Chapter 1
In Front Of Her Eyes...
A DAY BEFORE:
"Sona...will you wake up! I'm gonna be late for the shop!" Bijoy Bose shouted from downstairs.
"Aaschi Baba!" Came a sleepy voice from a room upstairs.
"Okay, I just made you some Aaloo Paranthas. Finish them before they're cold." Bijoy smiled knowing that Sonakshi would be running downstairs in a minute because Aaloo Paranthas would make her do anything, especially when Bijoy made them himself.
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Upstairs, a pair of eyes shot open.
Aaloo Paranthas! You're so spoiling me Baba!'
Sonakshi Bose sprang up on her bed, with a smile on her face and immediately grabbed her toothbrush before disappearing into the washroom. It took her hardly a minute before she was running downstairs to reach her small but beautiful dining room to smell the aroma of those delicious Paranthas. She quickly squeezed some ketchup on one of those and was about to stuff them into her mouth but a voice quietly spoke in her head.
"You just went on a diet Sona! Do you honestly have to spoil it?
And there began a battle between the foodie within her, and the wannabe slim girl that she wanted to become someday! She looked across the table and checked her reflection in the mirror!
"From tomorrow Sona, Pakka!" She promised herself before she indulged herself in eating those sinfully amazing Paranthas.
After about an hour, Sonakshi Bose was getting ready to meet her friends and she made some extra effort to look good today. After all Kushal was coming back from a weeklong vacation in his hometown and Sonakshi wanted him to notice that she did lose a little bit of weight. From past one week, the otherwise overweight Sonakshi was on a crash diet, which she had already crashed in the morning with Paranthas and extra butter. She happily grabbed a top she picked up last week hoping to get in shape in a few days but her face dropped as soon as she put the top on. Her bulging stomach looked bad, really really bad! And she could see the top being stretched to death on her shoulder.
May be, a kurti wouldn't look too bad Sona!' She mumbled to herself and pulled out a light orange kurti. She lightly brushed her curls; the only feature she loved in her entire appearance was her luscious hair, that naturally fell on her shoulders in loose, beautiful curls. A touch of her favorite gloss and she was good to go.
Sonakshi's heart always filled with happiness as soon as she stepped out of her home. The house was tiny but it opened into a big and very pretty garden that her Baba had maintained through all the years. Fragrant, lush flower bushes were sprawled out on the entire garden. A stoned pathway led from the main door to a wood shaded veranda which was right next to her drawing hall. Two heavy rose bushes surrounded the stone way which made the Path even more beautiful. Sonakshi was so proud of this beautiful little treasure!
Right next to her home was her Baba's little coffee shop and bakery. It was her second home. She had grown up smelling the aroma of freshly brewed coffee, watching her baba working on beautiful wedding cakes and sometimes, she herself tried to be the chef, experimenting and ruining baba's kitchen. Her neighbors often said that she had the prettiest house in the whole town but she disagreed. Her entire town was beautiful.
She lived in Soham, a small but very beautiful town situated in Himachal and according to Sonakshi; it was the most beautiful place in the whole wide world. Her baba had told her the entire history of the town. So many years ago, this beautiful but inaccessible place caught the eyes of a rich businessman, Mr. Amarnath Chandra and he saw the opportunity of a great profit there. The rich needed a place to run away from the hectic and stressful life and Amarnath knew what he had to do. He bought this entire land and named it after his dead son, Soham. Instead of building his factories, he let the place develop as a town, allowing a few families he personally knew to live there. There were world class resorts, spa and hotels in this tiny little place. He built roads to make it easier to reach, made all the luxuries in the world available there and years later, Soham has developed as a land so different and peaceful from the rest of the world that it became the go to destination for the richest people in the country to escape their boring and scheduled life. Sonakshi had seen some of the most famous people of the country, who would never step out without security, roaming freely on the streets of Soham. This is what attracted them the most, Soham offered them a lifestyle that was never known to them.
Although, what Sonakshi loved about the place, were people of Soham, loving and affectionate. Officially, it was still the Chandra family that owned the entire land, but they never drove out the people who were living there since ages. Sonakshi's family was one of them. Her great, great grandfather had left Kolkata and settled there only. Sonakshi was glad. She felt lucky to be living in such a lovely place without having to pay as much as those rich snobs.
She soon reached her destination. A caf 10 minutes away from her home where all her friends were waiting. She saw Neha waving at her and a smile broke on her face seeing her best friends. Anshul, Aadya, Ritvik, Neha, everyone was there but her eyes were impatiently searching for Kushal, who was nowhere to be seen. She quickly reached them and happily put her documents down.
