Short Stories: Trial by fire (Part 4, A& B - End, Pg 5 Updated: 30.5) - Page 4

Thank you dear 😊

Originally posted by: cozy_vibes

i was waiting For this update and now after reading this im speechless.. it was something which i can really imagine .. they are kond of pure love without limits which can be toxic and destructivr though for me RAGHAV is some what like HARDIN from after series

Thank you! I will try to update by the coming weekend 😊

Originally posted by: Avneel07

Ur writing skills r awesome. Waiting for the next one

Hey, thanks so much for this comment and feedback! I’m at a loss of words to mention how much I value feedback, it keeps me going. I’m glad you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. This chapter was difficult I admit and yeah, on TV we can’t get the same being played out coz of differences in formats, screenplay and timing. If it were a movie, the screenplay would have been different because there’s space to include background verses and narratives, more time to dwell into their emotional aspects etc. On daily show it’s hard coz audience also likes watered down content, lots of hand holding etc. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the confrontation on TV, these two were fire!

Originally posted by: SONIA441

WOAH!!

Take a Bow Girl!! For this is PHENOMENAL!!!👏👏

The words you used, the style you Flourish here...The poems from Rumi & the Dialogues🔥 habe been merged so well

I can't begin to tell you how Amazing it is to read the Confrontation that this was supposed to be. The CVs filtered it out totally but you my dear have made it more than it was worth

I would love to read more of your halting works! Halting for I really paused & imagined the complete scenario with Fire in their eyes at this situation they have shockingly come to

I'm just astounded with the range of emotions you have beautifully penned down in these pieces! ❤️

Woah! I feel like I am transported to a better era with this amazing writing! 👏

Keep it up!! 👍🏼

Thank you dear! I personally love emotional pieces, something that tugs at the heart. I'm glad you liked it 😳

Bold - Really? Oh wow! This is indeed flattering 😃

Originally posted by: Me000w

I'm just astounded with the range of emotions you have beautifully penned down in these pieces! ❤️

Woah! I feel like I am transported to a better era with this amazing writing! 👏

Keep it up!! 👍🏼

I am speechless...this was so good, so beautiful, so emotional, so intense, and I can go on.

The angst and agony in their heart have been so beautifully penned down by you. I have never read anything like this before.

The realization of truth for Raghav was like---I have something I have wanted for long time so close to me and now I realise the truth and look forward to apologise the person--that person is no longer there.

This is outstandingly remarkable...Viewpoint(since I dob't know your name)....I could feel the story and imagine it...and Rumi's poems add an uniqueness as well as make it more understandable and beautiful. The whole write-up shows how much of hardwork has been put into it

I am looking forward to reading more of this.

Hey Reem,

You can call me Kiara 😊

I am at a loss of words right now. Your feedback is so valued, it just encourages me to keep going and even do better 😳

Bold - This is the exact effect I wanted through this story. He's on the verge of falling for her, he's burning with vengeance and he realizes his folly almost immediately but it's quite late to apologize not because he cannot run after her, but he collapses out of panic and that is when love hits him right in his ribs and he's so helpless, he can only watch himself fade out. I need this character to internalize and redeem himself, but without her presence. I genuinely believe that one must burn alone in their redemption and Pallavi should not have to explain herself to the world that does not deserve her goodness.

Originally posted by: ReemShah

I am speechless...this was so good, so beautiful, so emotional, so intense, and I can go on.

The angst and agony in their heart have been so beautifully penned down by you. I have never read anything like this before.

The realization of truth for Raghav was like---I have something I have wanted for long time so close to me and now I realise the truth and look forward to apologise the person--that person is no longer there.

This is outstandingly remarkable...Viewpoint(since I dob't know your name)....I could feel the story and imagine it...and Rumi's poems add an uniqueness as well as make it more understandable and beautiful. The whole write-up shows how much of hardwork has been put into it

I am looking forward to reading more of this.

Part 4: A Secret Turning in us - Section A

Birdsong brings relief

to my longing,

I am just as ecstatic as they are,

but with no lover to share it with,

Could I whisper in your ear,

What I've dreamed of?

You're the only one I've told this to..

Don't ask how...

The beauty of guilt is that it washes over you, over and over, like waves of an ocean on a stormy night capsizing a boat desperately trying to make it's way to the shore after reviving from the assault. The shore always seem to be far from sight, no matter how hard the boatman tries, for the waves are unrelenting in their torment. Her sad but pretty face almost in sight when a tidal sweeps over my boat.

