Set in the pre-wedding phase. The wedding gets postponed for six months here and thus, everything that we saw Netra doing after Shashank and Apurva’s marriage in the show – she does it here before that. You’ll know the rest as you read.  

| Part Ten |

“Mi aaplyasathi chaha karun aanto.” 

She was absent-mindedly gazing at the moon from the window when she heard him. It had been several long minutes since she had pulled herself out of his arms after growing conscious of their proximity and he had let her have her space. She had stubbornly dragged him back to the bed and adjusted his legs on the pillow, warning him to not get up again. 

“Tula aata chaha hava aahe? Itkya raatri?” she asked, turning around. “I don’t think you should, Khadoos. Far ushir zala aahe. Tu zopaycha prayatna kar na. Laagel tula zop. Hava tar mi ajun thoda vel doka dabun dete!” She was surprised by how instantly she was able to step away from the demonic thoughts hovering over her mind for his sake.

“Mala laagel pan tuza kay? Tula laagnar aahe?”

She gave him a small smile, returning to his bed. “You suddenly feel that you know me a bit too well, don’t you?”

“I don’t!” He killed her assumption. “All that I feel at this moment is that… you’re not okay and I’m not okay with leaving you alone when I can see how you’re going to spend the rest of the night.” 

“So you’re not going to sleep tonight? Is this what you’re trying to say?” she asked, waiting for him to nod so that she could grab a pillow and slam it on his head. 

“I didn’t say that!” 

“Don’t play that game with me, Khadoos. I don’t have the strength to play today.” 

Her weary voice was all that it took him to end the little bickering that he was trying to start to lighten her mood. He shifted to the right side of the bed and she was quick to walk to that side to angle his legs on the wedge pillow again without even knowing what he was up to. 

He threw two pillows on the bed on the left side of his legs. 

When her confused eyes couldn’t figure out anything after his silent gesture of pointing toward those pillows, he had to use his voice. “Lie down!” Give that poor back some rest, he wanted to add but dropped the plan. 

Ah, so it was about that. Her fiance and his concern about her – both were turning out to be pretty wholesome. She hid her smile, not wanting to let go of the rare opportunity to tease him.  “What’s the plan, Mr. Kanitkar?” She raised her brows with an evident playfulness in her gaze. 

“Far kahi vishesh nahi. Lahaan mulanna goshti saangayla laagtaat; tyashivaay zopat nahi te. Bas tech karaycha plan aahe!” 

She gave him a murderous glare. “Tula mi lahaan mulgi watate?” 

“Aahesach tu… lahaan!” Goad mulgi, he was again tempted to add but bit his tongue at the right time. He held back a laugh when she attempted to scratch his arm over his sleeve. “He… bilkul hech kartaat lahaan mula!”

His constant emphasis on you kiddo got on her nerves real quick. She climbed on the bed and lay her head on the pillow beside his legs. “You do remember that we are alone here, right?” She crossed her arms behind her head. “And on top of that… tu ha asa… ek paay tutlela ek haat baandhlela… Don’t you think that you should be… nice to me rather than awakening my murderous tendencies?”

“And you think I’m scared?” Amusement flickered in his orbs when he heard her giving him a direct threat. He was glad that he had decided to sit for a while because it allowed him a better view of her. 

“You should be,” she affirmed. “Even if I kill you right now, who’ll suspect me?”

“Well, I think you’re forgetting that my family knows that you’re here. Even Sarika Aatya does.” 

A strange glint in her eyes that followed his attempt to tell her how stupid her plan was got him wondering what was going on in her devilish little mind.

“I’ll tell them that you misbehaved with me so I left before you were killed and they will believe me!”

His jaw dropped at her audacity. “You will tell them that I… I… misbehaved with you?”

She readily nodded. “Sounds good, no?”

“The plan is bound to flop. My family knows me enough, Miss Vartak!” 

“The plan is bound to succeed. Your family knows that you’re very much capable of misbehaving with me. I’ve made sure that they know.”

“Oh, wait! Hold on. Are you trying to say that all these fights that we’ve had were… planned? You planted them in our story so that you could use them in your murder plan?”

“You’re smart. I like it.” She moved up slightly to pat his knee in appreciation. 

God, this woman. So dramatic. What have I really gotten myself into? He chuckled when he caught her quick hair flick. 

“Tula ajibaat awkward nahi hot aahe na he asa mazyasobat ekta?” It came out as a statement instead of a question and he didn’t mind it because it was intentional. 

“Tu tharav!” She sounded pretty casual when she left the ball in his court. 

“Just curiosity mhanun… ek vicharu?” 

The sudden change in his tone was strange. She hummed anyway, intrigued by what had gotten him so conscious. 

“Had there been someone else…” he paused, as if uttering it was more uncomfortable for him than the one listening, “Krish in my place… would you have still stayed? Have you ever… stayed?“

Her gaze stilled on him but his eyes went everywhere except her face. It wasn’t certainly the first time that she had seen her fiance being affected by her ex-boyfriend. He had made it a bit too evident a lot of times. She still hadn’t forgotten about how he had ruined her trip plan.

