[This is just a small scene from their honeymoon. Enjoy!
Also, can we imagine that Stupid in Love took place in 2009- 2010 so now it's 2018. Okay? Okay.]
« VANSH »
"Took you long enough."
"Yeah," I replied as I made my way towards the pond where my beautiful wife stood, bathed in the garden lights. "Been preparing stuff for you- know- what."
"Oh," Ahana's brow raised in recognition. "You mean that! Is everything prepared?"
"Everything's in order, wifey." We shared a smile at that and linked our arms together. We basked in the silence while listening to the fireflies in the garden and the waves of the sea from afar. I stole a glance at her. She was covered in a long, chiffon magenta dress with light floral designs, adding a layer to her beauty. Her hair was down, loosely tied with a pin. Her strands swayed slightly against the night chill air. Her face had a certain glow and it wasn't just because of the garden lights either.
Standing next to her; away from our loved ones; away from our responsibilities in a corner of a world- it all felt too surreal. I would often recall our crazy wedding and ask if it was real. I had a hard time believing I was married- That this Vansh Baweja was married (twice that is) but the rings bearing on our ring fingers didn't lie. Neither did the small mark of vermilion on top of Ahana's forehead.
And even though I was standing on the lowest ground- I felt like I was on top of the world.
"Let's head for dinner," I whispered gently. She raised her head from my shoulder and smiled, making my heart leap for the millionth time. I wouldn't mind experiencing it for another million times.
After a comfortable dinner, we headed upstairs to our hotel room. We had enough dose of Sydney and the opera house for today. The city could wait for tomorrow but I wasn't sure if the bed or the surprise waiting in the room could.
The surprise exposed itself in form of a projector, facing the direction of the wall. I turned on my laptop connecting to the projector and turned the lights off. We sat on the edge of the bed. I clicked on the video that was sent to us.
"Let's see what Lisa's got for us."
And pressed on play.
The first thing that popped up was a white screen that credited the one who put it all together and that she was glad she got the opportunity to make something like this. In the end, she only hoped we would like it and treasure it for lifetime. The present slide faded to the next. It captioned.
"2009."
"Oh my God, this is... I remember giving this to you..." Ahana whispered happily as she placed a hand over her mouth in excitement. A photo zoomed out bringing some light into the room.
It was a selfie clicked by Ahana of us before we were about to ride the Slingshot. One of the few rides we rode in Canada Wonderland. I remembered it all too well. It was the day Ahana and I befriended each other by exchanging phone numbers at night.
The day where our story began.
It was as if Lisa read the timing of our thoughts as the caption read- The day it all began. Ahana squealed in delight while I grinned. We were already beaming with happiness.
Basically the still movie we were watching was a collection of pictures of Ahana and me from the time we met to the present day. It was my plan initially. Suggested Ahana to make a picturesque summary of our journey and compile them in an album book. Instead she suggested a slideshow styled movie. It would have been boring if we had put them all together so we selected our pictures seperately without letting the other person know and send them all to Lisa to combine them. Being a graphic artist, she was more than happy to help.
The next couple of slides were of our college. A picture of us wearing Ahana's cheesy, friendship bracelet; another of us watching One piece; a group picture of us walking around campus and so on. There was even a photo of us coming out of jail. We laughed at those funny ones. We were filled with nostalgia when the presentation arrived at our stage performances, where I was the magician while Ahana was my assistant. Too many memories were attached to those days. The ones that followed filled me both with bitterness and bliss. Our high and lows in Vancouver and Huntsville were truly the ones that changed the course of our relationship. Ahana mentioned how the ones in Huntsville were her favourite ones.
But then came a picture that topped them all.
A picture of us pulling our cheeks. It was taken on our first official date. The picture must have been Ahana's choice.
"There's a reason number zero, too--" I repeated Ahana's words of confession from the evening she chased me at the bus stop. "I like you. Reason number zero point one, I like you. Reason number zero point two, I like you again..."
"You still remember?"
"How can I forget? You plastered my supposedly breaking heart with those words that day," I said, pretending to be hurt by the chest while she rolled her eyes.
