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Anyways Onwards!!!
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"Words in double quotes" - Talking

'Words in single quotes' - Thoughts

Chapter 10 - What the Heart Wants

(*Scene starts a week later after the incident with Pawan and Mitali*)

Manish smiled looking at the beautiful locket on the chain. He had seen it in a shop and it reminded him of Swara. Cute, beautiful, lovely and bright. He had asked the shopkeeper for it, who told him that it came in pairs. So he bought two, one for him and one for Swara.

Mani opened his drawer and found the other locket. He put the lockets inside his pocket and headed out of his room. He needed to find Swara to give the golden one to her.

As he came out of his room, he stared at the beautiful decorations in the house. It was for Rishi's marriage.

He moved downstairs to find Swara. Even though he had already seen the decorations many a times before, it still didn't fail to amaze him. Laksh, Swara and Ragini had taken up the responsibility of the decorations. He wanted to help, but his brother put him and Sanskar on managing the food department. 😑

Nevertheless, he was greatly impressed by their work. The decorations were simply mind-blowing!

A week had passed by since Rishi declared his marriage to the media 'And tomorrow....tomorrow is Rishi bhai and Tanuja's marriage. Time sure flies by fast. I still can't believe so much had happened in a week.'

Indeed a lot of changes took place in a week.

Rishi, who couldn't stand Sanskar and Laksh, agreed to accept their help in his marriage, on Tanuja's insisting of course. Manish smiled to himself recalling the incident.

*flashback*

"You two can leave now. We will manage. Right Mani?" said Rishi, looking at Mani.

"Well, it would be good to have more hands to help us wi-" however, upon seeing the deadly look Rishi was giving him, Mani changed his statement "No! Of course we don't need any help from you and Sanskar." 😅

"But me and bhai wanted to help" said Laksh.

"No need. You can-" however, Rishi was interrupted by Tanuja.

"Sure Laksh, you and Sanskar can help" Tanuja smiled at them.

"Thank you Tanuja! By the way, when will you make halwa again?"

"I'll hit you if you ask her for halwa again Laksh." Rishi said with irritation "And we don't need any help. You both should go home"

"Why are you always so rude towards them Rishi? They didn't do anything wrong. Why do you keep bullying them around?" Tanuja said, accusing Rishi.

"Yes. We don't even speak anything against you, as we respect you so much Rishi" spoke Sanskar. When Tanuja looked at them, Laksh and Sanskar made the most innocent faces possible. ☹️☹️

"Tanuja don't listen to them. They-"

"That's enough Rishi. You will not tell them anything anymore. They will be helping us with the marriage preparations and that's final" saying that, Tanuja left with a huff.

Sanskar and Laksh cheered, while Mani snickered.

Rishi looked at them in anger.

"No use staring at us Rishi. Better go and cheer up Tanuja. You can lecture us later"

Rishi looked like he wanted to lash out at them, but ran after Tanuja.

*flashback end*

Rishi still didn't trust them. However, as they visited each day, helping with the arrangements, looking after Ragini and Swara, Rishi eventually loosened up. Although he still behaves rudely towards them,
Mani can see that his brother has accepted them as friends and forgotten the old feelings of hatred.

Mani entered the hall and found Ragini chatting with Suman and Ritesh. (Swara and Tanuja's parents)

Suman and Ritesh were kind and considerate people. They were simple people with good morals and selfless nature. During their stay here, they took care of all of them. Mani and his siblings had lost their parents at an early age, but Suman and Ritesh had given them the love of parents that they didn't have. He passed by them and went outside to find Swara. Even outside, the decorations were in full bloom.

"Mani bhai, wait!" He turned to find Ragini running towards him.

"Ragu? Weren't you with Suman aunty and Ritesh uncle?"

"Yes. But I saw you come out. So I thought I would go with you and you could drop me off at the mall. I need to buy a new dress."

"Eh? Didn't you and Swara go shopping yesterday?"

"We did. But now, I don't like the color of my dress. I want to change it for something else."

"You girls and your fashion!" 😣

"Shut up! You wouldn't say this if you had to buy a dress for yourself. You boys need not bother much as the only clothing for you guys in weddings are sherwanis. We girls have so much choices! Of course it would take time." 😒

"Okay! Don't give me any of your girly philosophies. I'll go get the car keys from my room"

"Eh? But weren't you going out?"

