Curious
Shravan stumbled up the stairs as confusion racked his brain. After weeks of trying to convince himself that all he felt was utter hate for Suman Malhotra, one chance encounter with Ravi Sinha of all people was enough to make the smallest flicker of hope light up in his heart again. He had thought of what he was going to say to her after his conversation with Ravi a couple of days ago, but now, as he made his way up to their room, his shoulders felt heavier than ever before. How was he going to start the conversation? What would he even say? The irony didn't pass him. Everyone always loved to talk about how he and Sumo were best friends whenever they were the topic of conversation. How marriage must've been so easy for them because they'd already established such a high level of comfort. How even the best marriages failed simply because of miscommunication and mistrust, but that would never be a problem with them. But lately, even his family members had started to realize just how damaged Shravan and Sumo's relationship actually was. And after the dinner drama that had happened just 3 days ago, Shravan avoided eating dinner with the family like the plague, making sure he always got home way after dinner time. The whole thing had just made him hate Suman all the more. He was 6'4", but he had never ever felt so small as he did that night, when she'd hurled those insults at him. But then again, it's not like he hadn't insulted her in public either. He had, in fact, many times.
If he wasn't so confused he would have laughed at it all. Had they both always been this f*cked up? Jesus! Maybe they really did deserve each other after all they had said and done to each other.
As he reached their bedroom door, there were a million thoughts running through his mind as he recalled the events that happened earlier in the day.
*
Shravan loosened his tie as he walked out of the final hearing for one of his cases. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't relieved. He was definitely overworked these days and it definitely had to do with a certain wife of his. If overworking meant he could stay in the office longer and avoid her as much as possible, well then that was what he was going to do. What has my life come to?' He thought peevishly. A couple of months ago, she was the sole reason he would wake up with a smile on his face dreaming about the day they would be getting married, and now that they are married, the reality is more bitter than his worst nightmares.
He was pulled out of his thoughts when his eyes landed on a certain Ravi Sinha, who had spotted him from across the hall the same time Shravan did, and was quick to fix him with a steely glare.
Shravan immediately schooled his features, channeling a cocky smirk that came to easily when dealing with the likes of Sinha. He strode up to him coolly, getting in Sinha's personal space so he had to crane his neck up to look up at him. His smirk deepened, knowing he was making the waste of space feel utterly small and loving every second of it.
"Shravan Malhotra." Ravi Sinha sneered, stepping back a little.
"Ravi Sinha." Shravan replied with equal distaste. "Tell me...who dragged your sorry ass to court this time?"
Ravi scoffed angrily. "Why don't you just mind your own business...who do you even think you are?"
Shravan immediately sobered up, trying to keep his scowl in check, but images of that night at the dinner table kept coming back. You're Ramnath Malhotra's son...' She'd said, 'Who are you?' Do you even have your own identity?' And he'd just sat there, humiliated, feeling like a thousand needles were prickling his skin.
Shravan stepped forward, getting in Sinha's personal space again and trying to keep his anger in check as he closed his fists. He was just about to give Sinha a piece of his mind when Judge Sharma, a judge from the family court and a friend of his father's, came up to greet him.
"Shravan, my boy! Good to see you! But what is this I am hearing around the court? You and Suman Tiwari had a court marriage last week? Too cool for a wedding, eh?"
Shravan shifted on his feet uncomfortably, offering him a fake smile. "Mr. Sharma. It's nothing like that, Suman and I...we just...wanted to keep things..simple." He offered lamely, but didn't miss the way Sinha's head snapped up when he heard Suman's name.
"Chalo...I have to get to a hearing..." Sharma said after some small talk, "Take care, and don't overwork yourself. You don't want to piss off the wife." He joked.
Shravan forced another smile and turned to walk away himself, but was stopped by Sinha's angry voice.
"I should've KNOWN." Sinha muttered angrily. "No WONDER Suman was being so arrogant when I offered her a new place."
Shravan stopped short when he heard Suman's name. "What the hell are you on about now?" Shravan demanded impatiently.
"Suman Tiwari...your wife." Ravi replied angrily, before laughing humorously to himself. "No wonder...I said one bad thing about you and she started acting like your freaking bodyguard...I should've known."
Now Shravan was confused. "What?"
"As if you didn't know." Ravi replied peevishly. "She came to me looking for a new place for PCT. I told her that what happened with the old PCT was all your fault. Told her that lawyers make lousy friends and she jumped on my case. I should've known...friends don't get that defensive unless there is something...more."
"Anyway..." Sinha continued, "she refused my help...even after I offered her a much better place than the previous PCT...but madam refused to take it." Shravan furrowed his eyebrows, thinking back to the time when Sumo was looking for another place for PCT. It seemed like it had been ages since then. They were still going through problems back then too, but it almost seemed like child's play compared to the massive problems they had now.
"First apologize for what you said about Shravan," Shravan guessed that Ravi was now mimicking Sumo. "Why the hell should I have apologized?" He asked, glaring at Shravan coldly, "I wasn't the one who needed a place. Anyway, last I heard her precious PCT is still running in the same hole in the wall. Can't say I feel sorry for her. If she hadn't acted so arrogant and demanded an apology from me, her precious PCT would be running in a prime location right now." He scoffed bitterly. "Her stupidity, her loss."
Ravi turned to walk away but Shravan was quick to grab him by the arm and stop him. His ears kept ringing with the words he'd just heard. His brain wanted to dismiss this entire conversation altogether but for his sake he needed to know. He knew it would just keep eating at him until he found out everything anyway. He was way too curious now. Bits and pieces wouldn't do.
"You're not leaving until you tell me exactly what she said." He ordered, his tone leaving no room for argument.
**
Shravan cracked open the door, stopping short when he saw Sumo on the middle of their bed with a cardboard box in front of her. There were items sprawled out all around her, greeting cards, notes, pictures and souvenirs. But it wasn't the box that made Shravan freeze, it was the way Sumo was holding a note, almost wistfully, with tears streaming down her cheeks. Shravan was torn, on the one hand, he wanted to walk in and comfort her. But, he also knew she would never allow him to do that, not with everything that had happened between them recently.
So he watched. He watched silently as she took a few minutes to compose herself. He watched as she stole a quick glance at the clock on the wall, before hurriedly dumping all of the items on the bed back inside the box. He watched as she got up and walked towards their wardrobe space. But most importantly, he watched the letter that she had been holding earlier, lay there on the side of the bed, between the quilt and the edge of the footboard, forgotten.
For a while he just stood there, almost as if he was expecting her to remember the letter that had seemed to make her so upset earlier. But when he heard the door to their bathroom slam shut, he fully opened the door, and took a hesitant step inside their room.
He watched the bathroom door. Eventually, he heard the shower turn on.
So he walked towards the letter, taking it in his hands and gently wiping off some of her tears that had fallen on it.
Shravan took a deep breath, and started reading.
And he felt his world tilt on its axis.
***
A/N: so this OS may seem a bit awkward, but that's because I didn't really like the final result, and ended up combining two different OS's into one. It's not much better combined either, sorry about that. But my mind just went completely blank when I tried to continue with the Sinha bit, so I scrapped it and combined it with the memory box revelation. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy! Please like/comment. :)
Link to my other OS in case anyone wants to give it a read: ShraMan OS: FIrework (18+)
-Ayesha
Ufff Yeh Love Hai Mushkil
