A/N : The past four years that I have been reading stories here, I don't think anyone has specifically mentioned the disclaimer of "not owning a particular category", because that has always been understood. We don't need to mention the fact that we don't own CID or the characters. If someone claims we are idiots by not explicitly specifying the facts, it's their problem, their loss.
Anyways, coming to the chapter, I DO NOT ship Nyla and Vivek. I wouldn't ever dream of breaking up my OTP. This chapter is strictly from Nyla's perspective. Some facts have been altered, in comparison to the actual incidences shown.
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A perfect Sunday morning. Pleasant weather, the park packed with jovial people, some jogging their extra calories out, some simply chatting or some enjoying the junk food across the street, the melodious chirping of the birds and flowers in every possible colour blooming all around.
However, none of this proved successful in lifting her spirits that morning. She wasn't a morning person – a fact which she proudly loved to confess about herself. Lazing off in bed till late afternoons on holidays was one of her favourite 'hobbies'.
Still, she was here. Waking up with a sleepless night, throbbing head, her mother's nearly horrified reaction – of jumping to the conclusion that her daughter's gone insane - and an entirely messed up face, here she was, sitting isolated on a bench in the park, her face bearing an expression duller than dishwater.
It had all started the previous night, when she finally decided to call it quits. After contemplating on it for a whole two months. She had felt surprisingly relieved when she told him her decision to end it.
"It's over, Anson! I can't take it anymore!" She shook her head vigorously, flinging her hands violently in the air in an attempt to let the guilt get the better of her. Her boyfriend of seven months took it more casually than she had feared. "I had expected this to come somewhere." He took a deep breath and sighed, gently pulling her by the elbow and made her face him. "I guess I should have figured it out much earlier!" He said, in a voice as calm as possible. "But, you know what, Nyla? It's not about the break up. It's your head. It's way too messed up." He smiled ruefully at her, and she couldn't help but nod.
"The day you get that cleared, you'll know what you actually are looking for! And remember, I will be there for you... as a friend." He smiled, cupping her face in his hands.
She could just utter a 'thank you' in reply.
She frowned in slight annoyance, as she recollected the incident. It was never the break up which left her in this haphazard condition. She had seen it coming. They were his words. She couldn't deny they were true. Each one of them.
As she sat staring emptily at the jogging track, she wondered what it was actually which had caused her to transform drastically from a vivacious, fun-loving, badass brat to a short-tempered, eternally-frustrated and tantrum-throwing piece of waste – as she sarcastically used to call herself.
She was never the way she found herself that morning. Hell, she didn't even remember the last time she had actually taken the pains to rise so early on a Sunday morning. She hadn't even felt the slightest amount of regret when her previous engagement had been called off. Or when she had to leave her lush life in the US to come down to India.
She always had the habit of taking serious things way too lightly. The forensic expert Dr. Nyla – who needed no one but herself to make her feel better.
Pondering over her thoughts, she was determined to figure out what was it which suddenly caused her life – rather, her nature – to take a three-sixty degree turn. She made a firm decision to come to a conclusion on what her head actually wanted. And where was it lagging behind. She wasn't the one to let herself get carried away by such things. She knew she had to bring herself up.
It all started when she met her ex-boyfriend Anson, and more precisely, a few weeks after they started dating. She had met him at a conference, and they had taken an instant liking to each other.
However, as the days passed, something in him started bothering her. Forced her to drag herself into a forbidden section of her past. Forced her to unlock the safe protecting the deepest secret locked inside the confines of her heart.
Over the days, she realized every single thing about Anson reminded her of someone. Of him. Whom she just couldn't get herself to forget no matter how hard she tried. No matter how much she forced her heart. It always managed to pull her into the dreaded world of his thoughts. His memories.
Initially, when Anson started playing small pranks on her, both of them knew it was to make her happy. However, somewhere, at the back of her head, a nagging feeling had already started taking birth.
Anson was an excellent prankster, someone who could make her explode into peals of laughter, regardless of the time, mood or surroundings. To top it all, he loved to take her to the most unexpected places for a date and give her the weirdest surprises – the kind which had always fascinated her. If that wasn't enough, he was a fabulous dancer, with a body more flexible than that of a snake.
She was happy, she couldn't help but agree. But, somewhere, her heart ached. Pained as she noticed everything which Anson used to do. And even though it used to make her happy from the outside, she started breaking from within.
When she got herself transferred from Mumbai CID, she never knew departing from him would have such an impact on her.
As she sat on the bench, she wondered how and why did she fall for him in the first place. And when she realized she had started taking his friendship much more than anyone in their team could ever think of.
Maybe it was the subtle interest he used to show in talking to her in the lab. No, she thought. She wasn't the one to fall prey to mere two words of praise. Besides, she had never really given their interactions at work much importance, anyways.
