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|Twinkle-twinkle little star. Oh, my love! I always wonder what we are?|

by medicallymessedup

•recent present•

You enlighten me like no other,
Like fireflies at night,
Like the warmth of sun
after a cold night,
Like a new feeling every time
I see you.
Is it just my heart fluttering
or even yours?

Aryan scribbled down some scratchy lines motivated to write for the sake of his internal Gulzaar Sahab. He continued to inscribe on a new page just like the new happenings in his life. He leaned back onto the double seater hanging swing while the wind swayed him like a pendulum. The soft breeze of air gently caressed his face along with his thick hairs swiftly brushing against his forehead, messing up with the strange calmness that had engulfed him. It was soothing, relaxing and meditating along the line of his thought which was dangling along the limitless boundaries of his postulations.

[Gulzaar Sahab - aka Sampooran Singh Kalra, is one of the greatest Indian Urdu poets, lyricists, author, screenwriter, and film director known for his works in Hindi cinema.]

He closed his eyes and ran a hand through his wavy locks as a familiar pair of nut brown eyes shining with innocence began meddling with his brain chords again. He didn't wish to acknowledge what her eyes deemed each time they looked at him but for him it was easier to read in-between her unsaid syllables through a pair of his favorite shiny orbs.

He couldn't understand himself but it was obvious that each time he had this feeling to protect her from the voodoo of every person out there.

'What was wrong with him?' Aryan couldn't help but think all over again.

'When was something never wrong, dude?' An annoying Braine chided him. He was offended enough to glare at her with mean eyes. 'You are used to going around fooling nobody else rather than yourself. Drop this face of an imposter and be what you're, a patient of loveria.'

'You!' Aryan huffed, 'You're the reason for me being so fucked up, Braine. You corrupt innocent brains like me and I always end up making fun of myself.'

'You better listen to me boss, else Ruchi is going to despise you forever.'

'She can't hate me.' Aryan posed, 'I'd better see her getting angry at me rather than her abhorring me.'

'You're going to be a husband in a few hours at least show some courtesy of being one.' Braine prodded.

•The Engagement Night•

Soham Mallik had remained calm like an impending storm all this time as they returned back from the Batra residence. Aryan knew what was awaiting him in the form of his raging father but what affected him the most was that his mother hadn't spared a glance at him.

"Aryan!" Soham stopped his son but Aryan continued to walk away. He was marching right away to his old room at his parent's mansion, "Aryan Mallik! I'm talking to you, here." He shouted, stopping Aryan in the steps without turning back to face them.

"What?" Aryan implied trying to sound irked with his father's interruption and also to make his parents know of his disagreement to their decision. In response, Soham glared at him while Anchal gave her son a disapproving look. This wasn't probably what they wanted to hear from him after everything.

"I would like to be left alone for now, Dad." Aryan verbalized.

"Don't you have the guts to face your parents after the shameful deed you pulled up?" Soham bellowed, gripping Aryan's arm, "Aren't you going to seek appreciation from us for such a great deed? Didn't you ask your Mom for a present for this nonsense that you pulled up, huh?" He ridiculed.

Aryan heard Soham without speaking a word until his father brought up his mother in the conversation. "Dad, you don't need to bring up Mom in all this. She didn't knew about this-"

"Wow!" His sweet mother exclaimed in indifference, "I was already on the radar when my son dragged down a girl's prestige for some unknown reason. I was a part of it when a girl and her family were forced to think of your mother's failed upbringing." She noted. "Why didn't you think about me when you're planning to ruin an innocent girl's engagement?" Anchal ridiculed, "What went wrong with you, Aryan?"

"Mom, I-" Aryan began only to be abruptly cut off by an outraged Soham.

"It's none of your fault, Anchal." He continued. "There's something wrong with this bratty son of ours! We should've known that he meant no good for the girl either but still we decided to tie her down to him and not to forget, he was the reason that she was left back in Manali." He inquired, "You did this on purpose, No?"

"Is it going to change something if I say anything, Dad?" Aryan asked both of them, "Are you going to believe me or my good-for-nothing explanation somehow-"

"I don't think we are in a position to believe you, Aryan. It's so hard for me to say this out loud but you've failed me twice by now." Anchal articulated and Aryan's shoulders plummeted, "You've spoiled Ruchi's life for your own little fun. Do you think this was the right thing to do?" She questioned.

He was scorned by the time Soham finished up derailing him and retired to his room in unsettling anger along with Anchal who was ready to follow her husband's array when Aryan's words deterred her stride.

