Epilogue:
Kunal inquired about Mishti’s health from Abir, as Kuhu overhead. Once Abir left, Kuhu questioned Kunal on his weird, caring behavior towards Mishti, suddenly. Kunal informed Kuhu about Mishti falling unconscious, which left Kuhu surprised. She questioned him on not informing her earlier. Kunal realized it was time for his second apology to Kuhu and addressed the issue between the girls. He took her to their room and made her sit on the bed.
“I love you Kuhu” Kunal said, which shocked Kuhu. That wasn't the topic. Why was he suddenly proposing to her? What was going on?
Kunal paid no attention to her confusion or interruptions. He knew where he was going and he knew he would also answer her questions with the conversation.
“And you know what I love the most about you? The way you love me. The way you love my family. Especially when I was being a jerk to you, you didn't take it out on my family. You treated them with love and respect. You considered Ketu as your own little sister. You enjoyed and encouraged Mami, even when she was at her best level of being irritable. You formed this special bond with my brother. You are like this rainbow. Especially for me, because I understood no color other than black and white as bhai always said.” Kunal looked towards Kuhu as he was talking, who now smiled at the praises she was getting from him.
“I was doing all this thinking last night, about you and us. And I realised that you and I are pretty similar. Wait! No!! You are how I was. A total replica of who I was” that brought Kuhu out of the happy phase. Now she was confused. “What did he mean?” she thought to herself.
“You are this amazing, caring, fun loving person. You do believe in taking everyone together. Your #Kuhuness, #amazingness, #colorfulness is for everyone” Kuhu smiled slightly, again
“Except Mishti” ended Kunal and Kuhu glared at Kunal with shock. “Like I used to be with her,” Kunal continued. “What I see you doing right now, just makes me more ashamed of myself. Of my actions towards you! Towards her. And I don't know if I should feel happy or sad that I was left so easily off the hook by both of you. You did because you love me. And she did because she loves bhai. Kuhu, I can't express in words how horrible I feel for putting you through that mess. Those words, those insults and you still stuck by me. I wish I could take it back. I wish ”
“No Kunal! It wasn't your fault. You did all of that because of Mishti” Kunal sighed with a hint of irritation and stood up and stayed quiet for some time. He pulled himself together and continued, “Mishti didn't tell me to do that. Mishti did not force me to do that. I did that all by myself. You know it. I know it and everyone knows it. And everyone other than you, my mom, and of course your Jasmeet chachi knows that Mishti wasn't at fault. Kuhu, when a person is given a choice of right and wrong, a strong person always chooses to do the right thing. And a weak person, always listens to what he wants to listen to and does it. And I was weak that time. I was so damn egotistic and full of myself. And everyone, including you, was just busy pampering that ego of mine.” Kuhu frowns and looks down. “In the midst of the crowd of people wanting to pamper my ego, there were two loud and very audible voices trying to tell me how wrong I was. Bhai and Mishti. But I didn't listen to them. My ego didn't let me. Or better yet, I let my ego handle me. Bhai kept telling me that when it comes to love, you don't have to choose. Or no one takes anyone’s place. They just make a place of their own. I just didn't want to share my bhai with anyone. Frankly to be honest, I really felt like I didn't need anyone if I had bhai. I didn't think I even needed you. But in family, you share. You share everything with everyone. And all Bhai really wanted me to do was accept you and Mishti as family. And when I started falling for you, I realized what he meant the whole time. I realized how stupid I was in understanding this simple logic. I realized how big of a jerk I was to you, Mishti and Bhai. And before I could do anything to repair the damage I caused, Bhai had to break up with Mishti because of Ma. And I don't need to go into any details about the rest because we both know what happened.”
Kunal turned, walked towards Kuhu, took her shoulders and helped her to stand up. He cupped her face and calmly said “Kuhu, I made a mess with my ego. And right now, I see you doing the same with Mishti. And trust me Kuhu, it's not going to take you anywhere.” With that Kuhu jerked Kunal hands off and walked away. “Kunal. You know it's not me. Mishti is the fighter. She is the one who always picks on me” Kuhu blabbered with irritation, once again trying her best to throw the accusation onto Mishti.