"So, Sonakshi, what took you so long? You always reach before us!" Aadya beamed at her.
"Actually, Baba made breakfast today so you know!" Sonakshi smiled too.
"Sona, I think we should ask Bijoy Uncle to stop cooking for you. I mean look at you! I swear you've put on atleast 2 kilos more since I last saw you!" Neha winked at her as everybody started laughing.
Sonakshi too, laughed with them. She knew her friends loved her and their intentions were never to hurt her or anything. Hell, they would even fight for her in school if somebody tried making fun of her but lately, she had started noticing Neha's taunts were mean. She would hide it behind her smile but it had started to hurt.
"Hi everyone!"
The voice made Sonakshi blush instantly. She turned around and saw Kushal coming towards them. He looked handsome as always and it again struck Sonakshi, she did not know when did she fell for him, but she knew, Kushal was the only one who could make her feel those jitters in her stomach, he was the reason she was staying behind in Soham, even after they've finished their school.
"Hi Kushal" Said Aadya and teasingly looked at Sonakshi, who was still not able to see him in the eyes.
"Hi Aadya, Hi Sona!" He smiled at her and Sonakshi brought her focus back and replied a meek hi.
So everyone, my parents agreed and I finally secured a place in engineering. I'd be leaving for Shimla next month!"
While Kushal's face was beaming with happiness, Sona's fell. Although she was glad he would stay in Himachal only, but she was used to seeing him every day in school, laughing at his silly jokes and making numerous heart shapes in her notebooks, writing their initials inside.
"Sona, what did you think about the future? Not decided yet?" Neha asked again. Sonakshi nodded. She hasn't really thought what she wanted to do with her life.
"OMG! Look at this guys!" Neha exclaimed and dumped a magazine on the table.
"What is it?"
"Chandra family has decided to sell off their entire properties here in Soham, apparently to this lady!" She pointed towards the woman in the magazine.
Sona tried to take a look at the magazine. From there it looked like she was a woman in her fifties. Her regal aura was radiating even through the photograph but it wasn't a very good news for them. The place where Sona lived was also owned by Chandras. The Chandras were generous people. They have allowed the families to continue living here, but this woman, she looked like they would be kicked out of their house on the very first day.
"Relax guys!" Ritvik said after reading the articles. "It's just a rumor. Not confirmed yet. And Anyways Resorts and clubs of the city are main sources for Chandra's Income. Where will they go if they sell these off!"
"Leave all that guys! Farewell party is just a week away! Everyone is done with shopping or not?" Aadya reminded them about the party their school juniors were about to throw for them.
"Yeah, the only party left with you guys!" Kushal said half heartedly.
"Not really! You're all invited to the bakery tomorrow night!" Sonakshi smiled.
"Anything special Sona?" Kushal asked back.
"Yes, the shop is turning 20 tomorrow and I finally managed to agree baba to launch the sugar free section as well. There's just a small celebration so I wanted my friends to come as well. You guys interested?
"Are you crazy? I'll cross oceans for Bijoy uncle's food. Of course we're coming." Ritvik said and Sona smiled.
"And I have a surprise for you guys as well. See you all tomorrow then!"
And he left, leaving Sona wondering if he would ever notice her.
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She came back after some time and straight away went inside the bakery. Sugar free section has been her idea and she needed to monitor what was happening. Her father and his assistant were busy discussing the recipes and the items they needed to put on specials today. Sona smiled and happily jumped in to make sure her baba gets the rest he needed. He would anyway be cooking for her friends and there was definitely going to be a lot of work tomorrow so she did not want him to spend the rest of the day in the bakery.
Sona spent her entire day in the bakery meticulously checking on everything and making sure to make tomorrow's evening a bit more special for Kushal as it might be his last trip to her shop before leaving.
She closed the bakery at 8 and came back home. After having dinner and a hearty convo with her ma baba, Sona was ready to go bed. She went upstairs and was about to enter her room when she remembered something. She hasn't checked on her grandfather yet.
Dadu...
Sonakshi looked at the room right across hers in the hallway. She had a habit of checking upon her grandfather every night and see if he was sleeping peacefully. People said he was weird, in fact her parents did not let her interact much with him, but Sona has felt nothing but pity for the poor old man her entire life.
She wasn't even born, when her grandfather left home, without any notice. The family kept on searching for years but he was nowhere to be found. Assuming him to be dead, his wife and his only son, Sona's baba had moved on in life. All changed when one day he came back, telling everybody how he went to Himalaya's to become a sage, telling stories about the true meaning of life and claiming to have powers. It was a no brainer. He had gone mad.
