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 Eight |

The first thing that Apurva did after reaching home was to ask Risha to make dinner for two people and pack it till she got done with the other work. Risha quickly nodded and got to work while Apurva rushed to her room. 

Apurva was tempted to take a quick, hot shower to get rid of the awful tiredness that had started to slowly take over her but she resisted it anyway. Who had time for that? She stretched her hands before taking out a few clothes from the cupboard and pushing it into a bag. 

One after the other, she picked up and dropped the things that she needed in the bag and kept it aside. Her aching back screamed, demanding rest. 

She sighed and lay down, closing her eyes. She hadn’t expected the day to be as eventful as it had been. Her mind kept going back to the conversation she had with Shashank about Netra. 

Aaj tine limit cross keli. Tula mahiti aahe tichya chehryavar tine kelelya murkhapanacha pashchataap navtach. Hota tar fakt ek vichitra samadhan… aani thodya velasaathi tar… bhiti watli tichya tya samadhanachi!

A strange fear formed its way inside her heart as Shashank’s words reverberated in her ears. He was hurting, she could see but she saw no way with which she could get him out of the mess named Netra. 

Atti shi bolu ka? She discarded the thought as immediately as it came to her mind. Nako. Atti la waaiit watel. Pan mag mi karu tari kay? 

Shashank had adamantly declared that he wouldn’t like her saying anything to Netra. For a change, she didn’t feel like upsetting him by going against him. 

Babashi bolte. To nakki saangel kahitari! She called Dr. Kaushik but the call went unanswered. She kept the phone in her bag before dropping him a message about Shashank’s accident, adding that she was staying at Kanitkar’s house to tend to his needs. 

Dr. Kaushik’s affirmative reply that came within five minutes was like a warm hug to her slightly anxious heart after she considered Shashank’s words about things being inappropriate in the eyes of society. 

She still didn’t care about anything but she didn’t wish to have her father listen to unnecessary remarks. Having him on her side like always was the boost that she needed more than ever.

She got out of bed, dragging her bag along as she walked downstairs to see if Risha was done. “Tai!”

“Bas zalach, Apurva. Thoda thanda zala ki gheun ja,” Risha said, taking the apron off. “Shashank la saangshil, kalji ghe!” 

Apurva nodded. “Thank you, Tai!” She hugged Risha, thanking her for being so quick with the dinner. 

Risha was in her early thirties and had been working at Vartaks for the past year, taking care of everyone’s meals after Sarika suffered a nasty fall from the stairs and had to be on bed rest for quite a while. Nobody knew much about Risha other than that she was an orphan. 

Apurva had tried to get Risha talking multiple times but Risha had always been calculative in her responses, never letting a single word slip out of her mouth without her permission but for Apurva, Risha was the elder sister that she never had. 

She seldom felt the need to hesitate before saying anything to Risha so when she blurted out about the whole accident scenario in front of Risha as usual, Risha’s demeanor cracked for the first time. And Risha touched the matter that she hadn’t let come into anyone’s sight for a very long time.

“His name was Ishaan. We were together in the hotel management course. He was so perfect, you know. So perfect. Watching him cooking used to be therapeutic.”

The pure admiration in Risha’s eyes as she spoke about Ishaan had Apurva in a trance.

“We weren’t in a relationship… at least not officially but what we shared was the magic that I thought only existed in fairytales.”

Apurva could only listen in awe as Risha went on. 

“Five years ago… one car crash… and everything ended. It was so sudden… so unexpected that I didn’t know what to do. For a long time, my days were filled with regrets and nights, with grief. I hated how I wasn’t loud and clear about how much I loved him, what he meant to me, and what I could do for him.”

Apurva’s tear-stricken gaze couldn’t lift once every revelation was made. 

“Haatat aslela kshan fakt aapla asto, Apurva karan pudhcha kshan aaplyasathi kay aanel he konich sangu shakat nahi. “

Shashank had dozed off by the time Apurva returned. She did not step inside his room after catching a glimpse of his sleeping figure and went to the kitchen instead. 

She served the food on a plate and took it to his room. Keeping the plate on the bed, she touched his arm to wake him up but concern rose in her eyes when her palm came in contact with his hot skin.  

Khadoos la taap aahe. The painful realization had her pinching the skin between her brows. Dr. Metkar had told her that he had a mild fever and it could increase. 

“Khadoos,” she called, gently shaking him. 

“Apurva.” He rejoiced, fighting the sleep in his eyes as he tried to look at her without blinking but all that he needed was staring at her for ten seconds for the sleepiness to vanish.

He hastily straightened up, his palm going to her cheek as his panicked self asked, “Apurva, tuze dole… you cried?” His thumb gently pressed against her cheek as the sight of her red eyes bothered him.

She instantly removed his hand from her cheek, looking away. “I didn’t.” 

