Heya people!!! How are you guys? Well Rishika is here with the next part of the story. So happy reading.
Presenting you the next part of the story.
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Chapter-5 (Becoming friends)
*****
At home, Kabir was thinking deeply about what had happened that day. Perhaps she would not even have been aware that he thought so much about her. She would not even be able to guess that he feared losing his self-control whenever he was in her presence. He failed to be the superstar KG when he was with her. She always managed to bring out the Kabir in him outside. He did the strangest things when he was with her and hardly even understood that he was doing so.
When Kabir was with her, his past almost seemed to fade away. All he remembered during those few moments was that life with her could be beautiful and blissful if only he allowed himself and her a chance to be together. He was neither young nor immature. He was twenty-nine years old and yet he felt like an infatuated teenager in front of her. What was it that made him think like this about her? Was it her physical beauty or inner beauty or both? He had worked with heroines who were even more beautiful than her. He had done several intimate scenes with them but he never thought about them after the shoot was over.
When Kabir was lost in thought like this, his mother Kusum came there and stood watching him for a long time. He did not even observe that she was there. He continued thinking what had happened that day. He was sorry that her lucky charm was destroyed because of him. Similarly he was cursing himself for being too rude to Sanchi. What if she stopped speaking to him after today? This very thought left his throat parched and his breath got constricted in his chest. Should he apologize to her?
Just then he saw a glass of water before his eyes and when he looked up, he saw that it was his dear mother. He thanked her and quietly drank that glass of water. After he had finished, she asked him, “Now tell me what happened in today’s shoot.” He told her everything that had happened. After hearing everything, she advised him, “I think you ought to apologize to that girl. You were very rude. I know that you cannot replace her lucky charm but you could at least try to make amends for it by buying a dupatta just like the one she was wearing and gifting it to her. It will not be beneath your dignity to accept any mistake you have made. And by the way, what’s the name of the girl?”
He immediately replied, “Sanchi, Ma. She is the story writer and creative director of my new show.” Kusum teased him, “Oh! You remember the girl’s name so well! I don’t think you ever remembered the names of heroines in your shows so well. She really must be special.” Kabir said shyly, “Nothing like that, Ma. And I do remember the names of my heroines well!” She pulled his legs telling, “Then tell me the name of the heroine of your first show?” He tried to guess, “It must be Apara Mehta or Apurva Mishra. I’m not exactly sure” She laughed telling, “That was what I was telling you. It’s neither Apara nor Apurva. It’s Akshara Mehra! You really don’t know the names of your heroines but know the name of your latest show’s story writer perfectly.”
Kabir did not respond to any of his mother’s jokes. If she knew that he was actually very serious about Sanchi, she would tease him day in and day out. All he wanted now was some time to forget her. He told himself that he would begin doing it after buying her a dupatta just like the one she was wearing. He called in his secretary, Prateek Ganguly who was a die-hard fan of the actor, Prateek Ganguly, and had even rechristened himself after his reel life idol. He instructed him, “I want you to go to the market and buy a red coloured silk dupatta with an embroidered rose pattern.”
The man had the shock of his life. He pinched himself to make sure that he was hearing correctly. He said, “But Sir, I must have made a mistake hearing your instruction. I think you must have meant a red coloured silk saree with embroidered rose patterns for Maaji.” KG corrected him, “You heard it correctly! It’s not a saree, it’s a dupatta. Here I’m drawing the rose pattern for you on this paper so that you don’t get confused, and the shade in exactly this colour of red which you see in that brochure before you. And the quality of the dress material has to be silky soft. Got it! I don’t want any mistakes. If you don’t get the correct dupatta by today night, you’ll be fired from tomorrow morning onwards.”
Prateek shook his head in bewilderment. Originally he just used to doubt whether KG was crazy or not. But now he was practically sure that he was hundred percent crazy. But he had no time for such fancy thoughts. He had to search that dupatta at all costs. If he did not prove KG’s opinion about him and his intelligence wrong, he, Prateek Ganguly, would change his name. Anyways what was the big deal in it? He had changed his original name Mangu Ram into Prateek Ganguly so that he could fashionably call himself as PG, KG’s secretary. If not Prateek Ganguly, he would change his name as Pritesh Gangwal, so that he would still remain PG, KG’s secretary. By that night, KG was staring at a whole pile of red coloured silk dupattas with rose embroidered patterns. After carefully sifting through the entire pile, he found the dupatta he was searching for.
The next morning, Kabir found himself jogging around in a park to which she usually came every morning, a piece of information his great and brilliant secretary, PG had wheedled out of her housemaid by bribing her. He was wearing a monkey cap because he wanted to prevent himself from being mobbed by his fans. Just as there were many advantages in being a celebrity, there were a few disadvantages as well. He could not have his morning walk or jog peacefully without wearing this monkey cap.
