Posted:
Helloš³
Like always I decided to drop in on the forum for a few seconds and post a new one shot. š I've finally accepted the fact that I suck at updating and that I am better off with my one shots.š
I know I have a few pending stories and I will finish them. Someday !š The thing is that I am a medical student and I really don't have time to write. And I am really sorry for not updating my stories.
This is inspired by a story that I read long back. It's not super romantic but I guess that was the point. š³
In here there is Swalak, Raglak and even Sangini, but ofcourse this is ultimately a Swasan story. I even threw in Kavita, Sahil and Kavya.
Constructive criticism is welcome, so if you fall alseep, please let me know.š
This is an au story primarily based on Swasan and if it makes no sense, you only have my sleep deprived brain to complaint.
Worldwide news is a fictional channel that Robin Sherbatzky woked. How I Met Your Mother fans would know.š
Lastly I typed this whole thing in my phone, so lots of typos and mistakes ahead.
It's super long too.
OS: Almost Perfect
Swara
The first time Swara met Sanskar was when she was just ten years old. She still remembered walking nervously to her new class, worried if she could ever make any new friends. She was new to the city and terribly missed her old school and friends, especially her best friend, Kavya. She absentmindedly twisted the peach colored friendship bracelet on her left hand and furiously wiped her eyes as she started to tear up. Her vision was bleary and she noticed someone was in front of her only when she ran slamming into her. She sat on the floor and wanted nothing more than to tear all her hair out in frustration. So much for a good start, she thought grumpily. So lost was she in her misery, that she failed to note the friendly arm outstretched to help her up. "Are you okay?" That made her look up and she saw two boys of her age. One of them was helping the poor little girl she had knocked down with her and the other had his hand outstretched for her to take.
Swara was never the one to appear weak, she stubbornly refused his hand and stood up herself, brushing away the invisible dust from her uniform. The boy who had held out his arm for her let it down, shrugging lightly. That's when she noticed his eyes, it was nothing extraordinary but those chocolate brown eyes were the most expressive ones she had ever seen. And they were filled with an amount of concern which made her embarrassed. Colour filling her cheeks, she quickly shifted her gaze towards the girl she had knocked down.
"I'm so sorry." She began. "I'm new here and I wasn't watching where I was going and I'm really sorry. Are you hurt?" The girl waved her hand in an act of dismissal, smiling angelically. She looked so beautiful that Swara inhaled sharply. "It's okay. I'm not hurt at all. What about you?"
She asked in a voice that reminded Swara of wind chimes. Seeing the shake of her head in refusal, the girl continued.
"I'm Ragini by the way." She smiled. Swara smiled back tentatively, feeling the first ray of hope she felt since they had moved away.
"I'm Swara."
Ragini was about to say something else when the boy who had helped her get up interrupted.
"Come on Rags, we need to go. We can't be late for practice." He began to tug at her arm and she rolled her eyes muttering to herself.
"Nice meeting you Swara. And stop dragging me Lucky." She called over her shoulders before being dragged away by the boy. Swara sighed to herself. Well, there goes that she thought wryly. She bent down to pick up her bag from the ground when another pair of hands beat her to it. That was when she realized that the chocolate brown eyed boy had not left yet. Embarrassed at having not noticed him, she felt the colour rushing to her face yet again.
"Here."
He handed her the bag. She muttered thanks feeling stupid all of a sudden for a reason she couldn't comprehend. He continued staring at her for a minute while she furiously stared at the floor before heading his way. She saw him pass by her through the corner of her eyes and sighed. So much for her hopes of being friends with them. Slowly starting to walk away, she noticed that now she felt more alone than before. She kept walking carefully avoiding the children around her, determined to get to her class with no more accidents.
"Hey Swara!."
She turned around wondering who was calling out to her when only four people knew her name in this school, and one of them was the Principal. She was stunned to see the chocolate brown eyed boy before her panting slightly. She realized that he must have run all the way after her and felt herself fill with a warm feeling. She looked at him anxiously.
"Ragini, Lucky and I are singing a song for republic day and we were off to practice for a bit before class started."
He started rambling and Swara stared dumbly at him."I was wondering if" his voice started to get nervous and he cleared his throat. "I was wondering if you would like to watch us practice."