"She was only doing it for the sake of her family but she wasn't really fond of this alliance." Aryan let out, "I had no idea on how to stop all this and-"

"So what?" Anchal deliberated, "She was trying to abide by her family's wishes and even if she wasn't happy with the arrangement then she could have told them or-" Anchal shook her head recalling her father's nasty behavior concerning Ruchi. There was no way he could've paid heed to his daughter's denial in a positive manner. "Had she communicated with you regarding her problems herself?"

"No, she didn't but I just knew it-" Aryan cajoled.

Anchal sighed, shaking off her head at her son's celerity, "Aryan, you cannot simply assume things on the ground of some possibilities just because you feel like doing it that way." She tried to make sense, "Maybe she was happy and experiencing nothing more than a cold feet-" She added when he was about to protest, "which is absolutely normal else why would she get engaged to that guy."

"Mom, you're not understanding this." Aryan explicated tiredly, "She is my Ruchi and nobody can know better about her than what I do. I have known her so far and, and-" He felt being in an imagery whenever he talked about her, "She convincingly lies while smiling wholeheartedly in order to conceal her sadness." He pressed, "And that silly girl was this close on marrying that vile thing just because her father made her feel that she is obliged to do so and due to him Ruchi feels like it's the best to seal her precious emotions that makes her herself, she's capping the lid of an impenetrable jar and willingly throwing it away somewhere deep inside the monstrous waves of a never-ending sea." He exclaimed with a bereaved smile. "You don't know about her, Mom-" He repeated, "The Ruchi that I know would pluck out stars, engage in a duel with the mighty planets to save the sun and moon. She chases away the fear of others in a blink and then she-"

Anchal observed the shine in his eyes and couldn't help but address her doubt out loud, "How do you know her so closely?"

"I have known her for years." He concluded. "Precisely, since my childhood."

Anchal tried to decipher into the revelations when something remotely crossed her mind, "Aryan, is she-"

"Yes, she is the one." Aryan told his mother, "She's my mystery girl." He declared.

Anchal gasped in shock at the newfound information but soon a big smile took over her face, "You could have conveyed us before, Aryan." His mother slapped his arm in complaint, "We could have found a decent way to take an actual proposal to her family. It would have been-"

"I did not plan on marrying her, Mom." Aryan claimed while pinching his brows together, "At least not yet." He placed a period over Anchal's enthusiasm overthinking about them both being together.

"What do you mean, Aryan?"

"I am stating the truth behind my actions." He barely specified. "I wanted to set her free of this burden of a relationship, she was going to get herself into and nothing more as of now."

"You can't back off like this and now that everyone has decided to get you both married. You should-" Anchal tried to make him understand.

"We both are too young to go ahead with stuff, Mom." He demonstrated his conditions before his mother could misinterpret, "She has a bright future to shape and I don't want her to jeopardize her dreams because of me. She has been my inspiration to live and I am never going to let her think of me or our togetherness as a bondage." He grumbled towards the end of his monologue, "and besides she's going to hate me after tonight."

•scene ends•

"Aryan!" Soham clamored to pull him out of the reverie that he had been diving into before his father screeched out his name. "Where were you lost?" He demanded as he walked back inside his bedroom and sat on a bean bag.

"Nowhere." Aryan replied solemnly, "You had to say something?"

"I want you to sign these documents." Soham implied passing a file in front of him and marring confusion in Aryan's features, "What's this?"

"Read this!" Aryan shook his head at his father's no-nonsense except his serious business tone and dumped his face into the papers. Sometimes, he wondered if his father ever served in the military for the way he behaved with him until his mother called for a ceasefire.

"I was clear on not joining this huge business of yours, Dad." Aryan rebuffed after reading through the lines, "And if I somehow do it then it's definitely not now. I can't just give up on my dream to become-"

"Then how are you exactly going to behave responsibly now on? Tell me." Soham questioned with an edge to his voice, "You're marrying in less than a day and it's not like you're earning a penny to survive on your own."

Aryan grounded harder on his jaw and fought the urge to deviate from the matter in hand. The unending differences between him and his father's perfect choices can be addressed some other time.

"You've compelled me to marry early, Dad." Aryan sought out in sarcasm, "Neither me or Ruchi agreed but some wise person forced us to give in-"

"You haven't done a deed worth to be praised, my son." Soham exacted, hitting him right back but in the wrong direction. "I should've disowned you by now for leaving me and Anchal ashamed in front of a crowd." He criticized, "It would've been better if you won't be carrying any of your cards or relatively anything that made you habitual of luxuries."

