No big notes HERE, there is so much in this part, GO READ AND SHOWER LOTS OF LOVE FOR YOUR KRISHI BABY! Thanks a ton for the love and support I'm getting on my fanpage and Wattpad too, and yes I'm only 15 :P
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Parth
I watched as she masked her sadness with a fake smile. I was numb with engulfed terror, not knowing how to approach or react to a distressed crying girl–for the very first time. Fake smiles always have a story behind them.
Right, I looked nothing less than a stalker, standing right outside her cabin and creeping in on her at 10 in the night! Witnessing Niti cry by herself made a little part in me shatter. It can't be love, and it's definitely not love... Love doesn't feel like this, Parth! Love takes time. Love requires patience and commitment from both ends. Love is...
"Suno..." I muttered under my breath as she exited her vanity.
"Parth!" She wisped quite loudly, her hair flying off her shoulders as she turned around and gaped at me with eyes of a hawk. I didn't expect such a horrified reaction from her. I would be worried otherwise, but the way her palm was pressed over her heart and the way her chest heaved under the gentle lighting made my heart smile. It was just the little things about her that I noticed because she was responsible for rewarding me with happiness–getting tasty food on sets–and for no reason at all.
"Dara diya tumne toh... acchha batao kya baat hai?" She said, quickly diverting the wandering-off professionalism barrier between us and avoiding eye-contact in the process. Anyone would find it suspicious that the people playing such a romantic couple on screen were not even friends in real life. I believe the 'not friends' phase actually helps the onscreen romance. Parth and Niti, just like Manik and Nandini that time, were never 'friends.'
Anyways, a lot of courage in me was consumed to say the next few words without sounding creepy. There was a more significant psychological issue behind my lack of confidence with women; and a majority of the times, I managed to mask that insecurity well–this was not one of those times. I took a tiny step closer, and I knew it was only a little step because my big feet didn't feel like they even shifted. I leaned in a little bit to look at her face from the open crevice between her hair strands.
"Tum andhar... ro rahi thi?" I never sounded more underconfident in my entire life. I already knew the answer of course, but I wanted her to confess how much she valued our 'bond' and how low she could trust her walls down on me.
Only God knew how such an uptight and reserved man could melt down his layers of hardness and be purely vulnerable for a woman like Niti. I'm not gonna lie; for a few moments, I tried putting myself in her shoes and a younger me, a darker, broken version was who I could envision within me. On some levels, I connected with her in unspoken ways. That was our bond–unspoken sparks.
She shrugged her shoulders, while her face still hung on her neck lazily. "Nah-nahi toh... crying? ME? Haha... Come on, Parth." She tried to fake a laugh or two, and I didn't like it. We were a couple onscreen, but nothing in real life. We spent so much time working on our characters together, that slowly I started seeking a Nandini in her, and I wanted her to reciprocate the resilience I promoted.
She was a lot like Nandini. She was a silent fighter, who hid her fears and tears and thought of those emotions as a weakness that people around her shouldn't have access to. She was always there to spread joy and give a shoulder to those who needed it on sets but never did she selfishly throw in her problems in the way of anything between the crew. She dealt with them alone. No actors from the show knew much about Niti, but she knew everyone quite well in the few months we've hung out. Even though she and I had tiffs, she co-operated to maintain a cordial relationship when we hung out as a group–NH3 and FAB 5.
I wanted to be her Manik. That was what the world wanted, too.
"Nandini... Come with me?" It sounded more like a plea; I desperately wanted her to trust me without asking me any further questions to seek validation. I meekly extended my hand out before her, requesting her to take it. When she looked at me with uncertainty, I blinked in assurance.
"Kahan?"
"Manik ke saath nahi chalogi?" She sighed with a smile and placed her hand over mine and they fit perfectly. I'd noticed that before too, but we were on square one then. Maybe this could be the turning point. I gently tugged her over to where my bike was parked.
