This is how the story was planned originally ...
Dedicated to,
All the 100 (active and non active) readers who still have this book in their library and to my one year journey at wattpad❤
NOTE- MEDICAL CONDITIONS STATED HERE ARE PART FICTION & PART FACTS
Growth is not a fancy word in the english dictionary but, in my opinion, it is the most integral part of our lives. As we live each day we gain experience and that makes us live tomorrow in a better way. We grow at our own respective pace. There are babies, kids, teenagers, young adults, adults, middle age people and the oldies. This is a regular pattern but very few among us are forced to grow up at tender ages, when they are not ready for it. Circumstances, brutal circumstances, force them to leave their innocence at a young age and survive the odds of life.
Jo Tu Mera Humdard Hai, introduces the readers to a similar girl, Sonakshi Bose. She has eyes full of big dreams, shoulders carrying heavy responsibilities, steady feet and a heart wrenched with pain of living in a broken family. She has to deal with demons that are so close to her that they can't be simply ignored. Running away from her past she, along with her mother moves to Delhi where fate had something, someone in store for her.
In a not so impressive first encounter, she met him, The Dev Dixit and the angry sparks with baseless nick names and taunts were flying everywhere. When fate (read teacher) pushes Dev and Sonakshi into an uncomfortable group project with three other goofballs they end up doing the obvious - get themselves into a weird adventure and land up in trouble but that adventure actually ends up giving Sonakshi what she had always asked for. A protector. Dev ends up saving her at the cost of his reputation.
That is what Sonakshi was looking for- someone who could atleast share her load, if not reduce it. Her humdard.
Time and again Dev reminds her how special she is to him.
Amaro porano jaha chai
Tumi tai
He goes to the extent of learning her 'alien wali language'.
The pages of the story turn as Dev and Sonakshi realise that they love each other.
Dev being the exceptional student he was, gets the position of the head boy in his school and his work load increases manifold. He begans to feel restless and tired most of the time. His health begans to deterioate each passing day and he lands up in the hospital.
His world comes crashing down when he is told that he has a hole in his heart. His parents thought that it had closed when he was an infant. Alas! It hadn't.
Sonakshi's savior was himself not sure of how long he would live. His disease was rare, but curable. Dev being a 17 year old thought just one thing - Sonakshi would break after this news.
When Sona professes her love for him he rejects it hoping that she would hate him and move on. Drenched in tears they bid their final good bye. Sonakshi kept wondering why did he push her away and he kept reminding himself of the hole in his heart. How could he give her a place in his heart when his heart, itself was damaged? How could he heal her, be her humdard when he was damaged from within, when he was himself in dard
Time passed, 11 years went by, without a call or look of each other. Sonakshi became a doctor herself and Dev had healed after his surgery but his case being a rare and severe one, always had him going for regular check ups.
Fate brought them face to face again but this she was someone else's would-be fiancé and that someone else was none other than Dev's best friend cum doctor Ritvik (I still don't know the spelling😁) . Dev was broken once again but Sonakshi wanted answers. He saw her drifting into someone else's arms and tried to hold up his smile.
Ritvik couldn't see Dev's pain in the light of his happiness. He invited him to his engagement and Dev with a heavy heart agreed to attend his party. He was the one who had pushed Sonakshi away and he now had no right over her. He lost interest in life once again. He lost track of time, hunger and thirst until the clock struck 5 and it was time for him to attend her engagement. With unsteady feet and a fragile body Dev showed up at Sonakshi's engagement.
Sonakshi, on the other hand, had not for even a second forgotten her first love. She knew he would come back to her some day and there he was staring right into her eyes while she was dancing to the songs on her engagement.
As the rings were exchanged, Dev got up to congratulate the couple. He hadn't eaten anything for days in his misery and his system couldn't take the load anymore. He fainted right on the spot.
The next time he opened his eyes he was sitting in a car. He looked at the person driving the car and there was Sonakshi, still in her engagement attire. He was on a highway. He had been kidnapped.
On knowing that he had been suffering from VSD at the time they last met she had put two and two together and had kidnapped Dev with Ritvik's help and had run away from her home, leaving a note for her mother saying she had got her dream job in Mussoorie. Dev did some moral policing but Sona didn't listen to him she had waited for him for the last 11 years. She was not giving up on him now.
