Hello everyone! Ananya here. Thank you all so much for all the love and affection that you all have been showering on my story. Happy reading!
Twinj: My Lifeline: Episode 38
A quick recap: Twinkle has a hard time keeping her emotions in check. Alisha turns up at the Sarna mansion, asking Twinkle to leave now that she’s back. Usha tries to convince Twinkle but fails, and then takes on Alisha by herself when Kunj arrives.
“Twinkle, you don’t have to leave!” Kunj told Twinkle, holding her hands in his own, ending up surprised when she let out a sad laugh. “Of course I have to, Kunj. Isn’t that what had been decided upon even before we got married? Besides, I don’t think I can take any more of being your fake wife. It’s all getting too much now.” She answered as a lone tear rolled down her cheek. She wished he would pull her into a hug and say that she wasn’t his fake wife, that she meant the world to him, but he was too shaken by her words to say anything of that sort. “Are you saying that you want to break all ties with me? Is all this becoming a burden to you?” He asked instead and she shook her head with a gentle squeeze on his hands. “You aren’t getting rid of me so easily, Kunj! I’ll always be your best friend, just like I had promised, and am still your manager, remember? Twinkle Kunj Sarna..” She spoke, pausing as she realised the harsh reality and corrected herself, “Twinkle Taneja never ever breaks her friendships or her promises.” Kunj dropped his hands lifelessly, unable to believe what he was hearing. Why did she want to go away? “The only thing that’ll change is that we’ll no longer be living in the same house. It’s just a matter of time, Kunj. We had got extremely used to having each other around for anything and everything, but we’ll get over it.” She added, crushing his heart. “I don’t want even the slightest of changes to happen! Things are perfect just the way they are!” He protested, his own eyes beginning to well up. “Kunj, you’ve gone through so much to get here, to get to the moment when Alisha will actually be yours! It’ll be incredibly foolish to let go of your love for your friendship!” She stated, wiping away his tears.
“Kunj, are you alright? How come you’re valuing this girl so highly?” Alisha asked, rolling her eyes, fed up of the conversation taking place in front of her. Her blood boiled at the fact that Kunj hadn’t even bothered to greet her, he had rushed straight to Twinkle. There had been times when he could leave the whole world for her, and now he wouldn’t even turn and look at her! What angered her further was that he ignored her completely yet again and continued trying to convince Twinkle with, “Twinkle, this is about us, not anyone else! You can’t leave like this!” Twinkle smiled at him and responded, “Kunj, I know it’s going to be hard initially, but it isn’t like we’re parting ways forever, right? Whenever you need something, all you need to do is make a call. And since we’re working together, you could pick me up from home, that way we’ll have enough time for our meaningless, fun conversations as well.” All she knew was that Kunj would be feeling extremely guilty for having to send her away like that, that she needed to stay strong for one last time for his sake so that he wouldn’t break down and lose Alisha again. She knew what it felt like to suffer from unrequited love, she definitely didn’t want him to suffer from the pangs of separation from his love. Little did she know that she herself was inflicting that pain on him. “I don’t think either of us can take this namesake marriage anymore, Kunj.” She said finally, tired from all that she had to suffer from months on an end, sleepless nights, haunting days, him being so close to her and yet so far, him being hers but not actually hers, his proximity that she craved for but could never give into and whatnot. ‘Namesake marriage’ echoed in Kunj’s ears as he stumbled backwards until his back hit a pillar. “Twinkle..” He whispered, not wanting to give up yet, when she came running and gave him a tight hug, muttering “I’ll miss you!” as she let her tears flow freely, wanting to remember this one moment forever, for she only had memories to live by now, her good days were gone. He held on to her for a little longer than usual, shedding tears himself, neither of them noticing Alisha whispering something maliciously to Usha.
Kunj couldn’t believe this was happening. It had seemed, with his realisation of his feelings for Twinkle that things were finally falling into place, but his happiness seemed way too short lived. He had hardly felt it before it was snatched away from him. He tried yet again, and again, to say something that would make her stay, but she wouldn’t budge from her resolve. Then they heard a car pull into the driveway and saw Yuvi jump off it and walk in hurriedly. “Twinkle! What is happening here? Why do you have those bags with you?” He asked, looking around the hall, all the sad faces scaring him further. He paused when he spotted Alisha, his eyes widening as he tried to figure out what had transpired there. “I called him here.” Usha owned up, answering the questioning look in Twinkle and Kunj’s eyes. Twinkle managed to smile at her and walked to her slowly, bending down to take her blessings, but Usha stopped her and hugged her instead, whispering “I’m sorry I couldn’t do anything, Twinkle. Don’t lose hope though. I won’t let any injustice happen. But right now, it’s really important that you head back home with Yuvi. Alisha is out in the open, and she could attack you again if she’s done it once.” Twinkle pulled back and stared at her grief stricken, guilt ridden eyes that had shed their own share of tears too. “I’m sorry..” Usha began again when they heard Yuvi lunging forward at Kunj angrily. “Yuvi, stop!” Twinkle screamed, shaking her head at him when he turned to look at her. “We should leave now.” She said simply and he glared at Kunj, who seemed too hurt to notice anything that was happening around. Yuvi then picked up Twinkle’s bags and headed to the car, while Twinkle whispered to Usha, “Ma, I know you’ve always wanted a daughter in law like me, but I want you to consider your son’s happiness this time around. See how much one mistake on your part has broken him! We definitely don’t want this happening again.” She then glanced over at Kunj quickly before walking out.
