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NOTE: So this is
Part FIVE - B - As USUAL, please consider my warning and don't read further if you do NOT want to read content that is of a sexual nature, contains very sexually explicit language and situations as well as adult language, particularly in my characters' soliloquies.)
PART FIVE B (please read Part FIVE A before continuing) He had watched her, through the blinds of the photocopying room and her scent from earlier still lingering in the air as it undid him. His stomach had tightened at the look on her face as Bunty spoke to her; he hadn't missed the tears springing out of her eyes before she had hidden them away and over the skin of her palms not even seconds later. Is she in pain? He wondered, unsure again as he watched the small smile on her face at whatever Bunty had said next before putting a finger over her lips. The smile hadn't fooled him though; there was a sadness there that no smile could melt away... the only times he had seen her truly let go, relax and just be herself was when his mouth was over her skin, his breath coating her and her own eyelids fluttering against her cheeks as she sunk into him. He wanted to walk up to her now, placing not even a finger on her as he dropped a chaste and achingly long kiss on her cheek from behind her. He knew she would lean back into him as she had every other time; he knew her chest would rise and fall at the barest of his touch even as he would ache to weld himself to her. But here? Amongst all these people, if things had been different he would have stolen a kiss on her cheek, savouring it before disappearing back to his corner and he could imagine the look of longing she would give him. His eyes moved slowly over her body for the umpteenth time, her jeans contouring over her shapely legs and her insanely sexy ass like they were made just for her. A part of him revelled in the sight of her even as a part of him wanted to haul her over his shoulder and hide her away from every other male on the planet. He grit his teeth, She's not the only woman wearing jeans idiot. Calm down, he disciplined his tumultuous thoughts and knowing that in truth if he could have it his way, she would be dressed like this all the time. She looked at ease, relaxed and it pleased him infinitely that her shoulder and chest were covered in the breathable and light material in this heat; the air-con was working again, however, it was barely making a difference as it whirred and buzzed alarmingly. These weren't the f**king dark ages where a woman couldn't wear more modern clothes and just be comfortable in her own skin; it might have been the dark ages within Shanti Sadan's four walls but out here normality reigned. It was yet another reason why she didn't belong with his family hell bent on living in medieval times. Maybe it was a good f**king thing that she was pulling away; he deserved it, but more than that it was the very thing that would set her free. If she got angry enough at him maybe it wouldn't hurt her so much when she left him forever. What happened to him wouldn't matter; his heart was already black and blue and shattered and he knew, without a shadow of a doubt that the day she left him would be the day his heart truly stopped beating. It would pump blood into his organs and cells, it would make sure that his lungs breathed in air and his brain functioned, but the rest? No it would atrophy and stop beating, for it could only beat for her. And if she left, she would take that beat with her wherever she went. Shivam slammed back to the cold reality of what was; his eyes glued to her possessively through the blinds as she sat at her desk, staring again at his own empty chair with an unending sadness and loneliness in her eyes. That look... that was his handiwork, his doing. He closed his eyes for a moment, gathering himself again as he remembered the way she had scolded him and all for him, Akash f**king Nehru. He felt an unfamiliar thread of fear running through him for a flicker of a moment, stamping down the thought that maybe she had feelings for the man before they had even fully manifested. No, hadn't she called him a friend, like Bunty was her friend? And yet the way she had so vehemently supported him even after the way he had brushed against her had made him wonder at the horrible and painful thought. He felt the anger start to bubble in him again, the feeling far more palatable to him than the jealousy and uncertainty making him feel helpless and afraid of what it had meant. No, he welcomed the anger, letting it settle in his blood and into his bones until he felt the familiar twinge in his muscles to lift Akash up and throw him out of the damned office once and for all. The same anger at her as she had stood in that man's corner; yes it made him a hypocrite, he had shouted at and berated her so many times it wasn't any wonder that she had sided with the other man even under the name of friendship. It didn't mean he was a f**king robot and didn't feel jealousy or the need to rip the man's goddamned head off or to feel anger toward her for supporting him. It was then, as he felt the strength return to him even if in the form of his anger that a familiar woman entered the room with him, flashing him a beaming smile as she flirtatiously flicked her hair back. He knew the signs all too well having grown up receiving more female attention than his peers usually had. "Hi Shivam" she sing-songed in a too feminine voice as if she had girly-fied' it just for him making him want to roll his eyes at her. He looked at Riya's beautiful face again taking the time to look at her uncensored, letting the anger and lust and love and heat take over again. He barely glanced at Isha or Kiran or whatever her name was before nodding absently and walking back out into the office.
"Sir... here are the completed audits. I've highlighted the ones you were interested in for your convenience and these are the invoices I left for you" Shivam looked up, his eyebrows raised for a moment before levelling his features again; he took the files from Akash's outstretched hand, making an effort to not yank on them like some kind of uncivil brute in a professional office. "Thank you. Are all the auxiliary fields checked and signed off?" he asked him without looking up as he leafed through the completed paperwork, "Err... auxiliary Sir?" Shivam bit his tongue and breathed in slowly, quietly convincing himself not to snap even as his words seemed to grate out involuntarily, "Supplementary, Akash. Are the supplementary, additional fields completed?" He looked up then, handing the files back to him already knowing his answer as he reached the last page, Akash still taking his sweet time to reply. "Ah yes, Sir, they are. They're all accounted for in the Index" Shivam couldn't even bring himself to smile, his almost imperceptible civility towards the man just having to do for now. "Very well, you might as well go and finish off whatever personal sales you have to see to. You've done everything I needed for today. But Akash" he clipped out the last couple of words as the man nodded and almost moved to turn away, "stay on stand-by alright? I may need you to look at some stats from last month" Shivam waited for him to reply in the affirmative, the man only Yes Sir-ing him and grating on his nerves yet again. He didn't particularly like being called Sir'; unfortunately, it came with the elevated position and wasn't a point to be argued with Gupta who was of course the Regional Sales Manager and the lead co-ordinator of their branch. What he said was practically followed to the letter as what little power the man had in the greater scheme of things had obviously gone to his head. He had insisted that Shivam now be referred to as "Sir" by any member of staff in a more subordinate position to him. Shivam had by now tried to accept it as a point of normality, slowly acquiescing to the idea that maybe he should even try and get used to it if his ultimate aim was to eventually run his own company and be CEO of a Gym that he himself owned.
