Hello all you lovely people! Thank you so much for all the love and affection you all have been showering the story with! I’m really glad to hear that it’s been keeping you all intrigued! Alright then, let’s head to the dramatic episode awaiting us! Happy reading!!
Twinj: Meant to be: Episode 33
A quick recap: Yuvi had just about managed to convince Twinkle that they had the entire situation under control when Usha’s unexplained outburst frightens her. All the efforts put in by Yuvi-Aditi and Kunj to help her throughout bear fruit, and she begins to enjoy the evening when she hears a familiar voice call out to her.
Twinkle shut her eyes, desperately hoping it was only her imagination playing tricks on her as she turned to the source of the voice, but there she was, Leela Taneja, in all reality. She widened her eyes, even as her throat went dry, quickly glancing around to see if anyone else was paying attention to her. Leela, however, didn’t even flinch. “Leela Taneja?” Bebe exclaimed before Twinkle could ask her to leave. Bebe gasped loudly when she finally realised where she had seen Twinkle before. “Twinkle is Leela’s daughter!” She exclaimed to no one in particular, earning collective gasps and muffled comments from the people around them. She looked for Yuvi or Kunj but only found strange faces staring at her in the crowd. She was all alone.
“Leela Taneja! Right when I thought you knew better than to turn up here!” Twinkle heard Usha’s voice menacingly creep up behind her, and suddenly she could picture the same look in Usha’s eyes that the latter had had earlier that day. Could Usha have known for longer? Why hadn’t she thrown Twinkle out right when she found out then? Twinkle’s mind could only come up with a hundred questions for which she had no answers, and each question only worried her some more. To make matters worse, she could feel every single eye on her by now, apparently word had spread like wildfire that Kunj Sarna’s wife was RT’s daughter. Twinkle fought to keep her breathing in check, although she knew that there was no point. There was no chance for this to end well.
Leela’s eyes looked away from Twinkle for the first time that evening and landed on Usha, but surprisingly they held none of the fire Twinkle had always observed in them when the Sarnas were even mentioned. “Usha, I know things aren’t in the best state between us, but the children have nothing to do with it all. Please keep them out of our rivalry! They are married now!” Leela was pleading, shocking them all. Not one of them could recall a time when the Tanejas and Sarnas had spoken anything but ill of each other. Usha laughed, earning a frown from Leela, like she had almost anticipated this turn of events. “I was invited here.” Leela said in a low, dangerous tone, her eyes hardening at Usha.
Twinkle turned to look at Usha, being left blown away. Usha threw her a side glance before returning her furious gaze to Leela. “Yes, I did! But who knew you would actually turn up!” Usha spoke, walking over to stand directly in front of Leela. “I take that back, actually. I absolutely knew you would turn up. In fact, that is the very reason I haven’t thrown your daughter out yet! I wanted you to come here! I wanted you to realise that you hold no power over us like you proclaim! I wanted to see the fear in your eyes for your daughter’s happiness being sabotaged!” Usha continued, tightening her fists, but absolutely enjoying the desperate look in both Leela’s eyes.
Leela shuddered at Usha’s words, her worst fears coming true. This had been the very reason she had warned Twinkle against this marriage after all. “Usha, I’m prepared to do anything that you ask me to! You can take it all back! Please, let the children be! They appear to be really happy together!” Leela beseeched, clasping her hands in a frantic plea. Twinkle felt weak in her knees, and had involuntarily stumbled behind, only to be held right in time by Kunj who had managed to make his way over to her finally.
“Twinkle!” He whispered, attempting to jolt her out of the thoughts she was evidently spiraling into. “After all that deceit so many years ago, you still weren’t done with your games, were you, Leela?” Usha continued in front of them, sounding extremely hurt. “This time you sent your daughter to ruin our peace!” She accused, looking over the corner of her eye at Yuvi and Aditi who had just got there too. “No! I didn’t! Twinkle never meant any harm, to anyone!” Leela cried out, tears beginning to flow down her eyes. “That’s a lie! Think of it, Leela! The whole story you cooked up – Twinkle leaving your house a couple of years ago for no apparent reason, and then conveniently finding a café where she found a job so easily; and proceeded to buy it too, with absolutely no apparent qualms from the owners!” Usha drawled on, and Twinkle found herself jerking free from Kunj’s arms.
