Greetings everyone! Thank you so much for all the love and affection that you all have been showering on this story! And I’m especially grateful for all those who took a stand for me in the previous episode, you guys know how much it meant at that moment. I’m really grateful to all of you for being so kind, thoughtful and encouraging. I hope the upcoming episodes can in some way, make up for the tremendous love. Happy reading!
Twinj: My Lifeline: Episode 48
A quick recap: Twinkle comes up with a way to make it up to Kunj when she fails to solve the issue verbally with him, owing to his outburst of emotions that left her speechless. She is further surprised by Kunj and Yuvi having become friends, close enough to have a secret that they had hidden from her.
“Kunj!” Twinkle called out impatiently as she burst into their room, she knew he was home since she had spotted his car outside. She stood and glanced around the empty room, he had evidently been there until at least a few minutes ago, for she noticed he had left all the lights on like he always did. She noticed the door to his studio creaked open and headed towards it, unable to hold in her curiosity anymore. She found him sitting in front of his computer, browsing some very beautiful locations, his headphones on, which clearly meant he hadn’t heard her come in. She was about to tap on his shoulder when her eyes landed on the picture on his screen. She didn’t know where it was or why he was looking for it, but the old world charm the place offered kept her eyes glued to it. He noted something on the book in front of him and turned around in his chair, breaking her trance. He took off his headphones and smiled brightly at her. “Hey! When did you get home?” He asked, reminding her that she had actually planned to remain miffed with him until he disclosed the big ‘secret’. “Oh, I don’t want to tell you that.” She answered shrewdly and walked out into the room, leaving him confused. He stifled his laughter as he saw her sit on the bed with her back to the head board and cross her arms, giving him one glance before looking the other way. Never before had he seen her pretend to sulk because she was angered by him, and he loved that it meant he had an opportunity to convince her, although he also hoped that would end in a romantic moment *coughs* , but he could do with this for now.
“You don’t want to tell me?” Kunj repeated Twinkle’s statement as he sat down in front of her, and she nodded, still not looking at him. He edged forward, their legs were now touching, which made Twinkle shoot a glare at him. “But there was something that I was dying to tell you!” He spoke with a puppy face, and smiled when he saw her eyes soften. “But we don’t tell each other things anymore, do we?” She taunted, imitating his tone, struggling to hold back her smile that was threatening to break out on her face when she saw him try his best to pacify her, although she was sure he knew it was only mock anger. “This is so unfair, Twinkle! I only wanted to surprise you, but you choose to make a big deal of the fact that I waited for the right moment rather than concentrating on the surprise!” He protested. Although he knew that she wanted to know the secret that he had told Yuvi, he had a better plan for that as well, and there was no way he was going to tell her right away. Right now though, he actually had another surprise for her and was hoping she would agree to fulfil his desire. “Surprise?” She asked suspiciously, wondering if it was alright for her mind to start imagining things yet again, like it always did and she would cut it short, but would things be different now? “Yes!” He answered excitedly as he pulled out an envelope from the bedside table and handed it to her. She noticed that he had already ripped it open, which meant he had been really anxious to know what it held and his smile was telling her that it had brought good news. “You’re doing a music video?” She almost screamed as she ran her eyes down the document, and he nodded eagerly. “Congratulations! I’m so happy for you!” She whispered as tears of joy sprung up in her eyes, leaning forward to hug him. She knew how much he had longed for this opportunity and was obviously more delighted than he himself appeared. “You will be even happier in a moment!” He thought to himself as he tightened the hug, making her gasp as she felt his stubble against her shoulder.