"But I won't do it for the sake of the girl who had been involved in your nuisance. Remember my one final warning, Aryan-" He added and the urge to ignore the red bells was severe for Aryan but he knew his father wasn't someone to mess with at such moments so he listened. "You are being spared just because your wife does not deserve this and if by any means you hurt her then nobody is saving you from my wrath. Trust me on this, son."

"I won't. Do trust me on this, father." Soham did trust his blood but not the careless ways Aryan had adapted over the years. "Good."

"So, what do you want me to do now?"

"You're soon going to complete your management program and I want you to join the company as well." The ultimate verdict was passed.

•present•

"Baby!!" Aryan sang out melodiously while catching on his breath, "Where are you my, Baby?" There were none of her condemned responses and he became agitated.

"Where's Ruchi?" Aryan posed his query to no-one in particular because he returned back early today to spend some quality time with his lady love who tried to appear either irritated or nonchalant towards him.

"Madam is in her room, Mr. Mallik." A worker from the housekeeping said.

"Did she have her dinner?" He inquired again and Gauri who happened to pass by replied, "She has requested not to prepare the dinner for her, Mr. Mallik."

Aryan's face contorted into confusion which was further added on by Gauri who briefed him that his wife did not eat her lunch or have even stepped out of the room.

"This girl!" His frustration rode high. Once he heard enough about her unhealthy schedule for the day he was standing outside the door she had probably fallen in love with or else why won't she leave its confines. He knocked on the door in decency this time but the pounding was left neglected.

The concerned man took over and he unlocked the room through the masterkey and barged inside.

Aryan spotted Ruchi sound asleep but she was lying uncomfortably on the little couch. He marched towards her and crouched on his knees to check upon her closely and after making sure she was physically fine, he scooped her up in his arms and made her sleep on the bed like one does to a napping toddler.

He stood there for a while watching her silently with more than an hour passing on until he noticed her tossing and turning in the bed.

Ruchi sat up in a haze with a troubled beaten face. Her rosy cheeks had grown awfully pale, her lips were parched with heavy beads of sweat shining on the forehead while she clutched onto her head as if wilting in extreme pain.

"Bad dream is it?" Aryan couldn't stop himself from asking as she glanced up at him in shock. "Ruchi-?" He called out for her and waved his fingers in front of her face.

"What? What are you doing here?" Her question was filled with skepticism.

"I was waiting for you to wake up." He replied falling back into the couch to ease his burning muscles, "Looks like you earned a good sleep after a long time." He implied.

"It's nothing like that, Aryan." Ruchi responded and her eyes peeked into the space, especially halting at the door and the balcony. "I locked the room. How did you get inside?" She asked massaging her head looking distanced from whatever he did while messing with her belongings around the room. "And I wasn't here for the last time I recall." She whispered the last line to herself.

"Gulmohar abides even by my untold wishes except you." Aryan stated his mind in disapproval, "You didn't show up for the breakfast and then denied the lunch and dinner as well." He juked an exclamation, "Wow! I didn't know that skipping meals was a part of my punishment too."

"There's no punishment for you." She deadpanned.

Aryan just rolled his eyes at her subtle seriousness. She's been punishing him since day one.

"You know what?" Ruchi rebuffed and he hummed.

"Sometimes you make me feel like I'm talking to a stubborn kid of five." She derided slowly. "Even worse because you can't get enough of getting things done in your own twisted way."

"Firstly, you have to look out for yourself because nobody else gives a flying fuck." He preached and then scolded her. "And you certainly don't seem very keen about caring for yourself, Mrs. Mallik."

"You and your sickly twisted words, Mr. Mallik." Ruchi huffed to ignore his words, "I'm never gonna get enough of them."

"You've practiced a very classic way to avoid me." She snickered against his back while he commented and shut off his eyelids, "Though it's really not good enough for me to not care about you. Try harder."

"Thanks for the lovely motivation, gentleman." She snapped eerily.

Aryan got up a minute later due to the sound of successive rustling that came from the shuffling in the bedside drawers. Ruchi was busy frantically searching for something.

"Why are you venting out your anger on that poor furniture?" He belittled. "C'mon grow up, Baby!" Aryan urged messing up with her temperamental nerves. "There are better ways to scream out your rage."

"Says the one who goes around spoiling random engagements to fulfill one of his quests." Ruchi taunted.

"Really?" Aryan was composed and familiar with her rants by now. Her coping mechanism wasn't strange anymore to him. "I saved you from being there-"

"And who broadcasted to you that I needed saving, Mr. Mallik?" The walls of her defense were soaring up once again, "I don't remember anything about me telling you to come around and break whatever little relations I had with my family."