Swara felt her lips curving upwards to what probably was the biggest smile she had since they moved.
"Yeah."She eagerly nodded her head. "Yeah, it sounds fun."
The boy in front of her smiled at her, his chocolate brown eyes shining brightly.
"I'm Sanskar."
Sanskar
It was when he was fourteen that Sanskar realized that he liked her. He couldn't honestly figure out how that had happened. All he knew that one day he looked at her and he just knew. It was nothing out of the ordinary, she was sitting beside him chewing on the tip of her pen while working on a maths' equation and suddenly it hit him. He liked this girl, more than a friend. He almost dropped the bottle of ink in his hand in shock.
Swara was the first one to know. Maybe she knew it before he knew it himself, he mused. Though for the life of him, he didn't know how she found out.
They were sitting in the lawn in front of his house, having a picnic. His mom had called out to Lucky telling him that his mom had called. As Lucky strode of to take the call, Swara had turned to him smirking. He raised a brow at her silently.
"So Kavita huh?". Her voice was smug. He was sure his face must have betrayed his shock when he saw her smirk widen. "I don't know what you are talking about." This somehow made her smirk widen even further, if that was even possible.
"Why do you even try Sanskar?" She began in her patronizing voice."You know you suck at lying to me."
He gulped and refused to talk, looking everywhere else but her.
"It's okay you know." Swara said further. "She is nice. I like her. Better her than anyone else I suppose." She shrugged while he continued training his eyes on the grass.
"Not a word of it to anyone." He managed to blurt out. Swara laughed and lightly nudged his hand. "Whatever you say dude."
"That's not enough. You need to promise." He said, finally looking at her.
She rolled her eyes and sighed. "Fine. Your secret is safe with me."
"What secret? What do you mean?"
Both of them turned around to see Lucky standing behind them looking confused.
"What did I miss?" He prodded further, when none of them spoke.
"Nothing Lucky, we were just planning on inviting Ragini and Kavita here next weekend." Swara said smoothly without batting an eyelid. Sanskar was always amazed at how wonderful she was at lying. She was a pro and could get out of any situation quite easily. He, on the other hand, completely sucked at it. Laksh narrowed his eyes.
"That's not it. There is something more. You guys always do this to me. I want to know too." He said, grumpily seating him down.
"It's nothing Lucky. We were just talking about Ragini and Kavita" He said as nonchalantly as he could. But he blushed when he said Kavita's name and both Swara and Lucky noticed. He saw Lucky's raised eyebrows and immediately averted his eyes to the grass yet again. God, why was he behaving like a fool, he wondered furiously. So caught up in his own embarrassment, Sanskar failed to notice that for a second Swara's face fell when he blushed, before she smiled teasingly again.
Swara
When she was sixteen Swara won a music competition for the first time in her life. That was how she met Sahil.
He was one of the finalists and a very fine singer in her opinion, maybe even better than her. They started hanging out. Even though they went to different schools, their houses were near and he would come over to her house in the evenings and they would talk about their mutual passion.
Swara was fascinated by the way Sahil saw music. He saw music in everything. In the light breeze that passed by, in the noises made by her maid in the kitchen, even in the footsteps of her neighbour's very smelly cat. It was the first time Swara met someone with the same madness to music as her. Ragini had almost made it, but she lacked the crazy streak that Swara had. Hence, Swara was ecstatic with the bond she shared with Sahil.
One day they were over at his home listening to dhadak dhadak from Bunty aur Babli when he suddenly reached for her hand. Startled, her heartbeats getting faster, she glanced at him questioningly.
"I really like you Swara." He said with a nervous smile.
On her way back to her house, Swara skipped through the whole way, happily humming to herself.
The next day was Kavita's birthday and she invited Sahil along. Though, when they reached the surprise party that Sanskar had been planning for her, all she could see was Sanskar, Laksh and Ragini sitting in the lawn and there was no sign of a party. Sanskar saw her approaching and lowered his eyes to the ground. One look at Sanskar's face and Swara let go of Sahil's arm to run towards him.