"No. I wasn't about to go anywhere. I just came to check if Swara was here"

"Oh. I'm sorry for troubling you then, Mani. I thought you were going out so-"

"Hey, its okay. Anything for my favourite little sis. I'll go get my keys"

"I'm your only little sis 😑 "

"And hence my favorite!" 😆

Ragini smiled and shook her head at Mani's crazy logic.

"I could take you there Ragu" said a voice. Ragini and Mani looked towards the speaker to find Sanskar standing there.

"Sanky. When did you arrive?"

"I came some time ago to recheck the items needed to prepare tomorrow's food. Rishi would have my head if I missed something. Laksh had come with me too. I think he is inside, busy with the decorations" Sanskar said, giving Ragini a smile. Ragini smiled back, looking into his eyes.

Mani looked from Sanskar to Ragini. He has noticed that the two seem to be always close to each other.

'Sanskar also seems to appear out of nowhere every time Ragu needs some help. Is he trying to impress Ragu? Then later date her? In fact....I think I've even seen him flirting with her.'

Mani narrowed his eyes at Sanskar. 'How dare he try to flirt with my sweet, innocent little sister? My sweet little sister is being lured by this big bad wolf!' Mani folded his hands in front of his chest 'However, Sanky isn't so bad. In fact, all this time he has helped us all and never done anything wrong. He is rich, well-mannered and responsible too. Hmm.... I guess I can give him a chance. Although, if Rishi bhai finds out about him and Ragu, he will no doubt beat up Sanky 😅 '

Suddenly, he noticed Swara from the corner of his eyes, going inside the house.

"You said you will take her to the mall, didn't you? Great! See ya!" with that, Mani rushed off inside.

"Arre..... What happened to him suddenly? He ran away without any reason?"

"He's Mani. Does he do things that involves thinking and reasoning?" Sanskar joked. "Ragu, if you don't mind, can I ..... can I ask you a favor?"

"Sure Sanky. Anything"

"You see... Maa and Baba haven't seen you for two years and they wanted to come visit you. However, because of Baba's injury, they won't be able to come to the wedding." Sanskar looked up to her eyes "Could you come with me to visit them once? It will be only for sometime. It won't take long and-"

Ragini put a hand on his shoulder and smiled at him "Its okay Sanky. I would also like to meet your Maa and Baba. Its been so long. After I select my dress, we will head out to meet them."

Sanskar smiled at her gratefully.

Tanuja, at the same time, had come out to look for Rishi. She saw Ragini and Sanskar standing in front of each other, lost in each other's eyes. She looked at them intently, and smiled.

'I guess these two have found their true love in each other. I can't wait to tell Rishi that our Ragu has found her love!' However, Tanuja's smile disappeared when another thought struck her 'But will Rishi accept it? He is such an over-protective brother. I still remember how he lashed out that college friend of Ragini for simply holding her hand. And this is Sanskar, whom he already cannot tolerate! If I tell him now, he won't even let love blossom between Ragu and Sanskar. I must not let Rishi find out about them!'

Ragini and Sanskar were still standing there. 'If these lovebirds keep standing here, Rishi will surely see them' She moved towards them "Hi!"

Ragini and Sanskar snapped out of their trance and looked at Tanuja, shocked.

"What are you two doing, standing here?"

"W-we ....I..." Ragini stuttered.

"I was about to take her to the mall as she wanted to buy a new dress" Sanskar said in a hurry.

"Then go already. No use standing here. Go go!" Tanuja pushed them towards the gate. Both went away, blushing. They felt too shy to look towards the other and walked silently, side by side, to the car.

#With Mani#

Mani went the way he had seen Swara go. He eventually found Swara, weaving some flowers on a string. He watched her work from behind a pillar.

He took out the golden locket and opened it.

When he had bought the locket, there was nothing engraved inside it. However, he went to the shopkeeper yesterday and asked him to engrave the words 'I love you' inside it.