The way she refused his touch gave away that something was off but his concern deepened when he realized that she was avoiding his eyes. 

She lifted the plate and held it in front of him. “Tula taap aahe. Khaaun ghe. Tula golya ghyaychya aahe.”

“Not until you tell me what made you cry.” He sat adamant, not even looking at the dinner plate that she held. 

She began mixing dal-chawal wordlessly and held a spoonful near his lips. “Nothing did,” she said when he made it evident that he wouldn’t eat, “I don’t know… tula asa ka watate aahe pan mi nahi-“

“Okay!” He didn’t let her complete and took the spoon from her hand. “I’ll eat, thank you!”

The spoon was back in her hand at the next moment. “Please…” Her voice faltered as she indirectly urged him to let her be. Her words held a strange helpless desperation that nothing could mask. 

Despite wanting to be stubborn, he chose to not force her and quietly gave in. He agreed to eat without another question provided she ate with him. 

The silent dinner was filled with the noise of one’s insecurities and another’s despair. It was the quietest she had been ever since he had known her. He wasn’t used to her silence and that night, he realized that he didn’t want to get used to it either. 

She caught him clutching his head when she returned to the room after putting the plates in the sink. Walking to the settee, she checked the prescription once and handed him the tablets that he needed to take.  

She held the glass of water while he popped a tablet in his mouth and quickly gave it to him to help him swallow it. Once he was done, she kept the glass back on the side table and the medicine strips on the settee. 

“Tula ajun kahi hava aahe?” she asked, trying her hardest to make herself seem as okay as possible. 

“Mazya prashnacha uttar!” He made sure that she knew that his quest to discover the truth was going to be relentless. “Tula koni kahi bol-lay ka?” Panic gripped him when he considered the worst-case scenario. “Netra kahi-“

She shook her head. She hated what his face displayed – the same stress that she wanted to help him get rid of. The mere thought of Netra saying something to upset her disturbed him which didn’t go unnoticed by her. 

Aaj he kelay udya mahiti nahi kay karel…

His words from their previous discussion came running back to her mind, instantly making her aware of what was haunting him. 

She quietly went to sit beside him. “Zop. Bara watel,” she murmured, pressing her palm on his forehead to see if his fever was going down.

“Bol. Bara watel.“

She closed her eyes, hearing him encouraging her to let it out. 

“Kashacha itka traas hotoy?” 

His patient questions were ready to wait for their answers for an eternity but his heart couldn’t be at peace till it got to know what was troubling her. 

She sat there, firmly clutching her unwillingness to open up until she heard him say what brought the walls she had built up around her crashing down. 

“Mala nahi saangshil?”

And with those three words, the dam of her emotions broke as she launched herself on his chest. His hands instantly wrapped around her, holding her securely to himself as she sobbed. 

While he did know that something wasn’t right, he wasn’t expecting the intensity that was before his eyes as the cries of his inconsolable fiancee got him worried sick. 

What could have possibly happened in an hour? She was just fine when she was with him. More than fine, he wouldn’t mind considering. 

“Okay okay,” he whispered, patting her head, “nako sangu.” 

He almost held himself guilty for causing her breakdown but it was better than bottling it up, he believed. 

He didn’t know for how long he just kept holding her, patting her head, stroking her hair, and coming up with feathery-soft words to console her without even knowing what it was that had traumatized her in the first place. 

“Shh,” he murmured, getting her out of the hug by holding her arms, “bas.” His palm wiped her wet cheeks. 

She silently sulked, staring down, missing the protective warmth she was engulfed in till seconds ago. 

“Still wanna continue with nothing has happened, nothing made me cry, you’re getting it wrong?” he asked, his finger pointing at the couple of tears that rolled down her cheeks again. “I admit I do not know everything about you but that doesn’t mean I don’t understand you at all. You can tell me, Apurva. I might be able to help?”

“I don’t want to fall in love with you or anyone else for that matter,” she revealed, looking into his eyes for the first time, “can you… make it happen?” 

She placed her palm on his hand as her quivering voice made another attempt. “Mala tuzya… premaat nahi padaycha aahe, Khadoos.”

Her misery shook him inside out. Those were the last words he had expected to hear from her. That was the last thing he had expected to be the reason for her tear. 

Where did it come from? Puzzled, he didn’t know what to say for a while. From not being able to contain her happiness after he expressed how truly he liked her to almost pleading to help her not fall in love with him – he didn’t know what went wrong. 

“Mhanje?” That was the only word that he could utter. 

“Mala aaplya naatyaat itka pudhe nahi yaaycha aahe ki mage firna ashakya hoil. Mala tuzya itkya javal nahi yaycha aahe ki… tuzyashivaay jagna asahya hoil.”

I bet you didn’t see this coming.

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