"Rajeev, you conned me into thinking you were dead. And that too for as long as 11 months. How can you even expect normalcy?" Natasha had lost her cool.
"I am really sorry Nats, but you know the situations had become such that I had no option but to act dead. Do you have any idea what they would have done to me if they knew I was alive?, they would have really killed me."
Rajeev had faked his own death to run away from his undying debts. He staged everything, and did not include Natasha in his plan because he knew involving anyone else would endanger everything. Natasha's parents knew about Rajeev & Natasha's relationship and found him extremely warm and helpful, but they never knew that the warmness he was oozing was out of a volcano of debt.
"Ya Rajeev, but 11 months ? Its a long time Rajeev and a lot has changed. Damn Rajeev, I was never proud of your timing but now I am really pissed off by it. I don't even know what exactly I should be feeling, weather I should be happy for your sudden come back or upset for your timing" Natasha raised her voice as the loud noise of music from outside the room was making it difficult to speak.
"I know I shouldn't have come here Nats, I knew this was a wrong idea but I just couldn't stop myself from seeing you once and telling you that I was alive" Rajeev went closer to her.
"What now Rajeev? Even if I decide to leave all this and run away with you, for how long will we keep running? For how long are you planning to remain dead for the world? Will you ever be able to reveal to the world that you are alive without fearing for your life?" Natasha sat down on her bed with her head in her hands.
Rajeev sat at her feet and rested his head in her lap.
"Forgive me Natasha, but I just wanted to see you once. I didn't want to die with the guilt of hiding something as huge as my very existence from you". Tears started rolling down both their cheeks.
"Why didn't you come sooner Rajeev? Why today? Of all days, why today?" Natasha's mind was flooding with questions, confusing and haunting questions.
Their teary eyes kept staring at each other while the aggressive knocking on the door kept increasing with every passing minute, like it was in competing with the noise of loud music. Natasha rose up suddenly and rushed to the mirror. She wiped her tears and corrected her smudged kajal, touched up her make up and realised she couldn't not change her decision at the ninth hour like this.
"I am happy you are alive Rajeev, but there is nothing beyond that happiness which I can offer. 11 months is not a long time but it isn't even a small one. You knew the situations, you left me alone; you don't always get to choose when and how you appear in my life and how I put everything upside down for your comebacks Rajeev. I can't make my family go through this, I can't make myself go through this"
"This door will open in the max 10 minutes. You have to decide if you want to destroy my life or you want me to finally live my dreams". Natasha spoke whilst staring at Rajeev's reflection in the mirror.
Around 15 minutes later the door was opened, forcefully by relatives accompanied by Natasha's parents.
Natasha's mother entered the room to find it empty. Natasha ran away with her Ex Rajeev on the day of her marriage.
Since her parents believed Rajeev to be dead, they couldn't connect the dots and from that day onwards Natasha died for her parents; just like Rajeev had died for the world in spite of being alive.
Sometimes you have to make a choice which is your heart's longing desire, even if it's fulfilment isn't the conventional choice under normal circumstances...
