Match Made in Wedding | Rajvardhan Hangargekar ✓

Darkness on Diwali

Rajvardhan

I watch Devi wipe her tears and give a Devi special bear hug to Kritika. The visual makes me realise, I adore her.

She has this magnificent aura around her that's so welcoming that at first I thought, I liked her as a friend. Oh and trust me anyone would want a friend like Devi. Honesty, pagalpan, thoda sa bachpana, unbelievable amount of care, yehi sab toh hum chahte hai ek dost mien. Aur Devi ye sab aur bahot kuch thi.

But at this moment, I know that I don't just like her as a friend. She's more to me.

Just as Devi and Kritika sit down to have dinner, the doorbell rings.

"Shit, who the hell it is?" Asks Sai.

"Might be some neighbours, Diwali dene aaye honge Ajji ko." Rutu looks at his Ajji and she nods.

"Madhvi asel. Pahila hya Shalimar la lapva!!" Must be a woman named Madhvi. She exclaims and asks us to hide Shalimar. Everyone gets up. Some are helping with clearing the dining table, others have already taken to hiding. I see Jaddu taking Shalimar to the kitchen.

Thank God for ground floor kitchens.

The doorbell rings again. And now, everyone's panicking. Some are rushing to their rooms with haste. My eyes search for Devi, just as I reach her the lights go off.

"What!! How can there be a power cut on Diwali?!!! Ridiculous." Exclaims Kriti.

"It was me." We hear Sai's hushed voice as we make use of our mobile torches to navigate around. In the glow of Rutu's battery, I find Devi and grab her hand.

"What? Are you scared of dark?" She says with a smirk.

"Nope. Winter's getting to me and your hands, as I've noticed are very warm." I notice her grip tightening. It makes my heart smile.

"Sai, you idiot. What were you thinking?"

"Arey that Madhvi aunty is old. So if we switch off the lights then she won't see anything that we forgot to hide. Plus, the whole Wada is lit up with lighting and diyas. How will Rutu's grandmother explain doing all of that alone?"

We all exchange gazes. So Sai Kishore can be smart. Tough information to be processed.

"Aye comeon you guys, just because I kid around, you don't have to be so surprised to finally know my intellectual capacities. Ask Anmol."

"Anmol...." He says a bit too loud and gets a nice wack from Kriti.

"Ha Sai Kishore, tum bahot smart ho. Bahot zyada okay. Ab chup chap chalo."

We crouch as we hear the doors open. Ahhh, last leg of hide and seek has to be interesting.

Rutu and Kriti are near their room and manage to get in without making any noise. What a perfect match of perfectionists.

I tug Devi's hand.

"Let's go to my room. It's the closest from here." I whisper.

"Hmmm... handholding, taking me to the room. Irada kya hai, Raj?"

Arghhh. It takes all the will power to restrain myself from stroking her face with my fingers.

"Itni bhi kya jaldi hai janne ki Madam." She's walking ahead of me with her head bent. It's dark. There's no wat for me to look at her face, somehow, yet I am certain that she is smiling.

******

"I have something to tell you."

You can do this Raj. Even the darkness is in your favour.

"Go ahead, I'm listening."

"I'm a slow paced romance kind of guy. In fiction." I add when she raises her eyebrows. Dammit.

"Yeah me too. Slow burn romances have something about them, don't they? The whole, will they, won't they end up together and that yearning for your favourite characters to finally say that they have fallen for each other. Someone can pay me for experiencing these stories man...." There's a faraway look on her face as she says it. Maybe she's recollecting some of her favourite slow paced romances. Her adorable face is all the motivation I needed.

"And in reality too. I'm more of a 'takes all the time to know someone before confessing feelings' person."

"Ahhha."

"But these five days have changed that."

She sits up on hearing that.

"Devi, I -"

"Raj. Don't."

I move closer to see her face clearly. God, this darkness. She misunderstands the proximity and gets up.

"At least let me say it, Devi. I'm a rational guy. I can take no for an answer." I wish I could have hidden the hurt but it seeps in.

"But I don't want you to be hurt."

"I don't get it, Devi. What are you trying to say?"

"Raj, it's my sister's wedding in five days. I...I don't want to think about all of this right now. As long as we were flirting, it was fine. It was casual, I liked it. But if you confess...."

"It'll be too real?"

"For you. But not for me. It was never real. I'm sorry, I might have led you on but I don't see you like that."

I take a step closer. I have to see her face to see if she means it. Before I have a chance to make her turn towards me, she does so herself.

"Why did you have to do this Raj? Everything was going good until you.... You..."

"Ruined it?" I offer. When my voice cracks, I beat myself on the inside. Is that a way to take no for an answer, Raj? Maybe it's not. But.... I thought maybe...maybe she felt something too.

"Yes. Ruined it." Her confirmation pricks me.

"I thought it was just casual flirting for you. I'm sorry to have led you on. I wouldn't have done it agar mujhe pata hota ki tum...." She takes a pause but doesn't continue further.

"Why Raj, why?" She asks again.

"Is it that bad? I thought we'd be able to stay friends."

My voice comes out as a whisper. There's no way to hide how much Devi affects me, after that. No way. Not from myself, not from her. She must have understood by now that she had become important to me. Even though I hadn't.

"Maybe. But for now, I'd really appreciate some distance." She gets up.

"Did I spoil everything to the extent that you can't even stay here until Madhvi aunty leaves?" I say, unable to hold myself back. She stops at the door.

"Devi... I thought even you felt..."

"That's enough Raj. Please don't push it. I told you what I feel. And this is exactly why I think distance would do us some good. I have a lot of responsibilities in the coming days and so do you. Let's concentrate on them."

And with that she leaves.

Haste makes waste. My memory brings this proverb up to ridicule me. But I don't let it.

I agree that I was quick to express myself but...how was I so wrong? You can't feel electricity without two energies, right? I always thought that the sparks were mutual.

But it turns out that there can be darkness on Diwali too.