Episode 17
Naira and Karthik walked to the end of the corridor. Karthik wiped the tears that had flowed down Naira’s cheek.
‘she’s not worth it Naira. ‘ Karthik said.
‘ you lost her because of me! If I weren’t around, maybe you guys would still be friends. ‘ Naira said.
‘ if it weren’t you, it would have been somebody else. She’s insecure by nature Naira! Didn’t you see how she blamed you for everything that went wrong in her life? She is just blaming you for her failures. ‘Karthik said.
Naira nodded her head in the negative and began to open her mouth to say something when she was interrupted by Karthik.
‘ if it weren’t for you, who knows I’d have been dead. ‘ Naira covered his mouth with her palm.
‘ don’t say such things Karthik! ‘ Naira yelled at him.
Karthik kissed her hand, Naira pulled her hand back and blushed slightly.
‘ I thought what i felt for her was love Naira. I thought I was in love with her. ‘ Naira looked on, shocked.
‘ But then, once I realized I was in love with you, I realized what love really was. What I had with Nandini was friendship. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have Waited for her. Sure, I was heartbroken when she was gone. But that was because the only best friend I had ever known . She Was with me through some of the toughest times in my life, even when we were too young to understand most things. When my mom… ‘ Karthik caught himself mid sentence.
‘ when your mom what, Karthik? Naira asked.
Why did he do this? Stop himself mid sentence every time he mentioned something about His family.
‘Naira I promise I’ll tell you someday but now is not the time. We need to go back downstairs before people get fishy about where we disappeared. Just try to forget her alright? ‘ Karthik asked, wiping the rest of her tears off her face.
They went downstairs hand in hand.
Naksh walked towards them and raised his eyebrows once he saw their entwined hands.
‘ummmmm??’ he asked, squiggling his eyebrows a little.
Immediately, Karthik let go of Naira’s hand and ran away to the other side of the room.
‘any progress? ‘ Naksh asked.
‘ maybe. ‘ Naira said, smiling.
After the engagement, Karthik walked to keerti’s room.
‘ hey’ he said knocking on her door.
‘Karthik come on in. What are you performing these formalities for? Remember when we were kids and you used to barge in and i used to complain to everybody in the house. ‘
‘ and then everybody would take your side!’ Karthik said, pouting a little.
‘except mumma. She always…’ the smile disappeared off both their faces once she brought up their mother.
‘Karthik look you’re misunderstanding everything. Please let me just tell you… ‘ she stopped when Karthik stood to leave the room.
‘okay okay. Won’t talk about it. I’m sorry. Please sit down.’ keerti said.
Karthik sat down and looked at his Palms placed on his thighs.
‘so what’s up? ‘ she asked.
Karthik narrated the entire incident that occurred in the evening to her.
‘ whoa whoa whoa. In love with her? You’re in love with Naira? ‘ keerti asked, shocked and delighted at the same time.
‘ well yeah. I suppose I’ve been in love with for quite some time, just realized it late. ‘Karthik said smiling sheepishly.
‘oh my God! I can’t believe that my little Brother is in love. With my sister in law! This is so worth gossiping about.’ keerti said, excitement seeping through her voice.
‘back up there, sister. Naira doesn’t feel that way. ‘ keerti’s smile disappeared off her face
‘ I Mean, I think she loves me too. Either she doesn’t realize it or she does and doesn’t want to do something about it. ‘ Karthik said.
His Interest was now piqued.
‘ so how do you know if she likes you? ‘ Karthik asked.
‘ okay, so does she behave differently around you? Like more shy and all of that? ‘
‘ actually she’s the complete opposite of shy. She literally is the most comfortable when she’s around me. ‘
‘ is she jealous of you hanging out with other girls? ‘ she added on.
‘ oh yeah, that one I’ve seen. She gets so jealous. She can’t stand Aaradhya. ‘ Karthik said.
‘but my Naira is different from all other girls. I can’t lose her keerti. I’ve been waiting for two years and I’m ready to wait for longer. As long as everything is fine between the two of us. She needs me. And truth be told, I think I need her too. More than I could imagine. ‘ Karthik said.
‘ I suppose she does love you. But then you say she’s different. I don’t really know, bro. I don’t want you to get your hopes up. ‘
‘ you could try some things though. Like Making her jealous on purpose. You’ll see if she really likes or that’s the just the best friend in her talking. ‘keerti said.
Karthik said’ thank you! See that’s why people come to you. You have a solution for everything. ‘
They chatted for longer until both of them fell asleep.
The next morning, Naira woke up to find the house in commotion as usual.
‘ so what’s the plan for today? ‘ she asked as she walked up to the breakfast table picking up an apple to eat.
‘ today’s the cocktail party. Today the media personnel will be officially introduced to Manish goenka’s son in law’ Naksh said scoffing a little.
‘so what am I wearing? ‘ Naira asked chirpily.
Naksh raised an eyebrow.
‘ I have a gown picked out for you ‘Akshara said smiling.
The day went past in a hour. As the time of the party came closer, Naira was highly excited about it. She would confess to Karthik today. She’d tell him that she felt the same.
———–authors notes——–
Alright guys confession and the truth coming soon! Are you excited?