For The longest Time (Episode 11)

It was the wedding day; everyone was in a rush to get things done before time. Annapurna and Shramishtha with Laksh and Ragini had devised a plan to get Swara and Sanskar to confess their feelings. Unaware what was coming their way Sanskar and Swara went about completing their part of work for the wedding.

Swara was helping Ragini get ready in her room. Ragini looked beautiful in her bridal attire, “I never thought I could look this beautiful” Ragini said while looking in the mirror. Swara gave a little laugh “Yeah, it’s the bridal glow” she teased “How does it feel? I know you guys love each other. Still are you nervous?” she asked. She saw Ragini’s face change expressions “Relax, don’t freak out. I was just curious” she tried to calm Ragini. “Swara what if we are bad at marriage? What if he doesn’t love me after? What if we lose each other admist all the responsibilities?” She started freaking out. “Ragini, please relax. You’re hyperventilating. MAAA” she called out. Shramishtha rushed in “What’s wrong? What happened?” she looked at Ragini “Sweetheart what’s wrong?” she asked while sitting beside her “Ma, what if Laksh doesn’t love me after marriage? What if I am not a good wife?” she asked in a worried tone. Shramishtha laughed and said “Nothing will go wrong Ragini. Laksh loves you very much. You’re just getting pre wedding jitters. Everyone makes mistake in their married life, even you both will make mistakes. But you both will correct your mistakes and move forward. You both have a journey for your lifetime sweetheart. You will fight with each other and you will fight for each other, there will be days when you will hate each other so much that you wouldn’t want to see his face, but at the end of the day you both will want to come home to each other. That’s what makes this relationship so special” Ragini visibly relaxed and Swara let out a sigh “Thank you Ma for helping me out; otherwise she would have had a stroke out of nervousness.” Swara said. Shramishtha and Ragini hugged and started crying “I and Shekhar did not even realise when our little girl grew up” Shramishtha said. “How will I manage without you Ma” Ragini said while holding her. Shramishtha kissed the top of her head “You will manage everything better than I did”. Swara wiped her tears and said all this emotional drama spoiled my makeup and the three of them laughed. Swara and Shramishtha helped Ragini with her final touches and then Shramishtha put a kaala teeka behind Ragini’s ear to ward off evil eyes.

“Bhai, I am getting married. What if I am a bad husband? What if she hates me after marriage?” Laksh said while pacing around the room. Sanskar was laughing at Laksh’s state. “Bhai, please stop laughing at me” he narrowed his eyes at him “Marriage is a huge responsibility. What if I am not able to fulfil my part?” ; Durgaprasad entered the room and heard Laksh’s worries and joined Sanskar in laughing at him. “Dad not you too” Laksh whined. Durgaprasad controlled his laugh “Son, do you think I and Annapurna didn’t have our share of fights and mistakes? Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone questions each other at one point of time. It’s only human. There is nothing as a perfect marriage. And it’s the imperfections that make this relationship worth every second of your life. You and Ragini love each other and you both will get through everything with each other. The only advice I’ll give you is that never stop respecting each other. Never forget why you both fell in love with each other and never try to change each other. Compromise is a part of marriage, but never compromise so much that you lose each other”. “Wow dad that was some heavy advice” Sanskar said. “Don’t get too cocky with me” Durgaprasad said in a teasing way. Laksh hugged him “Thanks dad”. Annapurna entered the room and had moist eyes when she saw her family together. She went near Laksh moved her hand on his head and said “We never even realised when out sons grew up”. Laksh and Sanskar hugged Annapurna, “Stop being so dramatic Mom” both of them said and all of them laughed.

At the mandap, Laksh sat and Sanskar was beside him, while the Pundit chanted mantras. Laksh signalled Annapurna, she smiled and came near both of them. “Laksh how is Swara? I mean her nature and behaviour?” she asked, Sanskar listened to their conversation intently. “She’s a great girl Ma. Matured for her age and is very understanding. I have never seen her disrespect or misbehave with anyone” he replied. Annapurna and Laksh saw a smile forming on Sanskar’s face while they were talking about her. “But why do you want to know about her?”  He asked purposely. “Your aunt liked her. She wanted to talk about Swara and her son Vivek” she said “WHAT?” Sanskar said a little too loudly. Annapurna and Laksh grinned at each other. “Ma, Vivek and Swara? How could you even think about their alliance? Vivek is not worth Swara” Sanskar said. Annapurna gave him an amused expression when he realised what he just said. “I think Vivek and Swara will be great together. They have similar interests and I have seen both of them interacting couple of times. They both are comfortable with each other” she teased him. Laksh also joined in teasing him “Yeah bhai, they’ll be great together. But why are you so upset about it?”. “Nothing” he said and left from there. Annapurna called Shramishtha “I and Laksh told Sanskar about Swara and Vivek, he got upset and went to his room.” She laughed. “Now we need to make sure he sees Swara with Vivek. I and Laksh told him what he has to do”. “Got it” Shramishtha replied and told all this to Ragini.

