Hellooouuu!! How's it been y'all?
So on popular demand, *drrrumrolll*
I HAVE DECIDED TO EXTEND THIS FANFIC INTO A 3 SHOT!
Thankyou for all the love and appreciation that has been sent my way on this post! I hope i can entertain you all more! :)
(Excuse my spelling errors! It's cold here and it makes my fingers numb so i cant feel them that much :/)
Here's the 2nd update in this story:
Aditya POV
I saw sumo quickly scamper out of the house with her head bowed down. I chased after her and called out to her. She refuse to reply so i caught up with her and stopped her by the arm. She startled and jerked her arm away from me and i backed off saying "hey! It's okay! It's just me! Are you okay?"
Her face was a mess of haldi and tear tracks. There was a long yellow swipe across one of her cheeks which also tainted her lips and chin. Tear tracks ran down her eyes to her jaw, interrupting the smooth turmeric lines that looked like finger smears.
"Suman? Tum theek ho? Kya hua? Is everything alright?" I asked worried.
She just looked at me trying to wipe her tears and a hint of a smile appeared on her face as she pretended and mumbled that she's fine and scurried off after her relatives. I stood perplexed. What was going on?
I walked back into the house, lost in thought when i came across the entrance to the sit out from where she had ran. I stepped in to see shravan sitting on the bench, lost in deep thought with his head bowed down. He seemed agitated as he kept shifting and ran his hands through his hair. I slowly walkd up to him because as far as i have come to know him, he doesnt like socializing that much. And i always seemed ro rub him off the wrong way.
Reluctantly, i ask, "bro...are you okay?"
He looks up at me in an instant and i see his face smeared with haldi across his jaw line, his lips and one side of his mouth. The lines around his mouth dont seem like they were strokes though...more like an impression ...suman had haldi on her lips too! I could feel something click in my brain. He was looking at me with murderous eyes which slowly softened, leaving me even more confused. He just nods, gets up and walks away.
The haldi ceremony ended and everything had gone back into place and the malhotra mansion became the usual chatter of a typical shaadi wala ghar. "Oye shravan puttar!" Lalaji called out to shravan as i saw him descend from his room.
Lalaji asked him to take somethings over to Tiwari killa and i offered to come along. Shravan didnt seem adamant on it but i wanted to go. Something in me wanted to dig deeper into what i had seen today.
We arrived at tiwari killa and were welcomed warmly as usual. Shravan and I sat with nanaji and dabbu as the ladies scamperred around. We sat talking and Suman brought out snacks. I dint miss how she avoided looking at shravan. Was i reading too much into this? He was looking at her intently with his eyebrows dipped like he was trying to figure something out about her. His expression seemed to change into a more knowing expression as she stood up and walked towards the table. I spoke to nanaji about my work and family when suddenly there was moveement beside me and a clang where suman had stood.
I looked up to see shravan holding a knocked out suman in his arms. Everyone looked over to see and instantly gathered around worried. I looked on from a distance as i was so fixated on him more than the girl lying faint in his arms. He swept her up in his arms and carried her to her room like he had done this before. Everyone fumbled around to find things he asked them to get. I go into the room with him switching the lights on. He puts her on her bed and tries to wake her up. The worry on his face evident. I realize i have never seen shravan like this. He didnt seem the cold distant giant anymore. He looked genuinely distraught and troubled as he sprinkled her face with water. Her eyes flickered and he called out to her as he tried to feed her some glucose water. She looked pale. She sat up slowly as shravan helped her. I saw suman's mami and mausi exchange looks as they looked at shravan hovering over her.
Suman sat up rested against against the head board. Shravan looked at her and asked, "kya khaya hai subah se tum ne?" With a stern expression. She opened her mouth to answer but preeti intervened
"Shravan mai subah se inhe bol rahi hoon kich khaalo kuch khaalo! Par di meri baat maan hi nahi rahi thi! Itna kaan kar rahi hai, kuch kha lena chahiye na!"
Shravan looked back at suman and said " janta tha mai! Bewakoof ladhki!"
Preeti rushed out of the room to get some food for suman and i stood there like a mannequin seeing two very different people for the very first rime. Suman looked at me so i broke out fo my thoughts and said "oh hello miss. Tiwari! Mujhe nahi pata tha aap itna drama karleti hain!... Tum ruko mai abhi mom ka special soup banake laata hoon!"
I thiughtbshrsvsn would stop me but he didnt and i looked at the both of them as they shared a look i couldnt read. I slowly got up and walked out of the room but stopped by the door. To look back on them. He was fiddling with her fingers and talking.
"Sumo mai janta hoon tum par bohot responsibilities hai but khud ki health se badhkar kuch nahi hai! Kya zarurat hai meals skip karne ki? Sumo sirf tumhara naam hai! Utna stamina hai nahi tum mei jo aisa ghum rahi ho!"
"Shut up shravan! Bhoolo mat ye naam tumne hi diya tha! She replies as i listen to this revelation. "Ab hato! Mujhe kaam hai!" She says immediately and tries to get off the bed but he just moves closer to her, and makes her sit back by her shoulders and says "chup chaap baitho! Tum khana khaye tak hilogi nahi yahan se!"
"Shravan please! Mamiji pata nahin kya sonchengi tum aisa agar mere khareeb baithe rahoge toh...please tum jao..mai khana kha lungi!" If i was confused earlier, now it had become something of a much much higher level.
