A/N - I finally had to write this OS as BB wasn't gonna give me it :p Sorry if this is a bit similar to other TejRan stories, ek element jealousy ka hai lia hua bus- rest is original. Do read and review.

OS

"Big Boss aap sabhi gharwalon ko suchit karte hain ki connection week shuru ho chuka hai, ek ek karke aap sabhi ke connections ghar mei aakar 1 din tak (coz of COVID) aapke sath rahenge and tasks mei aapki help karenge. Good luck, Big Boss." Nishant read the letter from BB and all the remaining housemates before finale week i.e Karan, Teja, Umar, Rashami, Shamita and Pratik let out a whoop and loud cheer. They were all very excited to meet their friends and stay with them. Umar teasingly said to Karan "Bhai tere liye kaun aaegi bahar se..hmm hmm.. teja zara bach ke." Hearing that somehow made Teja's heart sink just a little but she did not let that show through her facade. Instead she just rolled her eyes and said while flipping her hair "Jo bhi aaegi wo ispe try kar sakti hai. If he responds he is hers, I don't care" Karan proceeded to give her a wounded look. "Wow. Nice trust levels and nice to know u value me so much to just give me away.." he murmured, a genuinely hurt look in his eyes which quickly made Teja change track. "Arre I was joking yaar..sorry na Sunny u know I can't live without you right..hmm.." She said while hugging him from back. He rolled his eyes but hugged her back, muttering to himself about "unfair advantages of being cute." Teja just chuckled and hugged him tighter. Their relationship was a bit of a roller coaster these days with frequent fights and WKV controversies, but they were fighting hard and holding on, although some of the strain was visible in their equation- on the parts of both KK and Teja.

After a while it was time for the connections' entries. The housemates gathered in the living room again and one by one, the connections came in. Nomaan for Umar, Prerna (his sister) for Pratik, Rajiv for Shamita, Moose for Nishant, and Gaurav Desai for Rashami. They all excitedly hugged their connections and the vibe in the house was a happy one. Only Karan and Teja's connections were left. They both waited in anticipation. And then, big boss announced "Ab wakt hai ghar mei swagat karne ka Karan Kundra ki connection- Jaani maani actress aur model Yogita Bihaani. Yogita, aapka swagat hai. Sidhe ghar mei pravesh karein." And she entered - Yogita Bihani, one of Karan's closest friends and co-star, dressed in a stunning low cut white dress with matching heels. As neutrally as she could, Teju tried to check out the other woman. Long legs, a great height of 5'9',and a childish yet extremely beautiful face which seemed to light up at seeing Karan. Teju watched as she ran to Karan with a delighted shriek and he merely smiled wide and stepped forward, shouting "Hii Gollu!! Kaisi hai?" before taking her into a wide, big hug. She watched the girl hug him back with a big smile and a soft whisper of "I'm good, K." She heard the nickname, and ignored the stab like feeling in her heart it caused her. While going through all this internally, Teju kept a constant smile on her face, bringing all her acting skills learnt till date into play. Once, she saw Karan glancing her way while talking to Yogi, trying to gauge her expressions. When she gave nothing away, he shifted his gaze. She thought she noticed a flicker of disappointment on his face at her lack of reaction, but couldn't be sure.

And then Yogita stepped forward to greet her. "Hi Tejasswi. I'm Yogita Bihani, Karan's old friend. So good to see you and meet you finally. Aap log ki jodi bahut hit hai. Big fan of ur work btw. U can call me Yogi or Gollu, most of my friends do." She grinned at the end. Tejasswi cursed in her mind. Why, WHY couldn't she be evil or atleast easier to hate? Why did she have to be hot AND kind? What was she supposed to do now? She wearily forwarded her hand, smile intact. "Nice to meet you too, Yogi. I have heard a lot from Sunny about u, I look forward to getting to know you." Yogita smiled back and squeezed her hand. When the handshake was over, Teja noticed KK staring at them both, his expression a mix of fondness and confusion. Confusion at her facade and fondness for their interaction, respectively, but Teja mistook the fondness for being meant for Yogi and her heart sank further. As the rest of the housemates returned to the living area again after meeting Yogi, Teja lingered behind, walking slowly. She gingerly put a hand to her heart. It still beat, steady and strong. Even after it felt like it was broken into pieces. Incredible.

Her hand was still near her heart when she heard it. The song. Their song, in a way. Her heart beat faster. This could only mean..

