ARVI OS: YEH ISHQ NAHIN AASAN
"I LOVE YOU PURVI!"
The words echoed in her ear till today, a week after he had uttered them. A week after she had broken his heart in to the smallest pieces. Oh how she wanted to go back in time and tell him the truth. The truth that she loved him equally if not more. But she could not. He was her boss and falling for her boss was something that would not be accepted by people, by society and may be by her family. She knew her mother loved her, trusted her and will support her always, but this was one thing she was unsure of. After all Purvi was a middle class girl and values, principles and her mother were of the utmost importance to her even if she had to brutally kill the feelings for the man her heart had grown to adore and love so much.
She still recalled the day he had confessed. It was a rainy night. And she was annoyed at him. In fact at this point she hated him. Yes, she did. She thought he had taken advantage of her emotional and vulnerable state and hugged her and kissed her but she was wrong. As always, she had judged him wrongly. Yet he had been so patient and honest with her. The intensity of his gaze as he had looked at her deeply in her eyes when he uttered the words was such that she felt weak in her knees.
Initially she though he was lying to her, but his eyes, they spoke of his love for her and the honesty in them made her believe it. She was so relieved hearing that he too loved her. But her happiness was short lived. She could not tell him that she too loved him. For one, she was a middle class girl who was not allowed to fall in love before marriage. Worse than that, how could she fall in love with her boss? What would people say? What would the other employees say? The reaction to the fake MMS had been bad. It had emotionally drained her. What would they all say if they come to know their colleague and boss loved each other?!
She knew one thing for sure, they would question her, her values and principles and her mother's upbringing! Her family's reputation would be at stake! No! She could not let this happen. Thus, with a breaking heart, she uttered the words "NO! I don't love you! In fact how can you love me? I am your employee..."
She felt guilty seeing him. He was shocked for a while, but hurt crossed his face as he realised what she said. She ran to her house leaving him getting drenched in the rain as she could not bear to see him hurt anymore.
He was still there the following morning, he had waited for her, hoped that she would change her mind and tell him how much she loved him but she did not. She was quite rude when all he was doing was trying to reason with her about her feelings. She did not know how he did it, but he knew that she too loved him. May be he could read her eyes. She looked at him, cold and hard hoping it would make him believe her and it did. It broke her heart when the eyes that looked at her with love and adoration were now filled with hurt and pain, all that because of her.
He was leaving. Not only the chawl, but India. He was going back to Canada by the end of the day as the project for which he had mainly come to India was complete but he had decided to stay back for her, however, there was no need for that since she did not feel the same way as him.
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Arjun had decided to go back to Canada. He also needed to tell Ovi that he could not marry her. He would never be able to keep her happy as he loved someone else. And for the sake of his best friend, he had to do this difficult task. Furthermore, what was the need to stay here? The girl he loved did not love him back. Or maybe she was too scared to admit her feelings. Either way, he could do nothing. He did not want to pressurise her in to confessing her love when all that mattered to her was her family and society. Sigh. He never cared about society before, it did not matter to him what people would say but it mattered to her and that was all that mattered to him.
He was packing his bags in his room, when, "SURPRISE!"
He turned around to find his dad with open arms and a wide smile on his face. He went to hug him. DK had gone to Australia for an important deal and has just returned. On seeing Arjun packing, he questioned his son.
"Postpone your trip son. You can go after the weekend. Congrats. We got the contract from the Australian company, so I was thinking we should have a party during the weekend."
DK hugged Arjun. "Congrats Dad. Let us celebrate in Canada. You can throw the party there."
"No Arjun. The deal was complete because of the hard work of our employees here in India. Hence, the party has to be thrown for them. Especially Purvi. She and her team had worked hard on it."
Arjun winced at the name of Purvi which DK did not notice. "Ok Dad, as you wish." Arjun agreed with a heavy heart. He knew he was being a coward, running away from the situation instead of facing it. But he had no strength to fight the one woman he had grown to love immensely.
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Purvi checked the party hall to see if everything was perfectly ready as the guests would be arriving soon. She sighed in relief. Everything was perfect. She was still slightly worried though. She had to get ready as yet and make it to the party before the guests had arrived and she had only an hour to spare.
She was standing outside the party hall, waiting for a cab, when it started raining.
"Uff! How will I go home now? I am already running late! I should have just brought my clothes here and gotten dressed here." She sighed. But it was too late to do that now. She was so frustrated that she did not realise when a black car pulled up in front of her.
