TejRan: What The Heart Desires

Part-22

Disclaimer : All the characters written below are imaginary and a work of pure fiction. There is no resemblance to any incident or situation and is written as work of fiction.

Teja went out of set for an hour to get a gift for him. It was his birthday the next day. The entire lunch was mostly silence. He had spoken politely with her. Mostly answered when she had said something. Then they had shot for a scene and he had come to all the actors and invited them to go to his house after packup. His friends had planned a small get together for his birthday tomorrow and thus he had invited them. He invited her as well. But she would not go. She couldn't. Not after what she had said and how she had hurt him.

She bought what she wanted and returned back on set. She went to his vanity. She would wish him in advance and give the gift and go for her shot. And then go back to her house. She was about to knock when she found the door was slightly open. She peeped inside to check if he was inside or not and found Omi stand there. She couldn't see Karan but could hear his voice. They were talking about some meeting. She decided to leave and come back after sometime. Just as she was about to turn she got alarmed hearing Om.

"Did you two fight?" As she heard Om she stopped in her track. She knew he was talking about her and Karan.

"No....why?" She heard Karan's voice.

"I thought you are fighting...." Omi said slowly.

"No we are not....yes we had a small argument yesterday but she said sorry for that...." Teja frowned listening to Karan. But he was still not fine so why was he even saying things as if everything was fine.

"I can see that you are not fine...." Omi said seriously.

And then there was silence.

"What happened?" She heard Omi again.

"A small misunderstanding which I don't blame her at all....Sanjana behaved pretty rudely with her so she was upset...." And then Karan narrated how Sanjana asked her to leave.

"But why is she upset with you?" Omi asked confused.

"She thought I didn't stand up for her....honestly had i been in her place i would have reacted way worse....although i did tell Sanjana later that it was rude of her but Teja didn't know it...."

"That's it?" Omi asked. "No i am asking because this is a pretty normal argument....why are you so affected then?"

"Who said I am affected?"

"I can see that...." Om said seriously.

"I am not....and she was also upset that i called her a kid in front of Sanjana....which i did but the context was different....sanjana put up a piture where Teja looked like a kid so i replied to that status saying she was a kid....i don't know how sanjana twisted it and said but i think Teja took it in some other way...." Teja knew what picture he was talking about. She had also seen it and laughed about it with Vidhi and Sanjana. Shit. She closed her eyes as she heard him continue. "She thinks that I was out with Sanjana....i was drunk nuh with the beer you guys brought home....she thinks i was with sanjana...."

"So you told her that you were not?" Omi asked immediately.

"No...." She heard his faint voice.

"Why?" Omi asked getting exasperated.

"I don't want to...."

"But why?i have never seen you deal with a fight with anyone silently....you get angry....you shout....you react....what is this?" Omi said in irritation.

"She thinks really low of me....i had....i had told her about certain things....i didn't want to consciously....the situation was so that the topic had come up and i ended up sharing certain things....and she thinks i....i do that to pick girls....i use my emotional vulnerable stories to pick girls....i would never do that to anyone....i don't want her to ever think i will do that to her....and she is not wrong....she is protecting herself....everybody will do that....so i don't want to clarify anything to her....let her think like that about me....it will be good for her....she will stay away...."

Teja felt her cheeks getting wet. She leaned back at the vanity and closed her eyes.

She could hear a phone ring inside. It was not his ringtone. Probably it was Omi's. She looked at the door to see Omi come out od the vaniy to take the call. On normal circumstances she would have moved away by now. But her legs felt heavy. She didn't even bother to wipe her tears and let Omi see her like that.

Omi blinked his eyes gesturing her that everything will be fine. She gulped and nodded.

Omi went aside to pick the call and she knocked the door.

"Come...." She heard his voice. She went inside and closed the door. Karan was brushing his hair and stopped seeing her through the mirror. He put the brush down slowly and turned to look at her. She still had tears down her cheeks.

"Advanced Happy Birthday...." She said and forwarded the paper bag to him.

He took it and smiled.

"Thanks...." He said softly. "Why now?aren't you coming?" He asked trying to lighten the direction of the conversation.

She shook her head and licked her dry lips.

"Karan I need to say something...." She said slowly.

He nodded urging her to continue.

"Karan just because you had one bad friend doesn't mean you will always meet bad people in life....remember the other day i asked you something....are you so broken that when someone tries to give you what you deserve you are scared to take it?it is people like me who breaks people like you....i won't justify what i said....i was angry....i am saying all this with just one hope...." She was in tears and was sobbing silently.

"That even you said you say things you don't mean when you are angry....even i am like that so i just hope you understand me and believe me when i say i didn't mean anything that i said....i know you didn't lie....i know when you shared things about yourself you did as a human being who was opening upto another human being....to feel less burdened....to feel understood...." She stopped to catch her breath.

"And i don't believe that you have forgiven me....i will not believe it unless and until you come to me and share something again....which i know you never will...." She said with her voice completely choked.

Karan stood there and gulped. He didn't know what to say or how to react.

She kept another packet on the table.

"Mumma sent some kheer for your birthday since you stay alone and asked you to have it at midnight...." She said after composing herself and without looking at him.

And with that she went out of the vanity and closed the door as she left.

Karan sat on the chair in front of the dresser and opened the paper bag which she had given him. He took the box out and smiled softly.

It had a DVD of one of the documentaries he wanted to watch and was not finding online. He had told her sulking one day and she remembered. He had no idea from where she had got it.

He took out a small spiral colourful notebook in the bag. He took it out.

100 reasons to Be Happy

The cover of the notebook said. He smiled and opened the notebook and immediately the smile vanished.

It was her handwriting.

He quickly turned the pages and saw that every page had one reason of happiness and all of those were in her handwriting.

1.You have a family and your family's happiness is your happiness and it is your duty to keep them happy and so you need to be happy first.

Read the first page.

He quickly turned to the last page.

100. You are smiling right now after reading this and you look damn cute trust me. ;) So you need to do this all the time. Even if your jaw hurts.

He closed the notebook with a smile and knew he would read it all and keep it safely with him forever.