Just as he was about to settle back into his seat and peruse the twenty or so pages of Excel files full of sales data and outstanding debts owed to the company, his eyes honed in on Akash's back now moving towards none other than Riya and Bunty yet again. For f**k sake, does this asshole have jelly for brains? I just told him to get back to work and stop gossiping, he thought as his irritation shifted back up to fifth gear again. He watched him talking to Riya, grabbing a swivel chair and rolling himself to a polite distance and yet still two hundred f**king miles too close for his taste. Maybe if he was in Algeria he would just about be close enough to her to let his damned guard down. She smiled again, the curves of her mouth demonstrating happiness without the real emotion ever reaching her eyes. She was being polite; social he supposed, now approaching the latter part of the afternoon with yet still three hours more to go before the end of the working day. Regardless, why wasn't she bothered by the way he so obviously kept approaching her? She knew he was single, of marriageable age and no doubt he was fully aware of what the hell had been going on in Shanti Sadan... at least by the way he wouldn't quit hovering around her like a bad smell. This whole f**king day was turning into a damned nightmare; first of all, he hadn't expected Riya to come waltzing in sporting burns all over her body, secondly he certainly hadn't expected her to shout at him for trying to take care of her and thirdly, this f**king clown was yo-yoing back and forth to her like he thought he meant something to her. Well it wasn't f**king happening. His nerves were shot, his eyes were stinging from the sheer concentration required to work through whatever the f**k was going in Riya and Bunty's corner and to make matters that much more f**king fantastic, his head had resumed its incessant hammering and banging from the inside out. No, Akash was going to sit his ass down at his own f**king desk once and for all; whatever was going on with him and his wife didn't mean that she was out there for display as fodder for whatever piece of shit thought he could get his hands on her. The man must have been insane if he thought he could flirt with her or do whatever the hell he was doing whilst he was right infront of them, only feet away. When Akash moved another inch closer to her even as Riya moved away only moments later, Shivam had stood up, his eyes fixed on him as his nerve endings crackled in barely contained fury. He practically stalked towards them, Bunty's eyes widening in warning at them as they obviously missed her signal and continued talking in what appeared to be serious conversation. When he was close enough, only a feet away, he simply stared until they stopped talking; he walked up to and directly infront of Akash, crouching down and parting his solid muscular thighs encased in the black suit trousers he had chosen to wear that morning. He let his forearms rest on them, the cuff of his even blacker shirt still rolled up to just beneath his elbows. Shivam simply stared at him from his comparatively lower position to Akash, his own stance more like a crouching tiger ready to pounce and rip his jugular out. He watched in deathly silence as Akash paled, already backing away from Riya as he fixed his eyes on him for a change. Shivam continued to let his quiet intensity suffocate the man, his own jaw working before speaking, "Akash... either you're purposefully inviting my fist in your face after sniffing around my wife for most of the day or you're an imbecile and don't comprehend proper etiquette when interacting with another man's wife. Which is it Akash? Because I'm losing my damned patience..." he let the words hang in the air even as he heard Riya let out a soft gasp, not once taking his eyes off Akash. The man was bigger than most other men in the office, dwarfed only by Shivam and he was sure he was strong enough. If they ended up in a fight it would be messy and no doubt expensive after the damage they would cause in the office. However, Shivam believed the man wanted to lose his job as much as he wanted to throw himself off a cliff and so he simply watched as Akash's eyes darkened. They both stood up together, staring until Akash blinked and spoke first, his words surprising Shivam if only adding fuel to the fire, "I don't know what you're insinuating, Sir. Riya and I are just friends, nothing more. And to be honest, sir, by the sounds of what's been going on, it looks like that's a hell of a lot more than what you have with her" he heard Riya gasp to the side of them, his own jaw clenching and his fists ready to smash into him until there was only a hole left for a face. What a f**king toad, he thought disgustedly. So she had told him about their personal life? What else could he have possibly been referring to if not the state of their marriage, for surely that particular rumour hadn't circulated yet. Afterall, they were still living in the same house. The only explanation was that she had told him, confided in him. He didn't mind Bunty... but Akash? Shivam stepped into the man's personal space even as his heart felt like it had been ripped in half by the realisation that the woman he loved had told a stranger something so personal. He felt the tremor move through his coiled muscles, unable to stop himself from twisting his hip and readying himself to punch him straight in the f**king face when Riya moved directly infront of the man he was about to pummel. Shivam stopped so suddenly that he almost stumbled back, preferring that to accidentally hitting her instead. f**k! "Shivam! Leave him alone!" her voice hissed low and quiet, not flinching once as his fist nearly came into contact with her, his own face and chest feeling like she had just kicked him over and over and over with the words she now spoke. "Now! Just go back to your desk alright?! Go!" She re-iterated, ordering him to leave with such force in her voice that his feet moved backwards as he swallowed back the waves of pain now drowning him. He couldn't stop looking back and forth into her eyes, unbelieving that this woman was his Riya as she scolded him for the second time today and all to protect Akash. He looked to the man behind her now, a pleased and self-satisfied smirk on his face that made the pit of his stomach drop. Shivam didn't let the pain show; he didn't allow the tears to even form, relegating them only to his gasping heart as the jealousy and anger and utter feeling of betrayal took over. He might have shouted at her and the Gods only knew what else he had done, but he had never put another woman before her. The sting of what she had just done hit him like a ton of bricks as his throat continued to swallow a pain that wouldn't go. It was then, as he watched a curious look of fear in her eyes and his own self-hatred and anger at her that he scoffed out in disgust at her now shaking head, speaking only low enough that just the three of them could hear his words. Focussing on keeping the angry and hurt tears at bay, he hardened and solidified his voice into ice as he watched her oddly frightened features look back at him, "You know what?... Whatever. Sit on his f**king lap for all I care..." As if in a waking nightmare, he watched her face already start to crumble matching the current state of his heart and turned to walk away. The anger bubbled over the surface of his self control and he walked back to her, closer this time and staring at her now tear stained face as he bit out the words he fully intended to use to rip her heart out just as she had just done to him. "And you know what else Riya? Don't bother with the damned food you've been making for me anymore. It tastes like f**king rubber anyway. See you around" and with that as his cruellest insult to date now spewed out at her like venom, the poison of it attacking his own heart as it surely had coiled around hers, he walked back appearing calm yet feeling like she had just swung several hundred mallet blows to his heart that was now a pulpy mess. The way she had defended Akash, shooing him away like he was the imposter on their quiet and intimate conversation; he didn't think she could have done such a thing and yet it had just happened and he wondered for the first time since this whole f**king mess had started... if she was starting to fall out of love with him.
