*::.~FF Dostana~.::* OLD CHAP PUT UP AGAIN - Page 56

love,

Pooja

the update is fab.... I love it...

*.::Chapter 21::.*

'Rohan! Pick up your damn socks! YUCK!'

'I am tired.'

'What tired!? Pick them up or else!'

'What?!' Rohan came out of the bedroom and looked at Tashu, 'what huh?'

'Or else, I will burn them,' she answered with a menacing glare.

'No you wouldn't.'

'You want to test me?'

'Tashu...No.'

'Tashu picked up his socks with a hanger, 'then pick them up and wash them!' she threw the sock at Rohan, who looked at her and was about to say something when the door bell rang.

Tashu looked at the watch, it was eleven at night, 'iss waqt?' she started walking towards the door.

'Nahi!' Rohan stopped her, 'agar koi mugger -murderer hua toh?'

She looked at him suppressing a laugh, 'Tum daar rahe ho!?'

'N...Nahi, bus, you know.'

'Rohan!' she went and checked through the peep hole, and was surprised to see the man on the other side of the door. She quickly opened the door and asked with a concerned expression, 'Kya hua?'

'I hate YOU!'

'Kya? Ab maine kya kiya?!'

'you...' he pointed his finger at her, as he narrowed his eyes.

'are you drunk?!'

'No. But it is YOUR entire fault!'

'Tu? Tu yahan kya kar raha hai?' asked Rohan as he came to the door.

'Teri girlfriend ka murder karne aaya hoon.'

'Kya? Tashu!' he looked at her, 'ab tumne kya kiya?'

'Main wahi pooch rahi hoon, Hua Kya Devdas part 3!'

'3?' Rohan asked with an irritated expression.

'Haan Rohan, Dev.d was part 2.'

Rohan looked at her, like he was going to kill her, 'Seriously!? You are cracking jokes when he is...'

'Guys hello! Main abhi bhi yahan hoon.'

'Par tu yahan kyun hai?' Tashu asked again.

'It is because of you, you were the one who put things in my mind, with your silly little "You both are bound to fall in love" crap!' Shantanu looked at her and narrowed his eyes again, 'I will kill you!'

'But why? I just said it!'

'It came true!'

'What?!'

He walked in pushing Rohan and Tashu out of the way, as he sat on the sofa, 'Rohan my man, Can I have some scotch?'

Rohan went to get him some, while Tashu sat next to Shantanu and held his hand in a supportive manner, 'kya hua? What has come true?'

'haan , what did she say? and what has come true?' asked Rohan as he sat next to them on a chair and handed Shantanu his drink.

Shantanu took a deep breath and then took a sip of his drink, 'this scotch is awful, and I will tell you what happened, and then...' he turned to Tashu, 'then I will murder you.'

'You can kill me later, ab bata kya hua?'

::::::::::::::::::::::::

'kya hua?'

'Nothing, I am just...a bit nervous.'

'stop fidgeting! You look fabulous.'

'Well that bit was clear the minute you looked at me. You had the expression of a boy who finally got his lollypop.'

'Lollypop? Khanak you are not a lollypop, you are fine dark chocolate.'

'Shut up Khandelwal.'

'phir tear kya hoga Khanak, will you be able to survive without my words of wisdom.'

Khanak laughed, as she got out of the car, 'I will try my best...'

'na...you won't survive, you need me Khanak.'

She started laughing again, as Shantanu walked towards her after getting out of the car himself, he handed the keys to the vale, as he turned to her, 'Don't laugh Kapoor, you can't deny it with your laugh, that you need me.'

'Fine, I accept, I desperately need you for my very existence, fine?' she said as she wrapped her arm around his.

'good, would have been better, if you wouldn't have asked "fine?" in the end.'

'Well we can't have everything can we now?'

They both walked in, and posed a little as the cameras flashed in rapid succession. They then made their way, smiling as they continued talking.

'So am I to act like a friend or a boyfriend?' Shantanu asked.

'what is the difference you flirt nonstop even when you are playing the role of a friend.'

Shantanu smiled, 'the difference is, I will be a lot more touchy, hands on the waist kind of a thing, if I have to act like a boyfriend, giving an assumption of something, but in actuality we are just friends...'

'Well now I am confused which one to choose, but I still have to ask why are you asking me this?'

'It's a thing, you are respected a bit more if people think you have important connections in social circles and if people think you are my girlfriend then...'

Khanak stopped him, 'Shaan, I don't need that.'

'You sure?'

'yes, I am because I know who is coming towards us.'

