His First and Only Love-Rikara FF (Chapter 24: Confession)

The whole of Oberoi mansion was filled with darkness and Omkara looked around in confusion as he walked into the house and closed the door behind him.

Where were the servants? He wondered.

His parents, choti ma and chote papa had gone to attend a family friend’s son’s wedding so he knew that they weren’t home. And since it was a Saturday night, he guessed that Bhavya and Rudra would’ve gone for a movie or some outing maybe? But what about his wife and Priyanka? Where were they?

“Gauri?” He called out in the darkness as his hands travelled the wall searching for the switches to switch on the light. “Prinku?”

Was she and Priyanka watching one of those horror movies in one of their rooms? He wondered.

“Shhh…” he heard her sweet voice whisper as she made her way towards him.

“Gauri? What’s wrong with the lights?” He asked as his hands finally found the switch.

“Don’t switch it on!” Gauri warned and Omkara’s hand obediently obliged to her as if it worked on her command.

“Why this darkness?” He asked still confused. Gauri held his hand in hers and started walking as he followed her lead.

“Shh, it’s a secret. You go freshen up first.” She said. For some reason, he wanted to see her so badly right now! But this darkness was making it impossible for him to see anything at all leaving him to wonder how she could see.

Finally, they reached their room and Omkara found her opening the bathroom door for him. “Freshen up quickly. I have kept your shirt on the bed. Wear it and come out.”

“But Gauri why are you-”

“Chup!” She exclaimed and he could swear she must have kept her finger on her lips. But before he could shoot anymore questions at her, she shut the door on his face and then switched on the bathroom light.

“Gauri?” He called for her stepping out of the bathroom after his bath. But instead of finding her, he found a note.

Omkara,

Meet me in the pool room!

Love,
Gauri

On top of the paper was a pen that Omkara knew wasn’t any in the room, yet he felt a strange familiarity looking at it. He had never seen Gauri using that pen so it left him wondering. That was when he remembered, it was the pen he had gifted Gauri on her birthday during their school days!

He took the pen in his hand and examined it unable to believe that she had actually kept it with her all these years. It was unmistakable- it was a rare design after all. This was really his first gift to her! It was a very Gauri thing to do – to preserve gifts and cards but he had assumed her to have thrown it away cause at one point he did mess up and it made him think she surely hated him. But then again, Gauri was never made to hate anyone but only love others. There was no way she could truly hate someone.

He looked around in surprise wondering where she was and what was going on in her mind. He had so many questions. Following her note, he went to the darkened pool room that immediately lightened up as he entered, and music started playing in the background. It had been decorated with a lot of fairy lights.

Aapke nazaron ne samjha
Pyaar ke kaabil mujhe
Dil ki ai dhadkan thaher ja,
Mil gayee manzil mujhe

Aapke nazaron ne samjha
Ji humein manzoor hain,
Aapka ye faisla

Keh rahi hain har nazar,
Banda paravar shukriya
Do jahaan ki aaj khushiyan ho Gayee haasil mujhe

What’s with this song? Where is Gauri? And what is going on in her mind? What’s with all this decorations? Omkara wondered. However it was impossible to not enjoy the melodious song in the background. Then like a bulb had just lighted up, his heart beats raced as he realised this wasn’t just any song, it had a deeper meaning. Was she planning to….con..fess..? He wondered in anticipation.

Aapki nazron ne samjha …

Aapki manzil hoon main
Meri manzil aap hain
Kyun main toofaan se darun
Mera saahil aap hain

Koi tufanon se keh de,
Mil gaya sahil mujhe
Aapki nazron ne samjha …

Pad gai dil par meri,
Aapki parchhaiyan
Har taraf bajane lageen
Saikadon Shahnaaiyaan
Hanske apni zindagi mein,
Kar liya shaamil mujhe
Aapki nazron ne samjha …

“With my whole heart, I dedicate each and every line in this song to you.” Gauri said as the song stopped playing. Omkara looked around in search of her but she was nowhere to be seen. However, he could very well imagine her having a soft smile on her face as she spoke. “Aapke nazaron ne samjha, pyaar ke kaabil mujhe, dil ki ai dhadkan thaher ja, mil gayee manzil mujhe.”

