Total Eclipse of the Heart

A fool in love

I fell in love with her when we were together, then fell deeper in love with her when we were apart."
― Nicholas Sparks,

Maybe Ayushamn's character was right that we are always taught about how to fall in love, but we are never taught about how to fall out of love and move on but than again Abir Rajvansh never wanted to stop loving her. Loving her was the only thing that made him happy it was the only thing that was keeping him going. Being away from her had not dimmed his love for her rather it had intensified it.

Abir glanced at the note again. Every time he would read it he couldn't help but shake the feeling that he had seen the writing before but where? With a jolt he realized where he had seen it. From his pocket he took out one of the origami cranes that Mishti had the habit of putting in his pockets. He handled the paper almost reverentially as this was one of the few remnants of the bond they used to share . As he held both papers side by side it was apparent that the hand writing was the same. Did it mean that she was back? He asked himself his heart started racing. Was Rajkot finally going to feel like home again? While Abir was engrossed in these thoughts Mishti & Nannu had reached the Maheswari house.

"Mishti beta itna time kyun lag gaya I thought your flight landed 2 hours ago" Badi Maa asked her

"Puchay mat BM iss MissTeapot ko panchtay saath khichdi khaani thi woh bhi kisi special dhabay ki. You should give me an award for tolerating her for all these months" Nannu said

"Arey Nannu you have lost so much weight. Muhboli tum dono wahan khana waighra nahi khatay thay?" Jasmeet questioned

"Mom please not the Muhboli thing again and I am on a protein diet abb khaday khaday hi saray sawaal puchay gay please get me something to eat iss Missteapot nay khud khichdi kha li hain iss liay yay theek hain"

"Oh hello Nannu I did offer it to you abb agar Mr so called London return Nishant Maheswari ko  'ooh tacky roadside dhabby ki khichdi' nahi khani thi toh its your loss" Mishti countered

"Tum dono ka ho gaya toh someone pay attention to me too" Kuhu huffed

"Hah hah sab ki attention tujh par aur teray frill walay blouse par hain" Mishti teased her

"Hah waisay Kuhu pata hain main aisay kapray aur kahan dekhay hain" Nannu told her

"Where?" Kuhu asked excitedly

"School kay annual day function par by god exact same to same" Nannu high fived Mish

"Hey not fair so now you both are a team since you spend three months together. Mishti tunay mujh say meray Nannu ko bhi cheen liya" Kuhu fumed

"Relax Kuhu beta normal log haal chaal puchtay hain tum toh abhi si hi shuru ho gayi" Varsha admonished her.

"Sab chodo yay batao Mishti did you bring all the things on the list I sent you?" Kuhu asked

"Hah I did abb will you let me freshen up or do you need them right now" Mishti asked

"No no you go freshen up I am going to make Nannu have some of the special brownies I baked for you both" Kuhu told her.

As Mishti  ascended the stairs she looked at her happy family that was hovering around Nannu. They looked so happy a sharp contrast to how they had been 3 months ago. Maybe time does heal wounds but as she entered her room, she realized how wrong she was.

She glanced at the window as a memory resurfaced in her mind.

As per Meenu Aunty's wish she had done the unthinkable by revealing Kuhu's paternity in front of everyone at her Haldi. She was sure everyone hated her now. The truth was that she could take everyone's hatred but she would die a bit if Abir hated her too. Lost in her thoughts she didn't hear the faint sound of his footsteps. He walked up to her and she half expected him to admonish her for doing such a crass thing, she was gearing herself up for his disappointment but to her surprise without saying anything he just embraced her in a hug and gently asked her "Tum theek ho na". What was this man Mishti thought to herself of all the things he could have said to her or the resentment that he had the right to express he just asked her if she was okay? How did he know her so well? That she never wanted to do that to Kuhu. Just like every other occasion this man hadn't failed in surprising her. Cocooned in his embrace for a few seconds she allowed herself to let go. His arms around her reassured her that everything would be okay but than she had to come back to reality so she pushed him away.

She had lied to Nannu she was not prepared to be back in a place that was full of his memories this was going to be hard maybe the new work project will take her mind of things. Mishti made a mental note to ask Nannu about the details later.

From the past few hours Abir had been reading and rereading the note. His hand trailed over her handwriting as if by doing that he could feel the soft hand that had transcribed those words. The hands that he hadn't held for all this time yet he still remembered the warmth of their embrace. Or the fact that her tiny hands would completely be enveloped in his hands. Gosh he missed her and while a part of him wanted to see her the rational part wished that he wouldn't come face to face with her.

"You were right Mishti, you were always the stronger one out of us both, main kamzor hu agar iss baar tum meray samany aha gayi toh I would not be able to control my feelings" he said and closed his eyes.

"Bhai...Bhai" Abir was so lost in his thoughts that he did not notice when Kunal walked in

"Where were you lost I have been calling your name from the past 5 minutes but you have not been responding is everything okay? Are you not feeling well?" Kunal inquired

"Relax Nanko, I am fine I was just thinking about the new project that we are going to start soon. What was the name of that guy again and did he reach today?" Abir asked

"Nishant M and yes his correspondent told me that he has reached and also asked if we would be willing to have the meeting tomorrow at Hotel Sunset that's the reason I was here actually" Kunal said

"Yeah, sure we can go over the details later right now I am stepping out from the office for a bit" Abir told him and got up. He needed some fresh air if she really was back in town, he needed time to process. Abir drove his car to the lakeside that he frequently used to visit. Mishti and he had so many bittersweet memories associated with this place. He remembered how nervous she had been on their first date.

"Itna bhi awkward feel karnay ki zarorat bahi hain yay nazara yay lake kahin nahi ja rahy aur hum dono kay paas bhi toh puri zindagi hain na"

Abir chuckled maybe they were right maybe we really are fools in love. Such happy go lucky delusional fools who tend to make all these promises not knowing that we are never in control. That someday some god-awful situation would force them to break their promise. The irony was that everything around him was the same. The same greenery and the same lake yet everything had changed. Abir couldn't help but wonder how much she had changed in these 3 months. Did she still roll her eyes when someone annoyed her? Was she still ready to pounce on people who did something wrong? Did she still take a whiff of her khicdi before eating it? Was her smile still the same that would light up her entire face and would make everything better. Would she have moved on? While his brain advised that it would be good if she had moved on but his heart protested. His heart only knew one thing that everything else be damned but Angry Chorni was forever destined to be with Ajeeb Rajvansh. Distance cannot diminish eternal love. His brain told him that this approach wasn't practical he was still bound by the choice he had made three months ago. With a heavy heart Abir took out the note from his pocket.

"Cheers, to new beginnings" it said . He looked at it one last time and tossed it in the lake.

"I am sorry, Mishti but we cannot have a new beginning. Shahid yay kahani aisay hi khatam ho jayay" he said as he looked at the note now fully submerged in water. He made his way back to his car not knowing that he was right. He was still a fool in love and now it was time for destiny to play its part.

Aur phir qismat khel dikhati hain aur hum wahi kadhay rah jaatay hain

"But this? You and I. Pure serendipity. And maybe that made it the most precious thing of all because it could so easily not have happened. Maybe, once chance plays so big a part in your life, you realize more is out of your control that you'd like to think."
― Charity Shumway