'what?'

'Khanak beta!'

Shantanu turned around at to see who that shrill voice belonged to, and he was surprised to see who it was, 'you know her?' he whispered into Khanak's ear as the woman was still a few feet away.'

'yes, unfortunately.' She whispered back, after which she took a few steps towards the old woman and kissed her on both cheeks in the classic page 3 manner.

'Khanak, you look lovely! Dior I presume?' asked the woman looking at Khanak's dress.

'No, Valentino.'

'Ah! Even better, and who may this young man be? She turned to Shantanu.

Shantanu smiled as he took the woman's hand and kissed it in a Victorian manner, with a slight bow, 'Shantanu Khandelwal.'

The old woman smiled, 'Pleasure meeting you Mr. Khandelwal, I am Damini Kochar, Khanak's grandmother.'

'Grandmother?' Shantanu repeated as he looked at Khanak, wondering why had she not told him that.

Damini turned to Khanak as well, 'I see you haven't told Mr Shantanu about me. You still trying that "I want to make it on my own without the Kochar name" business like your mother?!' she sighed, as if tired, as she turned to Shantanu, 'I have told her countless times, I can open a publication house for her, she can be editor, make her own magazine, but no, she says she wants to climb the ladder on her own, satisfied with that mediocre job!'

'well ma'am with all due respect, I think , I know Khanak is fabulous at what she does, and it is something to be admired in a person, the passion to do something on their own, without help.'

He looked at Khanak, trying to make out of she was furious at him for telling her grandmother off, but she was mouthing "thanks", he smiled at her, and winked, as if trying to say "anytime".

Damini looked at her granddaughter and then at Shantanu, 'well I like him! The last time a man had the guts to tell me this was your father...' she told Khanak, who was smiling looking at Shaan, 'have to say,' Damini continued following her granddaughter gaze, 'good choice Khanak, you have a good boyfriend.'

'Ah! Nani he is not my boyfriend, just my friend.' Khanak said quickly.

'Well, that's odd, why wouldn't you want to date him?'

Khanak turned red with embarrassment.

'Well?' asked Damini again, 'girl, your mother at least had the sense of dating the man who defended her, I suggest you learn that from her, the rest you can forget.'

Shantanu didn't take his eyes off of Khanak, who it seemed was making a huge effort to not retort back.

'And Mr. Khandelwal, it was a pleasure meeting you! Will see you again, but for now, I see Eleanor Sherman, she flew from New York for this thing. Which reminds me, Khanak do tell your boss that I said-this ball is a huge success.'

Khanak nodded as her grandmother walked away.

'URGH! She is an infuriating woman!'

'you can say that again!' said Shantanu as he held her by the waist, 'you okay, that stuff she said about your mother...'

Khanak nodded, 'yes well... Mom and she never really looked eye-to-eye, mom actually forbade her to come to our place, a year before...' she went silent.

'Forget about that! Why didn't you tell me you were her granddaughter! And what else are you hiding?!'

Khanak smiled, 'well as per recent evidence do I need to tell you why I didn't tell you about her?'

Shantanu gave it a second, 'good point, and what else are you hiding? The name Kochar sounds familiar.'

'Well, did you know my mother was- Naina Kochar, the novelist? And My father his name is Karan Kapoor, he is high flying industrialist.'

'Hmm... Well firstly I love your mother's novels, read them all, and' he whispered, 'this is classified information Kapoor, if you say this to anyone I will simply deny it, 'he looked around then whispered into her ear, 'I cried reading the last one.'

Khanak looked at him with a smile, 'yes...she was brilliant.'

Shantanu smiled back, 'And secondly, can I get your father's autograph?'

Khanak laughed, 'what?'

'No really, the man is fabulous! The way he...'

'No Khandelwal!'

'Why not, I am a fan! He is to me, what Shahrukh is to you! Minus the part, where you are head over heels for him ever since you saw Kuch Kuch hota hai, of course.'

'No Khandelwal!'

'Oh! Come on Kapoor!'

'Khandelwal! Let's go get drinks...'

'I hate you...' Shaan muttered as he followed her, his shoulders drooped.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::

'I don't understand why do you hate me?! And want to kill me? Till now what I have heard is the normal Shaan-Khanak stuff. Plus Damini Kochar, is one of the most infuriating women ever, Khanak always disliked her- met her once, that was the time I was going through my rebel phase, and was visiting Khanak in Mumbai. The disgusted look she gave me, seeing my hair extensions! wow!'

Rohan stopped his girlfriend, 'Tashu, let the man speak!'