People told Bijoy not to let him enter the house but Bijoy couldn't do this to his father. He let him live with them. Sona was only five, but she remembered how every kid in her street was afraid of the Mad Old Man' living in her house. He kept quiet the entire day, sometimes chanting something or sometimes simply staring at nowhere. Sona was not allowed to talk to him much but she remembered she was never afraid of her grandfather. Interestingly, as she was growing up, he indulged with her in a couple of very normal conversations about which Sona did not tell anyone. She did not want him to be in trouble because of her.
After seeing that he was sound asleep, Sona came back to her room and sprawled out on her bed. She was dead tired. Right when she was about to sleep, her phone started ringing. Sonakshi was ready to shout on anyone who thought it was okay to call at such ungodly hour, but her anger vanished as soon as she saw the caller's name.
"Hello Kushal. All okay?" She sat up on her bed.
"Yeah...I Just... I just wanted to talk about tomorrow."
"What about tomorrow, you're coming right?"
"Yeah I am...its very special for me Sona. Remember about my surprise? I can't share it with anyone but you!"
Sonakshi felt the blush creeping up her face. Was he finally going to tell her!
"What is it, Kushal?"
"I'm in love!"
Sonakshi felt her heart would come out of her ribcage. It was beating so fast!
"Kushal...I..."
"I Love her... I love Neha so much!!!"
It took her several moments to realize what he meant. Did he just say he loved Neha?
"Are you there Sona?"
"Yeah...yes I am."
"Listen I couldn't tell anyone but I need your help. Tomorrow, I want to propose Neha. Can you please arrange something in your bakery? Just keep the decorations a bit romantic okay?"
Sona hadn't realized her face was soaking wet with tears. The phone trembled in her hands. This was not something she was prepared for. Kushal was in love with someone else!
"I...I am so happy for you..." Words came out of her mouth but she couldn't keep talking. "I'll get the arrangements done. Don't worry."
"You're the best Sona! Thank you so much."
"Good Night Kushal." She disconnected the call.
Sonakshi looked around in her room, finding everything around her suddenly dull and suffocating. She tried to fight the rising lump in her throat but failed to do so as she let out a cry. How could this happen.
Her senses suddenly alarmed her of someone's presence in her room. She immediately looked up and saw her dadu standing next to her door, wondering if she really cried that loud to wake him up.
"Dadu, I'm sorry, I just..."
"Come with me..." The old man said and left.
Sonakshi did not know what to do. She wasn't even allowed to talk to him but it was the first time he had asked Sona to come to his room. If anything, Sona was never afraid of her grandfather.
She slowly slipped from the bed and walked to his room. Sona wondered if he needed his medicines but found them neatly stacked next to his table.
"You seem disturbed beta..."
This was the first time he was addressing her as beta. He looked very very normal talking to her. Why did people say he was mad?
"Nothing dadu... I just..."
"You can tell me...I will be of help."
Sonakshi gave him a genuine smile. Nobody could help her.
"Thanks Dadu, but you can't help in this matter. There's so much going on in my life and...forget it I'll leave."
"I still can help you..."
"How exactly?" Sonakshi was a bit irritated. She wanted to hide herself in covers and cry. She was in no mood to listen to the lectures on how she should focus on her studies.
"I'm going to give you a dream Sonakshi!"
Poor 20 year old looked at her grandfather helplessly. People were right about him. He was insane. Why did she choose to share her feelings with him?
"How can anyone give someone a dream?" She said, trying to make sense out of her grandfather's words.
"Not only I'm going to give it to you...I'm going to make you live that dream!"
Okay now he was talking pure bullsh*t. She should get out of here now. She didn't want her baba to catch her in the middle of the night with this mad old man who was a gone case for sure.
Sonakshi wondered if he really understood what he was trying to say. He was telling her to sleep and he will make her see a dream, which would apparently be a solution to all her problems.
"Listen Dadu...I...I should better leave. Baba will be really angry." Sonakshi said and hurriedly stood up from the bed. She only reached the door when she heard him say something that stopped her dead in her tracks.
"You're so upset Sona. You are upset that Kushal doesn't love you back. You hate the fact that your best friend is always trying to pull you down...Or how about this? Right now you're worried about how bad you're going to look in your farewell party?"
Sonakshi turned around, shocked. Never in her craziest dreams had she thought somebody could notice these things. How could he know? She watched with half amusement and half fear when she watched her Dadu smile for the first time in years.
"...and...you hate the fact that Bijoy isn't your real father."