I gestured her to sit on the vehicle, which she politely complied to until she couldn't. She tried to hop on to the seat when the bike was parked by pushing the curb with her feet, but she was so short, and it was adorable to watch her scuffle have her ways. I pressed my lips together to control the infamous little smirk that popped right after admiring that woman. What was there to not like about her?
My hands intuitively reached for her waist, just like Manik would. Once my sanity kicked in, I forced them down to my sides midway to not creep the living shit out of her. She eyed me from between her lashes hoping for some assistance, but she would never clearly tell me. I resorted to help her up by kicking the leg rest down, which she forgot to notice initially. Her face turned red, and while stealthily studying me, she clumsily sat on the bike.
The mad boy wiggled for a second in imbalance, and her hands sought my shoulders instantly. Her gorgeous eyes gleamed into mine under the moonlight, gratifying me as her savior. Somehow, I was always present in all of her accidents, to save her from the pits of troubles she dug for herself. She did trust me, but she was a woman of actions, just like me.
When a person lacks something that another person has an abundance of and vice versa, they can say they complete each other. They could define their relationship. That's what Manik and Nandini were, people who filled each other's voids and in turn, were flawless together.
In our case, she and I were the same parts of identical puzzles, just copies. We could never fill each other's missing pieces, but we could help each other conquer them and build ourselves together.
I took both her hands in each of mine and held them securely as my eyes locked into hers, seeking and reflecting assurance. "When I was a young boy, I was put into a boarding school that I hated." Her eyes widened suspiciously. She wasn't sure if I was cooking it up or genuine with my story. "Yeah... Every boy in Panchgani went to that school, and they were all nasty. It was horrible! My parents would visit me once in two weeks, and bring me one box of homemade food because..."
"...you love food." She completed for me. I smiled, nodding playfully. I noticed her eyes shift to my loose long bangs, that flicked with the jerks my head made. I saw the smile lines around her eyes, though her lips were straight and firm. The genuine happiness that beamed off her face, even when she didn't even twitch her mouth was contagious. She weirdly enjoyed my company, I could tell.
My eyes lowered to her nose tip, that was pink from her crying earlier. She rubbed it with her hand and then sniffed. Man, was she the cutest woman I knew! I couldn't resist myself from burning myself with her heat. I took a second to step into her, and at that point, I crossed the professionalism bar.
I could feel her breath on the corners of my lips. Even while sitting on my bike, her height couldn't match mine. I was still slightly taller, with her forehead at my eye-level. I observed her plump lips, that she cutely wiped off anxiously with the tip of her tongue, making it glisten with saliva. Her hands pressed into mine, to push me away I guess, but her efforts didn't feel like. She hardly tried to move me.
"I weighed a lot too, and so many girls used to avoid me." I continued with my story, drawing in deep breaths along with random bits from random segments of my memory. To be honest, it was a part of me that I'd never broadcasted to anyone. Nobody knew this secret about me, not even my parents. In fact, the bullying sequence traumatized me to no extent, that I never gathered the strength to open it up, until now.
Only then I realized that it was me who was clasping onto her limbs. I needed the physical support.
"Really? Tumko?" She sounded like that was such an impossible task. She was fascinated, to say the least. Her eyes glistened at the sight of me. Was she charmed by me, or my story, or the fact that such a rough exterior emerged from being taken advantage of in several instances of my life?
I mean, I knew without a doubt that I bothered her, but in a good way? I wasn't so sure. I smirked at her remark, while she sat unabashed too. Maybe for the first time, Niti Taylor was not shying away from confrontation. She didn't want to escape the story. Every anecdote I were to narrate had two pairs of ears keen. I was grappling with secrets she wanted me to unleash. Why would she be so interested?
"You can't believe, huh?" I couldn't help but giggle. The scenario I was describing wasn't as scary anymore, especially when we were having such a jovial discussion about it.
