Gehraiyaan.

Chapter 44

They say that certain actions have consequences, and someone said it right because the next morning was disastrous.

I woke up to a phone call from Kesh right before sunrise and I sprung up, thinking that she probably went into labour or something.

"Kesh?", I mumble and run my fingers through my hair, as I still struggle to wake up. I didn't sleep all night. I simply laid on my back and stared at the ceiling, running through the moment we shared in the concert. One moment it opened doors to a crowd of butterflies, and the next - I regretted it so much. How am I even going to face him? It was evident that even he felt awkward after the kiss.

"What the fuck is happening, Navya?", Kesh darts at me, straightaway, and it drags me out of my sleepiness. "Wh--wha---what?", my throat tightens, as panic slams me. "WhatsApp. Now", she demands and hangs up on me.

Even before I know what the matter is, I begin sweating buckets. Did she find out - by any chance - about what happened between us last night? But there's no way she could! Until I blurted it out to her in my sleep.

Kesh has sent me a link on WhatsApp and once I tap on it, it leads to a webpage that belongs to PinkVillaUSA - the hot spot for every little movement that happens in Bollywood, out of India. Okay, this doesn't look good. I don't even have the strength to face whatever is in store; I hope the webpage crashes, or something.

But it doesn't. Obviously, my prayers never get answered when needed.

It's an article that reads : Singer Darshan Raval captured walking hand-in-hand with an unknown girl, backstage. Sources claim that this could be an affair that's happening behind Darshan Raval's wife's back. Our sources have also claimed that his rumoured girlfriend runs a café in downtown Ohio. How true is it? Stay tuned and you'll find out.

Right in the middle of the article there's a blurred picture of the two us, backstage. Someone captured it the moment he reached out for my wrist to take me into his changing room; someone was spying on us.

"Fuck!", my voice quivers and my hands begin shaking. The air around me turns ice-cold, all of a sudden, and I cannot breathe. It takes me a moment to put everything in perspective and calm down. I feel I'd pass out any moment and I cannot believe that out of everyone - Kesh had to bump into that piece of news.

With a trembling heart and shaky hands, I call Kesh back and she answers the call on the first ring, letting loud silence crawl into the line. What do I tell her?

"How have you been hanging out with him for?", Kesh questions. "It's been a while now", I admit, burying my face on my palm and there's a moment of silence, again.

"Listen, Navya, it's your life and I'm no-one to control you or tell you what to do. I can let you do whatever the fuck you want and tell myself that I don't have to get involved in your life. But I cannot do that. And I know I might sound shitty, but everything comes out of love for you", she takes a pause. "...and you royally fucked up. To the entire world, you're that girl who has an affair with Darshan Raval, while his wife is unaware of it!", Kesh points out.

"But Kesh, they're divorced", my voice shakes. "Do people know? Does his fans know? Do the media know? No one knows, Navya, except you. And naturally, that makes you the bad person in the picture. It wouldn't have mattered if this happened between 10 people, but now you're hitting the news!", she stresses and her words do have an impact on me.

"Navya, I don't know. I might lose my mind stressing over you. There's no point in telling you anything, because eventually - you do whatever you want to. This is exactly what I feared", she utters.

"And listen, I'm not against your love for Darshan; if two people are in love, they deserve to end up together. But he's married, divorced or not - to the entire word, he's married. Think about that", she utters and hangs up on me.