“Ek banjare ko uski manzil mil gayi, Omkara.” She said while Omkara’s heart slammed against his chest. He would be lying if he said he was ready to hear her confession. Yes, he waited 11 years but still, it made him feel like a lovesick teenager who was anticipating his crush to confess. He was nervous to hear his wife confess! He turned around as his eyes searched for hers. Where was she? But when he turned back around his breath got suck in his throat, there she was standing infront of him dressed like an angel who fell from heaven, just for him. She looked absolutely breathtaking in that black saree.

“I….love….you..Omkara..” She breathed out, her heart slamming against her chest.

Omkara stood there rooted to his ground, processing her words as he stared at her in shock, all emotions coming at once. For a moment he doubted if all this was even real- it seemed too good to be true. It all seemed so unbelievable.

She looked on at him with a soft smile on her face and tears in her eyes. He took slow steps towards her as a smile made its way on his lips and his eyes filled up with happy tears. This was the most anticipated moment of his life.

“I’m sorry I kept you waiting all these years.” She said. “But from childhood, I had seen my parents arguing, they were never happy with eachother. Sometimes it got so bad, that I felt like running away from home. It made me think that all marriages were just a pretense infront of the world and all they did behind that mask was fight. I didn’t want to end up like them, I was scared that one day even I would get married and then end up just like them. They weren’t bad individuals, but they were a bad match, a bad voice for eachother. It made me loose belief in relationships and marriage, made me feel like they were never true.” Tears flowed down her cheeks at the bitter memory and Omkara immediately reached out to wipe them away. His heart went out to her wanting to console her. “But then I got into the world of Daily soaps and it made me wonder, what if one day I would find a Prince Charming who would sweep me off my feet and take me somewhere far away from all that pain.” She said with a chuckle- like it was a fond memory. “I wished to get such love but then I started to see that love would fade away after a point and it made me even more scared on facing life. What if I fall in love with someone and then one day I stop loving him? I would wonder.”

She recalled one such memory when such thoughts were making her go mad- No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t let go of her fear. There was no doubt of him breaking her heart. There was no doubt that he was hers and she was his. Even then, Gauri couldn’t help but run away from her feelings. Deep down she knew she had feelings for him, but she couldn’t help but fear, what if she didn’t continue to love him? What if after some time, her love for him fades away?
If she wouldn’t love him anymore, then wouldn’t that hurt him?
God!
It felt like her head was spinning with all these thoughts and fears.

“Gauri..” Omkara started making Gauri come out of her thoughts. She cut him off immediately. He wanted to tell her that their love was different. That time wouldn’t change them or his love for her. Instead, time would only strengthen their love.

“Aaj mujhe bolne dijiye Omkara, main aapko sab kuch batana chahti hoon.” She said looking into his eyes with an intensity that he could see, she was breaking down her walls. “Eventually I started to see through the happily ever afters and the perfect couples, that it wasn’t all true. Things got worse at home, and I wished that they would understand how it affected me, understand me and my feelings but they never did, or maybe they chose to ignore. I didn’t want any kid to feel that way, so I thought of never getting married.” She paused, gave him a soft smile then continued, “But you changed it I guess. I love Anika, she’s the best friend anyone could ever have, because she would always know what I was feeling. She knew when and where to comfort me and when to give me space. She’s that sister of mine who wasn’t born to my mother but has always stood by me as my support. And Shivaay bhaiyaa too, I still can’t believe how coincidental it was but I got an elder brother in him, a brother that I always wanted. I’m thankful to God for giving them to me. My life was monotonous, but then you came along and set storm to my calm ocean. From our first ever conversation, my thoughts started to revolve around you. I don’t know why but I felt a strange connection to you that even I couldn’t explain. And then we became friends, you had become someone so close to my heart. You would understand me and my silences.” She said with a smile that reflected in her eyes.

“But then you confessed your feelings to me and I panicked, I freaked out.” She continued, the smile dropping. “I don’t why but I never realised that all this time, I was in love with you. I was scared I would loose you. Scared that everything would change. I couldn’t be in a relationship, my demons were still alive. And I knew that you meant whatever you said, I could see the truth in your eyes. And it made me feel more scared because I didn’t know if I loved you and I was scared whatever we had would die too. I didn’t want to loose our friendship or hurt you either.” She said as more tears flowed out and Omkara wiped them away. It was surprising for him to see that he had been around in her mind this much – never did he think he had affected her with such an intensity.