Shramishtha and Swara brought Ragini to the mandap. Laksh was mesmerised seeing Ragini in her bridal attire. Ragini sat beside Laksh; they both looked at each other and smiled. “You have got to stop doing this every time, baby” he said. She looked at him in surprise “What did I do?”, he grinned “You made me fall for you again”, she laughed and said “Please don’t be so cheesy Lucky. I might have to rethink my decision” she teased him while he pouted. The rituals continued, Annapurna and Shramishtha spotted Sanskar staring at Swara. “Shona, please get me a glass of water” Annapurna said to Swara. “I’ll get it, aunty” she smiled and went to the kitchen, Shramishtha sent Vivek behind her.  

Sanskar went behind both of them. Annapurna and Shramishtha gave thumbs up to Ragini and Laksh and they grinned, their plan was to get Sanskar jealous so that he confesses his love to Swara and once that happened the four of them would do the same thing to make Swara confess her feelings. Sanskar entered the kitchen and saw Vivek and Swara talking, he saw Vivek flirting with her. With a lot of difficulty he tried to maintain his cool. “Sorry, I guess I’m disturbing both of you” he said sarcastically while entering the kitchen. Swara and Vivek looked at him. “Yeah man, she was about to agree to go on a date with me when you barged in” Vivek said purposely; Swara laughed and said “Liar, that was just your assumption” and hit him lightly on his arm. Sanskar could feel the heat in his body when he saw their rapport. “Oh, how cute” he said through his teeth, Vivek noticed this and teased him even more “You tell me Sanskar, don’t we look like the perfect couple”, Sanskar felt his anger rise when he heard the word couple; “What rubbish, enough of your flirting now. Let me go now, I came to get water for aunty and you got me talking” Swara laughed. “Vivek, Ma was looking for you and while going give her that glass of water too” he said through his gritted teeth. Swara saw his expression and got confused. “Let me take that glass of water, My Lady” she smiled and gave him the glass and Vivek left with a smirk.

“So Vivek, huh?” Sanskar asked sarcastically, she gave him a questioning expression “What about him?” she asked. “You both do make a good couple” he hissed while moving towards her. She glared at him “It was a stupid joke and what is it to you anyway” she retorted while moving back; “I do not like it when I see you with someone else Swara. Even though Vivek is my cousin, I would have smashed his through the wall for flirting with you” he said while pinning her to the wall. She felt his breath on her face, Swara was suddenly aware of how close their faces were. Swara looked at him with shock in her eyes, she couldn’t move because she was pinned to the wall by his strong hands “Sanskar, Wh-” he cut her off “Do you know how many guys I have killed in my mind today for merely looking at you?” she felt an electric current pass through her spine, she didn’t know how to digest what he had just said; she kept staring at him in disbelief. “Do you really want me to spell it out Miss Gadodia” he asked in an exasperated tone. Swara was not able to speak up at the revelations that had just come out of his mouth. She knew what he was going to say and she had just seen the intensity of his feelings for her, it was very overwhelming for her. “I love you Swara” he declared. A tear made its way out of her eye, she had been waiting for this confession, even though they had barely seen each other in the past year, the 2 days which they had spent with each other was enough for them to figure out that they had a special bond. She never thought that anyone would love her with such passion and such intensity and she never knew she could love someone with the same intensity. “I love you too” she said with a weak voice. Sanskar’s face lit up when he heard the words come out of her mouth. He moved forward and kissed her and she responded to his kiss. Their passion for each other came pouring out, tears were streaming out of Swara’s eyes, she found her love today and nothing that ever happened with her could match the happiness she felt today. They broke the kiss gasping for air, Sanskar hugged her tightly, “You saved Vivek from getting murdered today” he joked. She gave a laugh and said “Let us go out now, before someone comes in”.

