Road to the Ocean

Chapter 20: The First Kiss

Niti was pacing in her vanity van, fumbling with her fingers, recalling the time she promised herself not to become the barrier between Parth and Disha. She thought she underestimated the foundation of their relationship and was under the misconception that Disha and Parth were tearing down.

"I thought I knew you and your feelings...but I guess I was wrong at judging the relationship based on what I saw and what I felt." Snivelling, she put her head down, penitent in guilt. One by one, the memories of the time she spent with Parth started flooding her mind, all his sweet gestures, all the occasions he had been so gentle and caring towards her. All these bittersweet reminiscences made her realised that he was never hers truly, and that was enough to send her head spinning in despondency. She was so lost nursing her aching heart that she didn't realise when the cloud of moroseness turned into a devastating calamity, summoning the ghosts of her meticulously hidden past, the unresolved internal conflict that she never wanted to unravel in front of anyone. Every time Niti attempted to contemplate and embrace what life has to offer her, a series of misfortune barged in and threatened to weaken her soul. The only way she managed to cope from her internal turbulence was by posting a sad status on her social site that maintained the quality of its meaning which only she deciphered on what it actually and who it actually meant for.

Her hyperventilated breathing and the cold sweat that broke on Niti's forehead was enough to jolt her out of her woeful state. She had been in such a state so many times in her past that her body acted on its own. Niti swiftly got up from her chair, grabbed her satchel and frantically emptied out everything from her bag trying to look for something essential. Once she spotted the dark bottle, she emptied some of its content on her palm which she devoured in a blink of an eye. She closed her eyes, letting the warm buzz englobing her chest as she started feeling more raptured.

She opened her dilated eyes, and looked at the girl with flushed cheeks staring at her. She blinked several times before a satirical laugh erupted from her lips. "Screw Parth, screw Disha. I am not going to let them ruin my shooting," she mumbled. Feeling the restlessness in her limbs, she quickly changed into her beautiful embroidered kurti with floral patterns, and dabbed some makeup on her face. She stepped back and checked her reflection in the mirror. Her lustrous hair hanged loose like a black silky drape from her stocky shoulders and her rosebud stained in soft pink lipstick. Satisfied with the outcome, she decamped quietly from her van and tromped towards the location where the kissing scene was about to take place.

On the other hand, Parth was concerned about Niti. He was still unaware why he experienced the urge to check on Niti, why he felt the need to see with his eyes if she was okay, why he felt compelled to justify Disha's presence on sets. Parth and Disha were walking towards his van. He perked up, noticeably looking for Niti, but he couldn't see her anywhere. He was mindful how Disha's presence would deter Niti to do well in her scenes. Moreover, Niti didn't share a comfortable ground with her, either due to lack of trust and slight animosity from Disha's side. So, in a polite tone he asked Disha to proceed to his van as he needed to scrutinize the set up over the location and to meet with Richa before shooting. Little did Disha know, he was conveniently lying to her and was gone to find Niti instead.

"Hey buddy, seems hurry. where you're going?" Utkarsh sneered, looking at Parth who was proceeding towards Niti's van. Utkarsh never wanted to abort a chance of throwing a harmless jest on him, especially when it regards to Niti. However, foolish in his credulity Utkarsh thought Niti and him made a great pair and that audience wished to replace him with Manik. Although, Parth never got effected by his ludicrous tricks to insult him, he still found Utkarsh annoying. He wasn't obligated to answer him anything, so he avoided as if Utkarsh didn't exist and stepped inside Niti's van, hoping to catch her there, but she wasn't.