Greetings all you lovely people! Thank you so much for all the love and affection this story is receiving!! I’m so glad that you all have been liking it, I think that’s the most a writer can ask for! Happy reading!
Twinj: My Lifeline: Episode 65
A quick recap: Twinkle and Kunj finally share their thoughts on the facts that had been threatening to destroy their happiness, with her managing to convince him completely, just like she always does.
Twinkle smiled to herself as she watched Kunj rush to open the door when they heard the bell, she knew that even if he hadn’t said so explicitly, he had missed his mother terribly, and with his pending apology and clarifications, it had become even harder for him to wait patiently for her to be back home. “Welcome back home, Ma! Let me get those bags for you!” He greeted her cheerfully and Twinkle quickly slipped into the kitchen to let them have their moment, but since she couldn’t resist herself she stood by the door, watching them curiously, wondering who would be the first one to break into tears, for having known them for months now, she knew that was bound to happen. Usha had followed Kunj to the dining table quietly by then, looking at him in surprise, while he cheerfully chattered about how the entire house seemed empty in her absence and how much everyone had missed her. “Kunj..?” Usha began hesitantly, not sure how she had to be responding, not aware of all the effort Twinkle had been putting behind her back to normalise things. Twinkle tensed as she saw Kunj stiffen at that, crossing her fingers and desperately hoping everything would be alright. “I’m sorry for being such an annoying nitwit, Ma. I’m sure it must be hard for you, having to deal with me every single day as I go about committing foolery, cutting you off when I should have been so grateful, not listening to you and choosing disasters for myself..” Kunj spoke, and Usha heard Twinkle gasp from her hiding. Of course, neither of them had heard ‘the Kunj Sarna’ ridicule himself ever before, maybe for fun, yes, but never so seriously. Twinkle quickly hid herself when she saw Usha look in her direction, and Usha went back to staring at Kunj in utter shock.
“You don’t need to apologise, Kunj! I have all that I could ask for, the best son that could ever be, and such a loving daughter-in-law who thinks I haven’t spotted her there yet..” Twinkle heard Usha speak affectionately after a few more minutes of exchanged apologies and vows never to go back down that way, making her giggle as she stepped towards them, quickly blinking away the tears that were threatening to flow down her cheeks, tears of joy, but the moment she spotted the look on Kunj’s face she realised he wasn’t done yet. There had to be something else running in his head, and she already knew her thoughts wouldn’t match his, and right when their eyes met, she felt him push the ideas away, and they grinned at each other. She smiled brightly at Usha nevertheless, giving her a tight hug, ignoring the hint of mischief in Kunj’s eyes as he had winked at her. “Thank you!” She heard Usha whisper to her, throwing her a knowing glance, and Twinkle knew that this was for every single thing that Usha had put her through, right from the first time she had seen her. Twinkle gave her hand an assuring squeeze and nodded at her, responding with “I was only being selfish you know, Ma? All this while, the only thing I was aiming at was all this love I’m getting! I wasn’t doing you any favour that you might want to thank me for.” Usha placed her hand on Twinkle’s head lovingly, and was about to argue, but their little moment was broken when they heard Kunj drop a utensil in the kitchen – he had declared that he would be the one serving breakfast for them that day, but he turned out just as bad as the women had suspected, making them laugh as they headed to the kitchen themselves.
“But..” Twinkle interjected on hearing the date that Kunj had just finalised for the launch of their song, realising too late that she was grabbing everyone’s attention with that. “I’m sorry!” She apologised quickly, shaking her head and reprimanding herself, shooting Kunj a quick glance before pretending to pay attention to the papers in front of her. They were at his workplace, where the creative team had just shown them the final edit of their video, something that both of them had absolutely loved, leaving both of them smiling from ear to ear as their memories from Greece came flooding back to their minds, and now they had been deciding a convenient date for the launch, zeroing in on a Wednesday, about three weeks from then. “Is something wrong, Twinkle? Do you have other plans for that day?” Kunj’s query made her look up and she shook her head again, her eyes lingering on him for another minute before she looked away. Kunj smirked when he was sure she wasn’t looking at him, knowing exactly what had been bothering her, also aware that she had no idea he had done it on purpose. He went ahead and locked the date nevertheless and asked his team to chart a schedule to release the teasers and poster, all the while feeling her gaze on him, but acting naïve. He laughed out loud when she stormed out once the others had left, even as he prepared himself to continue his act of being oblivious, he was sure that she would be angry enough by the end of the day that she would burst out at him though.
