December is here guys and so is Christmas and New Year
An update is here today as your christmas gift 🎁
I've also posted a reel for Samiksha and Kartik on my instagram feed so you can catch it up there. Also, suggest a good shipping name for this chaotic couple.
Do not forget to leave your lovely comments and votes for me while reading!
💙
|Hope becomes depressing when broken by the ones who once promised to preserve them|
•recent past•
Kartik tried to shun away the memories that reminded him of nothing but visualization of what Ruchi was forced to endure from a tender age. He witnessed her innocence being peeled away by the sharp end of the knife that skinned away her careless chirping.
He still remembered that fateful night where Ruchi lost a part of her life to the cruelty of her so-called parents. It was unforgettable for him to watch the relentless cruelty bestowed upon a child by the one who gave one birth. Though he was young himself he couldn't foresee the sour treatment given by Srinija and Sunil to Ruchi. It was permanently ingrained into his mind.
From the first time, he found Ruchi curled up inside the bed soundlessly sobbing trying to keep herself in the shadows away from the rest of the family when Srinija used to pour out her frustration on her by physical and mental methods to when she pushed her away amidst the calamity where she chose to ignore her.
Sushma, their aunt came just as a free bonus with all the crap to the date she blames at Ruchi, in order to make peace with her own convicted mistakes by supporting Srinija's doing.
Sunil, her father was a grim subject who didn't react to Ruchi's pleading even after knowing the truth and if Kartik could ever say out loud then his uncle was the biggest culprit behind Ruchi's terminating situation. It was for his wrongdoings that Ruchi developed achluophobia and turned agoraphobic. She grew socially awkward and became fearful of people's judgements as the years passed.
And now, who stood in front of them wasn't his baby sister but Ruchi Batra, a paragon dummy doll stitched and modeled by the superficial expectations of somebody who never seemed to care for her.
His sister was traded like some replaceable grocery ingredient by everyone.
Kartik found himself a glutton who couldn't keep his promise to always protect Ruchi. He held himself, his father and mother partly responsible for the devastating circumstances because only if they looked out a little more for her on that destructive night.
He vowed to never let any harm trudge her way but overlooked the fact that the trail of her survival was a bed of nails which couldn't be avoided until the right time.
And the right time could only commence when Ruchi stood up for herself, bred past from living for the sake of others, and stopped preventing the inevitable because it wasn't up to her to make everyone content if she had to sacrifice herself. Primarily, learn to become selfish for herself this time.
Kartik thought while rubbing Ruchi's dried tears slowly, vigilant to upset her armistice with an occasional slumber. He patted her hair lightly when an uncouth tapping of feet stopped outside the room's door. His mother had already been impaled watching Ruchi's condition and restricted herself to her bedroom and he could only hope it had to her at this moment.
The door flew upon as a wheezing figure barged inside. The short hairs undone, the crop-length pastel yellow shirt hanging out of her checked pajama bottoms with two different slippers on each foot gave a classic sight for a rattled Samiksha Khanna.
If it would have been some other time Kartik would have definitely opted to mock out the bones out of her but he chose silence as the remedy for the messed up emotions ruling out his sanity. Samiksha rushed to the bed where Ruchi was knocked out without a single care of the surroundings or Kartik.
"Baby! Why are you sleeping?" She pointed and rubbed her cold palms in hers, "We had decided to stay up tonight watching Avengers." She implied excitedly, "We planned on a Marvel marathon, Baby." She whined half-heartedly, "You can't fuckin' ditch me now, yaar!"
[Yaar - Buddy]
"Babyyy!!!" Samiksha called out again hearing no response or even a slight movement by her that engulfed her into the palpable fear. "Uth ja na, abhi!! Yaar, please-"
["Wake up now!! Buddy, please-"]
"Baby-"
"She's not waking up any time soon." Kartik's voice interrupted sending a red signal to her mind but she did not want to believe it, "Don't fuckin' get jealous because I had made plans with her and hijacked your brother-sister caffeine time."
"Samiksha-"
"No!" Samiksha adjourned, "I am sure that you asked her to sleep early on purpose." She demanded further glaring at Ruchi's frame, "She went on a date and I had to extract the deets out of her lunch unlike you who doesn't care about anything but his crazy work hours." She procured angrily, "In fact, I'm warning you to stop making my Baby like the inconsiderate workaholic asshole you are!!!"
"I did not-"
"Shut up, you freakin' old man!!" Samiksha whisper-yelled causing Kartik to sigh in defeat, allowing her to parade over him, "Tum apne aap ko samajhte kya ho, huh!? You should've asked her about her date with her to-be fiance, inquired about the compatibility she found with Aakash and if her vibes matched with his?" She piqued walking over him and shoving her index finger angrily at his face, "Par tum thehre bade aadmi jo apni behen se itne sensitive topic ke baare mein kaise puch sakte ho, haina!"
