Paradise ~ A Devdutt Padikkal Story

38.

"The sky looks so pretty, doesn't it?" Disha said rhetorically, capturing the canvas above her on her phone.
"You're still a sky girl?" Dev asked amused.
"Obviously! It's not something that parts ways with you, once a sky girl always a sky girl." Disha chuckled.
"Also by the way, do you remember Rohan Matthews? What is he doing currently?" Disha asked Dev.
"You still find him cute?" Dev smiled.
"Please! Ask any girl at Saint Joseph's and she would answer assertively. He was the pinterest type cute." Disha said defensively as she laughed.

"Tumhe yaad hai? The video message we had sent to Shubman Gill?" Dev recalled the time when Disha had pleaded him to ask Shubman to say 'Hey Disha!'.
"Oh my God that was so embarrassing!" She hid her face in her palms and her voice sounded muffled.
"He was such a sweetheart to actually abide by my orders. Is he dating Sara Tendulkar?" Disha added.
"I don't know maybe he is." Dev answered.
"But what I clearly remember is you over excitedly saying 'Hi Shubman, I've a huge crush on you, you're the best!'. How dramatic!" Dev teased Disha.
"I know right and you sounded so fed up when you said 'Bhai ek baar Hey Disha bol de varna sar kha jayegi'." She laughed wholeheartedly.
"I miss all of it, college days, bus stand ke opposite wali Chai, college fests and you." Disha said the last part after a pause.
Dev looked up at her at the mention of the Chai place where they were about to kiss on that rainy day.
"Naina was right when she said, kuch waqt do sab theek hojayega." Disha looked at the sky turning darker.
"Time is the healer, I speak with experience. It can be people, places, songs, movies anything you find comfort in." Dev stated as Vedangi's face flashed infront of his eyes.
She was his healer. Healing something she didn't break, Vedangi left an everlasting impact on his mind in the form of love.

__________

The next day was Mehendi.
Generally Malayali weddings did not have the grand scale Mehendi functions like they show in Bollywood. It is usually a small, intimate affair.
Vedangi stood in the balcony watching the people below. She watched the event manager reprimand a worker hanging a pink flower tuft on the baby pink cloth that was being used as shade against the sun.
Vedangi's heart started hammering inside her on catching sight of Disha and Dev laughing at something Dev said. Disha looked pretty in a lavender salwar suit with her hair tied in a messy braid.
He obviously fell for her, how couldn't he?

Unaware of Dhruv standing beside her, Vedangi's eyes followed Dev and Disha until Dhruv coughed to make her conscious of his presence.
The longing in her eyes was too obvious to miss.
"Tum kab aaye?" Vedangi asked faking a happy tone.
"It's Devdutt Padikkal, isn't it?" Dhruv asked calmly, his face devoid of any emotions. Vedangi looked at him bewildered, "Matlab? Sorry I zoned out."
She consciously teared her gaze away from his face.
"It is crystal clear." Dhruv remarked.
Vedangi sighed before looking at him pleadingly, gesturing him to keep it a secret.
"Believe me, I'm trying to patch up your sister and Dev. Selfishly stealing him from her won't do any good to me." Her voice quivered and eyes welled up as she looked at them sitting on the lawn below.

"He treats her like a scumbag." Dhruv spat out angrily. Vedangi kept her hand on his shoulder before providing a justification.
"Dhruv, he was just angry then and look at them now, they're friends again. I'm sure you know how - how crazy he was for her." Vedangi stammered at the end.
"Why are you doing this?" Dhruv asked in a brutal tone.
"Because - because I believe what belongs to her cannot be snatched from her by any means."
"Aur mera kya? Mein ek one sided aashiq ban ke reh lungi." Vedangi attempted to be humorous while her tears threatened to fall from her eyes.
Dhruv pulled her to him and held her in his arms. It was that moment the dam broke and she sobbed profusely in his embrace.
He felt his shirt wetting with her tears and it stinged his heart with all the pain she had piled up inside. Dhruv caressed her hair lovingly trying to comfort her but it was all in vain. The wound on her heart was too deep to subside the pain with mere caresses. He hated seeing her in so much of emotional turmoil.