*
She would have almost choked on her own tears if she hadn't clamped her hand over her mouth, not giving a damn at the pain of her blistering skin as she ran to the bathroom and locked herself in the farthest cubicle. She let the sobs wrench out then, her forehead against the cold wall as her body heaved with the force of her tears. Her lungs felt like they were burning worse than if she had drowned on the damned boiled milk itself; as if he had reached in, wrapped his hand around her barely beating heart and squeezed it until it had disintegrated into dust and blood and emptiness. She sunk her teeth into her lower lip, needing to hurt physically so much more than the heart ache tearing through her soul. She couldn't bear it, she couldn't! It would have been kinder if he had kicked her in her stomach and her heart right there and then, than the way in which he had spoken to her. She bit her lip harder, her hand moving to her injured shoulder as she pressed into the raw skin, almost howling at the physical pain so much more preferable to what was happening in her heart. I was just protecting you! I h-hate you so much. I love you. I HATE you. She couldn't even muster the will to shout or scream out, her sobs the only sound pouring out of her weakened state at the way the man she worshipped had stripped her to her bare bones. She had seen Mr. Gupta walking in the moment Shivam had moved to what she no doubt knew was going to be a punch in Akash's face. The last thing he needed was to get into trouble with the boss after the deal they had obviously made with each other. Akash had been telling her about Shivam's involvement with Action Corp and how she had been requested to deliver the presentation with him. After coming across this knowledge and knowing that his having a stupid fist fight in the office would completely annihilate his chances to affiliate himself with a major company, she had panicked, blurting out the first thing she could think of to make him back off immediately. Mr. Gupta had already been eyeing their corner with suspicion at their aggressive stance and so she had kept her voice low, hissing at him to back off before the man came to investigate. Anyone with half a brain would have simply had to look at the expression on both the men's faces and they would have known that violence was brewing between them. Having only intended to protect him from himself, she had shouted at him, shunned him away when all he had been doing was admitting to the whole office that she was his. For the first time in months he had come to impose his right on her as her husband and she had had little other choice than to publically rebuff him, and send him back on his way. She cried harder, her voice thick and tortuous as her throat constricted, "Sh-shivam" she sobbed out his name, both hating and loving him at the same time. Yes, she had told him to go away... but did he have to be so vicious? So brutal with his words? She was so far beyond hurt and humiliated that she couldn't even give a word to it anymore. "Riya? Riya! Please let me in... please will you listen to me now and forget about him?" As it turned out, it was entirely the worst thing she could have said to her in that moment as her heart imploded in on itself; she snapped and screamed at her best friend through the white door, "Bunty will you just mind your own business!" The moment her words had left her lips she regretted her outburst, biting her lip hard in bitter guilt when she heard her friend's cool and detached tone for the first time in her life, "Fine Riya. Do whatever you want" the door to the washroom already swinging shut behind her and leaving her alone once again. Riya sobbed harder at hearing the same words Shivam had just used on her. For some reason, what he had said about the food had cut her deeper than anything he had said to her in the past several months; as if he had been hateful towards Who She Was itself. Every single time she had cooked for him she had poured every ounce of her love and time and effort into it; adjusting the spices just so, waking up before dawn as she prepared the meat and leaving it on his night stand on the mornings that she could get away with it. It was a physical extension of her love for him no matter how mundane it might have seemed and yet in less than a minute he had hacked it into shreds that obviously meant nothing to him. Riya sunk down to the floor as she continued to cry, her shoulders and head hunched forward still against the wall as she crouched into it, wishing she could disappear into it for good. It seemed that he had been taking the tiffins, only to throw them away the moment he got into work this entire time; if her food had tasted so repulsive to him then she was sure he wouldn't have eaten more than the one time to determine how horrible it had obviously tasted. She had tried so hard to get it right for him! She whimpered into herself, her unending sadness coming off her in cloying waves as she started to hate herself for being so stupid to believe that she could even attempt to be the perfect domesticated wife that he obviously wanted. And then to add insult to injury, he had talked so openly about her sitting on Akash's lap. He really was his dadi's grandson if he could spew out such foulness at her; the very thought of her thinking of Akash in that manner making her insides shrivel up in disgust. And yet somewhere deep down she knew that Shivam had hated the way Akash had been speaking to her; hadn't Bunty said that she might have suspected his jealousy? Why else would he make such a vulgar comment and with such hatred in his eyes? She was more or less sure that Akash didn't think of her that way being presently engaged; obviously Shivam hadn't heard the tightly guarded secret or surely he would have realised that the man had had no untoward intentions. Riya had been sure that he had somehow understood her; she had shaken her head at him trying to communicate the impending danger of their being caught and yet he had ignored her outright as he hurled the cruel insults at her.
Almost half an hour later, her tears started ebbing somewhat, cresting to another peak every now and again like the tide of the sea; the constant and unwavering sobbing now broken up here and there as she thought about how on earth the three of them were going to work together now. Akash had told her the news himself, informing her in detail that Shivam's old position was now up for grabs as he had offered himself to Mr. Gupta as Shivam's replacement. Even though he was subordinate to Shivam, he was still his trainee and under his supervision and it had only been natural that the manager had wanted Akash to shadow him at such a big and rare meeting with a client of that magnitude; at least for Sunhara Enterprises. What had come as more of a surprise, however, was finding out that the boss had requested her specifically to co-ordinate their efforts in delivering the presentation even if Shivam would be the one she reported to. She couldn't help but wonder why he hadn't said anything to her about it in over a week, sadly coming to the only conclusion she could after his behaviour. It seemed that he had never intended to work with her at all, his silence surely being an attempt on his part to avoid her at all costs even if it might have cost him a prospective career. Well, she wouldn't be the reason for his downfall. If he hated the idea of being around her so very much that he would risk Mr. Gupta taking him off the client for refusing to work with her, then she would have to take matters into her own hands. She would speak to the manager herself and clearly inform him that she was extricating herself from the whole thing of her own volition; if it affected her job then she could at least find one else where, but to be part of the reason that could destroy such a rare opportunity for him? No, it might make her look weak; but she loved him. If retreating in this case gave him his best chance, then she would. He might not ever get this chance again whilst it would be simple for her to find a similar marketing job. And no matter how he had spoken to her or the way he had revealed his true feelings to her, she couldn't simply just start hating him. She didn't and if the world ostracised her for that then so be it; she was in love with this man and she would do what she could in her own little way for him. Riya closed her eyes for a moment, letting the last of her tears fall down her cheeks before taking a deep breath in. She had cried her fill and felt sorry for herself for long enough in the little cubicle; now she had to hold her chin up high and do what she had to do, with no regrets. She pulled the tufts of tissue out of the dispenser, blotting it to her eyes and face before unlocking the door and looking at her reflection in the mirror. She would have gasped if she had had the energy, instead she simply looked at her sunken, pink-rimmed eyes and her flushed cheeks from her intense crying as the blood had pooled into her face. Even her nose resembled a certain reindeer at Christmas time and so she decided to splash her face with some cold water, hopefully drawing the blood away from the surface of her heated skin and refreshing her even if just a little. If she was going to talk to Mr. Gupta directly, she couldn't look like she had just re-emerged from an emotional breakdown even if it was closer to the truth than she would care to admit.
