Renaming Destiny : Apsara To Myla

Dard-e-Mohabbat

Ashwin's POV

"I want you to confess to her and become her boyfriend", I looked back at him for a moment and remained quiet. I had no idea how to react to that. "I will not think twice before doing anything when it comes to Myla. I just want her to be happy. We would have never said this if that wasn't the case", Enzo said. I nodded and replied, "I was thinking of the same thing but I don't know how she will take all this". Enzo said, "We aren't asking you to get married tomorrow. Take it slow. Speak to her everyday, take her out, make her mind change about love. We just want her to experience all that like she has to. Oh, God! I can't believe I'm saying this".

"Saying what, Enzo?", we heard her say as she walked in. "Nothing, Myla. Enzo was telling us how he wants to take us all out for dinner tonight", Luca said like it was nothing. "Hey! That would be great we can take them to your friend's new restaurant, Enzo!", she said excitedly as she poured herself a drink. Aniket Bhaiyya and Prasidhdhi joined us and Enzo said, "Actually, Kazu was joining us for dinner tonight", I observed Apsara go on alert as her shoulders rose slightly, "I'll just ask him to join us at the restaurant itself. Anyways he likes the food there too. It'll be fine", Apsara sat beside her brother and the conversation moved to other topics. 

"Hey, guys!", Alessandro said as he walked into the room, "Andrew has been discharged from the hospital. I came back from there just now. He has posted an apology to you on his profile, Myla". I took out my phone just like the others and saw that it was true. "Maybe we won't have to say anything about this. Maybe, he put an end to all this by apologizing", Leonardo said. 

"We'll see how the people take the news until tomorrow and we'll do the required later", her father said when we shared the news with him. It was slowly getting dark and the air in London was getting a lot cooler when we were all near the pool while the elders were speaking inside. The youngest Moretti, Isabella was singing while her brother, Alessandro was playing the guitar and we were all enjoying the serenity the moment brought. When the song ended everyone cheered for her and all eyes turned to Prasidhdhi when I said she loved to sing during our school days. She glared at me but Apsara supported me. Accepting her defeat, Prasidhdhi looked at her husband who was looking at her already. She closed her eyes for a second, taking in a deep breath and then started.

"Barbaad hona, jis ki adaa ho,

Dard-e-Mohabbat Jis ki Dawa ho,

Satayega Kya Gham, Usse zindagi ka,

Mohobbat mein jo ho gaya ho kisi ka,

Hai duniya usi ki, zamana usi ka.

Mohobbat mein jo ho gaya ho kisi ka"

I observed how she had her eyes closed while singing and my brother kept looking at her with an unknown emotion. He looked like he was guilty for something. I knew that look. He sucked in a deep breath and threw his head back to look at the sky. There was absolute silence for a few seconds after she ended the song. I saw her wipe a lone tear that had fallen from her eyes. Leonardo said, "Mam, I have no idea what you just sang about. But it felt so close to my heart for some reason", everyone else chipped in and shared their thoughts. I looked at Apsara to find her already looking at me with tears in her eyes. She stood up and walked away and I decided to follow her.

We only stopped when we were near the front garden of her house. She looked back at me and said, "Mr. Ranjan Adhiraj used to listen to that song every time he got drunk", she whispered as we leaned on the fence and looked at the garden of flowers they had there. There were some people walking there but they were all too far to hear us. "I still remember. One day, I had come back from school and I heard this song from his room. His wife was at the hospital with Varun as he was burning up with fever. I had opened the door quietly and looked inside their room and I saw him sitting on his rocking chair with a glass of whiskey in his hands and a picture of a woman in another hand. I had asked my mother who it was and she told me it was nothing. I later found out after many years that he was in love with someone before her but ended things with that woman to marry someone else".

I looked at her as she explained, "Her name was Nandini. She studied with him, apparently. And when he left for Bengaluru, he had promised her to marry her someday. But he never did. My mother told me all that after I came to London". She turned quiet for a moment but then said, "I lost everything in Bengaluru, Ashwin. Everyone I called mine once, everything that belonged to me, all those dreams, everything. Today when I saw Adarsh, I felt nothing. Not even a slight pain. When his wife was clinging to his side or when they are upstairs right now, fucking. I feel nothing. Nothing but anger". 

I sucked in a deep breath and let her speak, "I am angry that he broke my heart, hurt my feelings and made me the bad guy but still enjoyed life like he always wanted to. I, on the other hand, am not able to forget that bad experience and move forward at all. I saw many handsome men, many kind and brilliant guys who were exactly my type. But I kept stopping myself from taking it any further fearing I would have to go through all that again. I don't know if I should be blaming myself for being an idiot or him for playing with my heart. But those last few days in India have left a permanent scar in my mind".

I stayed quiet until she was done talking. I caressed her hair and pulled her into my chest slowly and she broke into sobs. I held her as she let it all out. "He was right there when I was being thrown out. He looked at me and said nothing. He looked at me and did nothing", she cried. I placed my chin on her head and rubbed her shoulders. "I'm sorry for saying all that", she said and pulled away, wiping her tears. "If it means you'll talk to me, I'll listen to anything, Apsara", she looked at me and I knew she was going to lecture me about calling her that.

I cut her off even before she started, "No, other word in any language that has ever existed on this planet means the same to me like your name, Apsara. You really are my only divine gift sent by God. I had you when I had no one else. My whole life was with you until one day you just left. You can name yourself whatever you want. Myla or any other name you want. But you will always be my Apsara who held my finger in death grip the next day she was born. You might think this is madness, but when I say it, I mean it and you know that", I held her hand and leaned in.

"You are the only reason I am alive today. Your memories keep me alive, Apsara. Nothing else. These eight years, 5 months, 27 days have been nothing less than hell to me. All I wanted to do was to push everything aside and run to you", she knitted her eyebrows. "Why did you not come here like you had promised then?", she asked. I was confused. "When I was leaving, you said you would come here first thing. But you never came. Why is that then?", she asked. 

I sucked in a deep breath and pulled away to let go her hands. "I did come here, Apsara. I was in London the very next day you left India", she looked at me in disbelief. "Yes, I was here. The day you left, a war happened in India. Aniket Bhaiyya was trying to not let the news spread, you father was in the hospital. Adarsh and I had gotten into a huge fight. And I haven't spoken to him ever since", she gasped. "I took the first flight when my father denied my request for the private jet but when I came here, your then uncle and aunt asked me to go back".

She looked like she never knew any of the things I was saying. "I saw you here. Once and then left when I saw you were in safe hands. But I left only because they told me they did not want me to be a constant reminder of what happened back in India". She was quiet for a few seconds. "How did I never know this?", she whispered is disbelief. "You were asleep. I saw you sleeping in your room and stayed with you for a while and then left". 

I heard a voice from behind, "Guys! You'll need to see this!", Prasidhdhi said and walked away. I kept looking at Apsara as she wiped her tears quickly and stared walking back to the house as I followed her. The TV was on and everyone were looking at it. "Well, if this means another Moretti wedding, then I would not be surprised. Mr. Ashwin Simha is the youngest son of the very well known businessman, Mr. Avinash Simha. Earlier this morning, he was found walking into the Moretti Mansion with his whole family. While some netizens think this sudden visit is to make the wedding official, others are just in awe of this man's beauty".

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