Sonakshi had to hold the door for her legs wouldn't support her for the moment. He knew it. He knew her deepest and darkest secrets that she had locked away in the corners of her heart.
"How do you..."
"That isn't important. Right now, I want you to calm down. I'm only asking you to sleep. I know you don't believe me, but I can, and I will give you a dream I know would be of help." He said, as calm as ever.
Sonakshi took hesitant steps towards the bed. She knew she was being equally insane by believing whatever he was saying, but she couldn't help it. She needed something, anything today.
"How can a dream help me? You know, in case you actually can do whatever you're saying. Not that I believe you can, though." She quickly added.
"We dream about our deepest desires Sona. Dreams keep us sane. And the best part about them is, we can have everything there which in reality seems next to impossible. Your life will be same tomorrow morning. But right now, why don't you just close your eyes and let me show you what I really mean?"
Feeling stupid, she did close her eyes. She felt Dadu's hand on her forehead and the next thing she knew was the heaviness her eyelids felt. She knew she was going to sleep, and she knew what she wanted to see in her dream. She wanted see years of her love reciprocated. She wanted to see herself spending lifetimes with him. Desperately, she thought of the one face she definitely wanted to see in her perfect dream.
Kushal
She did not see the beautiful dark brown hair Kushal always had perfectly styled and stiffened with wax, rather she saw the soft black strands of hair flowing with the wind.
Instead of the ashy black orbs, she saw deep dark brown ones she found so mesmerizing.
Instead of the familiar, handsome face of Kushal she had fallen for years ago, Sonakshi saw an even more enchanting face she could swear she had never seen before.
The face was so close to her own. He smiled and Sonakshi felt her lips breaking out in a smile too. He slowly lifted up a hand to push back a strand of her hair and...
Sonakshi Bose was dazed.
She did not know who the man of her dreams was.
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Next morning, she was felling grumpier than ever! First of all, she couldn't let her ma baba see she was upset over Kushal, so she had to keep a fake smile pasted on her lips. After she had decorated a separate table in the garden behind the bakery with red velvet cloth and roses, she headed inside to change as her friends were about to come.
Sonakshi looked through her wardrobe and decided to wear a beautiful red kurti her parents gifted her last birthday. She peeped through the window of her room, guests had already started flocking to the bakery. Sona smiled. Her baba really had magical hands when it came to cooking and baking.
She tied her hair up in a messy bun and she was good to go. She did not put any extra effort today. After all, Kushal was not going to look at her anyway.
Kushal...
She sighed but her thoughts immediately wandered towards a different face. She could not remember clearly whom did she see in her dreams but thinking about that face gave her a very strange feeling. She buried her face in her hands and tried to recall what did he look like but it seemed way too hard. She scrunched her face in concentration but she could only recall her dreams in bits and flashes. Finally, she gave up.
She headed towards the bakery where her friends had already arrived. As soon as she reached, Kushal stood up to greet her. Sona put on a brave smile and walked towards him.
"Congrats Sona, looks like half of Soham's population is diabetic. Sugar free section is jammed."
"Baba deserves it; anyways I thought you might need some privacy. Your table is outside, in the garden.
Kushal looked grateful.
"Thanks Sona, You're the best!" Kushal gave her a quick hug.
"I...I know" Sona responded, still feeling the jitters from the hug.
"Sona, I invited a friend of mine, I hope you don't have a problem." Kushal informed her.
"Of course not." Sonakshi said, wanting to go away as her tears threatened to fall. How could she let such a wonderful guy go away? She'd never be able to love someone else.
"You need something?" She asked him.
"Ummm...coffee?"
"Sure..."
Sona walked inside the kitchen and wiped her tears as she prepared coffee. It was harder than she thought. She could not even breathe properly in front of him.
"Here's your coffee..." She forwarded the cup towards him but Kushal was looking over her shoulders. He waved enthusiastically at someone.
"There he is. My friend." He told Sona. "Hey...come here dude.
Sonakshi turned around to look at the guy, and her body froze.
The guy was walking towards her and his eyes fleetingly held hers. He did not avert his gaze neither his pace slowed. Sonakshi could clearly recall the face now, the same brown orbs, ashy black hair falling perfectly on his face and...
The ever so enchanting face...
He stopped next to them and Kushal said something to him, which Sonakshi neither listened to nor understood. The guy slowly turned towards her and smiled thinly.
"Hii...It's Dev."
The cup fell from her hands and crushed on the ground.
Her dream was a living, breathing thing standing right in front of her eyes...
Helllooo everyone. Please leave the comments below and let me know how u liked it. Comments inspire me to write!
Edited by -Arpi- - 7 years ago
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