Swaron FF: Living the dream - Page 85

Hey guys. Long time, no see, huh? I know it's been ages since I've updated. But in my defence, I really was extremely busy and I've written this update in a bit of a rush so pardon me if it isn't up to my usual standard or your usual expectations. Well, without further irritating you, here's the next update. And yeah, thanks a LOT for the extremely flattering comments. Really helped me in writing this FF.

Chapter 26

"Harry was left to ponder in silence the depths to which girls would sink to get revenge."
-- J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Two weeks later

Well, a lot had changed in the past two weeks. She thought.

For one, Kankshita was now going to live with her permanently. All it had taken was one phone call.

She had called up her father's lawyer and had told him about the situation. He had confirmed that you did have to be at least 21 to adopt. Damn India and its laws!

But just as quickly he had come up with a solution. She couldn't adopt Kankshita but her uncle sure could.

"I'll handle it." The lawyer had said. And handle it, he did.

He spoke to her uncle and her uncle agreed to it. Though Sharon insisted that Kankshita would stay with her. It's not like they were short of money.

And then came the question of her education. It didn't strike her earlier but now it appeared to be singularly bothering. Surprisingly, Swayam was the one who had come up with a solution- she could be sent to the St. Louis primary school.

That being decided she didn't lose another second and two days later Kankshita was a student of the St. Louis Primary School.

Speaking of Swayam though, his behavior was yet another thing that had changed in the past two weeks. He seemed distant nowadays and when prompted he would claim that nothing was wrong with him. Clearly, he was a big fat liar. But no matter how much she persisted, he wouldn't tell her what was going on.

But that wasn't the most disturbing thing about him nowadays. Not only was he clamming up, but he was also distancing himself from her. She had noticed that he refrained from touching her as much as possible. She had purposely tried to touch him a couple of times but he would not-so discreetly sidle away from her. And that drove her crazy to no end.

Of course, it did cross her mind as to why was she affected so much by this. She realized that she missed his touch. His undivided attention. His intimacy. She didn't know how much she missed it until she felt its absence. She had gotten used to it. Had taken it for granted. But now she craved for it.

What never crossed her mind was that she may have fallen in love with him. That thought still remained foreign. It's not like the thought eluded her mind. Her heart constantly shouted that fact at her mind. But the barriers that she had created or had gotten created themselves never allowed her to acknowledge the love he had for her or the love she had for him. She felt that she had had her heart broken enough to last her a lifetime. Every time someone she loved died they would leave behind a humongous pile of hurt and pain that she had to deal with all on her own. And she was tired now. Tired of dealing with it again and again especially since it refused to fade away. It remained as huge as ever.

Of course, the fact that it was already too late never struck her. She had already fallen in love with him and there was absolutely nothing she could do about it.

But she still feared that if she allowed herself to acknowledge the love that they shared, the pain, when he would leave her, would seem all the more painful after that brief moment of hope and happiness. And she didn't think she could take it.

So she chose to ignore it, avoid it. Live with the agony of it all. Because she knew that this agony would seem like nothing compared to the pain she would feel when he left her. And she was convinced that he would leave her.

Everbody leaves.

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So he thought that he could just carry on with it and she would never find out about it! How dare he! He was meant to be with her and there he was gallivanting across the countryside with that pathetic little loser!

She grabbed the first thing that she could lay her hands on, which happened to be an ancient Roman vase, and smashed it on the wall of her bedroom, shattering the one-of-a-kind vase into millions of fragments.

She had followed him the other day and had felt such intense anger when she found out that he was hanging around with her- that little manipulative bitch. He was supposed to be falling in love with her before that skank had swooped in and taken him away from her!

"He is mine!" She said, glaring at her reflection in the mirror. A tall, brunette with a pale face and skinny legs, wearing a mini-skirt and a strapless top flaunting her thin assets stared back at her. Her bony face was contorted with unmasked rage and her black eyes were narrowed into slits, spitting fire.

