Never Knew Love Like This
February 14
The new dawn had brought with it new rays of hope in Akash’s life. He was so excited to see Aleesha after such a long period of time that he didn’t even bother changing his clothes in the morning. He was nervous and excited at the same time. Just thinking about Aleesha’s touch brought the dimples back on his face. As soon as we reached Mumbai, Akash, without even caring to return back home, directly came to my house to check my mails.
‘Aadi, log in fast. Please.’ He sounded excited.
‘What do you think I am I doing? Watching porn? At least give me a minute to check,’ I told him.
As we waited for my Gmail account to open, I went to quickly freshen up otherwise my mom would have logged me out of the house. Once open, Akash carefully searched all the mails in my inbox. He opened every mail with the subject: WhatsApp Chat with Tamanna, and transferred them to his cell phone. He scanned my entire Inbox and even opened the trash and spam folders to make sure that he had not missed out on any mail.
‘Aadiiiiiii… Aadiiii, come here quickly.’ he screamed as if the house had been set on fire.’
I was in the middle of a shower when he yelled and I had to come out running half naked with a towel wrapped around me and shampoo still in my hair. ‘Look at this mail,’ Akash pointed to the computer screen.
‘Chat history is attached as “WhatsApp Chat with Tammy.txt” to this email.’
I checked the time and date again. January 13, 11.30 pm.
Holy shit! It was sent on the same day Tamanna’s accident! It means Akash had mailed me their last WhatsApp conversation. Now who the hell checks the spam folders!
‘How did this mail go into spam?’ I asked.
‘I had sent it from my new id. Fuck, I wish we could have seen this earlier!’ said Akash scratching his head.
I was dumbstruck after reading the message and cursed myself. If he had mailed me from his frequently used id, it wouldn’t have gone in spam. We stared at each other after reading the entire chat. This time we both screamed in pleasure and hugged each other. Akash wanted to go over to Aleesha’s place that very instant and show her all the chats between Tamanna and himself which would prove not only his innocence but also prove how much he loved Aleesha. He couldn’t hold it any longer and ran to Aleesha to make her fall in love with him all over again.
Suddenly love was back in his life. He wasn’t perfect and neither was Aleesha. Perfect couples don’t exist, but there is always someone who is perfect for you. Akash ran to meet his imperfectly perfect love Aleesha!
He boarded the local train to CST, remembering how he had boarded the ladies compartment when they had fought for the first time after she caught him staring at the girl’s poster. In the entire one-hour journey to her house, Aleesha’s thoughts kept lingering in his mind. Distance really makes the heart grow fonder. All the incidents that had seemed irritating at that time, now seemed cute to him when he thought of them. Separation from a loved one makes you realize their worth. Akash wanted to surf on the ocean of love. When he got down at CST, he called Kritika to enquire about Aleesha. Kritika told him that she had gone to Tamanna’s apartment to collect something. He immediately took a taxi to Tamanna’s apartment. Once he reached there, his mind went back to the time he had dropped Tamanna home after the party. Back then, he had never thought his life would take such a U-turn that he would lose everything. He wiped tears from his cheeks to make way for happiness.
When a girl cries over a guy, it means that she misses him. But when a guy cries over a girl, it means that no one else can love that girl more than he does. Akash not only shed tears but he also did everything possible to bring her back into his life. Now standing at the entrance of her apartment, he had goosebumps all over. He took a deep breath and pressed the bell.
He closed his eyes for a few seconds and thought of what lay ahead. He had waited for this moment. His days were clouded with her thoughts and nights rained with her dreams. He prayed hard to bring her back. When he opened his eyes, Aleesha was standing in front of him, staring.
He was speechless. It doesn’t matter if the person you love the most has broken your heart or been the cause of your sleeplessness, but when you see that person after so many days, your heart still misses a beat. Akash was numb seeing Aleesha after so many days. He smiled at her warmly.
