TwiNj FF: The Storm in our Soul (Chp11 Pg22) 03/09 - Page 14

Just loved the role reversal, shows how much change Twinkle's character has grown , hope they can return to Italy once things calm down, but Kunj may be torn between making Twinkle's life better and improving things with his father

awesome update meh...

M,This is the beauty of your writing.

Speechless again
Short of words again
Read again
Back from dead to reply to you again
Check ur inbox in some time

Originally posted by: crazyfan9_sanju

awesome update meh...

i really loved it...

i lack words to express how much i loved it...

beautifully written..as always..

love you..🤗

continue soon...😊😊

Originally posted by: adi_FMT_ct

M,This is the beauty of your writing.

At first I have no idea that you suddenly pull the story from Italy (Tuscany)to Amritsar straightaway.

You did this transition smoothly.

And then you went for another one;This time Twinkle is strong and give her shoulder to Kunj,Awesome.Actually this is the right way to build up the real relation.

Amazing,Waiting for next part.

Oh Yes,This time Twinkle should be strong and face Usha.😊

For Dinky28, ...Queen... and my Pillow Pal'

CHAPTER 11

She isn't sure how or what she is supposed to feel. Everything happened all of a sudden, a call from a hysterical mummy-ji, a Kunj falling numb on his knees, a flood of emotions she didn't have time to process, a train ride, a house sold, a flight and a taxi ride. And now standing in the hospital in front of Papa-ji's room she feels her knees go weak.

She doesn't want to be here.

And yet she has to. For Kunj.

They sit in the doctor's cabin and she has to place her hand on her husband's knee that was jerking up and down anxiously. A silent gesture for him to calm him. He places his hand over hers, his shoulders losing their tension a bit.

The doctor tells them in simple words that it was a mild palpitation attack. Of course they had to take care of his health from now on but further than that there really wasn't nothing much to worry about. He also tells them about the prescribed medication, when the could take Mr. Sarna back home and about the monthly appointments that he would be required to make. Kunj feels like he can finally breath, like a load has been taken off his shoulders. And he lets out a loud relieved exhale. Twinkle joins her hands in a short prayer before, leaning on her husband, enveloping him in a small hug.

The pair return home for the night, after assuring Usha that there really wasn't anything to worry about. Usha was adamant on staying the night in the hospital with Anand. Kunj was too tired to argue and Twinkle never had the authority to oppose her mother in law. So they make their way to the Sarna Mansion.

It hardly felt like home. It felt odd for lack of better word, and stale for some reason. It also felt cold for some reason, maybe it was the lack of fire place that she was now accustomed to. They drop their luggage by the door before gracelessly crashing on the bed. Sleep came mercifully soon and Twinkle welcomed it with arms wide open.

She stands in the kitchen the next morning utterly lost as to what she was supposed to cook for the day. She pulled the fridge door open and was greeted with the all the standard Indian vegetables. She was feeling in the mood for Thai food but she knew that any experiments made in the kitchen wouldn't be very much appreciated. So she sticks to the ordinary daal and a maybe Kadai-Sabzi? She was mindfully to not add any extra salt to the any of the dishes, knowing well enough that Papa-ji would be advised to avoid any salty food.

Kunj comes back home with Mummy-ji just in time for lunch. And Twinkle with a smile small sets the table, she serves her mother in law and husband before taking her seat on the dining table.

Usha brakes of a piece of roti and dips in the aromatic dal. As soon as she places the morsel in her mouth she lets out a groan of disdain. "Mm-hmm, yeh kya hai Twinkle? Iss mein toh bilkul namak nahi hai?" She pushes the bowl of daal away from her, "Na jaane tab tum theek taak khana banana seekhogi!"

Twinkle doesn't appreciate the tone that was used on her and she lets mummy-ji know of that. "Mummy-ji aaj se humme aise, bina namak wale khaane ki aadat dal ni hi hogi kyuki Papa-ji ko hum zyada namak wala khana nahi de sakte." Her words were polite but her voice firm. Just what the situation called for.

