“Batao sach kya hai! Tell me the damn truth, Ishqi!”
“Sach main aapko bata chuki hoon. I called off our wedding kyunki mujhe aapke saath nahi rehna.”
“Tumhe mere saath nahi rehna?” His indifferent orbs ridiculed her lie. “Kal tak neend jiski dushman thi kyunki wo use kuch ghanto ke liye mujhse dur le jaati thi – use mere saath nahi rehna? Alright. Continue.”
“Main paagal thi,” she forced her gaze to the ground before turning around to conceal her brimming eyes from him, “lekin ab nahi hoon. You’re not the ideal partner for me.”
“Ah, I see. To fir kaun hai? Mayank?”
“Haan. Main Mayank se shaadi kar rahi hoon aur hum Singapore shift ho rahe hai.” Swallowing the lump clogging her throat, she kept her grip on her voice firm.
His hands that were crossed across his chest fell to his sides as she broke the news to him. He hadn’t seen it coming. Not even in his scariest nightmare.
He turned her toward him by her arm. “Are you alright in the head?” Tumhe samajh aa raha hai tum bol kya rahi ho?”
She pushed his hand off her skin. “I’m pretty alright in my head, Mr. Malhotra and I’ll appreciate if you maintain some distance. Mayank ne dekh liya to -“
“To hell with him. You think I give a damn?” Gripping her arms, he pulled her back to himself. “Ek raat mein aisa kya ho gaya hai, Ishqi? Tum kyun kar rahi ho ye sab? Kyun keh rahi ho ye sab?” His eyes softened, and his voice cracked as he urged her to stop the charade.
“Sab ko sab kuch nahi milta, AVM. Humara saath bas yahi tak tha. Mujhe jaane dijiye!”
“I can’t! I can’t dammit!” His desperate fingers caressed her hair. “I can’t let you go.”
“I know, you can’t. Because you won’t be able to let go of me, I’ve to leave you now.” She escaped his hold only to have her wrist gripped by him again.
“Ishqi!”
“Hmm?”
A swift pull was all that he needed to make her back land against his chest. He circled her hand that was still in his hold around her stomach. “Just don’t go where I cannot follow.”
Just
Don’t
Go
Where
I
Cannot
Follow!
💜
“Wo kehti hai… wo kehti hai, use mere saath nahi rehna… Mere saath nahi rehna use. Mere? Mere saath nahi rehna?” Putting the opening of the bottle in his mouth, he gulped down as much as he could in a breath.
Alcohol had been his enemy ever since her presence had graced his life, leaving him no reason to go back to it to deal wifh his pain for he had her.
He had her and that had always been more than enough for him to go through any excruciating pain but now that she had pulled herself away from, his once enemy had become his best friend.
His bloodshot eyes screamed of the number of times her indifference had stabbed his heart and left it bleeding, even snatching the anticiptic liquid called her concern from him.
He in took the alcohol as if it was the only thing that was keeping him alive.
Six long hours.
It had been six long hours to their confrontation. She had not allowed him even her glimpse after it. She had refused to take his calls. When he had reached her home, he had met with a lock on her door.
“How could you abandon me so easily, Ishqi? Was it really so easy for you, hmm?” His fingers tightened around the bottle as he tried to suffocate it the same way her withdrawal from his life was suffocating him to the death.
And his hand jerked the bottle away in a corner, letting it shatter down to the pieces in the very same way she had torn his entirety apart by choosing to walk away from him.
Every bit of him knew that something had happened but his woman was so sharp, like always, that she had shut every way that could have allowed him to seek the truth.
Every single way.
Staring at the broken pieces of the glass lying on the floor, he raked his hand through his hair.
His unsettled heart had his feet impatiently tap on the floor as he got his brain to run the fastest it could to find the destination that could bring him to the truth that she was hiding.
“I’ll do everything it will take me to keep you with me forever, Ishqi even if it means to burn down the whole world to ashes! Tumse kaha tha… na main jaaunga aur na tumhe jaane dunga!”
Even
If
It
Means
To
Burn
Down
The
Whole
World
To
Ashes!
💜
“Agar Bhai se pyaar nahi karti to unke yaadon ke ghar me apne pareshaan dil ke liye sukoon dhoondne nahi aati! You need to stop, Ishqi. You need to stop doing whatever that you think you’re doing because even if it may seem right to you, it isn’t. Trust me when I say… it ISN’T!”
Kartik’s words held her rooted in her place, not allowing her to take another step away from his farmhouse that had protected her uncountable gorgeous memories.
“Kartik, mujhe koi baat nahi karni.”
“Kyun nahi karni? Karni padegi, Ishqi,” he reached near her in one long stride, turning her toward him, “karni padegi. Tumhe kya laga, tum ye sab bakwas karogi, hum maan lenge aur tumhe jaane denge?”
