Greetings everyone! Thank you so much for all the love and affection this story is receiving! Happy reading!
Twinj: My Lifeline: Episode 45
A quick recap: Alisha appears unaffected by Usha putting forth her proofs against her, ending up confessing all her crimes. Her demeanour is disturbed when Twinkle and Kunj step out and give her an earful. Kunj regrets trusting her horribly. Alisha tries to point a finger towards Usha’s doings to distract them.
“That’s enough, Alisha! Nobody’s going to listen to you anymore! I can’t forgive myself for choosing to believe you over Ma! She had recognised your foul play the first time she met you, but I wouldn’t listen to her, even when it had begun to severe my equations with her. How stupid of you to think that you would say something so mean to her and get away with it! You know too well that it’ll only take me as much as moving my little finger to get you thrown out of this profession of yours that you would go to any extent for! I have no reason not to do that either!” Kunj spoke angrily; he was having a harder time in dealing with himself than with Alisha’s crimes right then. Usha let out a sigh of relief, although Alisha’s crimes were now known to everyone, she knew that had her attempt to keep Alisha couldn’t be revealed yet. She knew that was a wrong thing to do, but as much as she regretted it and was aware that she would have to face the punishment for it someday, she had a more important task at hand right now, and she couldn’t afford to have Kunj losing faith in her right then. She had to get rid of Alisha, and soon. She spotted Twinkle still watching her keenly, as though she was trying to read her emotions and turned away. She knew Twinkle had realised that she was hiding something, but hoped that she wouldn’t say anything at least right away. “And Twinkle, the one you’ve been trying to ‘get rid of’ relentlessly? She’s the one who stood by me even when my heart was still pining for you, she was the one who convinced me to go and see you, if it wasn’t for her, you would probably still be rotting in that place! In fact, that is what you truly deserve! You are definitely not worth all that she was willing to sacrifice for you, for someone she didn’t even know!” Kunj’s voice grabbed Twinkle’s attention and she turned to him and smiled warmly, not stopping him, since she knew he had a lot of anger boiling within that he needed to vent out.
Alisha narrowed her eyes at the unspoken conversation that Twinkle and Kunj had had right in front of her eyes, and she hadn’t been able to make out a single word, enraging her further. “What is it that this girl has that I don’t?” She asked, and although her question was directed to Kunj, she looked menacingly at Usha, knowing that no matter what anybody told her, Usha would have been the one who had chosen Twinkle for Kunj, and as much as she hated to accept it, she knew that Kunj was really happy with Twinkle. As a matter of fact, she herself had been surprised by the changes that she had observed in him the day he had turned up to meet her with Twinkle. She had seen them talk when they left the room, and knew that Twinkle knew Kunj on way deeper levels than she could even imagine. This had only turned her into a sore loser. Although she knew that attempting to harm Twinkle would only worsen things for her, and that she might get caught, she went ahead with it either way, for she needed to do something, anything that assured her that she hadn’t lost completely yet, to convince herself to retain her sanity. “Nothing.” Twinkle’s answer left her astonished. She listened carefully as Twinkle continued, “Perhaps is you had no evil intentions, me and Kunj wouldn’t have got even a try at being friends. You had it all, Alisha! You had everything that any other girl could only dream of achieving. You were popular, had your dream come true career, so many people who looked up to you and cared for you, and most importantly, someone who loved you more than you could even think of requiting, but you brought this destruction upon yourself.” Alisha caught Twinkle’s voice being weighed down by emotions as she spoke of Kunj, and the quick glance towards Kunj didn’t go unnoticed either. She had also seen Twinkle raise her hand to stop the others from arguing when they had heard her belittle herself in comparison to Alisha, who hated the way her mind had begun admiring this girl in front of her who had snatched away everything that should have been hers rightfully.
