Chapter 3

Blithe

@nancy56

 Part #3



When you cried for the first time, I allowed myself to stand close. I didn't move, didn't comfort. Pardon me, because I was the reason for your misery.

'Good Morning Suman.' Shravan let his voice drift. There was an uncomfortable silence that lingered until Suman offered him a walk. Nodding his head, he swiftly moved his feet, along her footsteps. He measured the weight of air in his throat, the heaviness of his tongue to break the querencia nature had gifted them. 

Why was it so easy to be quiet? So easy to stand away, but still close?

Suman saw him drowning in a pot full of dreams, gawking at his expressions. They had stopped moving for a good 5 minutes, and she couldn't help but wonder about the distress Shravan carried on his shoulders. 'Everything's alright Sir?' Suman mouthed her worries, stiffening Shravan's spine which had dropped low in comfort.

'I don't want you to come to the office today.' He announced what he had come thinking about. No more revisits of an unhappy past, no more deviations- he thought.

'Did I...' Suman felt the accuses of his voice returning.
'It's an order. Rest accordingly, it's better for your efficiency.' Shravan spoke mechanically, wearing his rank on his lips. Suman's inners screamed questions to his behavior, how much she liked his smile- which he won't give her now. Unknowingly, her happiness had vanished, listening to how dearly he wanted to keep her away. The coldness of his voice made her shiver, but she excused herself after agreeing to his orders.

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'Kanchan' the phone buzzed with her sister's name. Suman looked up to it, thinking that something nice could happen on a gloomy day without notice. Kanchan was an event manager at Bhopal, and she barely had time to take calls. They did talk a lot initially, but then work kept them busy.

'How is my sister doing?' Kanchan's voice was warm. Even if she wasn't interested in Army life, or didn't join it herself, she was well acquainted with the fear and joys of it. She never made a fuss on her injuries, contrary to her other family members. She never made her unnecessarily vulnerable to those feelings she had buried deep in her heart, but she still had the natural talent of telling her the truth without thinking of her personal opinions. She could make her laugh and make her cry, and it won't make a difference, because they were always present for each other.

'I am doing fine, plus getting so bored that I am thinking of jumping of my room window.' Suman sighed.
'Ground floor right?' Kanchan chuckled at her sister's thoughts.
'Oh Kancha! I am getting bored.' Suman's misery was real.
'Who told you to get packed up in that Hospital room for another day. You could have done some light things, maybe around the Cantt.' Kanchan suggested in her better opinion.
'Shravan!' Suman complained pettily.
'What?' The astonishment in Kanchan's voice made Suman rephrase her statement.
'I mean, Major Shravan, asked me to take rest. And he forced a holiday on me, how ignorantly sweet! If he had known what I like...' Suman let the sentence hanging, not wanting to fill words.
'I... I just wanted to say that ..' Kanchan's voice was dubious. Suman scrunched her brows 'Is everything alright?' 
'Yes, yes...It is, it's just that Shravan's mention made me remember something. Now that you are a bit free, I think....' Kanchan left the sentence hanging 'See Suman,  I never in my wildest dream thought  that you may work under him, you know, I thought it was all over...' 
'It is over Kanchan. It really is..' Suman's voice carried an irritation 'But tell me the real deal.' 
'Six years ago, when you were away in Pune, studying, Shravan's father- Devraj Malhotra committed suicide in his cell.' Kanchan paused a bit, listening nothing from the other side, she continued 'We won the case because of his suicide note. He admitted the fact that his company, had used unfair means, that his partners bribed the process of vest making. The vests were of poor quality, and so did Uncle Vijay...' Kanchan trailed low. 'But it was also found that Devraj Malhotra was clean. He didn't know anything.' 

'What rubbish! How do I not know such things, why did nobody tell me?' Suman screamed over the receiver. 
Devraj Malhotra- suicide-innocent- they winning the case- but still the accused was innocent--what the hell was happening?
'You were away, and we didn't want to refresh all those sour memories in your life. You had moved on. Plus it was of course his company...' before Kanchan could complete she heard an agitated voice on the other side.
'The company Kancha, not papa's friend. The company Kancha! Not Shravan's father! He should have been cleared of his charges. He should have been free. I loathe the Malhotra Industries for their doings, but I can't loathe Devraj Malhotra for being unknown. I had seen the worry of this deal on his shoulders, sitting like a snake, I had seen him. He, he was a fine man.' A sob escaped Suman's lips as she thought of the lifeless body of Shravan's father, the distress of being called a traitor and murderer when he wasn't.

'I had met Bunty.' Kanchan spoke up 'just after a few days of Devaraj Uncle's death. He was distraught. But still, he apologized. He said Shravan was sorry for what happened with Vijay Uncle, but he won't ever forgive our family for being so impulsive, for accusing the wrong man, for distressing him so much that he kills himself before being proven guilty.' Kanchan's voice was a ghost to Suman's senses. She felt the world going black, the wounds of her Father's death reviving with Devraj Uncle's suicide.

'Kancha..' Suman's voice was sore ' I'll call you later.' She put down the phone, without waiting for a reply. Her mind moved around in a tornado. She wished that she could blank out and sleep until she didn't forget the pain of bitter memories haunting her peace. She felt her chest congesting, her breath uneven. So she pushed back her head and grabbed a few pills of what they called Morphine. Aware of a good dose, she barely ate them to induce the perfect rest she wanted. Or as Major Shravan wanted. 

A few minutes later she drifted to her sleep.
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Shravan stretched in his cabin, looking at the sunset. He felt that the dawn and the dusk were the only time of the day he loved. It was the marking of something new and interesting. something different from the previous monotony. 

The day, he sat in his room, after giving the NDA exam, he felt something similar. He was still hoping for things to get normal, his family to turn normal. His mother wasn't the same woman he had known since he was a child. She was some distraught piece of blood and flesh which he couldn't remember. His Uncle Rajender, who would crack jokes, or would take him to school on odd days for fun- wasn't seen much at home. Everything emitted gloominess, even Bunty wasn't familiar enough, or maybe he himself had changed.

At sharp 6 in the evening, a call rang across the Malhotra household bringing in the death of Shravan's father. He didn't remember much, but he could hear the howling of his mother, the helplessness of his sister, and then maybe he went blank. He had fainted for the first time in his life. And days ahead were slow torture he learned to endure, getting away from Bhopal gave him a bit of solace. He hid from the world, he acted of being strong and cold, and blimey! everyone accepted his behavior. They were fine with the change. He could remember crying in his mother's lap every year, in some odd stormy night. She understood him without a word. They both slept drowned in their gloom once in a blue moon, which even made him sure of his facade he had to put up in front of the entire world. 

The strong, cold, and fierce Major Shravan. The one who could do anything for his country. Whose father, even if not an Army officer, did give up his life for the better, to make the real traitors pay for their sins.

What he could never promise, was accepting an apology from the Tiwari's. His father could have given all of them justice, alive in his flesh if they hadn't tortured him with bitter defamation. They mindlessly accused him, tainted his reputation, and drove him towards his end. And Shravan Malhotra had no business with them.

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'There is a meeting at 7 sharp.' Shravan tapped on his voice messages.
'Colonel Sinha is returning.' The other one read.
'Batch reunion. NDA 2015.'Shravan sighed, he didn't really make any close friends. His secluded attitude couldn't reap him anything.
'Can I meet you Shravan?' Shravan jumped. Was this Suman Tiwari? Why was she crying?

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