“Jaane dena hoga, Kartik. You don’t have an option.”
Her cold eyes that stared into his perplexed ones had a shiver running down his spine.
“Tum aise kyun… aise kyun bol rahi ho?” The way she tore her gaze down from him at his question gripped his heart with an unknown fear. “Kya hua hai, Ishqi? Dost hoon na main tumhara? Mujhe to bata hi sakti ho?”
“Sirf dost hote to bata deti lekin mere dost ke saath saath unke bhai bhi ho.” Inhaling a sharp breath, she hung her head down for a brief moment before walking into his arms.
He did not reciprocate her hug. His hands stayed on to his sides and his heart still refused to accept every word that she had been saying all this while.
“Kartik, kuch maang sakti hoon?”
“Nahi.”
“Please?”
“Nahi.”
“Kyun?”
“Jab tak mujhe mera har jawab nahi milta, mujhse koi ummed mat rakhna, Ishqi!”
“Tum hi to meri aakhiri ummed ho.”
Her words had him pull apart with a jerk. Alarmed, a strange terror crawled in his orbs. His hand rose to her arm, giving it a light squeeze to draw her attention to him. “Ishqi, hua kya hai?”
“You know, Kartik – you became my friend way before you brother and I started dating. Everytime we fought, I would rant to you. Everytime he annoyed me, I would complain to you. You’ve been my escape because I trust you. Tumne mujhe kabhi kisi cheez ke liye mana nahi kiya and I hope, aaj bhi nahi karoge.”
His despondent eyes poured deep into hers, trying to decipher them.
“Unhe mujhe bhulne dena aur… unka khayal rakhna!”
“Koshish bhi mat karna. I repeat, dare not walk away from me this time.” He did not loosen his grip on her wrist despite her persistent attempts at pulling her hand back to herself.
“I can’t quite figure out if you are being stubborn or childish or both. Not that I care but get this in your head soon to be Mrs. Ishqi Ahaan Veer Malhotra that I need you and you need me,” he continued, upon receiving no verbal response from her.
“Galat. Na mujhe aapki zaroorat hai aur na mujhe aapki!” Her heart cursed her for the umpteenth time for hurting its companion with the harshest words she could have come up with.
“Ek raat ne aisa kya dikha diya jiske saamne mera pyaar haar gaya?”
“Sach. Sach dikha diya.”
He stubbornly got her back to stand in front of him. “Kis sach ki baat kar rahi ho?”
“Main aapko pehle hi bata chuki hoon. Mera haath chhodiye aur mujhe… jaane dijiye.” She placed her other hand on his before pushing it down from hers.
Not listening to her refusal, his heart went ahead, making him take her hands in his soft hold and rested his head on them, hoping it would remind her of the moments that they had spent together.
“What’s the date today, Ishqi?”
“15th of June.”
“Kuch yaad aaya?”
She couldn’t have been more glad that his head still stayed on her hands, and his eyes, shut for she didn’t have to worry about her glistening eyes.
“Three years ago… on 15th of June, you had allowed me to have your heart forever and I had promised to protect it no matter what came our way.”
She quickly looked away when he raised his head.
He placed her hand on her heart. “Ye dil to mera tha na? Yaad hai tumhi ne diya tha mujhe? To ab kyun,” he leaned his forehead against hers as his tears moistened her cheeks, “to ab kyun cheen rahi ho mujhse?”
His one miserably innocent question had her pretense die a brutal death. Her desperate self clung to him, breaking down in his arms.
“Because I don’t have an option, Ahaan. Because I don’t have an option.” She wept against his chest. “Kismat kahiye ya zindagi ka mazak… use aksar humse wahi cheen na hota hai, jo humare sabse qareeb hota hai!”
Jo
Humare
Sabse
Qareeb
Hota
Hai!
💔
“You are scaring me now, Ishqi! Please,” he swam his fingers through his hair as her words had a strange terror crawling in his heart, “please…. whatever it is, just let me know. Right now. Right here.”
Intertwining her fingers with his, she dragged him out of the hospital. As they sat in his car, she asked him to follow her directions.
Half an hour later, they stood in a graveyard. Confusion danced in his orbs but he patiently waited for her to reveal why they were there.
She pointed at the two graves adjacent to each other. “Maa Papa!”
Taken aback, his heart skipped a beat. He knew about her deceased parents but she had never talked about them before.
Wordlessly shifting closer, he circled his hand around her, not able to find appropriate words to comfort her.
“Maine unhe kabhi nahi dekha. Maasi ne bhi unke naam ke alawa kabhi kuch nahi bataya.” Laying her head on his shoulder, she needed a moment to pull herself together. “Do you remember that I have been telling you that I am facing issues. Physically and mentally? And we thought that it was just a temporary thing due to exhaustion and that it will go away?”