It wasn't the small coffee breaks they used to have off duty, either. Or was it? She frowned in irritation, confused at her own thoughts. Whatever the source might have been, she couldn't recollect exactly. Or rather, she couldn't zero in on a particular incident or time when she first realized she was falling for him.
The truth was, there was something about him which instantly seized her attention. Something which made him different from the rest. No, it wasn't those bright hazel eyes, though she couldn't deny she found them intimidating. Or his appearance. Yes, she preferred fair-skinned guys to tall, dark men – another fact she never regretted to confess about herself.
But that wasn't the prime criteria in his case. There was something, something very intriguing about him which left her to ponder over his thoughts for long hours. The small pranks she used to play on his colleagues, the eagerness and impatient excitement he showed to get things done, the way he used to sarcastically comment to anything that annoyed him.
Somewhere, as she got to know him better, she realized she could relate to him. In every possible thing. She started to feel interesting amused with everything he did.
At one point of time, she nearly felt he didn't fit into the profession of a responsible CID officer. Neither did she, she always knew. Till date, she had always wondered what made her opt for the goddamned career of forensic science, when she could have been anything. Though she had a zest for working hard, she never thought she would find herself dedicating her entire life to mutilated dead bodies.
He never came across as a serious, no-nonsense, responsible person – something which was a prerequisite for a CID officer – to her. Yet, he used to put all his sweat in whatever he did, never giving a chance to complain. Another quality she could relate to.
He wasn't very careful about his life, either. He had a habit of taking life as it came – something which she loved the most. She was careless. She loved being careless, a fact which, if ACP Pradz – as she used to mention it to her friends, since she found his name way too difficult to pronounce – would have known, he would have thrown her out of the team.
Although the entire team, especially ACP Pradyuman, used to get annoyed by his carefree nature, she found it fascinating.
As the days passed, unbeknownst to him – and to her – she started getting fond of his pranks, his shrewdness, his overall perception towards life. There was this certain passion, a kind of zest in him towards life which she was particularly attracted. The kind who dares to take the opposite path, going against the society's stereotyped mindset.
Gradually, she became profoundly passionate towards everything related to him.
Though she had not paid much heed to his flirting in the lab, she had felt happy from within. But, she being her, was too adamant to admit it, even to herself. She remembered how she had helped him hide Freddy's cell-phone the other day, and the way they had had a good laugh over it.
Then there was the other side of him. If he was the ultimate prankster of the team who openly loved to irritate everyone, he was also an ace in hiding his emotions, his feelings all to himself. Another similarity, she had pondered over. When had she herself poured her heart out to someone the last time, she asked herself.
Although the entire team was aware of his extreme fondness for Freddy, he never expressed it. Not a single word. He wasn't the one to say at every moment how much he loved or hated someone – a quality which she worshipped. She was of the opinion that when you love someone, you don't need to say it every now and then. It is understood. And it was particularly true in his case.
He used to express his respect, his love through the teasing, the pranks he used to play on Freddy. That was what she called true friendship.
This habit of his was more convincingly proved one day. The day when she came.
She wasn't exactly heartbroken when Tasha came in. For she knew his attachment for her. He had mentioned every single thing about Tasha countless times previously, to the point where she already knew everything about her even before she joined. And it helped her. Being aware of his closeness towards Tasha, she wasn't a bit surprised when his face glowed like a thousand-watt bulb when he saw Tasha walk in.
And there was no denying that the girl was pretty. With those mesmerizing eyes which could speak volumes, she was capable enough of making any guy fall head over heels for her. Like him, she felt even Tasha didn't fit into the role of CID officer, given her contagious smile and her effervescent personality.
However, what touched her was his relationship with Tasha. It seemed so beautiful, so pure. She had hardly ever seen a friendship so unique yet so perfect. She felt relieved knowing he had finally found his soul-mate. She was confident enough to confess that no girl in the world would be perfect for him other than Tasha.
Maybe that was the reason she, on her last day with the team, told him instead of Tasha, that how lucky he was to have her, rather than the other way round.
In spite of knowing they were made for each other, she never realized why he was afraid to tell his real feelings to Tasha. Maybe it was his nature of keeping his emotions locked inside his heart, until someone externally gained access to them. Maybe Tasha already knew, and he didn't ever have to say it.
Whatever maybe the reason, she knew one day he would gather up the courage to tell Tasha about his love, irrespective of whether or not it was needed to be spoken. She couldn't ever forget the smile he had on his face, whenever Tasha's name was mentioned, no matter how far he drifted apart from her.
At the end, what mattered to her was his smile. Which she cherished. Which she lived onto. Always. Until the very end.
Feeling the soothing morning breeze the first time that morning - or since ages - she finally felt relaxed as her heart found what it had been missing. Heaving a deep sigh of relief, she left the park a better person, or more preciously, a person in her own self, to complete her sleep which had been disrupted by her tumultuous mind that morning.
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A/N : Please let me know if the story is getting monotonous. Posting a review is not mandatory. Thanks again PR for the idea. :-)