'sorry...'

'It is okay. I need to use the bathroom anyway; you can babble for another two minutes Tashu.'

'Thanks Shantanu.'

When Shantanu was safely out of ear Rohan turned to Tashu and hissed, 'what did you say to him!'

'Nothing.' She said avoiding his gaze.'

'Really! Why am I having a tough time believing you!'

'well...I might have said something around the lines of, you guys perfect for one another and you guys are bound to fall in love...' she said in a hurry and got up quickly as Rohan came after her.

'You did WHAT?!'

'Rohan, I just wanted to help.'

'I told you to stay out of it!'

They circled around the table, 'Rohan, calm down, he hasn't even said what happened yet! For all we know you need to murder Damini Kochar and not me!'

'what are you guys doing?'

They both looked at Shaan and smiled, 'we thought it's be better sitting and talking here, than on the sofa's' said Tashu.

Shantanu sat down, as he whispered 'whatever...'

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

'What -whatever?'

'he messaged me that he isn't coming today!'

'who?'

'Aditya! Who else?'

'Oh...' Shantanu looked around and hoped that was the end of the conversation, but it wasn't as Khanak looked at him and asked.

'Do men find it sexy when we, women, play hard to get, or is it annoying?'

Shantanu thought about it for a second, while chanting, "she is a friend, and I need to help her" in his mind, 'it... depends, but actually, we all want things we can't have. It presents a challenge, so no, we love it when a woman treats us like trash!'

Khanak burst out laughing, 'trash?! And here I am always the nice one.'

'Ah...but we love that even more, you see, with the evil ones, they treat us like trash, so we might lose interest. Let's face it, who likes their confidence shattered twice a day, by a girl. But the nice ones , they flirt, and they tease, it so much more alluring and,' he looked at her, his eyes suddenly filled with intensity, ' sexy...'

Khanak was looking at the crowd, sipping her drink; she licked her lips, not aware that Shaan was staring at her. He looked at her, drinking the contours of her profile with his eyes, he felt the same feeling of warmth develop inside him, that he had suppressed. His heart beat faster in his chest, as a sudden urge to touch her erupted inside him.

She looked back at him, he turned to the bartender and asked him for another round of scotch.

'Shantanu, do you think... forget it.'

'what Kapoor?'

Khanak took a second as 'do you think someone can love me, like really love- love me?' she then looked away, feeling foolish, 'forget it, I am going mad! Just a weak moment.'

'hey!' Shaan turned to her, 'it's not foolish Kapoor! And it's not weak... we all wonder at a point in our life, whether anyone can love us or not. And expressing concern doesn't mean you are weak! And plus, you can never be foolish to me, even when you do, do a foolish thing...'

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::

'AWW!'

'what the!'

'she has finally lost it!'

Tashu had leaped out of her chair and hugged Shantanu startling him and embarrassing Rohan, who had his head buried in his palms, as he kept on muttering, 'she has finally lost it...'

She kissed Shantanu on the cheek, 'I love you for saying that! You know she very, extremely rarely opens up like that! And you have to tread carefully; otherwise she masterly changes the damn subject! And what you said,' Tashu held his face, 'was PERFECT!' she kissed his forehead.

'Okay woman, get off me now, your boyfriend is in the room too!'

Rohan looked at Tashu, 'now that your bout...well-mania, is over, let the man continue!'

'sorry...'

'Now where was I?'

'foolish thing.'

'Oh yes, thank you Tashu.'

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

'even when you do, do a foolish thing.'

Khanak smiled, 'thanks...'

'well, don't thank me yet, I haven't answered your question.'

Khanak smiled, and looked at him flirtatiously as she asked, 'so?'

Shantanu stepped closer to her, and took her hand in his, he looked deep into her eyes, 'Khanak you are a beautiful, charming woman. Not just that, but you are also sweet, kind and an excellent human being. Everything about you- your smile, the way your eyes light up like bulbs, when you see something or someone you love, to the weird and horrifying way your hair is all over the place when you wake up and crave coffee like an addict, to even your annoying, tom and jerry Pj's- everything about you is...' his thumb made circles o her hand, as he took a second for looking for the right word, he then leaned in, just an inch, and whispered, 'perfect... And any guy in world will be extremely lucky to have your eyes light up when you see him, to know that you love him, with all your heart and soul, to have you in his life. And anyone who misses that opportunity is very unlucky or just demented. So the real question you should be asking is not, can anyone love-love me, because anyone can love you. No the, the real question is- can anyone not love –love you? And the answer to that is- hell no!'