It mums Usha, because Twinkle had thought ahead of her. She was aware of the dietary changes that would need to be implemented as soon as Manohar got discharged from the hospital and here Twinkle was already a step ahead. For the first time in a long while Usha was ashamed of her behavior towards Twinkle. But pride was a hard thing to let go of and Usha could never admit that she was wrong. She leaves the table with the excuse of being tired and wanting a nap.

Kunj doesn't speak throughout this little exchange between his mother and wife. He bores his eyes at the food in front of him, silent. Twinkle appreciates that. Because while he hadn't sided with her, he hadn't opposed her either. But when he gets up after finishing lunch he passes her a small apologetic smile. She returns the favor with a small smile of her own.

They volunteer to stay the night at the hospital that evening, giving Anand and Usha some much needed break and rest.

Manohar was shifted to the general ward, and while Kunj and Usha could go and visit him whenever they wanted to, they were advised by the medical personals to stay in the waiting room, so as to not disturb the other patients in the ward. They reluctantly agree. Rules were rules.

The cold metallic seats of the waiting room were unforgivingly uncomfortable on their backs, but neither Kunj nor Twinkle complained about the fact. Instead Twinkle opted to place her head against her husband's strong and broad shoulders. Kunj planted his head over hers, and laced their fingers together.

"I will miss you." He tells her.

She smiles, "That's stupid. Main to yahi hoon, main kaha jaa rahi hoon?"

"Tu kahi nahi jaa rahi, par chali jayegi." He replies with a sad sigh.

"Main samjhi nahi."

"Tu, the real Twinkle, the Italy wali Twinkle aiste aiste gayab hone lagegi, and I'll miss you" she lifts her head up from his shoulders and turns her frame to look at him. "Pehle teri smile halki hone lagegi, phir dheere dheere tere aakhon se woh chamak dheemi hone lagegi, aur tu hamesha apne free time mein, dusro se bachne ke liye sone lagigi. Aur tu mujhe good morning kiss diye beghair kitchen mein sab ke liye breakfast banane chali jayegi. And I'll miss you. I'll miss teri woh back painting sessions, aur tere naye naye recipe experiments, and I'll miss you, wearing my shirt throughout the house, and I'll miss you Twinkle."

Twinkle sees the fear in his eyes, he was scared for justifiable reasons. He was scared that with each passing moment, Twinkle, the real Twinkle he had recently discovered and fallen in love with will vanish. And in her place will be this girl, without a soul, without a smile, without a spark. It sends a chill down his spine, thinking of the Twinkle he was living with 8 months ago. He doesn't want to ever live with that Twinkle.

"Main kahi nahi jaa rahi." She reassures him with a firm voice.

"Promise?"

"Promise." they hooked their pinky fingers together in an eternal vow.

Manohar Sarna was released the very next day and the house for the first time in three days took in a collective breath of relief and joy. The family members had agreed among themselves to keep the atmosphere in the house as calm and happy as possible. Talks related to business should be avoided as much as they could. So that is exactly why the Sarna clan found themselves sitting together around the dinner table. The food was greatly unsalted, Manohar complained a lot about that but he was strictly told by Usha and his sons that this was best for his health.

But even that didn't stop him from complaining when Twinkle prepared him beets and pomegranate juices for breakfast every morning. But he complained with a smile on his face and drank it all up.

Night time was a period of solace that Kunj looked forward to the most throughout the day. Twinkle and he would end up cuddling on their bed, something talking about their day, other times just quietly staring at the white ceiling over their room. Their breathing always managed to sync up together whenever Twinkle rested her head against Kunj's chest and their heartbeats matched. It made Kunj immensely happy whenever that happened.

"Toh mein, Italy wapis jaane ke liye kab ki ticket nikaloon?"

"Wapis?"

"Haan, humme thode din ke baad wapis jaana toh hai na?"

She knew Kunj was anxious about returning but she didn't understand why. Ever since they had returned from Tuscany Kunj had been visibly disturbed. She had initially chalked this tension off to his father's health but now that said father's health was improving and Kunj's behavior hadn't it heavily made her wonder.

"Tumhe nahi lagta humme thoda time aur yaha Papa-ji ke saath rehna chahiye?"

