Barely... A Love Story Part III

“I'm sorry”

There she was, Kimberly, standing behind Matthew who was sitting with his back towards her. It was a few days after she had stormed out of the rehearsal.

“I'm sorry Matthew, I shouldn't have spoken to you the way I did, and also shouldn't have said the things I said. I am extremely sorry,” she said, while her eyes welled up.

“It is alright, Kim. It happens, I understand you were angry, happens to the best of us. Don't worry about it!”

He was smiling. But she wasn't.

Rehearsals began as usual, this was crunch time, they had a couple of days left for the shoot to start. There was less rest and more hard work, everyone wanted everything to be perfect, and it was too. But there was something amiss, something weird. They couldn't put their finger on it. Then the choreographer realized something, Kimberly had not said a word to Matthew since she had apologized. Everyday she would come, rehearse, make sure everything was perfect and she left. As soon as she would get done with a particular song, she would get up, dust off and have a sip of water. She has stopped having lunch with everyone, and she would never sit anywhere around Matthew.

The choreographer then decided to bring this to everyone's notice. Matthew purposely went and sat down beside Kimberly, she promptly stood up and went to the other end of the hall. Finally, the director decided to talk to her about it. Matthew was standing within earshot.

“Kim, we have noticed you don't talk to Matt at all. You practically ignore him, walk away when he is around. But I thought the problem got sorted out that day. What has happened?”

“David,” that was the name of the director, “I am still angry at him for what he did. I haven't forgiven him.”

“But, you apologized to him, in front of everyone, what was that for then?”

“I am not the same as him, David, I cant stand it if I am mean or rude to someone. Even if it is that person's fault. I did not want to stoop down to his level, but I did, shouted like a hooligan, said things that I shouldn't have, even if they were true. I apologized for that, for the scene I created, for insulting him. That does not mean I forgive him. Your rehearsals are going on fine. Everything is fine. So what I do in my personal life is my lookout, and I do not wish to talk to him. He hurt me David, I considered him to be my friend. One of my closest, then. But still, that does not give me the right to hurt him, or to be nasty to him.”

Matthew was absolutely shocked, all this while he was badmouthing her, telling people that she was behaving weird because she had a huge ego. That she was doing this because she hated apologizing. He felt sick, there was this pathetic feeling in his gut, he was feeling guilty. Immediately, he walked up to her and apologized, told her he deserved to be treated the way she did and that he would do anything to make it up to her.

“Matt, thank you for apologizing,” she said, “ but I am sorry, I cant forgive you, you don't mean it yet. This hasn't come from your heart. You are apologizing to me because you feel bad about the stuff you heard. You feel guilty that I apologized but you didn't. You don't feel guilty for what you did then. WE have come here for a reason, let us just finish that peacefully. It is not like you will miss my presence in your life if I do not talk to you,” she chuckled.

So, the shoot began...

Do pal ruka

khwabon ka kaarvan,

Aur phir chal diye,

Tum Kahan hum Kahan......