Rudra Singh Oberoi was in shock.
"No way," he whispered, staring at the image on his screen. He collapsed back in his chair, blinking at the screen, still not quite believing what it was he was seeing. "No f**king way."
Rudra wasn't usually one for profanities, but this deserved it. He grabbed his phone.
[?????]- GET UP HERE! 112! 999! 911! x
[SUMOSOMU]- Rudra ffs is this you again?
[Rudra New New New New New New Singh Oberoi]- YES! HURRY! x
[SUMOSOMU]- This is ridiculous. This is what, my SEVENTH number for you?
[Rudra New New New New New New Singh Oberoi]- HUH? x
[SUMOSOMU]- You change your number every time you get a new girlfriend and now I have SEVEN numbers for you
[Rudra New New New New New New Singh Oberoi]- WELL THEN JUST DELETE THE OLD ONES, I'VE DESTROYED THE PHONES. NOW WILL YOU MOVE YOUR SUMO ARSE AND GET UP TO MY ROOM PLEASE? x
[SUMOSOMU]- You've destroyed the phones? Are you a drug dealer?
[Rudra New New New New New New Singh Oberoi]- WOULD IT GET YOU HERE FASTER IF I DRUGGED YOU AND CARRIED YOU UP HERE MYSELF? x
[SUMOSOMU]- I'M ON MY WAY, YOU BRAINDEAD GOAT!
[Rudra New New New New New New Singh Oberoi]- Baaa-bye x
---------------
A lot had changed in the Oberoi household in the two years since Shivaay had married Lady Baba. Because of course, despite the best efforts of several members of the Oberoi family including Rudra himself, Shivaay had married Lady Baba... and Anika had let him.
The wedding Anika organised had been phenomenal, everyone had said so. Had told Anika so. She had acquired enough fans and been asked to organise enough events at Shivaay and Lady Baba's wedding to have set up a pretty successful business. But the day after Shivaay Singh Oberoi's wedding, Anika had quietly disappeared.
Rudra had watched Shivaay closely in the days after the wedding and had been almost surprised by how normal he seemed. He still laughed and joked with them, treated his new bride with a cool and yet genuine affection as she settled in to her new household. Even when other members of the family looked at him warily, searching for the slightest crack in the veneer, Shivaay remained unfazed. Rudra had wondered if Shivaay didn't perhaps cry in bed, but then he remembered that Lady Baba would be there too. And that had worried him even more- when did Shivaay get to deal with his feelings about Anika if he never really had a chance to be alone?
With that realisation, Rudra had made a concerted effort to make extra dumb jokes around Shivaay and be at the very least nice to Lady Baba. The sheer gratitude he'd unexpectedly seen in Shivaay's eyes the first time he had cracked a joke instead of cautiously asking "Are you sure you're okay, Bhaiya?" had almost knocked him sideways.
Omkara had clearly decided on a very different approach. Almost 3 weeks after the wedding, Omkara had snapped. He'd gotten blind drunk alone by himself and ended up storming into Shivaay's room in the early hours of the morning, screaming not just Shivaay and Lady Baba, but the entire household awake. Unable to calm him down, Shivaay had ended up finally losing his temper and all the suppressed hurt and frustration and helplessness had exploded outwards at once.
His brothers had always clashed fiercely whenever their opinions collided, but that night had been nothing short of ferocious. Lady Baba had come running out of the room, crying hysterically while the screaming and yelling inside continued. The insults were vicious and personal and profane. Rudra had eventually burst into the room to try to stop them, just separate them and get them away from each other before either of them said something unforgivable- but he had been pushed forcefully back out the door by Omkara, the door slamming behind him so hard it rattled the doorframe.
They had woken up the next morning to a note.
Omkara Singh Oberoi had left.
---------------
His mother had turned back to drinking despite his father's best efforts to stop her. His father had subsequently turned back to philandering and upon realising this, Priyanka had become even more withdrawn than before, spending days at a time in her room, requesting staff bring her meals to her.
Shivaay was always kind to Lady Baba but (and though of course Rudra had no idea what went on behind closed doors) to the outside observer their relationship lacked true warmth. It lacked love. It was as amicable and civil as the friendly business deal it had always been. Lady Baba, after a year of trying to make Shivaay show to her even an ounce of the fire she had seen him show Anika, gave up and decided to find 'fire' elsewhere.
It had been Rudra who had found out, had seen Lady Baba having an intimate dinner with some other man at a restaurant several miles away. He had been so shocked he completely forgot about his own date and immediately drove home.
It had been Soumya who had found him and asked him what was wrong. He had watched the colour blanch from her face as he told her. "You have to tell Bade Bhaiya." She told him. As if he didn't already know. As if that wasn't what he had been just about to do.