‘Why don’t you leave me alone?’ Aleesha screamed and pleaded him to go away even though in her heart, she wanted him to stay. It made her feel better after seeing him, but she couldn’t forget the sadness she saw in Tamanna’s dad’s eyes when she visited her folks in Kolkata.
She was just about to shut the door when Akash forcefully stepped in. Without wasting a minute, he sat on the sofa and started speaking,
‘Aleesha, I love you. Today, seeing you after so many days…’ ‘Akash why are you here?’ Aleesha interrupted him.
‘I want to show you something which will make you believe that I’m innocent and had nothing to do with Tamanna’s death. Not only that, I will also prove to you that I never encouraged Tamanna to come near me and always stayed away from her…’
‘Akash, please, don’t start this all over again. I don’t want to listen to any of your stories. If you want to convince me that what you’re saying is true, then the only way to prove it is by bringing Tamanna in front of me and that’s impossible. So chuck it. You better…’
‘That’s what I am going to do. I mean, I can’t bring her in front of you, but I can show you her chats. Yes, I used to mail all the chats she had with me on WhatsApp to Aditya. If I would have remembered this earlier, I would have proven myself innocent long ago. Even when I left the farmhouse that night, I had messaged her. So that should clear all your doubts. Read this and you will believe that Tammy wanted us to part ways and break our relationship,’ said Akash handing her his mobile phone.
He urged her to read that night’s conversation first and then the others. Aleesha looked at Akash. She was confused, for she didn’t know whether to believe Tammy di or Akash. The innocence in his eyes told her that he had nothing to do with Tamanna’s death and that he still loved her. Even Aleesha hoped Akash was innocent. She was equally nervous when Akash urged her to read the messages.
10.15 pm, 13 Jan, Tammy: Akash, please come back. I need you, not beside me but above me. Please don’t leave me alone. You never looked at me but I always felt some connection with you and now you are leaving me here unsatisfied—what for? For that bitch Aleesha? That bloody slut can’t take you away from me.
10.18 pm, 13 Jan, Akash: I told you everything. I am sorry but I love Aleesha a lot. So stop trying your luck with me. I am not your puppet, Ms Tamanna Kapoor. Try respecting at least the girl who treats you like an elder sister.
10.20 pm, 13 Jan, Tammy: You are ignoring my requests? How can you? Come back right now or you will have to face the consequences. I will make sure you are mine. If you can’t be mine, then I’ll make sure you can’t be with anyone else too. I’ll make you beg for my love. I’ll make sure you lose everything you have and come back to me so that I can give you everything you want… Till then, fuck that bitch.
10.25 pm, 29 Mar, Tammy:
10.26 pm, 29 Mar, Tammy:
10.27 pm, 29 Mar, Tammy:
10.28 pm, 29 Mar – Tammy: Keep ignoring me and I will send you more such photos. You have to come back to me. You can’t go away like this. I will prove to you that I am better than her.
She looked at Akash with teary eyes and asked:
‘What’s this “Media omitted”?’
‘Her photographs. Not exactly naked ones, but ones in which she is skimpily dressed. She tried her best to make me go back to the farmhouse. She tried forcing herself on me, pressurizing me, and seducing me. But everything failed. I ignored her messages after trying to convince her that I love you a lot. But when she started sending me photographs, I decided to send her one last and final message. Afte
r that, she started to call me continuously and I threw away my phone in frustration.’
Aleesha continued reading:
11.50 pm, 13 Jan, Akash: You do whatever you feel like and I’ll do what I feel is right. These photographs won’t affect me. My soul, my heart belongs only to Aleesha and I can’t hurt her. I know such behaviour can devastate you and maybe you’ll start hating me, but I can’t help it. We can’t keep everyone around us happy. My only aim in life is to keep Aleesha happy and make my family proud of me by achieving success without taking the shortcut. I can never be yours and you can never make me yours. It will be better if you get over me ASAP. Bye.
