Fire and Ice.
Hello, everyone! 🤗 Finally, here's the second shot, as promised.
And I dedicate this chapter to Jenny who's celebrating her birthday today. 🤗 Wishing you a very happy birthday, Jenny!
Happy reading!
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"Goodnight, hope to meet up with you in my dreams."
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Fire and Ice - Shot Two.
Italy, Milano - Ranveer's Penthouse.
A little before the incidents in Shot One.
Saturday. 01:00 PM Italian Standard Time. I.e 5.20 PM IST.
Ranveer Vaghela writhed in his bed. A king-sized bed, of course. A whole one side of it lay unused as the sleeper had occupied and adjusted himself in only one portion of the whole wide bed. The duvet and ornate counterpane were crumpled and lay in disorder. The whole room was in some semblance of disorder, actually. Quite unusual for the always organised and neat freak Ranveer. He was undergoing a nightmarish sleep, haunted by the same nightmare for seven months. His eyes moved beneath his eyelids and he muttered something incorrigible, tossing to the other side as he did so.
She stood there regally, looking every inch the queen she was, with her back towards him. Her tresses flowed against the wind theatrically as Ranveer approached her. The back drop was surreal and bizarre. The heavens and land collided to form a resounding horizon and the sky was coloured with dust and resembled an ochre-ish nightmare. He trailed towards her only to stand within a respectable distance from her and look on; he was invisibly bound to go any further. Oh, he was so used to this dream that he knew all his actions by heart.
It was a cliff's edge.
And he knew what all would follow next. Yet, he was helpless. He couldn't do anything but watch all the happenings repeat themselves before him.
Again.
She turned towards him painfully slow, her eyes bored into his and her pallid face devoid of emotion - an inscrutable mask. She looked cold and lifeless. Her black orbs resembled a solar eclipse and her hair framed her face perfectly. Yet, she had visibly leaned as her clothing, the one reserved for this particular dream, hung onto her form. A beautiful powder yellow kurti paired with a dark and multi-hued Patiala pants... she still looked beautiful. Her stole was wrapped around her in a clumsy way, one end of it flying towards him. She took a step back towards the already steep cliff.
"Ishaani," her name still looked so new yet - as if he'd called it a thousand times. He knew where to lilt and the cadence of his pronunciation made her name look like some word of a sacred text.
Ishaani's lips moved coldly and her voice was laced with thick ice. "You're late, RV." Her long dupatta obscured her view from him as she said it, the acronym of his name falling like ice cold water on his senses. It ached when she called him as RV'. But wasn't he supposed to be proud of that name earned with loads of hardwork and dedication?
She took another step back, her footstep swept pebbles and gravels off to fall into nothingness.
He could smell smoke.
He tried to move his hands to stop her like he always tried to, but they were invisibly bound.
Like always.
"No! Don't..."
"Too late." She whispered, her eyes never leaving his as she fell back down the cliff. Into nothingness, as her mauve stole got caught and strapped to a cliff-side twig.
Fire erupted everywhere except close to him and cries and shouts of people rent the air. The sky burned with hot red and it drizzled blood. He felt himself fall on his knees, shocked. And soon sobs racked his body.
Like always.
"ISHAANI!" a loud shout fell out from his mouth as his frame slackened and darkness engulfed him in a painful embrace.
And then, everything was gone.*
Ranveer woke up with a start, his lips forming a name in a coarse whisper, "Ishaani..." His eyes adjusted to the bleak light from the bedside lamp and darted all around the room, hoping to find her there by some preternatural magic. She wouldn't be there, he knew it. He ran his hands over his hair only to know that they were wet with sweat. The whole him' was wet.
Stupid nightmare, when would it stop? Haunting him for seven months was not enough?
He got out from the bed to freshen up. As he entered the sufficely lit bathroom of his penthouse in Milano, he went directly towards the faucet and splashed a handful of water onto his face and wiped it with the sterilised towel kept nearby. Catching his reflection in the mirror when he was in the process of wiping the water off his face, he looked on.
His hair looked tousled and un-gelled. A well grown beard marked his chiselled face. Oh, when did he last shave? He didn't really know. And didn't want to. His physical appearance didn't matter much anymore. Its crisis was too small in front of the one which he faced in his already tumult-ridden personal life.
Professional side did excellent, okay? The reason for his coming to considerably far away Europe was splendidly well sorted and RV Group of Companies Imprenditore's diamond sect (Italian substitution of a company which held the sole proprietorship of its shares and holdings) which was little to nothing in the European markets before - now, soared higher and higher enough to compete with the world's leading diamond trading firm De Beers which sold approximately 35% of the world's rough diamond production.** Other sects like Construction, Tele-networking, Textiles and so on did fare out well after the seven months of persistence and grit. Such was the spell RV cast upon his professional losses, turning them to gains in a small amount of time. But was he able to cast the same spell on his personal outings?
A plain no, Ranveer pulled his eyelids closed as he heaved a sigh.
Keeping his towel aside and finishing his toiletries, Ranveer came out of his embellished washroom in a pair of comfy pyjamas and an immaculately white kurta. It was seven months of continuous work to straighten and triumph in professional success. But what use of a professional triumph without having his priorities in his life straightened out?
