RaYa: The Ring | Bade Achhe Lagte Hain 2 | Nakuul Mehta | Disha Parmar | BALH 2

 

Ram just barely managed to whisper, "Why didn't you say something?" The frustration was almost impossible to hold back. All of the moments when he could have held her, touched her, loved her … he could have done any of that in the past week. To only find out after the fact was torture.

He thought of the first time he saw her face. A clear-skinned and bright-eyed face, fRam ed by soft brown hair and dark, innocent eyes. A face he couldn't unsee after every late-night conversation in front of her apartment.

"Is there any reason I shouldn't marry your brother?" Yes, Priya. You can't marry him because you're in love with me. Don't lie to yourself. He was kicking himself for not having that conversation. To know she had been single all along without telling him was much more devastating that he could have ever imagined.

"Why didn't you say something?" He had gone through hope and disappointment, following each other in steady waves. Every interaction with Priya, a rising tide, only to break with every reminder that Priya was Adi's fiancé, not his.

Her eyes were clearly full of tears as she said, "Because I didn't know how to tell you." What a lame excuse. That's something people ask forgiveness for, he thought to himself. Even as he thought that, he knew she was more than sorry. She was more than sorry — she was lonely. If not being Adi's fiancé meant that she was out of his family's life, she didn't want that life. If not being Adi's fiancé meant he, Ram, would be out of her life, she didn't want that either.

He had no idea what to do. He barely listened as she told the rest of her story, gesturing at Adi and his parents with her sweet voice and eager eyes. As she confessed her love for his family, his heart longed to hear her confess her love for him again.

He quickly replayed it in his mind and felt his heart leap with the feeling of being wanted. "I'm in love with your son. No, not that one. That one." He knew the grin on his face must have been unbearable in that second. He was so happy he could melt. She felt it, too. I wasn't a hypocrite, I wasn't a coward. She loves me.

He pulled away for air and immediately turned and saw his family. Priya looked, too, and smiled into his hair.

Just moments before, she had stared at him with eyes so full of love he didn't know how he hadn't yet jumped the turnstile. Playful banter was part of what drew them to each other, but in that moment all he wanted to do was get inside the booth. He was sure his eyes had given him away as soon as she asked him, very seriously, for a token.

After their first kiss, he couldn't even look at her. Just the thought of having her laugh in the mornings, her quiet voice always within earshot, made him feel like he was about to cry. For a moment, he stared blindly out the window in the direction of the outside world, a world completely different to him now that he had Priya in it. She was so precious to him that for a split second everything else was foreign, hostile, if it wasn't her and her alone by his side. He felt guarded and almost wanted to escape, the pain of finally having her was too intense.

He had turned his head back enough for her to catch his eye, and he saw compassion in her face. She smiled, and leaned in to kiss him again. It was the happiest moment of his entire life.

The second she saw the ring inside the cup she immediately felt the joy start to seep in. She couldn't even smile, she was so happy. Seeing Ram there, she finally started to laugh. She couldn't contain how perfect her life had suddenly become.

The ring was beautiful. She forced herself to stare up at the man who wanted to give it to her. His voice shot straight into her soul as he said, "I need to ask you a question."

As she cradled his face in her hands, she felt the roughness of his five o'clock shadow and realized this was what she'd been given to have for the rest of her life. His eyes had been so intense when he tossed the token into the booth that she felt she could only answer his gaze with the full force of what she felt for him. Little did she know that those were the kindest, most loving eyes Ram  had ever seen in his life. As soon as she beeped him through the turnstile, the two of them both knew just how much happiness was in store for them for the rest of their lives.

"I love you." She had no qualms about saying it. It was the truest thing in the world.