After reading the entire conversation, Aleesha started sobbing. She continued reading other chats that had occured between them before that night and realized that Akash was actually telling the truth. She couldn’t believe Tammy had played such a dirty game on her. She hated herself for not trusting Akash, for taking decisions in haste, and for assuming things without even thinking twice. She felt guilty for having treated Akash so badly in the last few days, yet he was sitting in front of her with the same love in his eyes as before. Akash went closer to her, took her hands in his, and hugged her, as he understood the pain that Aleesha felt somewhere deep inside her after reading everything. After some time, she freed herself from his arms abruptly.
‘But…how could she speak such crap… I still don’t believe that she could have…is it some trick…?’ she tried to speak but every touch of Akash made her weak. Akash had held her tightly by her waist and was circling his fingers on her lower back, slowly working his way up, and Aleesha was finding it hard to resist.
‘Akash, I am still confused…don’t do this to me. You are making me…aahhh!’ she moaned as he rubbed her back and tried to pull down her shorts.
‘Aleesha…don’t stop me. It’s been so long and I have missed you so much. Now at least believe me that I was not wrong. Let’s forget everything! Come close to me, jaan. Come very close,’ he muttered kissing her ears and biting them tenderly.
She kept moaning in pleasure and her resistance decreased with every kiss. He was about to kiss her on the lips when she said, ‘Not here. This room doesn’t have curtains. Let’s go inside in bedroom.’
She stopped all the accusations and simply accepted that Akash could turn her on with ease. Her body throbbed for his touch once again.
Akash lifted her and she closed her eyes and held on to him tightly. He took her inside one of the bedrooms and put her on the bed. He pounced on her, kissing her all over her body.
‘This is Tammy’s room,’ Aleesha said in response to Akash’s passionate smooch.
‘So what? It has a bed and here you are in front of my eyes longing for love,’ Akash responded. The next moment, they had ripped each other’s clothes apart.
Her face looked radiant while her body swirled in passion as Akash kissed every inch of her. Akash talked dirty as he gazed at her as if he was seeing her for the first time.
Aleesha was spread out on the bed sheet with Akash on top of her, making sweet love to her. But something under the bed sheet kept irking her.
‘Akash I can feel something under me,’ she said trying to reach out for it.
He removed the bed sheet and found a pen drive. Aleesha recognized it as being Tamanna’s. Akash was fortunately carrying his laptop with him so Aleesha plugged the pen drive in the USB port.
‘How disgusting is this. Don’t kill the mood,’ Akash teased her but she ignored him. The pen drive contained only one folder named ‘Akash’. The folder contained a number of documents.
‘Oh fuck! I remember she used to always note down something on her Galaxy Tab,’ Akash remembered the incident in the taxi when Tamanna had read a few lines for him.
More shocking were the contents of the documents—it was like Tamanna’s personal diary of sorts. Each word in the document left them stunned, not because of the contents alone, but because they had trusted a completely wrong person, and the extent of her obsession not only astounded them but also left them thinking how a girl could be so infatuated with someone. Her fantasies knew no bounds. One of the lines read:
Agar tujhko naa paa saki, toh zindagi na rahegi baaki,
Agar tu mera na ho paaya, toh mujhse peecha kahan jaayega chudaake!
Aana toh tujhe phir yahin hai, kyunki mere bina teri zindagi kahan poori hai!
Aa choo le mere jawaani ko, varna kya naam doongi apni kahaani ko!
Akash kept thinking whether it was corporate boredom that led her to behave like this or was it just pure lust? Before Aleesha’s mood could change form happy to glum, Akash told her to ignore the contents of the pen drive since the truth was out in the open and they had finally been united. They continued with their love making session. This time it was more intense than before since Aleesha was now completely convinced that Akash was right and could never betray her for someone else.
‘You bring out the best in me. I feel as if I could grow wings and kiss the clouds. You’re my wickedly wonderful baby. I love you. You are mine! Just mine! And am all yours… I missed this so much. Now I feel complete,’ said Aleesha and hugged him.
She wanted to give him everything that she could not give in last few days…Love…romance…kisses…hugs…everything! They kissed each other all over. They truly believed they were meant to be together.