Twinkle stepped forward with a newfound conviction. There was no way she would let Usha get away with all those baseless allegations. She knew why she had left, and only she knew how hard her battles had been since then. “I’m sorry, Usha ma’am! Not one of those is true! I left for my self-respect, and have fought for it ever since! I have never heard of any plots against this family, and there is absolutely no way I was a part of any of them! I have had nothing to do with them for so long now!” She said, choking on a sob as she was forced to recall every single moment of darkness that she had learnt to embrace with so much difficulty. “Do you think of us as such big fools, really? It did not take me too long to trace the origins and current whereabouts of the Sens, and not so surprisingly, the losses they were facing, owing to which they had to sell the café, were caused by a failed deal with none other than Mr. Taneja himself!” Usha thundered, catching Twinkle off-guard. What had her father been trying to do? Was this targeted at her in any way?
“I must admit though, Leela, that your daughter did a terrific job at trapping my sons! At first, she won over Yuvi and held onto her past right until he trusted her entirely. Now she has Kunj wrapped around her little finger!” Usha insinuated, and Twinkle let go of Kunj’s hand that she had held onto when he had stepped forward to support her. “Don’t you dare deny this, Twinkle Taneja!” Usha told Twinkle, watching without a hint of remorse as the latter shuddered and burst into tears. ‘Twinkle Taneja’ – the one way that she never wanted to be referred to as, the one thing she had spent those years running from, the one family that should have been her own but had left her in smithereens. “That’s enough, Ma! Stop making such a big deal of nothing!” Kunj’s voice pulled her out of the train of her oh so painful thoughts. “Both Yuvi and I were aware of Twinkle’s past well before the wedding, and we chose not to let it determine her present or future, instead of being stuck up with something that had so, so long ago that now our lives aren’t even impacted by it!” Kunj continued, simultaneously signaling Yuvi to do something.
The next thing Twinkle knew, the guests were leaving the house in absolute silence, casting one last glance at the ensuing drama nevertheless. “Of course, you did, Kunj! But when did she tell you? When things were almost final, am I right?” Usha argued, evidently annoyed by Kunj’s intrusion. “There wasn’t a necessity for me to know even then, but she chose to tell me, Ma! And that earned her so much respect in my eyes!” He hit back without as much as batting an eyelid. Usha rolled her eyes in an ‘I don’t believe this!’ before putting forth her next point, “That doesn’t reduce the pain they caused us, Kunj! Ours was supposed to be an honest and sincere deal with the Tanejas who were already such a big name in the business! But they robbed us of all we had by deceit! Manohar Ji was forced to seek refuge and financial support from his cousin in London! For a man whose self-respect had always meant the most, this was as good as death! I was left no choice but to stay here all alone to handle things that I had absolutely no knowledge of, while you had to relocate to Bebe’s sister’s place with her! All because these so called ‘elite’ people thought it was fun to leave us on the streets by snatching away our share of the profits as well as the huge principal we had put in! They knew nobody would help us out even if we sought for it. There was no one that didn’t fear them after all!”
Twinkle gasped at this revelation that she had had absolutely no knowledge of. For a split second, she was tempted to believe that her parents could not have been so ruthless, for, back at the Tanejas’ house, the Sarnas were never spoken about and that was like an unspoken rule. She had never developed the courage to ask why though. However, Leela’s lowered eyes wiped away every doubt she might have ever had. She cringed, feeling utterly disappointed in her family yet again. She glanced over to Kunj, who seemed to be grieving the past in silence too. Her heart gave a firm tug, blaming her for all this mess, just like the Tanejas were wont to blaming her for every mess ever. Strikingly, Kunj was the one to break the painful silence that had settled in. “Ma, we’ve had our bad days. They weren’t fair, and neither was fate, but we can’t blame Twinkle for what happened. We can’t punish her for something that she probably doesn’t even know all the details of! We’ve moved on so well, Ma. Haven’t we? Aren’t we at par, and in some areas even better than the Tanejas now? Why don’t we let it all go now?” He whimpered, like he had been torn between his own and Usha’s points of view.
