"Ma'm, those parsi works on the dupatta..."
"Kriti, can we please discuss this matter tomorrow?...I am not in a state of mind and I can't keep repeating this to you again and again! Please understand that already!!!" I blasted upon the young intern whose only fault was that she had called me to discuss about the left out portions of Amaya Malik's wedding project.
What do you think? It was so unprofessional of me? And unethical too?? Well, I knew all of it. But guess what? I had no other choice. After whatever happened in the evening, my system had almost stopped functioning and Kriti should have better known that before making the phone call!
"I understand ma'm." She said to break my reverie. "Good night ma'm. Sleep tight."
A part of me wished to reply her the same..or atleast reply with a small 'hmm'. But sadly, neither any word nor that stupid buzzing sound came out of me and I just disconnected the call and banged the receiver upon its dial.
With this, I tossed myself to turn to the other side and pressed my eyelids against the sockets, trying my best to grab some undisturbed sleep. Lol, I had totally forgotten that I had got insomnia...I-N-S-O-M-N-I-A.... the sleeping disorder that was one of the unmatched gifts I had ever receieved from Dev!
Dev...
Where the hell was he? Why wasn't he there in my room yet??
He had neither shifted to Priyanka's room or into any other room for that matter.... even his luggages were still resting here but he had no trace to show! I couldn't understand what was he even trying to do. Was he showing me his attitude?? Hadn't he had enough of it already?
That jerk...
I got up in a jiffy. Coco was sleeping beside me. I covered her up with the duvet and stepped down from the bed, slid my feet in my bunny slippers, wrapped a stole over my camisole and walked out of my room to head for the deck.
May be I wasn't going to find him over there...may be he was still busy sitting inside Priyanka's room, sharing drinks with her and bragging about how miserable his life had turned due to me. Whatever it was, I still decided to get him back to his own room...not becoz I was missing him or something.. but becoz I needed to talk with him.. I needed closure.. pretty badly infact.
•
The winds were rather strong when I reached the deck.
Amidst those fiery winds and the darkness of night, I found my Dev standing against the railing at a far-away corner with a burning piece of cigarette tucked between his slightly parted lips.
The red hot end of that cigarette, contrasted against the dark canvas of the sky, hammered such a nail in my heart that I shivered up from within.
"Dev?"
A meek call broke out of my choked throat as my feet took me to the person who didn't even notice me coming.
-"You?" He turned back now. His eyes immediately displayed a tinge of surprise and a bigger pool of sorrow, all at the same time.
His pain, mirrored into mine, gave another pang in my heart and my guts almost clenched under its affects.
"You are smoking?!!"
-"Seems like that only." He laughed bitterly, looking at the half burnt cigarette piece in his hand.
"Smoking is injurious to health... And you being a cardiologist, should have known this better than others!"
In response, he just turned back to the other side and puffed his lungs with further bouts of smoke.
"Since when have you taken smoking, Dev?" I probbed again.
-"Thats none of you business." He exhaled a perfect smoke ring into the air.
"Yeah..sorry." I chuckled sarcastically and turned away from him. The dark blue hues of the ocean, merging with the pitch black of the night sky came to my view then and it got me almost mesmerized. However, I shook my head and slightly tilted it backwards to say to Dev- "Aren't you coming to the room?"
He remained silent for some time. Few more smoke rings popped out of his mouth inbetween. Finally after making me wait for two good minutes, he cared to reply- "Do you want me to come to that room?"
"Are you planning to stay in Priyanka's room?" I muttered sharply.
He looked back at me the moment I finished my sentence. Not to mention, those looks that he bestowed weren't simple at all and were literally devilish glares, quite capable to succumb me down to ashes.
However, nothing of that sort happened as he quickly removed his gaze, tapped the remains of his the cigarette against the iron railings and marched towards our room with me following him behind just like a helpless, scared kitten.
Such pathetic of me! Duh!!
-"You wanted to talk?" He asked disinterestedly, once we reached our room.
"Hmm." I nodded agreeing. I had no idea how he understood that I wanted to talk with him. But nevertheless, he had just easend my work and I quickly jumped to proceed with it further. "You aren't staying with Priyanka?" I enquired curiously.
He rolled his tongue over his jaws and replied me gritting- "I would have better stayed with Adit."
Oh. A satisfactory sigh escaped my lips.
-"....I wasn't dying to be touchy with another woman, you know" he added next.
"You meant it in the other way..that I was being touchy with other men for the sake of pleasure.... isn't it Dev?" And my mouth fell open with this.
-"I never said anything like that!" He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.
"But you meant that only!" A sudden lump of hatred got accumulated in my throat. "Its so sick of you Dev! I can't believe that you have stooped so low!!... You think about your wife like this!! Chi...disgusting!!"
-"First of all, I really didn't say anything like that.. and secondly, IF YOU CAN DO SUCH THINGS THEN WHY CAN'T I SAY THE SAME?" He blabbed in a high, yet controlled voice, taking care that his baby didn't get wake up.
