Chapter 13

Blithe

@nancy56

Faded#13



Being closer isn't a job. It's your subconscious until you decide to look after your tongue more than you do to your heart.


Shravan drove his car, sibilant with the road. It was a lousy evening and he had to drive straight to his cabin. He would have enjoyed the bubbly warmth and the busy street of Ambala if Suman Tiwari wouldn't be sitting stiffly beside him. Distracting him. Period.

'Tea?' Shravan asked her when he really wanted to ask her that if she really drank it with ginger or something has changed over the years. What has he missed?

Suman looked at him, a minute longer than was actually required. 'Coffee. I didn't know when it all changed. Swoosh!' she moved her hands. 

Shravan noticed that Suman has been up cracking jokes about her own self, and he could have never imagined it. She was the most self-conscious girl he could ever come across, in a good way of-course. Now, she just wanted to make things appear duller than they really are. 

'Were you asking me for tea?' Suman rephrased his question to which he nodded in positive.
'I would have certainly said yes, but you, you look busy. There is no need for formality Shravan, I am uber fine.' Suman smiled and Shravan couldn't help but restrain from forcing her to come along.

'Dinner?' Suman asked expectantly when she really wanted to ask if he would like to have Italian or continental, or if he still liked Rajma more than anything. 

'Me? You are weak...' Shravan tried making her comfortable, when, on the contrary, he wanted to come and see her the very night. He barely could have thought of staying away.

'Never call an Army Officer weak, Major.' Suman sniffed, as she tried pretending that she was angry when she wasn't.

'Apologies, Captain Tiwari!' Shravan gave out a chuckle but still held his laugh.

'Accepted. 8 pm, sharp. Bring Major Bassi, please! I need to thank him.' Suman asked and Shravan couldn't help but agree more.

--------------------------

Suman scratched her head, stretching over the desert recipes sprawled on her kitchen table. It was already 7 in her watch, and taking any more time to think over might get harmful. She knew Shravan liked Kheer (Sweet Rice Pudding) but she had alternate plans. For days, Shravan had eaten her food and had barely tried appreciating it, rather he had slammed it on her office table- mocking her effort. Not that she was angry with him for this, of course, she knew that his resentment was for a reason. But teasing him would be just too lovely. So she messaged Major Bassi- asking him his favorite sweet dish.- Suji ka Halwa- Perfect!

Suman knew that wearing a churidar would be hectic for her. She hated it, and she didn't know why. So she went with a scarlet saree, with a criss-cross pattern at the back. She would take 5 minutes to tighten and knot her blouse- but it was an effort, worth taking. There was a lot going on her subconscious, now she knew that Shravan had never stopped loving her. Now, maybe she could show him what he has missed. 

------------------

Shravan stared on the road straight as Bassi chattered all way about food. Although Shravan too was a foodie, right now food did not get a chance to wander over his brainy cells. He was too busy thinking that how Suman would have managed to take over the feast, what she might have made- if she still knew his favorite dessert. Suddenly he could remember all those unknown and lonely lunch dates he had with Suman's handmade food, and how ungrateful he has been to her. Nonetheless, he gave out a laugh, which Bassi took for his own poorly made joke. Anyways, all was well.

-------------------

'COMING!' Suman screamed over. The doorbell had made her jump when her stomach was already performing somersaults. Her legs were going weak in anxiety, she had never got ready for him. Never. Silly right?

She saw him holding a bottle of champagne, dressed in jet black. Okay, now it was difficult to breathe. All she had ever seen of him for the past one year was in his uniform. And that had been an idol for her, but, but this was breathtaking. If gawking could be avoided, then Bassi was a brilliant sport. He bowed to say a 'Good Evening!' when Suman could only jump and return his address, still thinking that if she would tease Shravan or has he done it the other way round already.