*
He stared at the same f**king word for the hundredth time, acutely aware that as every minute that had ticked by she still hadn't returned. He was pissed off, beyond hurt, jealous and ready to go and hunt her down to check on her when he saw her walk through the front office doors. His breath stopped dead in his throat, the sight of her pink face and the even harsher pink skin of her shoulder just peeking through the top of her t-shirt. What the f**k has she done to herself? the thought already propelling him to follow her steps in the opposite direction to her desk. Bunty had left early, slamming her paperwork into her backpack in anger before blustering out the front door; whilst Akash had skulked back to his desk, his head practically stuck to the white plastic surface as he hid his face from Shivam the entire time. Shivam intercepted her only feet away from Gupta's office, having tried to draw as little attention to himself as possible as he had briskly walked across the office and followed her. However, he couldn't mask the frown as he wondered what she was upto and why she had felt the need to speak to the manager after having spent almost an hour obviously crying, if the pinkness and puffiness of her eyes was anything to go by. Baby... his chest ached at the sight of her now that the initial anger had simmered down and concern for her whereabouts had taken precedent when she hadn't shown up. He was still angry, still hurt and feeling relegated to the bottom of her pile at the way she had snuffed him and yet still he couldn't stop caring for her. He wouldn't... not even if she took an actual knife itself and shoved it into his chest; he knew that with a certainty that he would bet his life upon. She was everything to him and no matter how angry or hurt he had been he had felt the bile rising in his throat after the way he had verbally turned her inside out, even before he had sat back down at his desk. His hand automatically shot out and grabbed her from behind; she flinched when she realised it was him and he was sure that was all that was needed to finally break his heart into such small pieces that he didn't think they would fit together again. Was she scared of him? Disgusted? He swallowed back the fear of what had made her flinch so at him, too afraid to find out after the vulgar lies he had spewed at her. First off, if she ever sat on Akash's lap he was going to break the man's legs permanently and secondly he relished her cooking. Nothing compared to it, not even his mother's and not because it was better or worse... but because it had been prepared by her hands, his wife's hands. And no one in all of existence could be that to him but her. And yet what had he done to her for truly the first time in his life? He had let his rage and anger and clawing jealousy take over everything as he took chunks out of her heart with each word he had uttered. He might have been shouting and scolding her these last few months, but it had all been on purpose, all been to push her away so she could live her life without his family hanging over her like a black cloud. It had been deliberate if not in any conceivable way real. It hadn't been real, any of it. But this anger, today as he looked at Akash's smug smirk and her shooing him away like a wayward dog as he had tried to protect her? That had been real; the jealousy and hurt morphing and twisting into something that clawed away at his insides until he had wanted to hurt her back just as she had hurt him. When the truth was that even if he had been hurting, it hadn't been any f**king excuse to hurt her like that. He had obviously shattered her just from one look at her state. He loosened his grip having not the courage to let go of the touch of her skin, "Riya where are you going?" he asked more sternly than he had intended as his nerves hitched up. He had fully expected her to shout at him, scream even or shove him away except she simply looked up at him in what he could only describe as a mixture of love and defeat and a quiet simmer... and after the way he had spoken to her, that look almost made him want to damn well kill himself. She wasn't angry... at least she wasn't showing it; she looked determined, tired, as though there was a quiet aura of simple acceptance around her. As if she didn't choose to fight anymore, whether it was with herself or with him he didn't know. She ignored him, moving forward and he tugged on her gently, not wanting to hurt her, "Riya..." She stopped then, turning to him and moving closer as she levelled her features. "Im going to see Mr. Gupta, Shivam. I'm going to voluntarily back out of the Action Corp presentation and then you can choose who you would prefer to work with you on the case. I know you don't want me around, but you wont say it... and I don't want you to miss your chance to be involved with such a big client. I'll only hold you back and no matter how you feel about me, it's the last thing I want" she shook her head gently from side to side, dislodging herself from his grip before stepping around him. Shivam twisted round and grabbed her other wrist this time, his thumb caressing just an inch over her skin in his need to really feel her. He didn't know if she had noticed or not, hoping she hadn't even as he hoped she had; he was in such a state of flux, needing her to know how much he worshipped her even as he prayed she never found out and just escaped his family once and for all. He felt a thread of annoyance at her words, not sounding like her at all; from what he had seen for himself, she had an amazing competitive streak and loved to challenge herself. This opportunity wasn't just golden for him, it was for her too and he would be even more damned if he didn't set her straight right this moment. "If you want to back out of this presentation Riya, then do it because you want to. Don't make a short-sighted and really idiotic decision like this because you think you're doing me any favours; you're not. I don't need you looking out for me, I'm more than capable of taking care of myself" He watched the features over her still pink face harden in renewed anger, "Call my decision whatever you like. The fact that you didn't even tell me that Mr. Gupta wanted us to work together makes it clear that you didn't want to be forced to work the case with me, Shivam. If he thinks you backed out of the deal you made with him, you'll probably lose this chance for good. And you know what? I wouldn't be able to live with myself if that happened. So please, let go of my hand" She spoke politely; too gently for his liking and wished that she would just rail and hiss at him again even if he suspected the anger brewing under her too placid countenance. "I didn't tell you, Riya, because it never seemed to be the right time. Between you burning yourself and me hiding your clothes - because you refuse to just listen to me- I didn't think broaching the topic of us working together would sit well with you. Are you done making assumptions now? Or do you just not have the guts to work with me and ignore whatever this is between us, to secure this client? Don't be under the illusion that I care whether you're on this case with me or not- I don't. It doesn't make a damned difference to me. It's all on you, sweetheart... no guts, no glory... and I'm really beginning to think you have none" he bit out in his own increasing anger knowing full well that goading her and insulting her usually strong work ethic might encourage her to take his bait. He inwardly smiled when she obviously did, "You know what Shivam? I'm good at my job. I know I am. I work hard, I'm intelligent and I've earned more awards in my entire life than I can count on all my fingers and toes, so don't talk to me about guts. If I hadn't put you and my family first, you wouldn't be the only one with a promotion. I'll work this client with you and I'll be professional about it, Sir. But if you think I'm doing this for you, then you must have an ego the size of a bus" Shivam felt his lower belly tighten when she called him "Sir", mental flashes of him pinning her wrists up above her head as he teased her neck with his mouth, making her call him that again as he made her beg for more of him started to take over. However, all too soon she found a way to throw a bucket of figurative ice-cold water over him when she continued to speak. "Besides, I'm sure Akash will learn a lot from us both, don't you?" He had almost smiled to himself when she had described his ego, her earlier words of not being able to live with herself if Gupta took him off the client had completely contradicted herself when she now clearly stated that she wasn't doing this for him. However, the moment she had even mentioned Akash's name and the insinuation that she and that dickhead would be working together as well as with him, his mood had immediately dropped below minus fifty degrees. It was still too f**king soon to even be goading him with it and so he snapped back at her, "Sure Riya... why don't you personally see to that asshole yourself? You're obviously comfortable around each other" He clamped his mouth shut at the astonished anger on her face; the look far more preferable to the pain he had seen earlier despite her words cutting through him all over again. And so without wanting to hurt her even more and yet again as he felt the ugly tendrils of his own jealousy make him insane, he simply turned around without another word. He stomped back to his desk, leaving her once more alone and without a reason to visit the manager as she had obviously decided to work with him afterall.