"Tum aise dikhte nahi ho!" She pointed her finger from my head to my toes like drunk Nandini, and then we both smirked at each other before cracking up. Manik and Nandini will always be an inside joke, or connection, for us!
"Really?" She just hummed lazily. "Phir batao, kaisa lagta hoon main tumko?" Our legs fit in the spaces of each other. One of my legs was sandwiched in hers, and one of hers was stuck in between mine. Her body stiffened at the constrictions.
She paused in between, sat up straight and wiggled our interlocked hands up and down. "Acchha suno..." They then settled on her lap, and I felt myself take a deep breath. My hands were inches away from the cores of her femininity, and I don't know how a man could think of anything else at an instant like that. She was reassuring me of the professionalism line we'd leaped over quite some time ago. "I just kind of miss my family, that's all."
"That's all? No, that's not all..." I mumbled in a trance. We were professional to the entire world, but each other.
"Phir?" She interrogated with an ego that yelled nobody could know her better than herself! For a woman who preached about self-sufficiency and self-worth, I was sure she would be the last woman to let a man break through her walls. That was one of the only reasons that pushed me to try my luck.
My jaw dropped speechlessly at her pure radiance. She deserved the world, no wonder she had the hearts of so many on sets. Who wouldn't want to befriend her? "I mean, we'll fix that." I scratched one of my temples with the index finger, slyly meeting her eyes.
"Hain?"
"Peeche hato." She slowly balanced herself and then slithered behind like a baby caterpillar. Awww... I fumbled consciously before throwing my arms over the hand bar and then flicked a leg over, to seat myself comfortably in the rider's spot. Her eyebrows furrowed curiously, but she didn't question further. Even our silence blended in like we were meant to be.
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Niti
There are a very few things in this universe that confuse the hell out of me. The first on my list is Parth Samthaan... oh sorry, Mr. Laghate!
"Why is your last name Samthaan?" The bike rode over a small bump, making me crash into his back. I gasped while he jumped up, driving to the sidewalks before balancing the beast with his feet to the ground.
He took a few breaths, closing his eyes and murmuring something, probably he was plotting plans to throw me off the bridge or something God only knew before I heard the most insensitive word in the planet: "What?" He was again being his old sadu self, frowning and yelling for no reason. I cringed my face too, to replicate his offensive expressions.
"Kya... Bolo?" Through the mirror, I saw him rolling his eyes and then styling his hair with his fingers. Itna attitude? I couldn't deny, I was a little smitten with the perfume he wore and the demeanor he saved only for me. There could be no more exceptional man than Laghate on this planet, take it from me.
Gawking at him only hit my ego. I cleared my throat, took a couple of soft breaths to compose myself and then started. "Fine, bolna hai toh bolo otherwise I don't care only. Huh! Tumhare interviewer se puchti toh at least jawaab milta!" I lethargically shrugged my shoulders. I couldn't care less about what he had to say anyway, right? Right.
"Oh really? Tumko kabse interviews ki shauk hai? They piss you off, jahan tak mujhe pata hai."
"Haan toh, even you piss me off sometimes; but main kabhi kuch bolti hoon?" I had just said too much. I could've just stopped with 'haan toh' but when has Niti Taylor's brain ever worked properly? Never hai na? He didn't utter a word after that allegation.
My heart sank into my stomach, while my brain throbbed, banging itself hopelessly into my skull for being so dumb all the time. Parth, I'm sorry. Too bad I was too short to even look into his mirrors without taking the support of his shoulders. I was very susceptible to tripping and falling anyways, but on bikes it's scarier because there is no tripping and being saved–sometimes you're directly saved in heaven! I didn't even take the chances. I sat quietly, squirming in grief.
Why do I always have to say so much, or so little?!
Accha suno...
"That's my personality, Niti. People tend to dislike me sometimes." He spoke in an audible tone, giving away no signs of grief or sorrow.
