Pani – a story we wish were true – part 60

Recap: Niti’s birthday. Parth surprises her at 12 am.

While getting ready for shoot, Niti was constantly checking for any calls or messages from her friends on set. None of them had wished her yet except for Parth with that wonderful surprise. She was so amazed as well as angry that none of them, not even Veebha remembered her birthday. She did not even feel like going for shoot but she knew she had to.

Niti reaches the shoot location to find the whole place empty. She wondered whether the shoot might have been cancelled which was really strange but then spotted the vanities parked right there which meant the shoot was on. She walked up to the girls vanity and as soon as she opened it, her eyes bulged out of the socket, her mouth wide open, and let go of Smurphy from her hands to use those hands to cover her big mouth falling wide open. The vanity was packed to the core, with everyone on the unit, present to wish her on her special day. She had been so upset at all her friends for not wishing her but the surprise, or rather the shock she had just received seemed to have helped erase all the anger from her heart. She was rejoiced on the wonderful welcome she had received from them all. 

Niti had always been the pleasant and kind hearted girl who was loved by each and every person of the unit. Everyone, be it the director, the spot boy, makeup artists, hairdresser, or even anyone from the technical team, all of them had a special attraction towards her. No wonder, all of them would definitely turn up for her special day, specially when she did not have her own family with her. 

She stood there with her mouth still open and covered with her hands, eyes barely blinking and Charlie and Veebha had to move forward to bring her back to life. Since the vanity seemed to be unable to hold the huge strength of the unit, they moved the party outside and soon everyone was on the dance floor, grooving at the beats along with the birthday girl herself after cutting the delicious cake.

Smurphy seemed to be excited for the party as well. He had been roaming around and showing his cute steps. Niti noticed that Parth had been missing and thought of calling him up but could not do so because of so many people surrounding her. So, she sent him a text asking about his absence from the party. He replied, “Missing me already ? Sorry got busy somewhere but don’t worry your birthday is not over yet. Lot more surprises coming your way today ! Happy birthday !”.

She blushed at that not realising she was amongst a huge crowd where she needed to be careful of her actions. She kept reading the text again and again and could exactly imagine Parth saying those words to her, his voice echoing in her head. Veebha noticed her and slowly moved towards her and snatched away her phone from her hands. She instantly read the message and ran away with it. Niti ran after her but could not reach up to grab her phone back. 

Niti: (running after Veebha) Veebha please give it back ! It’s my phone what do you want out of it ?

Veebha: Nothing just wanted to have a look at the new Iphone 6 you know ?!

Niti: So you could have at least asked me first. I would have given it to you.

Veebha: (stops running and faces Niti) Oh so now I need to take permission from my best friend before touching her phone ? (Sarcastically) Wow what friendship ?!

Niti: No Veebha it’s not like that but…

Veebha: (excited) But what ? C’mon now no hiding ! What is it ? Tell me !

Niti: (acting innocent) What ? I don’t know what you’re talking about !

Veebha: Oh yeah ? Madam, I have read your messages. Now you can’t be hiding things ! C’mon now speak up !

Niti: Veebha, it’s nothing like you’re thinking !

Veebha: Okay then tell me whatever the truth is ! Simple !

Niti: (blushing and trying to avoid eye contact) Actually Veebha…Umm….(nervously taking long pauses) The thing is…Actually….

Veebha: All the words are over now. Now please jump up to the conclusion. Speak up Niti !

Niti: (softly and nervously) We….we…ki-ssed…

Veebha: (shocked) What ? Are you serious ? No but wait ! That was for the show right ?

Niti: Yeah for the show once, but apart from that…

Veebha: you kissed again ? Oh my god Niti !! What is all of this ? Why didn’t you tell me ?

Niti: What would I tell you Veebha ? He…He’s not said anything yet !

Veebha: He kissed you girl ! Twice ! What else do you want him to say to prove it to you ?

Niti: I don’t want a proof. I just want to know…It’s just that…

Veebha: okay okay I get it ! Don’t worry I’m sure that’ll happen soon. Okay now I think we should get going..We’re on shoot ! let’s catch up soon and have lots of girl talk !

Niti: Yeah ! You go ahead. I left one of my bag in the car, I’ll just get it.