Shivaay didn't so much as flinch. "Thanks for telling me, Rudra. I'll handle it." He had looked at his watch then and picked up a folder from the table. "You should really send your apologies to your date, she'll be wondering why you left so suddenly."
Nothing had changed between Shivaay and Lady Baba then or since.
So Rudra had not changed either. At least, not in how he behaved around Shivaay or Lady Baba themselves. Omkara leaving, Rudra knew, had already shattered whatever Anika had left behind of Shivaay's heart and Rudra could not bear to hurt him further.
But he had had to tell someone. And that someone, unsurprisingly, had turned out to be Soumya. After two years of having her as his constant companion, Rudra wouldn't hesitate to call her his best friend in truth. She was funny and intelligent, wise and kind. She put up with him but would not pander to him and most of all, she protected his family.
Soumya, having quickly realised exactly why Rudra was behaving like such a joker in the otherwise painfully somber Oberoi Household, had willingly slipped into the role of comedy partner. The first time Rudra had seen Prinku smile in months had been one morning at breakfast when Rudra and Soumya had been arguing over whether it was chauvinistic of him to ask Soumya to pass the butter, or whether he was just being practical considering Soumya was closest to the butter, which had then descended into an argument about whether he was saying she was 'closest to the butter' in appearance because she was chubby, or whether he literally just meant that she was in closest proximity to it.
It had been fleeting, but Rudra finally yelling "FINE I WILL JUST WALK ALL THE WAY OVER THERE AND TAKE THE BUTTER WHICH IS LITERALLY NEXT TO YOUR LEFT HAND. Would you like me to BUTTER YOUR CEREAL while I'm at it, Princess Soumya?" had caused a tiny giggle to escape from Priyanka's lips. She had immediately excused herself from the table- but Rudra had been on a high for the rest of the day and had silently thanked Soumya later by taking her a stuffed paratha and leaving it on her desk.
And so two years had passed with Rudra and Soumya quietly celebrating such tiny victories.
---------------
But now... now he stood on the precipice of either fixing everything or completely destroying what little his family had managed to hold onto. Rudra's heart was racing. He was struggling to breathe. His hands were shaking. In fact, his entire body was trembling.
It was in this state that Soumya found him when she arrived in his room a minute later.
"Rudra what is so important that you-" her eyes fell on the image open on his computer screen and her words faded to nothing, jaw dropping open. "Is that?"
Rudra nodded.
Because it was.
It had come, as big news sometimes did, in the form of a fairly small and inconspicuous email.
---------------
[From] Sunny Juneja
[To] Rudra Singh Oberoi
[Subject] Photos from London
[Attachments] img2034, img2035, img2036, img2037
Hey bud,
I was just going through my holiday photos and well... I thought you might want to take a look at these.
SJ
---------------
He had opened the first one and up had popped a photo of Sunny's mother, Mrs Juneja, posing beside a classic red London phonebox. Rudra had stared blankly at the screen, wondering why on earth Sunny would send him a photo of his mother. He had been about to send a reply asking just that when he had seen it.
Mind reeling, he had opened the second image which had clearly been taken a few seconds later.
The third a few seconds after that.
And the fourth...
In the first photo, there were two people in the background walking towards the phonebox. A man, carrying several shopping bags, and a woman, carrying two. It had been possible to make out that the two were laughing. The man shaking his head, his once long hair now cut to what appeared to be a side-swept undercut with the sides in the process of growing out.
In the second, they were closer to the camera and the man's face was clearly visible. The woman had put down her shopping bags and was pulling something out of her purse so her long dark hair had fallen forward, hiding her face.
In the third, she was putting a key in the lock of a front door. The man had bent down to pick up the two bags she had been carrying.
In the fourth and final photo- the one currently open on Rudra's screen- both the man and the woman had unwittingly turned their faces towards Mrs Juneja and were smiling at each other. The woman was already partly inside the house, the man clearly about to join her.
Even though he had known them both from the first, unclear photo, Rudra had zoomed in to their faces until there was absolutely no doubt as to who they were.
He felt something drip on his hand and looked up, startled to find Soumya crying. "Hey, Sumo- don't-"
She sniffed loudly and scrubbed at her eyes fiercely with the sleeves of her hoodie. "Pack your bags, Dumbbell Singh Oberoi... we're going to London."
Chapter Two- H E R E & T H E R E
----
Hopefully the chapter titles will start to make more sense as I post more chapters. WELL THIS STORY DECIDED TO GO IN A DIRECTION I COULD NEVER HAVE PREDICTED. I hope you enjoy it!
[YOUTUBE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FRvZe7sY0U[/YOUTUBE]
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