Vanika Kadam opens the door with no energy in her body while her white coat, which she is still wearing, shows how tired she is as the pure white color has gone into a color transformation.
She always keeps in mind to properly fold the coat and stuff it inside her bag to make sure that the coat is spotless and flawless, but today's scene is different as her laziness took over her conscious state of mind. Her coat is now dirty because of her laziness. She curses herself in her mind, but her body pays no attention to it.
As soon as she walks inside the house, a few pairs of eyes fall upon the newcomer, who isn't even aware of the fact that she is being watched, until she felt something drilling into her back. After closing the door and turning to look at the people sitting in the Living Room, her eyes got wide in shock as she didn't expect such an audience. There are so many people. So many people looking at her while she almost sleep-walked in front of them.
Her eyes wanders from Anvish's dad, who is trying his best not to laugh at her, totally contrasting with his son, who didn't even think twice before bursting into laughter, to Tarika, whose face is plastered with amusement, to her niece who, for the first time, understands what we call 'The Second Hand Embarrassment'. While the person herself just shrugs as a response after the initial shock of her body washes itself down.
She never cared about what people thought about her personality or the way she dressed herself. If she goes and decides to listen to each one of them, her ears will surely hurt. She doesn't want that kind of pain when she already has her own demons to capture. To her, what matters is her own happiness.
Finally, when her eyes fell upon the unknown yet familiar guy sitting on the sofa, she couldn't help but feel as if her heart was moving towards him. She is attracted to him. Duh, how will she not? He is very attractive. He has black eyes, beautiful hair and the way he dresses, he looks not only expensive but also looks like a person who understands fashion. Her heart almost leaped out of her chest when her mind intervened. Luckily not like her heart, her mind is in the right place to pull her back from staring at him for a long time and look like a creep.
"You didn't tell me that we are entertaining a guest tonight?"
.........
Ivaan Lee, sitting between his best friend and a cute little girl who happens to be his best friend's daughter, can't help but to think how adorable the girl is and how fast the time flies.
Remembering how she was just a one-month-old baby when he first saw her and cradled her in his arms. Now, she is 5 years old already.
He laughs, internally, at how sensitive he sounds, which, to him, isn't a bad thing, but that's not how he is, and that thought is worrying to him. After leaving behind what he loves to do, he has nothing left but sadness. So feeling these sentiments after ruining his life kind of feels out of reach for him.
He doesn't know how to get out of his darkest night, but he wants to give it a try. He desires to stand up again on his own feet. He can't stay fallen for a long time.
He wants his life to be satisfying, so that when death arrives to take him away from the world, he would happily surrender to the end of his journey without even a slight tint of regret.
The biggest fear he has in life is self-regret.
The timing was definitely wrong, so he was surprised when his best friend called him today for dinner at his home. What shocked him was when his headstrong parents, who didn't even let him go out of the house afraid of the media and people's gossip, agreed to let him go to his best friend's place.
He is an adult, and he can do everything he wants to do, and he doesn't need his parents' permission for that. Moreover, his parents aren't that demanding, but after seeing how things were currently going in his life, they have to take a stand for him. Any parents who hate to see their children deteriorating in front of them.
His sweet moment with Vaidehi is cut short when his eyes travel to the person who enters the apartment. This person looks very familiar, but the memory of where he saw her, evades him.
People say that when we meet someone for the first time, and we feel calm even when we are standing right in the center of the tornado, then that person is your soulmate.
That's how he felt when his eyes met hers. His heart, for the first time after so many years, felt the actual meaning of the word calmness. She has long black hair, brown eyes, her lipstick is smudged a little bit, and she is wearing a white coat.
'Wait, a white coat?'
The link of calmness is immediately broken at the site of the white coat, as now he understands why he is here in the first place. He is here not for dinner, but for the informal meeting with her, before they meet in the hospital.
The moment he returned, his parents pushed him to get a professional's help. So how convenient would it be for them to find out that his best friend's cousin is a psychiatrist? He kept on denying their help, saying that he got it. But after what happened yesterday after he saw his company's official disbandment statement, he doesn't think they will respect his resistance for professional help now. And he was right.
