Abhigya TS: The Aftermath (epilogue- page 4, 6/10) - Page 3

I think...no I know I've read this but haven't commented(shame!)...But i thought it was an amazing piece!!! loved everything about it!!! As aafrah said...maybe a short epilogue??

This TS is absolutely wonderful and still satisfying to read! SO SO GOOD!!

I've been really bad. No excuses.

Epilogue

Her windswept hair entranced him like moths to a flame. He kept his steps deliberate, maintaining a respectable distance from her. He matched his two steps to her four, keeping his gaze fixed on the crown of her head. How many times has he restrained himself from reaching out and caressing that fine head of hair? Countless times, that's how many. Every once in a while the urge to grab her and pull her close to his ravenous body is just so overwhelming that he thinks he's teetering on the brink of insanity. He's deprived of her touch and her affection, he's been running around following her like a lost puppy and yet there is absolutely no reprieve for him. He won't stop until he gets what he wants-- and he wants Pragya, his wife, his light, his love.

He was still lost in the musings of his addled mind when a sharp voice penetrated right through the haze.

"Hello? Abhi! Abhishek."

"Huh? Wha--"

"Are you even listening? I asked you: when will you stop following me around like this? I can do the grocery shopping by myself!"

"Oh.. yeah, sorry I was--"

'Stop saying that! Stop apologising! Can I get one answer that doesn't contain the word "sorry"?"

He tried reining in his anger, he really did, but it was unbelievably difficult to remain cordial with an aggravated Pragya when he himself hasn't had a proper meal in weeks and couldn't even remember the time he slept peacefully without being abruptly awoken by nightmares. His slumbers-- if he even slumber-- are not sleep. He lies down on his bed, atop his 1000-thread-count bed sheet, and all he gets from it is a dizzying recount of all the sins he's committed throughout their short-lived marriage. There is just no stopping to the myriad of memories-- some good, mostly bad-- that pass through his mind. Pragya wasn't oblivious to his affliction, he reeked of sadness. It was all very depressing but she promised herself, implored herself, that there was no future for her and Abhi. She loved him, yes she won't even try to deny it, but she couldn't let herself fall into that dark hole ever again. Not if she's got a say in it.

Abhi looked at her beseechingly. Why doesn't she have an ounce of mercy in her! No, I guess that's not fair. She does. She's been forgiving from the very start, but I've corrupted her and ruined her and she's like this because of me. If anything, I deserve all this.

"Okay, okay. I'll remember not tp use that word around you. I just wanted to go shopping with my wife, it's absolutely normal."

"Yes, for other people, but us? We don't have a conventional marriage, we are dysfunctional in every way you look at it and there is absolutely no way we can be like them!"

"What? Why? How could you think like that?"

"How could I think like that? Oh, I don't know, maybe because other people don't get married to avenge their sister or to run away from the irrational fear of never securing a husband or when they do end up married I bet you they don't have their husband's psychotic girlfriend trying to harm them at every turn; blackmailing, sending hitmen, verbal assault, physical assault, you name it! A-and you dare ask me how in the world I could think like that?!"

Her nostrils flared at each heavy intake of breath and she looked at him head-on, never leaving his guilt-ridden face. Their height disparity didn't stop her from making him feel so little. She tried masking her guilt, tried blocking away the onslaught of affection towards the defeated man before her. It was useless, she can scream and shout and screech and burn down every building within her direct vicinity but she could never stop herself from feeling unconditional love for him. She watched him close his eyes and unfurled his fist. She saw the white half-crescents creating painful dents in his palms. She swallowed with great difficulty and reached out an arm, unable to stop the tremor. She laid a hand on his arm and watched the muscles below her palm flex.

"Abhi.. do you get what I'm saying? We only hurt each other, we hurt and make-up and hurt some more. Okay, so today we might be able to say 'it's all water under the bridge, moving on!" but are you really sure we can afford to be like that five, ten, fifteen years from now? When we're just plain exhausted of this maddening cycle we're in? We're just going to hurt each other--"

"So what's the difference with what we're doing right now?"

Pragya stopped mid-rant and strained to hear his gruff murmur.

"What? I'm sorry, didn't catch that."

He roughly dragged the hand that laid on his forearm up, up, up until it finally rested above his chest. He pressed her dainty palm with his larger ones and began stroking the grooves of her knuckles. He remembered that time not long ago when he was hopelessly missing the soft folds on each of her fingers. It was one time during a charity concert that he was suddenly suddenly struck with the acute feeling of missing Pragya. It wasn't Pragya's person per se--and he'd realize afterwards that it was rather odd to miss this particular part of Pragya, but missing the soft grooves of her knuckles he did. He took notice of the small things, he loves his wife's tempestuous streak as much as he adores the little mole behind her left ear. The clarity that came with the brief epiphany was evident enough that there was no doubt for one Abhishek Prem Mehra that as long as there is breath in him, she will be the only woman he love. And he's willing to do anything to get her back, if not for her heart then he'll gladly settle for the delicate grooves between her knuckles.