"I can do such things? What things are you talking about, Dev? What did I do??"
-"As if you know nothing!" He rolled his eyes in amusement, which turned into sarcasm the very next moment. "Right... Why will you know anything? You are too 'naive' and 'innocent' for all these na!"
"Listen Dev, if you are taunting me then please make sure you have got a good reason. Becoz reasons like -'dancing with another guy is equals to getting touchy with him', are not accepted at all!....atleast I am never gonna accept them.. Keep that in mind." I retorted in a threatningly calm tone.
-"Dance?" He let out another sarcastic chuckle as he continued further- "That guy was literally wriggling on you and you call those steps 'dancing'? Seriously Tara? Seriously you are so naive? I just can't believe that, man!!"
"HE WASN'T WRIGGLING ON ME, DEV!" The most awaited outburst finally happened. However, it got receeded within the span of the moment and was redirected to a soft, hissing whisper instead "He wasn't wriggling on me, Dev...but even if he was doing so then you had no rights to say about it becoz you had been doing exactly the same thing Priyanka!" I said, pointing out my index finger at him accussingly and confidently.
-"You only saw us dancing together.... but never noticed that my fingers hadn't even touched that girl for once!" This time, it was pain and no sarcasm, that oozed out of his words.
"Yea, such a saint!" I smiled cheekily, fluttering away my eyelashes and feigning the ultimate innocense.
-"The spot lights focussed upon you, told US more stories than what your dimlit vision told YOU... believe that already eh?"
"And its soooo pathetically sick now!"
-"Stop lying to yourself. I can swear you'll feel better that."
"I am lying to myself?" My brows furrowed deep while my eyes turned big and round. Shock had hit them hard, I suppose.
And why won't be it so even after seeing the nonchalant expressions on Dev's face accompanied by his casual shrugging of shoulders?! Damn, it was him to lied to me about his relation with Priyanka and now he turned all tables by calling 'me' the liar!
He was really such a big time jerk!!!!!
FEW HOURS BACK:
"Holla peeps, I'M BACK!!!" Addy announced on his microphone as the audience present below, broke into a huge round of applause.
"I know, I know. You have been missing me quite for sometime now....All thanks to this boring Rayan for that." He teasingly kicked one of his band memebers while that guy named Rayan, faked frustration and moved to one side of the stage, letting Addy continue his speech- "So now that am back again and will be singing the romantic meddley that I promised, I want to dedicate my song to this pretty lady who, quite fortunately, has agreed to be my dance partner tonight!"
He looked at me with pure adoration, making me totally uncomfortable under his ogling eyes.
"Umm...Addy, if you dance with me then who will play your guitar??" I asked slutteringly, more to divert his gaze than that to satisfy my curiosity.
"What is this Rayan here for?" He smirked playfully and called out his friend- "RAYAN!!"
Before I could register more, Addy had tossed his guitar to Rayan and grabbed my waist with one of his hands while his other hand interlocked with mine and pulled it up in the mid air.
'Dil ko... tumse pyar hua
Pehli baar hua
Tumse pyar hua'
What the hell is singing? My eyebrows shot up immediately.
'Main bhi... aashiq yaar hua
Pehli baar hua
Tumse pyar hua'
Addy smirked again upon seeing the flabbergasted, shocking expressions on my stupidified face.
'Chaayi hai...betaabi
Meri jaan kaho main kya karun
Chaayi hai...betaabi
Meri jaan kaho main kya karun
Dil ko... tumse pyar hua
Pehli baar hua
Tumse pyar hua
Main bhi... aashiq yaar hua
Pehli baar hua
Tumse pyaar hua'
He kept singing while his hands continued the rest of the work of twirling me around him.
'Kho gaya main khayalon mein
Ab neend bhi nahi aankhon mein
Karwatein bas badalta hoon
Ab jaagta hoon main raaton mein
Tu kehde haske toh
Tod doon main rasmo ko'
Shit, shit, shit! This is gonna be so dangerous! He has no idea what is he doing and even I couldn't say him anything about Dev!!... Dev.. he is right there in the audience itself and is watching everything for sure...... god knows what is he thinking..what is he planning now! ...What if he comes on the stage on knocks out Addy? He can do this very well, right? He has done things like before also.....shit, why did I agree to dance with this guy?!! I put his reputation at stake..and as for my reputation- well, lets just forget that!...... shit yaar, why did this guy have to be so stubborn? I told him not to bring me on stage but he still did that anyway. Now what will I do for him? How will I save him haan??.. Should I ask him to stop singing? But he can't do that right now... then what else??
'Marke bhi naa todun
Main teri qasmon ko
Main toh aaya hoon yahan pe bas tere liye
Tera tann mann bas hai mere liye
Haseena gori gori
Churaye chori chori
Churaye dil chori chori chori
chori chori
Dil ko...tumse pyar hua
Pehli bar hua
Tumse pya.....'
Dhish.
That was sound of Dev's fist, gliding against the length of Addy's left cheek.
