Sonakshi stood in front of the mirror of her makeup room on the sets of her show 'Kahaani Parvati ki', giving herself a pep talk, trying not to burst into tears right away.
"Sona stop this... Raima Rohit ka pehla pyar hai and its obvious ki woh use chunega... Usne na hi tumhe call kiya hai itne time se ya na hi tumse milne ki koshish ki hai... Apne kaam par focus karo... Smile" She mumbled to herself with tears streaming down her face as she ended and forced a fake smile.
It had been more than a month since Raima had walked in the Sippy Mansion while Rohit was proposing to Sonakshi. As Raima's condition deteriorated, Rohit had quite literally thrown Sonakshi out of the house. Sonakshi had understood that Raima was Rohit's patient and that he was her and she was his first love and it was quite obvious that Rohit had reacted that way after listening to Raima's truth but she hoped that Rohit would come back to her and keep his words and the promises that he had made to her as he confessed to her.
Much to Sonakshi's dismay, that day had never occurred and her life went on the way it was before Rohit had set a foot in her life, but the only thing that had changed was that she felt as if a small part of her was snatched away from her and was never going to be back to her. Her life had become quite monotonous, with her smiles being fake to everyone around.
She had started to 'act' as Sonakshi Rastogi, and be the Sonakshi that everyone wanted in their lives, even though it exhausted her. For a person that never acted outside of a set, she had become quite an expert in acting as if everything was fine even if her heart was breaking each moment.
"Ma'am aapka shot ready hai" One of the female colleagues walked in with a script in her hand and kept the paper on the table. "Aur yeh abhi ke scene ki script" she said as she ran to call the other actors.
Sonakshi walked up to the table and picked up the paper. As she read every word, she felt extremely connected to what Parvati would be going through in the scene.
In the episode of the previous night, Kunal had had an accident and was suffering through an extreme case of amnesia where he had forgotten Parvati and all his memories related to her. The scene that they were shooting at that moment, was that Kunal had gotten better and started working, again.
A colleague of his, who had always despised Parvati and had wanted to be with Kunal forever, had taken this opportunity to get closer to Kunal, who had felt his emotions getting stronger for her. The colleague had planned to use Kunal's feelings for her against Parvati. The scene included a monologue of Parvati, when Kunal was asleep, telling him how she felt about him and the situation that stood in between them.
Sonakshi felt more tears stream down her face, dampening the paper. She quickly wiped her tears, put on a brave and walked up to the set. Sumit walked up to her and waved a hand at her. He had noticed quite a difference in her in the past month. She always seemed quiet on the sets and had stopped interacting with everyone if it wasn't important. Everyone was confused with her behavior but had soon let it go but he, as a matter of fact, had known the reason for her to behave the way she did. (PS - Sumit and Sonakshi are quite good friends in this. He isn't like how he was in the show)
After he had dropped Raima to the Sippy Mansion the night Rohit was going to propose to Sonakshi, he had immediately felt an attraction to her and had inquired about her from Sonakshi the next day who seemed extremely sad while telling him that she was Rohit's ex. Noticing the change in her tone as he asked her about Raima, he immediately decided to have a talk to Rohit. He knew Sonakshi had loved Rohit the moment he had seen Rohit step into the sets frequently about 2 months before.
The first time he had a chat with Rohit, he too seemed quite disturbed, just like Sonakshi and hadn't revealed much. The second time, as he noticed Sonakshi become quieter and quieter and working herself down to the bone, he decided to have a talk with Raima almost 2 weeks later, who by then, had already known the relationship that Rohit and Sonakshi shared.
As Raima had come out of her 4 year long coma, her brain hadn't still started functioning properly and the sudden changes in her body and organs, as she woke up, led her to take drastic decisions and she blamed Sonakshi, being the last person that she saw before closing her eyes, for whatever had happened to her 4 years ago. As her brain and body started getting back to normal, she contemplated over what had happened and regretted blaming Sonakshi for everything, when truly even she was a victim that night.