Thus, the picture story elevated into our second year in college. A collage of our dates; another of us working in Pizza Hut, and another where we drank each other's blood in our Halloween costumes. We did some pretty crazy things back then. Then came a series of our most favourite date- Paris. The holy land where we lost our virginity.
"This will always remain one of my best dates till date," Ahana commented while watching the slide of us standing before Eiffel tower. Her hands circled around my arm as she rested her head against it.
"Mine too, babe. Mine too." My lips were almost trembling as I kissed her temple.
The gap between the past and the present lessened as the movie moved to our pictures in India. We were in our early twenties, busy sweating our professional lives. There was a cute picture of us in our office attire. I was just commenting about it when the next picture came to life and for the first time since this presentation, my heart dropped.
It was a our selfie of Hauz khas in Delhi.
"Why?" I asked wanting to know why she chose this picture for this happy movie. Like the good painted memories, I remembered this one as well. Our romance was suffering as a consequence of our busy lives. We were trying to rekindle it by spending a night in Hauz khas but it backfired big time. Our relationship only went downhill from then on, until we decided to put a break in our relationship.
"I want to remind us of our bad times, too. It's kind of why we are still here today," Ahana answered, giving my hand a tight squeeze. I squeezed her hand back, silently approving her statement.
It was almost painful to watch the ones that followed. A picture of me leaving for Boston, our Skype pictures as we video called each other. Okay, maybe not all were filled with dread. That game of finding the color object was surely fun. I remembered how painfully I missed Ahana back then. Though my mood flipped again when we were shown the next picture of us in my apartment. That was the time when I returned home from Boston for a few days.
"What are we doing, Van?" Ahana asked as I led her to walk in my house .
"We are having a date inside this house."
After a few more pictures that carried most dreadful memories behind them, came the ones of our group's reunion in Tripti's hometown. My mood lifted up instantly. The wheat fields, our ticket-less train journey, a nostalgic reunion, our private dance. They were the events that bandaged our broken relationship. Ahana mentioned how she recalled Maitree's words about falling in love the second time. Our time at the wheat field was indeed a soulful time for us.
Two more slides faded to shed light to a young magician standing along a dancer woman he met on a club. They were Amandeep Der and Vernika Iyer, our alternate egos. That night had opened the door to a future of happiness for us. We were finally reunited.
The movie arrived at its end when we were showed pictures of our fake engagement and the real wedding altogether. At the very end, there was a picture of us in multiple frames. The first one was a standing pose of us from college while the last one was us in a Christian wedding. That single collage summarised our long term relationship to where we were now. Time did funny things to people, didn't it? It evolved us, broke us and moulded us again. Credits rolled from bottom to top of the screen, just like in the movies. Both of us clapped and hugged each other by the time the screen flashed the words- 'The end'.
We were wrong.
'Wait...'
'You think this is the end?'
'No, loves. Wait for the next slide.'
"There's more?" I said, my brows creasing a bit as we read Lisa's words on the screen. Ahana shrugged. She was just as puzzled as me.
The screen slowly faded to the next slide, only to display another blank screen. And another.
'Remember, it's not the end.'
'Slash that, it's never 'the end' (unless you both die but that's out of the question right now 😂).'
'You've got much more memories to make.'
'So fill in the blanks.'
'For they are timeless, just like your love.'
"We gotta thank that girl," Ahana said, blinking back tears. She was about to call but I stopped her.
"We can thank her later. There's enough time but right now, it's ours." I enclosed her body in my arms, smiling as I smelled her. "You know, watching this movie made me realise again how lucky I'm to have you, An. We are still here after every good and bad we went through. I still can't believe you're my wife. My wife. It feels like I was meant to love you in this life."
"Then I wish to have you too for the rest of my six lives, dear husband," Ahana replied, smiling against my chest, making my heart swell to the size of a mountain. If lifetimes really existed, then I wished for nothing more than to fall in love with her for six more times. I told her the same. We remained like that simply drowning ourselves in the sea of feels. She drew her head back to look at me while still remaining in my embrace. "But be careful, okay. I don't want our beautiful movie to end with a picture of us in a court, divorcing each other."
