She's walking towards her car when she sees him open his door for a woman. She shouldn't be giving them a second glance but she does. He's smiling giddily at the woman who has only given her a glimpse of the back of her head, but the hair on that head is giving her a serious complex. She doesn't know what to feel when she sees him skipping away to the driver's seat, so she tears her eyes away from him and walks straight ahead to her getaway and drives away. She may have sped a little bit too much today, because she reaches home in record time.
Two days later she's furiously walking into his studio to question him about going way over budget with his new music video and sees him from the corner of her eye sitting in the canteen. She takes a few steps back and realizes he's not alone. Is it the same woman? She doesn't care. She still marches towards him with her hands on her hips, ready for a war. She pretends she hasn't noticed the way his smile faltered the minute his eyes met hers. He gets up before she can reach their table and starts apologizing without letting her get a word in. She should be happy, smug even. He hasn't apologized this sincerely in 9 years. Yet she can't deny that something's off. She doesn't enjoy fighting with him, but she has come to accept their banter as a sign that the universe is in order. She feigns listening to him as her gaze trails beyond him to his company. She's as beautiful as the back of her head - tall, thin, young. Her features are as sharp as a supermodel's, and Meher doesn't want to label her as a snob because she's above all this but the way her legs are crossed with the pencil heel dangling in the air makes her look exactly like that. But Meher won't judge her. She knows just how much appearances can be deceiving.
When she turns her back on him, she hears him sigh with relief and the woman giggle, and feels like the old headmistress nobody likes, but everybody fears.
A week after that, she finds them in her studio, and he's playing his guitar for her. He's looking right into her eyes and she looks mesmerised by him. She'd recognize that look of awe and wonderment anywhere. After all she used to look at him the same way, wondering why the world had yet to discover this ridiculously talented man.
Once it dawns upon her that she's intruding their private moment, she sprints away, forgetting why she had come there in the first place.
When the day ends, she makes sure he has left at least an hour before she leaves.
She won't admit to herself that it's bothering her. Why should it? They've now been apart for 9 years, surely he must've dated many other females. She's dated one other male, even if only for a week. This was the whole point of getting a divorce. It isn't bothering me, she repeats over and over again till the words lose meaning. When she stops, she realizes it's morning and she has spent a whole night sleepless, telling herself it's not bothering her, which can only mean that it is bothering her.
A month later, the media has gobbled up the story like hungry lions gobble up meat. Sattu sir couldn't be happier, because to him any publicity is good publicity. The show has blown up beyond expectations after this news. She's a little irked that Abeer is okay with this breach of privacy. She's more irked that all the energy she'd spent trying to avoid researching the woman has now become moot. She couldn't even run away when Kenny was reading the article out loud for everyone to hear.
Nissar asks her if she's alright, and she can't help feeling angry about it. "Why wouldn't I be?" she replies and shoos him away, and Nissar being the gentleman he is, doesn't push further. When the door shuts behind her, she decides she has had enough of this and announces that any more discussion of employees' personal lives won't be tolerated.
Two months later, the woman knocks on her office door and Meher immediately feels her stomach turn. She hasn't seen her around in a month, if only because she carefully dodged the opportunities of crashing into her. She lets her in with a smile - Meher Purohit will not be another cliched woman who treats her ex's flames like they're poison. The woman tells her that she just found out about Abeer and her, and wants to know if she's okay with them being together. They start a conversation and Meher sees why Abeer likes her. She's a human rights lawyer, and has an adorable dog. They talk about everything from books to men, and before they know it they've started exchanging notes on Abeer. An hour later, they're exhausted from laughing and glad to have met each other. Meher sees a potential friend in her, and grudgingly admits to herself that this time she definitely approves of Abeer's choice.
She goes home that day and cries for the first time. She cries, not because she's jealous of the woman. Because she's jealous of Abeer. He has finally moved on, and she's still here, too immersed in her past to see beyond it. She knows she still loves him; She loves the way he smiles when he strums his guitar, loves how he treats her family as his own and randomly drops by for dinner, loves to take part in their tom-and-jerry routine - now she can confess that she actually looks forward to it. She loves him, so she wants him to be with the other one, because that's what makes him happy; It hurts that she can't be selfish and claim him all to herself, because that's the last thing she wants to do. She wants to look beyond him. She wants to move forward too. But she can't, and this is the greatest tragedy of Meher Purohit's life.