First things first. Why did he leave India? Was it really due to the business crisis here which could be sorted out very well after a few days, too? No.
It was her. Ishaani.
Then it came back... the reality of his life after having buried it safely in the recesses and boxes of his mind seven months before. Painful tears and glances, screaming silences, unspoken heavy words, hanging and pressing touches, unseeing gazes, the breachings of trust, splitting headaches, disdainful anti-depressants, scorching antacids, whispering heartbreaks...
The pain.
The frustration.
The anger.
The resentment.
The depression.
The ignorance.
The denial.
The acceptance.
The guilt.
And beneath all, overpowering, ethereal and purest of the pure - the love.
She had been the reason for everything. She still was. And Ranveer knew that she would forever be - the reason for his every pain, his every bout of happiness.
He'd tried to ignore her, pretend as if she wasn't there for the first few months in here. She wasn't here in Italy, he knew she was still in his house. But yet, she was here. In every living strand and fibre of his soul, in every atom and molecule of him, in every corner of this place, in old Polaroid captures and in his heart.
He accepted it. She couldn't be plucked out from him. Hating her and trying to discard her from his life was as easy as commanding the wind to not blow and trying to stop that fierce sun from doing its rounds in the sky.
After so many months here, he couldn't hate her. Only that damning and eternally soulful love. Loving her came to him as easily as breathing. His love for her was primordial. As old as the stars and the moon and the sun. As old as the time itself. Love of soulmates was like that. They existed from time immemorial, uncaring of the mortal man and his obsessions. Love of eternally entwined soulmates was just simply irrevocable soul shattering and heart crushing love. Just love, love and more love. At times like these, there came bouts of sadness and mortal agony, all right. But love just overrode them all!
Love is healing. It is caring. It is friendship. It is pain. It is sacrifice. It is just. It is jealous. It is blind. It is soothing. It is setting the beloved free. It is heartbreak. It is bliss.
It is forever.
Love is... just love.
Love isn't an on and off button which you can meddle with anytime you feel like doing so. No, sir! It is irrevocable.
You can't just unlike your beloved like that ridiculous Facebook button does to pictures and posts, once you love someone, you give them your everything. Your heart, your mind, body and soul. Your time, and most important, your trust. He'd given everything to Ishaani and she broke his trust and heart to pieces, walking off on it to reach that Chirag! Ranveer felt murderous rage boil his blood over a simmering hot flame.
Why did she ever do that?
JUST BLOODY WHY?
Anger cooled to hurt and anguish. Didn't he love her enough? Was his trust so zilch a thing to her that she just broke it uncaringly like glistening crockery? Why? When would he get his answers? Did she think him to be so disloyal and cold towards his goodness personified Mota Bapuji that he, Ranveer would attempt to kill him? Was he seen as so low in front of her eyes?
He even doubted if he ever was a friend to a girl called Ishaani Parekh years ago. Was she the same?
"This one's different! She loves you. And you love her... so what's the problem?" his heart nudged.
Was it true? Was she changed? Did she really love him? Did she need him? Hope bubbled, encouraged and clapped on its back by his traitorous heart.
What really was the problem, darn it? He loved her, she loved him... both loved each other! It was just too simple!
Why did he have to throw a monosyllabic answer to her every considerate and eager question on the phone, then? Why did he really have to stay away from Ishaani for so many months? Why did he have to ignore and hurt her ruthlessly when he was in India after he was shot? Why did he have to cause the very pearly and priceless drops which he wanted to wipe off from her face, fall? Why and how was he so blind to her and her feelings, then? How could he cause her pain when it in turn pained him to do so?
Oh Ranveer, are you so masochistic?, taunted his mind mercilessly with a disdainful sneer.
How was he so concerned with his own broken heart to realise that he was breaking hers too?
"Her smiles! Those smiles are deceiving! She wears that inerasable smile always on her beautiful face. That's why you fail to see the tears and hurt behind her sunny smiles. The love behind those relentless stand-offs," spoke his heart with a loving caress.
Yes! That was always her smile, wasn't it? Her smiles which never was wiped off from her face at his biting retorts. Her smile which spoke of her stoic determination to win back his trust and love and heart.
(She didn't need to win them back, it was already hers to enjoy.)
It was all so clear before him, now.
Blushing glances, reddened cheeks, her clumsily lost self daydreaming about fantasies with him, humming Lata's swooning songs, keeping his clothes ready, her love-filled eyes, healing touches, her eyes always searching for him, neat bedrooms, brushing off his taunts aside, and her love.
It had always been there... her love for him.
Just like his love for her.
But with it came back the painful. Ranveer threw his face in his palms and closed his eyes. Reliving all the moments purposefully. He had to do this, now. After ignoring the screaming reality for so long, he couldn't ignore it more.
Those lingering fingers in the air wondering whether to finally touch him, painful hidden tears, anguished eyes, angry and determined faces, sweaty palms, their last hug (which he didn't respond to), blood soaked hands, broken bangles and glasses, thrusting broomsticks, the pushes... the shoves, the sound of breaking hearts.
