Wildfire

"But a passionate love is never a calm love. It is storms and chaos, lightning and thunder. A wildfire burning out of control."

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"See... it does come in between."

Teja stared at him unable to decide what she wanted to do. Her heart was breaking with what she was about to suggest but there was no other way.

"Not for me."

"It does for me. It comes in my way because I would never keep you above the game the way you did." The thought alone made her eyes burn. She didn't want to believe it but it was true. From where she stood, Tejasswi could see how badly he wanted to win which was fine with her. The problem wasn't winning but how badly he wanted to make her lose and that was a problem for her. Had she gotten it all wrong? She didn't know but all her mind could process was that he put the game above her and she didn't know how to get past that.

"That's not true. I have never put the game above you but humein bola tha game bhi khelo. How is it fair that what you do is right but when I do it, it's not?" Karan wasn't hurt any less if he wasn't showing it. The fact that she thought he kept the game over their relationship was already breaking him. The only problem he had was that they were being unfair. "Mera sirf itna problem tha fairly khelte." He explained to her for the nth time.

"Okay." She took a pause, contemplating their situation. This wasn't going anywhere. Both of them were repeating the same things for the past few days but they always ended up on the same thing. "What would you have done if you were in my place? If Rakhi was playing unfairly for you. Would you have stopped her? And don't try to evade the question, please." Teja looked straight in his eye waiting for his response. At that he took a pause... somewhere he was expecting this question but not from her. Karan knew the answer but it wasn't going to be one she or anyone for that matter would like. He wanted to tell her that he would have convinced people to let him win but that meant convincing those who were playing for her. It didn't mean he did not want her to win either but he was playing a game here. Weren't they told to keep their relationship separate? He was following that. "That's not the..."

Teja was waiting for his reply but when it didn't come she didn't wait. "Karan I think what you are doing from a games perspective is amazing but it goes against everything I value in a relationship. If you were in my place of me you wouldn't have said a word yet even if it meant others were working hard. But when she was playing for me you care about fairness and unfairness. When she was blatantly being unfair and you knew there was no chance of you winning, why couldn't you just let me win instead of messing up the task? You knew meri priority hamesha tu hota no matter what I say and you knew k tere kuch bhi kehna se Rakhi ya Devo nahi manage tou kyu?" This time she wasn't asking him a question because the picture was clear in her mind. Maybe what she was thinking was wrong but this was what she thought and there wasn't any going from there. "I know you've said once or twice k bahir jaker dekhein ge. I couldn't... not at that time but you were right. If you play your game and keep it above me, it'll hurt me. I know that's selfish of me but I can't keep getting hurt so.." her voice was breaking but Teja had finally found the courage to say it. "I think we should spend the next few days focusing on the game. Bahir jaker dekhenge? This way tujhe kabhi bhi explanation nahi dena padega aur mere koi expectations nahi honge." Tears brimmed her eyes but she couldn't cry in front of him. Not now when he'd again think she was doing it for the cameras. The force of holding them back burned her eyes, tears threatening to fall but the moment she reached the peak, Rakhi entered asking for food and relieving her from the moment. Teja hurriedly got up and went to her luggage area, low-key gasping for breath. She was lucky that Rakhi was so loud... he didn't seem to hear her, giving her the moment to inhale deeply and hold back the multiple emotions she felt that moment. She couldn't break down... not now... not when she was the one making this decision. This was good for them. This was what they both needed.