She sat down on the grass beside him. Before she could open her mouth, she spotted Ragini's eyes full of warning. She looked over at her quizzically and Ragini mouthed 'they broke up' to her. Her eyes widened and she silently asked Ragini what had happened. Ragini just shrugged. She looked back at Sanskar and felt her heart break. He looked so vulnerable and his chocolate brown eyes looked so sad that she felt herself starting to tear up. Not wasting a second, she threw her arms around his athletic frame. He leaned onto her much tinier frame and exhaled.
"It's fine." She whispered. "She is the greatest fool on earth if she let you go." And she was going to be very sorry if she decided to attend school tomorrow, she added mentally.
Sanskar sighed sadly, his own arms wrapping around her form. She held on tighter and glanced above his head. Ragini and Laksh were looking at them, their faces filled with an identical expression of melancholy. Ragini cleared her throat and muttered something about getting water before running towards the house while Laksh averted his eyes guiltily and took off after her. Swara though puzzled at their actions was soon distracted by Sanskar gently starting to release her.
"What did I do wrong Shona?"
He wondered out loud and Swara couldn't handle how miserable he sounded.
"Listen to me." She grabbed his hand. Sanskar refused to look at her and she began to tug on his arm until he relented.
Swara smiled brightly at him. "Don't you dare feel sorry for yourself okay. If anyone, you should feel sorry for her. She let you go. You! I mean, who does that? You are Sanskar Maheswari. You are a straight A student, pretty good at sports and you are bloody hot." She ignored the slight burning of her cheeks and continued. "But more than all of that, you are a wonderful person with the biggest heart ever. Don't you dare feel as if it's your fault. Because I assure you, that you really are the best person in this world." Sanskar was now smiling faintly at her.
"Do you really think so?"
"I know so." She replied back and her voice conveyed how much she believed that to be the truth. Sanskar reached for her hand squeezing it slightly and she smiled back.
Then he began to talk and while she sat there, listening to Sanskar's words and reassuring himself when required, she failed to notice that Sahil was no longer standing where she had left him.
Sanskar
It was after almost ten years since they first met that Swara ever stopped talking to him and it drove him mad.
She never stopped talking to him. Not when he said that Ragini was prettier than her when they were eleven, not when he accidentally spilled hot chocolate on her brand new shirt on her seventeenth birthday, not even when he ditched her to go on a date with Kavita when they were fifteen. The reason seemed really silly in front of all the others to him too. He had tried to set up her on a date with Lucky.
The plan was simple. He asked her to meet up at the university caf for coffee and she had found Lucky there instead. He hid near the window on the left not wanting to miss her reaction. Swara oblivious to the fact that she was being set up, behaved as usual with Laksh and started complaining about Sanskar's tardiness.
A frustrated Lucky had almost yelled at her that it was a date. A stunned Swara had looked dumbly at Lucky for a full two minutes before reaching for her bag and standing up. In his curiosity Sanskar had moved directly in front of the window and Swara after she stood up saw his face first. Eyes blazing she had stormed over to him and what followed was the biggest fight he ever had with Swara.
She accused him of playing with her feelings and he, feeling guilty, reacted in the best way he thought at the moment. He attacked back. He accused her of always taking Lucky for granted and never seeing him as a person, amongst other very colourful things. In the end, Swara had stormed off in tears and Sanskar was stumped. Swara never cried, in fact the last time he saw her cry was when they were fourteen.
He went home feeling guiltier than he had ever felt in his life. This was Swara. His best friend. The most wonderful girl on the planet. He had to apologise for hurting her feelings, he resolved. And for the past week, he was trying to do just that. But Swara was avoiding him at a level that was almost professional.
She refused to reply to his calls and texts and refused to see him. He had been trying very hard too. The first day he waited in front of the main gates of college, only to find out that she used the side entrance from Ragini later. The second day he waited outside her class during the whole lecture, but she passed by him along with the professor she was having a discussion with. And for all the days that had followed it was more or less the same. He never saw Swara for more than a second, much less actually talking to her and apologizing and it was driving him crazy. He couldn't concentrate on his lectures, he couldn't sleep and he couldn't even eat. The need to apologise was now more for his sake than hers.
