So we know Kartik's gonna propose and Naira will say no. I am trying to put some logic to her answer in this one. Hope you like it.
A/N 1 - I am making some assumptions to finalize Naira's age for my stories. So she was around 1 year old when they left for Cape Town, was around 11 when they came back, between that and her leaving to Hrishikesh 2 years passed. So after latest leap of 7 years she is 20 years old.
A/N 2 - this OS takes references from old YRKKH episodes when Naira was shown as a teen-ager. For those of you who didn't watch the show back then, Naira was once kidnapped due to a stalker. The incident had left her traumatised. Second one was when she left her home and went to Hrishikesh. Days before that Naira was involved in an incident where her best friend Sunaina (Su) and her boyfriend were creating a lot drama which ultimately lead to Su's death for which initially Naira was blamed.
His heart was beating so fast. He had dreamt of thousand different scenarios where he would propose to her and he had dreamt of thousand and one different reactions, but none of them was this. Rejection. Seemed like he was being too optimistic in his dreams.
He felt like a complete loser now. What was he thinking? Him with Naira Singhania? She was simply too good for a guy like him. He was just, well, he too was from a well-known business family if that's what her criteria for a "yes" was. But he knew it was not the case. Then what was it? Why did she say "I am so sorry Kartik, but I cannot say the same three words to you. I cant." And then she turned in her heals and he was sitting there, numb. Has it been 10 minutes, or fifteen? Or an hour? He simply did not know. It was when his phone beeped and it was a message from Akshara to remind him of their departure from Switzerland the next day, he finally pulled his legs and went back to his hotel room. This whole trip had left him emotionally drained and today's evening surely took the cake!
There was only one solution to get recharged for the dinner now, to hit the shower, and wash away all negative thoughts, negative memories this journey had given him so far. He had to be smiling and happy for her, her family, Akshara mam, Naitik sir. It was a big day for all of them and he simply did not want to be a spoilsport. Afterall he was not a teenager to sulk all night when his crush said no to him. He had to be a mature young man, like he always was.
He was almost ready, final touch of a comb to his wet hair, and he was to ready to go. Just then he heard a knock. It must be Gayu. What was up with that girl? She seemed to be always looking out for him. His instincts were telling something was up there but it was simply too much to think about right now. He was not sure whether to open the door and face Gayu or not, when he heard the knock again. Next came her voice.
"Jai? Are you in there?"
Oh god, give me strength to face her, to survive this evening, he prayed. When he opened the door, she stood there smiling to him, as if nothing had happened. Now this too was unexpected. He thought the awkwardness would be there but she was standing there with the same casual, friendly smile as if nothing had transpired between them in last few hours.
Dinner went on smoothly, with Naitik catching up with Naira and Akshara. One thing that cheered Kartik even in his depressed state was Naira and her visible glow; having her father back and safe had made her beam with happiness. She was completely a daddy's girl and he adored her for that.
When they were back to hotel, everyone wished each other a good night and went to their rooms. He decided to spend some time in the lobby. There was a nice garden adjoining it and had a water fountain located centrally. He stood there, eyes closed, reflecting on what his life had become. Did he have a family? Did he have someone whom he could call his own? Someone he could confide in? As if on a cue, he felt her presence behind her. Probably not knowing he had already known she was there, she kept her hand on his shoulder to turn him around.
"What are doing here?" he asked. She had already changed her party clothes and was wearing a pink colored T shirt and Micky mouse PJ's and was looking damn adorable.😳
"I wanted to tell you something. Do you have time? Or do you want to catch up on your beauty sleep?" she asked trying to release some tension which was visible on his face.
"sure, shoot" he was pretty sure, this conversation would be leading to his proposal that evening. Nevertheless, he wanted to know what was her reason for saying no.
"I wanted to tell you a story about a girl. You do not know her. Actually no one knows her." She started and already caught his interest. This was something unexpected (again). This girl and her surprising behaviors. He stopped wondering about them by now.
They both sat on a nearby bench. A cool breeze of evening air was touching them and whole aura around them turned so beautiful.
She continued. "So the girl in my story is your regular teen age girl, only that she is not so much of a regular girl. She was apple of her father's eye and sweetheart of her mother. The sibling bond shared with her brother too was blissful. They were living a happy content life in their small world. But all started changing when they decided to move. Her parents decided to go back to their roots. She was anxious but excited as well to see where her roots had been. How was the place her parents kept talking about? So when they relocated, for her it was a whole new country, whole new world, where people had different approach towards life. Culture was different; the way people looked at girl-boy friendship was different. This was frightening to her and slowly she started to live inside a cocoon. She did not want to come outside of it and mingle. She missed her home so much and no one seemed to understand. She wanted to run away but running away to another country was quite a task. (Kartik chuckled at that, she clearly was fond of running away from her home). So slowly she started to put up with it all. She started making friends, going out and being a bubbly, lively girl she once was. Then one fine day, on her birthday she got a surprise, but not a very pleasant one. A random guy had started liking her...loving her as he claimed. She had been receiving gifts from past few days, getting blank calls but she ignored them all. Little did she know, in India it was taken as leading a guy in wrong direction. Finally when the truth came out on her birthday, her parents helped her tackle the situation. And she did. Bravely. But somewhere a voice kept coming from inside her, why me?'."
Kartik was feeling too much at the same time. He had known her since long but still it appeared he had not. How much she had been through. Kartik had understood by now that the girl in her story was Naira herself so he let continue.
"Then after a few months, her best friend got involved with a guy. She kept telling her friend that the guy in question did not seem to have good intentions towards her but her friend did not listen. It was when one day, while on a picnic, her friend accidentally killed that guy, or so they thought. She was so frightened when she witnessed it all. She wanted to tell everything to her parents, but she did not know what would happen. What would happen to her, and to her friend? And just when she decided to tell this to her mom, the guy in question came in front of them, shocking her best friend and accidentally killing her. She could not even save her friend. In front of her own eyes, her friend died. She wanted to scream, cry but nothing came out. She was just numb, speechless." Tears were flowing by now from both their eyes. Naira, because it all passed through her eyes as if happened yesterday and Karik because he finally started to realize what his girl had been through. Yes, HIS girl. After hearing all this, he was so sure, her rejection had a lot to do with these wounds of her past and he wanted to help her heal them.
"Kartik. Pata hain, why I told you all this?" he moved his head gesturing a no'.
"I told this story because I want you to know that if you meet her, please know that she feels love is doomed for her. She does not have that written in her stars, and she does not want you to have that fate either. So please never let yourself down or misunderstand her if you ever have a talk with her." Kartik smiled at her, to reassure her that he understood. He understood what she was trying to say. After hearing all that, he was double sure of his love for her and eventually she would too start believing in love. If not with him then with someone else (though that someone had to have a death wish 😛)
"it's very late now, we should catch some sleep." She said standing up.
"yup, good night Naira" she smiled at that and turned.
"Naira" he called her back. She stooped in her track and turned, wondering what he had to say
"Just so you know, I will never leave her side."
She smiled involuntarily. She knew what he was talking about. She knew he would never leave HER side. God, it was getting too difficult to control herself from falling for this guy. She turned back and left for her room. And he kept watching after her retreating figure for a long time.
God I love her. I wish she realises it soon too.' He prayed looking at the skies and closed his eyes feeling overwhelmed. Unknown to him, at the exact moment, a shooting star passed, granting all his wishes!
P.S. please ignore any spelling/grammar mistakes. Please do leave comments to let me know what are your thoughts.
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