“All this sentimental talk is fine, but how are you going to prove it? I don’t think you’ve understood me even a teensy weensy bit yet. I can always play the ‘celebrity Kunj Sarna played around with me like a toy and then got rid of me by throwing me into a rehab facility, I’m such a lonely, helpless woman’ card, you see?” Alisha spoke, still undeterred, and not wanting to give up at any cost. She had fought for all this for so long after all; if not by hook, then by crook, but she would achieve her goal, she reminded herself. “Not so soon, Alisha! Me and Usha have known you for long enough to be aware of the fact that you aren’t an easy nut to crack. When you thought you were establishing your place in this house by shifting here, we kept you under constant surveillance and searched through your belongings time and again until we found sufficient evidence. We knew those wouldn’t be able to prove much unless you confessed to your crimes, which you’ve done today and we’ve recorded. You might want to call this a checkmate.” Manohar spoke as he opened the doors and in walked the police, prepared to take Alisha away. “We agree that we might not have been as smart as you to be able to detect your moves beforehand and stop you, but we weren’t as foolish as you assumed either. You might find it interesting to know that we didn’t even have to put in any effort to undo the mess you had created yesterday. All we did was hand over a little note that Twinkle had left for us, in which she tells us that there is nobody in the world who could replace Kunj in her life, whether or not she remained in touch with him, he would always be the one with whom she had taken the vows around the holy fire. Kunj didn’t need anything else to be assured that he still held the chance, and you know the rest.” Usha narrated to Alisha, who looked defeated finally, as the policewoman put on her handcuffs. She glared at Usha nevertheless. Perhaps some things could never change.
Minutes had ticked by since Alisha was taken away, and yet, all of them stood quietly in their spots, each one of them engrossed in their own thoughts. Usha shuddered at the close escape her crime had just had, she couldn’t stop thinking of how Twinkle and Kunj would react when they found out she had deliberately crashed her car into Alisha’s. Twinkle was the first to break out of the reverie. She reached out to Kunj and held his hand gently, wondering what she should do to make things better, but he didn’t give her much time to think, for he pulled her into his embrace, muttering “Are you sure she didn’t cause any other injuries that we weren’t aware of? What if something had gone wrong? Why didn’t you listen to Ma and Papa and stay here?” His questions seemed to know no end. “I’m alright!” Twinkle assured him, pulling away as she glanced at Usha and Manohar who were now watching them, her cheeks turning crimson. “I’m sorry, Ma. I should have known that you know what’s best for me, better than I myself do. This is all my fault.” He told Usha as he gave her a warm hug, and she shook her head, replying “We’re lucky things didn’t get out of hand.” Manohar giggled at that, grabbing everyone’s attention. “I agree. Else Alisha might have had more than just hair damage while she was thrown out.” He stated before proceeding to tell Twinkle and Kunj how Usha constantly troubled Alisha and this shampoo prank had just been a little trailer, surprising Twinkle while Kunj laughed whole heartedly. “She made my son’s life miserable after all. I wouldn’t let her get away so easily!” Usha justified her actions before joining in the laughter, as Kunj put his arms around both his parents. “Come on now! You’re an inseparable part of this family and there will be no special invitations sent out to you for occasions like this one!” Usha called out to Twinkle, who stood a little apart admiring them, and pulled her in when she hesitated.
“Kunj! Let me see now please!” Twinkle spoke annoyed when Kunj had placed his hands on her eyes before opening the door to their room, telling her that he had a surprise for her. He giggled at her impatience as he brought his hands down and rested them around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder. “Oh my God!” Twinkle gushed when she saw the picture of them that he had received just the previous day hanging where he had intended it to. Her breath hitched when he whispered “Did you like it?” in her ear, and she realised how dangerously close he was to her. “I love it!” She whispered back when she managed to grab some control over her raging heart and mind. “Welcome back home!” He said lovingly before placing a peck on her cheek and was about to move away when she held his hands back where they were a moment ago, surprising both him and herself. “I missed you.” She told him yet again like it was the first time she was saying it, and he responded, “I missed you too. I missed us. I missed everything!” She turned around a few seconds later, mumbling a quick “Thank you for not giving up on us.” before she walked into the closet, leaving him smiling brightly as he thought to himself that there was no way he would give up on them. “Kunj!!! Why is this place so messy?” He heard her scream a minute later and chuckled, he had indeed missed everything.
That’s it for now, guys. I hope you all liked it. Lots of love!