So he decided that whatever happens, that he would not leave the campus without talking to her today. But after two hours of exploring with no Swara found, he was starting to lose his spirit. He made his way down to the cafe for a quick snack when he saw them. Sitting side by side, laughing and smiling was Swara and Lucky. He stared at them dumbly for how long he didn't remember.
They sure look cosy, he thought feeling bitter for no apparent reason.
Swara saw him first. She smiled brightly and waved him over. Reluctant for some reason, he slowly walked over and sat down, looking over at the two of them curiously. Then he remembered his purpose.
"Shona , I'm so sorry. I was a complete idiot and I don't mean any of the-" He began but Swara held up her hand silencing him.
"It's okay Sanskar." She smiled with no malice. "I overreacted. You were obviously trying to help. I should have known that."
Sanskar couldn't handle the relief he felt, he smiled as brightly as he could. She smiled back.
"Besides, I think maybe you did have a point." Her cheeks were red and he didn't know what to make of it.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
She didn't answer. She just glanced shyly towards Lucky who looked equally red now and back to him. And it suddenly hit him. Of course.
He grinned slyly at both of them, clapping Lucky on the shoulder. Both of them, at this point, could have given a tomato a run for its money.
"This is so great. When did this happen?" Sanskar couldn't contain his excitement.
Swara blushed even harder.
"Well, after we had that fight, I was miserable for days. Then I thought back to the argument and I- I realized some things. And I thought it was time I gave Lucky a chance."
Her answer puzzled Sanskar. He was sure he was missing something, something obvious and very important. He pushed those feelings away with a shrug, and congratulated the happy couple. He felt proud of himself for helping them out with their feelings. But soon it was time to go and he on reflex turned towards Swara. But she was not looking at him but rather at Lucky, who had her left hand held firmly in his right.
Once they reached the door, they bade him goodbye and started walking in the opposite direction as well. And as he stood in the evening sun, watching Lucky and Swara walking off holding hands, he felt his smile fade. For years to come Sanskar Maheswari remembered that evening as the first time his heart was completely shattered.
Swara
Swara had completed one month as an anchor at Worldwide News before she turned twenty-three. And she was the happiest person on earth.
She had a great job, she had her own place even though it was kind of small, she was still best friends with Sanskar and her relationship with Laksh was still fantastic. She had it all figured out. She knew exactly how her whole life was going to turn out and she was happy with that. Laksh was going to pop the question in a few years and everything would be just perfect.
It was during these happiest days of hers that one day Swara received a phone call from Pari didi, Laksh's elder sister. Pari excitedly informed Swara that she was getting engaged and Swara was over the moon with happiness. But then Pari didi let something slip about their cousin Sanskar and Swara almost lost the grip on her phone.
Numbly Swara agreed to be present at the engagement party the next night. Only when Pari had hung up, did Swara think of the news again. So Sanskar and Ragini huh? She mused. Somehow it didn't make any sense to her. They were not suited for each other. She just didn't know why. Swara quelled down the tiny noise in her head which proceeded to tell her exactly why she felt that way.
No, not any more, she thought vehemently, she had Laksh now. She is happy with him. Besides Sanskar was the one who set her up with Laksh. She was just upset that he didn't tell her. How could he not tell her. He told her everything. She knew things about him that no one else knew, not even Laksh.
She felt hurt, she felt so miserable that she had no idea what it was. How could you do this to me Sanskar? She mused. She had to hear it from Pari didi no less.
Swara resolved to speak with him tomorrow. She wanted to know why he didn't tell her the fact himself. She had talked to him last night and he never mentioned anything, he behaved as if everything was the same.
For the first time in her life, Swara wondered if she and Sanskar were drifting apart and that thought scared her more than she cared to admit.
She reached for her phone and opened his contact and glanced at his caller image. It was a photo of the two of them, taken on her graduation day. Sanskar was making a funny face at the camera with one arm draped around her while she gazed at him in amusement at the face he was making. She traced her index finger along his chocolate brown eyes feeling something in her break. It was a long time ago since they had this much fun.