He never thought that they would make the statement so soon as they promised to reconsider their decision. But those were all fake promises. Yesterday's news put the end to his delusion that they might. Reality came crashing down on him, and he couldn't help but succumb.
"You didn't tell me that we are entertaining a guest tonight?"
.........
White color gives peace, not only to the person's eyes, but also to the person's mind, as it makes them relaxed. That's one of the reasons why doctors wear white coats and not any other color coat.
That's one of the reasons why he felt calm. But when that calmness gets affected by the reason why he is here, he looks down at his feet before again lifting his head up when she speaks, only to see her looking at him already.
Her eyes, surprisingly the calmness, found him back and, without even releasing, he smiles at her with an unknown kind of confidence running through his veins.
Forgetting that he is in his best friend's house, he shouldn't feel or act like this, especially not towards his best friend's cousin sister. He almost loses his senses when she smiles back at him but quickly holds back his true feelings and facial expressions which are quick to demonstrate.
That's what his problem is.Holding back his true feelings because he is afraid to tell them to others.
Or that's what he thought his problem was. No one in the room noticed his expression changing, expect her. She noticed it even though it was just for a split second.
It's totally okay to have trust issues or have an issue when opening up about your feelings to others. Everyone in this world has fears, and there is nothing wrong if you don't want to change that fear of yours. But that doesn't mean that you are weak. What matters is your faith in yourself. That's what all matters.
He had heard this a lot of time, but never understood why people say that when they themselves don't follow it and keep on self-degrading themselves every time they hit the low bottom.
Everyone tries to show the world how strong they are, but whenever a person wants to show their weak side, society handcuffs them with their judgmental thoughts, making them feel like a bad person.
And there he had another fear, the fear of disappointing people around him. What if he showed them his fears and problems? What if they think he is weak, and then they start leaving him...?
Here comes another fear, the fear of standing alone and feeling lonely. He didn't want that and that's why he drowned his true self very deep in his heart, showing the world his fake side because of his fears.
And now, when he finally wants to break free from his fake self and bring back his true self, he doesn't know how to do it because.....
From the very start, he has never tried to discover who he really is.
He never got time to know himself. Never got the time to glance at who he really is and that's why he decided to live in a fake facade which his company told him to act on.
Even if he didn't like what they were telling him to do, he had to do it for the sake of his career. For the sake of his dreams, which he had since his childhood.
He knows he needs help, but he doesn't know how to ask for it. He has always been a person to provide help, so this situation feels foreign to him.
"Don't think too much. Leave your thoughts behind and try to have fun in the present. I know it's hard, but it's worth giving a try."
A soft whisper reaches his ears, pulling him out of his thoughts. At first, he was surprised when he felt her voice comforting him. Now, he is completely in shock as he literally feels his thoughts leaving his mind.
For the first time, someone's voice not only soothed his mind but also, soothed his soul.
.........
She could clearly see a big tornado wreaking his soul in his eyes while his soul waited for the right time to calm the winds down. But the winds kept on blowing stronger as each minute passed. The calamity caused by the tornado is making him lose his mind as he wants to quickly get out of it, but he can't because he doesn't have any power to resist the storm.
'He can do it, but he doesn't even want to try because he is afraid.'
She is a psychiatrist, but that doesn't give her a chance to judge anyone. If she also starts judging everyone around her, who will trust her with their problems? According to her, her job needs her to perceive and not judge. And moreover, judging was never a trait in her personality and was one attribute of the people which she hated the most in her life. But again, she can't blame them for it because that's how society taught them to act.
"Brother!! You know that these vacations are the only time when I can visit my family. You can't tell me to cancel my vacation."
Even when she is extremely frustrated and is on the verge of shouting at the man who was standing in front of her, she takes a deep breath to calm down and then, whispers. Anger never solves a problem, she believes. Another reason why she controls her voice decibels is because she doesn't want that tornado man to hear their conversation, which is about his mental health.
'Tornado man.'
Sounds so funny yet so cute as if it's his nickname.
'I don't know about funny, but surely he is very cute.'
She shakes her head after realizing where her chain of thoughts is leading her. Right now, she is supposed to be angry instead of calling that tornado man cute.
"Look at you, speaking in such a low voice when you can shout and our conversation reaches him. But no, you didn't shout as you usually do. What should I assume when you are behaving like this, my dear sister...?"
