IshRa~Shades Of Love

16~The Way They Both Wanted

After meeting Vasu, Raman and Ishita went to meet Ashok. They got permission from inspector and was led by the constable towards his cell, they waited as his cell was unlocked and they were allowed to go in. The constable moved back to let them in and they walked in hand in hand. "Ashok, my ex best friend plus present enemy, come on don't sit in a corner as if you are the victim. Don't act all innocent as if you have been framed for all of it, you did it and that's why you are here, understood," Ishita said narrowing her eyes at him.

Raman smiled seeing his strong tigress wife back into form and rubbed his thumb on the back of the same palm he was holding. Ashok stood up and walked to them. "Yes I did it, I am the criminal, I am not innocent, fine?" he asked and Ishita slapped him hard. "This is the answer to all of what you said earlier about me. I didn't use Raman for my success. Yes our marriage was a compromise but now our marriage is composed of love. I was in contact with you before marriage but never after marriage, and now I even remember what happened that day. Yes, the last time we met you here, I was having memory loss, but not anymore," Ishita said.

Flashback:

Ishita arrived at Ashok's place for her birthday, the lights were off and he switched them on. "Surprise!" he said and flowers rained over her. She was left amazed. "Happy birthday Ishita," he said and she thanked him. They cut the cake and fed it to each other. She got surprised as he went on his knee and presented a bouquet of roses before her. "Ishita, I am deeply in love with you. I really love you, I feel so comfortable around you. I feel as if we both are made for each other. The way we bond and the way we understand each other, its all the signs of love, I am madly in love with you, will you marry me Ishita?" he asked. 

She hesitated and sighed. "Ashok, thanks but, I can't marry you yet I love you but just as friends do, you mistook our friendship for love. Ashok, what you think can never happen, I never saw you that way. I am sorry Ashok," she said. His smile dropped and he stood up. "Why? Do you love someone else?" he asked.

She blushed and nodded. "I love Raman," she said and then looked at his sad face and sighed, her blush had faded away. "Look, I did use to say previously that he won't even look at me, smile is miles away and marriage is also a much further thought but Ashok, now its happening, my dream is coming true, I am going to marry the love of my life, I love him a lot, I always wanted to marry him only, you knew that,"she said.

"But when you used to say all that he won't even look at you and all, I thought you dropped the idea of marrying him, I don't know when I fell for you, you know I was stupid, I should've buried my feelings for you then itself after knowing that still you would love Raman always. But Ishita, tell me one thing, you love him, does he loves you? Have you asked him? What if this marriage is just a compromise and fails later? Won't you be heartbroken? I would always love you, marry me and I will never let you be unhappy,"he said.

"Ashok, I know you are my best friend and that you care about my feelings, thank you but sorry for not loving you back. I would be heartbroken if I don't marry him, I won't let this marriage be a compromise or a failure as I would shower Raman with so much love that he will fall for me even if he doesn't loves me now, its true that I don't know about his feelings because this is an arrange marriage. I have talked to my mom and turned out that my mom and his mom had been friends since school life and so that's how the alliance happened," she said.

"You would be much more heartbroken if this marriage doesn't works even after many tries, after showering him with much love, after he doesn't falls for you ever. You should meet him up and confirm his feelings for you because rejection is better than fake promises, mostly chances are that your heart would break, it takes a lifetime to get back to yourself after a major heartbreak. Maybe he would be having nothing to lose and he won't even be affected by all of it, but when if one day you realize that you want to try no more and want a separation and when divorce would happen and you'd return to your mother, she would be extremely pained by knowing all of it, Ishita...,"he was cut in between.

"Ashok, what is the matter and where are you heading this matter to? Marriage didn't even occur till now and you reached till divorce, are you a psycho?" she asked creasing her eyebrows. "I am just saying that loving someone is nothing which I got to know just now. Getting loved by someone else is something, which you also got to know just now as you can see how much I care for your feelings. But loving someone and getting loved from the same person is everything, I hope he also loves you back. Good luck Ishita, wish you a happy life ahead, but remember I am still your best friend and you can still come to me to have a talk, my doors are always open for you. Best friends never comes in between each other's happiness, who am I to become a barrier in your life? Happy birthday once again,"he said and left dumping the flowers. She also left from there.
 
Fb end.

"You said you are no one to become a barrier in my life, yes you are not. Whatever you said turned out to be true but not divorce, but whatever I said also turned out to be true," she said and lifted their hands they were holding close to her heart and looked at Raman lovingly who smiled warmly at him and she also smiled back. "He really fell for me, our marriage worked, we didn't let it become a failure. But you and your life is a big failure, after my birthday, we never met, I never came to talk to you about my problems, I coped up with them, actually we coped up. The only problem now is you and you also are sentenced to death. If only you should've been living a normal life, you would've been happy, but see where are you standing now, in a cell counting your days," she said.

"Have fun Ashok, you tried killing her but now you yourself would be killed. Its all your fault that you didn't live a normal life, if only you would have moved on, you wouldn't have been here. But sadly there's no love in your fate and no one would remember you after death, you are just a bad dream for us, which won't be there anymore," Raman said and left with Ishita. They sat in the car and as they fastened the seatbelts, they gazed at each other lovingly. He ran his fingers in her hair. "Today's the first day to our love where I also confessed my love to you, so why not spend it together? Ice cream date, sunset, dinner and stargazing altogether? What say?" he asked and she smiled.

"Superb," she said and he smiled. "You can add more to it if you want by the way," he said. "Why not first chaat and then ice cream? Spicy as well as sweet," she suggested excitedly. "Nice idea," he said. "And movie night?" she asked. "Cool, let's do it, its just the beginning to our love, there's much more left," he said smiling at her, she smiled back shyly and they had a fist bump. He drove off and then stopped at a chaat stall, they ordered chaat and she felt it extremely spicy. He ordered coconut water from the nearby stall and gave it to her. She drank and saw him looking at her while craving for it, she got another straw for him and placed its end in the water, he too drank from it and they gazed at each other forgetting the surroundings. Then they had ice cream together. They watched sunset together and did stargazing together after having dinner. Life was finally the way they both wanted.