As things started getting back to normal between her and Rohit, as well, she could feel a certain invisible distance between them and her doubts had come to light. Rohit loved Sonakshi. As things started getting registered in her brain, she read a message that Rohit had sent her a week before and she remembered the moment she had walked into Sippy Mansion and realised that Sonakshi had been there because Rohit had wanted to propose to her and she had ruined it for them.
She had tried talking the same with Rohit, telling him that it wasn't Sonakshi's fault, that she wanted to talk to Sonakshi and that she knew he loved her, but Rohit had brushed it off saying that that wasn't the case. Raima had tried her hardest to contact Sonakshi but Sonakshi, after that night, had taken up an extremely hectic schedule, which made it difficult for anyone to even have a talk with her at the least.
Raima and Sumit had soon decided to reunite Rohit and Sonakshi but their ever so hectic schedules had never given them a chance to even sit and chat with either of them. Raima had already given her green signal to Rohit the minute she realised that he had loved Sonakshi but Rohit, being the dumbo that he was, still hadn't taken the decision of meeting Sonakshi, even though it clearly broke his heart to do so. Raima had also realised that her feelings for Rohit had been fading away as the time passed by and she felt a strong connection to Sumit, which she was sure even he did.
As the scene of Parvati's monologue went on, Sonakshi felt a slight tug in her heart and the fake tears that flowed from her eyes, turned into real ones as the pain in her heart became unbearable. She still held on till her packup for the day and immediately broke down the minute she entered her makeup room.
**********
Rohit sat on the chair in his cabin as the last patient walked out. He felt extremely exhausted and Sonakshi's face still lingered in front of his eyes. All he wanted to do, at this point was to give her a tight hug and break down in her arms, losing himself in those brown locks of hers and never finding a way back.
He knew he had hurt her, probably more than anything else ever did and he wanted to make that right but he wasn't sure how to. The day that he had proposed to Sonakshi, he knew that he had completely gotten over Raima, but his guilt still remained there. The moment he had seen Raima walk back into his life, the day he was going to propose to Sonakshi, he knew that he hadn't had any feelings of love towards Raima and that he'd only love Sonakshi but the guilt of losing Raima due to his surgery had consumed him and he had pushed Sonakshi away.
That tear stricken face of Sonakshi was something he's never forget in his life. After Raima had come to her senses after having fainted, he had tried to be extremely normal towards her, not letting her know about him and Sonakshi. After about a week later, as Raima's brain and organs started getting normal, she had herself seen the difference in him and had realised how wrong she was in blaming Sonakshi. She had seen that he loved Sonakshi and had soon confronted him about the same, telling him that it was fine if he did go back to her.
Rohit had seen Raima's feelings for him fade away too, and getting stronger for Sumit as he saw them together every now and again, and he knew it was the right time to talk to Sonakshi but he wasn't ever able to muster up courage to do the same.
It had been more than a week since Raima had moved out of the Sippy Mansion with her mom and she had pestering him to have a chat with Sonakshi. Sumit had also called him, telling him how much Sonakshi had changed and that he needed to go to her soon. Rohit had decided quite a lot of times that he would go to her set and talk with her but the fact that he had hurt her so deep, just never let him work on it. He didn't want to stand in front of her, after all this while and make other false promises and break them on a later note to hurt her again. He felt incapable to keep those promises.
A loud ring broke him away from his thoughts and he looked on to his phone as its screen flashed the name of Raima. He picked it up and put it near his ear.
"Rohit sets par Sonakshi ka accident ho gaya hai... Jaldi aao" Sumit said, panting from the other side of the phone. Raima, who had come there to meet him post his packup had asked him to call Rohit to the sets so that him and Sonakshi could finally have a chat. She had seen Sonakshi breakdown in her room and felt that it was high time that they have a long conversation.
"Kya?" Rohit almost screamed with shock, getting up from his seat. "Usko hospital leke aao jaldi... Main idhar hi hu" A certain fear engulfed him.
