He still looked just as cute.

"Kasak," Dev said, sitting up in his bed. "I'm really hungry. Can you please ask Keechu bhaiyaa to make me something?"

"You shall get breakfast, no doubt, but not by Keechu, but by me. Keechu bhaiyaa has gone with Aunty jee and your sisters to see your Mama's new house. Mami jee had specifically called for him so that she can get some furniture arranged in the new house," Kasak explained.

"Okay. I'll be downstairs soon," said Dev. Kasak got up from his bed and was began to head towards the door. Suddenly, Dev grabbed her hand and said: "By the way, aaj ki morning mere liye sab se zyada yaadgaar thi,"

Seeing his naughty smile, Kasak blushed. And Dev didn't miss that. "And you know what?" he continued. "I wish meri sari mornings aisi hi ho,"

"Haath chodo!" Kasak said. "I have to make breakfast for you. Otherwise, bhukhe hi rehana padega," Kasak tried to hide her shyness by attempting a witty remark. Unfortunately, it failed. Dev tightened his grip slightly and pulled her towards him.

As she crashed into him, his honey brown eyes stared back at her in joy. She didn't protest because she could no longer pretend like she was not enjoying this moment. Dev gently tucked a strand of hair behind Kasak's ear and leaned closer to her ear. He whispered: "Breakfast ke liye no diet food please!" His disheveled hair, which was somewhat ordered now thanks to Kasak's earlier efforts, softly collided against her curly hair as he moved away from her ear.

"Okay?" he asked again, still not letting her go.

"Okay, Dev," she agreed in a soft tone. "It's not fair," she continued as he held her. "Because you're more muscular and stronger than me, you make me agree to do the things that I otherwise don't want to do," Dev finally let her go and she got up from the bed.

"Awww...tum bura maan gayi?" Dev asked making a baby face.

"Haan!" Kasak said and walked out of the room.

Within a few minutes, Dev came downstairs, fully dressed in his usual business-formal attire. Kasak decided to continue displaying the fake anger that she had displayed earlier. As Dev gracefully sat on the dining table, she put the plate of French toast on the table and made sure that it made a loud noise as the plate hit the table. Giving Dev an annoyed look, she then walked back into the kitchen and got the juice. As she was pouring the juice for both of them, Dev began to sing: "Dilbar mere kab tak mujhe aise hi tadapoge..." He got up from his chair and grabbed the jug of juice from Kasak's hand and placed it on the table. He then gently grabbed her by the waist, and continued to sing "Mein aag dil mein laga dunga woh, ke pal mein pighaal jaoge, Ek din aayega, pyaar ho jayega" Kasak broke free from his embrace and ran outside to the garden. Dev followed her, still singing: "Sochoge jab mere baare mein tanhaiyon mein, Girjaoge aur bhi meri parchaiyaon mein," Dev came up from behind Kasak, and caught her smiling. He continued to sing: "Sochoge jab mere baare mein tanhaiyon meni, Girjaoge aur bhi meri parchaiyoon mein," He then grabbed Kasak's arm and spun her around. Kasak laughed and the duo began to dance freely. Dev swiftly moved his feet in the wet grass "Dil machal jayega...hooohooo pyaar ho jayega!! Dilbar mere, kab tak mujhe aise hi tadpaoge..." It appeared as if Dev could not remember the rest of the lyrics. Kasak picked up where he left off:

"Dil se milega jo dil toh mehakene lagoge, tum meri baahon mein aake behakane lagoge," Suddenly, Dev's eyes lit up and he said in a naughty tone: "Really Dr. Sheth?" Ignoring his remark Kasak continued to sing "Tum meri baahon mein aake behakane lagoge, Ho ho hosh khojayega, pyaar ho jayega"

After their little dance, Kasak and Dev walked back into the kitchen with smiles on their faces. "Aa mari life no sau thi fun morning hase, Dev! In fact, aaj thi pehala toh huh sawar mat hi uthi ne siddhi dodava j mandate hati ke mane modu na thai jaay! (This was the most fun morning ever, Dev. Usually, I run around like a headless chicken in the morning so as to not be late)" Kasak said in Gujarati.

"Oops...sorry!" she said, not realizing that Dev couldn't understand. Instead, he replied:

"Usually, mornings are really busy for me too. And I rarely have breakfast anywhere but my car"on the way to the office,"

"Wait, how'd you know what I said?" Kasak said as they sat down. Dev grabbed his phone out of his pocket and said that he had kept the translation app on ever since he had come downstairs.

"I didn't want to miss any of your taunts," he said, taking a bite of the French toast.

"Haan, haan, taunt karne waali aur sarcastic comments karne waali toh mein akeli hi hun na yahan per," Kasak said, sipping the juice.