One day she walks into his studio, sits down and tells him it's time to talk. She has cried enough tears, it's time to toughen up. He hasn't come directly to her but his girlfriend talks to her every week, and some of her questions are sounding suspiciously like him. They talk about the awkwardness, the tiptoeing around each other, the anxiousness they've been walking around with and come to the conclusion that they're both not happy with this kind of life. He tells her the story of him and his girlfriend and though it's not as eventful and dramatic as theirs was, she can see it's more promising than theirs ever could've been. When she gets up to leave, neither of them knows what just transpired or what it means for them, so they shake hands in the most awkward way and start laughing at how weird the situation is, and she can feel the ice around her heart thawing.
Before she leaves, she asks him if he loves her, and he replies, "Just as much as I loved you." That's enough for her.
They get married a year later, and she and Abeer are on great terms now, so she sits in the front row and ignores the women who make snide comments about the sautan' showing up at her husband's wedding. She eats to her heart's content, hugs his mother and overlooks the longing look she gets from her, goes up on stage and congratulates the happy couple, even cracks a dirty joke to embarrass him, and leaves with her head held high. Only when she's driving back home does she remember her own wedding day, how giddily excited they were, how that quickly turned into exhaustion and how they spent their first night as man and wife snoring in each others' arms in pyjamas. She realizes that she can finally smile at the same memories that used to bring her heartache, and knows that she has finally moved on.
His show ends - he's going on tour the next day to promote his new album. They host a grand farewell party, and she doesn't go. She works on the replacement show till 11 and goes straight home, feeling utterly depressed. The past 2 years had been everything the previous 8 hadn't been. She was finally sleeping in peace, knowing every conflict had been resolved. She lost a friend today, the friend she'd always hoped she would find in him. She can't bring herself to say goodbye this time.
He shows up at midnight at her house, and once she gets past the initial shock they drink coffee and reminisce the college days when they'd go to the terrace and stay up all night. He tells her that he's leaving the wife at home for a month, so she should go stop by. She would, but it would remind her too much of him. They promise to meet when he's back, but both of them know how empty that promise is. When he leaves, the sun is up and there's too much caffeine in their system. She wishes him all the best and brings him in for a hug. She tightens her arms around his neck, and he tugs her closer. None of them want to let go, and somewhere in the moment she forgets that their relationship is platonic. The next thing she knows, his lips are inches away from hers and she's licking her lips in anticipation. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't incredibly tempted, but they both know it won't happen. Abeer is nothing if not loyal, she still has her integrity. She pulls away first, and he shuts the door behind her. And just like that, he's out of her universe.
She leaves Groove for a better opportunity; anyways, there was no one left for her to stay. Her new office is nice, but the people are as indifferent as they are obedient. She has become too accustomed to the homely charm of Groove, where everyone was a family. She's a happier person now. She smiles more often. She works a little less and lives a little more. She even takes a day off and buys a ticket to see Abeer's concert, which blows her mind because it's been a while since she was reminded how ridiculously talented and charming he is. She goes back home humming his songs, blasts the speakers in her room and dances till she can't feel her legs. Once again, it has taken Abeer to make her feel human.
He shows up at her door a year later, and his eyes are bloodshot. Before she can ask, he falls into her arms, and her shoulder is becoming damp. She asks no questions and they stand there for a while.
When he's out of tears, he tells her that his marriage is failing. Her heart plunges. She has been in touch with his wife and she'd never mentioned even so much as a fight. He tells her they're not in love with each other anymore. "How can you fall out of love just like that?" she questions.
"I don't know. She finds everything I do annoying. What she used to love, she can't stand anymore. Maybe it was the distance, or maybe I just fell in love with the idea of her."
She doesn't understand the concept of that. "You couldn't possibly have married her on impulse, Abeer. There was love, right? Why aren't you fighting for her?"
"Because I'm tired Meher!" he shouts. "I've been fighting for the last 6 months, that's all I've been doing. I barely do a show or two, I'm not working on any new music, this is all I do. everyday I wake up and I think, what can I do to make her happy?' and anything I do just worsens the situation. Our conversations always end in fights, we don't see eye to eye anymore! I can't fight anymore Meher. And I know she doesn't want to too."