*
Riya remained where he had left her, already wishing she hadn't said those last stupid words in her anger at him and desperately close to running after him and telling him she couldn't give a damn about Akash. Except she didn't. She had cried so long and so hard, at work of all places, that she had temporarily numbed herself into some kind of floating apathy. She had never let her emotions take over when she was on the job and yet her husband had managed to extend his special ability to hurt her here too. No, she wouldn't run after him and soothe him; if he was stupid and dense enough to believe even for a second that she had any feelings for Akash then he deserved to suffer. It was obvious to her now that he didn't like Akash; she couldn't be entirely sure if it was out of jealousy or not but he definitely didn't like the man and she wouldn't acquiesce to his needs just because of that. Not when he was being such a brute and ogre to her; never mind that he had tried to claim her as his earlier, never mind that she hadn't been able to stop re-living the way he had kissed her so desperately last night. It could have simply been out of pure male pride; love wasn't the only reason men turned into huffing beasts at each other and she was far from convinced that he loved her, at least the way she loved him. As for the kissing... hadn't he said to her more than once? It was pure physical attraction and still nothing more; she still didn't know if she really believed him and yet every time he seemed to prove it when he scolded her or spoke rudely to her as though she was an inconvenient pest and nothing else to him. It seemed that whatever was going on between them, the tension was so thick and overpowering that she could cut it with a knife. And so she stood her ground, letting that same tension coil around her again as she remembered his humiliating words at her infront of Akash and Bunty. She would show him; she would show him what she was made of when she delivered that presentation. She wasn't just some idiot trying to mend her marriage; she was intelligent, determined and she had the ability to be every bit as good as him in this job. I'm not doing this for him, she told herself, trying to convince herself when deep down she knew she was. She loved him. If he had meant it when he said he didn't care if she was presenting with him or not, then so bet it. It hurt her to hear it; but if she could help him impress those clients then at least it would be worth it.
Only half an hour later and feeling completely shattered as the computer screen infront of her seemed to come in and out of focus, she heard her name being called across the room. She had spent the last thirty minutes looking over the shiny black edge of her screen, hoping to catch just a glimpse of him on the opposite side. However, he had obviously made himself scarce, having not even seen him anywhere else in the rest of the office since he had intercepted her. When she hadn't been watching for him, she had been trying to call Bunty when all she had been met with was an abrupt dial tone as her friend had obviously cut the call without picking up. Her guilt at her earlier outburst in the ladies washroom had come full circle yet again and she both hated and understood herself for her harsh reaction. She hoped once Bunty's anger had simmered down that she would understand why she had wanted to just be left alone, but after the way Bunty had been chastising Shivam, she doubted it. She had texted her three times now, to please pick up, but so far her phone screen remained empty of any missed calls or new messages with only a close up of Shivam's heart meltingly lopsided smile looking back at her. She missed that smile like it was a physical piece of her soul now lost, remembering when she had taken it as they had lain in bed next to each other early on a Sunday morning feeling like it may as well have been another life time. He had been tickling her just below her ribcage, making her squeal with glee ad breathlessness before clamping his warm hand over her mouth before they woke the entire household. She had licked his palm in defiance, unable to mistake the dark look coming over his face when he had bent down to kiss her and just when he had been about to she had teased him, sliding out from under him and jumping out of the bed and out of his reach. When he had offered her the defeated smile, turned up at one corner of his inviting mouth and shaking his head, she hadn't been able to resist taking the photo; she had zoomed in on just that smile, the barest hint of a dimple on his right cheek that she had kissed so many times. She looked at it now, tears already filling her eyes at how much he had changed. How much he hated and despised her and honestly... she wasn't even sure why anymore. He obviously hadn't fully blamed her for what had happened with Preeti and Nimmi after the way he had spoken to Mummyji... and yet it seemed he would make her pay for the mistake regardless. The truth was that even before the wedding, he had become increasingly harsh and cruel with her... seeming to side with his family in taunting her and making her feel like he made the biggest mistake of his life marrying her. And then he had said it... actually said it out loud infront of the entire family apart from Papaji; he had clearly said that he had made a mistake marrying her. That she didn't fit in with his family. He had shunned her in that moment, only to treat her burns later and kiss the breath out of her lungs in the dead of night and confuse the hell out of her all over again. "Riya... Mrs. Srivastav!" she jumped in her seat, looking up from her phone and not knowing when he had even been called the first time for this surely wasn't by the sounds of his impatient voice. She looked at Mr. Gupta, now half way into the office, continuing to walk towards her as the other members of staff looked at her like she was one card short of a full pack. She stood up before he hovered over her, looking slightly uncomfortable at having to walk out of his office to talk to her. "I understand that you've been injured Riya; you really should have informed me before coming in. It doesn't look good to our clients visiting the office if you're stood about in pain while trying to answer their questions" he shook his head in his disappointment at her. "Sir... I haven't seen any clients today. I've been reviewing the online surveys and responding to client questions..." she offered in explanation, hoping it would get him to go and leave her be. He shifted on his feet, looking slightly uncomfortable for a moment and just barely turning around to look at something or someone before blocking her view again, "Well, never mind that. You just go home and make sure you get yourself better before you return" Riya frowned, not understanding why he was insisting when she was keeping her head down and out of public sight, "Sir, I'd really rather spend my time at work. I still have a lot to do and-" she watched as he bristled in his breeches infront of her, the frown deepening the lines over his forehead, "Mrs. Srivastav this is not a request. I'm telling you to go home. Now please" he stressed the words as if he were disciplining an animal, his eyes widening like a pair of shiny goggles behind his thick glasses and obviously waiting for her to collect her things. Riya had no other option but to simply nod at him; she turned off all the electronics on her desk after saving her work and stuffed her belongings in her bag before looking once more at him, "Have a good week, Sir" was all she could think of to say in her own irritation before walking past Shivam's still empty desk and out into the afternoon light of the city.
Riya felt every bump on her behind as the rickshaw jostled on through the busy streets, the heavy exhaust fumes of the day settling like a dirty fog over the city as she tried not to breathe in too deeply. The hour was approaching for children to make their way home from the end of the school day, some walking in their knee high plain and chequered skirts and jackets, depending on which school or college they hailed from. She watched their simple innocent smiles as they teased and joked with one another, thinking back to when it had been a simpler time, both emotionally and mentally. She didn't envy them knowing what kinds of emotional hardships some would no doubt have to face in the future. The street hawkers and snack food venders had just started to come to life again, giant iron pots of oil bubbling around pakoras, bhajis, puris and a whole host of other mouth watering treats for passers-by. Even as her eyes slid over the plethora of food and the people selling them, it hadn't even registered that she had barely eaten breakfast, let alone lunch, having completely and profoundly lost her appetite after what had happened with Shivam. She closed her eyes for a moment when she heard and felt the distinct vibration of her phone as it buzzed out a text message. Please let it be Bunty, she thought even as she breathed a sigh of relief at her name now printed on her screen.
