Bluffing,Am I ?

“Send next patient in”Doctor said over microphone

And this is the time for which Kiara has prepared for herself

,because she knows that here she don't have any trick over

her sleeves to fool doctor the way she fooled the world by

keeping a mask and acting all the way long and  with that

thought she just took all her reports and files and went inside 

“Good evening Dr Desai” 

“Good evening Kiara ,how are you feeling now ?”

“I guess everything is working out, I mean like

I started making friends and engaging into activities

”Kiara said with nervousness 

“But cuts on your hands are saying different stories”

He pointed to the cuts on the tattoo of’

“ALWAYS AND FOREVER” on wrist of Kiara 

With that she just pulled the sleeves of her shirt even

more tighter till her fingers

“Doctor,you know me right,you know these things will happen.

I told you to not let me go out with people or to interact with new one”

Kiara said with aggressiveness

“Oh,so now you will teach me how this profession is handled?”

Doctor said and smirked

“Doctor,I am warning you again this is my life and don't interfere”

Kiara said this and her eyes are red with anger and maybe

something more

“Or,else what?,I know cuts are there just to seek attention.”

Doctor said with confidence 

Thats it,its the last trigger for Kiara with that she took the

pen stand on the table and as she was about to aim it

she heard different voices in her head

“Kiara ,seriously is killing the doctor part of the plan?”

“No,obviously not”

“Then why are we even wasting time?”

The inner voice became more stronger

She again heard different voice

“Kiara,Kiara everything is going as the way it is planned,

everything is going smoothly you just need to put it down”

Doctor said it with confidence

And with that Kiara after battling with both voices

kept the pen stand down and sat there for 20 minutes

in silence and thought was she been tricked into doing

that she wanted to do,or it was that doctor bluffed her

“So,Now tell me how are we doing now ?”Doctor asked

“We two can play this game”Kiara said and laughed

“So Kiara ,I am asking you again,Why those cuts?

And remember before answering

I AM HERE TO MAKE YOUR PLAN SUCCESSFUL”

Doctor asked

“Okay,so basically I met this guy over your art of living place

and I just made these cuts to get his attention”

Kiara said and started folding her sleeves as everything is over the table

“May I know why you need attention?”Doctor asked

“Obviously,If Arjun is out of my life

I Need someone by my side and

do not mistaken here by saying for Love.

Nope,that's not my agenda obviously.

ts just like any of my project 

and I want to get to finishing point”Kiara said and smirked

“So shall we address the elephant in the room ?”Doctor asked

“Yeah,I know what you will say that I am a Sociopath”

Kiara said and opened her reports which have many

red marks and many words circled around

which reminded her of her school textbooks

“Don't you think Sociopath is a very heavy word?.

We will say the actual name as

Antisocial Personality Disorder”

Doctor said and took out fresh sheet to write date and time

“Yeah,again that recap that I don't feel emotions and

I manipulate people to get to my work as well as

I am the devil who always end up making other people life miserable”

Kiara said and glared over doctor

“You know that Kiara right

,I am no one here to decide about your agenda

,but I know this that we can classify it into right or wrong”Doctor said

“Don't you think it's the same as

when someone comes to you and say

that my grandma died and as a normal person

your reaction will be oh so sad,RIP and stuff

but here I am like why this person is crying

we all know that grandma will die one day ,

Why those tears?”Kiara said 

“Yes,I know Kiara,there are many things that qualify your problem

,but look on brighter side you made a good friend these days”Doctor said

“You know that ,we sociopaths don't have friends

,we just have source to work”Kiara said

and pointed out to words on her report

where it was written isolated 

“You know this right,this sociopath term

is discarded from the official records”Doctor said and wrote 

APD on the fresh clean paper after date and time

“Facts are facts”Kiara said

“And some facts before

were just mere words formed by people like us”Doctor said

With that Kiara again started hearing voices in her head 

“We came here to improve us right,listen to doctor”

“Wait why would I listen to doctor,when I know its game of bluff”

“That's your forte Kiara,to bluff and win”

“Kiara,Kiara”Doctor said and grabbed her attention

And with that Kiara started with her death glare

and somewhere in her mind she is captured

between these two thoughts on getting rid of

this disorder but she knows that's how her

personality works and that's her charm 

“Okay,so let's get onto it”Kiara said and asked for her second task

“Earn someone's trust”Doctor said

“Oh,that's easy to do”Kiara said with confidence

“But,don't break anyone's heart”Doctor said and wrote on piece of paper

YOUTH OR DEATH

“I AM STILL IN LOVE WITH YOU,YOUTH”

“I hate you “

“I don't love your either “

With that Arjun slammed the gate of their bedroom while
Kiara was on the floor crying and looking at the reflection
of her in those pieces of vase which she broke on the floor
due to anger just 10 minutes back,the same way her heart
was broken into million pieces.