She shook her head and looked at herself in the picture. She gasped. She never noticed before, but it was glaringly obvious now. It was the way she looked at him, she looked at him as if she had her whole world in front of her. She felt as if she had been slapped right in the face and that's when the tears started to come. Throughout the furious sobbing and hiccups, it took a while before she realized the fact that she never looked at Laksh this way even once.
Her sobs suddenly got a lot louder.
Sanskar
Sanskar didn't know when he had started to like Ragini. They were not even close, sure they used to hang out but that was only because she was close to Laksh and then later Swara. But she was there for him and he appreciated that. When Swara and Lucky was off doing God knows what, they grew closer. She listened to him talk and was rather good to listen to herself.
Then suddenly one day he realized, she liked him. She had always liked him and he was a fool for not noticing sooner. She liked him and he thought why not. She was extremely pleasant company and he liked her too.
But why couldn't he tell Shona. It was not that he didn't try. He literally couldn't. The words just refused to leave his mouth. Now everyone else but her knew, and he felt guilty. Thus, Sanskar had resolved to finally tell her face to face during Pari didi's engagement party.
Sanskar was not a coward. He was logical, smart and brave. He had no fear of speaking his heart out. But when he saw Swara dressed in a deep blue, rather simple salwaar, he couldn't utter a word. She looked so different from her usual self and looked too much like Ragini.
For some reason Sanskar was not happy about it at all. As Sanskar stood contemplating why he disliked seeing her in the traditional attire, her eyes had already found his chocolate brown ones.
Swara looked so hurt that he didn't know what to say. So he just stared her dumbly.
"Why didn't you tell me Sanskar?" She asked in the smallest voice he had ever heard of her. He shrugged not knowing the answer to that question himself.
She gave him an incredulous look. "You don't even have anything to say." It was a statement, not a question.
"It sort of happened."
That felt lame even to himself. Suddenly Swara started to cry. And he just stood there miserable, not knowing what to do.
How had it come to this? They were the happiest people in the world. As he stared blindly, Swara shook her head, wiped her eyes and with her nose in the air walked towards Lucky who was watching them warily. She whispered something to him and he nodded. They went over to speak to Pari di and then walked off towards the house. And even though all Sanskar wanted to do was run over to Swara and hold onto her for dear life, he did nothing of the sort.
He listened to Ragini's wind chime voice and smiled for her sake. As the night dragged on, Sanskar realized that he felt more alone than he had ever felt.
Swara
It was Swara's twenty-fifth birthday. The party was amazing, Laksh had really outdone himself, she thought fondly. Then why aren't you inside celebrating with everyone else? She shook her head. These days she really hated her subconscious mind. As soon as she cut the cake, Swara had muttered some excuse and wandered off to her balcony.
She gazed onto the dark night idly staring at passer-by's in the street. Sanskar was inside, she mused. For the last two years, the both of them had grown apart more than she thought possible. She hadn't even seen him in ages. The last time they met was on Ragini's birthday and that was months ago. Swara hadn't even gone to the hearing of his first case, not that she didn't feel guilty. It felt strange, her life without him.
Swara noticed that she wasn't alone any more and she knew who it was before she had realised that someone was beside her. Swara didn't dare move, she didn't even acknowledge him although she wanted nothing other than to look into his chocolate brown eyes right now.
"It's nice out here." He commended.
She nodded, not caring whether he had seen the gesture or not. They stood there not talking for a while and suddenly Swara felt she couldn't do this any more. She turned towards him.
"What happened to us Sanskar?"
Her voice sounded so broken and pathetic even to her. He glanced at her, pain glistening through his 'oh so expressive' chocolate brown eyes. "
I don't know." His whisper was just as broken.
"Well, I don't like it one bit."
She was starting to tear up. "I miss you."
Swara stared at Sanskar looking every bit miserable as she must had been looking. One moment they were facing each other and the next, they had their arms around each other. Swara held onto him with all her might, refusing to ever let go him.
"What is wrong with us?"
She asked to no one in particular. She felt rather than heard Sanskar give a hollow laugh. Swara raised her eyes to him and let herself feel the pleasure of gazing at his eyes. As she kept looking on, something dawned to her. Everything made perfect sense. She had opened her mouth to speak when the balcony door burst open and Laksh and Ragini appeared.
