Until I Found You

~Chapter 10~

Disclaimer: All the characters written below are imaginary. This is a work of pure fiction. There is no resemblance to any incidents or situations. A few instances have been taken up from their real lives, as and how they have happened (for which we do have documented proof). Happy Reading!

A/N - Sorry for the delay. My wattpad app was not working. This has not been proof-read, please ignore the grammatical errors. Hope you like this update. It's a short one. The next one will be up super soon.

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Your brain stops working at the exact moment when you need it to work the most. Karan felt the same while driving endlessly through the city. He could not think of a single place where she might have gone, especially at this time of the night. Karan thought of calling her non-industry friends but discarded the idea, as he knew she would never share her relationship problems with anyone else. Karan smiled a little knowing how secure she was, and soon, he could feel tears rolling down his cheeks. It was not the same anymore. He could feel the distance from her side, and not just today, since the day they'd been back from Goa. Although he knew none of this was his fault, he still felt guilty. Primarily because of what happened today. He was not proud of himself and wished to go back in time to change what he did.

Karan was exhausted after shooting for 12 hours at a stretch. With his proposal plan going to waste and the argument with Tejasswi, he was mentally & emotionally tired as well. Even after traveling upstairs in a lift, it took him a lot of effort to reach the main door of his house. He unlocked the door and saw purple neon light coming from the living area. He closed the door and quickly went to check what was happening. Karan could not believe his eyes. His living room was decorated with balloons, candles, fairy lights, pictures from Bigg Boss & other moments. The 'Sunny & Laddoo' neon light was shining bright on the wall with multiple different photo frames with their photographs. On the other wall, he could see a video montage - "Phases of TejRan Journey '', displaying from the projector hanging from the ceiling. She knew it was his favorite fan edit of their Bigg Boss Journey. It was her favorite as well. Whoever made it actually put in a lot of love. All their special moments of love, laughter and even fights were added to it. Karan had no idea all this was planned by her. She wanted to relive their moments, but he destroyed it all. He shouted at her and even held her wrist a little too tight. That must've hurt her. They were supposed to support each other in the highs and lows. They were supposed to understand each other. Karan thought he was being selfish. He did not think about what she might be going through. He ran his fingers through his hair in desperation and sat down. He saw a bottle of wine and his favorite snack on the coffee table. Tejasswi had thought of everything. Every single corner of his house was decorated. He picked up his phone to call her.

The ringing phone broke his thoughts, and he stopped the car on the side to see who it was. Karan picked up the call. It was Tejasswi's mother on the other side. She wanted to know if he had any updates about her whereabouts. Karan had no answer. He was driving for an hour now and still couldn't figure out where she might have gone when suddenly it struck him.

He quickly ignited the engine and drove as fast as he could. Upon reaching the location, he parked the car on the side of the road and was about to run to find her when he was stopped by a Policeman.

"Sir, aap kaha jaa rahe hai itni raat ko?"

"Sir, voh actually meri girlfriend hai yaha, bas usse lene aaya hoon."

"Aapko pata hai na, chahe celebrity ho ya aam aadmi, itni raat ko yaha aana allowed nahi hai? Aapki jaan ko khatra ho sakta hai. Kaun responsible hoga fir?"

"Sir, main samajh raha hoon aapki baat, par abhi mera jaana bahot zaroori hai. Aap please samjhiye na meri baat ko."

It took him 5 minutes to explain the situation, and finally, he was allowed to go and look for her. Karan started running towards their spot and was about to shout her name when he saw a silhouette on their rock. He went a bit closer, only to find Tejasswi sitting there. His Tejasswi, his Laddoo, the love of his life. He could not control his emotions, but before reaching out to her, he quickly dropped a text to her parents. Without making any noise, he went and sat beside her and said, "I am sorry, Laddoo. Aaj jo bhi maine kaha aur kiya, uske liye. Mujhe pata hai maine line cross kardi. I am really sorry. Please forgive me."

Tejasswi is a water baby. The only thing which could actually calm her down was water, but no swimming pool was open at this time of the night, so she took an auto rickshaw and went to Marine Drive. The place was also significant as it had seen many of their special dinner dates culminating into sunrise-watching dates. She thought if not inside the water, being near it might help her too. Her mind was all blank. She wasn't able to process anything from today, and to be honest; she did not even want to. All she wanted right now was to hug and be with him, but guess what, she spoiled it all. They could have gone back to his place and spent one of the last few memorable nights together, but she didn't know what got into her when she snapped at him for that question, which was not even asked by him. She did not want to think anymore. She wished she could call him, but she knew he must be hurt. She didn't want to be selfish again. An hour passed, and she was scrolling through their pictures in her phone's gallery, listening to the waves crashing at the shore, when suddenly, she felt a presence behind her. It took her only a second to figure out that it was no one else but him. Tejasswi was surprised but dared not to look at him.

"I am sorry, Laddoo. Aaj jo bhi maine kaha aur kiya, uske liye. Mujhe pata hai maine line cross kardi. I am really sorry. Please forgive me.", said Karan, and she couldn't control her tears. She was supposed to say sorry. She was the one going away. She was the one hurting him. She was pushing him away, but here he was, asking for her forgiveness, for a mistake which was not even his to begin with. She couldn't face him. And this annoyed Karan a little. He wrapped his left arm around her shoulders and felt her leaning into him. His body relaxed a little upon her touch but this was not it. He wanted to look at her face. He wanted her to talk to him, to forgive him. But she did not utter a word.

With his right hand he made her look at him and saw her moist eyes. Karan couldn't control himself and kissed her on the forehead, eyes, nose and cheeks. With all the crying, her face looked like a big laddoo and at that moment, he wanted to wrap her up and take her home.

"I am sorry Sunny. I should have not shouted at you. It was not your fault. I am just a bit cranky.", yes, she lied. Not for the sorry, but the cranky part. She was afraid of losing him, so much so that she was ready to leave him on her own. But not right now. He was her home, and she wanted to stay in this position all night long.

"Kya hua Teju? Tu kyun sorry bol rahi hai? Mujhe shout nahi karna chahiye tha tujhpe. Ek minute haath dikha, maine itni zor se pakda, tujhe lagi toh nahi. Chal ek baar doctor ko dikha dete hai. I am really sorry Laddoo.", replied Karan.

"Nahi Sunny. Galti meri hi hai. Maine overreact kar dia. Nahi doctor ko kyun dikhana. Mera haath theek hai bilkul.", said Tejasswi.

He hugged her tight, and they stayed in that position until the Sun rose from the horizon. This was their place. This was their moment. And both of them wanted time to stop. Once they saw more people coming to sit there and spend their morning, both of them got up and went to his car. Karan quickly drove them to their favorite breakfast place nearby before dropping her off at her place.

"Par Sunny, mujhe tumhare saath ghar jaana hai.Yaha kyun laaye ho?", asked Tejasswi.

"Sweetie, Uncle Aunty pareshan ho rahe thhe tere liye. Thoda time unke saath bhi spend kar le. Main lunch time tak aaunga fir tujhe lene, theek hai?", asked Karan in return.

"Theek hai Sunny. Aaraam se jaana. I'll see you in a few hours.", replied Tejasswi, gave him a soft kiss on the cheek, and went inside her house.

Karan drove away when he saw her hugging Aunty, but instead of going to his place, he went straight to the Balaji office. He wanted to make some arrangements before he could properly execute his second plan.