It's more than 1600 words so please be kind!!
To New Beginnings- part 3
Sitting in Virat's room with him not in it was worse than sitting in his room with him, if that's possible. Without him, all his belongings just seemed alien. His favorite armchair looked incomplete sans him, the laptop stared into space as if looking for direction and the treadmill was weeping for his company. She'd often surreptitiously stared at him while he worked out in his room, sweat glistening on his honey colored torso, hair falling on his forehead, brows furrowed in determination, he looked almost like a warrior. But that was most likely due to her wild imagination and his complex exercise positions combined with her kinky fantasies. Sitting amongst things that were screaming for his attention, including herself, she decided to take matters into her own hands. These inanimate objects couldn't do anything but she could help herself.
***
"Virat!"
If he was startled by her sudden appearance he didn't show it. "what happened? Did you need something?"
"Not really", she replied, the apprehension in her voice clearly noticeable.
"Do you want a moment alone? With your parents? I know this must be tough for you, it's okay if you want privacy."
If she was startled by his memory of the time she spent at his house in Mussoorie, before their siblings' wedding, she didn't show it. "I actually wanted to talk to you. I'm sorry; I don't know how all of this happened. One minute I was sitting and plotting how to get you back together with Maya and the next thing I know is that we're getting married. And I can't do a thing to change it." she almost whispered the last part, as if unable to continue on but not crying either.
He smirked, mischief visible in his eyes, "Finally! Finally the bandariya admitted to plotting to get me and maya back together. Tell me, honestly. You were the one who asked her to act the way she did, right? You were the one who wrote that letter, weren't you?" Before she had the chance to reply he already knew the answer. Maya could never have put others before herself, never have written all those things. She was selfish and all those actions represented selflessness personified. They represented Manvi.
"You know what, you ungrateful snake! I really thought that she liked you and wanted to get you back. Even bua thought so. So, I helped her out a little, that's it!!" she all but screeched.
"Really? That's what you thought? That I was in love with her?" he asked her, bewildered by the ridiculous ideas she'd formed in her head.
"No, I thought you were still in love with her since you were clearly not over her. You hated the idea of love, didn't like even so much as looking at another girl and buaji just kept saying how much you were in love with Maya, how your break-up broke your heart and your spirit. You even stopped singing, Virat! What did you expect me or anyone else to think?" she screamed, her patience with him reaching its breaking point.
"Yes, it broke my heart and my spirit but the only reason I wasn't able to get over it was because I never got closure, I never got a chance to give Maya a piece of my mind and tell her I had fallen out of love with her. It's true she still affected me, but I was not-I am not still in love with her. Do you understand that?" he shouted this time, not pausing for breath, not caring who heard. He just wanted to make her understand what he felt. In his anger, he didn't even realize when he had her backed up against the wall, clutching to the skirt of her lehenga as if her life depended on it, a questioning expression on her face as her eyes bore into his as if trying to ascertain whether he was being honest or not.
"I don't love her." he whispered, almost pleading her to believe him. But she was still unconvinced, "How is that possible?" she whispered back, as if accepting the fact that he didn't love Maya was more painful than accepting he did. "it doesn't make any sense! You love her, you have to love her. You have to, you have to!" she spoke vehemently, more to herself than him, as she pushed herself off the wall, away from him and walked towards the railing, breathing deeply and holding on to it for some much needed support.
He gasped as realization dawned upon him and he finally understood what had to be done.
***
This couldn't be right; he was in love with Maya. That's why he'd done all those things, that's why she'd done all those things!
She felt a reassuring hand on her shoulder and turned around to look at him, "Hey, it's okay. It happens." He said cupping her face in his hands like it was made of glass, a complete 360 from his actions just a minute ago. "Feelings are complicated and confusing, not to mention messy. We can't even understand our own feelings at times, especially when it comes to love. How could you or anyone correctly guess mine?! "
"Of course, I can guess feelings accurately!" she replied confidently, striving to get into her bandariya mode again, trying not to get affected by the feel of his callous fingers on her cheeks.
