Two Years Later ....

Swara Bose never imagined stepping back into this house again under any circumstances ,but fate played its hand in the form of her sister who was getting married today. To Laksh ,the man she jilted on their wedding day. At first Swara had been surprised by her sister decision and wondered how she found it in herself to trust Laksh yet again but she had to admit now that her sister was right to trust him.

Because after that day, Swara was no longer acknowledged by her father who considered her decision to be an insult to his name but it paved way for Swara to make yet another decision that was to go back to her old name. Her mother may have found it in her to forgive her father and marry him but for Swara it wasnt that easy when he failed to stand by her that day and disowned her in front of everyone.

Since Swara didnt want to come between her parents,she left town with her dida and they have been blissfully happy until a year ago when her dida passed away which plunged her into sorrow for a long time. Her mother demanded Swara should return back home and that she would convince her father to welcome her back but Swara refused to move back.

Yet here she was back in town and in the Maheshwari house for her sister, Ragini and Swara had managed to keep their bond intact inspite of the distance or maybe it was because of it they have grown closer to each other in this two years and when her sister gave an ultimatum that her marriage will only happen with Swara around everyone went out of their way to make it happen including laksh.

Swara had assumed there had to be some resentment from laksh towards her but Ragini had told her that it had been him who was her defender when it comes to his family acceptance. " He told them that you were right to walk away and he realized that he was not the one for you". Ragini had told her on one of their Skype chats . But still she felt little bit reluctant to meet him face to face for the first time.

So swara was glad that her sister rushed into greet her first before she get to meet others which would mean she could lock herself in her sister room till the wedding and it was good to see her sister after a long time. But what she didnt expect was to be the one who had to advise her sister when she got cold feet minutes before the wedding.

" Ragini..You Love Laksh and you are going to marry him. The poor guy cant be jilted by both sisters . I am kidding Ragini, dont listen to me but listen to your heart and you would know the answer to it" Swara spoke up to calm her sister who smiled back at her that swara felt flicker of relief .

" I know, I know. He loves me and i trust him ,it just that sometime it feels like a dream. I just wanted to be a good friend to him after you left and when he first said he loves me after six months , i freaked out and refused to believe him but he had been so patient with me and waited until i come to terms with it and trust him ,it was made me fall in love with him all over again" Ragini admitted with a shy smile that swara was indeed glad to see her happy and it went a long way to ease her guilt to know laksh found his happiness as well.

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Laksh Maheshwari was pacing to and fro in his room nervous all of a sudden, he loves ragini and she loves him. Yet he was worried that this marriage may not happen, when Swara walked away he thought he knew what heartbreak was until he realized it more of wounded pride than heart. Because the mere thought of this marriage not happening was giving him a glimpse of the real pain if he lost Ragini.

Once Ragini told him that it was his fault as well that Swara walked away that night, he tried to justify himself over and over again to prove that it had been entirely her fault but she had been relentless " You didnt trust Swara ,Laksh. Even though it had been me who helped Sanskar, you blamed her instead. When you love someone ,you trust them " Ragini had told him back them. It took him some time to come from his self induced pain to realize the truth behind her words.

And realize why he didnt trust her, it had been a rude awakening to learn that he fell in love with Swara because she was unpredictable to him and yet it was also what made him wary of her ,he couldnt trust her because he really didnt know her and that was shocking to him because he had been in love and assumed he know everything only to realize he really didnt know anything about swara .

And when his heart fell for her sister, he fought against it . No longer trusting his emotions but when the despair increased each day he spent with Ragini unable to control his attraction and love, he realized that he had a choice to make either walk away from her or give in to the truth that he was in love . Walking away would have been the easiest choice but ultimately Laksh still was self centered that he choose love because that what made him happy. And the mere thought of losing ragini made him not just unhappy but unhinged.

The brief knock to his door was enough to snap him out of those thoughts and yet life played it trick as he opened the door to come face to face with his cousin, the first thought that crossed his mind had been if Sanskar had come to stop the wedding and it made him nervous all over again because another truth he learnt in this last two years was his cousin was right to be angry with him ,Laksh had been so self centered that he had never noticed kavitha truthfulness and just a hint of doubt created by his father had been enough to betray his friend and cousin in the worst possible way. Guilt was an emotion that always surrounds him when he thinks about either of them .

" Got a minute ?" his cousin voice spoke up and he had no choice but to let him inside his room because sometime when you commit unforgivable mistakes against someone then you gain no say when it comes to them.

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Sanskar didnt want to come back to this house, after that day this was the last place he ever wanted to visit. And yet he owe it to Ragini to make amends with his cousin, they may have become friends because of their shared goals in the past but yet she had been his friend and when she asked him to do something, he felt honor bound to do it for her sake . He just wished it didnt have to come at the cost of seeing his cousin.

" Lucky, I just wanted to say that whatever happened to kavitha wasnt your fault. You had chosen to trust your father Laksh not betray kavitha. And i no longer hold it against you because i didnt know what i would have done in your place either. " Sanskar spoke up truthfully because awhile Ragini wanted him to ease Laksh guilty conscience, every word Sanskar said had been the truth.

