• ADVIKA •

FOUR HOURS LATER…

“Ishaan,” Maahi mouthed his name with her sound mind realising that it would be her last time for her mouth to relish his name. “Thank you for all the time. I hope we meet again.”

“And, I hope we don't,” replied Ishaan almost instantly in his raspy tone as he walked away from her and her life, therefore kicking her out of his life mutually.

I would've hoped for a happy ending for these two, had this chapter not been the epilogue. Yet not recovered from the shock that filled me over, I scrolled the pages further with my mind scorning me for my “stupidity” and my laptop flashed the final chapter of the book: Author's Note.

Bracing myself up and telling me not to get too delusional— just like the way I did while reading the dedication (I was initially convinced that I was the AB she had mentioned), I started reading the chapter, hoping that Aadya Chatterjee truly has something for her readers.

Dear Reader,

Call It What You Want became possible only because of you all. Thank you is an understatement for what you did and are doing for me!

By this time, I could sense you all asking where was the happily-ever-after I had assured. I asked the very same question after completing the book. But then, I realised one thing that took nearly one decade to do so: it's not the author who writes the book all the time; it's the characters in that book.

I haven't realised the meaning behind those words until experiencing what it meant. While I was writing the last few chapters, my head heard voices of Ishaan sharing with me about his plight and telling me the way he wanted to live. That was why I gave my boy his happiness the way he wanted.

I believe in a parallel universe— where people live as the characters of my book— which keeps going on. Just because I had placed a full stop at the last line of the epilogue, it wasn't that their world paused. It was that I no longer had the control of deciding things of my own. The characters have. And, that belief made me name Ishaan's happily-ever-after as AB.

Yes. Though I am not going to write any book on Ishaan and AB, I will know their love story like nobody else. I believe that their love transcends all barriers of all the realms.

I sat still as though I wasn't me but a wax statue of myself, my mind entering into an imaginary whiteness where no thoughts are allowed. My mouth was open wide as I blinked incessantly, trying to tell myself that it was a mere dream and that I was being very delusional, like always.

But, as the words on the laptop screen refused to vanish or undergo some transition, I realised that it wasn't my fault.

Running to my room with my laptop, I sat next to Aarvi and shook her as violent as I could, giving zero fucks about ruining her sleep cycle.

“What the fuck had happened, bitch?” was the first thing Aarvi had asked as she looked at my side and tried to open her sleepy eyes.

“Aarvi, wake up, please,” I pouted like a baby and continued, “Wake up, bro! I just completed reading Call It What You Want.”

Then, out of the blue, she got up from her position, looked at me as though I had just asked her hand for the wedding. “So, do you want to talk about it?” As I nodded a slow yes, she rubbed her eyes, let out a groggy groan, and turned to my side, saying, “Speak.”

***

“Now, what have you decided to do now?” Aarvi asked in a much clearer tone as she lost her sleepiness by the time I had completed ranting about what I had seen and experienced for four hours.

“I don't know. I mean, now that Aadya Chatterjee has chosen to give a chance, this is only about myself and Ishaan. Aadya Chatterjee has nothing more to do with the both of us.”

“You have a point. But… What have you decided?” Aarvi questioned, emphasizing on “you”.

“I don't know. I mean, I do want to go back to him. Especially, when nobody can stop me. But… What about him? Will he accept me yet again for what I had done to him? What if he rejected me the way he did to Maahi?” Taking a brief pause to let out an exhale through my mouth, I asked, “What if I was not the AB Aadya Chatterjee talked about?”

“Tcchh! Stop overthinking, bitch!” Aarvi whined, possibly at my super-over thinking skills. “I'm very positive that you are the AB Aadya Chatterjee talked about. It matches very well: Advika Bansal. Easy!” She shrugged, being very obvious of those facts she was spitting. Seeing me going quiet, she concluded, “Anyways, have a good sleep first. Sleeplessness also leads to bad decisions. Sleep tight. We'll continue our conversation tomorrow. Okay?” She kneeled closer to me and pulled me closer to her for a hug which would always make me feel like having a cup of hot chocolate on a rainy day. “Good night!” She whispered and patted twice on my shoulder after going back to her sleep. Seeing me sit there for a while, she looked back at me and said, “Keep sitting like this and you'd reach Heaven faster than anyone else. Sleep fast and well. Okay?”

Chuckling at her joke, she turned away to have her tight sleep, unaware that me sleeping well was easier said than done.