I wake up in sweat. It's that dream again. I cannot call it a nightmare, for she is present in it, albeit like a mirage, seemingly waiting for me to get to the shore and hold her hand once again, to pick up the pieces one more time and fix it. But I cannot make it, not even in my dreams.

It seems as if eons have passed since I last saw her on the dreadful night when she left my sight and walked into the darkness, never to be found by anyone near and dear. I met her parents, who were in fact her in laws. How did I not know that she was widowed? I met her brother and I met her college friends. They either did not know where she was or did not wish to tell me. I've never been alive since I gauged the extent of the damage I caused to the only woman I loved with my soul, if only the heart could accept it before it was too late.

I work and I drink myself to sleep. The unconcerned world gush over my progress, but I am not alive. Can anyone smell the decay? My heart screams out in silence, but there is not a soul who will hear sounds from a broken flute. Memories from the first time I met her to the last time I saw plays in my head all day until I lose consciousness and fall asleep. But she meets me there too.

I can only hope that my love is strong enough to take me to her, an eternal wait. She has become the master of my soul, and I, her follower. Peace has left me, yet she lives in my heart as a soothing balm to the deep cuts I inflicted upon myself. I do not expect to forgive me. How can I beg for her forgiveness when I can never forgive myself?

Yet a silent hope lives in my heart, to see the day when I can tell her how much I love her, of reverence and oblation.

I have phrases and whole pages memorized,

but nothing can be told of love,

I must wait until you and I meet once again,

In the conversation we'll have then...

But, patience.

************************************************************************

Beyond opinion and judgment, undistracted by worries,

I am walking strong and steadily,

not timid or uncertain,

I feel now in myself,

free of fear, then why?

Your memories pull me back,

You promised you wouldn't come to my dreams,

then you broke that vow,

and I hear you crying out my name,

from a stormy ocean,

then you keep that vow, and you're gone.

I feel alive, more than ever. A new city, new people and a new identity, no longer bound by the chains of my past. No longer bound by the broken strings of failed relationships. The pain, I turned into my medicine and drank all the bitterness to churn out sweetness and chime. The memories, good and bad, have faded slightly after consuming my life for over two years. Love tries to knock at my door several times, some calls to which I've responded. I smile away, listening to the nothings uttered by those who claim to be my suitors. I put up with the sham of it all. My soul knows it's loved already, and my heart died the day I left him sprawled on the cold floor.

He's doing well, I know. I try to stay away but he's always found a way to find his way into my life, albeit indirectly. His new collection of jewelry is making headlines here in New York. The women won't stop gushing over the designs. Rumor has it, he designed it personally, apparently for a secret lover. The rumors don't cease to be. Some say that he's nursing a broken heart, for he has not been seen in public with any woman for over two years. Some say that he is unlovable. Tabloids insinuate that he prefers a different orientation. Gossip columns splash news of his disoriented being, reporting it as "A man no woman would want to put up with". The buzz around him has always been unavoidable in spite of trying to keep away from it all. I have learnt how to deal with the inevitable.

"Look at my engagement ring" Sandra throw me off, almost screaming in my ear.

"Calm down. And congratulations. I am glad he has offered you his companionship, it's all you ever wanted" I say

"Yes, but look at my ring!"

Damn, why do women obsess over futile items like rings and jewelry. I have never been fond of all this glamor.

"Okay let me have a look at it"

What I see takes my breath away. I've never seen such a beautiful ring in my existence. Delicate, almost like a fresh drop of honeydew. Intricate, almost as if the designer felt every vein of a real leaf before he, or she, sculpted this beauty.

"It's beautiful. Where did you get it from?"

"This is the latest collection, LEAF, of Mr. Rao, isn't it beautiful! The theme of the design is for all lovers, new and old, who wish to turn a new leaf. How romantic must he be if the rumors are true about his secret lover?"

Her next words are silenced by my pounding heart. The mere mention of his name sends my thoughts in a frenzy.

Leaf.

New Leaf.

Pallavi.

I know not when I found myself walking away from her. Away from his creation. Away from his message. Away from his memories and his love. His distraught face in the midst of glamor and limelight speaks of his repentance, each time I inevitably came across gossip columns or clippings of the red carpets he attended. I never gave more thought to the rumors of a secret lover. Was it true?

Leaf.....new leaf....Pallavi.....the words resonate in my head in his voice. Repeatedly.