Annapurna and Shramishtha entered the kitchen, just when they had composed themselves. “What are the two of you doing here?” Annapurna asked; “Nothing Ma, I came here to drink water” Sanskar said. She looked at Swara who was blushing and signalled Shramishtha, “Shona, are you okay?” she teased. Swara fumbled “Ma, I’m okay. Let’s go out Ragini and Laksh must be waiting for us”. “We were actually looking for both of you, and we found you together” Annapurna teased while Swara and Sanskar blushed.

Sanskar sat near Laksh and Swara sat near Ragini in the mandap. Annapurna and Shramishtha signalled them that their plan had been successful. “Shona, are you okay? You look a little flushed” Ragini teased her. “I- I’m fine. You’re getting married and you’ll not be there with me from now on. So I got a bit emotional” she lied, Ragini smiled and said “I’m not flying off to another planet, for you to get so emotional. Are you sure that’s the only reason?” she teased. “Here I’m getting all emotional about you and you’re making fun of me” Swara tried to cover up, Ragini noticed her looking at Sanskar and nudged Laksh. “Bhai, where are you lost?” Laksh asked; Sanskar came back to his senses “No- nothing, I’m here only” he said. “Sure it’s nothing else bhai?”  Laksh asked. Sanskar frowned at him and said “Pay attention to what’s going on here. Stop worrying about me”. Laksh and Ragini laughed, while Sanskar and Swara blushed.

The wedding was complete and everyone was emotional about the bidaai. Ragini hugged Shekhar “It all feels like a dream princess, I never realised when you grew up and today you’re starting your new life” he said while crying. Ragini hugged him harder “I’ll miss you baba”. Shramishtha hugged Ragini and they both cried. Ragini and Swara hugged each other “I’m happy for you Shona” she whispered in her ear, and Swara looked at Sanskar. They broke the hug and Ragini whispered to her “I’ll see you soon” which made Swara blush even harder. “Yeah you’ll see at your reception tonight” she tried to cover up. Ragini gave a little laugh and said “You clearly know what I mean. It’s no use hiding from me”. Swara turned shades of red.

Durgaprasad and Annapurna hugged Shekhar and Shramishtha. “We are taking our daughter home Shekharji. Do not worry about her; we will always keep her happy”. Annapurna spoke in a low tone to Shramishtha “Soon I’ll take my other daughter too” and they both laughed.

It was Laksh and Ragini’s reception at night. “Why do we need to have a reception? Look at everyone. Clearly no one is bothered about us and everyone is here for free food” Laksh whined while Ragini and Sanskar laughed at him. “Lucky, how much will you whine” Swara said; “Oh please, you’ll understand my state the day you and bhai have to stand here on the stage like this” Laksh said. Sanskar and Swara looked at him in shock; “what did you just say?” Sanskar asked. Ragini was trying hard to control her laughter. Swara looked at her and understood that both of them knew. “What are you talking about?” she tried to cover up. Laksh and Ragini burst out laughing looking at Sanskar’s shocked face. “You guys really thought we wouldn’t notice, what was going on between the two of you” Ragini said while laughing. “I thought you didn’t want me to date your sister” Sanskar asked her. “Sweetie, I had a problem with your workaholic nature and commitment issues. But I could clearly see how much you love her” she replied as a matter of fact. Sanskar gave a sigh of relief and grinned. Laksh looked at Swara “Shona, you look like a tomato” he said while laughing. Swara ran from there and got off the stage while Laksh, Ragini and Sanskar laughed at her blushing.

Sanskar kept tracing her movement in the hall; Swara could feel the heat of his gaze even though he was far from her. He saw her laughing and talking to her cousins and looked at her lovingly. He loved her laugh, it was very contagious. Suddenly he got a call and went out to receive it.

Swara was talking to her friend when a girl approached them and asked “Can you please tell me where I can find Sanskar?” Swara was curious to know who this girl was “He was on the stage a minute ago, I’m not sure where he went.” She said to the girl “Come, I’ll take you to him. By the way I’m Swara” she smiled. “Thank you Swara, I am Kavita” she introduced herself while walking with Swara. “Are you a friend of Sanskar?” Kavita asked. Swara nodded “Yes, his brother and my sister got married” she replied. “Oh congratulations” Kavita smiled. “Where did he go” Swara thought loudly, and then she turned to Kavita and asked “Are you a friend too?” Kavita gave a little laugh and said “Sort of”, Swara gave her a confused expression. “I’m his girlfriend” Kavita said.