Kunal nodded in denial and looked towards Kuhu, “Kuhu, you and I both know that isn't true. We both are trying to be honest here, right? I was honest with you and I told you what I felt and what I did. I would like you to be honest too. I am not going to judge you. Hey, I am the last one to judge anyone because of the countless times I've screwed up” As Kunal didn't get any response from her, he continued, “Fine, lets assume she is the one to start. Then why can't you be the bigger person and ignore it? Why can't you stop it? Why can't you call a ceasefire once and for all?” That reminded Kuhu of Mishti’s requests of calling a ceasefire. Once again, she jerked him off in irritation. “I did Kunal. But you know how Mishti is. She is always looking to ruin things for me. She is always jealous of me and trying to steal my limelight and hence I always lose on-” before she could finish, they both heard a voice coming from behind.
“NO SHE DOESN'T” Abir walked in with irritation. Kunal and Kuhu sensed the anger filled in Abir’s entire aura. Abir stared at Kuhu for some time, expecting her to say something. He gulped his own saliva and turned towards Kunal and smiled. “Nanko, I can’t define in words how proud I am of you today. You!! You not only accepted that you were wrong and weak but you are apologizing for them. And I can see how much you mean it. At least you are not stuck on something like others are. Thank you. Thank you for proving me right. Thank you.” Kunal hugged Abir as he said that. As Kuhu heard ‘others’ in Abir’s speech, she felt hurt. She thought that Abir was not her bro anymore. She blamed Mishti again for snatching Abir away from her. She interrupted them with teary eyes “Mishti managed to snatch you away from me too. She always does. She always takes people away from me. She did the same with my family. She snatched my grandparents from me. She snatched my brother from me. They always loved her more. They always preferred her more. They always ignored me when it came to her. Because she was this intelligent, strong, confident girl. They always gave my things away to her. No one cared for me after she came to my house. I hate her. I hate it.” And she sat on her bed, sobbing.
Kunal immediately ran to Kuhu’s support and hugged her. Abir was watching them from a distance. He knew he had to handle this issue with care and maturity. He couldn't just lose it. Otherwise, the purpose of addressing the issues between the sisters wouldn't be met. As her sobbing decreased, Abir found that moment right to start speaking again. “Mishti isn’t jealous of you or anyone. She knows how to love. Mishti never tries to steal any limelight or attention from you or anyone. In fact, she is someone who tries to find happiness in what she has. She will never try to snatch any family from anyone because she knows the importance of it. She knows how it feels to be snatched away from that. And she is the last person to impel that on anyone. I know it. Kunal now knows it. And you know it too. But as Kunal said, you will not admit that because of your ego. Because of your stubbornness..” Kuhu was about to interrupt but Abir stopped her and requested her to let him finish first. “It's surprising and shocking Kuhu. You both stayed together, in the same room for so many years. Yet you don’t know her the way I know her. Or maybe you do. But you are too stubborn to admit to that. You have complaints. Probably lots of them. From your family, I am assuming. But you don't want to complain to them. You probably don't want to ruin your image in front of them. Or you probably think they will love you even less and hence you don't tell them anything. You bottle your feelings up and then explode on Mishti as if she is some scapegoat. Nanko did the same thing. He wanted to keep his perfect brotherly image in front of me and did a lot of things behind my back. But when he couldn’t handle his perfect image anymore, you very well know how things ended up” Kuhu remembered Kunal’s behavior with her and everyone and she looked towards Abir.
“Your anger is as misplaced as Nanko’s was. He didn't want to take that anger out on me. He was jealous of Mishti. He was jealous of the fact that he had to share his brother with someone." He continued and Kunal briefly looked down, for shame "But he couldn't complain to me. So he insulted Mishti every chance he got. You are probably jealous of Mishti and similarly, your anger is totally misplaced. Which is now crossing many limits.” Abir spoke sternly. “Do you know why I could attend to his issues Kuhu? Because I knew. He never hid it from me or anyone that he didn't like Mishti. And so I knew I had to address them. Mishti also had a lot of complaints from her paternal grandparents. They know it. Badi Ma and Bade Papa know it. And they tried addressing it for the longest time. Maybe their ways and means were not right. But they did, because they knew. But did they ever know that you and Mishti had so many issues growing up together? Did you or Mishti ever tell them anything?" He asked but Kuhu had no response for him, she remained silent as he continued. "No, right? Then, how were they supposed to know? They probably thought that you both loved each other so much that you both understood. Initially, even we thought that you guys were as close as me and Nanko are. Even Mishti is at fault here. You both should have told your parents about the issues, rather than hiding it from them for years and then letting it blow up like that.”