-----------------

Shravan knew what he had seen was much better than his dreams altogether. When he had been hopelessly in love, 7  years ago, she was a cute teenager. She dressed appropriately, not like other girls of his school- dying for a skin show. Still, he had imagined her in one of those dresses once in a blue moon. Something he never told her. But today, seeing her draped in a scarlet saree, with a few curled tresses falling off her bun- he was stunned. He thought he would be standing there, for the whole night, unable to move, when his friend would actually be digesting some real food. He could see his admiration in her eyes, but couldn't say the same for himself. His shock and surprise were forcing him to look like a dull arse, which was disappointing Suman. 

'You, You look.... Beautiful!' Great. No greeting. A fumble, and an awkward compliment. Great going Major. Bassi looked over his friend, checking for fever. His voice had grown meek and Suman stood with great confidence that she has made Major Shravan Malhotra go speechless on his wits.

'I guess, we should move inside.' Suman moved aside, inviting them in her cozy household. As the two men sat on the creamish lounger, she served some white wine. 

'It's a good appetizer.' Bassi remarked and Suman noded. 

Shravan mentally kicked himself for making a fool of himself. He accepted that nothing worse could have happened, so now its time to think over.

Over wine, Suman thanked the officers profusely, leaving no stone unturned in telling that what a big mistake she could have made if they hadn't reached her. At this Bassi was all ready to spill Vikram Raichand's beans in front of Suman. 

'Seriously!' Suman's eyes grew a size larger as she took in her former- short-lived fiancee's details.

'He was a bloody opportunist back then as well.' Bassi was all talky, cracking jokes about his school and college life whereas Shravan just nodded and sat with chained hands. 

He loved his friend, but right now, wasn't the time. He had thought of spending the night with Suman, talking to her, and mending some ways. But Bassi barely gave him the opportunity.

---------------

At Dinner, Suman's hands moved like a magician. She had cooked so many dishes that the next time she unfurled a new one, the men gasped in excitement. What caught Shravan's eyes was that all of them were according to his liking. Of course, not the desert. It singularly pulled out his joy and forced him to think that all of it might have been a coincidence.

'I love it.' Bassi had his mind concentrated on eating every minuscule, while Suman fondly stole glances of the one she had worked hard for. His smile was worth a million dollars, and his cute and reserved face when he saw that the desert was something, but not his favorite made her laugh. She liked the way he asserted his authority over the dinner, without saying much.

'I need to leave.' Bassi had got a call.

'Not that I am going to stop you.' Shravan was elated. 'Professional?' he asked filling up.

'No, mum's calling.' Bassi clarified and thanked Suman for an amazing evening.

---------

There were memories.  A lot of them. Suman could have counted them on her finger, round and over, and could forget it the other moment. They were jostled, one over the other- and all of them smelled of him. Him coming around and telling that she played well, sneaking at night and offering help, trying to stand between her and danger. She closed her eyes and saw him and then everything became clear. She had tried, tried so hard to fade them. In the starting, it was an attempt to not think of him. She would take down her notes again and again, not sleep till her eyes drooped. Still, it didn't work. Rose petals to dewed grass, from clear skies to the night storms, he had left something or the other for her. There were patterns she read- spilled table salt, a sapling growing without water, water making patterns on the floor- messages from her parents. She felt maybe, they could tell her, what was wrong. 

Her prejudices were wrong.
Her hurting him was wrong.
Her thinking that his memories would fade was wrong.
----------------

'You didn't undo this?' Shravan's voice sent shivers down her spine. She was happily going through her kitchen cabinets when his voice fell like rain on her soul.

'What?' she asked, still in a daze.

The next thing he did, was to take his hand, on the nape of her neck, and opening up her bun to reveal her dangling tresses. He slightly moved them aside and rubbed on the spot she had written their destiny together.- Suvan- 

'Not that I really had a choice.' she whispered, for him to hear. 

'I thought..' Shravan tried putting up a sentence, but Suman paused him.

'You think a lot Shravan. But I didn't. We promised to be together, but in the end, it wasn't only the two of us.' She moved ahead, away from his touch.

Shravan, for some reason now, exactly knew, what he wanted to say.

---------
reviews are welcome.

Part-14 Page15