Sanskar came back inside the hall and couldn’t spot Swara, he moved around trying to find her. He saw her talking to a girl, Swara looked very serious and then he noticed the girl she was talking to. Even though the girl’s back was towards Sanskar, he recognised her immediately. “Oh no” he thought, as he made his way towards Swara, she noticed him coming towards them. Sanskar noticed her moist eyes and was looking at her with pleading eyes. “Mr Maheshwari, your girlfriend was searching for you” Swara said as Sanskar reached her. Kavita spun around and hugged him “Surprise, baby” and Swara left from there. “Kavita, I’ll meet you at your hotel” he said in a stern tone. “But Sanskar” she tried to speak, Sanskar cut her off “Kavita, I said I will meet you at your hotel. Leave now” he said and rushed behind Swara.

Laksh and Ragini noticed Swara and Sanskar from the stage. “Lucky, I think something is wrong. Do you know that girl with Sanskar?” Ragini asked. He shrugged “I’ve never seen her before”. She saw Swara crying and going towards the washroom. “Lucky, I’ll go check on Shona”, he nodded and said “Go, I’ll manage here.”

Ragini got off the stage and rushed behind Swara, she saw Sanskar going behind Swara and asked him “What happened Sanskar? Why is Shona crying?” Sanskar looked at her guiltily. “God dammit, why is my sister crying Sanskar?” she asked in an angry tone. Sanskar narrated the entire ordeal to her. Ragini felt her blood boiling, and she didn’t realise when she slapped him. Luckily no one was around when this was happening, “How dare you? Who gave you the right to hurt my sister? I had warned you Sanskar” She shouted at him. “Ragini, I know I messed up, but please believe me, I love Swara. Kavita was a distraction from Swara for me, while I was in US. I was going to break up with her” he tried to explain. “Shut up. Not a word more Sanskar. You were going to break up with her. When exactly were you planning on telling us this. If Kavita didn’t come here we wouldn’t even know about your infidelity. You cheated that girl and my sister. And you want me to believe that you love my sister?” “Leave from here before I lose my temper even more. And if your dare to come near Shona again, believe me when I say this, I will not spare you” she said and went behind Swara.

Ragini entered the washroom and saw Swara sitting on the floor crying. She rushed to her and hugged her “Shona, stop crying” she said while patting her hair. “He cheated me Ragini. He was my first love and I got cheated by my first love” she cried. “Shona, please baby, stop crying” Ragini tried to console her. “What did I do to deserve this Ragini?” Swara cried. “Swara listen to me. Don’t you dare blame yourself, you did nothing wrong. Maybe it’s for the best. He doesn’t deserve you and you got saved before you could get into it any further”. Swara kept crying. “Swara get up now, my sister will not waste her tears for a jerk like him” Ragini said while making Swara stand. She helped Swara clean up and helped her compose herself. Ragini was cleaning herself when she saw Swara speaking to someone over the phone. “Rohan, can you send me early morning tickets to Mumbai for tomorrow. Thanks. Pick me up from the airport tomorrow” she disconnected the call. “Swara, wh-” Ragini tried to speak but Swara cut her off. “I can’t stay here anymore. I was going to tell everyone that Rohan and I are setting up out business. I was going to leave next month.  After all that just happened, I need to leave tomorrow. Handle Ma and Baba. And promise me you won’t tell anyone anything. I know you won’t hide anything from Laksh, tell him not to spoil his relationship with his brother and he has my promise if he does” Ragini listened to all this quietly and felt tears coming out “Shona” she tried to speak again. “Shhh, Let me speak” Swara interrupted “I’m leaving for home now, I’ll pack my bags and stay at the airport tonight. Handle Ma and Baba, tell them it was important for me to be there tomorrow. I’ll send them tickets to come visit me next month. I need to settle first. One more thing Ragini, i don’t know when I will come back. Till then take care of yourself and everyone else and make sure Sanskar does not know where I am. I don’t want to see him ever again” she said while crying. Ragini hugged her and said “I and Laksh love you Shona. Please take care of yourself. Don’t worry I will handle everything here. Leave from the back door of the hall. No one will be able to see you go from there”. “Swara cried “I love you Ragini. Thank you for being such a great sister. Tell Lucky I love and apologise for me, for me not meeting before leaving. And make sure he does not strain his relation with Sanskar for me.” She kissed Ragini on the cheek and left.

FLASHBACK ENDS