Bunty: I'm not ignoring you. I'm just minding my own business.
Riya: Please forgive me? I was upset... I didn't mean it.. I don't really want you to mind your own business
Bunty: I KNOW you were upset. I've never heard you cry like that. And you've never spoken to me like that either.
Riya: I know... I feel horrible. Please forgive me?
Bunty: Are you going to bite my head off if I say it again?
Riya: Say what again?
Bunty: You know what. Shivam.
Riya: I wish you wouldn't. I know it looks insane to you... but.. I cant even explain. I'm sorry. I wish I could take back what I said to you. I'd be lost without you Bunty
Bunty: You deserve better than that idiot. You can shout at me all you want, but it's the truth. And today I saw it for myself. But.. Im sorry I just left you there. I shouldn't have done that. Are you ok?
Riya: No... I deserved it. And I needed to let it out alone. I'm the one who told you to leave. I don't know what I am. I miss him and I hate him at the same time. But I cant bear it when you say anything about him. The boss made me go home... am in a rickshaw now. Please can I call you now? x
As she waited for Bunty's reply she saw her incoming call blinking on the homescreen having already pre-empted her and she swiped open the slider bar on her screen. "Riya, I'm sorry yaar. I shouldn't have just left you like that... I got defensive. Are you alright??" Riya tried to block out the cacophony of sounds around her as she replied back into the microphone, "I'm sorry Bunntyy... please forgive me? I'm alright, but I feel like the skin on my shoulder is even worse than this morning... I might have, maybe, accidentally scratched at it when I was crying..." She lied at the last part, knowing full well that she had pressed into the unhealed skin on purpose, her sanity having temporarily been eclipsed by her shattered heart. It truly felt like her blood was pounding on the surface of the wound, feeling each pulse of her heartbeat in the broken and near excruciating pain. In all honesty, she had welcomed it in the office, wanting nothing more than to be distracted by anything other than the unending ache and emptiness in her heart. But now as she tumbled onwards atop her rickety ride, she was barely keeping the tears of physical pain at bay as she clenched her jaw through it. She heard Bunty take a short gasp in, "You should go and see a doctor before it gets worse. And don't come in tomorrow, ok? You should be resting, yaar, you know this. I'll bring you some of ma's cooking tomorrow morning before work, alright? And this time I'll come in a wet suit. You just rest and don't do anything... no matter what those crazy people make you do" she paused for a moment before continuing on as if in hesitation, "I'm your best friend Riya. I shouldn't have run out like that when you were so upset. I'm sorry. I still hate him... but I'll try not to talk about him so much, I promise" Riya smiled a sad smile, the warmth in her heart at her friend's genuine concern wrapping around her like a small hug. "You don't have to apologise, remember? No thank yous, no sorries. But... Im still saying sorry" she heard Bunty chuckle softly on the phone before continuing, "I shouldn't have shouted at you like that. But listen... don't bring any food tomorrow unless I text you Bunty. I still have some food at home, ok?" She lied once more, this time about the food as she didn't want Bunty's mother to go to the trouble of cooking for her. If Riya had simply refused, she knew her friend would ignore her and bring it anyway and so she told the small white lie. Besides, the last time Bunty came over she had been greeted by a rude and crass bucket of cold water in her face by dadi. No matter how mild mannered Bunty had been at the horrible incident, she was not going to allow a repeat performance; she had been so infuriated that she had wanted to throw the rest of the water back at dadi, instead biting her tongue before she actually went and did it. "Alright... but if you need anything just call me or text me. I'll be there, ok? Promise me" Riya smiled at her unwavering loyalty, thanking God in that small moment in time for such a kind and beautiful friend, "Ok, pakka. Thank you yaar. I know I said no thank yous, but thank you. You're the bestest best friend a girl could ever have... Listen, I'm just approaching Shanti Sadan now..." Bunty interrupted her before she could explain the obvious, "Ok. You go... I'll speak to you later. And Riya, take care of yourself. Alright... bye" After they had both hung up Riya felt the knot of dread wrap around her insides at the mere sight of the front of the house; she stopped the rickshaw by the small shop to the opposite of Shanti Sadan and gingerly stepped off the side before handing her fare over. She was home at least two hours early than expected, if they would even notice at all and she hoped that they would just leave her in peace at least for tonight. She almost winced out loud as the rasping pain over her skin screamed against the brush of the soft cotton t-shirt; instead she blinked back the tears and walked in through the double doors flanked by both hers and Rani's hand prints in the red vermillion tattooing the house.