"Arey nahi Rohit woh thik hai... Hospital aane ki zarurat nahi hai but tum doctor ho na toh aake usko check karlo" Sumit tried sounding as convincing as he could and mentally prayed that Rohit didn't force them to get her to the hospital.
"Okay... Main abhi hi nikal raha hu... Use kahi jaane mat dena" Rohit said as he quickly closed the call and paced out the hospital, telling Ravi to take him to the SS Studios.
**********
Sonakshi still sat in her makeup room, her eyes, nose and cheeks all wet due to her crying. It had been a long time since she had let her emotions go astray till such a point and she felt pain engulf all her body as her tears never stopped.
Rohit barged into her makeup room, panting and saw her sitting on the couch that was in the room, with her hair all frizzled up. He walked up to her and placed his hands on her shoulder.
"Kya hua Sona? Tum thik ho na?" He shook her as he sat down on his knees in front of her.
"Rohit... Tum yaha?" Sonakshi asked, her eyes filled up with surprise.
"Tumhara accident hua tha na..." Rohit started as they heard the door to the room latch close and immediately turned their heads to it. They got up from their positions and started shouting, calling out for help to get themselves out.
"Rohit Sonakshi jab tak tum dono sab solve nahi kar lete, we're not letting you out" Raima shouted from the other side of the door.
"Haan bahar aate hi smile karte hue dikhne chahiye dono" Sumit followed her and they both walked up to another place to have their own quality time.
"Raima Sumit yeh kya mazak hai? Let us out" Rohit shouted, pulling the door inside and groaned when there was no voice heard back and the door didn't budge at all.
Sonakshi sat on the couch again and tried calling them but to no avail and she banged her phone down in frustration. Rohit came and sat on his knees in front of Sonakshi and held her hands in his palms and she kept her head down.
"Sona... I'm sorry... Us din joh hua... I know I don't deserve your sorry aur woh bhi itna late and I have no reason for being so late but I'm so sorry" Rohit said as he kept looking at their intertwined hands.
"Rohit... Sorry ke liye kaafi der ho chuki hai... Tumne pehle hi Raima ko chun liya hai aur ab yeh sab..." Sonakshi said as she felt tears filling up her eyes again. It took all in her to not just burst into tears right then.
"I know Sona kaafi der hogaya hai is sorry ke liye but trust me, main tumhe hurt nahi karna chahta tha... Us din jab Raima ko wapis dekha, I just couldn't think straight... Mera guilt... And she was my priority back then but I know mujhe aise tumhe cut off nahi karna chahiye tha" Rohit said as he felt Sonakshi's tears fall on his hands. His hands twitched to wipe them off her face but he knew she needed to get that out.
"Sona... Raima ko humare baareme kaafi pehle hi pata chal gaya tha... She knew that I had moved on aur uski bhi meri taraf ki feelings kam ho gayi thi... I know I should've come to you tabhi hi jab usne mujhe yeh bataya... I didn't have to choose between my love and my priority lekin I just couldn't come back... Main tumhe yeh jhuthe promises karke firse hurt nahi karna chahta tha"
"Par tumne calls bhi toh nahi uthaye na... Kitne calls kiye maine tumhe... Continuously 2-3 days tak kiye lekin tumne reply tak nahi kiya..." Sonakshi looked up at him and complained.
"Lekin main tumhe kya bolta? Kuch tha hi nahi bolne ke liye... I knew you were hurt aur Raima ko meri zarurat thi... I couldn't leave her na..." Rohit placed his palms on her cheeks and cupped her face. "Sona... Trust me, main sirf tumse pyar karta hu... Aur Raima bhi yeh baat samajhti hai, janti hai... Usne tumhari sacchai nahi suni par ab woh tumhe blame nahi kar rahi hai... Woh ab yeh baat samajhti hai ki shayad tumhari galti us raat nahi thi"
"Rohit... Main bohot dar gayi thi... Yeh sab... Shayad I never hoped for you to come back like this lekin I don't know ki main tumhe woh trust wapis de paungi itna jaldi" Sonakshi said, tears streaming down her face.
