“Tara,”   

“Hmm?” 

Tara looks up from where she had been sitting on the couch, ticking off some things on a sheet of paper, a frown marring her forehead.

Raghav gives her a small smile before sitting beside her.

“I wanted to ask you about something.” He tells her, and she hums, ticking off one last item before closing the sheet. 

“Ask away.” She says, the frown finally fading away from between her brows. Though the effect doesn’t persist for too long.

“Do you remember the time we met in that inn when Ranvi and I had you locked up?” Raghav asks guiltily and Tara nods.

“You had mentioned something about some scoundrels....  something about not treating you right. After the day you had fainted, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. Do you – would you like to share something about that?” Raghav asks hesitantly, unable to wipe away the worried lines between his brows.

He sees Tara smiling at him, albeit sadly.

She takes off the reading glasses before he came and rubs at her eye heaving a content sigh.

“It’s a long story you’re asking for, Raghav,” Tara warns.

“I have all the time in the world.” Especially for you, Raghav leaves it unsaid.

“Well, I guess I shouldn’t call them scoundrels considering that they were the ones who adopted me from the orphanage.” She starts and Raghav gulps not expecting this to escape the girl’s mouth.

“But?” he presses. 

“They…. they didn’t treat me like I was supposed to, Raghav, like you treat a ten-year-old kid when you pick them up from an orphanage. For years I did whatever they asked of me, whenever they did because I considered them as my new family, someone to provide me shelter when I didn’t have my parents to give me that but they…I was just a house help to them.” Tara reveals, a bitter chuckle escaping her mouth.

“I was fifteen when I discovered that I had diabetes, and because those people only gave me the food that had been left after their family of five used to get done with the dinner, I started passing out more frequently every week. At first, they worried about me, fussed around the doctors, and made me rest in bed. I remember being elated when I had first discovered the disease, it gave me a reason to be loved again. But it all vanished as quickly it had come and took away from me more than I could ever fathom. They grew tired of taking care of me. They stopped caring. I was sixteen when they kicked me out of their house.” She pauses for a moment there, letting out a long sigh. 

“After the death of my parents, I had made up my mind to torment the police like they tormented my parents, to make them taste what they had given me, loss and pain when they would be unable to catch me. But then I was sent with that family by Daya sir, who I am sure wasn’t aware of the kind of people they were, but I had been really happy. But when they kicked me out, it was with a bag full of debts on my shoulder. Not only they treated me like a house help but took loans from people in my name. They made living difficult for me. I’ve been robbing houses since then, paying off debts and avenging my parents’ death in my own way. There is still a long way to go.” Tara says, letting out a loud sigh, looking at Raghav and giving him a self-deprecating chuckle. “Pretty tragic, huh?” she asks but Raghav doesn’t answer, just looks at her with that helpless face of his. 

“I wish I could have done something for you, Tara. I can do still…I’ll pay all off the debts, just tell me the nam –”

“Aww, that’s so sweet of you, Raghav.” Tara coos, giving him a genuine smile. “But I don’t need anyone’s help. I have paid almost all the debts anyway, and quite frankly I’m living my best life right now with you guys feeding me all the time. All of you. Even that Mihir.” She says but there is no malice behind her words instead a smile graces her face.

“Where are they? Mihir, Ruhi, Ranveer?” she asks before getting up from the couch and starting to look around the house herself, leaving behind a longing heart in her wake.

*

“Where are you going?” Ruhi asks from where she is sitting on her bed, fingers typing on a laptop but gaze unfocused. She looks at Mihir who had come into her room fifteen minutes ago to search for a stapler but had instead sat down on the edge of the bed, telling her about his day and asking about hers. 

It had felt nice doing this after a long while before everything changed.

“Oh, I’ll just go and check upon Tara. It’s time for her to take medicines.” He says, grabbing his phone that he had thrown on her bed.

Ruhi gulps. “B-But bhaiya is there with her. I’m sure he’ll give her the medicines.” She says, forcing a small smile on her face that doesn’t prove to be enough to let Mihir stay back. 

“I know Raghav will, but I’ll just go and see anyways.” He says nonchalantly and Ruhi mums up. She can’t find it in herself to say anything else knowing that it would come out rude, with how she’s been feeling since past few days. Though she’s unable to control the pressure with which her fingers press the keys on the keyboard. 

Mihir seems to notice. “Hey, are you ok?” he asks in the gentle voice of his, the same voice that he had used on Tara yesterday, and the day before that and the week before that. 

Ruhi blinks rapidly, simply nodding her head, not bothering to look him in the eyes. 

“Are you sure?” he asks one more time. 

“Yeah, you go and take care of your Tara.”

Oh no.

She hadn’t meant to voice all her insecurities packed in a few words like this. 

Mihir pauses. And slowly, with a predator-like movement turns around.

“What…..My Tara?” he asks first to himself then to her but Ruhi doesn’t quite have the courage to look at him and so she doesn’t reply.

“Ruhi,” he calls out but in vain.

“Ruhi, look at me.” He says again, his voice gaining a certain gentleness to it. Ruhi is unable to avoid it this time and hence obeys involuntarily, blinking back the unwanted sheen that is now layering up on her eyes. 

Mihir notices. He notices and walks towards her, dropping his phone back on the bed and sitting right in front of her, the proximity not helping her situation.

“What’s wrong? Tell me.” He asks, but her gaze once again drops to the laptop screen, staring at the one line that is has written for her wpr in the past half an hour like the genius she is.

“Nothing’s wrong.” Her reply comes out more closed off than she means to, perturbing Mihir.

He takes off the laptop from her hands and puts it on the bed, holding her hands once again. 