"Didi... why are you wearing these clothes? You look like you come from the city" the somewhat pretty woman leaned in and whispered the last words as she fingered her own silk blouse, "Shivamji wont like it... you should be wearing your sarees... and dadi..." Chanda looked behind her quickly before looking back at her again, not needing to finish what she was clearly trying to say. Riya took in her beautifully made up face; her own surely looking haggard and tired after the long day she had had and the accompanying incessant pain in comparison to the perfect doll infront of her. She closed her eyes for a long second, swallowing her dry throat from the street fumes before looking back up at her, too tempted to tell her that it was Shivamji himself that had forced her to wander about Mughal Sarai like this. Instead she offered a sweet and completely fake smile as the pain clawed over her again, "Well Chanda... when he takes one look at you he won't even notice me anyway. So I suppose you don't need to worry" she couldn't help the jealous rebuke, looking at Chanda's gorgeous silky long locks freshly washed and gleaming, her silken sari a striking amethyst hue and bordered with gold whorls and the tiniest clear crystal beads. Truly, she looked like the princess of the house and would no doubt be a most welcoming sight to any man. She was even decked with what seemed to be a new set of jewellery, no doubt dadi prepping her as the new bahu of the family in a way that she had never been privy to. Well, dadi could keep her; she was too exhausted to deal with these people and was too close to tears to want to say anything else. Just as she made her way past Chanda's too unaffected face at the obvious taunt she had just dished out her, for surely any normal woman would have at least frowned, dadi made herself known by her nasally voice battering through the airwaves. "Of course he will notice you Chanda, eh... at least this Riya is saying one thing right for once. You want to know why she is wearing these clothes? I'll tell you... because this mo-dern, besharam, woman has got such a low class thinking that she doesn't care what the whole of Mughal Sarai will say about her. Now that this...this girl is separated from Shivam her true colours are showing, eh Riya?" She watched dadi's face smirk and twist out a cruel smile at her, waving a hand at her in disgust like she was trying to make an example out of her and thoroughly enjoying herself in the process. Riya felt so vulnerable and weak willed in the moment after the day she had had that she couldn't keep the unbidden tears away, only encouraging a deeper leer over the old woman's face. Dadi looked at Chanda then, with a touch more seriousness, "You stay away from her, only bad luck follows her around. Aray, she is the bad luck! Already she has doomed my grandson and ruined this family and still she has no shame to live under this roof, walking around like this? Chi!! Listen to my warning Chanda beta... if you get close to this girl, na? You will get tainted by her black curse on this earth... mark my words..." Riya felt her self-control slide down the slippery slope it had already started upon in the office itself, the momentum of it now unstoppable as the words flew out of her mouth before she could censor them. She couldn't handle the pain any more and she let the tears drop from that alone as her stomach clenched in hatred for the woman, "Dadiji, you have always known my true colours. I never pretended to be someone I wasn't... you just didn't like what you saw and you're making it seem like I changed? You're the one who has been pretending Dadiji... to this whole family. Didn't you say so yourself? That you will do anything to have power and control over-" Dadi raised her voice then, looking guiltily to Chanda and back to her again as she scoffed out a harsh laugh, "See how this witch turns everything around? Do you see what kind of girl she is? I am a simple woman, ehh... I don't need power over my family, they respect me that's why they ask me before doing anything. What do you have, huh? Even when I gave you the keys you still messed up everything. Your spech-cial education didn't help you then, did it, ehh? No one even wants to look at you..." she flicked her thin arm at her, still looking back from her to Chanda as if she was pleading her case in court with everything she had. Riya fully remembered the shocking conversation they had once had under the cover of darkness; Dadi had openly admitted that she had wanted to drive Riya out of the house simply so that she could take back control of Shanti Sadan and everyone in it. She had spent her life manipulating everyone, wanting everyone to dance to her tunes. Maybe once upon a time and what felt like long ago, Riya had wanted to reveal the truth to her new family... but she learned the hard way at where that had got her. Now all she truly wanted to know was if Shivam loved her or not and in her head she knew that in the next five months she would truly get her answer. Even if she was confused right now at the way his words and actions mismatched; one form of communication offering anger and hatred whilst the other had drowned her in his need, his desire and the nuggets of time when he would hold her and tend to her... look after her...she knew that it would become perfectly clear in time. And yet dadi's words in this moment felt like they had eroded through the barrier she had put up to protect her heart and she let the tears flow freely in what felt like defeat. It was at that precise moment, having not been in the house for more than twenty minutes, that dadi looked at her in what could have only been a victorious and cruel smirk, believing that she had struck gold with her bitter tears as her treasure. She flew towards her like a witch on her broomstick, her thin pea green sari billowing behind her head as she inserted herself into Riya's personal space, coming so close that she could smell the menthol and eucalyptus ointment that she always doused herself in. Riya took a step back even as dadi matched it, moving yet even closer as her slitted eyes looked up at her, "Now you listen to me you shameless, horrible girl. You are not wanted here. That woman you call Mummyji, Mummyji..." she mocked her when she changed her voice at the words, "ehh? She is not your Mummyji you stupid girl. Your mother is no longer in this world and you should be grateful that she isn't here to see you, like this" she twisted her face in disgust as she looked Riya up and down, "Khushia wishes you never existed. And my Ragwah... wont even speak to you. And Shivam" she cackled in her face then, letting out her usual loud and thick laugh bleat through the air, the colder smirk slicing across her unusually wrinkle-free face "Ss-ivam can't even bear the sight of you. Haven't you seen it in his face, ehh?... Here..." Dadi pulled on Chanda's arm as the woman's bangles clinked together, now shoving her infront of her and between them as the old woman stepped to the side, "this woman here, ehh, this is called real wife material. She isn't even married yet and still she takes better care of me just like my Khushia" Riya looked at Chanda's face as she bit into her rouged lips, her own eyes filling with more tears at dadi's particularly cruel vehemence this day. She couldn't even refute what she had said as her heart kept on breaking at her words; her mother's heart would have broken seeing the state her daughter had been reduced to and Shivam... Shivam did look at her with a detachedness in his eyes. Every time she had looked at him and found him staring at her, hadn't he looked away, angry and as distant to her as the stars in the sky? Never mind that he had turned mean in almost their every interaction. "Ehh...while you were sleeping happily in your corner and I was shouting for help in the dark, couldn't you hear me, eh? Was your snoring so loud you didn't hear anything else? Of course not, you lazy woman. And here, my beautiful Chanda was trying to protect me... even twisting her poor leg, ehhh? And shall I tell you something else? Who do you think carried her downstairs??" she raised and dropped her eyebrows with a gleeful smile on her face now. "Shivam. Shivammm held her in his arms and carried her back to my room" Riya swiped at the silent tears washing over her face now, unable to even look at dadi's cruel smiling face anymore. She felt her heart clench harder, not out of surprise at her words for she had already seen that with her own eyes, but at remembering the way he had picked her up and held her close to him. She was sure that the medication had made her over-react, but still, the jealousy and feeling of betrayal remained in the cold hard light of day. She couldn't escape it. And he had the cheek to accuse her of being interested in Akash?! She hadn't been the one with a stranger in her arms in the middle of the night, in their thin nightdress! She repressed the sob that her voice chords threatened to form, swallowing back the lump of hurt as best she could. Dadi looked immeasurably pleased with herself at finally being able to shred her from the inside out and see the evidence of it on her face. She took another step towards her, lifting a pointed finger dangerously close, "Just go away. You're not wanted here" even as dadi had enunciated the third to last word, she had taken her pointed index finger tipped with her long nail and jabbed it hard into Riya's right side of her chest. The agony of it grated and screamed through her flesh so suddenly that she felt physically sick; she sobbed out a high pitched squeal of pure agony as the woman dug deeper for a fraction of second longer as though she knew full well that she was hurt there already. Before she could wonder at whose arm had pushed dadi roughly aside, Riya almost doubled over, crying from the back of her throat and unable to keep herself upright any longer before she felt a strong arm wrap around her waist and pull her up again. "Ah-ah! Aah-ahh..." she wailed out in agony as the skin over her chest and shoulder felt like it was being battered with hot coals, her voice pitching and whimpering as she sucked in the air into her lungs in shallow gasps, She squeezed his arm hard and unknowingly, digging her nails into his skin before she felt herself being lifted into the air.
The painful stars detonating in the back of her eyes blinked as she nearly blacked out until she heard his voice, somehow lending her the last thread of strength she had needed to stay conscious even if he had sounded completely and utterly furious.