Whirlwind. My head feels heavy. Why did he name his new collection after me? He always finds a way to make my heart ache. He is bound to my pain, for what I said that night was bound to come true. But why am I bound to the same pain he is bound to? I thought I freed myself of all the shackles of his ignorance. I thought I freed myself from the onset of the feelings I had for him. Then ,what is this nagging pain that never leaves me in spite of succeeding to own my life?

Is someone else the master of my soul, and I, a follower?

The questions don't cease to be and I find myself in the very moment I left him on that dreadful day. It all comes back with an intense pang at a point in my life when I truly felt that I've moved past all the pain? The weather seems to mirror my heart. It's outcast and the winds are cold, slapping my face with the pain of a longing I buried deep inside my heart as I walk to the one place where I've found peace during my time here, a place where I've cried silently, the tears not visible to any stranger.

My safe haven, a home I found in a strange place.

Next post: Part 4: A Secret Turning in us - Section B.

Part 4: A Secret Turning in us - Section B (Last)

Love helps you see into the invisible,

Recognize lovers by how they tremble,

The way of lovers is different,

The rest of this must be said in silence.

How much is a tear worth?

I feel like her love has filled me with poetry. Her mere thought sends my heart in a journey of mystic finding. A world so beautiful, where bitter is sweet and exhaustion is love. I even wonder if this beautiful bridge was suspended in air, not to connect cities but pave a find for two lost lovers? I have come to appreciate the mysteries of life as the windings of this road shall never cease to surprise. A man who has loved is a man who has found God, does it then matter if his lover is his God?

She breezes past me. I know it's her. The strong winds swept her hair into my face. The blood in my veins begin to warm up, and my heart finally starts beating. I was dead, then alive. Weeping, then laughing.

My feet carry me to her. I see her back but know she's crying. Her tears cut through my heart, the warmth of blood seeping into my gut.

I am right behind her.

****************************************************************************

I press my hand to my chest,

I feel your heart beating,

This confusing joy, your doing,

this angst, your tender thorn,

Don't ask why this delights me,

When you stand to look, I turn.

He is standing behind me and I hear him speak my name, so gently, I could crumble into a thousand little pieces. The stranger that my soul has always loved, if only my heart spoke of it before it was too late. If only his heart spoke to him before it was too late.

"Pallavi"

I feel his hand on my shoulder. The tenderness of his touch reminds me of what I ached for all these years. I feel his soft gaze at the back of my head.

"Raghav"

I whisper his name, almost in a secret reverence. It is this moment his love comes to rest in me, and as he slowly turns me around, I close my eyes. I feel his pain and ecstasy, even with my eyes closed.

The warm, but shaky touch of his hand on my cheek and I lean into this warmth, my safe haven.

"Open your eyes, please" he pleads.

All our lives we've looked into each other's faces,

That was the case today too,

How do we keep our love a secret?

How can this great love be inside us?

***********************************************************************************************

The sky is rumbling, threatening to unleash all its fury yet it seems like there is a blessing in nature's doing, for it has brought us back to the day we left each other after unleashing a deadly fury on the one person we both secretly loved.

"I am sorry"

I see him in all his earnest, like a man who has found a new purpose in life. Like a man who already turned a new leaf in his life.

A secret turning in us makes the universe turn,

Head unaware of feet, and feet head.

Neither cares,

They keep turning.

Arms around each other,

He is hers,

She, his,

There is nothing else left to be,

This love is the joy of existence.

***********************************************************************************************

"We talk from brow to brow and listen with our eyes, this great love inside us undoes all the pain and the grief. The soul does not reason with love and love does not reason with any myth of this world. When lovers gaze into each others eyes, the world stops moving and the skies, with open arms, welcome them in its embrace, the rain washing away all the pain"

The end

Hey everyone. This brings to a close this short story I have held very dear to my heart. I've been updating slowly only because I need a lot of time to go through possible scenarios, search for the apt poem and then structure it. Do drop in your comments if you like it (or don't).❤️

By the way: Last scene heavily inspired from Kal Ho Naa Ho. It's my favorite scene, the one on the bridge.

I don't have words to describe this masterpiece. The angst confusion and pain were written so well that I was able to feel all those feelings while reading.

I loved every bit of it. The plotline, character development, dialogues and highlighted words were phenomenal.

Expecting more such works from you and thank you for this wonderful story 🤗🤗