“The way you would look at me with so much love, the way your eyes always expressed it, I was scared that I was going to hurt you, Omkara. I didn’t want to give you any false hopes…only to break it. I didn’t want you to think we had a future, I didn’t think I could ever do justice to your love, I was scared I couldn’t because I thought I could never fall in love. Each time you looked at me with hope, Omkara, I swear I wished that I knew what it was that I truly wanted but I was just trying to run away from all my demons.” She said and her eyes reflected a certain longing that made Omkara want to console her but he knew better, she wanted to complete this and he was going to let her. “But one truth that I want you to know is that I loved whenever you played with my hair, I loved whenever you would look at me from the corner of our bus, I loved having your attention, I loved how you looked at me dazed, and I LOVED talking to you. It always made me feel better in ways I could never even imagine, you always made me feel special. But it also made me feel very bad about myself, how could I be happy knowing that someone is in love with me when I couldn’t return his feelings.”

Omkara held her hand tightly in his own and gently brought it up to his lips to kiss it. Gauri smiled a little at his gesture and continued, “I didn’t want my demons to get to you. I wanted you to get the same kind of love you had for me, I wanted someone to love you just like that, so I hoped that you would move on and find someone who could love you right, cause I knew that I could never do it. Because a broken heart isn’t capable of healing another. Or atleast I thought, until now.”

He wanted to shout and say that no one could ever give him the happiness that she did, that even if she didn’t love him her care for him was more than enough for him to last a whole lifetime happily.

“Now I’m more sure of my love for you than my own existence.” She said with full confidence. She tightened her hold on his hand and smiled. “Gauri ki life ki sabse badi sachai yahi hain ki woh Omkara se bohut pyaar karti hain, jitne pyaar ke kaabil usne apne aap ko kabhi samjha tak nahi.“

“No matter how much I say, it will always be less Omkara, but thank you for coming into my life and making it beautiful, thank you for not giving up on me, for always believing in me and being there for me. Thank you so much for loving me and being patient with me, for always understanding me better than myself. Because it took me a damn nightmare to realise I didn’t want to loose you! Thank you for for thinking I was worthy of your love, for respecting my wishes. And for making me believe that love is true and beautiful! Thank you for giving me a younger sister, a younger brother, a sister cum bestfriend, such a beautiful family and most importantly, thank you for giving me YOU. You have become more important to me than my own breaths. I cant imagine a life without you anymore, without you, I’d die.”

Omkara quickly kept a finger on her lips shushing her and said, “Chup! Don’t talk about death. Not today or any other day. I’m nothing without you.”

“But-”

“You have no idea how long I waited to hear all this. To hear those three magical words from your mouth! My happiness knows no bounds today!” He gently cupped her face and kissed on her temple. “Mrs Gauri Sharma Oberoi, I love you more than words can describe. Always have and always will, until my last breath. I knew it the moment I saw you that you were different, cause you were the first girl to catch my eye- and now I know why, because you were made for me just like I was made for you. I knew loving you wouldn’t be easy and that it would come with lots of problems but I also knew that if I had you with me at the end of day, then all pain was worth it.”

Gauri kept her hand on top of his which rested on her cheeks. “I love you too.” She cried happily. “I love you truly madly deeply Mr Omkara Singh Oberoi!”

She jumped up and wrapped her arms around his neck while he wrapped his hands around her waist securing her and lifting her up so she could hug him without a problem. The happy tears flowed down from both the lovers’ eyes, this was the night that they had been waiting for since forever. A night full of promises and love.

“I don’t know what I would’ve done without you.” Omkara said happily.

“And I don’t know what I would’ve done if you didn’t love me anymore.” She laughed feeling his warmth.

“Omkara Singh Oberoi has fallen head over heels in love with only one girl in his life and she’s the queen of his heart. Nothing can ever change his love for her. Not even she herself. Omkara had always been Gauri’s and will continue to be so. There’s no way I’ll ever stop loving you. If anything, each day my love for you only increases.” He said with a smile.

“Thank you so much Shankar ji for giving me this badmash!” Gauri exclaimed making Omkara laugh.

To be continued…

The most awaited part is finally here- Gauri’s confession! So how was it? Did it meet your expectations? Or was it meh?

Also, sorry for such a long chapter but I just couldn’t understand how to break it into two chapters😅

Do let me know your views!

Thanks for reading!
Take care