Nothing's Real Here ~ It's All An Illusion | A #ShaKhi fanfiction

Part 15 - Let Me Down Slowly

O poor heart!
Why did it have to be broken at all?
Why did it have to belong to someone who could break it in an instant?

Anokhi wanted to console her heart but she didn't have any consolation to offer it. She knew that she just had to accept the fact that she was heartbroken.

Aditya understood her situation. He deliberately rescheduled some of her interviews to cut her some slack. The girl was strong and she would recover, like she always did. All she needed was TIME though. And Aditya had all the time in the world for his future wife to accept him.

While he watched Anokhi lost in her thoughts, gazing out the window of his car, he recalled a not-so-pleasant day some 10 months back when her first movie that SS managed to pull off despite the roadblocks, failed to hit the theatres.

10 months back

"Yaar, c'mon, see the good side of things. People are appreciating the work. You are being lauded for this amazing project. You have managed to achieve something despite your family's ploy against you..."

Aditya tried to make Shaurya, who was devastated, feel better. But he was nowhere near it.

"Aditya....Aditya... Kya milega in sab appreciation se?" Shaurya banged his fists on the sides of his head like a maniac, "Don't you get it yet? I am RUINED!!! Ghar bech di, farmhouse rent pe dedi, I am nowhere man! In just a few months, I am almost penniless!! Do you even understand what that meabs for me? Aditya this sense of poverty is horrible, to say the least!!"

"Arey yar, ye jo tu abhi feel kar raha hai na Shaurya, 70% of people in our country feel this every day. Just start afresh na? If you want, I can......."

"NO!" Shaurya raised his hand up in resistance, "I don't need favours from my friends. I need your support, your love, not favours, please."

"Accha accha thik hai", Aditya assured him, "Tu pehle shant ho jaa aur kal ke event ke bare mein soch. Prateek ko phone karke press conference bula. Make it the best OTT release of the year. Trust me, it will be huge...."

"You think so?" Shaurya calmed a bit.

"Of course!" Aditya grinned, "After all, I am in it...."

Shaurya smiled back, "And Anokhi too. My choice turned out to be pretty exceptional."

Aditya cleared his throat, "Ahem... What kind of choice?"

Shaurya leaned back on the couch, smirking, "Woh tum sochte raho....tumhe suit bhi karta hai...."

Just then Anokhi entered with three mugs of black coffee but Aditya got up, "No yaar, I have to leave. Big date before the big event tomm." He winked at Shaurya.

Anokhi was puzzled, "Date? Tumhara har din date hota hai Aditya?"

"To, pehle to hum double dates mein bhi jaate the. Yaad hai Shaurya beta? Pub mein, every Friday night? Hum shikar pe jate the?"

He raised his hand towards Shaurya for a hi-five but found him staring at Anokhi whose face was pale.

"Uh oh, main khisakta hu." Aditya slyly slipped away, while Anokhi came and sat down on the chair in frint of Shaurya, looking out the window.

"Yeh Aditya bhi na.... Kitna bakwas karta rehta hai....."

"Hmm" was Anokhi's short and curt reply....

Shaurya sipped his coffee, "Tensed ho?"

"Nahi... To..."

"To shakal kyu bana rakhi hai aisi..."

"Kuch soch rahi hu..."

Keeping the mug on the rable, he leaned forward, "Aab bataogi bhi?"

Anokhi sighed, "Wahi soch rahi hu. Batau bhi ya nahi...."