Shravan's face steeled as he replied, " chehra dekha hai apna? Itni pale hogayi ho, tumhe dekhte hi samajhgaya tha ki tum ohirse mother teresa bani hui ho!...Mamiji ko tab khayal nahi aaya tumhara jab tum din raat unki beti ki shaadi ke liye mehnat kar rahi ho? Tab kahan gaya mamiji ka khayal jab subah se har kisi ko khana khilaya ja raha hai par tumhe koi poochta bhi nahi?"
Suman just looked down and i could see that she had given up on trying to make him move away from her.
I walked to kitchen and made the soup as my mind processed everything i had just seen. These two were always levitating on 2 opposite sides of the spectrum. They were either total strangers or this couple of teenagers gravitating around each other. There was no middle ground. They shravan ran to catch her in time before the collapsed or anyone could even muster what was happening, the fact that he knew she would neglect herself, the fact that could tell so much by just looking at her or reading her face, it was proof of how in tune they were with each other. Then what is it with all the cold looks and ignoring and distancing? The tears? The inner turmoil that reflected in their faces?
I took the soup to her room and gave it to her but shravan took the bowl from me. For some reason i expected him to be mad but he gave me a warm smile and took the bowl from me, leaving me flabbergasted.
"Oh wow! Mere liye smile? Lagta hai aaj mera lucky day hai!" I say as shravan looks at me and then at sumo and they share another look.
Preeti comes in with 2 bowls of halwa and served it to me and shravan.
Shravan was busy feeding sumo the soup, even after she unsuccessfully refused to let him. (He gave her a stern look and she listened like a kid being scolded by their mother).
Sumo grabbed shravan's bowl of halwa and said "arre preeti! Ye nahi! Woh green wale dabbe mei nai alag se nikala tha na, woh halwa le ana!" And gave her the bowl.
"Achha! Mujhe tabhi samajh jana chahiye tha ki woh special halwa shravan ka hai! Par di, ab toh aapko koi homework nahi hai...ab kyun?"
The three of them laugh and i sit trying to catch up but there is so much missing in my information bank that i lose hope.
After a lot of convincing and threatening, shravan decides to leave Sumo alone and they bid their goodbyes and head towards malhotra mansion.
Shravan seems in a better mood than usual as he drives. I have no idea what to say to him so i just sit mum. Something about him seems very familiar to me. Maybe it was his face or the way he laughs because his way of laughing sounded eerily familiar. But i couldnt pin point what it was.
___________
I wake up and get freshened. As much as i try to avoid thinking about her, i cant. But now everytime i think about her, i think of shravan with her. I just want to enjoy the wedding but i was too far in deep with my heart flittering for suman and then flittering down like a dying wasp. I still feel myself fill with joy when i see her but now i also see the sorrow in her eyes and lines on her face as she looks at him sometimes, hurt evident. I also see how she lights up when she thinks no one is looking and he guves her reasons to smile. What is this between them? Are they really just best friends like everyone claim they are. Like she claimed they are?
I stroll into pushkar's room and see him getting ready. We small talk and shravan's name comes up. Pushkar also mentions suman, he calls her sumo too.
"Tu bhi usse sumo bulata hai?" I ask him as she chuckles and answers, " haan yaar...kisi sumo wrestler se kam hai kya woh ladhne mei?...actually bhaiya usse sumo bulaate the aur mujhe bhi wahi aadat hogayi..."
I muster up my courage and try to act nonchalant as i ask, "waise...ye tere bhaiya aur suman ka kya scene hai?"
Pushkar was combing his hair and he stops with his hands mid air as he freezes. He then shrugs and continues.
"Bachpan ke dost hai...actually sumo pehle bhaiya ki friend thi...phir mai usse mila...inseparable the dono...ladhte the jhagadhte the...par ek disre ke bina ek fin bhi nahi kat tha unka..." he smiles as she shakes his head...
"Sirf friends hai kuch aur...?" I try to egg him on.
He turns around to look at me and asks "tu kyun poochraha hai?"
I try my best to act casual and say "arre yaar aise hi...mai ne dekha hai dono ya toh bohot door door rehte hain ya argue karte rehte hain...ab suman jaisi sweet aur pretty ladhki so koi kyun argue kare bhala..."
Pushkar looks at me with wide eyes and says "oh hello...agar sumo ko le kar tu yhoda bhi interested ho raha hai na, toh bhoolja..."
"Kyun?...woh aur shravan couple hai kya?"
Pushkar sighs and dejectedly sits on the bed. "Pata nahi yaar...ye bhaiya aur sumo ki mujhe samajh nahi aati...ya toh ladhte rehte hain ya phir aise ek saath hote jaise glue laga ho...zubaan pe kuch aur, aur dil mei kuch aur.."
This is what i wanted to know! "Keh kyun nahindete ek dusre se?"
"Itna easy nahi hai...dono ke beech kuch aise issues hai jo resolve karna bohot mushkil hai...aur unka ego! Jitna complicated hai utna hi easy...mujhe nahi lagta ye dono ek dusre bina kabhi bhi reh payenge..." pushkar drones on and i listen.
I can hear my titanic of hope sink as it crashes into this shravan sized iceberg. Well, she was never mine it seems. But that doesnt mean i cant be a friend and help her get to her love! I need to think of something!
To be continued
Haha leave your comments and critique down below in the comments and let me know what you think!
Peace out!
Flibb!
CID