"I know Sona... Tumhare liye hard hoga but I promise you, is baar sacchi wala, I'll never leave you... Humesha ek leech ki tarah chipka rahunga" Rohit said as a smile broke onto Sonakshi's face and she leaped forward to hug him.
"Thank you..." Sonakshi whispered.
"I'm sorry Sona... Maine bohot hurt kiya hai tumhe and is dar ki wajese shayad aur karta"
"No Rohit... Atleast tum yaha aaye... Mujhse baat ki... Bhale hi Sumit ya Raima ne bulaya ho but atleast tumne yeh zaruri samjha mujhe batana... Mujhe sacchi laga maine kho diya hai apne is dusre pyar ko bhi"
"Sona... Main tumhe aur tum mujhe kabhi nahi kho sakte... Haan maine kaafi late kiya tumhare paas aane me but not anymore... Ab hum saath hai aur humesha saath rahenge" Rohit said as he pasted his forehead against Sonakshi's and wiped off her tears.
"Ab aur rona nahi... Sumit ne bataya mujhe drama queen ke is naye roop ke baareme" Rohit said as he pushed a stray fringe off her face and curled it around his finger.
"Toh aur kya karti? Kitna torture hogayi thi main... Mujhe laga humesha ke liye kho diya hai tumhe..."
"Sona..." Rohit placed his palm on her cheek, as she wrapped her fingers around it, feelings his hands on herself and gave him a kiss on his palm.
"Rohit... I know abhi hume is point se pehle tak jaane ke liye time lagega but I know ki is wajese humara pyar aur badh jayega..."
"Sona... I'm really very sorry... I know tum bohot pareshan thi yeh one month aur please mujhe batao main kya karu tumhare chehre pe smile lane ke liye"
"Firse sorry? Agar compensate karna hi hai toh mujhe ek tight wala hug do and ek kiss yaha" Sonakshi said while pointing to her cheek.
Rohit got up from his place to sit beside her and wrapped his arms her, and placed a kiss on her cheek. "I love you" he whispered against her cheek. As they got lost in the moment, the door latched open and Raima and Sumit walked in the room.
"Hogaya tum dono ka?" they both said in unison as Rohit and Sonakshi got up from their places in a haste. The both of them looked down with flushed cheeks. Sonakshi walked up to Raima and took her hand in hers.
"Thank you so much, Raima... Aur us raat..." Sonakshi started as Raima jumped in between.
"Arey, isme thank you ki kya baat hai? Is monkey ke liye kuch bhi... And Sonakshi, I don't care ki us raat kya hua... I'm fine now... I know woh Karan ne kuch kiya hoga and he'll be in jail soon... So you don't worry... Mujhe tumse na hi koi complain aur na hi koi problem hai... I know tum bhi victim thi aur yeh purani baate karke itne acche moment ko kharab nahi karte hai... Hum dono yeh sab kisi aur time solve kar sakte hai" Raima said and gave Sonakshi a hug as she finished.
"Thank you tumhe bhi Sumit" Sonakshi said walking up to him.
"It's fine, Sonakshi..." Sumit replied.
"Seriously thank you Raima... Sumit" Rohit walked up to them and wrapped his arm around Sonakshi's shoulders.
"You're welcome dono ko... ab ghar chale? Ya yahi rehne ka irada hai?" Raima said as she pushed Sumit outside and Rohit and Sonakshi followed them, smiling, with Rohit's arm still wrapped around Sonakshi's shoulders.
**********
How was it? This idea just came to me while watching the 26th September episodes. No doubt, I like whatever they'd shown in the show but this is just an alternative to what could've happened in the post- 26th September phase. No chappals or tomatoes for this please :p.
Let me know your thoughts through comments, they motivate me a lot :). Also, a special OS coming up Monday :).
Take care
Bye