“Kunj is right, Usha Ma. Twinkle never meant to hurt anyone, not when she herself was hurting so badly! She stood strong and principled all throughout, fighting her battles all alone! Please trust me, Ma! And for my sake, please let her stay out of all this! She was only a child when all that happened, she probably didn’t even know you all back then!” Yuvi requested, standing on Twinkle’s other side, but it appeared nobody at all could feed some sense into Usha. She was bewildered. “Of course, she didn’t back then, Yuvi! I’m not denying it! Leela Taneja thought we were way below her standards to let her kids anywhere around us after all. But do you think she never found out, even after so many years? I’m sure her mother told her all about how easy it was to fool us, and sent her daughter to trick us again! To ruin my Kunj’s life, because her mother didn’t get all the joy she wanted!” Usha spoke, as if the pain from so many years ago was returning in bouts to her. “Usha Ma, please! We wouldn’t want you doing something that you would end up regretting later. I have more disregard for Leela Taneja than you know, but I do agree with her that Kunj and Twinkle’s marriage shouldn’t have to suffer because of what Mr. and Mrs. Taneja did! Please let them be!” Yuvi implored.
“I can’t! I can never forgive, or forget what they did! And I will make sure they repay for every single thing!” Usha declared, her eyes unmistakably flashing to Twinkle. “Usha, please spare my child! She’s been through so much already!” Leela begged, and it was a scene Twinkle had never seen before. Why was she doing all this? Did she really care so much for Twinkle? “I wouldn’t. Not even for all the wealth in the world, let alone what you have!” Usha replied unaffectedly, her own eyes welling up as she looked at Manohar trying to console Bebe, who was weeping uncontrollably on the nearby sofa. “I wish I had known the truth about your daughter before this wedding, Leela. I wish I could have saved my child’s life from the doom she has brought into it. It was too late when I found out, but it’s not too late to make things even.” Usha said coldly.
Twinkle had turned down Leela’s requests to accompany her to the Taneja mansion, that she would speak to the former’s father and convince him. Leela hadn’t even apologised, even after so many years, and had chosen to leave, when Yuvi turned around and questioned angrily, “Who invited that woman here?” Twinkle whimpered softly, a fresh stream of tears beginning to flow down her eyes. “Twinkle, I’m sorry for all this. But don’t you worry, we’ve got this! I promise!” Kunj whispered to her, putting one arm on her shoulder as he wiped away her tears gently with his other hand. Twinkle knew that this had to be a lie. All that she had begun to find peace and security in, all that she had begun to call her had fallen and shattered as though it was made of glass. She looked at Kunj longingly, wishing for what exactly, even she didn’t know.
“I did.” Aditi answered Yuvi’s question, making all eyes turn to her. Yuvi looked confused, but Aditi was unapologetic. “Usha aunty handed me the list and I simply sent out the invites because she was so sure that she had checked the list over and over again.” Aditi explained with a shrug, shocking everyone by rolling her eyes at Twinkle. “You knew that Usha aunty has a dislike for the Tanejas! Why didn’t you ask me?” Yuvi demanded, turning to look at Twinkle with a regretful expression. “Because you hardly have any time to even carry out a conversation with me that doesn’t involve your best friend and her problems, Yuvi!” Aditi was shouting now, and it took Kunj a whole minute to realise that she was referring to Twinkle as Yuvi’s best friend.
“I’m sorry, Aditi! I’m sorry, Usha ma’am!” Twinkle said softly a minute later, breaking the awkward silence that had set in. “Kunj, Yuvi, I hadn’t even dreamt that I would be causing either of you so much trouble. I’m really sorry.” She added, slowly walking over to Bebe and kneeling down in front of her. “Trust me, I haven’t had or even wanted to have anything to do with my family ever since I left that house. I did not come here with an agenda. I was never a part of my mother’s deceit, and I never will be.” She entreated, but Bebe only said, “This doesn’t change the fact that you hid your identity. That, is still deceit. I want you to leave this house. Now!”
Twinkle stood up, carefully looking at everyone, her heart crushing under the pointed glares shot at her. She knew what she would do now. Or, she thought so, at least.
That’s it for now, guys! Please tell me what you thought about it!! Until next time, lots of love!!