Kuhu stood up, walked towards Abir and said, “They are MY GRANDPARENTS. I am sure they knew. They are supposed to know. But Mishti kept them away from me. She always did. I know that. And Jasmeet chachi also told me. She even told me how Mishti would try to ruin things for me” Kuhu tried to sound confident and rubbed off her tears. Abir laughed and nodded his head in the negative. “I screamed my lungs out and told my mother about my love towards Mishti. Yet, she chose to ignore it and did horrible things to keep me away from her. When my mom can act indifferent even after me shouting and screaming the truth in front of her: You never ever told your grandparents how you felt. How do you expect them to know? Until and unless Kunal didn't explicitly tell you that he loved you and wanted to give this marriage another chance, did you know? Did you understand his actions? As much as I know them Kuhu, if they knew, they would have surely done something that you wouldn't feel that way or left. I am sure they thought you weren't alone. And that you were being brought up under amazing care of your parents.”
Kunal stepped in and said “And Kuhu, you are believing Jasmeet chachi out of everyone? Jasmeet Chachi?. I mean childhood is a different thing. You are innocent and naive and it's very easy to get swayed. And I know it's very easy to get swayed when you are an adult too. I got swayed by my mom. But right now you know the truth. She is just holding a grudge against Mishti for her son”
“Why wouldn't she? She is right. Mishti broke Nanchak’s heart. She should hold a grudge. Even I am holding a grudge against her for that.” said Kuhu, causing Kunal to sigh in frustration. It was like they were getting nowhere.
“Then she should hold a grudge against you too Kuhu!” Kunal exclaimed. “Didn't you help Bhai and me in this? Didn't you want to make sure your brother doesn't get into a loveless marriage? Mishti did exactly what you had warned her for. Maybe a little late, but she did. She called off the marriage for the right reason. Did you want that marriage to happen? Did you want them to stay in that one sided loveless marriage?” questioned Kunal.
“Of course not. I love Nanchak. But his happiness means the world to me. And I knew he loved Mishti very much” Kuhu's irritation was clear
“But you also knew that Mishti didn't love him and that's why you were helping us, and not him. So what's your issue with that?" Asked a very confused Kunal. Kuhu stayed quiet and didn't say anything. It slowly made sense to him or he thought he found the answer. Kuhu and Jasmeet chachi were really behaving like Meenu and him. They both would have been ok if Nishant would have called off the relationship. But since it was Mishti calling it off, it hurt them. It hurt their ego too. Abir understood the same. Abir walked towards Kuhu, held her by her shoulders and said
“Kuhu, I am going to tell you something. You can either take it as a brother’s advice, friend's or your brother in law’s warning. There are few things you don't know about your brother Nishant. Some things happened on the day of Haldi. And hence, you and your Jasmeet Chachi just wanted the marriage to happen anyhow. I am not going to delve on the truth but let me ask you one thing? If that person wasn't your brother, would you have still forced your sister to get married to him? Just based on that promise of not being an addict again? If the girl wasn't Mishti, but someone else, say your Ananya di. And Nishant was some random guy, not related to your family! Would you have?” Kuhu looked down with shame.
“I thought as much. I know Kuhu you have the capacity to love. In fact, if the girl I would have married wasn't Mishti, you would have done anything and everything to make her feel at home. You would have happily shared everything. But since that girl is Mishti, you don't want to. You have this constant mental competition going on in your head. You should have everything that's better than Mishti. I saw your reaction too, when Mishti got the first necklace. And that's why I came to you to make you feel better. But something makes me think that even if you would have gotten a necklace then, maybe you would have sat and compared whose was better. Kuhu, the reason me and Kunal are trying to talk to you is because somewhere we both still have hopes that you will understand and start changing for the better. Because trust me, if you continue to be the way you are, you are never going to be happy and unfortunately it will make people around you unhappy and only you will be responsible for that." He took a breath before continuing "Fine, if you don't want to help her become a part of this family. No one will for you. But don't try to ruin things for her. ”
As Abir finished his sentence, Jugnu came to their room to ask for some change he needed for Mishti’s medicine. Abir asked Jugnu to go to his room but Kunal stopped them and offered the change. Abir stopped him and said “My wife wouldn't want to freeload on your money Kunal. Don't worry. I can take care of her and myself” Kuhu looked away, guilt written all over her face. “I love my family Kuhu but I love Mishti very much and I won't stand by and watch her be humiliated any longer. I don't know about anyone else, but don't expect any understanding and sympathy coming my way from now on if you continue to be the way you are” warned Abir and walked away with Jugnu.
