Judaaiyaan

3

Among the few things Mishti had brought to her father's house, her diary must have been the most important. She kept it ever since she was fifteen and even as a young adult, she didn't drop the habit. Of course, she didn't write in it as often as she did as a teenager and she didn't confess her deepest feelings anymore. It was bad enough to report her life on paper still, she didn't want to take the risk of someone reading the feelings and emotions she probably only shared with Nandini although some of them not even her mother knew about. Normally she vented or had her moments of insight with her pen. It was a good way to train to be the writer she dreamed about.

Writing had been part of her life since she was a little girl. She didn't take it from Nandini, who used to say she wasn't good with words and for what she could say now, she didn't take it from Kunal either. Her sister seemed to be her opposite. Although they were identical twins, Pragati was practical, objective, and rational. Mishti was a dreamer who spent most of her days wondering about what her life could be like. She wasn't one of those girls who only sat around imagining it. She worked hard, she had dreams and she was sensitive and as irrational as a passionate person could be but she didn't expect things to just happen by themselves. It had been a big disappointment when she lost the spot in the internship she wanted last year but she was determined to study more and to develop her writing more to try it again. Supposing she would have a chance to resume her subject at all.

But when she took the small notebook into her hands that night she wasn't thinking about being insightful. She wanted to talk to someone about this crazy agreement she had with Kunal. But it was too risky to talk with her partner of years as she couldn't have anyone reading it. Nobody could ever know the situation she drew herself into. But not writing about Ritwik Noon was impossible. She had seen him in a couple of pictures, hanging on portraits in the house's living room but they didn't do justice to the man she met. Pragati didn't have anything that seemed slightly related to the enchanting man in her bedroom. No clothes, romantic gifts, pictures, or any sign that she was engaged to someone. There were many pictures but most of them were of her and Kunal and a few of her alone. But in the corner of her dresser, almost covered by the nearby pictures, Mishti found an old picture of Mauli, Kunal, and her sister. Pragati should probably be four or five years old and the three of them held the biggest smiles she had seen in any of the pictures. They seemed to be in a zoo and each of them was holding a vada pav content to be spending some quality time together. Mauli was beautiful and for some unknown reason, Mishti felt a good vibe coming from the woman in the picture.

She didn't know about her sister's adoptive mother but she knew that Mauli had died while Pragati was still too young and that made her feel bad for her sister. She couldn't imagine if she had lost Nandini, especially at such a tender age. Her mother was the person she loved the most in the world and that was why it hurt so much to be in that house, lying to every person that came across her. She wanted to call her mother and tell her everything but in their final argument, before Mishti moved to Mumbai, Nandini made it clear that she was in on this on her own. She made sure to let her daughter know she would never approve of such a thing and that once she realized what she did was unfair, illegal, and especially disgusting, she would be ready to welcome her back into their house and end this horrible agreement her father pleaded for. Mishti pondered about Nandini's choice of words, unfair and illegal were words that could describe her situation but disgusting seemed like such a strong word. She knew what she was doing was wrong but she was trying to comfort her father's heart. She was trying to help him through the most difficult time of his life. But once she met Ritwik her mind drifted back to her mother's words, especially the last one.

Ritwik was everything she dreamed about as a child and even as a teenager. He was handsome but he held a hint of mystery and even darkness in his stern looks. But any darkness simply disappeared when he spotted her waiting for him in his assistant room. When Mishti arrived earlier that day he was in an important meeting and she had informed Bani, his assistant, that no notice was necessary. She said she had time and would like to surprise him instead of telling him of her presence.