Hope Believe Magic

It continues

Shivu continued with her story, "We were all very happy about this movie opportunity. He had waited a long time for this break. I was also very happy to hear that his relationship with his parents were back to normal and they were talking to each other almost everyday. He even took a trip back home in between and spoke to them about me. Things were going great even until his first schedule was done. During the second schedule some changes were done to the story and he had to spend more time with the director and his female lead. AK and I still spoke to each other everyday but it still was not like before. I was too young and my idea of love was very influenced by movies. I wanted him to spend more time with me and he was trying to juggle everything. We started arguing more because of this but we still managed to move past this. I kept telling myself that things will be back to normal after his shoot but I did not know then that this was the new normal."

Shivu smiled at Rachna. Then she walked up to the window to check if the driver was ready. The maid had just left so Shivu quickly packed dinner for her and Rachna. She left some on the dining table for Ananya and gestured to Rachna to come along. She locked the door and they settled in the back seat of the car. The driver knew where to go. Rachna said, "Continue pannunga aunty. Aparam Ennachu?" Shivu smiled and said, "I grew up as a very confident young girl but like any girl, I had my insecurities. Things that had never bothered me in the past, started becoming an issue. Worst of all, I started to feel insecure about our relationship. Meanwhile AK was very excited about his movie release. His parents came for the launch where I met them for the first time. They were very sweet to me. In fact everyone was nice to me but I was a little uncomfortable but I had sung in his movie so I was a part of the crew plus I had another event to go to so, I left but I was not happy to see him laughing and talking to his co-star. So there was a lot of emotions bottled up within me. I did not want to fight with him on his big day but unfortunately his speech, which he hadn't prepared and thought he could go with the flow, backfired. The following morning I woke up and was shocked at all the comments on SM and hate against him plus there were rumours about him and his co-star. The other issue was that until then AK was mine. I was the only girl admiring him but now there were girls all over the internet drooling over him, objectifying him and his co-star was using that for her benefit. I was overwhelmed with all this and did not know how to handle it. I made the wrong decision of speaking to a friend of mine who told me that I was too young to be in a relationship and I should just break up with him."

Rachna was shocked to hear this but she was also able to identify with Shivu's situation. By then they reached the hospital. Shivu asked the driver to wait and that she was going to send Ananya over. The two ladies went up to the 5th floor room and were pleasantly surprised to see the nurse helping AK to walk up to the restroom. Ananya was thrilled to see her mom, "Amma paaru, this is the second time he is walking. He has also been awake. Ippo thaan hospital la soup kuduthanga Appa ku. He was able to have it. Naalikki light a semi solid food start pannalaam nu rounds ku vandha Doctor sonaar. By the way, Rachna ennoda Annan ippo thaan vandhu yaarayo room la thedinaan. Avan muzhikkara muzhiya paatha Amma va thedara maadiri therila" she giggled. Rachna immediately blushed.

Shivu tapped Anu's shoulder and said, "Summa iru di. Seri nee kelambu, Selvam anna unakku keezha wait panaraar. Dining table la hot case la chappathi and unnoda fabourite channa masala vachirukken. Kulichu saaptu thooongu. Chumma TV paathundu ukkaradhe ok?" Ananya's jet lag was kicking in and she yawned loudly, "Seri maa." Then she went up to her father to give him a quick hug before waving a good bye to all of them. Shivu sat next to AK holding his hands, "Rachna kitta namma love story thaan solikittu irukken" she laughed. He smiled and said, "Oh appidiya? Edhu varaikkum soleerke. Enna paada paduthinadhu sonniya?" he laughed. Shivu glared saying, "Ellam unga fan girls aala vandha prachanai. Ippovum adhungaloda maar adichukittu thaan irukken." He pinched her cheek and said, "But ennoda 💯 love unakku mattum thaan. My eyes were only for you and unakku evvalo Vayasaanalum adhu appidi thaan irukkum." Shivu pushed his hands away from her cheek saying, "Enakku vayasaana va? Sir ku appidiye illamai oonjal aadudhu paarunga?" That made him crack up. He then looked up at Rachna and said, "She has not changed one bit. Right from the time I met her, she knew how to put me in place" he laughed. Then he looked lovingly at Shivu and said, "but I cannot even imagine a moment without her. Sanda pottu ava enkitta Pesama irundha kooda naan thaanga maaten so I cannot even imagine what she must have gone through when I collapsed." Shivu quickly hugged him and they were quiet for a few moments. Then Shivu said, "Neenga maathra saptirukeenga. Romba pesaama rest eduthukonga. I am just glad to see you getting better."

Rachna couldn't help falling in love with these two people. It was so rare to find true love and here she was witnessing that. She just felt gratitude at that moment.

Brinda Subramanian