"Saari hadein maine meri, ab maine tod di
Dekar mujhe pataa awaargi ban gaye"

Her eyes glistening, she turned around sharply. And he entered just then, smiling that wide, warm smile of his exclusively reserved just for her and his special ones. Namish Taneja, one of her first co-stars and more importantly, her best friend and confidant. Before she knew it, she was running towards him, legs flying and landing straight in his warm, tight embrace at the perfect moment as they sang along to the most important part of the song for them.

"Haan hasi ban gaye
Haan NAMI ban gaye
Tum mere aasmaan
Meri zameen ban gaye.."

Namish laughed lightly and picked her up and twirled her around, making her shriek and laugh with delight, and then poked her nose,and leaned their foreheads together, making her giggle. He laughed along, happy to see her smile.

"AHEM AHEM." a loud, harsh clearing of a throat made them jump apart, ending the song and their trance. Teja turned back to see Karan standing there, hands folded, jaw clenched hard, teeth set, hands balled up in fists, looking thunderous. Without looking twice Teja knew he was FURIOUS, but for once she couldn't bring herself to worry too much- his friend was here too, she didn't complain, she deserved to meet her friend warmly too. Tit for tat, equal rights and all that. While KK still stood there glaring at them, the other housemates gathered there again as BB announced "Aur ab swagat kijiye hamare aakhri connection ka- Mashoor Punjabi hunk aur actor Namish Taneja, Swaragini ke lead actors mei se ek aur Tejasswi ke co-star aur khaas dost. Namish, BB aasha karte hain ki ghar mei aapka samay accha beete. Dhanywaad."

Everyone except KK hooted and clapped as Namish stepped forward to greet them, his one arm still in Teja's, never leaving her side. KK's gaze was fixated on their entwined hands, so when Namish stepped forward to greet him, he ignored his offered outstretched hand and proceeded to hit and separate their joined hands, and after successfully separating them, shaking that hand hard. Namish winced a little but didn't say anything, instead he found himself laughing inside. The lack of response infuriated KK further, and unlike Teja he had no qualms hating this man, no matter how nice he was or not. Namish merely smiled and said. "Nice to meet you Karan. You are doing good in the house, nice to see you taking care of Teja. Thanks for that, we were worried outside." Karan almost growled in response to that entitled statement. "No need to say thanks, I didn't do it for you. " He said sarcastically in a clipped voice. Teja looked between the 2 men in bewilderment for a second before realizing KK's possessive undertone. Oh man. This was going to be a long day.

She rolled her eyes and turned back to Namish. "Chal tujhe Ghar dikha du bada changa hai" she quipped and grabbing his hand again, pulled him inside along with her. The rest of the housemates dispered too with their respective groups and connections. KK still stood there, in the same position Teja had been just a half an hour ago. He had seen everything- right from her clutching her heart to the song to her landing in Namish's arms to just now, holding his hand and walking away. Each moment, a direct prick to his heart. He stood there in a dangerous combination of hurt, rage and anger, which didn't go unnoticed by Yogita, who was standing right next to him. She chuckled a bit. When he turned his sharp glare to her, she raised her hands in surrender. "Sorry, it's just a little funny to see u like this. You have it bad, we have never seen you like this before. You have fallen harder than ever before this time." She mused honestly. He merely nodded. " I have. But for the life of me I can't figure out what to do with her, this girl will be the end of me, she makes me feel things intensely I have never felt before, I feel too possessive about her. I was never like this before. God,she will be the end of me, but right now she doesn't even look like she cares, dekho kaise batteesi nikal nikal ke has rahi hai us Taneja ke sath, man karra hai dono ki batteesi tod du." He muttered, looking at the living room where Teja and Namish were laughing together and hi-fiving each other. Yogita followed his gaze and laughed aloud at his words. He glared at her. She gulped. This was the second time she had laughed at him at the space of 5 minutes. "Kaisi connection hai yaar tu" he said and before Yogi could even think of escaping, he had held her in a headlock and was squeezing her neck. She gasped and tried to pull away, still laughing. Eventually a smile made its way to KK's face too at the situation and it's funny side and he was laughing along with her.

