Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya?

The Lie

'The truth is messy. It's raw and uncomfortable. You can't blame people for preferring lies.' ~ Holly Black

It was just another fling, a girl to have fun with for a couple of weeks between schedules. He'd break it off with the same excuse he'd used every time: my life's just too busy for anything serious right now, you deserve better. At least, the had been the plan.

He hadn't expected to develop feelings for her, didn't think he'd want more than just a couple of weeks with this girl. After all, he's Varun Dhawan, flirt extraordinaire, the heartbreaker of the film industry and completely commitment-phobic. He doesn't fall in love, not anymore.

But then she'd come into his life, or rather, back into it. Natasha Dalal, a girl he'd been friends with in school. They'd briefly dated back when they were teens but then school ended and he went off to Nottingham for uni. He came back and went into films while she became a fashion designer; their paths rarely crossed and he soon forgot about the high school romance, busy making a name for himself, both as an actor and a player. Well, in the beginning, he'd had no plans of being labelled as a womaniser but we'll get to that later.

For now, we'll focus on the girl who changed his stance on love.

They'd met after almost ten years at a party. He's there because he had a break from filming and he was bored so when Ankit told him about some school reunion party, he figured he may as well go. She's there because her best friend organised the thing so it was obligatory.

She's never really been one for parties so she sat at the far end of the bar, waiting for an opportunity to tell her friend she doesn't feel good and is leaving. He, on the other hand, is thoroughly enjoying himself, stood at the bar only a few feet from her, nursing a vodka-tonic and watching people get drunk and make fools of themselves. Given that most of the parties he attends nowadays are industry events, he hardly gets to see so many completely wasted people all in one place; his colleagues are not the type of people to get smashed in front of one another – with the exception of one of his favourite co-stars, but that was really only around him.

After a while though, he begins to tire of watching the drunken escapades of his school mates, finding himself bored without conversation. He looks around in hopes of finding someone to talk to, a smile forming on his face as he spots her, recognising her despite the years that had passed since their last meeting. They'd struck up a conversation when he approached her and before long he had convinced her to accompany him back to his apartment.

For the two weeks after that, they went on dates and got to know each other again, becoming rather intimately acquainted.

It was nothing new to him and he planned to ditch her like he had the others, only, when it came time for him to get back to his set-life – time for him to give her the same old excuse – he found that he couldn't. To his shock, he discovered that he actually liked this girl and couldn't just end it with her. So, instead, he took inspiration from one of his dad's films and made up the tale of a failing marriage, subconsciously basing his "cheating wife" off of one of his closest friends and the female lead for his next film: Alia Bhatt.

The only flaw in the plan was that he forgot how the film ends but, again, we'll get to that later. For now, let's start at the beginning.

'Nats, I haven't been entirely honest with you.' the actor tells the girl seated across from him.

'What'd'you mean?' she questions, confused.

'Well, the truth is, I'm married.' he states, unable to meet her gaze.

'You're married?' she repeats, disbelief colouring her voice.

'Yes, but we're separated.' he's quick to say, watching for her reaction. She stays silent but gestures for him to continue so he does, making it up on the spot. 'See, we're both actors, met on the sets of our very first film and hit it off. Sure, we bickered a lot but it's kind of why we fell in love.' As he speaks, he knows he's going to regret what he's saying but it is the first thing to come to mind. 'We got married after less than two years of dating. It was a small ceremony, hardly anyone knows about it even now, a court wedding on one of the rare days we were both off.' He continues building the lie, mentally congratulating himself for thinking up a way to avoid the questions of why it had never been news. 'A lot of people had told us we were being stupid when we spoke about settling down so this was our way to avoid anyone trying to stop us. We loved each other and wanted to get married, they were the stupid ones for trying to stop us.' he sighs, pretending to be regretful. 'We were young and in love, of course we didn't listen. But we should have.' Another sigh, a remorseful shake of his head. 'She was just barely twenty and I was turning twenty-six; we were too young to understand.' He swallowed thickly, turning on the waterworks a bit. 'For about a year, things were good but then our schedules got too full and we hardly saw each other. When we did, it was rushed or at industry events where we had to keep it secret.' He closes his eyes, pretending to be pained. Really, he's sending out a silent prayer that Alia never finds out about this because she'll kill him for what he's about to say. 'I can't blame her really. We all have needs and he was there when I couldn't be. And I guess she's happy with him, or was,' he corrects, remembering that Alia isn't seeing anyone at the moment, 'but it still hurts.'