Hello everyone!! Thank you so much for all your love for the story, but I would really appreciate a little better response, guys! It’s so disappointing to end up getting so little in return for putting in so much effort into all this. I hope you all understand. Happy reading!
Twinj: Meant to be: Episode 10
A quick recap: As Twinkle and Yuvi look back on Leela’s disinterest in Twinkle’s life during the last couple of years, she discloses Leela’s desire to marry her off, shocking him. When she turns up at the Sarna mansion for the first time, Kunj saves her from having to disclose her last name without further questions. While Yuvi finds their new ease with each other strange, Aditi gets Kunj to confess.
The pair of eyes following Twinkle around the room hadn’t gone unnoticed by her. And so, when her eyes met them, she smiled her best formal one, all the while wondering why she was being stared at. Of course, a warm smile was returned, but the scrutiny didn’t seem to end. “Bebe, why are you looking at her like that?” Usha whispered to Bebe finally, having noticed the ordeal for quite some time now. “I’ve seen the girl before! I just can’t seem to recollect where! Are you sure she isn’t a daughter of any of those women at your fancy parties?” Bebe whispered back, raking her mind, but finding nothing.
“That’s Bebe.” Yuvi informed Twinkle meanwhile. “She’s usually welcoming to everyone; I don’t know what’s making her pry like that today.” He added, throwing her an apologetic look. She nodded nervously at him, casting another quick glance at Usha vehemently arguing with Bebe. Whatever Bebe had said had definitely not gone down well with her. “Do you think they’re still discussing the food? They don’t appear too happy.” She muttered to Yuvi, watching him to catch any expression that hinted at her being right. “I don’t think so. I’m quite positive I heard Ma say something about a party she and Bebe went to recently. So, they’re probably happy enough with the food to have let the conversation wander off to something totally unrelated. Don’t worry, I’m sure everyone is impressed!” She heard Kunj quip in from behind and let out a sigh of relief. “Thanks!” She said with a small smile, turning to Maya to let her know as well.
When she turned back, Yuvi had disappeared, but Kunj was still right there. And he seemed like he wanted to talk. And talk he did. “Twinkle, our conversation remained incomplete the other day…” He trailed off, as if unsure if he should be pursuing it. She hummed quickly, sounding equally unsure. “I’m sorry I came off as rude and insufferable that night, I really am. I didn’t mean to! Possibly it was just my concern for those two taking over, not that it justifies anything. I’m sorry!” He spoke, each word clear, as though already practiced a couple of times in his head. She smiled softly, one that he had never seen on her before, and it made him smile too. “Yuvi always told me that your family meant everything to you, that you would go to the ends of the world for each one of them.” She replied, a sad undertone to her voice that she was evidently trying to hide. “It’s only fair to let it go now, I suppose. We could call it equals over your favour this morning?” She suggested. He had only begun to protest “That wasn’t a favour-” but the look in her eyes told him she didn’t want to argue.
“I’ll only accept that because you’ve left me no other go.” He conceded finally, earning a more genuine smile this around. “I do need your help for something I have in mind though.” He added just when she had begun to think that she could now return to her work. “What is it?” She asked cautiously, and he grinned, taking it as her agreement. She listened to him carefully, shaking her head every now and then, her mind running her discomfort at the morning’s incident in parallel. “I think we could arrange that!” she said finally, much to his delight. They exchanged phone numbers quickly before parting ways.
Bebe smiled to herself at the sight in front of her. She liked Twinkle already, for the girl had managed to earn good graces for herself in just the one hour that Bebe had known her for, and bonus – Kunj seemed to think so too. She was definitely on Yuvi’s side on this one. “What is it about her that annoys you so much, Usha?” She asked her daughter-in-law when the latter lamented about Yuvi being so stubborn to hire Twinkle, lest she should have picked the best she knew. “She seems to be as nice as Yuvi claims her to be!” Bebe added when Usha chose to hold her silence. “Usha. I’m your mother-in-law, I know you better than to believe it’s just the fact that she doesn’t belong to a well to do family.” Bebe said, and Usha finally looked up, accepting her defeat.