It was at this moment that Teja chose to glance at them between her talks with Namish and saw KK holding Yogi and seemingly laughing without a care. "Mai hi pagal thi jo mujhe laga he was hurt by my closeness with Nami. Ise kya fark padta hai he has so many people as he has already told me. Faltu mei use manane jaane wali thi mai." She muttered to herself. Namish looked at her curiously, followed her gaze and easily gauged her state of mind. Afterall, they weren't best friends for nothing. "I don't think it's what it looks like or what you are thinking. I don't think he can look at another woman beyond u at this point, he has made that abundantly clear. U don't need to worry about that. " He said reassuringly, squeezing her hand. She rolled her eyes. "Do boys really have a universal brocode or what? Why are u taking his side, u are supposed to be MY friend!" She whined. Namish laughed. "Just saying the truth. It's true he loves u. But, also keep in mind that he should respect and trust u just as much if not more, and that he treats you right. U will have to draw the boundaries there and teach ppl how to treat u, and in turn give the same respect right back to him.  Whenever u fight, u need to remember it's not u vs him but u and him vs the problem. Don't fight to win, try to solve the problem or conflict at hand together in such cases." He said comfortingly, still holding her hand. She looked at him with admiration. "Wow. Lovely advice. Tera to ho nahi sakta, Aanchal ne sikhaya na?" She said teasingly, referring to his longtime girlfriend. He scowled. "Koi izzat nahi bhalai ki idhar. Uski hi side le tu hamesha..hupp..Accha thik hai usi ne sikhai" Teju laughed out loud and squeezed his cheeks, saying "Aww so cutee yaar Nami" .

Unfortunately, it was at this moment that KK glanced at them and heard and witnessed the last part, and all his anger returned, doubled and magnified. He marched over to them, with more than half a mind to drag Teja away from the guy and crush her close to him, locking them both inside the bathroom. Unfortunately, at that moment BB chose to intervene. "Big boss aap sabhi gharwalon aur connections ka swagat karte hain. Aapka task shaam mei start hoga, uski taiyarian shuru kardi gai hain. Task details Umar storeroom mei rakhi chitthi se padh le. Aap logon ko ye task apne connection ke saath karna hai. Karya ke sanchalak Big boss swayam honge." Big Boss announced.

They all read the task details. In the task there would be a temporary shaking narrow bridge set up in the garden area from one end to the other with the swimming pool below it. Connections have to cross it together- with both their legs tied together with one person infront and one in back and their 4 legs tied in a single rope. They have to navigate through the bridge like this together, and the other contestants were to throw dodge balls at them from a distance to make them fall below into the pool. Points wud be based on how quickly or slowly they cross the bridge. The winner would be the team with the max points and the winning contestant wud be the captain, get special immunity and power to demote/promote VIPs and order them around.

While they were waiting for the task to be setup, they all decided to strategise for it with their connections. Karan and Yogita were in a serious discussion, with KK's strategic mind at play and his natural competitive nature taking over coz of his rage at TeMish. However, Teja was the only one who lazily reclined back on her bed and yawned. Namish laughed. "No strategy?" He asked. "Nope. The task seems perfect. We will nail it, I trust us." Namish smiled softly and fist bumped her. "Yea we will, I trust us too." KK overheard it and fumed more, but didn't let it on. Soon the task set up was ready and it was game time.

First, Rashami and Gaurav went about the task. They got halfway thru the bridge but stumbled into the pool coz of the balls thrown at them by the contestants. Shamita and Rajiv fared no better. Nishant and Moose made it all the way in 17 minutes. Pratik and his sister made it through as well, in 16 minutes. Umar and Noman's time was 15.30 minutes. Now the only people left to to the task were KarYogi and TeMish. They had to beat the time limit of 15 minutes, and they all knew that they were gonna be targeted hard by the housemates as they were strong. Karan and Yogita went on first. Karan stood in front while Yogi stood behind him, with an intention to protect her from the ball hits. He told her to hold on tight to him. Their legs were then tied together and they set off. Tejaswi stood at a corner, watching everything silently.

Namish went towards her and quirked a brow. "Not gonna target them to win the task?" Tejasswi just smiled wanly. "No. I don't need to sabotage someone else's tasks to win my own. I have full faith in us." She did not bother to keep her voice low and spoke in a normal tone. As a result of this KK heard her and his glance shot towards them. "I have full faith in us" rang in his ears, and he just thought "That statement shud have been for me and her" . This momentary distraction caused them to stumble a little and delayed them, and when they reached the end their timing was already over 16 minutes. KK by now was furious at the whole situation. He decided to throw all the balls he could towards Namish (not Teja) when the task was on. Tejasswi saw his expression and knew he might try to stop them but by that point of time she had stopped mixing their relationship and tasks, and what he was gonna do was within the rules of the game anyway, she thought with a sigh.