There he goes, attacking on her soft spot.
From childhood, she wanted to help people in pain, no matter what kind of help it was. That is one of the reasons why she chose this profession as her career.
She has a rare superpower of understanding people, empathizing with them, without judging them.
Sometimes, being so understanding is tiring, but as she always considered it a superpower, her willpower every time pushed the tiring waves out of her world so that she could keep on helping people.
Having a big heart in today's world is a big sin. That's what everyone all told her whenever a bad person fooled her, but she never let that affect her, because if she can be the most lovely sweetheart when treated rightly, then she can also be their worst enemy when someone takes her kindness or understanding behavior for granted.
She isn't stupid for helping a person even when she knows that they don't deserve it. It's just that she wants to see how long they will go on with their fake facade. Yes, it will end with her getting her, but guilt is heavy on one's conscience. One day or the other, that bad person realizes their fault and the guilt will take them over till their last breath. Evil, but that's how the mind and the world work.
Moreover, her mother taught her, 'No matter how much a person has hurt you, when they are in need, you should help them because nothing can hurt a person more than their self-guilt and self-regret.'
"Sorry but I can't. I would have agreed if you asked me after January. And moreover, Mrs. Sharon is the best Psychiatrist in the City. I am sure that he will be fine if he goes to a Psychiatrist like her. I will talk with Mrs. Sharon tomorrow. Now can we go outside...? I am very tired and hungry, which is a very deathly combination for my body."
In the end, she also has some fears, just like everyone.
Instead of arguing, he just gives a smile and sees her going out of the room and demanding someone to feed her something before she loses her mind because of the hunger.
She isn't a big fan of hunger. Hell, she can't even stay hungry for 2 hours because her body will start acting up. When her hunger takes control of her body, you should get ready for her angry outburst. That's why she does not even think about going on a diet because she knows that she will not follow it. So what's the use of doing the so-called diet?
'I am amazing the way I am.'
The moment they both step outside, she sees that Tornado man who definitely has a name which she obviously didn't know, so pardon her, sitting on the dining table with the rest of the four members of her family. It looks like they are waiting for the uncle-niece duo.
She immediately walks to the one of the empty between that tornado man and her Little Princess and sits down. The other one was sitting beside Tarika, and she knew that Anvish would throw tantrums if he didn't get to sit beside her. That man is whipped for his wife and daughter.
From the time she came out of the room, one thing which intrigued her the most after the food were his expressions. She has been practicing psychology for almost 6 years now, and sometimes even before a patient tells her what's wrong with them, she herself can guess it right just by seeing their facial expressions.
But the script for today has a different story in her life's novel for her to experience. She couldn't interpret what he was thinking and, for one second, she was even having a second thought about guessing why his expressions were changing so much. That got her curious.
What she didn't know was that, some undeniable unrecognized magnetic pull was pulling her towards him. The pull was powerful. Her conscious mind is gravitating toward that pull. Now she is curious to know what his problem is so that she can help him recover. But even being in the strong gravitational force of her wanting to help him, she could tell that it was not going to be as easy as it sounded. It will take a very long time for him to open up to her.
'Wait, why am I thinking this? I am not the one who will be treating him. I just created a big scene in front of Anvish.'
'But what if she makes a deal with Mrs. Sharon?'
Her inner turmoil made it difficult to focus on the present as she drifted into an unknown world.
'He would be a very hard nut to crack.'
Again, she is having second thoughts.
She looks at the person occupying her thoughts. He keeps on nodding to whatever her grandpa, or Anvish's dad is saying and even talking in between to let him know that he is paying attention to the conversation, but the crease on his forehead tells her a very different story. He is lost in his thoughts.
"Don't think too much. Leave your thoughts behind and try to have fun in the present. I know it's hard, but it's worth giving a try."
She feels satisfied when she sees how the crease of his forehead relaxes after her intervention.
It was just a little exchange of affection between them, but little did they know that this little exchange had changed their stars, as now the stars had taken the responsibility for scripting their story.
Their stars have finally started scripting their love story in a sneaky way. Heartbreak is an inevitable chapter in their love novel, but separation of the hearts isn't.
This is 'The Script By Our Stars'.