How beautiful she looked when she frowned or when she was angry, he thought. She was so lost in her thoughts that she did not notice anything around her. He honked the car, grabbing her attention.
He offered her a lift and she accepted it hesitantly. While rushing to the car, she got slightly drenched. On seeing this, Arjun gave her his handkerchief so that she is able to dry herself. And he even turned the AC of the car off and switched on the heater. Noticing his behaviour, Purvi recalled 2 instances and compared those situations to the current ones. There was a huge difference in both the times. The first one being how he had been really upset when he had offered her a lift previously during the monsoon and she was drenched making the car slightly wet. The other time was in the office when he lowered the temperature of the AC in his cabin intentionally while she was dripping wet. He had changed; his anger then and his caring reactions now, brought a small smile on her face.
It seemed forever since he had been able to look at her so closely, admire her. She looked beautiful and her smile, her smile brought a warm feeling within him, it made him smile. Purvi turned to look at him and their eyes met. Various emotions passed through their eyes. While his brown pair had utmost love and admiration to sadness reflecting in them, her black ones had love and guilt and sadness.
Each had their reasons for doing what they did. None of them were wrong, none cowards, yet they did not have the strength to fight, to fight their loved ones. Perhaps theirs was one love story which would go down in the list of those ones where 2 people deeply loved each other, yet could not be together due to circumstances. Their eyes were brighter than normal, tears filled in them.
Oh, how he wanted to hug her, kiss her, shout out his love for her. If only she had said yes. If only she would have been strong enough to fight. IF. But there was no room for the probability, none at all. She had said no, downright refused him.
He looked away on hearing a beep of another car and started the car. To kill the tensed fill atmosphere of the car, Arjun switched on the radio and hearing the song playing, Purvi wished she could sing along as it one of her favourite songs of a young lady falling in love for the first time and how happy she was; however, she had denied herself the right to do so, ohh the irony of life.
They reached her house soon. "Thank you Sir. And Sir... I... Am sorry Sir." She whispered the second part of the sentence and ran out of the car before he could react. Arjun was confused. If she did not love him, why did she apologise to him? Why did she look so upset and lost? He had to know. And soon. He was leaving for Canada in a couple of days and he had to know by then.
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The party was in full swing by the time Purvi reached. She was dressed in a beautiful red sari with minimum jewellery and little make-up. She was a bit nervous about her appearance as she barely had any time to look at herself in the mirror before she had to leave home. Now that she was here, she was more relaxed; she managed to be right on time.
He was talking to a client, clad in a black suit and red shirt when he saw her. She looked Gorgeous. Her simplicity was what attracted him. She looked so simple, yet ethereal.
Feeling someone's gaze on her, Purvi looked up and her eyes met a pair of intense brown eyes. She felt like she was getting lost in them. She knew she had to look away before he could read her eyes, yet she could not move from his intense gaze.
Luck was in her favour as DK decided to make an announcement then.
"Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen. I hope you are having a great time. I have 2 announcements to make for today. The first one is, Congratulations, we got the deal with the Australian Company. It was due to the hard work of all the employees that we succeeded. Now, I would like to call one employee whose guidance and hard work bore the fruits. Miss Purvi Deshmukh, can I have you here?"
Purvi walked to the front where DK was standing conscious that all eyes were on her. She was slightly nervous, always was when she received any compliment. But she recalled Arjun's words, "just a pointer Purvi, when people compliment you that means they like your work, so there is no need to get nervous but accept the praise." And that is what she did.
DK then called Arjun and whispered something in his ear. Arjun gave a small smile, before turning to a waiter and taking a key from the tray he was holding.
"The key to your new cabin, Miss Purvi. Congratulations. You are promoted." He looked in to her eyes and smiled. He was proud of her. She had worked really hard and he was glad that it was his dad who noticed her hard work and gave her the promotion.
With a small smile Purvi took the key from his hands and muttered a small thank you. Their hands brushed, but she pulled away quickly. And walked away.
"And now my second announcement. I would like to announce the engagement of my son, Arjun to my friend and business partner, Manav's daughter, Ovi." And with that announcement, came Manav and his family.