He had been so crazed up about revenge that he never really step back a moment to think , people arent summed up by a single choice or a single mistake and Lucky made a choice to trust his father ,it turned out to be a mistake but it didnt make him unforgivable in his eyes and if Sanskar had destroyed Laksh happiness by stopping his marriage, he wouldnt have felt relief because while laksh had been a unintentional mistake,Sanskar would have been a mistake that was planned out to hurt his cousin.

The first time he realized that had been when Swara fell into the river, the realization his revenge can come at a cost of life was what stopped him in his tracks, because if Swara had died then he was no different from his uncle, in his prejudice against his uncle family an innocent life would be lost. Revenge for kavitha shouldnt have come at the cost of Swara life . So he walked away that day even after learning the truth that his uncle may not have pushed her into the river using his hands but he did so with his words.

The last two years he built a life of his own away from the Maheshwari's , his parents choose to move in with him along with his sister. It had been awkward at first ,after being alone for so long he needed time to realize he hadnt lost everyone he loved because his family stood by him when he really needed them. He had learnt from his father that Swara walked away from the wedding, he initially tried to find her when he learnt from Ragini that she left their house .

Though he found her living with her dida, he never approached her because he knew that to her ,he would always be a past that she wanted to forget along with her memories. Yet he had always thought of her time to time when he felt lonely, and wondered how she was faring along with her new life. He lost touch with Ragini when she felt conflicted between him and his cousin and he decided to be the one to walk away from them giving her the choice to follow her heart.

And it was what the led him back to this house, Ragini visit ." I know it not fair to ask you to forgive laksh, so i wont but i want you to come to my wedding as my friend. Seeing you in the wedding would be enough for him " she had told him back then and he could have ignored her plea but his choice was made up by the time she placed her wedding card in his hand.

As he walked outside his cousin room leaving him in shock which he hoped would help him move on from the past, he came face to face with his past. The man who destroyed his life, he felt conflicted about his uncle the most, so he choose to walk away from him without a word. He had promised his father that he wont take revenge on his brother. It was one of the things his dad asked of him and Sanskar who had come to realize the cost of revenge didnt want it to come at the cost of his family as well. So he let it go but he could neither forgive nor forget his uncle .

His uncle had managed to disrupt his peace of mind until his eyes locked with a familiar face who was looking at him with undivided attention, it was close to two years since he last saw her but yet even now her eyes were filled with understanding after she witnessed his tense moment with his uncle. He knew she would be around for the wedding, his initial plan had been to avoid her but yet he found himself walking towards her .Sometime heart doesn't stop to listen to mind but make its choice on impulse.

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Swara had to leave Ragini room when Laksh mom had made her appearance, within few minutes Swara felt uncomfortable enough to leave, though she had been relieved to see Laksh mom adored Ragini because she didnt want to be the reason for ragini unhappiness and that when her eyes saw him and she couldnt take her eyes of him. In the few milliseconds, she had been worried about him,concerned for him and most important wanted to help him .

She had been relieved when he walked away with a word to his uncle but her heart skipped a beat when he made his way towards her instead. She didnt know why she felt nervous around him, maybe because she had thought about him often in the last two years and wondered how he was coping up with everything.

" Hi" the single word from her felt alien to her, she didnt know what else to say and was relieved when he returned the greeting and they stood beside each other awkwardly without saying a word but even the silence was comfortable enough that she didnt move away from him.

And fortunately the pandit called out everyone at the moment and so they had something else to focus except the continued silence between them. Swara choose to remain by his side and when her sister eyes found it way to her ,there was a hint of smile . The next few minutes Swara attention were focused on her sister that she momentarily forgot about him until he spoke up breaking the unintentional silence between them.

" Do you regret it " he asked her and she knew what he meant but wondered how to tell him the truth that seeing Laksh getting married was such a relief to her than regret, because leaving him in the mandap had been her regret not because she wanted to marry him but because she failed to recognize her heart wasnt in it sooner.

" No. Do you regret it ?" She asked him instead, because she wanted to know if he regretted walking away from his revenge.

" No. Laksh deserves to be happy and Ragini will make him happy " Sanskar answered back making her feel a hint of smile to see the happily married couple and realizing the truth in Sanskar words

" They are both braver than we are " she spoke up and regretted the words a second later, she didnt want to talk with him especially matters of heart, at his questioning glance she had wondered if she could backtrack but realized there is no loss in speaking her mind since she wasnt going to meet him again.

" Me who is not willing to take a chance to love and you who is not willing to let go of your love " She told him because it had been the truth, Sanskar held on to his past and Kavitha unwilling to move on awhile Swara never risked herself again to find love because she didnt trust herself or her heart anymore .

After leaving Laksh, her heart was bruised enough to never try again. Even though it had been her choice to walk away, she never could find it in her to try again .She never went for a date ,never tried to find the one because she was scarred of stepping up again and failing at it . She didnt know why she told Sanskar the truth when she hadnt even confided in her sister yet maybe because she wont be seeing him again atleast for another two years .

" True, Can we ever be brave enough like them" he asked her next but some questions in life dont yield answers at the moment and only with time will the answer be known for them. And for both Swara and Sanskar that night wasnt the day that held those answers but in a few years down the lane they had to make their choices yet again and will they be brave enough to do so only time will tell.

P.S: " Just kidding , i will tell about it in the next update. That it for now ..Let me know your thoughts and Feedbacks . Hit the votes if you liked it "

Love

Juanita Reid.