"You're actually... not that bad, I guess?" I meant it as a consolation, but I sounded unsure while making a comment myself. Obviously he's a good man; he never misbehaves or disrespects anyone. He gets concerned when his female co-actors are left on sets alone at night or when they are crying or both–like me. He's a morally good person; I think it's just not in our stars to click with each other.
The bike came to a halt while I was processing what the hell I was doing, and my biggest fear came true? What, did Parth want me to get the hell out and walk my way back home or something? Looking around, I saw guards at a distance. He stopped the bike, put his helmet on and sped up until the parking ticket station.
"Parth Samthaan, I'd called in for Landmark earlier." He briefly took off his helmet, they nodded submissively at him, and then let him in. It was unnatural that they'd check people who entered like that personally, but it was around 10:30 and entry into the mall weren't allowed after closing times.
Except, we were celebrities and had to enter at times like that to bypass the media and public's attention.
Infiniti Mall.
"Huh! Nice." I wasn't expecting a night outing at a mall with Mr. Laghate after the brief argument we had, but that man was full of surprises.
I thought it was best to keep my mouth shut after the nasty encounter a few minutes ago so I quietly just obeyed his undeclared instructions. In short, I just tried to handle my problems without causing any new troubles for either of us, and that was only a significant contribution!
He was taking quick strides and matching his pace, I was basically running behind him. No other option. "Huh, agar itni hi jaldi thi then why did you bring me along?" I clasped his hand to ensure he doesn't run away again, while gasping the words in the elevator lobby.
"I have a little niece called Isha, and I want to get her a gift this time I'm going to Pune." Irrelevant, irrelevant, irrelevant.
"So?" My hold was snapped off with the jerk of his arm.
"Tumko kya laga, itna daant wagera sunne ke baad aise hi jaane dunga tumko?"
I couldn't believe this. I had to be home, with my boy Ador who I hardly get to see these days–thanks to Mr. Vikas Gupta who's increased my shoot slots with this jerk, and upar se 16 hours kaafi nahi the ki pure din iss khadoos ki hi shakal ghoorti rahu? I was hungry and sleep-deprived but nobody gave a damn. That was what Mom had warned me with before joining this industry!
"Huh, tumko zara sa bhi dusron ki fikr nahi hai, na?" He clicked his lips with a smirk, and then the elevator pinged before us. I could run away at this moment, but then the guards who were outside found me entering with him and wouldn't let me out alone: of course, they wouldn't want to disobey the celebrity's orders! I had no other choice, and he did it on purpose! Ugh! I hate him...
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I was sitting on a tiny red stool meant for kids, with a novel in my hands. He'd forced me in with him, but that didn't imply I was bound to help him. I never was really into books, but I wanted to stay as far away from his business as I could, so I resorted to novels. I was 22 pages in, and on the 14th line precisely, before I sensed him circling the aisle, I was in, through my peripheral vision. I closed my eyes shut in despair, before staring at the Eiffel Tower who was shadowing me, peeping into my novel 'casually.'
As I glared at him, he cleverly flipped to see the book cover, mouthed the title while hissing on a few syllables to annoy me and then formed an 'O' with his lips. The fake fascination he expressed after that drove me to the edge.
"Tumne choose kiya ki nahi?"
"I'm still looking around. Tum ladki hi ho na, tum bhi help kar sakti ho mujhe! That way... we can drop you off faster..." He paused appropriately at the parts of his sentence he knew I'd pay attention to. I grumbled, murmuring a few fits of abuse before throwing the book on my seat and hopping off to the monster's rescue for my benefit.
I followed him to the toy section that was on the other end of the store. We went around a few aisles, and then I spotted the soft toy section. Ah, damn. I wasn't supposed to go there. I remembered when I was a couple of years younger, and I stashed my room entirely with soft toys so that I would always have a cute, cuddly animal wherever I went and whenever I needed.
