Hello everyone! Thank you so much for all the trust you’ve placed in me with the beginning of the story. I hope the going gets smoother for us soon. Happy reading!!
Twinj: Meant to be: Episode 2
A quick recap: Although Twinkle does agree to go according to Yuvi’s plans for his special guest at her café, her first interaction with this stranger doesn’t really go that well. Just as things begin to ease out though, the mention of Usha leaves Twinkle spellbound.
“There they are. Absolutely careless!” Usha exclaimed, sounding more relieved than annoyed. Despite the fact that she would have preferred the latter. “What have you done now?” Kunj muttered under his breath to Yuvi as they made their way across the hall to where Usha was standing. Yuvi chose to hold his silence, worried he would burst out laughing. “Ma, but we’re home earlier than usual today.” Kunj ventured, glancing at his watch quickly just to be sure. He was right, but Usha didn’t seem to agree. “Today wasn’t any other day, Kunj! You were supposed to be back home by lunch time, and it’s way past 6 now!” She continued, confusing him further. “But why, Ma? And in any case, shouldn’t you just have told me so? Was I supposed to have found out by reading your mind?” He responded calmly, although he had already picked up the anger in his mother’s tone. He chuckled a little at her disappointed look, giving her a side hug.
Usha’s eyes remained trained at Yuvi though. “Would you care to explain, Yuvi?” She questioned, and Yuvi knew better than to continue his pretense. “I’m sorry. I didn’t tell Kunj anything, Ma.” He knew too well that Usha melted when he called her that. “Tell me what?” It was Kunj’s turn to interrogate him now. “We had guests for lunch today – some family friends.” Usha answered simply, avoiding her son’s not so pleased glance. “Not another alliance!” Kunj groaned, passing Yuvi a grateful look for getting him out of this. “You’ve got to stop complaining, Kunj. Your Papa was really annoyed that you weren’t here! How longer will we have to deal with your excuses?” Usha shot back. This was going to get heated, like always, and so, Kunj was more than glad at the interruption when they heard a pair of footsteps.
“That’s enough, Usha. I don’t see the point of forcing him.” Kunj’s grandmother, his Bebe asserted, throwing Usha a knowing look. She had to have put forth that argument at least a hundred times now, but Usha just didn’t seem to understand. “Hi Aditi!” Kunj quipped in quickly to greet Aditi who had accompanied Bebe downstairs. She smiled at him with a nod before grinning at Yuvi, knowing too well that Kunj was only avoiding further discussion on the topic. “All ok?” He added when he spotted her stethoscope in her hand. “Absolutely. Just a routine checkup.” She assured and was about to take her leave when she noticed Yuvi’s vague actions. She deciphered them almost immediately nevertheless.
“Where had the two of you been though?” Aditi queried, although she had developed a fair idea by now. “Is that a coffee stain?” She inquired, as she got closer to Kunj and pointed to his blazer. Both she and Yuvi were fighting to hold back their laughter by now. “Ya, well, that was an accident.” Kunj answered hesitantly. His blazer had yet again become the center of attraction – for the second time in a day! “We had gone to this café that Yuvi suggested, Ma –” Kunj began his explanation, but was cut short by Usha’s realization, “Twinkle’s.” He nodded in acceptance, to which she responded with a nod of her own, willing him to go on. Aditi glared at Yuvi, their discussion on the issue returning to her mind. He blinked at her assuringly, but she wasn’t the least satisfied.
“I can’t believe Twinkle could be clumsy enough to splash coffee over a customer’s clothes!” Usha’s voice interrupted their wordless communication, making them return all their attention back to the mother-son duo. “She wasn’t, Ma. It was as much my fault as hers. She was walking backwards, so a little less her fault actually. I wasn’t watching where I was going.” Kunj clarified in a hurry, surprising more than one person. They all watched dumbfounded as he trailed off abruptly and smiled softly at the memory of Twinkle apologizing hurriedly, followed by her demand that he take off his blazer which made him laugh. “If you’ll excuse me, please.” He said then, ignoring all of their criticizing looks as he headed up the stairs.