“You’re lying.” He says, a small frown rising between his brows. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t have said what you just said.” He ascertains, and in the way he does, so determined and assured that he is right even though he is, irritates her for probably the first time ever. 

“Why? Did I say anything wrong?” Ruhi snaps, instantly regretting the words as they escape her mouth, her eyes shutting and head shaking in disappointment.

She sighs. “Listen Mihir, I’m really tired now. I’m not understanding what I’m saying right now. It won’t be fair to you …. or me. I just want to rest for some time.” She states with her head still down, and so it comes as a surprise when a thumb and a finger come into view, gripping her chin lightly to make her look up. 

She finds Mihir gazing at her intently, not let going of his hand from her face.

“No, we are having this conversation right now.” He says, finally removing his fingers from her chin, only for them to stray to her ear and tuck a strand behind her, her eyes shutting close.

“You will tell me what’s the problem and I’ll hear it all. Just like we used to, as we have done till now.” Mihir states patiently and Ruhi gulps, exhaling a tired breath.

“There’s – there’s nothing to tel –”

“Why did you call her my Tara?”

Ruhi shakes her head, frustrated. “It was a mista –”

“It wasn’t a mistake. I know it wasn’t. Now tell me truthfully.”

“It was nothing –”

“Tell me…”

“Mihir!”

“Tell me.”

“Fine. I was jealous. It’s not always that I can be quiet and patient. I feel jealous, I have been for quite some time now. There, I admitted it. Are you satisfied now?” Ruhi asks embittered, eyes red-rimmed.

Though instead of finding an all-knowing look on Mihir’s face like she had been expecting, she finds genuine sadness, an expression that she never wished to be seen on his face after the day that he had talked to her about his parents in the orphanage all those years ago.

“Jealous? You’re jealous of whom, Tara? Someone you made me befriend?” he asks with genuine confusion, but Ruhi doesn’t think she has an apt answer for it. She herself is confused about why she’s feeling like this, when truly it was her who had pushed Mihir towards Tara, wanting her friend to be his friend too. 

She sighs, blinking back the unwanted, frustrating tears that are pooling at the back of her eyes. “I don’t know, Mihir. I don’t know about anything. I’m just being stupid.” She says hurriedly, trying to find any way to get out of the conversation but Mihir doesn’t relent.

“Tara is my friend, Ruhi.” He says, “She is just a friend to me.” He clarifies again and Ruhi shuts her eyes before letting out a small, “I know”.

“But you aren’t. It’s been a long time since…. I haven’t seen you like a friend for a while now.” Mihir says next and her eyes snap open, the tears that she was trying to control now rushing to her eyes. 

“Wh-What do you mean by that? A-Am I not even g-good enough to be your f-friend?” she questions stupidly with a wavering voice and an innocence that makes Mihir smile that fond smile.

“No, Ruhi. It means that it’s been a long time since you’ve been more than just a friend to me. You know this, don’t you? Whatever’s between you and me.” 

Between her and him.

Oh, she knows, yes, she does. It is only these melancholic emotions that are to be blamed for clouding her senses and enhancing her stupidity. Ruhi is well aware of the fact that Mihir knows about how she feels for him, but the past few days had made her unsure like never before, maybe because before this there wasn’t any girl except for Mishti in Mihir’s life, because she hadn’t had to share with him with anyone before this.

And even though she knows all this, she remains silent. Wanting to hear from Mihir what he feels.

“I had planned a date for us at the mall.” He states with an expectant smile. “But we couldn’t go on it because of –”

“Tara.”

“No, because of a friend’s health, Ruhi. The same friend that I had said some unforgivable things to in our childhood, things that I still feel guilty for, things that I try to make up for even now by bringing her medicines and ensuring her safety.” Mihir reveals, reaching out between them to hold her hand in his. 

“I’m – I’m not a very good person, Ruhi. I’m not doing all those things because I suddenly have started caring for a girl that I didn’t even like seeing until now. I hope that someday I would become a person like that; caring for everyone, unbiased but I am not like that. It’s because I feel guilty. After hearing what had happened with her parents and then thinking about what I had said to her, it makes me hate myself. I – I’m just trying to make up for it and b-be a good person.” This time it’s Mihir whose voice breaks, and Ruhi hates to be the reason behind it. Had no idea that this is how Mihir has been feeling all this while, and she just had to go and worsen it. 

The tears finally fall from her eyes, her lower lip quivering. “I know, Mihir. I’m – I’m sorry.” She says, and Mihir smiles fondly through his thin layer of water covering his eyes. 

“Now what are you sorry for, love?” 

“F-For making you sad and for being s-so stupid.” She says, pulling her hands out of his grip, and covering her eyes with them, and therefore it once again comes as a surprise to her when a pair of hands come to remove hers from her eyes, giving her a smile that she had always love to be the recipient of. 

Mihir cups her face, wiping away the tears and stroking her cheek with his thumb. “There is nothing for you to be sorry about. I’m glad we talked about it. This had been a long time coming, don’t you think?” he smiles.

“Come here,” Mihir says then, beckoning her towards him with a flick of his chin and arms open. Ruhi shakes her head, a wavering, shy smile blooming on her lips. 

“Oh, come on. It’s been years, I’ve been waiting for this moment for years.” He says and just because the statement is true for herself as much as it is for him, she obliges, creating a place for herself in his arms until he is holding her securely, her snuggled against his chest.

They both heave a sigh of contentment at the same time. 

“Ew! At least shut the door when you are doing these things. I have been scarred for life, Oh God!” Ranveer cries dramatically from outside, startling them into a chuckle yet they don't do anything to change their position.

Ranveer would just have to bear it....maybe for the rest of his life.