My collections of One-shots upd.pg.94 - Page 64

Reality

"Sid, why are we in Pune? Is everything okay?"

Riddhima couldn't help wondering why her husband was acting weird all of a sudden. She thought that everything was fine between them by now...was she wrong? She didn't want to think about that...but she was scared...scared for this relationship that had become a beautiful reality for her.

Sid didn't reply but just stood there looking ahead...as if waiting for someone...this was making Riddhima's heart beat faster...she needed to sit down. She looked around for a place to sit but what she saw stunned her...

"Armaan?!"

Without a word, Sid turned back to go into the resort...without a thought her hand reached out for Sid's arm...

He was back...why? Why now? Why now when she had moved on? Her heart ached for him...pitied him...as he walked toward them with a smile on his face. 

Sid still had his back toward Armaan as he approached them...

"Riddhima!"

Armaan stepped forward to hug her but instead of letting go of Sid's arm...she moved toward it and hugged it tightly...as if it was a shield.

There was a silence for few minutes...none of them said anything...it was as if somebody had suddenly dropped dead...or maybe somebody really had.

"Riddhima...is...is...something wrong?" Armaan tried to smile the smile he was smiling few minutes ago but failed miserably

"You left me...!" She didn't want to cry but she couldn't stop the tears from flowing...

"Oh...so you're mad at me...Basket come on...I am sorry...I just wanted to protect you...but now I am okay...we can be together again!" Armaan sighed in relief...she was just mad...right?

"You left me because you wanted to protect me from the reality...but what about the reality that I had to go through after I was left...alone...stranded!" she wiped her tears as Sid continued to look toward the resort with a expressionless look.

"I said I am sorry...but things will be okay now...I promise!"

"A sorry doesn't make a dead person alive!"

"What do you mean basket? Who is dead...?"

"Not basket...I am not your basket...because your basket is dead!"

"Riddhima...let's go somewhere and talk about this...everything will be okay!"

"Nothing will be okay...because everything was okay before you came back...!"

"Riddhima...."

"Mrs. Riddhima Siddhant Modi!"

Sid turned back to look at his wife who still had tears rolling down her eyes...while Armaan looked at both of them in shock...and then....

He started laughing...

"Basket...I love that! You want to take revenge from me right? You're not married...damn that's good! You're not married...you're not married!" Armaan's laughter died as he noticed the serious expression on the faces of the couple in front of him.

It was true...it was true...she was married...she had moved on...why did she move on...he couldn't take it anymore and walked backwards expecting her to run toward him. But when she didn't...he turned back and walked away...

He finally walked away from her life...the life she wanted to share with him...no...the life that she was sharing with Sid...her husband...her reality...

"Riddhima...you shouldn't have done that...you..."

"No...Mr. Siddhant Modi...you shouldn't have!"

Sid was beyond shock to see Riddhima crying as she looked at him with a pain stricken expression...

"You shouldn't have...you shouldn't have decided on your own what is good for me and what isn't...you shouldn't have put me in a situation where I would have to choose...because you should have known what my choice is!" the arm she was holding till now was suddenly let go...as she moved back from him.

"I promised you no more lies...I promised you to reunite you with your love...I..."

"Before our marriage...you promised me to reunite me with Armaan before our marriage!"

"You were forced into this relationship..."

"That's what I thought before I realized what was happening...I chose this..."

"You don't need to be in this relationship..."

"I want to be in this relationship..."

"No, you don't! You don't want to be with me...you don't have to be with me..."

"Are you telling me to reject you because you don't want me to be with you?"

"If that will make you make the right decision...then yes!"

"You really need to see the reality..."

"This is my reality...not yours!"

"What makes you say that?"

"Because you don't love me...you don't trust me!"

"Siddhant..."

Riddhima placed her hand on his shoulder which he shrugged off with childish stubbornness...

"I don't know what love means..."

"Love is when you sacrifice your happiness for the happiness of your love!"

"I've been through this before..."

Riddhima looked at him shock...

"She said that I didn't love her...because I didn't know what love really meant...she left me...you'll leave me too...you'll say that I don't really love you...you'll reject me too!"

"This was never about me and Armaan...was it? This was about you...all along!"

"See now I am the bad one..."

"You can never be bad..."

"But..."

"I want to spend my whole life with you...I may not love you just yet...but I want to love you...I want to...Sid!"

Sid didn't say anything and just went to sit on the steps...looking ahead...

"That's our relationship..."

Silence

"Our life is like that horizon right over there...it is never ending...I am not staying with you because I have to...I am staying because I want to..."

"But why?"

"Because I think I am started to like a very cute doctor...who is very stubborn but a really nice person at heart..."

"Armaan is really nice too..."

"He...he is...but what we had...what we wanted...it's not there anymore...I am not going to say that I don't love him...I love him, Sid...but that love...I don't know...but I don't feel the same kind of emotion anymore...I wanted to move on...and I have!"

"What about him?"

"I know him...he loves me a lot..."

"See you both love each other..."

"But not in the same way anymore...he has a place in my heart...he always will...but that place is nothing compared to the place that I have for you...Sid...don't worry about Armaan...he'll get over it...it will take time...maybe longer than it took me...but one can't change what has been done. And what has been done is that we have all moved ahead in our lives...I am happy...happy in this marriage...sad for him...but I am happy to have you! He'll find somebody too...I am sure he will...because that's life!"

When Sid didn't reply...Riddhima rested her head on his shoulder...she didn't want to get up and leave...she wanted to stay...she was tired of running from the reality...she chose this...she wanted this and she'll make sure that this works out...unlike her relationship with Armaan.

She will always love Armaan...but she knew that things had changed...her love for him had changed...it wasn't the same anymore...

Nothing was the same anymore...

She didn't know how long they sat there...but eventually she felt a hand go around her shoulder...

Reality is not always what we want it to be...it's unpredictable...but it's not always bad...

Everything happens for a reason...and it depends on us to decide if it is a good or a bad reason...

She had decided...