"So what, you're ending it?" she asks hesitantly.
"I don't know. I just know I'm not in love with her."
She's livid now.
"What do you mean not in love with her'? Is love a on-off button? Is that what you think? You think marriage is a joke? Did you know what you were signing up for? Did you know a marriage meant a lifetime with her, not just a few years of happy times? Abeer Malhotra, when will you grow up? This is your reality, Abeer. Don't think everything will be easy. Don't give up. Don't make the same mistakes we did."
He leaves her house a more determined man, and she's proud of him. She knows he'll now do everything in his power to save his marriage. So 6 months later, when his wife hands him the divorce papers, she let's him in and doesn't say a word. He doesn't cry this time, not for his wife at least. He's understandably upset about another failed marriage. He stares at the papers for 7 hours expressionlessly like he doesn't know where he went wrong with life. She's been there before, but she still doesn't know what to do so she lets him be. But by the 8th hour, he has not moved an inch so she grabs a pen, thrusts it in his hand and makes him sign it. He looks at her in shock, and she says, "You did your best. Now stop living like this."
One year later, they're celebrating her turning 35. There's cake, champagne, Nissar and Sasha. They eat out of cardboard boxes and get drunk and relive juvenile old games. This time Sasha doesn't ask her anything about Abeer, which she is seriously grateful for, because she loses all sense under the influence of alcohol, and he looks irresistible today. White shirts make her feel strange things. Anyways, there's no use of making a move because Abeer Malhotra has chosen his true love. To quote him, "Music made me happy when women couldn't." She can't argue with that. She's seeing someone out of boredom, but she knows he's nothing special. He's not Abeer enough.
When it's time to go home, she can't see straight. Maybe that's a good thing, because for one day she wants to forget that Abeer Malhotra, the man she has once again foolishly fallen in love with, is right there for her to see, but infinitely far away for her to have.
Two days later, her date cancels on her and Abeer's studio is 5 minutes away from the restaurant- the very romantic couples-exclusive restaurant. She's feeling brave and shameless, so she stupidly asks him to join her. To her surprise, he doesn't refuse. He compliments her, eats the cherry tomatoes she takes out of her plate, picks up the bill and even drops her back. She's sitting in his car, kissing his cheek and thanking him for a good time when they both realize they just had their second first date.
"Are we going to address this?" she asks, not looking at him. Please say yes.
"What's there to address? We're just two friends who went on a date." He says casually, looking everywhere but at her.
She laughs dully. "Friends."
"We are friends, aren't we?" he looks up doubtfully.
"Frankly Abeer, I don't know what we are." she gets out and slams the door on his face. Niceties be damned, she won't hide her feelings anymore.
She doesn't know when he yanked her towards him, or when his lips landed on hers. All she knows is she finally feels alive, like there's wind beneath her wings. This is no gentle kiss - it's raw and rough and urgent like they have only this moment and if that is the case, she's not letting it go. When they finally break apart for lack of breath, he looks guilty. She looks him in the eye and with her gaze, dares him to ignore what just happened. She has lost enough, hurt enough, cried enough, and so has he.
"We've done this before, remember." he reminds her. "We both know how this ends. "
"Why does it have to end?" she asks, and he breaks out a grin, leaning in to capture her lips again.
Marriage is an extinct institution to the two of them, but love will never be. He still travels all around the world and she still works with the same fervour. But she cashes in all her vacation days when he's on tour, and he comes back home any chance that he can get. When they're together, it's magic. It's everything it was 20 years ago, except they're mature enough now to ignore petty fights and deal with the more serious ones before they can get out of hand. When they're not together, it's only in the physical sense. He leaves her secret post-its under drawers; she sends him videos of her playing his guitar really terribly to make him laugh.
They celebrate their first re-anniversary by unpacking his stuff at her place, eating much more than they should've, and falling asleep on the sofa. She'd been wanting to ask him to move in for months now, because he's always here, and she doesn't like the way he has to rush out every morning and leave her cold and alone in her bed. One morning, she's tired of dragging him back into bed; she blurts it out in a fit of rage, and all he says is, "I thought you'd never ask."
So he's here, shoes on her - their sofa, he has left every dirty dish untouched, and his snores are too loud. But he's here, and despite everything, he has chosen to be by her side, to hold her hand as he falls asleep.
She can definitely live with the snoring.
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