Twinj: It’s Always Been You: Episode 23

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Twinj: It’s Always Been You: Episode 23

A quick recap: Twinkle spots Kunj at the Gurudwara, where he gets struck by her words and finally proposes to her. She accepts happily. She returns to her old job and things begin to change for the best.

Twinkle looked to her side from her gaze at the horizon to spot Kunj beside her, watching her carefully, like he was looking for something in specific. “How long have you been here for?” She asked curiously, realising that she had probably whiled away a lot of time lost in thoughts. “Are you alright?” He asked instead, and she nodded quickly, not wanting to spoil the mood. Both of their families had decided to meet that day to finalise the date for the wedding after all, it was a joyous occasion. “How about you try telling me the truth now?” He asked as he shifted closer to her, knowing better. “I’m fine, it’s just that..” She began, but zoned off into the past, being jerked back when she heard him say, “I know. It was on this very day that we lost our baby years ago.” She looked up at him in surprise, wondering how he had known, but not finding it in her to ask him right away. Perhaps she would save that question for another conversation. She leaned towards him as he put his arms around her, recalling how helpless she had felt when she had found out that she had suffered a miscarriage, she had actually felt the world go blur in front of her, nothing mattered anymore. She couldn’t even look forward to smiling anymore back then, but there she was, in his arms that felt like home, learning to find happiness in the little joys of life.

“He was our first child, Twinkle. He’ll always hold a special place in our hearts, and will be irreplaceable, I promise!” Kunj whispered after a long silence, and she nodded, looking up at the skies. “I just hope he’s at peace wherever he is right now!” She whimpered, causing a sharp pain in his heart, but he knew she had suffered way more than him and she needed to be consoled. “I’m sure he won’t be when he realises that his Mumma is crying!” He spoke slowly, placing a gentle kiss on her shoulder. “Really?” She asked, wiping her tears, adding “Do you think he’s looking down at us?” He tightened his embrace as he answered, “I’m sure. He must be wondering why his Mumma is marrying this stupid man!” She let out a sad laugh at that and replied, “I’m sure he’s smarter than his stupid Papa, and knows better than that!” “Must have taken after his Mumma in that case!” Kunj replied, wondering how much longer he would able to hold back his own tears. This out of the blue discussion had led him to imagine how they could have been a happy family too, had it not been for his own stupidity, and his guilt was slowly killing him. “I don’t think we were ready for that kind of responsibility back then, Kunj. We might have been a family, but not a happy one. We hadn’t even gotten to know each other this way at that time, and probably we would have parted ways quicker than we would have come together.” Twinkle spoke, knowing exactly what he had been thinking. This hadn’t totally been her idea, she had picked it up from what Leela had told her, but she had figured lately that it gave her the hope that she might deserve another chance at life, and she wanted Kunj to be able to find his strength from it too.

Twinkle turned to Kunj and smiled at him, watching him try to look composed even when he was hurting so badly on the inside. She was so grateful that she had him by her side, becoming her pillar of strength, of hope, of love and everything else she would ever need. She couldn’t thank him or the lord above for how patiently he had dealt with her. She knew he had committed mistakes in the past, unforgivable ones as well, but she had seen him repent, and knew he had punished himself enough as well. If he thought it was his duty to cheer her up, she could try a hand at making him feel better too. She stood up, pulling him up with her and put her arms around his neck, as he watched her suspiciously. “I’m sure he knows that his Papa and Mumma love him, and always will.” She spoke, and he nodded with teary eyes, beginning to chuckle when he heard her add, “He definitely doesn’t want a crying baby Papa though.” She then hugged him tight, placing her head on his chest as he slowly twirled her. “I love you!” She heard him whisper, and replied, “I know.” He groaned in disappointment, making her giggle. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you needed me the most.” He spoke a few minutes later, his voice dripping of guilt. “You are forgiven, Kunj Sarna, but you will be punished with having to deal with Twinkle Taneja for all your life!” She replied, sighing deeply. “Yes, your honour! I’ll be glad to accept that, I couldn’t ask for anything else after all!” He responded, running his fingers through her hair as he whispered yet another ‘I love you’. This was one issue that she had always wanted to discuss with him before they moved on, for she would never want it to pop up later and cause trouble. Pleasantly enough, Kunj had been extremely understanding, yet another she was grateful for.

The marriage took place a month after Kunj had proposed, and all through that period, as so many rituals were carried out and he literally spent the entire day watching his love, he had only realised that he had been in love with her way before he had got the first hint of his feelings when she had suddenly moved away. She had taught him to love, to live and to embrace everything that came his way. He had made an entire list of things that he had to apologise to her for, and yet another one of things he had to thank her for, both of these running for pages on an end. She had been amused when he had read them out to her on the night of their wedding as he joined her in stargazing. She knew he wasn’t very good at expressing his emotions and if he had to come up with something of that sort, it had definitely taken him lots of effort, and she couldn’t praise him enough for it. They had learnt to live by Twinkle’s ‘forgive and accept’ policy by now, and she promptly forgave him for everything accordingly, just like they had visited Alisha on her insistence a few days ago to check on her and make peace with her as well. No amount of protests from Kunj’s side had been able to dissuade her from that; she had insisted that if they had to truly make a new beginning, they had to accept that as well. Hopefully someday they would also find enough strength in themselves to think of starting their own family, not to make up for their priceless loss for that was impossible, but because they deserved to be happy by all means.

Kunj had woken up the next morning to the most beautiful sight ever, the love of his life sleeping peacefully beside him, their hands entwined and placed on her tummy as she had dozed off with her back to him mid conversation the previous night and he had pulled her closer. He recalled how she had shied away when he had leaned closer to her and had backed off immediately, he had no intentions of making her uncomfortable whatsoever after all, only to end up surprised when she had pulled him back immediately. They had then resorted to speaking of their fond memories for a long time, beginning on the couch and ending up lying on the bed when she had fallen asleep and he had pulled up the duvet for her. He slowly freed himself and sat up watching her, knowing that she had slept peacefully for the first time in a while and decided not to disturb her, but right as he was about to leave, he felt her grip on his arm tighten. He wondered how he had got so lucky to have her in his life despite all that had had transpired between them. He leaned closer to her  when he realised she was speaking in her sleep, right in time to hear her murmur, “Kunj, don’t go, please! I love you!” He smiled to himself as he placed a gentle peck on her forehead and assured her that he was right there, and that he loved her more, although he knew that she had probably slipped into deep slumber and wouldn’t hear him. It didn’t matter if she didn’t hear it right then, for she had said “It’s Always Been You” and proved it, now it was his turn. To say it, to prove it and to keep doing so for the rest of their lives.

Hello again, everyone! As you guys might have guessed by now, this is the end of this story, feels really weird writing this right now, for I had no idea it would be this hard to let it go. There are a few things that I would like to tell you all though. First of all, thank you so much for always supporting this story, I know it’s hard to like a story wherein your favourite characters are always suffering, which I think justifies the kind of response this story received, which is alright. What matters is that a few consistent readers were always there, supporting me and the story even when it hit low points, which I am extremely grateful for. Secondly, I had never written a story with the separation track being its heart before this, so I thought I might as well experiment, and I have got my results. It was a brilliant experience, coming back and resuming the older stories, along with a brand new one. This story, although didn’t do as well as the others, will still remain dear to my heart for several reasons. Also, I believe that things need to be let go of at the right time, else I might end up ruining the entire story, so it’s time to say good bye to this story now. Thank you all so much for always being there. Lots of love!