Yes. Mani finally realized that what he felt for Swara was indeed love. He thought over many things during the week. He finally realized that he loves Swara. He tried to imagine a life without Swara. He would be able to bear that kind of life, but he would just be surviving, not living. He would do his duties like a machine, but he would never be happy. He also tried to imagine Swara kissing another guy. However, he snapped out right when he imagined their lips touching. He couldn't bear to imagine anything beyond that!

Mani planned to confess his love today. He took a deep breath 'Ok Mani. Time to be a man and get your girl!'

However, before he could move ahead, he saw someone approach Swara. It was Laksh. Laksh told Swara something to which she smiled. Although Mani felt a bit jealous, he knew they chatted like that, as they had become good friends.

Laksh left after taking a garland from her. 'Now's my chance. I hope no one interrupts this time.'

Mani was about to move towards Swara, when he saw Swara looking towards where Laksh had disappeared. What he saw, shocked him to the core.

Swara was looking towards Laksh with affection. However, this affection was not of that between friends. It was something more than friendship.

Mani felt anger towards Swara 'How can Swara do this to me?! She loves me! How can she betray me!?'

However, his anger soon turned to realization 'Wait a minute.... Swara didn't betray me. How could she betray me when she didn't say that she loves me in the first place? Swara only told me that..that she wasn't sure what she felt. That she was confused if it was friendship or love. I ..... I guess she realized that what she had felt for me was only friendship' Mani felt like someone had just hit him real hard on his chest.

Swara noticed Mani standing there "Mani? What are you doing over there?"

Mani quickly put the golden locket inside his pocket "Nothing Swara. I was just passing by."

"I should have known that you would be wasting away your time Mani. Now come and help with these flowers, you ape!"

Mani tried to act happy and like nothing had happened "Can't you just use some magic over them to make them arrange themselves, witch?" Mani joked.

Swara threw a flower at him. "Shut up and come help me!" Swara smiled softly at him.

Man's heart skipped a bit. Swara was giving him the same look 'But....but then, what I saw.... Maybe I had mistaken? Maybe I was over-thinking. After all, Rishi bhai did say that when one is in love, they become a bit paranoid. Maybe that's it. I was worried for nothing. And besides,even before we confessed our thoughts to each other, we were best friends. Swara would tell me if there was something important, won't she?'

Mani held Swara's hand, which made her look into his eyes "Swara, you would tell me if something was wrong or if there was something important, won't you?"

Swara looked at him wide eyed, but then let out a small smile "Of course Mani. No matter what, you are my best friend"

Mani smiled, this time genuinely and got busy weaving the flowers.

Swara, on the other hand, looked on with guilt at Mani's face, while he was looking down at the flowers. She felt guilty for lying. There was something important that she wanted to share with him. But at the same time, she feared sharing it.

These few days, while she worked with Laksh and Ragini for the wedding preparations, she grew closer to Laksh. Ragini often went away with Sanskar to help with other things, which left her and Laksh alone. They talked and she found that Laksh, although he acted like a carefree, frank and unserious guy, he was one of the most understanding persons in the world. She knew why girls fell for Laksh. He knew how to touch their hearts with his words, knew what to say when they were sad, how to act when they felt insecure. With Laksh, she became like any other teenage girl who yearned for a hero in her life. A hero for whom she would mean the world. For whom she would be the most beautiful girl among all. She also wanted someone to value her as much as his own life.

However, she could also never imagine a life without Mani. With Mani, she had shared some of the most beautiful and happiest moments in life. Mani made her feel happy, like there was no sorrow in the world. With him, she felt as if she could surpass every sorrow. She could pass a tornado like it was a little breeze.

Laksh brought out the feminine side of her which yearned for love. On the other hand, Mani made her world fill with happiness. She was torn between the two. How was she supposed to choose between the two of them?

She wanted to tell everything to Mani. He was her best friend and she knew he would always help her. However, she feared that Mani might get hurt or worse, he might distance himself away from her. She would never be able to bear that.

"Swara, I know I'm handsome. But if you keep staring at my face, no work will be done" joked Mani. "You know, I think you should just click some pictures of me and keep them, so that you can stare at them later"

Swara's eye twitched in irritation. "Aren't you full of yourself!?"

"That's because I'm awesome"

Swara dropped the flower garlands on him and left with a huff.

"What did I do now?!"

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To be continued...

Over and out!