Laksh and Ragini didn't utter a word. They took in the sight of Swara and Sanskar holding onto each other like magnets with an unreadable expression worn on both their faces. And though Swara knew it was morally wrong, she refused to let go of Sanskar and refused looking at her boyfriend. Moments passed and it was Sanskar who finally took a step back. He removed his arms and stepped back and she reluctantly did the same.
Swara gave him one last look before she looked back determinately at Laksh and before she could change her mind she grabbed his hand and walked away.
Laksh
Laksh Maheswari was not dumb. He was not extremely intelligent like his cousin, but he was a smart bloke. And right now he knew that he should have confronted this thing years ago. All the guests had left and he stayed behind to help Swara clean. Swara asked him to, and he knew what was coming. It was a long time coming actually. Maybe that's why Laksh never bothered buying a ring, because he already knew what her answer would be and not in a good way too.
Laksh watched Swara stumble with the plates trying hard to be less nervous. He smiled sardonically and decided he would help her out. Laksh knew he owed it to his friend of fifteen years.
So he walked over to Swara, and started rinsing the plates.
"Do you know why after being together for five years, I never call you Shona?" Laksh secretly took pride in the fact that his voice sounded nonchalant.
"No." He heard Swara mumble. Laksh nodded.
"Why did you decide to give me a chance Swara?" He asked. "You have grown to love me, but you didn't really like me that way then."
Swara stopped her washing and stared straight ahead.
"It was because he told you."
It was a statement.
Beside him, Swara stiffened. Laksh sighed. Here was the difficult part.
"Swara." He began. "Ever since I had known you, I had always known that you and Sanskar connected on a higher level. Something I never understood. I had been jealous. Of how quickly you came into our lives and how quickly you became the centre of his. I'm not even sure why I am telling you all this. The point is ever since you were ten years old, your lives had been woven together. Now when I look back, I feel silly for even trying. And even though these five years with you were wonderful, we both know it's not what we want."
"Laksh this isn't-"Swara began, but Laksh cut her off.
"Don't feel bad Swara, and please do not doubt my intelligence. I am not as brilliant as Sanskar but I'm really not dumb. And I am not doing this for just you. For the most part I am doing this for me." His voice was firm. "Just as you deserve to be with the guy you truly love, I don't deserve to be with someone who is there only due to some falsely conceived notions of obligation."
Swara was now openly crying and in spite of everything, Laksh felt something tighten within him. But he held himself, it was not his job to make her smile any more. "And I really hope he figures out what he is doing because Ragini is a wonderful girl who only deserves the best."
They were done with the dishes. Laksh reached for his jacket which lay on the couch and started for the door. He glanced back and saw Swara standing in the kitchen like a statue.
"I am not okay Swara but I will be. I need to be alone for a while but when I figure things out, I will be back."
Laksh opened the door and stepped outside.
"It's never too late Swara."
He uttered his parting words. Hearing no response, Laksh closed the door, buried his hands in his pockets and walked off.
Ragini
It had been ten minutes since they reached the front of her apartment and both of them were sitting silently, not making a move. Ragini didn't know what she must do. 'Why did we ever grow up?' She mused. She missed those four kids who just hung out together and had fun.
"We should stop seeing each other." Sanskar said out of the blue. Ragini was startled from her thoughts and took a deep breath.
"Alright." She nodded.
Ragini reached for the door handle wanting to get out, when she felt Sanskar's hand hold her back. She turned to him quizzically while he had an incredulous expression.
"You don't have anything to say?"
Ragini couldn't help herself, she scoffed. "What do you want me to say?" She retorted. "How heartbroken I am? And how I wish you would reconsider? No. I certainly do not feel that way. In fact the only way I feel now is pissed."
Sanskar openly stared seeing the ever polite, meek Ragini speak this way. This encouraged her. "When you finally made a move, I thought that after all these waiting you truly felt the way I felt. That you finally gave up pining after Swara and realized that there are other girls around. I was happy too you know. You were a damn good boyfriend. And now after two years I'm supposed to accept that this was all a lie. That you never got over Swara in the first place, that I was just a back up plan you strung along the way just until Swara took you back. No, this is not done. And we are not okay now."