"Now that'd be hilarious." I smirked as she hit my chest playfully. Eventually, we pulled away. "By the way, we still don't have one picture. Our sex picture."
"Are you serious?!" She looked back at me incredulously.
"I am. Okay, okay, a half naked picture would do. Come on, it's not like we'll show anyone." I walked after her as she went to the small kitchen. "No movie is complete without some PG- 13 content. Even the movie should know how we made children."
Ahana stopped walking whipping her head towards me. She raised a finger. "Just to be clear, I'm not bearing any children for the next three years. It would be just you, me, and my unfertilized eggs."
I cringed at her last two words but got distracted quickly. "Imagine how crazy our kids would be."
"That's exactly why I said. We need to be mentally prepared to bring another maniac into the world."
And we bursted out, our laughs reverberating throughout the hotel room.
Between catching her from behind and carrying her to bed while laughing, I realised something. While we youngsters were busy trying to capture every moment in our mobiles, we still wouldn't be able to capture them all. There were moments that didn't come under the tag of date, party or a festival. They simply happened, just like this one. Perhaps we wouldn't even remember something like this in the upcoming years. But that didn't mean we didn't live them. Infact we lived them again and again.
And, that was the beauty of love.
------------------ THE END ------------------
Though it already ended in the previous chapter, this was just a small extra. Well, basically I gave a recap/ summary of Vansh and Ahana's journey throughout the series.
*Takes a deep breath*
If I count the number of chapters from SiL and SeIL, it makes 43+ 40= 83 chapters. It's the longest story I have written.
I feel like thanking Vansh and Ahana first (maybe God) for giving birth in my imagination. Thank you. I cannot express how much I loved writing about you two and the supporting characters, but mostly you two. I didn't have the heart to write this chapter and end the story for good. I wasn't ready to say goodbye. I'll truly miss you two. Thank you for making my plain ass life a little more exciting with your craziness.
And secondly I want to thank you. Yes YOU! Whoever read this till here. I had the most awesome readers for Stupid in Love and Serious in Love. Thank you for each read, vote or comment. I still go and check the comments section sometimes. #memories.
I was very skeptical and nervous to write SeIL but I'm so glad I took the leap. Its been a different experience altogether. I feel like personally I learned things while writing. I learned something from the readers, too.
Final thoughts? About this story, this series, the concept of love here, the characters. What are your final thoughts about Vansh? (I hope you don't hate him). Do you think of anything that could have been improved or anything else that was irrelevant? Aakri baar hai yaar, comment karo.
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Future works
👉 Natasha (slow updates)
There's nothing new to tell about Natasha. It's a spin about the same. If you're interested then you can read it on my profile. Currently I have posted fifteen chapters.
👉 A Wanderer's find.
My latest obsession lol.
An entirely new story. It is based on one of the minor characters that was featured in Serious in Love. Remember the long haired guy that Ahana met in Las Vegas? The traveler/ cameraman/ hot beach guy whom she ends up spending time with. Yes, the one and only- Kunal Awasthi. I found the character interesting enough to build a story around him. I'm writing it offline (albeit slowly) and have already written 4-5 chapters so far. I have no idea when I'll post it bcos-
1- I haven't thought of the whole story yet.
2- I'm afraid no one will read it seeing that my account has become a desert now. That's the reason why Natasha updates are slow too. Everyone is busy in their lives now. (Now I'm too with my new job) :(
Anyway this story will be a bit different from all others. For starters, there will be no school or college. The characters are either in their late twenties or thirties. Yes, thirties. Kunal will probably be thirty- one here.
Second, this story involves a lot of traveling. You and I will travel around the world through their eyes. 🌍 There's also something about the female protagonist but I won't reveal here. Why should I? 😜
Kunal and Nikki.
Another couple, another love story.
Teaser- You knew Vansh and Ahana as a pair of stupid/ crazy people who did stupid things (though they had understanding about a lot of things). The couple here... let's say they are kinda the opposite. Mature and intelligent.
Hope I made you curious enough.
Thanks for reading. I might put a teaser of this story in the next chapter so watch out. Until next time.