"A family can never be broken, Ruchi." Aryan surmised thoughtfully after assessing her behavior which somehow always revolves around her family. "And a broken relationship cannot ever be family."

The mirror of silence came across Ruchi but she dismissed it right away and hurriedly gulped down a few tablets with a glass of water which didn't go unnoticed by Aryan.

"Oye, oye! Stop!!" He tried to prevent her with some futile attempts, "Do you in some way follow the stupid tradition of having medicines on an empty stomach?" He condemned.

"My life, my wish. I can have them as per my wish, Mr. Mallik."

"What kind of medicines are these?" He demanded.

"They are some frequent migraine tablets." Ruchi smoothly lied through her teeth. "Also, they're prescribed before you ask."

"But-" He still relented, getting her miffed by his inspection.

"Why are you suddenly so interested in interrogating me? Don't you have anything else to do?" He pardoned her scout instead and pinned on the foil of her medication.

"If it would have been my Mom then I bet that she would've chopped off your ears for following up with these ill habits."

"Then I should be thankful that I don't have a mother to slate me." Her arms fell on the side along with a dulcet whimper while she tried to walk past him to get over the sudden pain that weighed over her chest.

Aryan roughly knew that Ruchi didn't have her mother since her childhood but he was deprived of their actual story. He couldn't match her level of pain in this case but he too had stayed away from his mother for a long time. There were days when he missed and longed for Anchal's embrace but she wasn't there with him unlike Ruchi who hadn't heard from her birth parent for a decade.

"I won't mind if you call my Mom as yours." He suggested, "The least I could do is owe you that much."

"You don't owe me anything." Ruchi remarked. The tightened knots were loosening up as she talked to him more and more.

"Why? Didn't I make you cry?"

She shook her head, "Your family has done enough for me."

"I didn't-"

"You saved me-" from drowning. "Don't be guilty or something because my Papa was going to disown me if not for you." Aryan's stare was fixed on her. "I or my actions are never pleasing enough for him."

"Why do you give your father so much importance?"

Ruchi glared at him with a blank gaze as her lips refused to answer. "That's none of your concern, Mr. Mallik." Her tone was sharp, "I suggest you leave me alone for a while."

Aryan raised his hands in surrender and settled at the edge of the couch to not dampen her mood. "Don't you get bored being alone in the room? Go out on a romantic date with someone like your handsome husband." He diverted the course of his words as his beautiful wife was aiming at him with throat-cutting daggers, "I mean, why don't you chill out with your friends unless you're starting college? Sammy, Chhaya, Bhavesh-"

"And tell each of them the reason for my headache? Should I tell them about us, Mr. Mallik?" Ruchi snapped, losing her calm for once and over but then regretting it immediately. "You know what, Aryan? Just let me be on my own and I'll be alright." She excused. His frown deepened, clearly pissed off by her bids to dodge his worry.

"Aryan, please!" She pleaded again, aggravating him.

"You want peace?" He appealed while she impatiently tapped her foot and waited for him to leave but it was as if her almighty had got some other plans.

"Come with me." He purred, grabbing her wrist and pulling her out with him. "Aryan, have you gone nuts? Let me be, man." She yelped but for the time being he remained mum. "Mr. Mallik, why are you so-?"

He stopped once they were inside his room and standing at the porch close to her room. Ruchi could immediately feel the caressing of the slightly cold breeze of the setting evening on her skin. The rainbow hues of the splitting sky welcomed her with grace and washed her with an extraordinary protection. The chirping birds were flying back to their shelters and the moon seemed eager to take over his post. She didn't realize but she had walked ahead and spread her hands to soak-in the ease.

She turned back to focus on Aryan who was capturing her movements like a picturesque landscape clicked to mark the happy memories. He was dutifully leaning onto the glass panes intently staring at the woman whom he loved, she had thrown her hands up in the air akin to a little one who ached for her first flight in the vast sky but never had a chance.

A ghost smile pulled up on the seam of her lips as she acknowledged him.

"What are we doing or maybe what will I be doing here?"

"You wanted peace so I brought you to peace." He responded as she raised her eyebrows, compelling him to elaborate appropriately. "Now sit and enjoy the lap of your peace." He insinuated.

"But, Aryan-"

"No ifs or buts, Mrs. Mallik." He sassed obstinately until assured about her not running away from the place of her fascination.

Aryan bolted inside the kitchen where Gauri was beginning to prepare the dinner when he obstructed her actions, "But Sir, what if Ma'am-"

"Don't worry, I'm cooking something for both of us." He confirmed and she took her leave, still surprised by his frequent but sudden appearances in the kitchen. It was the second time in a row since the breakfast episode.