Ragini was panting now, her eyes filled with unshead tears. She cast one last look at the dumbfounded Sanskar before getting off the car. Looking back, she whispered in a much calmer voice.
"You are not a bad person Sanskar, you just made some bad choices. I really hope you could find some happiness. Because just as I don't deserve to be with someone who in love with someone else, you don't deserve to be with someone whom you don't love."
Ragini didn't look back as she walked away.
Sanskar
It was almost two months after Swara's twenty-fifth birthday and Sanskar was still feeling a lot of things.
He still felt a slight pang of guilt every time he met Ragini, he still felt a bit self conscious every time Lucky looked over at him and he felt totally miserable over the lack of contact with Swara. The last one was intentional though. The day after Ragini broke up with him, he had received a call from Pari didi informing him that Swara and Laksh broke up the same night. He didn't feel very surprised and guiltily admitted to himself that he was a bit pleased, actually Sanskar was really pleased. The lack of contact between them was just for the reason that he didn't know how to approach her, also his new case was getting on his nerves leaving very little leisure time for him.
He wanted to really talk with Swara and he did not have the time for that right now. But Sanskar often saw Ragini and Laksh.
For a month there had been no updates on any of them and one day they both entered his flat, hand in hand. Sanskar didn't even try to feel embarrassed about how much he liked them together. They were perfect for each other, Lucky's happy go lucky approach beautifully complementing Ragini's more traditional approach to life. They often went out for dinner these days and Sanskar loved spending time with them too. Lucky's laugh was a bit merrier and Ragini's eyes had more sparkle to them these days. Idiots. He mused. Just like Swara and he had been.
Sanskar realized he couldn't put off meeting her forever. He needed to confront this sooner or later. Lucky had been in contact with Swara and informed Sanskar that she was doing good, but he wanted to see her, he wanted to know all about her life from her, not from Lucky.
Determined, Sanskar pulled out his mobile the same time Swara's angelic face flashed in it.
Frowning, he pressed the receive button. There was some sort of comossion around Swara was the first thing that Sanskar noticed. He could hear people screaming in the background amongst other things.
"Are you alright Swara?" He asked right away, not bothering with any greetings. Sanskar heard Swara sigh heavily from the other side. Due to the loud noises he couldn't really hear what she was talking about. All Sanskar heard was the words bomb, studio and injured before he ran out towards his car.
Sanskar looked at the outdoor studio of Worldwide News or what was left of it. There had been some terrorist attack and according to a lady he just met, Swara was on air at the time of the blast. Sanskar felt like his body had been frozen into ice, he couldn't move and for the longest time he couldn't blink. Snap out of it Sanskar. He snarled to himself. He somehow made his limbs to move and frantically ran trying to find Swara. All these time he could see her, talk to her and he didn't just because he was afraid.
Sanskar felt stupid now, he felt absolutely stupid. He realized how superficial all this was, every breath they took was so fickle. Nobody ever knew what the next day would bring. All he could do was make the most of every moment blessed to him. He promised to himself that once he found her, he refused to think if, he would hold onto her forever, that he would never let her go again.
So frantic was Sanskar in his search that he almost didn't see the young lady leaning against a very big fallen tree looking wearily at the people around her. He almost fainted in relief once he saw her, a few tears escaping his chocolate brown eyes.
Swara smiled at him and motioned him over. Sanskar walked to her with trembling legs and sat down beside her against the tree. He grabbed her hands and then looked all over her for injuries. She was covered in soot and dust but he noted that there were no injuries. Still, not satisfied, he checked her temperature asking her if she was al right. Swara nodded, smiling faintly.
"If you are al right, then why are you still sitting here?" Sanskar asked.
"I'm tired Sanskar." Swara shrugged."Aren't you?"
Sanskar looked at her for a full minute before he nodded.
"Yeah. I am tired too."
He whispered stumping back and relaxing against the wood. Together they sat there for a long time.
Eventually Swara rested her head on his shoulders and he wrapped an arm around her.
"I love you." Swara said casually, as if it was something that she had forgotten to mention and then suddenly remembered.
Sanskar slightly squeezed the arm around her.
"I love you too."
-Paro
Fan Fictions
Anupamaa
