Originally posted by: aryapdaneShe had forgotten the effect his eyes could have on a person. In her memories of him, they're always warm. She remembers the way he looked at Sneha, like he had never seen anything more beautiful. And the way he looked at her sometimes. With pride, admiration and something akin to wonder. There is no warmth in his eyes now. His gaze has a physical weight, pinning her in place, boring and slicing into her until she feels her soul is left bare for his scrutiny.
So I've finally found the opportunity to comment in detail on this story. I had been following it with the intention to eventually comment but just never had the time, and I wanted my commentary to do justice to the gem that this story is. First of all the very premise itself, post-divorce PreRish ugh YES PLS. You've written their misunderstandings and their deep divide well. They are at a stalemate with each other, even with the history they've forced. Just so well done in this beginning chapter. I wanted to quote this specific passage in the chapter because of the downright perfect way I envisioned a TV like 'slow down' of this moment. The entire world silenced around them, just these two lost in their gaze, a physical hold on them both. Ugh, perfection.
In your second chapter, I fell completely in love with your prose. It's so reminiscent of Regency-era romances that it just caught me. Especially the scene where they're walking, her hand on his arm, from one wing to another and into the garden, it literally SCREAMED Pride & Prejudice to me. And in so many ways PreRish's relationship is so much like Elizabeth and Darcy's, wherein the misunderstandings, the false belief in the other's character.
"Can you imagine it?" he whispers when she's on her feet again, his voice low and intimate. "How it had been like for them, when he had helped her up, that first time?"
And god this moment, this magical intimate moment. It was so soft but so important. The way he continues to cure himself throughout, for wanting so much he cannot have. UGH. ANGST, WE LOVE IT.
Also the side characters you've breathed life into for your story are amazing. I love them all, they add new life into the interactions between Prerna and Rishabh. Just fabulous.
I appreciate that while your first chapter 'showed' Rishabh being an ass, your subsequent updates solidified what I knew, that his act was a defense mechanism.
It's also interesting to me how insecure Anurag is in your story, and it really does relate to canon. When he said 'how could anyone not love you' he's admitting that she's someone that is beyond his reach, and his efforts to marry her are more to control her than to actually be with her. And Prerna in her insightfulness is able to pick that up even if she doesn't understand it fully. Very well done with that bit.
Originally posted by: aryapdane
"Merci," he murmurs back in her ear, taking lungfuls of lavender and honeysuckles. It's headier than any narcotic in the world. "Merci beaucoup, if you're feeling very grateful."
"Mercy pu ku." She beams at the bewildered waiter, who to his credit keeps his face impassive and only nods. Thankfully, Shiv and Ayesha are too immersed in their conversation to notice. Rishabh stifles a smile. Anxious caramel eyes find his. "Did I say it wrong?"
"No, no. You are perfect... Were perfect," he hastily corrects himself.
F*ck.
Prerna gives him that smile again, the one that lights up everything around her and Rishabh can't look away for the life of him. A part of him knows then that he's doomed.
A moth to her flame.
Oh god this moment in chapter 5 made me scream!!! What a perfectly Rishabh thing to do, to encourage her anyway and to stifle his own need to reach towards her. That ending moment where Shiv is very obviously trying to matchmake and getting frustrated at PreRish for their inability to do anything. Oh god, the small moment where Prerna is looking and Rishabh wears his heart on his sleeve. Shiv capturing that moment was magical, just magical.
Originally posted by: aryapdane
A brush of warm fingers against her cheek leaves the thought unfinished.
Before she realises what she's doing, she partly turns her face towards him to allow him more access. Prerna doesn't meet his eyes though. She simply can't. So she lets his knuckles graze her skin in the continuous motion of up and down with a barely released breath, and allows the warmth of those fingers to put to rest, her guilt, her jealousy, her confusions; her very ability to think.
What I love about the canon PreRish story is their ability to smooth things over without words. And you displayed that so beautifully in this moment. One touch was enough to quell the ugly envy inside Prerna and she leaned into it willingly.
Originally posted by: aryapdane
"That you ran away because you couldn't bear to see Prerna with Anurag Basu. Because you fell for the fancy nanny you had brought for your daughter and you were so terrified of rejection that you chose to pack and run than stay and fight."
This conversation was just bang on! I love how Shiv calls him out on his BS and drags him through the mud lmao. He needs it a little bit in order to wake up from the worst of himself.
But the way that Prerna laid into him was equally fun to read. She calls out his best intentions for his worst actions and makes him truly see what he'd done. And in maddening impulse, she does what she's probably been denying to want, for so long. Love love LOVED IT!
I love your story and I love seeing the drift from canon because let's face it, this show is trash LMAO. Thank you so much for sharing your talent and your beautiful words with the fandom and forum at large. We're truly lucky to be so inspired!
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