"Regardless of how you decide to return my feelings, I will remain like this. As I am. With or without you by my side I will still love you and want you and need you. Never ever doubt how much I need you. You hear me? I've done so much wrong that it gives me a bloody migraine just thinking about it. All the things I need to do to make it up to you. Heck, I probably never will with the rate I'm going. I'm running around like a headless chicken trying to make you see sense and convince you to give your idiot husband another chance but I've got no strategy. I was never good will the whole strategic planning thing so I'm basically just using gut instinct to do all this. But obviously it's not working, is it? I'm pushing forty-- what? There's nothing funny. Why are you smiling like that? Fug--"

"You'll never stop bothering me, won't you?"

"Hey--"

"No matter how much I try to drill into your thick skull, you'll never understand that we're better off without each other."

"Says who?"

"Says me!"

"Yeah, okay we're not perfect people, but I think we're perfect for each other."

Pragya rolled her eyes heavenward at his earnest voice. They always end up like this, one moment hurling insults, the next resorting to cajoling.

"We're a bunch of schoolchildren. We're supposed to be acting like adults. I'd gladly sign up for marriage counseling if that's what it takes for you to give me another chance. I've cleared my schedule for the unforeseeable future--"

"What? Why would you do that?! You have a major tour coming up!"

"The only major thing in my life is my wife. Get that? Anything else can wait.. or just bugger off."

He was met with silence. Pragya couldn't stop her face from softening even if she tried. However, her traitorous mouth decided to work without her brain's consent. She was basically laying herself open and be vulnerable for him Abhi to see.

"What about Tanu?"

Abhi pursed his lips and gave a quick jerk of his head. Pragya didn't know what to make of his nod nor the resolute look on his face and she was about to voice her confusion when Abhi cut her to it.

"Me and Tanu were compatible, in the sense that our relationship was based on benefits. It lasted that long because it was made for mutual gain. Of course you start getting attached to someone when you're around them for years, and most times people mistaken that feeling for love. I made that mistake but I know better now, Pragya. I told myself I loved her, heck I told the world I loved her, because I wanted to convince myself that I'm not leading such an empty, shallow life that I can't even love properly."

At this, Pragya's eyes moistened and she turned her head to look away. They were standing under the canopy, secluded from prying eyes, but she still felt the instinctual need to shield him away from the world. Pragya has always tried to hide her vulnerabilities behind a mask of false bravado, but not Abhi.

"And then.. and then.. you came along. You and all the drama you brought bulldozed right into my house. I blamed you for so many things. God, I made your life hell, didn't I? I was lashing out, can't you see? It was natural; defence mechanism or whatever, I just needed to act out because I felt caged in our marriage. I was the one who initiated the whole thing but that does not mean I actually enjoyed it!"

"Look, Abhi--"

"I'm not done! I'm not finished yet, would you please just give me a chance to explain?"

Pragya was dumbfounded at the sadness in his eyes. There were no tears but in its stead utter bleakness.

"Would you believe me if I told you that I'm not the same person I was a year ago? Because I feel like a different person. Being with you changed me. Being with you made me realize a lot of things I was oblivious to for all my life. It's like you gave me a slice of normal, a slice of what could have been had I not pursued the Rockstar life. I don't want to blame showbiz for turning me into a horrible person but I was so naive back then, I let myself get corrupted and refused to listen to Daadi every time she tried to help me. And so I turned out the way I did. And I'm sorry that you had to marry someone like me. I'm sorry you had to endure someone so horrid and and selfish and insensitive. But what Daadi failed to do with her words and her warnings, you were able to do with your mere existence. You pulled me out from that darkness, Fuggy, you changed me and made me better. And-- oh God, I love you so much and I can't believe I can finally say this and mean it with absolutely no doubt in my mind!"

Abhi knocked the breath out of Pragya when he circled his arms around her hips and hoisted her up in the air. She thumped his shoulder indignantly, commanding him to let her down. Abhi paid no heed. He buried his face against her stomach and circled around and around, eventually eliciting shrieks of laughter from his pseudo-disgruntled wife. Hearing her peals of laughter, he strengthened his hold around her middle and brought them to a stop. Dizzy from his antics, she held onto his shoulder and leaned her weight on his solid frame. When he didn't seem like releasing her any time soon, she started wriggling out of his embrace.

"Let me down, you oaf! Are you trying to browbeat me into accepting you?"

Abhi raised his head from the soft cushion that is Pragya's belly and looked up at her. He gave a big, toothy grin seeing the smile inching its way across his wife's exasperated face. She thumped her small fist against his shoulder and Abhi only nuzzled her belly in return.