“What exactly do you want to know, Khadoos?” she asked, her voice calmer than it had ever been. “How close was I to Krish? Am I that comfortable spending nights with guys? Do I-“

“That is not what I meant, Apurva!” His sharp voice boomed in the air as he didn’t let her go on. “And you know that!”

“That is not what you meant?” she asked, pretending as if she didn’t know it. “Hmm, let’s see what you want to know then.” Pressing her index finger on her nose, she pretended to think. “Is it… how often Krish and I-“

“Stop right there!” His palm pressed on her leg when his ears couldn’t take it anymore. “Just… stop, alright? Mazach chukla. Tula vicharaylach nako hota!” 

She chuckled watching him vigorously rubbing his forehead. “If someone wants to know if he’s special… he should be upfront about it and not go round in circles.” 

She enjoyed his hesitant attempt though. It was good to know that she wasn’t the only one affected. If she didn’t like Netra around him, then she didn’t get to mind if he wasn’t fond of Krish. 

Khadoos Jealous Kanitkar. She continued her giggle until she felt his intense gaze on her. 

He leaned forward, outstretching his hand. She gave her hand in his despite not knowing what he was up to but was quick to realize that she should’ve thought twice when he swiftly pulled her up straight. Their shoulders that brushed in the process left her heart thumping against her ribs. 

He gazed down as his thumb caressed her knuckles, leaving her utterly stunned. “Am I special?”

“Haan?” She had forgotten the existence of words, leaving her unable to form a coherent sentence. His charm had her under his spell before she could defend herself. 

“Someone said that I should be upfront about what I want to know. I’m just following the orders,” he said, lifting her chin to make her look into his eyes, “am I… special?”

“Huh?” Still clueless, she could barely hear him. Her senses were a bit too captivated by his soft fingers underneath her chin and his eyes that were singing the melody that only her heart could hear. 

“Uttar… hava aahe mala, Apurva!” 

His question finally got her out of her la-la land. She pulled her knees closer and wrapped her hands around them. “Tula mahiti aahe, Krish chya aadhi pan maza ek boyfriend hota…”

His eyes almost popped out of their sockets for a second before his head fell back. Here he wasn’t able to deal with one Krish and now she was telling him that there were more? He suddenly found himself wondering why he wasn’t in the same school and college as that of hers. He would have stolen her all for himself before anyone could even approach her. 

“Aamcha movie cha plan hota…” she added, catching his attention back. “Pan velevar to mhanala ki tickets nahi miltaat aahe. Tyane plan change kela aani tyachya ghari movie baghaycha tharla. Aamche sagle friends pan yenar hote.” 

His curious eyes simply stared at her, waiting for her to reveal what it was about. Not that he was dying to hear the tales of her ex-boyfriends but the sudden mention of him had intrigued him.

“When I reached his home… there was nobody,” she said, looking at Shashank’s narrowed eyes as if he was trying to figure out the thing before she exposed him to it, “not his parents… not our friends… nobody!”

His fist that clenched by his side dug into the bed, not wanting to hear more but he kept quiet anyway. 

She sighed, reliving the not-so-pleasant memories. “He wanted to do the things that I didn’t want to do. He tried everything. Persuasion. Emotional blackmail…” she paused for a moment, looking at him before gazing down, “…force…“

Fury flooded him after the appalling realization of what must have happened that day hit him hard. He still didn’t dare to imagine the picture, not trusting himself with what he would do after that. 

Sensing his unease, she speeded up the conversation. “We kinda had a fight and I could escape… unharmed.“

Her emphasis on the last word was more to comfort his distressed heart, he could sense. 

“It was kinda traumatizing, I ain’t gonna deny,” she accepted, scratching her forehead, “I remember dreading to go to even my friends’ places for a while. It used to be always in the back of my mind… what if…. My body refused anyone and everyone’s touch for quite a long time regardless of their intention.”

“And you don’t mind my touch,” he murmured as the realization dawned upon him, recalling how she had buried herself against him minutes ago, letting him hold her so close, “and you don’t mind staying alone for the whole night with me.” 

The sheer astonishment in his voice made the corner of her lips curl up. 

After several long moments of silence, he looked at her with only one question in his mind and on his lips. “Why?”

When his baffled self didn’t know how to process the strings of information, she decided to make it easier for him. “Tula uttar hava hota. He… aahe uttar!” 

Am I special? Uttar hava aahe mala, Apurva!

And you don’t mind my touch! And you don’t mind staying alone for the whole night with me!

Tula uttar hava hota. He… aahe uttar!

I thrive on feedback so please don’t hesitate to share your views in the comment section. <3

I N D E X

Part One

Part Two  

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Part Six

Part Seven

Part Eight

Part Nine

Part Ten

Part Eleven

Part Twelve