He just hums in response. Twinkle didn't know whether it was supposed to taken in the negative or positive. She lets it go for the time being and rests her head back on his chest again. "Tujhe kya lagta hai, humme aur kitna time yaha rehna chahiye?" he asks after a while.

"Do-teen mahine kamse kam."

Kunj doesn't answer.

They fall asleep with that unfinished conversation.

Kunj a week later takes up a temporary post as the Manager of their company's headquarters at Amritsar. He would leave late in the morning and return early, only to shut himself up in their bedroom with his little black book. He could be in their room when Twinkle would usher him down to dinner, and he'd remain silent throughout the meal unless and until directly addressed him.

Of course Twinkle had noticed his strange behavior but she didn't question him about it. Maybe he was just taking his time adjusting back in Amritsar. And she found this utterly amusing, how could someone take time adjusting in their own house? But maybe that's just how he was. She lets him be.

Then one day she catches him crossing out days on the calendar on his phone, the date 4 months from now was marked as Back Home!'. That's when she decides to have a talk with him.

He was lounging in their room as usual, laying in their bed, catching the match on TV with little interest. Twinkle plops on bedside, she snatches the remote control from his hands. He hadn't tried to snatch it back as she had hoped. She switches off the TV, sits cross legged before pulling him up in a sitting positon facing her, she takes a deep breath, knowing just how hard this conversation may turn out to be.

"Kunj. Kya hua?"

He bows his head down and mumbles a "Kuch bhi toh nahi. Mujhe kya hua hai?"

"Tum jaante ho tumnhe kya hua hai. Mujhe batao Kunj, tum aise sad-sad kyu ho? Kisne tumse kuch kaha kya? Aisa hai toh mujhe bolo, main uske bande ki class-" she starts of a rant only to be cut short by him.

"Mujhe ghar jaana hai."

His shoulders slump and so does hers.

"Par hum ghar par hi hai" she replies in a soft voice. She now knows what he was talking about. She wanted to return home too, but she was just fooling herself, thinking that maybe if she doesn't acknowledge the fact then maybe the feeling will go away too. Sadly, that's not how emotions work and now hearing her feelings being reverberated off of her husband's tongue compounded everything. A few tears prick the corners of her eyes and she blinks rapidly trying to stop them.

"Mujhe humare ghar jaana hai. Tera aur mera ghar. Tuscany mein."

"Chalo painting karte hai!" she tries to distract his mind.

He scoffs, trying to distract his mind too. "Mujhe painting karni nahi aati"

"Toh? Iss la matlab yeh nahi hai, ke tumhe painting nahi karni chahiye! Chalo ab natak band karo aur apni shirt utaro." Her voice started off as a taunt and then by the last word was almost an order.

Kunj doesn't make a move to do as she says, rather he raises his arms above his head. Twinkle gets the hint. She sighs and reaches over to straddle him, and with nimble fingers reaches down to the hem of his shirt. One smooth tug in the upward direction is all it takes for her eyes to be gifted the view of his chiseled abdomen.

"I believe in equality Mrs. Twinkle Kunj Sarna." He pulls his lips close to her ears and whispers in a husky voice. "So-Shirt off!" and with equally agile fingers returns her favor.

They spend 20 minutes searching for paints in their room before settling down with sketch pens.

Twinkle begs to go first, as if Kunj had any chances against those beautiful orbs and pouty lips. She reaches for the black marker and had her tongue in between her teeth in concentration. She asks him to close her eyes, wanting to give me a little surprise. Kunj agrees quickly.

It's a good 7 minutes later when she asks him to open his eyes with a proud smile on her face. "Jao aine mein jaa kar dekho." Kunj excitedly hops towards their dresser which held the mirror. The smile turns upside down and Twinkle can hardly suppress her laugh. For there on his left pectoral was the word GHAJNI' scribbled violently.

His cold revenge was writing out the whole Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' poem on the sole of her feet. Twinkle was ticklish and this was pure torture for her. Twinkle swore another minute and she would die.

And that's how they made a little Tuscany of their own in the middle of Amritsar.

TO BE CONTINUED...

This should now go without saying but I'll say it anyway, Thanks to reading! And please don't forget to like and comment on this chapter. It would really encourage me to write the next chap more quickly.

Saw ur pm...