Sounded harmless? But it wasn't so in reality. Infact, it was pretty opposite. It was a male punch afterall, born out of the male ego and compiled with extremes of possessiveness.... I hope now you all can imagine the impacts of that punch?!
-"Don't you dare look at my wife.... let alone touching her again!" Dev hissed in anger, pulling me by the arm to make me collide upon his chest.
"WHAT? Wife??!!!" Addy muttered lowly as he attempted to get up from the floor. Shock was dripping from his voice and blood, from the right corner of his lips. His legs were slightly wobbly, but somehow he still managed to stand on them without anyone's assistance.
And here this 'anyone' meant not only his band members but his darling little sister too, who was none other than Amaya Malik herself!
"Hey Addy, are you alright?" She rushed to check on her brother's injury.
However, Addy ignored all her concerns and spat bitterly while looking at Dev- "These kind of people you invite to your wedding?"
"I am apologizing on his behalf, Addy. I am sorry... I really am." I hurriedly intruded inbetween...only to get pulled back by my unapologetic husband.
-"Why are you saying sorry on MY behalf when I am least sorry for what I did?" Dev muttered under his breathes.
"Just shut up, okay?" I glared at him and turned towards Addy again. "Please forgive him Addy.. it was just a misconception and..."
"Why didn't you tell me that you are married and have got such a brute of a husband?" Addy asked back instead.
"I couldn't even tell you my name...you didn't give me that chance only!" I sighed and he huffed in response, nodding a bit seriously.
"You are right, I assumed everything too fast... I should have better checked if you are single or not...OR if this man is NOT committed with his dance partner or not... I should have checked.. seriously!!" He bluntly pointed towards Dev, who in turn, had geared himself up for placing another tight punch square on Addy's cheek.
"Enough Dev, stop it now." I screeched irritatedly as I grabbed his balled fist and looked back at the brother-sister duo to apologize for a final time- "Sorry Amaya and Addy... please forgive us..and yeah, we'll talk tomorrow!"
I dint know what was I supposed to say the next day. Maybe a proper apology could have helped.... well, that was the only thing I had been doing since the past three years... Ever since I married Dev, he ensured that he punched and kicked everyone of those men who touched me or even dared to look at me. Not everyone is a fuckboy, not everyone has a bad intension but who would describe that to Dev? He and his possessiveness had reached to a different level altogether and only I was left behind to apologize before them who had to suffer so much becoz of me!
With a dense cloud of tensions and negativities in head, I stepped into a secluded area of the cruise. And by the time I reached my room, I found Dev missing from my side again.
I needed to talk with him and he, too, knew that quite well. Yet, he still had to flee from the situation, making me totally rethink my choice of calling him a 'jerk'.
Jerk? Huh! It was so an understatement for him!!
Current times:
"Its yiur misconception Dev. I am not lying to myself." I said to him with my hands crossed across the chest.
Dev stared in there for sometime before he hurriedly shook his head and replied casually
-"Yeah..whatever."
His awkward reply made my frowns deepen. However, I simply shrugged them off and blabbed in a commanding tone-
"You'll apologize to them tomorrow morning."
-"Over my dead body?" he chuckled sarcastically.
I noticed in awe how sarcasm ran in his body like blood. But since I had nothing to do with it anymore, I skipped that part... or lets say 'ignored' it and said to him again- "Over your dead body or what, you better decide that on your own.... and as for the rest of this night, please sleep on that sofa.. I can't share this bed with you, Dev... Hope you understand."
I ended with a sweet smile as I kept a pillow and a spare bedsheet beside him and returned to the bed to finally call it off a night.
•
It was quite late when my eyes opened to the darkness again.
A strange, yet known sensation had been surrounding me from all the sides and I literally felt myself drowning into it.
Damn! That sensation belonged to Dev's arms snaking around my waist and his long legs resting over mine as if I was his much owned, personal goodie bag!!!
Not that I wasn't so... Dev really owned me..till this date and for ever if it was even possible.
"Dev?" I called him slowly.
-"Shhh...let me sleep." His right arm moved to my lips to cover them with his index finger.
"But you were supposed to sleep on the couch na!" I murmured against his finger.
Reluctantly, he bent that finger over my lower lapel and spoke in a sleepy voice while snuggling his nose in the the nape of my neck
-"I was getting cramps over there."
Do I need to tell how cute it sounded? I don't think so :3
"Whatever Dev.. I don't care. Just go back to your place okay."
-"Try me out." He switched his tone to the typical huskiness and made way for a brighter shade of red to crawl to my cheeks.
"Dev..."
-"Good night babes."
Probably his clutch around my waist grew tighter too.
"Dev!!!"
-"....."
"......"
Hmmmmm.... sleep time, I guess!
____________________________________
Author's note :P
For those who found Dev & Nitara little bizzare, I must say to them that love DOES make people go crazy like this. Its a default phenomenon and there is no way out of it.
So next time if you find a love which is not so crazy, just know that it is not love at all.
P.S- song given in the update has been there in the media box. Check out this exclusive melody by Siddharth Slathia and enjoy your reading alongwith :)
~