Her heart shattered in to millions of pieces. Tears welled in her eyes and it took her a lot to not let them pour. She looked at Arjun who had a small smile on his face and the girl next to him. She was very pretty, why would he not choose her (Ovi)? But he loved her! May be he moved on. Her emotions were all over the place. She was sad that Arjun was getting engaged to Ovi after she rejected him. He was already over her? And she was angry, furious at herself for refusing his proposal. She fought back her tears, looked at the couple in front of her with a small smile, went forward and gave them her best wishes before she ran off, tears running down her cheeks before she could stop them.
She finally came to a stop when she reached a small water bridge. She stood holding the railing and faced the water. She started recalling each and every moment she had spent with her boss. And how she never realised it but she fell in love with him, hard. She was not ready to accept it initially, but when he confessed to her, she admitted to herself that she shared his feelings yet had to deny loving him and breaking their hearts in the process.
Tears rolled down her cheeks as she remembered the love she had seen in his eyes, the care and concern. She remembered every little detail about him, his smile, his laughter, his embarrassment, his anger and she realised what she had lost, but it was too late. She sobbed silently wishing for him to come back to her, to be in love with her, to be married to her, but it would never be possible. This made her cry even more.
Little did she know that God had other plans in store for her.
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As soon as Arjun saw Purvi leaving the party hall the way she did, he knew it was now or never. He excused himself by apologising to his Dad and Ovi saying that he had fallen for Purvi. Ovi was definitely upset, very upset, but she saw emotions in his eyes that she had never seen before. Love and fear. She had yearned to see love for her in his eyes but the first time she saw it, she knew it was not for her. And the fear; the fear of losing someone he loved desperately. Gathering her courage, she let him go, before she could cry in front of him.
Arjun managed to follow Purvi by asking people around. And when he finally saw her, his heart broke. She looked so weak and vulnerable. Tears were rolling down her cheeks continuously, yet she looked beautiful to him in the moon light. He gave a small smile before he went to her.
Purvi felt someone tapping her shoulder and was surprised to see it was Arjun. Not realising what she was doing, she engulfed him in a tight hug and sobbed that she loved him. Arjun put his arms around her, stroking her back whispering to her that everything was going to be good. He was happy that she finally confessed.
All of a sudden it started pouring heavily, getting Purvi away from her trance. She pulled away from the embrace and looked at Arjun tearfully and confused what he was doing there instead of his engagement ceremony. She voiced her questions to which he replied, "I love you Purvi! Main tumse pyar karta hoon! I cannot get engaged to anyone else knowing that I am madly in love with you. It would be unfair to her. She is my best friend and she loves me. I also agreed to marry her, but for her sake only. For her happiness. I never loved her that way."
For the nth time that night, tears rolled down Purvi's cheeks. She was overwhelmed by his love and decided to confess her true feelings. In the past week, after rejecting his love, she realised one thing that she really loved him and after almost losing him, she decided that that society and her colleagues will not make any difference to her or her love. In fact, she will now confess to him.
She held his hands in a strong grip went closer, looked in to his eyes and whispered to him, "Main bhi tumse pyar karti hoon. I love you too, Sir."
Happiness and relief reflected in his eyes and on his face. She reciprocated his feelings. He felt on top of the world at the moment. The woman whom he loved so much had just confessed to him that she loved him too. Tears of happiness rolled down his cheeks and he pulled her closer to himself.
"I realised how much you mean to me when I almost lost you. Yes, I was scared to admit my feelings before. I was worried about what the society will say, what the office staff will think and whether my family will accept us or not. However, I have realised that being with you will give me the strength to convince my family about us and to fight everyone else. I love you." She whispered.
Arjun wiped her tears with his thumb slowly and kissed her on the forehead. "Sir? Is that what you are going to call me after all this?" He asked, his eyes full of mischief. She smiled at him sheepishly. "Well, what should I call you?"
"Arjun!"
"No! How can I call you by your name?"
"The way I do. Anyways, I am not your boss here." He said pulling her closer.
She felt embarrassed at the closeness and tried getting away from him.
"Uh huh. Not unless you call me by my name love."
She glowed hearing him. And felt a bit shy looking up at him.
"A..a..ar..."
"Yes, complete it."
"Arj...Arjun. There, said it." She sighed feeling relieved and proud of her accomplishment.
He pulled her closer and hugged her tightly. "I love you."
"I love you too."
THE END
Please guys, hit the Like button and Comment! Really appreciate it!
EDIT: Mansi, thank you as well😳 I don't know if you remember or not, months ago I showed a part of this OS to you. Remember now? Tab, you had encouraged me to continue it😳 I hope you like it as much as you did then, if not more😛
CID