“I know, Bebe. She is a real sweetheart, a brilliant cook, fiercely independent and everything great! I remember being as much in awe of her the first time I met her too. It’s just that no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t really bring myself to be nice to her. She’s too headstrong to give in and quietly accept orders-” Usha began explaining, and Bebe finished off for her with “- and that does no good at all to your ego. That’s what all this is about?” Usha shot Bebe a wounded look at that, and explained, “Of course not, Bebe! While that could have been a contributing factor, I was worried that dropping my defenses to her would only mean she would become a regular here, in this house! And how we let that happen! With passing time, I only liked her more, but could never bring myself to drop my pretense and be nice to her.” Bebe smiled at her. She knew Usha was like that – more superficial than she herself would like, but with nothing she could do to change about it. No matter who had tried. “Let’s hope this girl changes that, for the good!” Bebe murmured to herself, casting Twinkle one last look, one last attempt to recollect the familiarity before walking away.
One look at Yuvi was all it took for Kunj to realize that the cat was out of the basket. “You weren’t supposed to tell him! He’s more of Twinkle’s friend than mine, he’ll lay it all open to her!” He complained to Aditi who looked like she couldn’t stop grinning. Yuvi simply watched him though, evidently fighting to keep quiet, fearing he would say something unwarranted in the moment of heat. “You’re being dramatic now, Kunj! You like her, and she needs to know too. Who knows, she might like you back too!” She tried knocking sense into him, but he wouldn’t take any of that. “No! In no way on Earth should that happen! She will not find out, and I will get over this! That is that.” He said with an air of finality, earning weird glances from the two.
“You know this won’t get me anywhere!” He said softly, answering the question the two couldn’t figure how they should be asking. “Tell him how wrong he is, Yuvi!” Aditi beseeched, but Yuvi seemed to agree more with Kunj than her. “I’m sorry, Ditti. I think he’s right. Twinkle has already suffered too much for us to be putting her through this. She has a lot going on, and I’m pretty sure she has no interest in any relationship right now. Besides, Kunj doesn’t seem to be too confident about what he feels either, so I would rather save her another heartbreak than rise false hopes in her. To top it all, you know how Usha aunty is-” Yuvi blabbered, worried as if the moment he stopped speaking, they would say something to shut all his arguments once and for all. “Yuvi!” Aditi gasped, wordlessly directing his attention to Kunj who appeared crestfallen.
Yuvi shot Aditi an apologetic glance, internally cursing himself for not considering what could actually be Kunj’s genuine feelings just because he was worried for Twinkle. It appeared that Leela Taneja’s recent actions had begun messing with his head too. “Kunj, I didn’t mean you were at fault-” Yuvi began, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. “-or that you aren’t good enough for his precious friend.” Aditi finished for him, smiling at both guys. “We’ve got to trust Kunj with this one, Yuvi. I’m sure that even if he doesn’t have some things sorted out right now, he will eventually. And that he won’t jump into action before he’s sure of it all! We know Kunj enough to do that, don’t we?” She continued, glad that she had managed to handle the situation, and a little happier that Kunj was now smiling back at them, trying his best to hide the sadness in his eyes.
Kunj looked at Yuvi earnestly, and the latter knew he owed him an explanation. “Kunj, I-” He began, but the former nodded understandingly, cutting him short as he spoke, “I know, Yuvi. I understand your concern. It’s just that everything is so warped right now. Which is also why I could never bring myself to tell you this that night, although I had every intention to. And I think you are mostly right, especially about Ma. Most importantly, Twinkle doesn’t seem to like me too much either, so in all probability, you won’t have to worry about this for too long.” Yuvi flinched at that. He was right, but this might have as well been the first time Kunj had ever sounded so serious about liking someone. Yuvi now found himself in a fix. And even if he didn’t say so right then, he now had an itch to know what Twinkle thought about it all. He would find out for himself before he said anything else to Kunj in this regard.
Aditi had only been able to keep her anxiety to herself until Twinkle had left and Kunj too had returned to his room. “Yuvi! I know Twinkle is really dear to your heart, but Kunj is your brother!” She huffed, but Yuvi only smiled at her. He knew Aditi had grown really fond of Kunj, perhaps just as much as he had, of Twinkle. “Trust me with this then. I have the most to lose, or gain, on both sides, right?” He stated, and even without explicitly mentioning it, he had got the message across. Aditi grinned at the glint in his eyes, murmuring “I’m so excited!” to herself, but Yuvi heard that too. He narrowed his eyes at her, but it was only momentary, for he winked at her right after, pulling her in for a hug. He was looking forward to this too. If things did work out between Twinkle and Kunj, there could possibly be nobody happier than him. But what would Twinkle have to say to that?
That’s it for now, guys. Do let me know what you thought about it, and if you’re enjoying the story as much as I’m enjoying writing this. Also, there’s a small (big?) surprise awaiting you all, stay tuned! And how soon that one will be out will fully depend on how well this episode is received. You’re going to love that one, hopefully! Much love!