["What do you think about yourself!? But you're a busy man who can't talk with his sister on such a sensitive topic, right!"]
"Look I-"
"Men can do anything to bloody satiate their peanut sized ego-"
Kartik was done with her sprouting shit which wasn't anywhere the truth and this annoying human being was just trying to avoid the reality to not accept Ruchi's disturbing state at this moment. It wasn't a shocker to watch Samiksha lose control near him but the unhampered crude words she oozed out instantly ticked off the patient nerve in him.
Both of them hated each other's guts to the sun and back without any doubt and the only thing that knitted Samiksha Khanna and Kartik Batra together was Ruchi, who was the peace-maker between their absurdly waged vendetta.
Kartik strived to digest her ill-mouth and condone her presence with a rational mind but Samiksha had practically sworn to pull off zumba on the narrow rope of his stoicism.
"Samiksha!" His acquiescence zipped up her unsettling paroxysm, "Go ahead, call me bastard, asshole or whatever shit because I am not going to stop you from calling me names but let me remind you that Baby is not going to sit up and intervene in our meaningless brawl right now."
"Why won't she?" Samiksha stipulated stoutly, "She always does-"
"Her condition won't allow this time." He asserted anguished, "She won't be waking up for the next ten hours any time soon."
Her brows snapped together and eyes bloated in conviction, "You did not-" She whispered disbelief ruling her senses, "You did not bloody make her swallow those shitty medicines." She deemed, "Did you, Kartik?"
Kartik's face hardened and Samiksha squeezed her eyes shut curbing the burning tears rushing to brim out. Samiksha swallowed the lump in her throat pretending to act strong but Kartik could distinguish the pang grappling her chest just like his own.
Kartik never had any authentic reason to dislike the immature girl who barged in their lives without a prior warning but he had always held onto the one reason that she was his little sister's happy place, and that was enough to make her an irreplaceable part of his life.
Despite her daring attitude, Samiksha was undeniably truthful. Her caustic words, her useless complaints, her illegitimate actions and even her hurling offensive words were true to herself and admirable for him.
She didn't take shit from people who are ready to bulldoze an outgoing soul, not even her parents who though gave their twins a sum that could suffice their lifetime expenditures. When the latter elected to be self-sufficient and not bank on their parental monetary funds realizing they had long back cleared their priorities while leaving them behind once they attained the age of two on the pretext of building themselves a luxurious life in a foreign land.
Even if Samiksha and Vivek lived alone with their Uncle and Aunt who she fondly terrorized with her terrific pranks, she respected them and placed them higher than her own parents.
Everyone including him knew she hated to study but two years back Kartik had stealthily caught her briefing with a publishing company's project head in a cafe situated three blocks behind his office. He unintentionally came to know that Samiksha was collecting every penny through her freelance content editing job even when she had no qualms of working in the future.
Even through their animosity, he respected the woman she was, the real Samiksha Khanna who he somewhere hated to admit had a slight underestimating crush but didn't own the guts to admit else she's definitely going to strangle him to death first and later squeeze out the answers from his traumatized soul.
"Ruchi!" Samiksha couldn't help but slide down the floor and tilt her head back on the bed, "Why did it always have to be her?" She questioned herself and then her eyes darted to Kartik who looked at her with helplessness and guilt, "Why did you let her have those?"
"I wish I wasn't impotent enough to stop her pain." Kartik replied with unchained tears, "If I had been a go-good..a good real elder brother for once, at least."
A satirical laugh rumbled out her lips which slashed like a knife to his ears, "You wish!" She voiced, "Aksar jinse umeedein rakhi jati hai na, woh hi unhe raund diya karte hain." She said, "Aur tum kisi bhi tarah se un logo se alag nahi ho. You're one of them, who burst through their heartening bubble. Tum logo ko kisi ke jine ki wajah ka bewajah hone ke dard ka ehsaas bhi nahi hota. Because what you do is the right thing for you regardless of its impact or importance in somebody else's life."
["Often, those from whom expectations are kept, they are the ones who trample them. And you are no different from those people in any way. You people don't even realize the pain of being everything to nothing in someone's life."]
Kartik didn't stop her, he couldn't know that she was right, Samiksha Khanna was brutally right and Kartik Batra was expensively wrong for each time he stayed silent.
"You have no idea Mr. Batra, you cannot imagine the agony when you're let down by your loved ones." Her eyes glaring up at the colorless ceiling, "The ones whom you look at as if you're their everything and-" She paused, her lips quivering. "And they shatter your selfless belief in a blink. Jaise kabhi wo apnepan ka ehsaas tha hi nahi."
["As if there was no sense of belonging."]
Kartik sat beside her unable to withstand the strange feeling her words ignited like sea salt on his open wounds. The pain turned curable yet painful, incapable to match and feel its intensity compared with the two women breathing in the same room with him.
