The Love Game, Season 2: Episode 4

 He didn't know how precious she was to him until she turned around and caught him staring at her with a gaze fit for the fairies. 

After a week

There was music, there was dancing and it was so romantic! Khar gymkhana was lit. The party had just begun and it was time to celebrate Sim's 30th birthday! All her friends were invited and everybody was looking forward to party till the wee hours of the morning.

It was 10 pm and Jahnvi, after rigorous dieting for some time now had not lost all the weight but she was getting there and tonight she looked every bit Prantik’s peach cobbler he could imagine.

Dressed in a wrap around skirt of mahogany red and a white top with pale pumps, Prantik wanted Jahnvi to stay close to him. How he wished he could cuddle with her like old times! He just wanted to kiss her all over, that's how cute she looked. Happily dancing with their friends and smiling and laughing, she didn't have a care in the world tonight.

Although, Prantik was with Jade and Jahnvi was with Sahil, there was a spark between Prantik and Jahnvi that night. He kept pretending to ignore her, still furious about their brunch date gone awry, but his roving eyes always seemed to rest on her chubby cheeks. Then he thought, when Jahn would be pregnant with his kid, she'd look so cute! All bubbly and strawberry with her natural pink complexion. She didn’t put too much makeup and he loved that flawlessness about her.

That minute when Prantik, standing at the far corner of the room tried to look at Jahnvi, Jahnvi looked back at him. Time froze. They kept staring into the depths of each other's souls and made a silent promise of always loving each other. Jahnvi looked away and pretended to enjoy dancing with Sahil who was very supportive in this stupid payback game since two weeks. He said, "Can't take your eyes off him, can you?" Then Jahnvi burst into tears and fled the room.

Prantik whose eyes were glued to both of them in jealousy saw what happened and rushed behind his doll. Sim noticed what happened and silently prayed that something should break the ice between her dearest friends tonight.

Tears flowing down her cheeks, Jahnvi tried to calm herself in the restroom. All of the good times with Prantik flooded her memory and all she could wish for was Prantik to carry her in his arms right now and take her away somewhere they would die in each other's arms for eternity.

She calmed down after 15 minutes and told herself that she would not play the pay back game anymore. She couldn't pretend to be oblivious to Prantik anymore. She loved her boo and she missed the two together badly. She also told herself that it wasn't possible anymore and bracing herself to face the worst, she was about to leave the restroom when she saw Prantik waiting outside.

She smiled a quiet smile at him, forgiving him for everything that minute and was about to walk away when he held her hand and pushed her against the wall in the deserted area of the gymkhana. "You're hurting me Prantik." Jahnvi said crying again. He lifted her chin and stared deep into her eyes with some sort of unexplainable aggression. Before his lady love could say anything more, he picked her up in his arms and took her to the ground floor stairway corridor. 

"What do you want from me, jerk?" Janhvi cried out loud. She brushed her hand on her cheeks to wipe her tears and Prantik came close to her and kissed her hard on her left cheek. She looked up at him surprised. 

"I want you Jahn. I want you. I’ve  never wanted anybody else in my life but you ever since I met you three years ago." Prantik said breathless, lost in the scent of her natural, perspiring perfume. Her big cheeks glowed luminously under the halogen bulb of the stairway and he couldn't take his eyes off her. 

"Then why did you run away? Why did you leave me wondering, for two whole years that I wasn't enough? Why did you leave me all alone to cope without you making me believe there was no more of us?" Jahnvi shrieked in unrequited love feelings she had held back for so long. 

Jahnvi's knees buckled and she was going to fall when Prantik held her back up gently and pulled her right into his arms. What followed was a deep and longed for kiss that ripped right through his consciousness and then resting his head on   Jahnvi's chest he said defeated, "I wanted you to be universally independent. I wanted you to be a hero without me. You were so attached to me that it scared me to think what would happen of you without me, so I left."

"What would happen without you Prantik? I was a zombie for two years. I became indifferent to people. I saw a world with uncaring people, I lost track of time and suffered a writer's block. I started dating randomly just to push your thoughts away from me. I put on unhealthy weight and my wishes dried up. I became cold and lifeless, just like the blossoms on trees in winters and I still love you." Jahnvi said feeling helplessly calm with Prantik in her arms. 

"I know Jahn, I know everything. I am sorry. I am so sorry baby. Please forgive me. I won't ever leave you alone again. Let's get married and you be my wife and I'll be your husband and we both will live happily ever after." Prantik said wiping Jahn's cheeks tenderly. He brushed his face to hers and took in the ultimate scent of her to last him a lifetime. He couldn't lose her anymore. He just wanted to hold her and take care of this princess forever. 

Suddenly Jahnvi remembered the lonely nights, the unforgiving writer's block and the empty feeling of sleeping with Jay and the hazy morning after walking all alone on her way back home that morning and Jahnvi pushed Prantik away. 

Before walking off, back to the party, an indifferent Jahnvi taking over her. She turned around one last time and said, "It's too late Prantik, I am not the same Jahn anymore. Goodbye." 

Prantik felt his spirit lost, hearing Jahn talk like that and with tears in his eyes he called out her name in pain, "Jahn, Jahn, don't go. I am sorry. Your boo is sorry. Please come back."

He was all alone on the stairway, losing complete control of sanity before something inside him screamed, "Win Jahn back. She is your life." Prantik pulled himself together and called Sim downstairs. 

They both discussed the payback plan and Prantik was ecstatic that Sahil was married. He made a resolve to play no games no more and win his love back truthfully and courteously. He would make her Mrs. Jahnvi Prantik Saxena that year. He would. He kneeled on the floor and prayed to God to help him out.