“There’s a little problem though.” Kunj informed Twinkle as he withdrew and looked into her eyes that now held unknown fear. “What is it?” She asked quickly, hoping it wasn’t something that couldn’t be resolved. “I don’t have a heroine for the video. You know it’s a romantic track, it won’t work without one.” He stated, putting in his best acting skills as he pretended to be really worried. He was already laughing in his mind, but he wouldn’t let her know that yet. “How is that a problem, Kunj? I’m sure there are tons of girls out there who would do anything to work with you. All we need is an audition!” She replied after giving it a moment of thought. This was his problem? Really? “Nope. That won’t do.” He shot back immediately, shaking his head disappointedly, surprising her. “Why?” She asked as she carefully put away the envelope and pulled him by his arm to get him to sit beside her. “You know this song is extremely special for me, don’t you?” He asked, his voice so low that she had to lean a little closer to make sure she was hearing him right, even as he bit back his smile. She nodded and placed her hand assuringly on his, as she waited for him to speak. “I want everything about it to be real, for which I need MY heroine.” He whispered, watching her carefully to catch any change in expression. She looked confused at first and then appeared to be in deep thought. He knew she hadn’t understood what he actually meant. “Who heroine?” She asked, confirming his doubts. “Twinkle!” He said, realising how that was pretty much the answer to all his questions these days and smiling to himself. “I’m sorry Kunj, I really don’t know what you are speaking about.” She answered promptly, making him want to smack her forehead, but he didn’t. He had intended for things to turn out so differently! “You. I want you to do it.” He explained calmly, and was surprised yet again, for instead of yet another cheerful hug that he was anticipating, she shook her head violently, looking more nervous than ever.
“I’m not doing this video unless you are in it!” Kunj laid down his final argument when all his other attempts to convince Twinkle failed, picking up his phone that had begun to ring and walking to the balcony to receive the call. Twinkle slowly began to process all that he had said yet again. Had he just called her ‘his heroine’? He had appeared so confident that she would be perfect for the role of his love interest when he had said that there was no one else whom he could picture in that place, she mused. As she watched him look at her even as he continued speaking on his phone, she was reminded of her resolve to compensate for him missing the award ceremony because of her. She was prepared to do anything for his sake, but she couldn’t stop wondering if she was actually good enough. She had seen lots of music videos and had seen the popular actresses and models in them, what if the video failed because it had her and not some well known beauty, she couldn’t stop worrying, especially after Kunj had denied to go ahead with it unless she agreed. “I know how to assure you that you are the one! Give me your phone!” He demanded as he returned and sat down beside her, and she complied hesitantly. “Twinkle, were you stalking me?” He asked curiously and giggled as he showed her the previous searches on her browser. Her eyes widened as she realised that she had forgotten to erase the search history on the night of Chinki’s engagement. She had been checking for any update on him moving on with Alisha when he had turned up in front of her, she hoped he wouldn’t find out, but he did when he noticed the ‘last visited’ data under the site header, and was now watching her flabbergasted. “I wasn’t stalking you. I was only trying to find out when you and Alisha would be getting..” She began, but trailed off, unable to even speak those words. Kunj felt a stinging pain in his heart when he saw the pained expression on her face and pulled her close, not wanting to let go ever. He had no idea how badly she might have been effected by the idea of him and Alisha. She rested her head against his chest, and he heard her sob a minute later. He ran his fingers through her hair, rubbing her back consolingly. “I’m sorry!” He whispered repeatedly, but didn’t stop her though; he figured that she needed to let it all out. He knew she was a very strong person, this was probably the first time since the night in Udaipur when she had told him about her father that she appeared so vulnerable. He had realised that she had hidden her sorrow the day she had left the house too well, for she had seemed so strongly resolved back then, and then there was the day when she had stood up against Alisha for his sake. If she was weeping now, he knew he had to just assure her that he was right there for her, not stop her from crying.
“This is what I was meaning to show you by the way.” Kunj spoke when Twinkle had finally calmed down a long time later. He saw her sit up and look at him, her eyes conveying her gratitude and nodded understandingly. She then turned to look at her phone, he had opened the posts that he had been tagged in on social media and she was astonished to see how at least a third of all those pictures was of both of them, mostly taken when neither of them were aware of it, and there was so much love pouring out for them. “See? I’m not the only one who thinks that we look terrific together!” He observed as she scrolled down the seemingly endless posts. “Most importantly, I want you to do this, for me if not for any other reason in the world.” He added, and when she looked up at him, unable to believe what she was hearing, he was smiling at her warmly, and suddenly nothing else mattered to her. “I would do anything for you, Kunj. Let’s do this!” She spoke with a smile, as she freed his hands that were still around her and got off the bed, grinning to herself like a teenager in love. She knew Kunj was still looking at her, her ‘would do anything for you’ had evidently hit him like a thunderbolt. He smiled to himself as he pondered over the possibility of her being in love with him too, and now that she had agreed for the video, he could begin working on his big plan that he hoped would sweep her off her feet.
That’s it for now, guys. Lots of love!