Hello everyone! Thank you so much for all the love and affection that you have been showering on my story! Happy reading!
Twinj: My Lifeline: Episode 39
A quick recap: Twinkle spends most of her day off thinking about Kunj. Alisha enters the Sarna mansion with a strong resolve to make Twinkle leave, in which she succeeds despite Usha and Kunj’s attempts to stop her. Usha then helps Kunj see through Twinkle’s words that had him under the impression that she didn’t want to be with him anymore.
“Nobody’s home.” Yuvi informed Twinkle as he unlocked the main door of the Taneja mansion. “Leela aunty is at Chinki’s place..” He began, trailing off when he realised that she wasn’t listening, she had walked off towards the stairs in the dark itself. “Careful!” He called out as he turned on the lights, having figured perfectly that she must have reached the staircase by then. She didn’t as much as turn back to acknowledge it, but walked up the stairs slowly. He sighed deeply, reminding himself that he had to be patient with her, she was already suffering too much. He had seen her wipe away her tears repeatedly on the drive there, his heart going out to her, but he knew she needed some time to herself. “I’ll leave your bags here, and be back in 10 minutes at most. Why don’t you freshen up by then?” He said, dropping her bags by her bed and was about to turn around and leave when he heard her call out to him, her voice almost a whisper. “Thank you!” She said softly, and he nodded with a small smile before rushing out. He knew someone who could console her better than him right then. Twinkle looked around the room, the last time she was there, Kunj was by her side, they had laughed and talked for hours on an end, bursting with joy despite all their troubles. Now all she felt was a huge void, a numbness that wasn’t going away anytime soon. She had always known it would be difficult to part ways with Kunj, but not even in her worst nightmares had she imagined it would be this hard. She was tired from shedding all those tears endlessly, tired from being so strong and always prioritising him, she felt like she could really use a deep slumber, one that would somehow makes things better.
Yuvi returned sooner than Twinkle had expected. He had brought Chinki along. “You didn’t have to trouble her!” Twinkle protested, but both of them shushed her, telling her that she was being incredibly stupid for thinking that way. “Twinkle, all this..” Chinki began, but never found the right words to complete her statement. She simply hugged Twinkle, beginning to sob herself, surprised at how composed Twinkle seemed. “It’s all going to be alright. We’ll find some way to deal with it.” Chinki spoke, sounding more like she was assuring herself than Twinkle. “There isn’t anything left to deal with.” Twinkle responded disappointedly with a sad laugh at which she saw Chinki and Yuvi exchange a quick glance, looking terribly helpless. “Of course not! Everything is just like you had left it here before you got married, we could view this as an opportunity to write the story differently this time around!” Yuvi spoke, hoping he could do something to make her feel better, even if only a tiny bit. It made Twinkle wonder though, did she want that? Could she ever even dream of a new chance at life after living as Kunj’s wife, even if not in the actual terms and only for a brief period, which had been the ultimate dream come true? Could she ever want anything else?
“Yuvi, why don’t you go and bring Leela aunty back home?” Chinki spoke breaking the silence that followed. “Does he know that you were aware of this situation before you got married?” She asked Twinkle the moment Yuvi stepped out. Twinkle shook her head, wondering what she was on about. “Don’t tell him just yet, I don’t think he’ll have a hold on his anger if he finds out. Letting Leela Ma know or otherwise is left to you though, you know better. But for tonight, let me handle everything while you take all the time that you need to handle yourself.” She added, and Twinkle smiled back gratefully at her; what would she have done if not for her? Although Chinki and Yuvi had managed to come up with something to tell Leela and left, Twinkle wasn’t convinced enough and decided to go take a sneak peek at Leela herself. She found her in the kitchen, a forgotten vessel of boiling water on the stove in front of her. “Twinkle?” Leela called out when she heard footsteps, breaking out of her reverie. “Midnight Chai?” Twinkle asked as cheerfully as she could, not wanting to trouble her. “When did the problems begin between the two of you?” Leela questioned instead, completely ignoring her query. Twinkle shrugged her shoulders as she bent and turned the stove off. “It’s probably all my fault, isn’t it? If I had somehow taken on Usha Sarna, perhaps you wouldn’t be suffering today.” Leela spoke as she gently caressed her face. “No, Ma! Please don’t blame yourself!” She responded, she hated how everyone took the blame upon themselves, she had heard Chinki lamenting the same way too. “Your Papa had always been extremely proud of you, Twinkle. He always believed that you would grow up to be the strongest person he knew..” Leela said as Twinkle lay in her lap some time later. “Would he still be proud of me?” Twinkle asked and Leela nodded, assuring her for the hundredth time that it was alright and would get better. She then sang a lullaby for her and put her to sleep, wondering how Kunj could do something of this sort.
