Twinj: It’s Always Been You: Episode 16

Twinj: It’s Always Been You: Episode 16

A quick recap: Kunj takes Chinki’s help to trap Yuvi and Aparna in their own plan. He gets them to agree to bring Twinkle to a nearby restaurant so that he could resolve things with Twinkle, but ends up running into Alisha there, which Twinkle sees and leaves due to the misunderstanding.

“Why would you do something so stupid?” Yuvi asked Aparna, when she revealed all that they had done to try and bring Twinkle and Kunj back together to Leela and RT, who sat dumbfound in front of them. “We didn’t know what else we could do for them, aunty.” Chinki defended their actions, although she knew that it was very unlikely that they would be forgiven. They all turned to look at Twinkle rushing down the stairs, looking nervous. “Wish me luck!” She said, holding up her crossed fingers. That was when she noticed that Leela and RT were there too. They walked towards her slowly as she thought of some excuse, but her mind seemed to have given up, tired of hours of thinking of all that she might have to say to Kunj. She looked up at them momentarily before looking down, unable to face them. “I really hope everything works out in your favour, Twinkle!” RT said encouragingly, and Leela added, “We need you to remember though, that even if it doesn’t, we are always here for you, like we have been in the past. There’s nothing that we can’t deal with!” Twinkle smiled at them, nodding. She realised that they had been thinking that she wanted to get back with him, while unknown to them all, she had decided otherwise, having had enough of the endless trauma. Her thoughts about the baby she had lost had affected her in ways that nobody had imagined. Perhaps she would forgive Kunj for all that he had said and done, but the mother in her couldn’t, no matter how much her heart craved for him. All she yearned for now was to go ahead with whatever would bring back peace to their lives once and for all.

Kunj had had a sleepless night too, pondering to find some ray of hope where he could make things better. Over the days he had realised that he could not live without her, but the guilt of his mistakes wouldn’t let him give in to her unconditional love that had given her the inner strength to forgive him and love him despite everything. He had been more than surprised when she had left him a message late the previous night asking him to meet her at the sunset point the next day. He had begun to dread the worst after the previous night; it appeared like Aparna too had finally realised that her little plots wouldn’t do anything to ease the actual issue between them. Usha, on the other hand, thought it was a good sign, since she had been pleading with him to do something to make up for the pain that he had caused Twinkle, but he had just one response to every argument she put forth, that he didn’t want to hurt Twinkle again. Usha’s happiness knew no bounds as she thought that things would fall into place perfectly, and her dream of them getting married and having a perfect future together would finally come true. She left the house as soon as Kunj had, driving to the Taneja Mansion to share her happiness with Leela.

Kunj had reached before Twinkle as usual, and was waiting for her under the tree. “As if nothing has changed!” Twinkle muttered to herself, with a sad smile, getting off her car. She watched him oblivious to the rest of the world as she walked towards him, wondering if she will ever get to see him again. A hundred happy memories from that place came rushing to her mind as she looked away from him, not wanting to end up crying before she even began to speak. It is going to be the last time that she would let the past hurt her, for with this, she would somehow come to terms with it all, she reminded herself as she called out to him. He turned to her immediately, as though he was fed up of waiting. They looked at each other quietly for a long time, each hoping the other would say something to make it easier. Twinkle was the first to break eye contact, sighing deeply as she made up her mind to speak. “There is still something that you don’t know.” She said, looking at his eyes, the ones that she had found herself lost in several times before, as they changed expressions from a loving, concerned look to surprise. “Let me begin, please!” He said quickly, realising that he still hadn’t apologised. “Alisha used to be an obsession. I don’t even know what I had been thinking back then. I never realised how much you meant to me, because she was all I could think about. She was popular, and maybe that’s what I wanted to brush off from her. I still haven’t been able to figure out why I was with her for so long.” He began explaining, realising that there was no point in beating around the bush anymore, reminding Twinkle of how crazy he had been for Alisha right from when they had been in college, and how much that used to hurt her.

Twinkle shrugged her shoulders, giggling sadly at how meaningless he was making his relationship with Alisha sound. “We had a terrible fight that night. She was unhappy with the idea that I was so fond of you, even though I had told her clearly that you were just a friend. For some reason, everyone except me could see how hopelessly I was in love with you.” He continued, and Twinkle, who had been staring at the far off hills till now, turned to look at him, letting her mind wander into the perfect dream come true her life would have been had he recognised his feelings back then. She looked away as he began to speak again, realising how difficult this conversation would be if she kept looking at him, knowing that she wouldn’t be able to let him go, if she had to eventually, if his eyes spoke a language of their own to her eyes like that. “I couldn’t believe she wanted to break up with me, rejection leading me to get so drunk that I had no idea what was happening.” He said, recalling him smashing things in anger as Alisha asked him to go to Twinkle if she meant that much to him; however, he decided that she didn’t need to know that detail right away. “Someone working at that hotel where you two had gone for your date called me up, because my number was the last you had dialled. I was almost at the conference when I received that call. I realised you needed someone to be by your side at that time, knowing how little resistance you had to drinking.” She said, recalling how her mind had ridiculed her for choosing him over her career, but she had come for him nevertheless. He had always meant a lot more to her than he knew.

Twinkle looked at Kunj as he changed his mind and revealed whatever he remembered post that. “I didn’t know it was you who was trying to help me out, God, you looked heavenly that night!” He began, earning a glare from her, although she knew that all the drinking had affected his senses horribly and he did many weird things that night. “I had called up Alisha and told her that I had found someone way better than her and didn’t need her anymore, hadn’t I?” He asked embarrassedly, while she nodded. “And she did turn up at the hotel in utter shock, only to end up in a loud guffaw when she saw me with you.” Twinkle told him, aware that he hadn’t observed that for sure. She also told him that she had booked a room for him in that very hotel so that he wouldn’t have to face his mother in that drunken state, and managed to take him there, after repeatedly assuring him that it was her. Kunj looked embarrassed at the trouble he had caused her, but she wasn’t even looking at him. Her mind was in a turmoil now as she wondered if she should have simply called someone else up to help Kunj that night, for that way things would definitely not have turned out like this, but she knew, if she had to choose again, she would prefer Kunj over and over again, even if she knew the consequences.

Twinkle recalled how Kunj had pulled her close when she had tried to get him to sleep, and hadn’t let her go despite her attempts to pull away. His proximity was making her lose control, for she had loved him even when she knew Alisha meant the world to him. She stopped resisting when she heard him whisper, “I love you, Twinkle! I’m sorry I never realised it before.” He had begun to sob on her shoulder, while she quietly held him close, hoping that would calm him down. She had never realised when he had begun to place kisses on her shoulder, moving up her neck, ending up kissing her lips. “I love you too, Kunj!” She had whispered as they leaned in for another kiss, a more passionate one than before, giving in completely as she saw love for herself in his eyes when he whispered his affection for her. Before she even knew it, they were making love, not caring about anything anymore. Alisha, the fight, Twinkle’s presence required at the conference were all forgotten. Twinkle had gained Kunj’s love after her seemingly endless wait, and had begun to think that her dreams were finally coming true when he had held her in embrace when he fell asleep. Little did she know that it was only the calm before the storm. Back in the present, Twinkle remembered every single moment from that night, and thinking of it brought her goose bumps and the butterflies in her stomach seemed to come back to life.