TANGLED SOULS

Pain of love -2

The room light dimmed indicating the sunset and she switched on the bedside lamp without looking up from her diary, too engrossed in it. She almost reached to the end, she turned the page she was reading wiping the corner of her eyes for the umpteenth time of the day. Her eyes were puffy and nose red because of crying. She didn't sob her heart out like she first did earlier, instead she calmed down as she flipped though the pages and took everything in, her heart breaking over and over again for her Abhi.

' August 26th, 2022,

Today, I finally got back to Udaipur after six months. I didn't wanted to but Maa begged me to come back home-Huh. It's also Nishita's birthday. I couldn't say no to the birthday girl, can I?

I did good actually, I was in a very happy mood. I showered my baby sister with gifts. I laid in Maa's lap and it really felt nice. I felt a peace despite the place I was in.

However, when it was night time and I had to head for bed, my legs started trembling on their own. I was scared. Scared to go up there and open my room door. Scared that the armor I built very carefully to protect myself, will come crushing down. I wasn't strong enough to rebuild my armor. I knew that I was gone for good if it ever crumbled. And so I avoided entering my room, deciding instead to go and meet my favorite person. Shivansh Birla.

He was barely six months but he was my only bundle of happiness. He had so much power over me in such a short period of time, he could calm any storm in me with one single smile. He, in one way remembered me of my Ak—

But my fate decided to play with me again, using Shefali Bhabi as a mean. She asked me to come to Jaipur with her, to do her boss' surgery. I would've refused it if it was anyone else but I couldn't refuse something for my family, no matter how much it hurt me to step back in the very city that held a very special place in my heart, in my life.

I agreed or more like, Shivu chose for me. The positive part was I could get away from my room and house for sometime, Maa won't force me to come back home as I'll be with Parth Bhai and Shefali Bhabi, Taiji won't taunt me for her deceased daughter and Akshara's disappearance.

So, I decided it. My next destination. Jaipur. The city were we became one.'

Akshara's eyes widened at the new found information. She was right all along. Her heart knew it all along! She had felt her Abhi in Jaipur, from the very moment she stepped out of the flight. Of course he was there, because why would her heart beat like that if it wasn't for him? He was the only one who made her heart beat erratically with his mere presence near her.

In the next page, Abhi has written about how they almost lost Shivu in a temple in Jaipur and how he was terrified to lose another person of his life. She cried and smiled a little when he said that he felt her presence there. If she felt him, he would've felt her too. He's her soulmate after all.

She flipped to the next page and the first line made her freeze in shock.

' 28th August 2022,

I heard her voice. Her voice. After one year. 365 days. 8760 hours. I heard Akshara's voice. It was unclear, noisy when Shefali Bhabi called me from Jaipur. But I could recognize her voice even while exhaling my last breath. It was her. Her voice. Her song. The same voice that drowned me to her. The same voice that brought her in my life. Akshu's voice.

Earlier that day, Bade Papa questioned me about running away when his daughter was missing. He asked me how could I live without knowing about her whereabouts. It's true that I didn't know about his daughter's whereabouts. It's true that I didn't have an idea of where she was. But if my heart continued to beat till now, that meant that she was alive somewhere, safe and sound. Because if she wasn't, I would've died long ago. And see, I was right in my belief, wasn't I?

I found her. I found her. She was in Jaipur. In the city where she officially became mine. And it was time for me to see her. Face her with my eyes. I knew it from the beginning. I knew that the instant I come face to face with her, the walls I created around my heart will melt. That my cold facade armor was no use against her. I've always been powerless in front of her anyway.

As I left my house to Jaipur in my bike, with the raging fire boiling in me, I knew very well that she'll extinguish it, the moment I laid my eyes on her.'

She wanted to scream and cry at the same time. Fate. Their fate was so cruel to them. He was there all the time. He came back for her alone, in bike. He went through the city of Jaipur for her, in hopes to get a glimpse of her. He stayed in the same hotel as her, met Khera and his sister. Her Abhi was a feet away from her when she was hurt, she yearned for him so much that night. She wanted him with her so badly when she hurt her hand and he was by her side but she didn't know about it. Or more like Khera prevented them from meeting each other. But still, her Abhi chased her trace. He chased her down, her stubborn, adamant Docman. Her Abhi.

If only, if only they'd met in Jaipur, all this suffering would've ended long ago. She recalled her harsh words to him, "Me. Myself. My pain." She called him selfish. It's true that she was angry and hurt but that wasn't a reason to hurt him more than he already was when she's the one at fault to begin with. Her intentions were right but she could've reached out for him once in one year. Only one call, one text and he would've appeared at her doorstep. But she didn't. She honestly doesn't know why she didn't call him. Why? Fear? Worry? Denial of a potential rejection? She doesn't know.

As she read his pain on those pages of diary that saw him suffering and shed tears, she realized how much of a stupid and a coward she was for not reaching Abhi sooner. Was she too engrossed in her own pain that she failed to notice and understand his pain? She expected him to understand her pain and when he didn't, she exploded but didn't she do the same for him? Didn't she fail to understand his pain too?

Amidst everything, she'd the light of truth. She knew she'll go back to her Abhi one day. But her Abhi? He didn't even have that, did he? He didn't know that he'll see his Akshu again, he didn't know that everything will be fine once again, he knew nothing. He was kept in dark for one long year, left alone in the torture that she inflicted on him to question his love, his worth, his trust, his very existence. He was lost in a world of darkness where his insecurities and traumas reigned. And she failed to realize that. She failed to realize that she was his home, his world, his everything, just as he was hers. She failed her love so much. She failed her Abhi when she promised him forever, she promised to cherish him, to fight by his side for their love, for their beautiful life but she broke all those promises. She had already realized her mistakes but she was realizing the toll that took on Abhi, the extent of the damage she created in him only now. And she wanted to die for giving him such an unbearable pain. She never thought she could hurt Abhi—let alone someone like this. But she did. After all, we always underestimate the power of love until we realize the worth of it, don't we?

Nothing else can break us more than love but at the same time, nothing else can heal us more than love.

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AN :There's a surprise in the next part guys. I'll post it soon if I get at least 30 votes for this one.

So please do vote and comment.