*
"I can't leave you alone for two damned minutes before getting yourself in trouble! What the hell is wrong with you, huh?! Can't you just leave dadi the hell alone and mind your own business! What the hell do you think will happen when you speak to her? That she'll listen?! Don't you understand no one wants you here Riya?! You keep talking and talking... just stop it for godsakes and stay away from her!!" He had barely taken a breath in between his words, bellowing his tirade in incremental volume as he practically ran with her in his arms up the stairs towards his room. He had seen the whole f**king thing with his own eyes, listening to that witch of a grandmother suck the life out of her with her words as she had stood there crying and looking completely broken after the f**ked up day they had both had. He should have f**king stopped it the minute he saw them god f**king dammit! He clenched his jaw so hard that it damn well hurt. He had watched them from the front entrance, after parking his bike further off than usual and the moment dadi's hand had made contact with her he had practically leapt from his position. He hadn't thought even once before wrapping his hand around his dadi's wrist and shoving her away so hard that she actually stumbled back, Chanda having to steady her before she actually fell on her side. The fury and rage that had initially licked over him at the audacity of that bitch whorled through him like a vicious ice storm, wanting nothing more than to snarl at her and shove at her harder until she had fallen on the f**king floor. It was the one and only time in his entire life that he felt such violence towards a woman and that too someone so far f**king elder to him. Instead he roared at his wife, angry at her for being so f**king stupid enough to even go near that woman in her already injured state. Didn't she f**king get it??! They all f**king hated her! Apparently nothing was beneath dadi and now Riya had let that woman close enough to physically hurt her?! Why wasn't she damned well understanding?! Why couldn't she just stay away from her, far far f**king away?! His breathing was shallow and tremulous and terrified as he sprinted up the stairs, pulling her close into his heat as she continued to cry out in so much pain that he thought he was going to choke on it. That bitch! he inwardly snarled again, feeling pure unadulterated hatred for what felt like the first time. She knew! She f**king well knew that she had burned herself!! His own angry tears leaked out of the corner of his eyes at the fossilised piece of ice that lurked in his dadi's chest instead of the beating heart that should have been there. He had made it so perfectly f**king clear to his mother and to dadi that she had badly burnt herself over the right side of her chest and shoulder and the bitch had used the information to hurt her even more. No baby... you can't live here. You don't f**king belong any where near that monster or these people. No f**king way. He swallowed again, too enraged and furious to even soothe her as he reached the top of the stairs, ducking under the clothesline of billowing sarees and kicked his bedroom door in so hard that the panes of glass in it jarred and rattled dangerously close to being shattered in their frames. Shivam placed her gently on the nearest chair by the dressing table, already fumbling for the packet of strong pain killers in the draw before breaking two of them into halves and making it easier for her to swallow. He grabbed the covered glass of water left from earlier in the day, already crouching down by her side and dislodging her hands from her face as she continued to sob, the bright red blotch of what could have only been her blood seeping through the material. "Baby... come on. Stop crying for just five seconds and swallow these. Come on!" he shouted at her then, needing to jar her into compliance and needing more than anything for the pain-killers to kick in and give her some relief. He couldn't bear the sound of her agony. Her pink and wet rimmed eyes couldn't even look at him as her face remained contorted in pain; he held the glass up to her lips, already having slipped the broken up tablets in her mouth and helped her to drink the water as her own small hands trembled uncontrollably. Even as he wiped his own tears that had wet his face from earlier, he heard his door jolt open again after it had swung back shut from the force of his kick.
His mother blustered in, her face flushed with anger and a hint of disgust at Riya as she looked from husband to wife and then back again; Shivam looked back at Riya, making sure that she was still drinking the water he was holding to her lips. She needed the fluid in her stomach to dissolve the tablets as quickly as possible no matter how much she couldn't drink right now and so he kept his eyes on her. "What is she doing in here?..." he didn't answer, unbelieving that his mother could care less about Riya's state and be more interested in her present whereabouts. "Shivam!" he couldn't help but snap back at her with paralleled vehemence, "What?!" he railed at his mother, now lowering the glass and standing up to look at her shocked face. He attempted to soften his voice with whatever waning willpower he had left, "What Ma?" now walking to the bedside table and picking up the burn ointment as he made his way back to Riya. "I. Want. Herrr. Out of here right now" her voice was so full of rage and anger that it trembled as it usually did when she was beyond angry. And yet even as he had tried to take a calming breath in, he watched in quiet horror as Riya started to lift herself up from the chair. Immediately he swung his eyes to her own, shaking his head slowly from side to side at his wife, who was in so much pain that she was trembling with it. She continued to move, outright ignoring him and he made his voice work, "Riya sit down" and when she didn't, his waning willpower turned to nil willpower, "I said SIT!" he pointed a finger at her as he raised his arm, watching her sit back down in the second he had bellowed at her to just f**king do as he said. She wasn't going the f**k anywhere. He turned back to his mother, grinding out the words as if he was trying to explain it to a child, his face contorting in astonishment. "Ma, I told you this morning right before I went to work, that she burnt herself. I told you clearly infront of dadi and I know dadi heard me because she-" she had f**king clucked her tongue like an uncivilised harpie was what she had done, "-she acknowledged what I had said. And still she put her hands on her?!" His voice raised then before he walked back to Riya; his dadi had more like f**king poked her with her sharp claws! He couldn't imagine how badly it must hurt; he was so f**king angry with Riya for provoking dadi when she was already hurt, surely there was a damned time and place to engage that woman! "So? So what? She just placed her hand on her and this girl is starting her drama? And you're believing it?" Shivam turned back to his mother slowly, his deepening frown evident with his disgust at his mother's callousness. So what? For f**k sake, had she actually sacrificed her heart to dadi along with her damned mind?! His voice came out rough and as equally cold as her own words, "Ma... her skin is raw. It's been blistering since yesterday and she's in agony and Dadiji shoved her so hard that now she's bleeding. I saw it with my own eyes" he shook his head from side to side in his bitter disappointment of her. Instead of seeing even a glimmer of sense in what he had just said and hoping that she would just go, she walked towards and around him and yanked on Riya's left arm, "I said get-" Even before she had said the first word, her son had stepped infront of Riya, wrapping his hand around his mother's plump forearm this time and firmly dislodging her grasp. Shivam watched in some kind of detached fascination as her features morphed from outrage at Riya, to shock at him and then the usual accompaniment of tears as her face trembled and contorted into her own heart break. Except this time Shivam couldn't feel guilty; he couldn't muster up the sad feelings at seeing his mother so hurt at what he had just done. Her cruelty had in the present moment quashed it and so he watched her run out of the room, her actions and behaviour resembling more that of a spoilt child looking for attention than his mother from two years ago. He didn't have time for it this time; he had more f**king important things to do like see to his wife falling apart at the seams, tending to her wound and putting the ointment on her.
*
Please read Part Five C for continuation Edited by CoolBeans86 - 9 years ago
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