I'll Love You Longer Than Forever

Chapter Thirty Five

"What?" Armaan whispered. "Engagement?"

Muskaan nodded wordlessly.

"Kab?"

"Kuch mahino pehle. Actually, main isliye hi Mumbai waapas aayi hu. Mera fianc Mumbai mein rehta hai. Toh shaadi ke baad main bhi..." She trailed off.

"Kaun... Kaun hai tera fianc?"

"RK," Muskaan whispered.

"RK?" Armaan asked.

"Haan, actor hai."

"RK, as in superstar actor RK?" Riddhima asked.

Muskaan nodded.

"Lekin kab? Kahaan? Kaise?"

"Guys, main tum sabko sab kuch explain karungi, lekin abhi nahi, abhi mujhe duty pe jaana hai."

"Phir kab?"

"Aaj raat ko. Main RK ko bhi apne saath le aaungi. Hum dono milke tumhe sab kuch explain kar dungi. Tere ghar, theek hai, Hero?"

Armaan nodded.

Muskaan turned to the door and said, "Tum teeno bhi aa jaana. Especially tu, Rahul."

Atul opened the door and the 3 of them filed in. There was no mistaking the heartbroken expression on Rahul's face. Atul and Anjali, on the other hand, were just plain shocked, like Armaan and Riddhima.

"I'm sorry, Rahul," Muskaan whispered before she left the room.

Rahul slid on the floor on his knees right there in the middle of the room. His vision blurred as the tears he had been trying so hard to keep at bay escaped his eyes.

"Rahul," he heard someone whisper, probably Riddhima. And then he was being hugged. From all sides. There wasn't a part of his body that wasn't in contact with someone else's.

The 5 friends sat there, on the floor of a patient's room, a tangled mass of limbs.

Eventually, their pages started beeping, reminding them that there were people whose lives depended on them. Feling the full extent of their heartbreak would have to wait.

The rest of the day passed in a blur for Rahul. He tried to concentrate on work and forget about whatever Muskaan had confessed to Armaan and Riddhima, but to no avail.

The words kept ringing in his ears. Over and over again.

Meri engagement ho chuki hai.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get rid of them. They were always there, in the back of his mind, irrespective of what he was doing.

He had actively been avoiding Muskaan all day long, not that she'd tried hard to talk to him. She had sought him out twice during the whole day, probably wanting to give him some kind of explanation before talking to everybody else, and both times he had made an excuse and scurried away.

However, he did want to know why she had done this. Was she already engaged when he had flown to Punjab to see her? Was that why she never even answered the door for him? Was she engaged when he had sent her countless emails and messages explaining, apologizing and declaring his love for her?