Born into a rich family and being the only daughter of her over ambitious parents, Chantel Kulkarni was used to getting everything she wanted. Nobody denied her anything. She had flaunted her wealth and her beauty in the hopes of getting into various popular cliques in her college. But her oh-so-charming personality drove the students away. She had learnt a bit of a dance, hoping that would help her in her quest for popularity. But nobody had really given her a chance to do so. That is until now. Now she was a part of the college dance team and she was going to get the attention that she had always wanted. The team members would sooner or later accept her and so would Swayam. At least that's what she had thought until that bloody nobody had taken away the thing she had wanted the most- Swayam.

Well, if she thinks that she is going to get away with this, she is in for a huge shock! She thought, maliciously. I'm going to destroy that piece-of-garbage and Swayam will be mine. Like he is meant to be. Nobody is going to come between us! Especially not Sharon!

Her face had now rearranged itself to give way to a smirk and her eyes flashed with the thirst for revenge.

____________________________

Knock, knock.

She opened the door to reveal Swayam, with a fake smile plastered on his face.

As if she wouldn't notice!

She felt a sudden urge to slap him just to remove that irritatingly non-genuine smile from his face. But she somehow controlled this somewhat irrational instinct and instead moved aside to let him in. She noticed that she had begun feeling quite anxious and annoyed in his presence, as if he was doing something wrong.

He was going to babysit Kankshita today as she had to do something important today.

"Hey." He said, broadening that stupid, fake smile, somehow making it more genuine.

"Hey!" she responded, a little grumpily.

"What happened?" he asked, interpreting her grumpy mood.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She declared. If he was going to keep things from her, then she would do the same. He isn't the only one who has the right to act infuriating.

He was about to say something when Kankshita bounded from the guestroom (which had now become her room) and came and hopped straight into his open arms.

She thought about how well they had bonded over the past few weeks. Their relationship was more antagonistic than anything and they continuously spat jibs at each other. Yet she could feel a certain affection between them. He treated her like a little sister and she was just fond of his put-on stupidness. Which was ironical or maybe quite appropriate, given the fact that she was way too smart for her own age. Or maybe she liked him because he continuously fed her with chocolates and ice-creams.

As for her, Sharon had come to love Kankshita more than she thought she ever could. She had never wanted a younger sister or even a sibling for that matter but now when she had Kankshita she couldn't imagine it any other way. She was the only family she had left.

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"Hey Kanky!" said Swayam, his smile becoming more genuine by the second.

"Don't call me that!" she pouted.

"Why not?"

"Because it sounds stupid and immature!" she said.

"As opposed to your personality?" he said, sarcastically.

"Yes. I'm too smart to go by the name of Kanky." She said, disregarding his sarcasm.

"Well then what name do you think would justify your smartness?" he asked.

"Marie Curie would be nice." She said.

He laughed hard at that.

"I'm quite serious." She said, taking offense at his laughter.

"Right." He said, still sniggering a little.

Sharon by now had taken her bag and her scarf and turned towards them.

"Right. So I'll be back in an hour or so. Are you sure you'll be able to handle everything?" she asked.

"Of course!" he said.

"I wasn't talking to you." Said Sharon, while Kankshita laughed in the background.

Swayam just stuck his tongue out at them.

"Remember, no ice-cream, no chocolates and no burning down the house!" she said.

"Yes MOM!" they said, unanimously, rolling their eyes.

She thwacked them both on the head and left.

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She looked at her reflection in the mirror and took in a deep breath.

The music started right on cue and raising her arms she started twirling. Her twirls gained momentum with each change in the tempo of the music before finally she slowed down to a stop.

Then she set about covering the entire rehearsal hall as she moved swiftly on her foot pirouetting with the elegance of a swan. She pranced around letting her body answer to the music and letting her soul flow with the rhythm.

She did a clean, crisp cartwheel before she jumped into the air and after a clean mid-air twirl landed effortlessly on the floor.

She danced till she couldn't dance any more. Each second her heart thumping in sync with her moves and her smile gracing her expressive face, mirroring the happiness and the peace that she felt. Her hair danced its own dance as if it had a life of its own. And her eyes twinkled with pure bliss and pride.

Finally she could dance again.

For the past two weeks she had been coming everyday at 6:00 p.m. sharp to once again pursue her dream- dance. And after 14 days of self-help talks and motivational speeches and doing a few, small steps every day, she had finally managed to do a routine, from start to end, without once flinching.