"Stop it! We're in public, darn it! What if someone sees? The paps are going to have a field day!"

Abhi's muffled voice was almost lost to the woman currently in a compromising position.

"Mmh, don't care. Let 'em see. You smell so good."

"Get me down right now or I won't invite you over to my place for dinner."

The last sentence finally got to Abhi because he immediately set her down and even had the gall to frown.

"Why would I need an invitation? You are coming home with me. We'll be living together... right?"

The further he got, the more hesitant he became. Abhi thought everything was finally working out.

Did I misunderstand her reaction? I thought she finally understood? She gave me the chance to explain and she listened to every word.. she even smiled at me! A genuine smile! But why is she still acting like this? So after everything we've been through she still won't have me? She really won't forgive me, huh? Oh, God what do I have to do..

At the dejected look on his face and the slump of his shoulders, Pragya quickly amended her words. She owed some explanations of her own.

"We need to take things slow, okay? I mean, if we want this to work we have to grow individually first and then together as a couple. So lets do it the conventional way, we'll start with dates and such--"

Abhi forcefully turned his head away to avoid Pragya seeing the agitation and wretchedness written all over his face in bold ink. He didn't want to go slow, he didn't want to court his wife! He wanted her there, with him, day in-day out, just as a wife should be. Abhi tried, he damn tried, to rein in his temper. He tried to rein in his yearning for her. He promised Pragya he'd do anything, so he'll give her anything she wants. If the prize he's going to win is her then he's willing to follow the rules and play the heck out of this game.

She's wants the upper hand? So be it.

He looked at her face, trying to read her emotions and then reached a finger to tuck fallen hair behind her ear. Callused finger grazed her skin, making her shiver. Abhi smiled down at her with hooded eyes.

"Okay, well. Um.. come over at 6. I'll be finishing the dessert by then so you'll have enough time to shower first.. if you want. But you don't have to. Whichever suits you. Yeah, okay. So I'm going to buy some stuff at the supermarket but you don't need to come. It'll be faster anyway. Um.. I've got to go, lamb korma takes forever if you cook it in a crockpot. Okay, got to go! "

His eyes softened at her rambling and the faint blush to her cheeks. His heart sped up achieving this small feat.

I made that happen. All of this is for her, for us.. I can do this!

"Okay. I'll see you then, Fuggy. Take care."

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Extra:

Pragya felt the cotton sheet rub against her skin. A movement behind her caused the sheet to slide away from her body and she hastily made to grab it before any more skin was exposed.

A deep rumble shook against the curve of neck, almost in her ear.

"I remembered a certain someone insisting we didn't sleep with the sheets. Said it was too hot."

She tugged the sheet with one hand but it wont budge.

"Suniye.."

"Hmm?"

The rumble against her bare back was almost too much for her to handle. She felt hot and cold and the butterflies in her belly were on a rampage. She nestled more deeply against him and started caressing the hairs on his arm. Just when she felt her eyelids droop shut, Abhi propped up on his elbow and gently kissed a spot behind her ear. His deep voice struck every single chord in her.

"You know, I didn't peg you as someone who would kiss a guy on a first date, let alone sleep with him."

"Hey!"

She flopped onto her back to give him a piece of her mind. He swooped low and captured her pouting lips, eager fingers making its way down her body. Feeling the whole length of him flushed against her own, it was almost like an otherworldly sensation. She's never felt so vulnerable and protected at the same time. Here she was, sharing not just her body but her mind, her soul, her heart, her fears and dreams, to a person who once saw her as an inconvenience. He confessed that she was the one who changed him and made him the person he was today, and she's never felt more humbled, but he was the one who gave color to her life. He championed her and made her feel free. He was the one who showed her that giving up was never an option. She put her heart in his hands because she knew without a single doubt that even if he does end up hurting her along the way, he'll never give up on trying to mend her. He'll go to the ends of the Earth to make it better. He said so himself. In the throes of passion, as he cradled her trembling body and licked the shell of her ear, he poured out his heart.

"I'll live my life trying to make you happy. I'll die trying to make it up to you but I'll do it gladly. I love you."

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End. I think. Meh. I suck at planning out stories.

Its so lovely yaar !! Beautiful 😊 !!

Ohhh ... I so loved this 😛!!! So beautiful!!

Thank you!

It was so beautifully written, right from the start till the end. There wasn't a single screenplay that I didn't enjoy, their dialogues were so apt and the entire write up was just stupendous!

Thanks for the epilogue and thank you so much for remembering to PM me ..it's amazing and I'm happy you gave us a closure ..the first 2 chapters were very good but I personally love reaching the happy ever after moment... never get tired of having it spelled out for me... so I'm so happy you wrote this epilogue and I loved it so much

fabulous ending loved it so much.

Yeh just like toni said if it was bad, then I love this bad.
Wow your last part and their make up. I love it.
Good written 😃