"Sorry to shatter your illusions, Salim-Javed, but you couldn't even estimate your own feelings."
"What do you mean?" she said, suddenly wary of where this conversation seemed to be heading, still trying to avoid thinking about how had gripped her face in his gentle hold and what that did to her insides.
"You said you were sorry about marrying me but you weren't. Manvi, you and I both know that you never would've married me had you not wanted to, considering Jeevika bhabhi was against this marriage. Admit it, you wanted to marry me, Manvi. And you're not sorry for it. You only believe that I'm in love with Maya because it's easy for you to do that, as then you don't have to face your feelings about me." He smirked, his voice was dangerously low and Manvi couldn't decide what scared her more, what he was saying, the way he was saying it or the way their bodies were pressed against each other's.
She was flustered and her face hot, she stammered, "I'. That's' That's just preposterous!! Your family forced me. One fine day, dadaji and buaji came up with this brilliant idea of how I'm the one for you, I am so important to you, we would be great together as we are friends and understand each other really well. What crap?! And beeji agrees to it, like seriously? Seriously? And I'm just supposed to follow what the elders decide; only di understood my plight."
"Manvi, did you even once try to reject the proposal? No, you didn't. And why is that? It's because dadaji and buaji are right, we do share something special and don't you dare try to deny it. You text me every night before sleeping and as soon as you wake up, you act like it's world war 3 when I miss your calls, we talk when we're happy and when we're sad. All day I wait for your messages, go mad if you don't pick up my calls, I want to see your face every day even if it is on Skype. And what's more noteworthy is that I want to see you every day for the rest of my life and not on Skype, I want to sleep every night and wake up every morning next to you and not to your texts, I don't ever want to miss a call from you because I want you to be beside me forever, I want to share every moment of my life with you, if you'll let me. I love you, Manvi and I hope that one day very soon you'll realize that you love me too."
Stunned, she stood there listening to him pour his heart out, immersed in every word he uttered. All the information suddenly too much for her absorb, she moved away from him once again that evening, just trying to come to terms with the simple truth that he loved her. He loved her. Manvi clutched onto her heart as if squeezing it would make it blurt out what she really felt for Virat. Come on, you traitor, tell me how I really feel, tell me this isn't true. Tell me I don't love him, that it's simply an arranged marriage. Say it!
Virat turned Manvi around, making her face him. He said smilingly, pointing to how she was holding onto her heart, "I don't think you're going to get any answers there." And he slowly took her hand in his and held it against his own heart. Manvi felt his heartbeat, more hasty than hers and then gradually she felt his heartbeat slow down along with her own. She held her other hand against her own hand as if to confirm what she was feeling. It was in that moment that Manvi recognized the bond that they shared, their hearts were beating in synchronization and she looked into his eyes to see pure adoration. She realized that this was it; she could stand her for till the end of time and live this moment. "I think I love you too", she said, a little surprised at how she'd never understood what was so clear now, ever before. "I know you do", he whispered as he bent down to embrace the woman he was going to spend eternity with.
***
Okay, that was the end. Hope you guys weren't disappointed, especially Shiv. I know you wanted me to write about the sexual tension and I tried but then it just didn't seem right. Also, a lot of you guys thought that there's some very big twist/mystery behind why Manvi and Virat got married but it was never so, I'd always envisioned this was how it was done, very simply. Sorry again if that disappointed you. 😲
Also, this time the update was late because I felt like I wasn't getting a proper response and only when it reached 10 pages yesterday did I gear up to write again so I guess you'll have to thank missingremix for this update. And newbie's please start commenting or atleast liking rather than just sending buddy requests, it's just plain rude!! 😡
Let me know your views/opinions'. And any new concepts are welcome 😃
Edited by booksfreak07 - 14 years ago
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