"Jo bhi hota hai na idhar-" She said, patting her chest unconsciously breaking her own darkness to him, "Ek pal mein sab toot ke bikhar jata hai." Samiksha couldn't contain her pinching memories limited to herself anymore.
["Whatever is here, everything falls apart in a blink of an eye."]
Yes, it was painful to watch your parents leave you behind, but it was more difficult to address the fears and pain left behind by those life-changing incidents. The days when she and her brother had tried to seek comfort in their loneliness. Her twin, Vivek was the sensible and calm one who chose to accept the changes rather than opposing them while she chose to rebel and could never earn the peace that came with a closure.
Her energy was soaked up to live a life without the shade of her namesake parents, to feel important to herself rather than weeping for the ones who didn't choose her but something more materialistic called fame.
In the journey of attaining herself, she met Ruchi Batra who unfortunately shared a more bitter fate than hers. They became each other's solace, their broken families connecting them as one. Their pain strengthened their bond, stronger and superior than blood relations because they became soul sisters. Samiksha found her remedy in their friendship whereas Ruchi couldn't, hurting herself in the process with her useless expectations which didn't let her anywhere but bind in an unending loop of tribulation.
"You're a fighter, Samiksha!" Kartik's voice successfully brought her out of the past, "Ruchi-" He added, "And you Samiksha, both of you are soldiers who are not afraid to end wars." He notified, "The world compliments the ones who start wars but in reality they are powerless because the ones who stand up till the finish lines are the greatest warriors."
Samiksha chuckled through her lost tears, "Sab kehne ki baat hai, Kartik Batra. Tum bhi to yahi socha karte ho na?" She rubbed her fingers and asserted before he could, "I'm not talking about your sister, she's undoubtedly a pure soul. But, someone like me-" Her lips dragged with a hint of mirth, "I'm called the devil for a reason."
["It's all talk, Kartik Batra. You also think the same, don't you?"]
"Darkness does not shadow on a barometer of tainted souls or angelic hearts." Kartik's phrase mused her grave thoughts a little, "It envelopes and tests the devils through the excruciating hours of helplessness to master them into the finest arts of resilience that shall always remain as an asset for weak-willed hearts who try to portray themselves as stronger." He continued with an encouraging smile, "And if that makes you a devil then you're definitely one, Samiksha."
Samiksha stared and stared at him for minutes, struggling hard to soak in his kind words for the times when everything seemed burdensome and pushed her to give up because staying stronger every time cramps the mighty mortals too.
And she could be one of them at times as she hated to render puny to anyone distinctively to her unconcealed nemesis in the body of Kartik Batra whose boastful mind had left an alteration behind and tonight his strict demeanor even being honest like his past self there was a soft, considerate and humourous face to him. The one that she saw at the time of her acute distress and it was extremely cute, enthrallingly attractive and blissfully heartwarming for her puckish anima and a splendid memory to treasure.
"That clears my doubt." Samiksha bobbed her head delinquently, "You find me devil." It came as a question rather than a statement.
"No!" Kartik tried to correct her but it was too late, the hyperactive kid in her body had retained control.
"You find me devil enough to piss in your bed." Samiksha cackled haughtily, "Tu mujhse darta hai, rule-book!"
["You are afraid of me, rule-book!"]
"It's not like that-" He objected, pressingly thinking that she might feel angry by his fancy opinion.
"Oh! You do." She grinned evilly, "Jaan kar bahut khushi hui." She clapped her hands happily, "I feel like standing on the tip of Bhurj Khalifa." Merry seeped through her tone, "Finally, mera dharti pe yeh janam safal hua."
["I am very glad to know. Finally, this birth of mine on earth was fruitful."]
Kartik cribbed on, cursing the moment he collided with Samiksha.
"It looked better and peaceful when you sulked." He prattled ridiculously smiling to himself, "I signed for my own death warrant attempting to revamp your crestfallen mood keeping aside your sinistrous psyche!!"
"Sulking is your department!" She crooned, "Par tu toh aaj pakda ja chuka hai!!"
["But you are caught today!!"]
Samiksha sang pinching and pulling on his cheek while Kartik aimed to dodge away her hands and the approach of her vile intentions.
"Leave me you devil!!" Kartik shrieked, crawling out of her reach, "You!!" He warned, "Once my Baby wakes up she'd tie your tounge for hurling abuse at her brother!!"
"She's my Baby, sweetheart!" Samiksha mewled and winked at him coyly, flushing Kartik who rubbed his nape while trying to look unaffected and disgruntled by her action, "Try me!"
"You're one hell of devil Ms. Khanna!!" Kartik upbraided with conviction which opposed the threatening bubbles of contemporary feelings in him.
"Pleasure is all mine, Mr. Batra!" Samiksha proclaimed breaking into a contagious laughter as the night seeped towards a new beginning that seemed to be brighter and promising.
Lots of Love,
ANKITA