She had once again started living the dream.

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She was pacing in her living room in acute aggravation.

She had had enough! This needed to stop. He had to tell her what was going on with him. She knew it was eating him from the inside and she couldn't bear to see him like this.

It had been two hours since he had left her, once again almost ignoring her presence.

He had barely spoken four words to her throughout the day. And this aloof behaviour of his was driving her mad. She had been so happy, so ecstatic when she had come back from the rehearsal hall, eager to tell him that she could dance again, that she was his mystery dancer. But she had barely entered the house when he had left, murmuring a faint goodbye. Dance was a big part of her life and she so desperately wanted to share it with him. But here he was, acting like a complete jackass, barely acknowledging her presence.

What the hell is wrong with him? She thought. And why the hell won't he tell her? Had she done something that had offended him so much? If she had why wouldn't he tell her?

"Ahhh!!!!" she shouted and immediately went quiet when she realized that Kankshita was sleeping in her room.

She wondered why the hell she couldn't control her temper.

She had learned to control it, hadn't she? Then what on Earth was this?

When she couldn't find a satisfying answer she felt her temper once again get the better of her.

That's it! She thought, before picking up her cell phone and calling Swayam.

"Come over here, right NOW!" she shouted when he picked up her call.

And then without waiting for an answer she ended the call.

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In the northern part of the town

She saw him walking casually towards her like the sloppy little, sleazeball that he was. He was wearing a hoodie with the hood up and a pair of washed out jeans. She once again wondered if he was the ideal man for the job. But she had heard of the event that had taken place at the party and she knew if anyone had any inclination for this job, it was him.

She was waiting for him under the broken streetlamp, which kept lighting up whenever it felt like, next to an alley. His features flickered in the blinking light making it hard for her to properly see him. But she had seen him before and she knew he wasn't much to look at.

Getting straight to business, she said-

"You know what you have to do?"

"Yes. I got the message loud and clear on the phone. Why did you want to meet up then, sweetheart?" he said, a dirty smile playing on his lips.

"Just to make sure that you have enough motivation." She said, taking out a bundle of cash from the inner pocket of her overcoat.

"Oh trust me! I am motivated enough!" he said, his face turning uglier than it already was as anger and revenge made their way on it.

But he took the bundle of cash anyways.

She raised her eyebrows at him and he just shrugged.

"You know what to do!" she said, before turning away and zooming away in her car, leaving him to disappear back into the shadows.

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Originally posted by: marauder

Res.

Originally posted by: Sawyer_Tom

😲 Marauder, I've never seen you reserve a post before.

Originally posted by: Savage

ME!

Edited -

Because I dun keep this one pending!

So, woman, seriously? It was like one TV-serial-antique after another. Swayum keeping things from Sharon and Chantel deciding to play it dirty on Sharon and well!? How typical of you! Even these parts have been written well, though, saved your grace.

Then we have the parts that I like.

Sharon's dance, it was so absolutely eloquent to read! As a matter of fact, I feel the exact same things once I am through my routine of dancing, whenever I do manage it. It feels ecstatic on a level that's so hard to explain. The effect wears off but the impression somehow remains. Majestically penned! 👏

Now, the part that I like but makes me figuratively twinge a bit.

Why does Swayum have to be Kankshita's elder brother? I mean, Kankshita wants one, that dun mean you make Swayum the elder brother. I thought I told you that?! Anyway, what's done is done and I is reminded, no brother or otherwise idiot is the kind your Swayum is. So, sure - let's just say my twinging ends here and I really did enjoy the whole the Kankshita-Swayum bit and with Sharon witnessing it. It was very well penned. Also, 'Kanky' is mad, really, good you clarified.

This sure is rushed but you'll come around. I mean, I obviously like it very much but you get the drift, don't you? Lastly, you never not live up to my expectations.

Love,

Kanks

Originally posted by: Sawyer_Tom

😲 Marauder, I've never seen you reserve a post before.

Originally posted by: Savage

Dude, what are you, blind with two working eyes? 🤓

I said, 'You never not live up to my expectations.'