He nodded, not having a good feeling about where their conversation was heading.
“I’ve been diagnosed with the Huntington’s disease.”
His hand fell down from her arm. “You have what? What’s that?”
She forwarded her hand in front of him. “Give me your phone.”
His mind was so occupied by the words she had just spoken thar he obliged to her demand within a second.
He watched her typing something in his phone before she handed it back to him.
Afraid that she might breakdown while elaborating it to him, she let the Google do its job.
“An incurable, hereditary brain disorder that damages brain cells,” he murmured, in a daze and before he could even know, he had read through multiple articles.
His traumatized eyes couldn’t summon the courage to even steal a glance at her. “Tell me, you are lying. Tell me, you are lying, Ishqi!” His voice cracked as he almost begged her.
“I wish I was, AVM. I wish, I was!”
I
Wish
I
Was!
💔
“And you thought that this will make me let go of you? My love is so shallow, Ishqi?” He hadn’t bothered to conceal his hurt, letting her see how he saw her choice of walking away from him.
She bit back a bitter chuckle. “Pata tha aap nahi jaane denge tabhi to ye sab kiya na?”
Curling his fingers around her wrist, he walked her back to his car and made her sit inside.
Neither did she ask him anything nor did he tell her anything. She let him drive them to wherever he wanted to.
Her absent-minded self didn’t realize that he had brought her to Kartik’s farmhouse. As they stood at the poolside, he pulled her in front of him. “Remember this place, Ishqi? When someone had spiked your drink, and you weren’t in your senses, who stayed with you?”
“You did.”
“Good to see you remember. Remember when we missed the train while going for that trip and you fell sick in that lodge – who took care of you?”
“You did.”
“Appreciate the honesty. Remember when you went to finalize your outfit for our Sangeet and got stuck into that lift – who came running to get you out of it?”
“You did.” She quickly wiped the teardrop that escaped her eye. Despite her firm stance to stand strong no matter how hard he tried to make her fall weak by reminding their beautiful memories, she was losing it.
He snaked his hand around her waist and she was in his arms again. “I did, didn’t I? So? What exactly made you think that I wouldn’t do it for the rest of my life?”
She wore an emotionless face. “You aren’t getting it at the moment. I’ll keep worsening with time. I might be able to live for 15-20 years or I might not. Everyone’s body is different but it will keep getting bad for me and neither I want you to see me that way nor I want you to waste your life behind me.”
“Ho gaya? Ab main bolu?”
She averted her gaze, not letting his eyes influence her decision.
“Kisi ke saath zindagi aur tumhare saath 15 minutes me se agar mujhe chunna hua to I’ll chose those 15 minutes. Yaha to 15 saal hai. Bohot hote hai 15 saal, Ishqi. And about the fact that you’ll become more dependent on me with time… it’ll be a privilege to serve you, Love!”
“Aap nahi samajh -”
“Main samajh raha hoon. Tum nahi samajh rahi ho.”
“AVM, I -“
“Accha, ek baat batao. Tum reh paaogi mere bina?”
“Haan!”
Folding his index finger, he slid it underneath her chin, lifting her face to look at him. “Tell me again. Reh paaogi, mere bina?”
She stubbornly kept her gaze glued to the ground, knowing what stood in front of her was the weapon capable of defeating her in a microsecond. “Haan.”
“Aise nahi. Look into my eyes and tell me. Reh paaogi?” His fingers gently roamed on her cheek. “Reh paaogi?”
She wiped the tears that rolled down her cheeks and nodded but her moistened eyes said otherwise.
He stood astonished, wondering where she brought that amount of strength from.
Every bit of her had broken down but to the world, and even to him, she kept pretending that she was perfectly alright and capable of handling everything alone.
Momentarily shutting his eyes, he shook his head before letting his hand fall down from her cheek.
Putting her hands around his neck, he enveloped her in a hug, pouring every bit of the love that hid heart held for her in that hug. “Nahi reh sakti, bevakoof ladki. Iss pool se pucho. Wo bhi bata dega. You and I… we are meant to be, Ishqi! IshqAan was written in our stars way before fate brought us together.”
The warmth of his delicate hold was all that it took for her grip on her emotional self to die. She snuggled closer, letting him hold her while she was falling apart.
Slipping his hand around the back of her head, he securely held her to himself.
“Tumhe mujhse alag kar paaye aisi wajah na bani hai aur na main kabhi ban ne dunga!”
Na
Main
Kabhi
Ban
Ne
Dunga!
💜
💜
💜
Amazing
Damn beautiful🥺💜
For your writings:- ye kbhi expectations pe khari na utrein,aisa kbhi na hua hai na hi Harshada hone degi🥺💜
How sweet! Comments like these keep me going. Thank you, Shagun. 💜