With the help of Elena and their ex teacher they found their love nest in Mussoorie and began living the life they had always imagined. Even if the idea of concealing the truth from their parents or living away from home haunted them they blissfully ignored it in their trance. Their school gang reunited in the hills too and life was nothing short of perfect.
In her delusion, Sonakshi had completely forgotten to ask Ritvik for Dev's medical reports. The hole in his heart was sealed but his body couldn't take a lot of load and his fatigue had began resurfacing as he had to dodge between teaching kids and his business.
DevAkshi decided to take their relationship to the next level. Dev had planned a surprise for Sonakshi. When Sona came back from her work the other day she found their flat decorated in white red curtains, fragrant candles and roses. She moved further inside and met with the biggest shock. Dev was lying unconscious on the floor. She felt life being sucked out of her too.
He was admitted into the local hospital. Sona even called Ritvik for medical assistance. In the days that Dev spent in the hospital shifting between consciousness and unconsciousness Sona began losing touch with reality too. The life in her eyes and the spark in her smile began fading with every passing day. She became weak and fragile. No amount of efforts could bring her senses back. She used to sit near his bed, holding his canula struck hands. Her lids didn't flap for a second her eyeballs didn't look away from his face.
Draft 1 - Early morning, when the sun was opening his eyes slowly. Dev opened his eyes and looked at the lady sitting beside him for a while. He breathed her presence as much as he can. A lone tear escaped his eyes. Sona woke up and saw him staring at her. She smiled and he smiled too, a brief one. She got up to call the others but he stopped her. He caressed her face and then, sealing the touch in his palm forever he left the world. He left his body and she too stood lifeless near him, not knowing how to react
Draft 2 -
Dev smiled briefly and Sonakshi, for the first after Dev's admittance showed signs of life. She began sobbing and sniffing loud enough to wake the entire city.
Dev began tapping her arm
"Kya hai?" She hit his palm irritably
"I don't like this crying channel. I was looking for the off button" He smiled. His goofy smile was back
She laughed gently.
"I'm sorry" She looked down at her feet.
"For what?" He was barely able to speak but wanted to keep the conversation going
"For kidnapping you" She was trying to control the growing lump in her throat "I just brought you here without even thinking about your medical requirements. Its not advisable for heart patients to travel a lot in the mountains. I'm sorry"
"I am sorry too" He said "I couldn't be the good husband I should have been. I had planned so much for you and then I just collapsed. Why could I never be good enough for you? You always deserved better Sonakshi"
Hurt was written all over his place
"You have always been my choice Dev" She wiped his tears away with the back of her hand "Yes. I was waiting for our special night but you don't have to do anything special for me Dev. You just be by my side ... Always. That'll be enough for me and honestly in all these years we have not been together I realised that there is no way by which I can stop loving you. There has not been a second when I haven't missed you. There have been endless nights which I had spent thinking about you. You were always there with me. I used to be so immersed in your thoughts that after a point there was no difference between me and you. It was like ... Like ... Like I live you"
"Bolne me to typo mat karo" Dev chuckled
"I mean it. Literally" She looked straight into his eyes and he was speechless.
"Wow..." Dev didn't know what to say or even if there was something to say "Well ... I ... I feel blessed"
There was complete silence in the ward. Even their heart beats weren't erratic due to each others presence. Everything was complete and at peace. It took time but their story did meet a happy ending
•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•
Draining? Tragic? Painful?
Mature?
Well I was immature and the 17 year old me didn't want to write so many back to back sad chapters. Impatience I tell you!
This is how I truly wanted the book to be
but
Insecurity got the better side of me. I thought people read this book because of its comedy and they'll run away when things get sad so I made the changes.
Then cancer was introduced because cancer has affected many near and dear ones and I was not very clear about the conditions and treatments of VSD.
I shared this draft because that's all I can gift through this medium and also because its been an year of writing and I wanted to accept a shortcoming of mine. So, if any budding writer is reading this DO NOT write for votes and comments only. Write about things you believe in and you'll see things will turn out well.