Teja and Namish got ready for their task. In an unconventional move, Namish made Teja stand infront of him unlike the others. Before their feet were tied together, he made her stand on his own two feet. When the other contestants like Rashami Umar etc tried to protest this smart move he glared icily at them and told them "There was nothing written in the rules that we can't stand a certain way. Only 2 rules- ur feet will be tied together and u will stand in front and back together. Baki kuch nahi tha, aankh aur knowledge di hai bhagwan ne to jaake padhke aao." This sharp retort surprised them and they backed off. Teja looked at him with surprised gratitude, her eyes a bit moist. KK looked on at her looking at him.

Soon, after Teja had hopped on Namish's feet, their task started. He whispered into her ear "I'm holding u tight. Let's hop our way thru to the end. If they throw the balls, dodge sideways or duck, like you wud in a fight. We will do so together. Come on now." And they went off. They hopped and navigated the bridge's shakiness easily enough, and when the contestants tried to throw balls at them, they ducked and dodged them with ease, leaning backwards, downwards and sideways with poise and with perfect ease. The ease came with  years and years of knowing each other and being tuned into each other's every move, apart from their physical fitness and mental strategic strength. The contestants' hits including KK's few angry throws towards Namish proved fruitless. Laughingly and easily, they cleared their way through the bridge in 9.5 minutes,  the shortest time as declared by Big Boss immediately. That was it. They won, and Teja was now the new captain of the house. She screamed in delight and hugged Namish tightly, kissing his cheek in excitement and gratitude. He laughed and twirled her around. Karan saw all this, and while he was fiercely happy for his Teju, he could no longer bear seeing her that close with another guy. He stormed off towards the candy shop in a fit of rage, which Teju saw through the corner of her eye. When Namish let go of her, she signalled with her eyes to him about KK being angry. He nodded. She was just about to go after him when Yogita stormed up to her and whirled her around. She looked very, very angry.

Teja looked at her surprised. Yogi ignored that and furiously "What is wrong with u!? Till a limit it was ok. I understood u were possessive about him, and me being here didn't help things, Namish is ur friend, u two have a jealousy game going on etc.etc. but this just went too far, he is hurt right now and as his friend I can't see him hurt and in pain! He has been my mentor figure, someone I look upto, and he has always treated me like family and looked at me as a kid and protected me like one. That is the whole relationship between us FYI, nothing romantic. But pls, pls dont hurt him.."

Tejaswi held up a hand before she could finish, a small smile creeping up her lips. "Yogi. I understand ur equation with him perfectly now, and I would like to apologise to u for ever thinking otherwise. I also find it incredibly sweet that u r this protective of him. Having said that, our relationship is a bit volatile these days, leaving us both extra sensitive, many times he more than me. Fair enough, he's been targeted a lot, but what is unfair is taking that out on me as if I'm setting any negative narratives about him. I'm not. I'm in as much turmoil as him and I don't even have friends here like he does. Then when u came and I saw u guys together I was damn near the breaking point. At that point Nami came in for me. A real friend and well wisher, and I just about sobbed internally with relief. And decided to just be myself with him as I normally am, and yes maybe on some petty level make Karan a bit jealous too as I didn't want to be the only one being vulnerable. But trust me, pls, that I didn't want to hurt him to this extent and I was just going to fix that. Also I now really like u. I hope we can be friends in the future." She finished her reply with a graceful smile. Yogita grinned now and hugged her tight "We will definitely be great friends Tejuu!" Tejasswi laughed and hugged her back. The girl's energy was infectious. Namish looked at them with a fond smile. She smiled back at him and pulling away from Yogi, went in search of Karan, leaving Namish and Yogita behind to talk and know each other a little bit without any negative bias.

She walked into the candy shop to see KK sitting alone staring at empty space, not smoking after all. She sighed and kept a hand on his shoulder. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He was furious, he was jealous and possessive and most of all, hurt, but this time he decided not to overstep any of his boundaries. They needed to talk it out maturely, and if being without him made her happier, he would do it, no matter how much it hurt him, he thought determinedly to himself, ignoring his eyes welling up. He discreetly rubbed his face and turned to face her. She was looking at him tenderly. "Congratulate nahi karoge mujhe Sunny task win par?" She asked raising a brow. He smiled a little. "Congratulations babygirl. U guys did well, you make a great team. " She nodded. "I know, me and Nami have always been a great team since Swaragini days." He gulped, nodded and looked down.

