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 Two |

The shrill ringtone of her phone startled him, almost making him groan out of frustration. What kind of a ringtone is this? Apurva and her choices! He gave up judging her for what seemed weird to him as he tried to ignore the irritating sound of her phone until it reached the point where it seemed impossible. 

He called for her several times but when he got no response, he reached out for her bag and took her phone out. 

Atti calling. 

He glanced at the locked door of the washroom for yet another time before swiping his thumb on her phone screen. His plan was to quickly tell Sarika that Apurva was in the washroom and he would ask her to call Sarika back but Sarika’s words snatched his ability to talk, leaving him utterly stunned,. 

Appu? Kay bezabaabdarpana aahe ha? Ek tar tu sakali nashta na karta nighalis. Varun college madhe suddha kahich khalla nahis. Tiffin tasach parat gheun aalis. Ghari jevayla baslich tar konacha phone aala kay zala kahi na saangtach bharlya tatavarun tashich uthun nighun geli. Itka vel zaalay, ek phone karun saangta yet nahi kuthe aahes, kay chal-lay te? Bara nahi saangaycha tar nako saangu kuthe aahe te pan aadhi kahitari khaaun ghe. Doka dukhel nahitar, Appu? Tu aiktes na? Kahi bolat ka nahiyes?

Sarika’s pitch turned louder, dragging Shashank back to reality. Should I tell her that Apurva is here? He wondered. But why didn’t Apurva inform her? Not like I am her boyfriend that she has to lie to see me. I am her fiancé. He caught himself frowning, surprising himself that it bothered him that Apurva hid from her family that she was at his place. Judging too much, Shashank. Judging too much. He shut his eyes, remembering the habit he was trying to build lately – the habit of hearing her out before his mind declared her guilty of something.

APPU.

Sarika yelled for yet another time from the other end.

“Sarika Aatya, mi boltoy. Shashank,” he revealed in a low voice, unsure what to say, how much to say, and how much to hide. As much as he preferred honesty no matter what, he didn’t want to land Apurva in trouble – especially when all that she was trying to do was… support him in whatever ways possible. 

“Shashank? Appu cha phone tuzyakade? Appu tikde aahe?” 

What am I supposed to say now? His restless self stood up. As he paced back and forth, he adjusted his already-in-place spectacles. “Haan mhanje… ho. Ithech aahe, Apurva.” He turned back, hoping Apurva to be out but how did he forget that it was Apurva? How could she do something – literally anything that would be in his favor?  

Though his fiancée might not be in his favor, it seemed like Sarika was. 

“Mi ugach tension ghet hote. Tuzyasobat aahe mhanje kalji karaycha kahi karanach nahi.”

And with that, Sarika disconnected the call without waiting to hear back from Shashank. 

Staring at the phone for straight ten seconds, he couldn’t say why he was so overwhelmed. Sarika trusting him with Apurva to that extent when all they had done in front of her and their families was fight had to leave him thinking.  

Just as he dropped her phone on the bed, Apurva stepped out of the washroom. His eyes were quick to spot her when he heard the door opening. 

As he moved toward her to confront her, the towel slipped from her hand and she blinked hard to fight the spinning sensation. Her hand involuntarily tried to reach something to hold to not lose her balance. Her eyes shot open when she felt a pair of hands around her. The warm, protective touch of them almost left her gazing at the one those hands belonged to. Shashank Kanitkar. 

“I’m okay, thank-”

“It would be nice for you to shut up, Miss Vartak. Your body doesn’t have the energy that you are trying to use.”

Her mouth fell open. Shut up? How dare he tell Apurva Vartak to shut up? She was almost ready with her claws to attack her favorite enemy named Khadoos but stopped herself in the nick of time when the rest of his words rang in her ears. 

Your body doesn’t have the energy that you are trying to use. 

She pushed his hands off her shoulder. “What do you mean?”

“Sarika Aatya cha phone aala hota.” And with that, he repeated every line that Sarika had uttered as precisely as he could, making Apurva turn her face to the opposite side right after hearing the first sentence.

Atti pan na. Ugh. She squeezed her eyes shut. And now he would demand an explanation that I don’t have. She sighed. 

Should she just grab her bag and run from there? She thought. Bad idea, Appu. Not like you can disappear from the earth. He’ll find you. He’ll… find you.

Realizing how doomed she was, she slumped down in the chair nearest to her, slapping her hands on her face. 

Just as she was preparing herself to be slapped with embarrassment, he pulled her up by her arm. “Ghari mi ekta hoto mhanun fakt don polya aani bhendichi bhaaji keli hoti. Kitchen madhe ja aani tula hava te banavun ghe aani… khaaun ghe.” 

Her stunned eyes didn’t leave his sight for a good thirty seconds before she left his room. 

Hi mazyakade… asa ka baghat hoti? Scratching the back of his head, he shrugged that thought off. The thought he couldn’t quite decode. What had he done to be glared at? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. He assured himself. 