His hate... marked by the anger of an enraged love.
Her pleas to understand her love - her side of the story!
Oh, love was always there. Why was he so blind? How was he...?
A tear slipped out from his eyes before he even had the time to prevent it. He could care less about that small droplet of salt. What was one tear worth in front of the huge barrage of precious pearls he'd caused to fall from her love-filled eyes?
"Ranveer, kya jaana hi padega? Can't you send someone else who is capable over to Italy?" Ishaani had asked forlornly keeping the book which she'd been reading aside while he was drowned with a lot of packing.
[Do you really have to go, Ranveer?]
"No, I don't have to-" her eyes lit up, causing him pain. How could she be happy when he'd faced such a betrayal from her? When he was in pain? He would cause her pain, too. Ranveer continued, "-I want to go from here."
Her face immediately fell. But being the expert she was, she hid her distress in an inscrutable mask showing no visible emotions. Man, she was good at this!
But he'd seen the raw agony which flit through her eyes for that fraction of the second. Raw, unbridled and consuming agony.
His eyes reflected that, too. At the same time as her eyes did. Cosmic connection, people called it.
But wasn't he supposed to be happy?
Whatever! He'd already brushed it off.
Ranveer zipped his wheeler bag and brought it down to the floor gently while Ishaani stood up in nervous frustration. As he turned away, Ranveer felt his hand held back gently. He involuntarily stepped back, still with his back towards her.
His heart constricted at those poignant words she told him as she wrapped her flawless arms around him careeningly, "I'll miss you,"
(I'll miss you, too.)
"Non-mutual feelings. I am happy to say that I will not miss you," he threw at her, still not yielding to her hug. Tears soaked his Armani coat. He turned towards her. Her face was buried in his jacket, tresses cascading down her back. He unclasped her hands from him and started walking away with his bag trotting behind him, leaving her behind. He wasn't even near the door of their room while she whispered,
"I love you..."
Ranveer stopped in his tracks and turned back to look at that woman who said that. Hair tousled and fallen back on both her shoulders as she looked on. She looked so beautiful in just a pair of leggings and printed kurta.
She looked broken. Scratch that, she looked okay! Why would she be broken when the heart which was shattered a few days back was his?
But still, he loved her. His selfish, traitorous heart still loved bringing pain upon him by loving her.
But he didn't believe she loved him.
Even after she just said those three words.
Agar main tumhare saath do minute aur raha na, mujhe tumse pyaar ho jayega... phirse.
Aur tumhe nahi hoga... phirse.***
Ranveer turned away to hide his glistening eyes, wet with unshed tears. Had she seen those eyes of his?
He didn't care.
But he had seen hers. Face wet with fresh flowing tears, tear tracks staining her porcelain face.
Suddenly, he couldn't take it all anymore. So, he did the best thing possible.
He walked away.
+++
Ishaani's POV just after RV left the house. Just a small excerpt.
As she eyed his car till it disappeared round the corner, tail lights trailing the road in a yellow stretch, Amba, Kailash and all others who'd come to see Ranveer off left her alone and disappeared into the house. What Ishaani didn't notice was that they were all watching her. Seeing what her reaction would be.
Prying eyes were everywhere, of course. But her heart was already heavy with woes and unsaid words to notice her surroundings, now.
She crouched low, all of a sudden, her knees wobbling as she fell onto the ground and looked heavenwards.
Why did he go away?
Tears pooled in her eyes again and began to trace their path down her tear-ravaged face. Her face had lost its glow. He had taken away that sheen from her face, too.
How selfish her beautiful Ranveer had become from the time he was shot!
Stealing her heart, her sleep, her smile, her glow, her peace, her everything away!
This Ranveer wasn't giving. He took, took and took some more. And never returned them back. She didn't want them back, too.
She just wanted him back!
She let out a wail as the drizzling winter rain**** turned heavy. Wailing turned into full-fledged crying as she slumped. Ishaani could feel her soul being crushed. This is what they called as soul crushing agony?
She didn't really know.
It was too much to bear. She cried for all that she'd lost. For her father, her love Ranveer, his trust which she broke, the cold shoulder from almost everyone in the family. She cried for letting her love slip just from her hands. She cried for herself. For being so bad as to lose him! And she cried more.
For the first time in so many years, Ishaani Ranveer Vaghela nee Parekh had broken down completely, her pain crushing her as her heart throbbed and ached.
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"Every thought is a battle, every breath is a war, and I don't think I'm winning anymore."
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Phew! What an emotionally toll-taking update it was to write!
Notes and references:
*And then, everything was gone - This is a lose adaption of the "And then it was dark" from my favourite psychological and crime thriller I Let You Go' by Clare Mackintosh. A beautiful, beautiful book that is! ❤️
**Those business info - I am still doing my schooling and this is what is true according to my knowledge. If there are any discrepancies, please forgive. 😊
***That dialogue is one of the most memorable ones from Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, isn't it? ❤️
****Winter rain is one of the most chilliest rains of the year. January is winter, no?
IshVeer Conversation in the present - for that, wait till the next shot. 😉 I will try to have the update up soon. 😊
Edited by -FlameOfHope- - 9 years ago
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