Khanak smiled as at him, as she stared into his eyes unblinking, what she had heard, was the most beautiful thing she had ever heard. She had felt disappointed at Aditya not being there, she was attracted to him, she didn't want to play any games now, and she wanted to tell him that. Aditya not coming had somehow bruised her confidence, and Shantanu, as always had managed, with ease to make her feel special again. She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tight, 'Oh! Shaan what will I ever do without you!'

Shantanu held her tight and snaked his arms around her, loving the feel of her in his arms, he buried his face in her hair, his nose touched the delicate skin of her neck as he whispered, 'that's why I said- you need me to survive.'

They stood there hugging for a few more seconds when an 'Ahem!' disturbed them, they stood away from one another as Khanak smiled seeing who it was, 'I thought you weren't coming...'

'I messaged that to mess with you, I was just running late,' Aditya looked at Shantanu, 'Hi,' he extended his hand to Shaan, 'Aditya Singhania, and you must be, Shantanu Khandelwal, I have heard a lot about you, from Khanak.'

Shantanu smirked as he shook Aditya hand, 'Of course you have, and I hope your beer was good that day.'

Aditya smiled, 'it was marvellous, and well I have been dying to meet you.'

'I can't say the feeling is mutual, didn't hear much about you to be curious to the extent of death.'

Aditya smiled, 'witty, I hope you don't mind me whisking Khanak away, for a minute or two?'

'who am I if Khanak wants to go she can.'

Aditya extended his hand to Khanak, and asked, 'Khanak may I?'

'of course,' Khanak took his hand and smiled at Shantanu as she went with Aditya.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

There was silence, Tashu took Shantanu's hand which had been on the table, and patted it.

Shantanu just smirked, but in a sad manner, as her twirled the last sip of scotch in the glass.

Rohan looked at them as he leaned back in his chair, unsure of what to say to his friend, and not having the heart to say "continue", he dreaded what lay in store for them to hear.

Tashu finally broke the silence, 'please tell me you didn't...'

Shaan looked at her, 'I did...'

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Shantanu followed them.

Aditya took Khanak out of the ballroom and into a small balcony type place. Khanak stood there looking at Aditya, smiling, under his gaze.

She finally spoke, 'I want to tell you something...'

'I do too.'

'well, I- ant to honest and tell you, that- I liked you, like you , am possibly attracted to you. When I did and said all those things I-'

He stopped her from speaking by putting his finger on her lips, 'you wanted me to do something, to make me special and well I have something to confess. Honesty after all is always important. So at the risk of sounding like a stalker-I didn't take the job at trend because I wanted to write articles on fashion, no I took the job, because I knew you worked there. Ever since I met that night at the party, I wanted to know you, I wanted to be close to you. That day you just went away, and well when Simran offered me the job, your face flashed across my eyes and I took the job in a heartbeat.' He took Khanak's hand, 'Khanak I have never felt like this in my life, I really want you in my life. I am falling in love with you, with your smile, your eyes, your witty responses. I am falling in love with the way you,' he tugged her hair behind her ear, 'tug your hair when you are nervous, to the way your play with your pen when you are thinking. I am in love you, and I want to ask you whether you are too?'

Khanak smiled, as she felt herself blush, she looked into his eyes as she whispered her reply, 'I think I am.'

Aditya took her face into his hands, and kissed her.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

'Oh my god!' Rohan was up from his seat, as he paced around the room.

Tashu was still holding Shaan's hand, 'So you want to kill me because, my words made you wonder, made you see her in a different light. But Khanak on the other hand, fell for another guy, not noticing that you are attracted to her...'

Shantanu stopped twirling his scotch and finally gulped down the last sip, then looked at Tashu, and said, 'Pretty much, yes.'

no i am not disappointed..

i was wondering how u will put it .. but it was just perfect.... aditya s the perfect guy for her... but we don like perfects.. do we... we always love the flawed gems like shaan....

khanak .. she is bound to fall for a guy who beleives in serious relationship and sensible like aditya... now the point is... does she actually love him or like the idea of falling in love with him.. that was ur line... read old updates recently.. so now it makes sense here i beleive...

i love ur writing.... even if i read an old update... i see the words then link with the story now.. u r an amazing writer...

u make me like it even if shaan and khanak r seeing somebody else.....

now that shaan s realising.. i am expecting some skeletons to fall out of khanak s closet too.....

ok but still... don make me wait for the next update.. update soon......

Oh poor Shaan.....Oh I want ShaNak together !!😭😭