Chapter 26

"You started writing again?" questioned Arjun as he eyed Jyotsna typing away at the keyboard furiously.

"Yeah, I was feeling bored so I thought I will complete what I have started," replied Jyotsna, looking up at him in a tired manner.

"That's great! I brought juice for you," said Arjun, offering the glass in his hands to Jyotsna as her expressions morphed from serious to distaste and disgust.

"Chi! Pomegranate juice? I am not able to tolerate the smell, take it away from me," yelled Jyotsna, pushing his arm away from her desperately.

"But just yesterday you said that you love pomegranate juice and wanted to have it even today. What happened overnight?" demanded Arjun in a surprised manner.

"So? Tastes cannot change. You will keep holding one decision of mine against me forever? I won't drink the juice, do what you want, Arjun Ranawat," protested Jyotsna furiously, sending more shock waves towards Arjun who was unable to fathom the reason behind her behavior.

He knew that her pregnancy hormones were making her system go haywire, but her tastes had not changed since the past three months. He wondered what had caused the overnight change in her preferences and behavior.

"Relax, if you don't want to drink, it's fine. But since you have to drink at least one juice a day, you will have to choose the fruit you would like to have. Which one shall I get for you?" asked Arjun, speaking in a calm manner to prevent rousing her anger. He began drinking the juice in his hands as he had grown to like pomegranate juice after giving her company to have it several times.

"I was actually thinking of a combination. Orange juice and chocolate syrup," revealed Jyotsna with a smile playing on her lips while Arjun had to control himself from preventing the juice in his mouth from spurting out.

He gulped down the juice with great difficulty as he wondered if he had heard her words right.

"Orange juice and chocolate syrup? Are you sure? I mean, did you get inspired by those chocolates having orange flavor or something?" demanded Arjun, wondering how someone could even imagine the combination.

"Stop mocking my choice, okay? I felt like having it and it is not inspired by any chocolate. Either get the juice or let me work on my story. You are irritating me," complained Jyotsna, her face flushed with both anger and embarrassment.

"Okay, okay, as you say. I will get Hariprakash to get the combination right away!" said Arjun, moving towards the intercom to request the same.

After giving the instructions, Arjun took his seat beside Jyotsna observing her features. Stress lines marred her features as a frown deformed her lips. He knew what exactly troubling Jyotsna in that moment was.

"You are stressed about your story, aren't you?" he questioned, thoughtfully.

"Yeah, I created the characters and the basic plotline with underlying conflicts. But the leads have contrasting wishes and personalities. Which one should bend in front of the other? Is selfishness forgivable? Can someone let go of their most precious thing for love?" counter-questioned Jyotsna, leaving him speechless.

He had thought that she would weave some kind of a fairy tale where two people fall in love and go against everyone for their love. A story in which the greatest demons were outsiders, but he realized that she had proved him wrong once again. She had stepped away from the fairy-tale genre long ago, after her dreams of finding her Prince Charming were crushed.

How would someone with broken dreams write a story purely based on dreams?

"I think when one is in love, that automatically becomes their most precious thing. Falling in love is another name of letting go. If I am not wrong, you are talking about self-respect here. Love is all about being one with someone so that person whom you love are 'self'. Love and self-respect are synonymous, at least for me," he replied, knowing how she prized her self-respect.

Arjun 's words made Jyotsna halt in her work. She looked up at him with an unknown feeling pooling in her abdomen. He had not just resolved the conflict in her story but also the one in her heart in a single go. She had trouble prioritizing between her self-respect and her love and the same had translated into her story. How wouldn't she? The theme had been so turbulent and overpowering in her mind that it was the only thing she could see.

"And selfishness?" she prompted, for the answer of her other question.

"Who isn't selfish in the world? A mother is selfish to see only her child rising high. A husband is selfish to want to have the entirety of his wife's love. A brother is selfish to want to keep his sister safe, but he can play around with other girls. A patriot is selfish to see his country at the highest position. Selfishness is just human. It cannot be an adjective to describe an evil alone. Ambition can also mean selfishness. But if you cannot think about yourself, who else will? Selfishness is a necessary evil and it just depends on the extent a person is willing to go to achieve his selfish needs and the purview of 'self'. That's all," answered Arjun, thoughtfully.

He was aware that it was another of the conflicts of Jyotsna's own mind. Whether to forgive her brother and his family for everything she had endured was the question which was troubling his mind. He knew that she was not aware of what she took from him while losing herself to manic depressive psychosis. But there was selfishness in every one of them, and like everyone else, they could not identify their own shortcomings till pointed out by others.

"So, it is worth forgiving them, you say?" she questioned, cocking her eyebrow at him, scrutinizing him.

"If they repent for the damage they caused due to their selfishness. Everyone makes mistakes, Jyotsna, but only few have the guts to accept what they did, and guilt is the worst punishment to face, trust me. To a guilty man, every act, every word seems like a punishment and for someone who does not care, you can shoot him point-blank and he would not understand why," he replied, sighing deeply.

If not to the ones who had wronged them, Arjun was sure that forgiving them would give peace to their souls. Jyotsna's hatred towards others and her resentment towards her brother would burn her every time she looked at him. It would not just be the harbinger of her peace but salvation to her brother who had regretted the decision ever since.

Before Jyotsna could respond, Hariprakash had brought the juice she had requested.

"The small glass? You are trying this?" asked Jyotsna, as she eyed the small sampling glass filled with the same juice brought along with the bigger one.

"You had gotten my curiosity on a high! I could not stop myself," he teased, taking the glass in his hands as Jyotsna took hers.

"Cheers then!" said Jyotsna, clinking her glass with his, surprising him with her sudden mood change.

The first gulp made Jyotsna close her eyes in excitement and the burst of flavors made her relish every drop of it. However, for Arjun, it was pure hell. He just stopped himself in time from throwing up by the awkward taste of it. But the look on her face by looking at his reaction made everything worth it.

That moment he had realized that he had fallen irrevocably in love with a certain Jyotsna Khanna and there was nothing he wanted to do about it, except fall more for her with every passing second.