She smiled and continued."We have always been a good team and great friends, and everyone including Aanchal, his longtime girlfriend since before he met me, agrees." At this, KK looked up at her, beyond shocked and relieved. But then doubt crept in again. "Uski gf hai isiliye u guys are platonic..warna usko date karti? Ya uske jaise kisi ko..a normal friendly guy..who isn't ultra possessive and who makes u happy." Teja laughed. "GF or not, me and Nami wud always be platonic. We are more like family friends then anything else, thinking of each other romantically is just plain weird. We have a comfort level becoz of all the years of knowing each other really well, just like you and Yogita. " KK regarded her carefully. "Yogita is a great friend, we are like bros. She is a kid to me. Strictly platonic. I could never.." Teja nodded. "I know. She told me, and I believe you. I trust you too, and I need u to do the same for me- we need to love, trust and respect each other. We have the love part covered, but we need to work on the other 2. We have a good base though." She grinned. He found himself smiling back. A little. But.. "You didn't answer my other question..what if you realise later u deserve someone better..and leave me..? He whispered brokenly. She sighed. "Sunny, I have thought the same too. What if you deserve better than me..?" She held up a hand when he tried to interrupt.

"But then I see the way you look at me and I feel enough. A thousand times so. Similarly, if you could see how I look at you, u wud see just how enough, infact more than enough u are for me. No one is perfect in this world. Everyone has a thousand flaws. You have a certain personality type- passionate, loving, brave, lively. Sometimes that results in aggression and emotional outbursts. A different type of person, like say a quiet guy, may turn out to be cold, shut me out emotionally, make zero efforts, leave me hanging, quit on me, etc. There is no guarantee I would be happier with anyone else. There is no guarantee for anything in life. It's the effort u put in, like u said. I don't want anyone else. I love u, I love us, however we are, this is the most intense I have ever felt for someone and I'm not gonna let u go. We love each other and we will figure this out together. We will learn together and put in joint efforts. Promise me?" Karan looked at her intensely, tears now rolling down his eyes. "I love u, I love u so much and I was so so scared I might lose u. I promise I will work on myself. I will be the best boyfriend in the world. We will manage our possessiveness together and know that we only have eyes for each other. We will make the relationship perfect. God I love u so much." Teja grinned and said " I love u too Sunny. Forever." And she jumped into his arms, hugging him tight. KK held her tighter, crushing her against his heart, kissing her hair. Once they pulled back after a long time, he placed light kisses on her forehead, eyes and lips, lingeringly, like leaving behind a mark and a promise.  (Cameras didn't record inside the smoking room.)

Suddenly, Yogita and Namish burst into the room, laughing but immediately turned around in horror at the scene, covering their eyes. "MY EYES! MY EYES! They need s gangajal cleanse now!" Yogita whined. Namish chuckled. "Plus one. I really, REALLY wish I hadn't seen that." Teja rolled her eyes. "Stop being prude, u guys. And Nami, as if I haven't walked in on u and Aanchu like this a thousand times. " Namish turned red. KK too smirked. "Yogita if u want my help in wooing ur crush Amit u better be nice to me and quit the teasing." Yogita gasped and hit him. They all ended up laughing together and teasing each other, a picture of happiness. Mid- laugh, TejRan looked at each other and just smiled wider.

Afterwards, they all came out of the smoking room and all the contestants and their connections sat together in the living area, chatting, playing small games together, laughing and having loads of fun in general before it was time for the connections to leave. The vibe in the house was a happy, homely and wholesome one after a long time. Soon, big boss announced it was time for the connections to leave the house. KK hugged Yogita and Teja hugged Namish. Afterwards, Teja went to say goodbye to Yogi and Karan went towards Namish and said "Sorry for misunderstanding u man..I just want u to know that I respect ur bond with Teju and also really like u as a person. I hope we can be friends." Namish laughed and clasped his hand good naturedly. "No worries man. I understand, trust me. Also I really like u guys together, I think u make her really happy and that is visible. I wud love to be friends with u too. " He then proceeded to give Karan a manly hug, thumping his back. The hug soon turned heavier though as Teja and Yogita joined in and made it a group one, making them all laugh. They all stood like that in the group hug till the gates opened and Yogita and Namish had to leave. With a heavy heart TejRan bid them goodbye, arms around each other, promising to see them soon, feeling at peace, at home and content, together. And also, most importantly, feeling unbreakable and more solid and in love than ever before. :)

The end.

A/N - That was a long one. I have taken a lot of creative liberties in this but also tried to stick to real life. I hope u guys liked it, please let me know via ur comments. Lots of love ! :)