The Distance Between Us

Afterword

Ummmm, surprise? I know nobody saw this coming. I didn't either. I'll be honest with you guys. When I had planned this story, this was just the beginning. There were supposed to be a lot of plots to unravel after AR got together. Most of them would center around characters other than AR and would just be the two of them being the supportive friends they are, helping others through the ups and downs of life. 

Of course, there would also be difficulties that the two of them would face, as a couple, and as individuals both. Basically, this fic should have read like an itv show watches (??) but better because AR would never break up no matter what situation they found themselves in.

However, I don't need to tell you guys how sporadic updates on the fic have become in the past few years. Real life got in the way first and in the midst of that people moved on from this fic and I was left with very few readers. It makes sense. It's the circle of life. I didn't update, and so people didn't stick around. But, because there weren't a lot of people reading this, engagement on the fic dwindled which in turn made me lose motivation to write. And it became a vicious cycle to the point where this fic would not get updated for months and months on end. I think in the past couple of years, this fic has only been updated on special occasions - 20 August, 29 October, and the fic anniversary. That's it. 

So, I can understand that readers were frustrated. But I hope you guys understand that I lost motivation too. However, I'd always promised that I would never abandon this fic and I did not want to break that promise. Instead of leaving you guys waiting for updates for months and months, I decided the best course of action would be to end the fic. And this seems like a high point to end the fic on. 

The main motive of this story was always to show how Armaan & Riddhima found each other again after such a long separation. I think I did a good job bringing them back. Post this, it's up to you to imagine how they end up. In my head, they're happily married with their adoptive kids and the rest of their family. 

I know that a couple plot points have been left unresolved, majorly the whole arc with Shashank and Karan. So, let me tell you in summary what I'd planned. The middle of it was not thought out yet, but I always wanted it to end with Padma & Anjali finding out about Karan. They would both be mad at Shashank and perhaps cut ties with him. Well, Anjali definitely would because she's already distant from Shashank. Padma, I'm not sure of. But there definitely would have been a whole plot of where Shashank begs Padma to forgive him and take him back. Whether she does or not… Well, you get to decide cause I hadn't thought of that. 

And then, Anjali, Riddhima, and Karan would try to be more involved in each other's lives. Similarly, Riddhima & Shilpa would also try to have a better relationship and Anjali would also try to establish some sort of connection with Shilpa. So they would all just culminate in one big happy family.

Another major plot point that I wanted to show but didn't was Riddhima having an abortion because they realize she can't carry a pregnancy without risking her life due to the bullet injury in her spine. It would have been the angstiest sub-plot of the fic but I wanted to show AR choosing each other and making the very hard decision to abort the foetus. I know many people might not agree with this thought process, but I'm firmly pro-choice and I wanted to have such a plot mostly because itv shows always show women carrying such risky pregnancies to term with no regard to their own life when they very well could die and that just sends the wrong message. Real life isn't a tv show. There's no guarantee of survival. You're not a DKP or Balaji lead that the writer will save you even in such a case. You could easily lose your life. So, yeah. 

Of course, the other major plot was going to be how Armaan decides to stop hiding behind the persona of Reve and how his and everybody else's life is impacted by that. Because in this fic, Reve is an established global sensation, all of them would have immediately fallen under intense media scrutiny and coping with that would have been difficult. So, there was gonna be a few chapters of that.

But other than that, I think I've covered most of what I wanted to show with respect to AR & their life together. So, I feel good about ending the fic now where all of us are happy that our leads have found their way back to each other. I know that most of you would be sad with my decision to do this, but I hope you understand where I'm coming from.

If you've stuck with this fic till now, thank you so very much. Your support means everything to me. If not for you, this fic would not have reached even this phase. Maybe, I'd have abandoned it long ago. But even the 3-4 people who diligently read and commented gave me the push to finish the story, just so that you guys weren't disappointed. So, thank you!! Big shout out to Sanju, even though she did jackshit to make sure I wrote these chapters just cause I know she'll whack me if I don't thank her separately LOL.

Despite everything, this fic is close to 200k words and I'm extremely proud of that! I hope you're proud of me too, for reaching this point. With this final note, I bid adieu to my only unfinished AR fic. I feel a little hollow inside right now because these fics have been such a huge part of my life since I started posting them. They've seen me through so much and I'm forever grateful to them. 

I make no promises of any AR fic in the future, but you never know. If inspiration hits, I might start something new, but until then… It's been an absolute honour sharing my words with this fandom. You've been the best audience a girl could ask for. Thank you so very much. ❤️

Signing off for probably the very last time, 

Prags