There are many things going in her mind,where did it go wrong?

She still used to remember her last days of college where everyone
used to root for her and Arjun,those cute quotes fit in her life perfectly,
those date nights doing nothing with
Arjun used to be the highlight of her weekend.

The day when she proposed Arjun in front of college and he was embarrassed
as according to him he should take this step of being on one knee with roses
in the hand for her,but this time it was very different as this time
Kiara was on her knee with last Pizza slice in her hand to share
that Pizza slice for her entire life with him.But little do anyone know that
Pizza will still lying in the fridge waiting again for this moment to be relived again.

Or the day when she took the tattoo on her wrist of
“Always and Forever”
as she thought life would be as easy as it is now,
it will be the same always and forever and on the matter
Arjun did the same for her,Some things are still engraved on the body permanently
but still disappeared from the soul

Even after having those endless night and days of pure
laughter ,love,happiness but  the way of life lead to those
billion broken pieces of heart,
and again the same thought runs over her mind

“Where did it go wrong ? “

Or the day where whole world was enjoying her wedding night
and she was excited to be the bride and want to start her life
with new tag of Mrs.Kapoor,there was one in the whole crowd
who knows this marriage will result in something disastrous.
It was none other than her best friend who know something
that whole world was still unaware of or maybe something that
Kiara knows but still hiding from everyone even her future husband 

“AND THAT'S WHERE IT WENT WRONG “  

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I AM STILL IN LOVE WITH YOU,DEATH”

“See,a shooting star.Wish for something quickly”Sanjay said to Anamika

“I wish for this,night to never end”Anamika chirped

“Touchwood”

“So you don't want my farewell to end,that's your strategy?
I know that you are already graduated and working,
it doesn't mean you will not let me do the same”
Sanjay laughed and put his arm around her while
sitting on the 14th floor of his college building.

“No,Idiot.I want this night to be like this as it's the same
I read in books and see its coming true”Anamika stated.

“You mean to be on the farewell of your boyfriend
who is 3 years younger than you and who brought you
to his farewell and right now you are hiding from everyone
in college as they dont know that you are not from the same college”Sanjay said

“Obviously that's the dream of every girl ,don't you think?
”Anamika laughed and spilled little beer on her red saree

“Aww, see I love the way you are older than me but still clumsy”
Sajay said and started wiping that spilled beer off her saree.

“By the way,fact check.The shooting stars that you are watching
with your naked eyes are not stars,first of all those are the meteors
which already got broken like a billion of light years ago,
you are just able to see right now as light travels that way”
Anamika said and adjusted her glasses.

“Oh,wait,Please dont go with your tech knowledge,
I know what you said can be right or wrong,
I mean what a dumb architect would know how space works,
so you got the platform to showcase the knowledge,
Am I right Miss.Engineer?”Sanjay said and laughed.

“Yeah sure why now irritate your elders ,that's what you learn in college”
Anamika said and started fiddling with her phone 

Sanjay felt this moment is the moment he was waiting for the entire time,
he got the amazing night and he was spending with the perfect girl,
and now is the time to say something
that will leave mark on both of their lives always and forever

So he took out the piece of paper from his tuxedo and took her hand 

“Darling

Let's come again and paint the world

Make a pair of black and white

And get settle between spectrum of Gray”

With that he took out the napkin on which
“Stay Happy “
was written and gave to Anamika

“Oh,my god you still got the napkin which
I gave you on the first day”
Anamika was jumping up and down with excitement 

“Obviously,as you said that will be the universal sign,
and look it happened,You happened.

The best gift of my life “
Sanjay said and handed over the napkin to Anamika

WHO KNEW THIS WAS THE LAST TIME THEY WERE TOGETHER

Maybe,Maybe Not

“And that's for the day,I want you all to practice those two things that I told you

One is patience and other is thinking,don't forget to wrap up your mats and

keep at the backside,

Thank you so much for coming

.Oh one more thing,your homework write something on a piece of paper,

what you did on your weekend.don't make it your class 5 essay for god sake

.Till then bye”

“Don't you think, this art for living instructor is going a little

I mean over the nerves,Sanjay” Kiara said while rolling her blue mat 

“I don't think so,I guess she is just doing her job,like you are paying for this right,

she is giving what you are missing in this so called filled with anonymous world,

and to be very honest your psychiatrist recommended it remember

”Sajay said while taking mats from Kiara hands 

“Yeah obvious,this clumsy Kiara needs a psychiatrist to smooth her life,

as her own habits are ruining her world”