***

THE NEXT DAY…

“What the fuck!” I asked mid-mouthful— with a considerably large piece of veggie roll yet to be grinded by my teeth— as my eyes were glued to the notification I had received when I logged in to my Instagram account.

1 message from aadyachats

Aarvi, who looked back at me from her plateful of cauliflower fry, whispered, “Language, Advika!”

“Look at this,” I whispered and showed her what was on my mobile screen.

“What the—!” She gasped and soon suppressed her cursing skills as she closed her mouth with her hands. “Read it fast.”

“Okay.” I shot a thumbs up at her, opened Aadya Chatterjee's chat box, and let out a deep exhale— preparing myself to read her text. “Hello, Miss Bansal!” I glanced sideways at Aarvi to check whether her attention was on me and looked back at the mobile as she was paying attention to me indeed. “How are you doing? I hope I will be great after this text. As you know, I published Call It What You Want last week.” I glanced sideways at the date of the text: a week after Call It What You Want’s release. “And, I hope you have read the book already. But, even if you haven't read the book, this text will help you a lot.

“I didn't reunite Ishaan and Maahi. Before reaching the climax part, I thought— as his creator— that I was doing the right thing for him. But, as time passed, I realised that what I was doing to him is equivalent to pushing my child into drainage. I didn't know back then that you were the happily-ever-after he wanted. I thought he was being foolish. But, I was the one who was foolish. Which was why I had decided to give him the happily-ever-after the way he wanted.

“I sincerely apologise for all the wreckage I had caused to you and your man. I didn't mean to do that. I swear, I won't ever come in between you two again. Like I said in the dedication of Call It What You Want… The man is yours. Do visit me with Ishaan one day: I long to see my child.”

I looked at Aarvi, who was expressing my infinity-level euphoria with a flashy smile, as she clapped her hands and exclaimed, “Bitch, I told you! I told you that you were the girl. Bitch, you should have listened to me,” and banged on the table until Professor Rao appeared at our table with her arms crossed and her face as red as the tomato ketchup on my plate.

“Aarvi Khanna!” Her voice boomed through the canteen— successfully gaining the attention of everyone including the single strand of hair that was on the unclean floor— as Aarvi and I unanimously wished for an instant death at the hands of some Death Eaters (or maybe Voldemort himself) instead of experiencing a slow death with the presence of Professor Rao and her lectures on discipline which are longer than her six-feet-tall son.

As she had completed lecturing when the bell rang, she stormed away from us not before shooting a deadly glare at Aarvi. Ensuring that Professor Rao was out of our sight, Aarvi sighed out of relief while I got off my place and sang, “Guess who needs to mind their language!”

“Shut up, okay? It was just that bimbo's good time.” She rolled her eyes as she got up from her place as well. We walked up together to our classroom as Aarvi brought our conversation back to the topic. “So… What are you planning to do now? You knew that you're the AB Aadya Chatterjee was talking about.”

“Well… I have decided to meet Ishaan. It's either now or never,” I replied in a tone that was strangely firmer.

“Okay!” She sang and jumped twice as though she was the one to reconcile with her ex boyfriend, not me. “It is now or never. But, kindly go to him this evening. Because— don't mistake me— you have missed a lot of your portions because of that guy. He may wait for almost two years, but your portions can't wait even for a second. Hence, go to his world after the classes.”

***

SEVEN HOURS LATER…

Just as Aarvi had suggested, I was in my room with Spotify opened on my mobile. I typed You Belong With Me on the search bar and played the song after twenty one months, hoping that it would take me to his world this time.

But God was not too kind.

Placing my mobile upside down on my mobile, my gaze roamed everywhere out of cluelessness and a hope to find the key to unlock his world.

Finally, the delusional part of me came up with an answer after five minutes of sincere brainstorming.

I typed the song— suggested by my head— at the search bar, played it, and placed my mobile near me with my fingers crossed.

“My castle crumbled overnight
I brought a knife to a gunfight
They took the crown, but it's alright
All the liars are calling me one
Nobody's heard from me for months
I'm doing better than I ever was

“'Cause my baby's fit like a daydream
Walkin' with his head down, I'm the one he's walkin' to
So call it what you want, yeah, call it what you want to
My baby's fly like a jet stream
High above the whole scene, loves me like I'm brand new
So call it what you want, yeah, call it what you want to.”

With that, whiteness filled me over as I was already in a rollercoaster of emotions which were on two extremes of a scale.

***

Things seem like they're on a bright side now. Right?

Stay tuned, peeps.