Veebha moves towards the vanity while Niti goes to her car to get her bag. She spots Parth’s car coming in and that makes her heart beats pump up. She suddenly starts feeling tensed, thinking about last night and the kiss. She had been waiting for him for a long time, but now that he was here, she did not have the courage to face him and therefore started walking fast towards the vanity without waiting for him. He saw her running away and parked his car and ran after her calling out her name, easily audible to the rest of the unit members. Niti felt nervous and angry at him for calling her name like that as she noticed several eyes on the two of them. She thought maybe he might have forgotten about their “professionalism pact” and therefore did not stop for him and he rushed faster to catch hold of her hand from behind to make her stop. She instantly let go of his hand and stood there with her head bent low. Parth stood beside her and held out his hand saying “Happy Birthday”. She did not wish to accept the wishes because of the staring eyes on the two of them but she believed it would seem rude and therefore slowly extended her trembling hand forward to accept his wishes. As their hands connected, his grip on her hand, prevented it from trembling further but the whole of her body went cold and started shaking. Path noticed her nervousness and faintly smiled at that and soon let go of her. She quickly moved to the vanity where she was all alone, got changed into Nandini Murthy’s dress and called for the makeup artists to get her ready for shot. 

Makeup Artist: Mam, may I ask you something if you don’t mind ?

Niti: yeah !

Makeup Artist: Mam, it seems like Parth sir and you have finally become friends right ? It’s really good to see that the ice between the two of you is finally broken. 

Niti does not respond and starts getting tensed at the thought of people noticing their friendship. She remembered Parth’s predictions and that made her more concerned as there were now possibilities that if the rumor would spread around in the media, things might get worse for both of their careers. 

The rest of the day went by smoothly with Parth trying to be normal with Niti, Niti again avoiding eye contact with him, and fans visiting her to wish her a happy birthday with lots of cakes and gifts.

The last scene was Nandini Murthy’s solo sequence and all the others had either left after their pack up or had been sitting in the vanity. Niti finished off with the last scene and walked up to her vanity. It was quite late and she was really exhausted with the long eventful day that she had just spent. She was also disappointed that she could not get some time off with Parth but was also angry at him for trying to be normal with her on set which had been noticed by majority of the crew. 

She opened the vanity door, which was in dark as all the lights were switched off and she assumed everyone would have left because of which the lights were not switched on. She extended her hand towards the switch board and switched on the light to find Ayaz, Veebha, Charlie, Utkarsh, Krissan, and Abhishek standing in a semi circle form with one rose in each of their hands. There was also a small table kept in between which had a beautiful cake with Niti’s picture on it. She was confused on having receiving another surprise from the same people. All her friends had already given her a beautiful surprise in the morning itself, so what was the other surprise for ?

She stood there looking at all of their smiling faces questioningly and Ayaz walked up to her first and handed her the rose which she took in with a smile. He then went back to his position and stood there beside Veebha. Next, Veebha walked up to her gave her the rose with a smile and walked back to her place. Then, Charlie, Utkarsh, Krissan and Abhishek walked up to her one by one and did the same. She now had 6 red roses in her hand and all 6 of them were standing in front of her in the same semi circular form. Before she could ask anything further, the 6 of them split the semi circle in two parts from the middle making some space between Charlie and Utkarsh who had been standing beside one another. As soon as they moved away making space in between, Parth appeared from there with a white rose in his hand. He moved a bit forward towards Niti and bent down on his knees in front of her. He extended the rose towards her and said,

Parth: Niti, I know we didn’t start off really well with each other. Things were quite rough in the beginning. But now, everything has turned 360 degrees and it’s more than good between us. I won’t take much longer to tell you that, I LOVE YOU ! I really do ! And will always do… Happy birthday Niti.

Niti’s heart had been beating really fast as she could not believe what he had just said ! She kept staring at him for a long time without saying anything. He respected her feelings and gave her the time she needed to digest the whole thing before answering.

Precap: How would Niti react to Parth’s proposal ?

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How was it friends ? I hope you all liked it ! Also, what do you think would be Niti’s answer ? Does she love him the same way he does ? Is she ready to take up such a big step as to moving into a relationship ? Looking to her past experience of relationship and knowing how Parth has been in his past relationship, would she be able to trust him and the relationship ? How would their story go forward ? Leave your guesses in the comments and share with me what you feel about the current track as well as the future parts.

Thank you !

Lots of love ❤️

Medhavi ?

#behappy

#spreadsmiles