Twinj: My Lifeline

Chapter 6

Hello everyone! A big thank you to all those of you who took out some time to leave comments and votes on the previous chapter! I sincerely hope I'm not boring you all with this story.

"Twinkle!!! I was going to wear that today... This is not even fair!!" Chinki protested, chasing Twinkle, who had just snatched a brooch from Chinki's accessories, and run away laughing, when Leela walked into the room. "Stop it! Enough!" She screamed, giving a 'you will never change' look to the girls, while the other girls in the room, mostly Twinkle's friends, burst out laughing. As Twinkle and Chinki came to a halt finally, Leela pulled Twinkle towards herself, smiling lovingly at her. "My goodness!!! You are looking so beautiful! My little girl has grown up so quickly..." She spoke in almost a daze as she admired Twinkle, who was looking like an angel in her golden Lehenga, making everyone in the room admire them. Leela smiled at the kind of response their moment was getting, and then exclaimed, "All this led me to forget what I had come for! The Sarnas will be here any moment now, and I want all of you downstairs quickly!" She dropped a peck on Twinkle's forehead and rushed down to look out for the remaining work.

Twinkle and Chinki were walking down the stairs with the other girls, chatting excitedly, when they noticed an unexpected visitor at the door. "Yuvi!" Twinkle and Chinki uttered in unison, more shocked than surprised. The memories of Yuvi's proposal came rushing back to Twinkle's mind. Chinki knew this confrontation was bound to happen someday, but she also knew, too well in fact, that this was definitely not the right time. Things would get awkward as soon as Twinkle and Yuvi would come face to face, and Twinkle's mood would be ruined on her very special day. "Yuvi!! It's so nice to see you! Come in!" Leela spoke warmly, walking over to welcome him, while he smiled at her. "It had been so long since I saw you last, almost like when you all were little kids, and today, Twinkle is getting engaged..." Leela's voice was heavily laden with emotions, and a tear dropped down Yuvi's eye, which he wiped away quickly. "Time, people and relations change in no time, aunty!" He spoke, and looked up at Twinkle, who was still watching him, dazed. "Twinkle! I know you want to clear all your issues with Yuvi, but this is definitely not the right time! Let me handle this for now. Go join aunty." Chinki nudged Twinkle, pointing towards Leela, who had walked towards the door to welcome the Sarnas.

On the other hand, Kunj had dressed up according to Usha's instructions, not bothering much. He watched the Taneja mansion decorated beautifully as they walked towards the door. He sighed deeply, dreading that destiny had been playing weird games with him, and he had no say in all that was happening. Usha and Leela greeted each other, and then they greeted and complimented Twinkle and Kunj respectively. As they all walked inside, Twinkle heard Kunj asking Usha, "Ma! Which one is Twinkle?" making her gasp in horror. The prince of her dreams, her love, didn't even care to find out whom he was going to get married to before he agreed for the wedding. She felt her world come crashing down. Chinki's words of caution returned to her mind. Suddenly, she was no longer excited or happy with the happenings. She stood right there, while the others proceeded further, towards the stage. "Twinkle, is everything alright?" Usha's voice brought her back to the reality. But, even before she could find it in herself to respond, Usha had dragged her along to the stage, where Kunj stood with an undecipherable expression on his face.

Sooner than Twinkle had expected, the rings were exchanged, and they were now officially engaged. She had been staring at Kunj's face all along, and the 'I don't care' attitude he was carrying didn't go unnoticed. Tears flooded her eyes at the thought that he didn't once look at her, let alone smile or speak to her. Little did she know that he could not bring himself to think of anything other than Alisha's health. She was still at the hospital, and hadn't regained consciousness, although the doctors were confident that she was responding well to the treatment. "Kunj!" Usha exclaimed, trying to keep her voice as low as possible. "Put on a smile now, at least for my sake!" She pleaded, knowing that the slightest mistake could ruin all that she had been working on so far. Finally, she used her ultimate weapon, and immediately, Kunj looked up at Twinkle, and forced a smile on his face, surprising Twinkle. She hesitantly smiled back at him.

"May I speak to you for a few minutes?" He asked Twinkle, while everyone around them hooted assuming they were yet another in love couple, but Usha tensed up, wondering where this was leading. On Leela's insistence, Twinkle led Kunj to her room upstairs, so that they could finish their conversation in peace. "Hi." Kunj began awkwardly, not sure of why he had wanted to talk to her. "Hi." Twinkle replied even more awkwardly, and then deadly silence filled the room."I know we haven't met each other before" Kunj uttered in a hurry, but stopped as he noticed Twinkle's eyes widen. "Oh I mean..." He tried to cover up, but failed. Twinkle couldn't believe that he didn't recall even seeing her at college, not even once. "It's alright!" She spoke and let out a humorless laugh. "You are a celebrity now. It isn't like you will remember all those you see." She added, and continued, "Back in college, things were different." "Right! Ma had told me that you were my junior in college, but we never got to know each other. That's what I meant." He said, while she giggled. "Of course!" She said. She knew him too well, and had made out that he really didn't remember or know anything about her, but was happy he was making the effort."About this wedding..." Kunj began again, but in vain, for the room went absolutely silent again.
"I know there's a lot of knowing each other we need to do, but it's alright. I agree things are happening way too fast, but I'm sure we'll manage!" she spoke as cheerfully as she could."I'm a huge fan of yours by the way! I love your music!!" she spoke, just as Kunj smiled and was about to go out. "Thank you." Just that. He was walking out again, when she called out, "Kunj?"He stopped dead in his tracks. He had felt an unknown sensation right then, but before he could comprehend it, she spoke, "Don't look back. I just want you to know, that I've realised that you probably aren't sure about this wedding, and that this was forced upon you. I know we can't jump into the courtship phase already, but we can be friends, right?" Kunj listened quietly, a million thoughts racing in his mind. He didn't turn around, while Twinkle was desperately waiting for him to reply. They just stood there, both in their own dilemmas.

That's it for now guys. What do you think? Will Kunj agree to become Twinkle's friend?See you all soon