Raghav's POV:

I...I couldn't stay there longer. Their laughs rang inside my mind. Not being able to take it anymore, I ran away and came to the same beach Tanya and I had spent some time before.

The agony was unbearable. I caused such an embarassment. No, I wasn't talking about me. Poor Tanya, she was the one who choreographed every single dance. Yet her own dance got ruined, that too because of me.

I totally ruined her hardwork. Dance was something, she was best at. I can't even imagine how bad she must have felt. Because of my blunder, she made a fool out of herself in front of others.

She tried so hard to teach me. I too practiced so much to not ruin her efforts. Even at nights after the work, I kept practicing so Tanya wouldn't get ashamed because of me. What was the use of all that hard work when I ended up failing her.

Even Samar who was at a clear disadvantage, performed with such an ease. And here, I couldn't even follow the simplest routine. Yes! The most simple one. I had heard Tanya discussing with Trisha, asking and confirming about each and every step.

"What do you think about this one? It is easy for me but I am not sure if this would be easy or hard for Raghav?"

"Trisha please help me. I don't want to give him some complicated step".

"I need to make sure that the steps are easy to follow before showing them to Raghav. Or else he will feel bad if cannot do it.

"You know him, right? He won't even tell me that it is hard for him and would just keep practicing until he faints out of exhaustion".

"Trisha, how about this step?"

"Come on, help me out a little. I want to make sure that all the steps are easy to follow. I don't want him to feel bad if he is unable to do some step".

"Okay, now I will show you the whole dance. Stop me at any point you feel it is going complicated".

And a lot more conversations of this type, happened between the best friends. Tanya took lots of care while preparing the piece yet I couldn't even manage to follow it.

I was glad that no one was there at the beach to witness my fallen state. I was on the verge of tears, just thinking about the embarrassment Tanya was facing. And also hitting myself internally for leaving her alone to face the laughter.

Sitting on the sand, I covered my face as sobs racked through my body. A few minutes passed by and I felt gentle taps on my shoulder.

"Tanya", I whispered in a hoarse voice.

There she was standing behind me, palms on her knees as she bended while taking huge gulps of air.

"Do you...do you even know...how much...I ran to...find you?" She asked, while huffing in between.

"Calm down first and then speak", I guided her to sit beside me and get her breathing to a normal state first.

"I am really disappointed in you".

These was her first sentence after calming down. I looked down in shame, knowing fully well about the disappointment I was.

"I...I..", I tried to speak, but was unable to come up with anything.

But that didn't matter as Tanya started scolding me, not giving me a chance to speak any further.

"What is this behaviour, Raghav? How can you just run away? So what if they laughed? It is human nature to laugh when someone falls. It happens to the best of us and these people; they are our family. You shouldn't take this to the heart.

"I still understand you felt bad but you should have kept it in. At least for today.

"Your embarrassment is valid but think about Rishi. It was his Sangeet function. How bad Rishi would have felt when his twin ran out like this? That too from his own wedding function.

"Come on, Raghav. We can fight with them on this topic later. But today, please join them. After all, it's your twin's wedding".

As sentimental and heartwarming her speech was, Tanya's words confused me.

"Wait...You are scolding me for hurting Rishi's feelings and not for ruining your performance", I stated in a flabbergasted tone.

"I thought you were disappointed because I embarrassed you in front of others. Because I ruined your performance", I spoke, still not being able to grasp the situation fully.

"First of all, it wasn't my performance but ours", Tanya responded in a matter of fact tone. And then she continued in a gentle manner, "Don't feel so bad Raghav, our performance was going so well until the fall".

Tanya then flipped her hair in arrogance, "Let me tell you, we were probably the best amongst everyone.

"And about embarrassing myself, I do that everyday, so that's nothing new", she finished with a shrug of her shoulders.

A chuckle left my mouth after hearing her response. We both stood up after that, and started to walk.

"I must say, you surprised me today. I thought you ran away because you were embarrassed, but here you were feeling guilty for me", Tanya commented, looking at me with a wide smile.

As her smile slowly turned into a smirk, I understood that she was going to use this to tease me about this topic in future.

Before she could do that, I flicked her forehead in response to her future teasing.

"Oww", she screamed and started hitting me on the shoulders.

Instead of walking forward, we started moving back as Tanya kept hitting me.

"It doesn't even hurt", I laughed, feeding fuel to fire.

She stopped hitting but still glared at me.

"That's because I was doing it for fun. If one day, such time comes and I really need to hit you; then you wouldn't stand a chance against me. You won't be able to stand up, forget getting a chance to fight back", Tanya spoke in full confidence, putting her hands on her waist.

"Then I should be careful with my actions", I humoured her, raising my hands in a surrender pose.

Tanya just shook her head, muttering something under her breath.

"Cursing your husband", I tutted at her, making a fake disappointed face.

She narrowed her eyes, showing me her palm. "Oh Please! If I wish to curse you then I will yell it loud and clear to your face".

"Good, then I won't have to worry about you back bitching me", I remarked with a laugh.

Tanya scowled at me. "Talking normally with you is impossible. Now shut up and join the function", she ordered as she resumed walking.

I silently followed her. All the jokes aside, I was really impressed by Tanya's maturity. The way she handled the situation. Plus she didn't made me feel bad, even though I was clearly at fault.

She might be little childish compared to me, but she was more mature whenever tough situations arised.  I kept cribbing and taunting her for her minor flaws while she forgot and forgave mine within a blink of her eye.

Her subtle care hidden within her banter, always thinking about others comfort, her expressive nature, even her messy nature; all these little things made me fall for her.

Yes, fall for her. I finally fell in love with my wife. Ms. Opposite finally managed to take over my heart. And it wasn't sudden. The seed was already planted, I just needed time to come in terms with it.

Tanya had already opened her heart to me, and now it was my turn. It wasn't going to be a grand gesture, as I was sure that I would make it awkward, but something short and sweet.

'Just wait Tanya, I will confess soon after Rishi's wedding. Get ready to be shocked out of your mind'.