“I think I went a little overboard!” Kunj confessed to Chinki later that evening as they were seated in Leela’s living room, and Twinkle had ignored him all day, including right now when she had passed him an unreal smile in response to something he had asked before stomping away under the pretext of helping Leela. “A little.” Chinki responded, struggling to hold back her laughter, and turning to Yuvi, who added, “Just a teensy weensy bit, maybe.” Kunj glared at them as they began to laugh soon after, ridiculing them that they had to be helping him out instead. “Oh really, Kunj? But didn’t someone tell me Twinkle was their best friend..” Chinki began and Yuvi finished for her with, “..and that now that someone’s so in love with her? Pretty much their own responsibility now actually, given that they brought this upon themselves.” Kunj smacked his own forehead, unable to believe that these two found even this situation appropriate for teasing him. “Fine! I’ll deal with it myself.” He shot back, standing up determinedly, but sitting right back down resignedly when he saw her walk back their way, knowing that it was harder to convince her than he had initially thought. He saw sit away from him, earning a few more giggles from Chinki and Yuvi which Leela found really strange but chose not to question. He smiled at Leela, who returned him a warm glance, both of them recalling his desperate apology to her that he had turned up at her house with a few days ago, all by himself, for he was sure Twinkle would have argued that it was absolutely unnecessary had he brought her along. Leela, of course, being the loving person that he had known her to be, had insisted the same too, but he had persisted and she had finally admitted feeling cornered and helpless back when Usha had put forth the alliance, and Kunj was glad that the two of them had no ice between them anymore now, even if had taken him so much time to figure his way about it, he had finally got to the other side and now they shared a comfortable peace and understanding, the same kind that he had with Usha. Of course Twinkle had been disappointed when she had found out but he had figured it was better his way when he had thought his plan out properly, except for right then, when his attempt at surprising her had backfired, leaving him in a shock instead.
“What’s going on?” Usha had asked the moment Twinkle and Kunj had got home, for Leela had already informed that she had tried to figure out and failed, but something was fishy between the two for sure. “Nothing!” Both of them replied in unison, exchanging a quick glance before Kunj excused himself and went upstairs. “He didn’t even notice that I was cross!” Usha heard Twinkle mutter under her breath, and she laughed quietly, never having seen Twinkle be so dramatic about anything before. “What did he do?” Usha asked feigning concern and Twinkle looked up at her, flinching when she realised she had been too loud yet again, this was definitely not something she had to be complaining about, and especially not to Usha. “He didn’t..” She began, sighing and leaving her words incomplete, figuring that it was probably not as big a deal as she was making of it. “I’ll quickly change and get back to help you with dinner, Ma.” She said instead, and Usha nodded, dialling up Leela right after Twinkle had left, she had to tell her that this didn’t seem to be much of an issue, and that she believed they would sort it out by themselves.
“Look! They’ve shared all the pictures they took during the shoot, and they’re all so great!” Kunj exclaimed when Twinkle had chosen to keep quiet for too longer than he would like, which was an hour post dinner to be precise, but it was killing him already. “I’ll take a look at them later.” She responded coldly, not even looking at him, keeping her eyes fixed on a distant star as she sat on her seat by the window, the one that he had finally put up for her beside his own. “Nope. Come now!” He demanded and she glared at him for a moment before turning away again. “Whew! At least she didn’t ignore me this time. Good luck, Kunj Sarna!” He mumbled to himself as he got off the bed and walked over to her quietly, and used his trick that had worked brilliantly in two previous occasions, “Boo!” But quite in contrast to his expectation that she would be frightened and jump right into his waiting arms, she leisurely turned to look at him, uttering a bored “You wish!” and he took a whole minute to recover from that. “I’ll still pick you up!” He asserted, and she warned him, “Don’t you dare!” He raised his eyebrows at her as he leaned closer to her, making her protest, “Kunj!” He giggled and backed off immediately, taking his seat next to hear and informing her, “I wouldn’t go against that caution board you’ve put up!” But for some reason, she didn’t find that funny either and continued to fume. “What is it?” He asked, donning his oh so innocent look once again, and she replied, “I’m angry!” He knew that, obviously. “But why? Did someone say something? Was it Ma? Or Leela Ma? Or Chinki or Yuvraj?” He carried on, watching her closely as it only annoyed her some more. “You!” She pointed out furiously when he had got to the end of his list of all the people she had encountered all day, except for himself. “Me? But I didn’t do anything.. or did I?” He played his little part too well for her to doubt him.
“I’m sorry!” Kunj whispered in a deep voice, leaning close to Twinkle, pecking her right cheek, when she had held onto her silence despite him questioning her repeatedly. She looked right into his eyes for a fraction of a second before returning to her miffed mood, making him repeat his action with her other cheek, another apology adjoined. She froze as he leaned closer, him arms finding their way around her to pull her towards himself, heart already given in, but mind holding her back by a single string that she was sure would snap any moment now given his advances. “I’m sorry, I really am, but would you just tell me where I’ve gone wrong? I promise to make it better!” He breathed, so close that she was sure he could hear her heart thudding wildly. She tried reminding herself that she was supposed to be angry, but her heart wouldn’t cooperate. Perhaps she could just pause her anger and resume it later? “You’re forgiven!” She sighed, letting her hands reach out to him. She felt him chuckle, as he hugged her tight, already rejoicing in his mind, unaware that he still had to bear the brunt of her anger, just not right away.
“You know you’ve got to accompany me to all those song promotion events, right? And not just as my manager, but on the stage?” Kunj asked, mid way through their discussion about the song release, when he realised that Twinkle was probably unaware that her presence was required there. “Why me?” She whined, not wanting any attention for herself. “Who else if not you?” He teased, casually adding, “Alisha?” She snapped at him so hastily that he regretted cracking the joke immediately, but she dismissed the thought as quickly as it had been presented, and Kunj took the opportunity to say, “Speaking of Alisha..” This time around, she didn’t even smile, knowing it wasn’t a joke, stunned when she heard his next words.
That’s it for now, guys! That’s a new record for the longest I’ve written, hope it was good enough. Lots of love!!