“What is Kunj still doing here?” Manohar asked Usha when they spotted Kunj walk down the stairs a couple of mornings later. “I assumed the first thing he did these days was run over to Twinkle!” He added, looking at Usha who appeared equally surprised. “Good morning” Kunj greeted them lifelessly, taking his seat at the dining table. He had rushed to the Taneja mansion the morning right after Twinkle had left and the one after that, but hadn’t managed to even catch a glimpse of her yet, let alone speak to her. He had been stopped by Chinki from entering the house both times, requesting him to stay away, for Twinkle’s sake at least. Twinkle’s phone had been turned off too and he had been highly disappointed, he needed to speak to her somehow. Usha had been cut off by Yuvi too, no amount of efforts on their side seemed to yield any result. “Kunj!” They heard Alisha’s voice, making all three of them roll their eyes, Kunj had avoided her completely after his effort to explain the situation to her had back fired and she had gone and told Usha and Manohar that Kunj wanted to marry her as soon as possible. He had realised that bringing Twinkle back was most important right then, he couldn’t let her remain under the impression that he had wanted to send her away any longer. “You don’t have to eat this unhealthy food, Kunj! I’ve prepared breakfast for you today! After all you’ve been spending all your time outside ever since I’ve come!” Alisha continued, snatching away the plate that Usha had served for Kunj. She had leaned unnecessarily close to him in the process, irritating him. “Was she this annoying all along?” He asked when she went into the kitchen, making Usha and Manohar giggle. “Alisha has always been this way, right Alisha?” Manohar asked when she returned, smiling sweetly at her and she nodded assuming that Manohar had finally learnt his lesson and was respecting her, resulting in Usha and Kunj having a hard time holding back their laughter.
“Hey!” Kunj said warmly, as he held Twinkle’s hand in his, how he had missed her! “Hi!” She greeted back, not knowing if she was allowed to tighten her grip on his hand like she had always done so far, and so refrained herself. “I’ve missed you” He stated like it was the most obvious fact, and added “Although I must say you look cute in your exercise gear” to ease the tension in the air. She smiled, although he observed that the smile didn’t reach her eyes, which meant it wasn’t a happy one, as he had learnt from experience. “I miss you too” She replied, as she gave his tired looking eyes a glance. When she was around, she made sure he never stayed up too late in the night and that he got enough rest, and now her absence appeared to be showing its marks. “Really? That is why no calls or messages or even replies!” He put out his dismay openly, not telling her how he had hung around her house to speak to her. She looked at him, wondering if he actually expected that nothing would have changed after Alisha returned. “It’s just that I’m home after so long..” She answered nonetheless, looking away briefly. “Ma told me you’ve taken a long leave from being my manager?” He asked next, her response was still the same. “Twinkle, listen, please come back!” He began, he could no longer hold back his desperation. Her eyes widened, surprise turning to shock and then to horror as Chinki and Yuvi returned and separated them, saying many things to Kunj that neither he nor Twinkle listened to, all they knew was that they were being split apart.
That’s it for now, guys. I know it’s a low phase, was also really hard for me to be pushing them away like that, but I promise that things will get better soon. Lots of love!