The first toy that caught my eye was a giant green frog-head, with a round belly covered in a green striped shirt and oblong limbs like any other stuffed animal. I instantly picked it up and cuddled with it, which was like the size of a newborn baby. "Aww, this is damn fluffy!" I pressed my cheek into its cheek, closing my eyes and hugging it like a real little human. Oh my, I love this frog.
Parth gave me a creeped-out look, awkwardly staring at the frog and judging it and my preferences too. "Really? I think it's ugly!"
"You are ugly!" I blurted arrogantly, taking full offense of what he said about Froggie. Yeah, I'd already named him too!
"Acchha? Theek hai phir, bhaiyya, isse pack kardo. Isha ko pasand aayegi." He said the last sentence inaudibly and out of spite. An assistant came over and stood next to me helplessly waiting for me to let go of that 'last piece in the showroom.' I grit my teeth, fisted my hands, and stomped my foot agitated with that smug smile on Parth's perfect face. He combed his hair with his fingers while whistling his way out.
HOW. CAN. SOMEONE. BE. SO. TRIGGERING.
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He stopped in front of my house gate, tilting the bike to one side to help me get down but I didn't need his help. I held the seat, did some gymnastics on the bike and then got down conveniently without even touching a part of his body. The entire time while I struggled to get down, his face turned to the side, and through the corner of his eyes, he oversaw every movement of mine. As the significant weight bounced off his gaadi, he combed his hair yet again and smirked at a retreating Niti Taylor.
"Good night."
I paid zero heed. All my patience was tested that night. He did everything in his best effort to bother me, and guess what? He succeeded because he deprived me of the one thing that made me momentarily find so much happiness! My ignorance was pushing every impulse in his body too–just what I wanted. Payback, Mr. Laghate. "Niti, I said good night."
"You have a horrible night, I don't care." I said, without even turning back but flicking my wrist at him to get the hell out.
"Thank you nahi bologi? Drop karne ke liye?" HUH!
"THANK YOU SO MUCH, Mr. OH-SO-HANDSOME SAMTHAAN." I mimicked in a sarcastic tone, acting with my hands out dramatically shaking with my body as I made weird faces at him. He smiled subtly, possibly enjoying the torture he had put me through. In the end, I was disappointed in myself for giving him a treat to watch!
I turned back towards my door and headed towards it. I had such a horrible day; it couldn't have been worse!
"Niti..." He cooed finally, softer than earlier. I didn't know what made me turn around, but I did. The frown lines on my face denoted how exhausted and done with him I was. I blinked my eyes once sleepily, and a parcel came slamming me in the face. I caught it before it could graze the cement underneath—the little pink package.
My eyes met his dark, distant ones. "Sleep well." He said with a small smile that reached the corners of his eyelids. His bike then vroomed into the dark, and I watched him leave while I hugged the tiny gift he'd bought for me–feeling ecstatic and confused at the same time.
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Disclaimer: All the scenes are 100% original and real in Krishi's imagination, so please haters kuch bolna mat :P
ALSO, REGULAR UPDATES ABSE! YAYAYAYAYAY! <3 DON'T FORGET TO TAP THE STAR BELOW HEHEHUHU!
YESYESYESYES! THEY ARE SLOWLY, STEADILY FALLING FOR EACH OTHER :") OMLOMLOML IM EXCITED TO WRITE NEXT PART! *TAKES DEEP BREATH*
And I have never been to Mumbai so I really just used Google to get the information in this part. Correct me if I'm wrong, thank you so much lovelies! You don't know how happy PaNi makes me, and this platform is a way I get to express that happiness; I'm glad you all chose to walk this journey with me. Next update next week, Monday to Thursday anytime depending on kitna pyaar milta hai, pyaar is motivation :P
I'm kidding, no deadlines-I write as I please because the support y'all give me is only a boost to my own abundance of love for them but it'll go a long way so please please *holds hands in prayer* bless this kid, hehe!