“Kuhu, bhai is right. I understand you have complaints and a lot of them. Whether it's me or your grandparents or anyone. Trust me! I will try to help you in any manner I can. I will bring anyone and any person you want to talk to about this. Yes, there are a lot of things I still need to learn. And I promise you I won't leave you or judge you. And you know bhai. He doesn't stand any injustice. Whether it's on me or you or Mishti or anyone. He and Mishti will be the first to stand by us if any such thing happens. Stop focusing on what Mishti has. Start focusing on what you have. She has her own strengths and weaknesses. Everyone does. You do too. She is happy because she is confident about who she is and content with what she has. Same as bhai! You are unhappy because mentally you just want to prove it to everyone that you are better than Mishti. Be happy with your qualities. If you want to compete, compete to become a better version of yourself. I learned that after all the goof ups and I am trying to do that. Maybe I can help you too. You don't need to be perfect. You are perfect the way you are. And until you accept that, you will be miserable. And for god sakes, stop listening to your Jasmeet Chachi. PLEASE. Bhai has a lot of patience for the people he loves. But once he loses it, he loses it all" a sigh escaped his lips "I am not trying to scare you, I am trying to be honest with you. If this continues, there will be issues. They can even crop between me and bhai and this family will break. But Mishti won't be responsible for it. And I am scared that we might lose a lot of things.” said Kunal with a lot of calmness and honesty. Noticing Kuhu’s confusion on ‘we’ Kunal cleared that since they are a team now, he will bear everything that she has to.
Kunal decided to leave Kuhu alone for some time to give her the space she needed to think. It was definitely too much information for her to take in and he needed a breather too. It had been a long, long day.As Kunal left the room, Kuhu found herself making her way over towards the window, staring out of it as she recalled various incidents that had occurred between herself and Mishti, since their were kids. How she had always blamed Mishti in order to save her own skin in front of the elders. How she had accused Mishti of snatching her loved ones away from her.Maybe the brothers were right? Maybe she really that far gone? She sighed as she turned her back towards the window, leaning on the ledge of it as she played with her hands.She did realise that she had goofed up big time. She had taken things too far in anger, whether it was pushing Mishti off that human pyramid or accidentally slipping off those coffee pills. Was she really the cause of her own destruction? Should she just talk to her grandparents and question them on their ignorance? Should she ask Kunal for help?
Abir stepped into their room and found Mishti standing by their dresser, distracted as she applied lotion on her hands before noticing him in the reflection of the mirror in front of her. Abir walked towards her, embraced her in a tight back hug and kissed her shoulders. Mishti closed her eyes. Oh how much she loved it when he just showered her with his attention and love. He had this amazing quality which made her mind, heart and soul and she loved it. He scooped her and picked her up in his arms and walked towards the sofa chair and sat on it, in such a way that she sat on his lap. “So wifey, you still remember our promise to one another right? If you walk out on me in any discussions, I will use my ajeebness to stop you.”
“And if you walk out on me, I will become an angry violent Charmi” And Mishti stopped realizing the slip of tongue moment she just had. Abir eyes popped big. He tried his level best to control his laughter. Mishti kept warning him with her big eyes to not react but Abir couldn't hold it in any longer and burst out laughing. “You are laughing at me Abir. Stop it Abir. I didn't say that. '' Realizing that Abir wasn't going to stop laughing, she joined him too and pretended to strangle him before hugging him tight. He kissed her on her cheek then just rocked her on the chair, promising himself to protect her and her happiness, always.
Edited by .IamShonali. - 5 years ago
Ye Hai Mohabbatein