Aryan's phone rang and he connected the call with his bluetooth, continuing the crucial task he had taken upon his hands. The ladies in his life are going to be proud of his sensational skills.

"Vee Booohhh!!" He shouted, lifting the call booming with a bizarre ringtone.

"Ah, my ugly bitch!" The voice from the other side screamed in greeting.

"I missed you, Booh-Booh!"

"Missed me? My ass, bitch!" Ved Arya snorted crabbily, "You were probably engaged in a steamy session with your newly-wedded wife."

"Ah," Aryan wondered, "Who told you?"

"A little birdie told me that my prized bitch was taken in a holy matrimony." He depicted theatrically, "You betrayed me for a girl, huh!" He exaggerated.

"Ved, I-"

"How dare you, asshole!!" Ved hallooed noisily, "You fractured my heart, Aryan Mallik!! You promised to change the diapers of my children. I am gonna sue you because you didn't fuckin' invite me to your fat-ass desi wedding."

"Dramebaaz saale! I've always been straight." Aryan grunted.

["Melodramatic rascal!"]

"Who's the big-hearted girl who picked you up from the trash anyway?" Ved went on to rile up his best friend, "All my best wishes are with the girl who had decided to keep up with your ugly ass!" He fired him up, "Shall I lend her on your dirty secrets!?"

"Don't you dare, Vediee Booh!" Aryan warned, "Try to approach my wife with your manipulative mouth and you're dead rightward from here."

"Who says? Ugly bitch!" He scoffed at his humor, earning a disgruntled scowl from Aryan.

"Did States refer you back to Agra's mental asylum?" He deemed, "I will make sure of all the necessary arrangements. Is somebody joining you, maybe Lisa, Rosette or Adaline-"

"I'll go with my girlfriend."

"Who's the poor one?"

"It's you Aryan Mallik, my ugly bitch!" He filled in, "Book a honeymoon suite with a king-sized bed as you're-"

"I'll fuckin' choke you by neck, Ved Arya!"

"I will be waiting, bae!" Ved yelled, "I know you're into nasty kinks-"

"I'm going to kill you with my bloody knife, deepshit!" Aryan gnawed.

"And I'm gonna kiss you, Loverboy!" Ved gave him virtual smooches before Aryan hung up on him being irked by the coziness of his crazy best friend.

Aryan finished cooking and served the food on a huge platter and came back into his room to find Ruchi at the same place where he left her much to his happiness. To him, today's evening was a blessing in disguise.

"Here you go!" Aryan prompted after taking a seat beside her on the swing and pulling up the platter in-between both of them as she looked at him dumbfounded. "Don't give me that look." He posed, "I know you must have been hungry and might have gotten bored of the regular foods so this is a cheat meal," He boasted, "Aryan Mallik's magical maggie feast."

"Is it for me?" She asked wide-eyed.

"Don't flatter yourself much. I made it for myself too." He grouched to avoid being the headline of her special moments. He picked up a fork and began digging into the bowl straightaway.

"It will turn cold." He chided when she didn't start, "Why don't you eat?"

"You look more starved than me, Aryan." She smiled heartily and grabbed her bowl, "You prefer super plain maggi?" She asked curiously.

"Ghass-phuss hi khaani thi toh bata deti main aloo gobhi bana ke deta. Maggi ka kya karna tha phir?" He complained with a sigh of irritation.

["If you had to eat vegetables then you would have told me, I shall have prepared green veggies. What would have a maggi done?"]

"Don't get angry, stupid!" Ruchi chastised with a bubbling laughter, "It's probably the first thing which had matched up with our taste." She told him. "I prefer only maggi without any ghass-phuss so thank you so much." She imitated his annoyed tone earning a mocking scoff from him.

"Try this cold drink and you would ask me to make up your deflated mood similarly everyday."

Ruchi took a sip from the cold drink and as Aryan asserted, it proved true. She definitely loved the heavenly taste that came from the combo of maggie and cold-drink. Why had she never tried this before because now she was a fan of this small feast.

"You're definitely a charmer, Mr. Mallik." She chimed in giddily.

"Tell me something I don't know." He replied with a smug grin that ditched her anger yet again just to witness his joy once again. His ecstasy did not cease away from brightening up the agonizing darkness of hers that she was dealing with in a lonely battle with herself.

"You're something, Mrs. Mallik." Aryan whispered under his breath as he saw her munching on the food he prepared exclusively for her.

Lots of Love,

ANKITA