Alisha arranged to have the guest room opened for herself and asked the maids to take her luggage from her car there, not even as much as looking back to see Kunj or Usha before she headed up the stairs. “We can’t give up, Usha. We can’t let her ruin our Kunj and Twinkle’s lives. We can’t be such weaklings when Kunj needs to someone by his side, when we have to throw Alisha out of this house, when we have to bring Twinkle back!” Manohar told Usha in a hushed voice, he had got home too late to be able to change things, but he seemed to know exactly what had to be done. She nodded, reminding herself that she had already done so much for her son’s happiness that she can’t be backing off now when it mattered the most. She wiped away her tears and walked over to Kunj, but he took just one look at her and then went upstairs, shutting the door behind him. He didn’t want to have anything to do with anyone right then. He had lost everything. The room that once used to be filled with his Twinkle’s laughter now suddenly appeared empty, even in its true sense. The wind chime that she had brought him still tinkled in the gentle breeze, bringing back every memory of her, making him feel worse. He wished he had found the courage to confess his love to her, whether or not she loved him back, she wouldn’t leave him this way. He opened the door to the balcony and stepped out, his heart crying out for her, his mind preoccupied with her thoughts, nothing seemed to be his own anymore. Everything was hers, including himself.
“Ma?” Kunj’s surprise was evident in his voice when he saw Usha walk towards him. “The duplicate keys to your room are in my custody for a reason, Kunj! I know my son thinks it’s absolutely alright to lock himself in like this when he hits a low point. That wasn’t problem with Twinkle around though. She knew exactly how to get you out.” Usha answered, sitting down on the chair beside his. Kunj sighed as he recalled Twinkle sitting there beside him on several nights, he wished he could just go back in time, to feel those moments again, maybe he could watch her all day long if he did, for now, he knew he was in love with her. “What’s troubling you though? Alisha is back, fit and fine, and now you can finally get married to the love of your life!” She continued, pretending to be unaffected by all that had happened. “I don’t love Alisha! I love Twinkle!” He replied angrily, realising that it was probably the first time he had said it out loud, and he thought it felt amazing, perhaps it would be way better if Twinkle was still around. “Don’t pretend you didn’t know!” He shot back when he saw a sly smile cross Usha’s face. “Why didn’t you say that to her earlier?” She asked, completely ignoring his dig at her; although she knew the answer, she wanted him to realise that which she already had. “Didn’t you listen to what she said, Ma? She said she’s fed up of this marriage. She called it fake! When the one person I was fighting for had given up on me, what else remained?” He sobbed, angrily throwing away the flowers that Twinkle had put in the vase on the coffee table in front of him. She had probably replaced them that morning, but now they were withered and defeated, just like himself.
Usha allowed Kunj a minute, and spoke when he seemed a little better, “You only heard her words, Kunj! You didn’t look past them to know what she actually meant. She said she’s tired of this pretence, not of your relationship. Have you wondered if that meant that she wanted it to be real and not just for the sake of the world?” Kunj turned to look at her, eyeing her as though he didn’t know if she was speaking the truth. She nodded assuringly at him, making him speak up, “She wouldn’t give up on us so easily, I knew it! If only I had realised my feelings and confessed them to her earlier! Why didn’t you make me see my love before, Ma?” Usha smiled at him and replied, “How come you never thought of bringing your confusions to me, Kunj?” He looked away immediately, recalling how she had violently opposed his relationship with Alisha initially, straining their honest mother-son bond, and how much of persuasion it had taken for her to finally give in. He had been keeping his emotions hidden from her ever since and had grown so used to it that he had forgotten he could always go and speak to his mother. She would always listen calmly, unless it was about Alisha. Thinking of which, he realised that Alisha was back now, probably with the hope that he would marry her. How was he going to deal with her? Usha knew this though, and seemed confident about handling Alisha as well, she didn’t tell him so just yet.
That’s it for now, guys. I know, Kunj has terrible timing. He had to realise that she wouldn’t give up on them so easily after she left? I agree that this was a sad episode, horrible for Twinkle, but I hope you all will remember that it’s only a temporary inconvenience. 😉 Lots of love!