Faded Lights~ A TEI FF by Aashiya Chapter 4

Her tears didn’t matter to him. Actually,no one’s mattered to him. For him tears were a medium of pretence and delusion. If his tears never mattered to anyone,even to God,how could anyone else’s tears be significant for him. The half smile he faked in the conference room while the presentation was going on,was certainly much different from the one he had sometime ago while he was conversing with Twinkle. Kunj was extremely talented at this very job of presenting a fake self in front of the world. He was always victorious in hiding the pain he carried in his heart. Since Twinkle always provoked him to bring his real self in front of her,he didn’t like her. He didn’t simply anyone to interfere in his dreadful life. He had lived in this world alone and wanted to live on the same way forever.
On the other hand,Twinkle was extremely hurt. She didn’t know the reason for her tears,but they seemed to be uncontrollable. She had had enough of him. The humiliation she always went through since the time she had known Kunj Sarna had broken her hearts into tiny million pieces. She always thought he didn’t matter to her,but the reaction she always had after meeting him,after conversing with him,was contradictory. At present,she was stuck between her heart and brain. The former wanted her to choose Kunj because it felt Kunj was someone different and the latter asked her to quit the mission and concentrate on her own life and priorities. Their opinions made Twinkle much frustrated unable to take any decision. Silently she drove to Painshill Park and sat near the lake , looking at the sky,trying to count the clouds. Silent tears made way through her pale cheeks,making her ponder on why she was crying? It was getting even colder,with the wind giving chills to her spine,but she was admant to sit there and find answers to her undefined questions.

Kunj half heartedly drove back home. Though he had many reasons to be happy but it seemed he wasn’t convinced with them. He didn’t know why he wasn’t happy? He had got a very good project and it was celebration time. Though Kunj Sarna never celebrated such things, but today he wasn’t even able to concentrate on the fact that the deal is done. His heart was totally indulged into some different state altogether. While the wind blew with increased intensity, Kunj’s mind was totally towards Twinkle. He hadn’t seen her after that moment. He wouldn’t have cared for her,but she was his responsibility till the time she was there in his company. She was one of the most successful journalists and had been assigned the task of reviewing The Sarna Empire for the nominations in the deadliest Business Magazines,”Fortunes”. Kunj didn’t like this. But he had to abide by the rules. At the present instance,his mind and heart both were searching for Miss Taneja. While he was crossing the Painshill Park,he spotted Twinkle’s car in a sudden glance. Applying brakes,he stopped and made his way towards it. After coming closer,he was sure enough that it was hers and he was sure to find her at this place. He pondered on why she had been here. It would be dark in sometime,and it wasn’t certainly safe to be in a place like it. Painshill Park ,situated in Central London, is one of the most quite yet peaceful parks of UK. It’s a lavish one,with beautiful lakes and verdure all round. But at times,it feels extremely lonely and scary if no one’s around. Entering through the gates,Kunj wondered how he would find her in this huge park. He had no bodyguards as he had asked them not to come along as he wanted to drive home alone. He walked for 15 minutes and finally spotted someone sitting near the lake. It was the first person he found after the watchman who was present at the gate. Though,it was dark by now,he felt the person to be Twinkle. As the distance between them decreased, Kunj was sure it was Twinkle. Inching close to her,he said in a cold voice,
“It’s late Miss Taneja and you shoudn’t be staying here for long”
Getting no reply from her,he went close and patted on her shoulder. Still she didn’t say anything. She just looked in his eyes. Kunj held her hand and tried getting her up. But she didn’t move. Kunj was little worried now. Why was she behaving so weird? Here he was trying to take her home and she wasn’t even moving from her place. She was still. He himself didn’t know why but he was scared. Whether she mattered to him or not,wasn’t clear still,but he somewhere cared for her. While she fixed his gaze on him,he gently cupped her cold cheek with his warm hand. The touch would have felt something out of the world,but Twinkle wasn’t able to respond to it. She just looked into his brown eyes, and mumbled softly,
“Please don’t hate me”.
It was a soft whisper,yet audible to Kunj. He couldn’t be arrogant ad he knew Twinkle was not in her perfect senses. All he could do was to take her home somehow.
“Let’s go home Twinkle. It’s late.”
But she wasn’t ready to move. She just came close and gently hugged him. It was like a shock for Kunj. What was Twinkle upto? He knew she wouldn’t have done this if she had been normal, so he let it go. She just held him even more tighter and kept her head on his shoulder. Kunj couldn’t do anything. His harsh words were the reason behind such weird behaviour of Twinkle. She was in a trauma he felt. He didn’t know why? He didn’t matter to Twinkle was something he was sure of. Then too she had held him close to her heart. Kunj softly ruffled her hair. Nobody had ever hugged him in this manner. He didn’t remember the last hug he got by his parents,but this hug seemed to be the best one. Silently,while ruffling her hair,he noticed no movement on his shoulder. Then he realised,that Twinkle had already slept. They didn’t know the reason to their contradictory behaviours,but the peace found in other’s arms had been possible coz they had unknowingly placed themselves in each other’s hearts.
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Hey people. I’m really sorry for posting late. I guess that’s pretty long. And as a compensation,I’ll post one more chapter tomorrow. Thank you everyone for your lovely comments. You guys are the best. Love you people.

Anyone who didn’t read the previous chapter,here’s the link:
Chapter 3 here