Apurva reached the kitchen and kicked the leg of a dining chair. “Khadoos will be just simply plain Khadoos. I mean I’m glad he didn’t ask me about what Atti told him but he actually sent me here to cook something for myself? Ek sandwich kay banavla yachyasathi yala kay mi masterchef watli ki kay?” She mentally punched her fiancé as hard as she could before holding her grumbling stomach which had been deprived of food for far too long than it could tolerate. 

“Aata mi kay khaau! Ithe tar maggi pan nasel. Ek tech tar banavta yete! I’m sure sandwich saathi bread pan nasel.” She cried, banging her head on the dining table as she sat down in a chair. 

Shashank was cracking his knuckles, still stuck at Sarika’s words when he heard loud noises from his kitchen. As he rushed downstairs to see what it was, he was bewildered to see three containers on the kitchen floor with half of their stuff out of them, making a not-so-appealing rangoli design on the tiles. 

His gaze found her near the kitchen countertop. With white flour all over her hands and cheeks. And he slapped his forehead. 

“Ha kay pratap karun thevlayas tu ithe?” he screamed as he stepped inside and saw more of the mess she had created.

“Pratap? Kon Pratap?” Confused, she looked around to see who he was referring to. “Mi konalach nahi bolavlay ithe!” 

And he knew he needed to find a wall to bang his head on. To see confusion still plastered on her face was frustrating. The very fact that she was actually serious and not kidding him made him wonder if she was really the eighth wonder of the world. 

Was she for real? Could she be? He didn’t know. He didn’t have hopes to find out either. 

Gritting his teeth, he pointed toward the mess on the floor, shutting his eyes. “HE. HE kay aahe?” 

“Ah, te mi actually chane shodhat hoti. I remember Atti ni banavle hote and I loved it.” 

“Chane?” he asked despite hearing it clearly the first time. “Tula mahiti aahe na ki chane aadhi bhijat ghalayla laagtaat?

“Bhijaayla laagtaat?” she repeated after him, chuckling. “Kuthe paavsaat?” 

And that was the final nail in the coffin. He turned around, placed his hands on the wall and started hitting his head on them.

“Khadoos…” Panicked, she rushed toward him. “Laagel na. Kay kartoys?” she asked, putting her hand in between his hand and his head. “Ek tar mala bhuk laagliye aani-” 

He immediately left his spot upon hearing her. In the chaos, he had completely forgotten that she hadn’t eaten the whole day. “Tu ho baajula. Mi banavto kahitari!”

“Arey mi banavte na. Mala fakt chane shodhun de,” she insisted 

“How much do you love your teeth, Apurva?” 

“A lot.”

“Then let me cook.” 

Her jaw dropped at his taunt. “Excuse me, Mr. Kanitkar? Can you explain what you meant by that?” 

“Sorry, I don’t have time, Miss Vartak. At the moment, my priority is feeding the one who had been empty stomach for me. So… can I? Thank you!” He pressed his lips together before bending to clean the mess first. 

He had clearly missed that his one statement had left the woman standing in front of him dumbstruck. Had he not bent and spared her a glance, he would have seen the unfathomable shock on her face. 

Apurva Vartak couldn’t stop thanking her stars for his gaze not being upon her in those moments though. 

“Stop giving yourself unnecessary importance, Mr. Kanitkar,” she said, walking toward where he was cleaning. “Nobody apart from her family is important enough in Apurva Vartak’s life to make her leave food. Whatever happened today… isn’t really because of you. I was busy with classes-” 

She had to halt her words when he stood up and placed his hand on the kitchen slab that she was leaning against. The sudden proximity had her breath hitched in her throat. 

“Such lame excuses, Miss Vartak! Did you really try to say there that I am not important to you?” He let his hand slide backward on the slab, slightly leaning forward. “Let me remind you in case you’re forgetting. One of your first lines to me today was that… I matter to you just enough to rush over here after knowing what happened.” 

Could he just move away? She lowered her gaze, internally fighting the already lost battle. Someone tell this man that he can’t be standing this close to me and expect me in a state to think let alone remember what I’ve said and what I haven’t. She looked to her right – the free space for her to escape but just as she tried, his other hand landed on the slab, trapping her in her place.

“Not so soon, Miss Vartak! What’s the hurry?” he asked, dusting the flour off her cheek. “So, you were saying something. Ah, yes… you were saying that I am not important to you. Am I really not, Apurva?” 

She did not even register his words. Her eyes were stuck on his hand that she wasn’t sure if was getting the flour off her skin or was putting her skin on fire. 

How could he be so casual while doing that to her when its effects on her were more intense than she could handle?

“Apurva!” 

“Hmm?” She was still in a daze when she heard him utter her name. 

“I asked something. Am I not important to you?”

“You are. More than you’ll ever know. More than I can ever let you know. More than I can ever let anyone know.”

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