“Yuvi…” Usha began, having more things to say than she could actually recall right then, but knowing that she had to say them all, but Aditi seemed to be in more of a hurry. “Yuvi, would you drop me home, please?” She looked at Usha to find her smiling, so she shot an apologetic glance before quickly stating that she had to leave and walking out, Yuvi following her. “Bebe, we’ve let Kunj get away every single time! Don’t you think we should become a little more insistent now?” Usha questioned worriedly, but Bebe only laughed off her concerns. “Tell me, Usha, even if we managed to get Kunj married against his wishes, would he be truly happy? And would that make you happy?” The older woman seemed to have her thoughts sorted, and Usha had to give in. That didn’t imply she was done yet, though.
“Does that mean we’ll just have to sit back and wait for a miracle? So far, he used to turn up to meet the girl at least, Bebe! This time he didn’t give it as much as a second thought either. And Yuvi didn’t even tell him!” Usha’s complaints just wouldn’t stop. Her mother-in-law, however, had been dealing with her anxieties for years, and had developed the knack of convincing her by now, and so she did, one more time. “I’m not asking you to stop making your efforts, Usha. You should probably let him make his decision on his own though. Perhaps someday you’ll find a girl he’ll be only eager to get married to. Or he might find her himself! As far as Yuvi is concerned, you know well enough that the boy can’t wish for anything other than happiness for Kunj. They’ve been practically inseparable and you know it, Usha. Let them be, they aren’t school goers anymore. And since Yuvi has already found himself a lovely girl, he’ll make sure Kunj finds his ‘the one’ too, when the time is right.” Usha realized that she had now run out of things to say. She had to give it all some time, she had been trying so hard for months now after all.
“And what is this thing with Twinkle now? Why did Yuvi have to take Kunj there to meet her today, Bebe?” Usha let out an exasperated sigh, only to find herself alone, Bebe had already left. “Who am I going to discuss this with?” She whined, only to end up smiling softly to herself at the thought of Yuvi. He wasn’t born to her, but was as much her son as Kunj himself was – there was absolutely no denying that she was only the happiest that he had found true happiness despite it all.
Twinkle was heading out in a hurry that night, for she had gotten way too late that day, when her eyes spotted that car at the gate again. She looked around quickly, nobody else was around. There didn’t seem to be any way she could avoid yet another painful confrontation, no matter how badly she wished to. The previous one’s effects hadn’t even worn off yet, and that itself had taken her every bit of strength within her to deal with. She turned around quickly, weighing the option of unlocking the café doors and going back inside. She was quick enough to realize that that would be stupid, for it might send out a message that the café was no longer off bounds, so unlike she had initially said – more like strictly warned them against. And so, she did what she had learnt was a great help to her in situations like this. She shut her eyes and remembered the exact moment she had chosen this life for herself, all that she had to give up, much unwillingly, all that she had suffered since, and why it was important to keep going.
The car halted in its regular spot, just a few feet from the gate, and the door opened immediately. This entire process was all too familiar to Twinkle, except, nobody got off the car this time. The door just stayed open, and Twinkle could feel the pair of eyes watching her, beckoning her. She had known them well enough to be able to make that out even in the dark, even when she was so far away, emotionally as well as physically. She inhaled deeply yet again before slowly stepping towards the car. All that had been said to her the day before still echoed in her head, and she hadn’t been able to make a decision yet, ‘It isn’t something over which all you need is my word!’ she had said last morning when she had been forced to respond, and she had actually meant it. She hadn’t even been able to give it much thought, with Yuvi’s guest arriving and her experimental recipe taking up so much time, but would the person in the car understand that? She already knew they wouldn’t.
“Get in. We need to talk, since you don’t seem to understand in one go.” Twinkle heard the all too familiar voice coming from the car. So familiar that it threatened to drag her into an infinite well of memories. “No, I’m getting late. I’ll have to go home now.” She responded nevertheless, shaking off the thoughts at the back of her mind. “Twinkle?” The voice called again, sounding a little desperate now. “I haven’t thought about it yet.” She answered, shutting her eyes and clenching her fist. She needed to keep calm. “I’ll let you know.” She added quickly, fighting the tears. “You won’t! You don’t even have our numbers anymore!” The voice was now getting louder. “That’s because I don’t want them! You shouldn’t be coming here anymore either!” She almost screamed, turning to look at the person one last time before taking the narrow path that served as a shortcut to her tiny house.
That’s it for now, guys. I hope you all had a good read. Until next time – there will be one only if and as long as there are good enough responses – lots of love!