When Kabir at last spotted her in the park, he found her muttering something to herself. He took two more rounds around the park still undecided on how to approach her and give that dupatta to her without sounding either too formal or informal. At last, when he was beginning his third round of the park, she got up and addressed him directly, “Kabir do you have anything to say to me?”
For a moment, he was perfectly astonished. How did she find him out? And moreover, how did she know that he wanted to talk to her? At last he said to her, “You’re highly perceptive I must say. How did you find me out when I’m wearing this monkey cap?” Sanchi replied, “That’s because the others go by the external appearances. They do not try to see what the other person’s eyes are trying to convey. I always look at a person’s eyes and not at their external paraphernalia. You might look like any other jogger in that monkey cap, but your eyes are yours and they will always reveal who you are, wherever you are to me!”
Kabir did not know what to respond to this and asked something entirely different to divert the topic on which they were speaking just now, “What were you muttering to yourself when I saw you just a short while back?” She smiled to herself and said, “Oh, nothing very important. That’s a small game I play when I’m alone here. I try to guess or dub whatever other people whom I see here on the park are talking just for fun. Would you like to try it? It’s a really interesting game and you’ll really enjoy it.”
She encouraged him, “You see that middle-aged couple over there. I’ll speak for the woman while you can speak for the man.”
Sanchi: Darling, you’ve left our house unlocked. Come soon with the ice cream. We’ve to go home before our house gets robbed.
Kabir: Coming dear! I just wish someone robs you also from me along with our house!
Sanchi: No hopes for that darling! Thieves are becoming cleverer these days. They know what to rob and what not to. You’re stuck with me till the end of our lives.
Kabir: Oh, Heavens! Please show pity on a poor man like me. I will go even to the ends of the earth to get rid of you.
Sanchi: I’ll follow you even to the ends of the earth, darling husband. Come let’s enjoy this ice cream together before it melts.
Both Kabir and Sanchi broke out laughing at this point. Only then did she remember that he must have come there to speak something to her, “Kabir, why did you come here? Do you want to tell me something?” To this he said point blank, “Sorry!” She could not grasp for an instant what she had heard and repeated, “What?” He said again, “I said I’m sorry. If you’re going to ask me another time, I’m not going to repeat. KG actually never apologizes. Even if he does, he never repeats it.”
Sanchi said, “I knew that you’re not like what you project yourself to be before the others. You always wear a mask and play act before the others. I had a doubt about this yesterday, but now it’s confirmed. Ghosh! You’re really complex just like me! Why did you feign yesterday as if you were angry with me when you were not? And why were you trying your best to insult me when you did not intend any of it?”
Kabir was getting really impatient. How did she manage to see through him which none of the others had ever managed to do? He quickly placed the dupatta he had brought for her over her head with his own hands and said, “I can’t bring back your lucky charm, but at least I could make amends for it by giving you something similar to it. Yes, it’s true that I wanted you to make you hate me with my behaviour yesterday morning, but later decided in the evening that I did not want to make you hate me that much either! Good bye!”
Sanchi literally did not know how to respond to all this. All she could see was that he was one confused and messed up soul just like her. She could not understand for the life of her how much hatred he wanted from her and how much he didn’t want. And how could anybody hate someone who could be so terrible and yet so sweet to you at the same instant? If she guessed it right, he was still carrying the burden of some past hurt just like her. Only their ways of dealing with it were different. He lashed out at people in anger and threw temper tantrums while she retreated within herself and her self-created world of stories. A little bit of friendship on her side for him would not do him any bad. Sanchi smiled softly to herself on thinking about his erratic and strange behaviour while she continued writing the script of her show.
Varsh and Spandana had crossed the phases of physical attraction and the curiosity to know each other better in their relationship. Both of them were in the process of becoming friends. Any kind of friendship begins with the positive intention of seeing the other person as an integral part of your life and a willingness to share happiness, sorrow, fear and desires together. Friendship is nothing but a willingness to open up to the other and to let them into your life and your space, so that it no longer remains YOURS but becomes OURS. Varsh’s and Spandana’s relationship had also reached that level. Varsh was exactly like a Rubik cube whose sides were all jumbled and colours were all mixed up. Spandana thought that it would be interesting to know him more intimately just as it would be to realign all the colours of the cube in their right places. Unknowingly, Spandana had already begun her journey in realigning all these colours in Varsh’s life…
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Thanks everyone for reading and bearing it all long.
Will be glad to see your reviews
Take care
With love~
Rishika❤