As a couple, you will have to go through life’s various struggles. But in the end, everything will pass. And if it doesn’t, it’s not the end.
It started with a friend request…and life was never the same again.
Epilogue
Almost a year has passed since Tamanna’s death and Akash is now working as a Team leader in a renowned company in South Mumbai. He has even set up a small online business from which he generates a healthy income. There’s no lack of money for him now. Along with financial success, he has also been able to build long-term relationships with people through his charming personality and professional conduct.
Aleesha and Kritika patched up after their big fight and are now BFFs again. They share almost everything with each other, except boyfriends. Kritika now concentrates more on BMS books, but she is still fond of Cosmopolitan magazine and reads it every night. She has still not found a guy who can cook for her but her Amethyst crystal helps spread positivity in her life and she is sure she will strike it lucky with love one day.
Mr Verma still works at Galaxy house and he still loves to be surrounded with girls half his age, but Kajal has resigned from her job and is searching for a better one. She finally understood that even Mr Verma could screw her the same way Tammy screwed Akash’s life. She realized that taking shortcuts can make you achieve your short-term goals but can’t make you win life’s marathon.
Aleesha’s family is now chilled about their daughter as she scored good grades in her examination. They are also quite cool about her relationship with Akash. However, the Kapoor family is heartbroken after Tamanna’s death. They are still not over it and cannot digest that their daughter is no more in this world to support them in their old age. Only if Tamanna had controlled her aggression that day, she would still be alive. She was not killed in an accident. The feelings of jealousy, revenge, and obsession had killed her slowly each day until she was finally declared dead by the world. When Akash and Aleesha found her pen drive, they realized that her obsession was beyond anyone’s imagination. Respecting her feelings, Akash has told me not to write about the notes from the pen drive.
What about Aditya?
Well, what can happen to me? In my life, I’ve lived. I’ve loved, I’ve lost, I’ve missed, I’ve hurt. I’ve trusted, I’ve made mistakes, but most of all, I’ve learned. I still crave for my true love. But now we are like two parallel lines which can never meet, but at least will be together after death. However, I found true best friends in Kritika and Aleesha—friends who are hard to find, difficult to leave, and impossible to forget! We still hang out together and look out for each other in bad times
. Life would never have been the same without them. When I look back and review the Tamanna and Akash episode, it teaches me to be careful about the people I deal with on an everyday basis and also about the importance of honesty in relationships.
Akash and Aleesha love each other more than before. Sometimes you have to be away from people you love, but that doesn’t make you love them less instead it makes you love them more. They even visited Haji Ali after their patch up as they believed that the supreme power had showered blessings on them. After all, life won’t give you a second chance like Akash. Don’t love the person who is there to have a good time with you! Love the person who really suffers for you because that is true love.
‘Akash, when will you stop with your cheap acts? We are already late for the movie and here you are watching porn videos on your mobile. Get over it. You always make me lose my temper and then say that I start fighting,’ Aleesha screamed.
‘Oh come on. What can I do? I was looking for show timings. The site itself has this advertisement,’ Akash defended himself.
‘Shut up. Don’t act innocent with me and try to fool me.’
‘What? Do I shout at you when you read those dirty magazines?’ Akash replied.
‘Stop it now…’
‘Why? Why now when it comes to you?’
And the fight continued…until they sealed it with a kiss.
This is not a story of miracle, this is not a story of revenge, and this is not a story of perfect romance…it’s a simple story of love. Love that lasts forever… If you truly love someone and are destined to meet, then you just need to hang in there and wait for the right moment. Their wait was over and they loved each other forever and ever.
Acknowledgements
Amazing things have happened since the release of Few Things Left Unsaid (2011) and That’s the Way We Met (2012). I would like to thank my millions of readers all over the world for their unflinching love and support. You all mean a lot to me!
All the people that I thank below have been my pillars of strength while I finished writing the manuscript—guiding me, criticizing me, and improving me along the way. I hope their efforts pay off.
It Started with a Friend Request Page 16