Kiara said with disappointment in her voice

“Hey,cheer up.You know these things are there to make you happy,

even it's a good break from 9-5 job,those screeching tires,

those loud traffic and most important that

irritating manager asking for the design blueprint

every time,I mean what you think is it that easy to build a window,

Like draw a window with your 15inch scale make a scenery

and bingo you got your so called class 5th scenery

in a drawing book hut and a window”Sanjay blabbered till the end

“See who is talking about class 5th drawing,remember instructor said,

No class 5 essay”with this Kiara laughed and they both exited the art of living class hall 

“Yeah,At least you don't laugh,Miss HR,

I thought it's in your guidelines to treat everyone with equality,

and see you are laughing at me”Sanjay taunted with smirk

while opening car gate for Kiara 

“ First of all I am just assistant to HR,and second of all Its sunday,no office talks please,

I don't want that my essay counts of you just blabbering all around about your office”

Kiara said while fiddling with her phone

“So,Miss assistant to the HR of Infosys,what you want to do today” 

“Let's go for an ice cream,I mean a recently divorced girl at least deserve a scoop

of hot shot cocoa melted chocolate ice cream with mix of mango punch”

Kiara said with the excitement in her voice

“Your order is my command,mam,please dont fire me,

and by the way who in the world mix chocolate with mango,

oh yeah Miss Kiara Arora,” Sanjay laughed

“I know I am 27 not 5 anymore

,still something are good for remembering childhood,

what it is said in terms of Instagram hashtag nostalgia”

“Okay,sure let's go to the special place where we met for the first time”

Sanjay said with excitement in his voice

“ Wait,what?,You mean again to art of living hall,

no for god sake not at that place again please”

“Oh ,ho not that I know we met there

but I am talking about Nature Ice Cream Parlour,

the second place we went after this meeting”

“Yeah,say like that ,by the way  I need a break from all those file paperwork that

I need to submit due to this divorce, that prenup thing and as well

as most important thing to tell to my parents about divorce”

Kiara said and then got lost in random thoughts 

“Don't dishearten yourself,You know somethings are not meant for the way it is,

see on the good side what if your psychiatrist would never recommend this art of living

then do you think we would ever meet?” He questioned while honking in this Delhi traffic 

“Maybe,Maybe not,You don't know what universe holds up for the future”

Kiara said while looking over the car window,

watching two newly love birds holding hands together

and the boy is trying to drive with just one hand as

he don't want to let go of the holding hand,

with this effort the girl laughed and kissed on his cheek

This just made her day more hard to go to as there was the time when on Sunday,

She and Arjun used to start the day with the sun first ray of the day over the balcony,

welcoming the new day with both of them entangled in each other,

loving and  cuddling.After that lazily getting up for breakfast as

Arjun knows how much Kiara loves Nutella with the mango punch.

And by just talking with each other about world ,about future ,

about past the day ends 

“Kiara,Kiara are you there,Come on we reached to the place”

Sajay said while getting out of car

“Yeah,Sorry”

As soon as they entered the place,

Sanjay ordered Vanilla scoop and Chocolate Mango punch for Kiara

while Kiara went to their usual corner seat waiting for Sanjay to come after ordering 

“So order is done Miss HR,tell me what are you gonna write in that essay”

“Can I ask you a question?”Kiara said with confusion

“Wait,Now HR also asks for permission to ask questions,

I thought its their basic job to do”Sanjay said and laughed 

“Okay,Okay you may ask” He added

“Why do you order Vanilla every-time,don't you think it's boring? “Kiara asked 

“It has the basic answer same like your chocolate mango punch,

it's something that I am comfortable with,

just like the comfort zone that we made around yourself,

We never go outside this as we are not sure of what will happen next 

and we don't go directly inside it

because we know we can do better than this“

Sanjay explained and smirked

“Oh,Ho Mr Sanjay Chaturvedi ,I never asked for the

philosophical side of this”Kiara laughed 

“Okay,let me prove you in other way”With that he took out tissue

from the stand on the table and took out the pen from

his pocket pointed out to Kiara 

“Okay write something,it's the same as when you go to

stationary shop to try for the new pen its working or not”

Sanjay explained and gave pen to Kiara

LIVE,LAUGH,LOVE

Kiara wrote and hand it over to Sanjay.

Sanjay was looking on that written note of Kiara

“ So,basically may I ask why you wrote this?”Sanjay asked

“You said to write something,this came to my mind

first and I penned it down”Kiara explained

“Don't you think something is missing?”Sanjay asked

“Yes,our ice cream on this table Kiara said

and looked over the waiter to bring the ice cream

“No Kiara,Laugh is missing in your life,

just like your comfort zone you don't know how to place it”Sanjay explained

“Sanjay not again please,can I catch the break please,

you know right now you are the only best friend I have

and the most random stranger I have “

Kiara said and took out scoop of ice-cream to fill her mouth

“Okay just take this tissue with you,maybe this can be your universe sign”

Sanjay said and start  eating his vanilla ice cream 

“Maybe,Maybe not”Kiara said