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Hello! I've been MIA for a while, I am currently experiencing writer's block, I have so many little things started but I get to a point where I get stumped. This idea just hit me earlier and I somehow was able to finish it, do let me know what you think! :)
When I first started working at Ramnath &
Associates about three years ago, I heard about the suave Shravan Malhotra. The
gossip around the office was that he was the "perfect package" - an Oxford Law
School graduate thus intelligent, ran his own successful firm in London thus very
rich, self-assured, tall, handsome and apparently very charming. The source of
this information was ambiguous, mostly through stalking his Facebook profile as
some of the younger staff had started to do due to the absence of Shravan Malhotra.
He was an enigma, and my interest was definitely piqued.
When I first saw him, I thought my heart had
stopped, he was impossibly handsome, like he had walked off the cover of GQ. He was taller than I expected,
towering over everyone else in the office, and he was so charming. His smile was beautiful, and his clothes did nothing to
hide his perfect physique, and then there was his hair, it looked so perfect -
almost like someone had spent hours on it to perfectly style it into place.
He walked around the office like he owned it...which
he sort of did, but he was so
self-assured and confident that it blew me away. He was everything I wanted in
a man, and I was keen on having him. I thought it would be easy, I knew I was
beautiful and also intelligent, I never had trouble getting a man that I
wanted. I knew that I could be the perfect woman for him, I just had to get him
to notice me.
I pulled out all the stops, I wore my best
outfits - shorter skirts, tasteful yet revealing blouses and heels that made my
legs look fabulous. I curled my hair and tousled it perfectly, put on the
perfume that I always got complimented on and wore my best smile. All the time.
Did he notice me? No. I was stunned, I walked around him and he didn't even
stop to look at me, and when he did look at me, it seemed like he was looking
past me. He didn't smile back when I gave him flirtatious smiles, didn't try to
talk to me, it was like I didn't exist to him. For a while, I questioned if he
was blind or gay because this didn't happen to me, ever.
Then I heard that he was returning to London, something
his family was apparently against, and I was slightly heartbroken yet happy
that I could attribute this rejection from him due to a time constraint rather
than something else. But to my surprise he stayed back, for a case apparently,
and I wondered what case was important enough to make him stay back.
And then I saw them together for the first time. He looked at Suman Tiwari the way
I wanted him to look at me. She was at the office often, even before Shravan
had come back to India and the Malhotras seemed to love her. It was obvious
that she was no stranger to Shravan either. Apparently, he stayed back to fight
her case, something about her house -
it wasn't like he couldn't have handed it to one of the other lawyers at the
firm, myself included so my interest was piqued.
The first few times she came in, I noticed that
she walked into his cabin without knocking as if she had the right to, the
staff didn't really notice anything because she was such a constant presence in
the office anyways, but I definitely noticed. I watched as he stood at the door
into his office for a minute too long watching her, he was tall enough to be
able to see inside through the transparent glass at the top, and there was a
small smile on his face before he seemed to mask it and walk in. She didn't
spend a long time inside but I couldn't help but notice the content smile on
her face before she left, or the small smile he had on his face as he walked
out a few minutes after her.
I wondered what their equation was, was she
friends with him like she was with Pushkar Malhotra? There was definitely something different about her
relationship with Shravan though, and I was set to find out what it was. She
was at the office a lot more over the next few weeks, and their relationship
dynamic seemed to be different every time. Sometimes the two of them would be
smiling and laughing, other times they seemed to be fighting. It was obvious
that they were very comfortable with each other, but there was also an
underlying current of something else, like a tension of sorts.
I didn't miss the amount of times Pushkar
reported that Shravan was with Sumo
when asked about his whereabouts, it was like the two of them were constantly
together. I also didn't miss that her
car seemed to be parked outside the Malhotra mansion a lot. There was a lot of
commotion around the mansion one day, Shravan had apparently won the case which
was expected. I went over to the Malhotra house the same day to pick up
important papers that Pushkar had taken home with him only to notice that Suman
walked straight up the stairs, to what I knew was Shravan's room, and walked in
without knocking, shutting the door behind her.
I looked around to see that no one in the
family even batted any eyelash so I figured that it must have been something that
happened before. I sat in my office later, waiting to see when she left, and it
was a whole fifteen minutes later, and she had a huge smile on her face as she
skipped to her car.
At this point, I suspected that there was definitely
something going on between the two of them. It wasn't just that one incident;
it was a whole sequence of them. It was like he only saw her, he looked past any other female in the vicinity even when
they tried to openly flirt with him. But when she was around, his eyes wouldn't
leave her.
I tried to hate her because she had what I
wanted, his attention, at this point
I had gotten obsessed with the idea of Shravan Malhotra, because he was the one
man I wanted and couldn't have. It was hard to hate her though, she was always
so polite, and all smiles - it wasn't like she was a bitch. So I tried to size
her up, because I was determined to surpass her, and was extremely jealous of
her position in his life. She was pretty, that much was obvious, a classic girl
next door kind of pretty. But she wasn't anything special, I am sure she didn't have as many Beauty Pageant trophies
as me. She was an independent woman that had her own business, I was a
successful lawyer working at a top law firm in Delhi. She drove around a
hideous car that looked like it was going to break down any day, I drove a BMW.
She dressed in...interesting attire, it was cute on her but it wasn't chic. I
wondered what it was about her that made Shravan smile at her the way he did.
And then I realized it, they were best friends.
I don't know how I missed it at first, they were so in tune with each other, so
comfortable. He had a nickname for her, and sometimes used an exasperated tone
with her like he was almost whining. They supported each other and they fought
when one of them was being stupid. I realized this the day she burst into his
office when he was with an important client. I had opened the door to check in
on them after Mr. Berry had left to see them standing face-to-face and arguing.
She had stormed out after, but it wasn't hard to see that he was bothered by
what had happened between the two of them.
She walked back in a few minutes later and
stood at the door of his office with a small smile on her face before walking
in and having lunch with them, as if nothing had really happened. I wondered
what it was all about. But a few days later she was running into the office
again, and I couldn't help but peek into the conference room where they both
were. I couldn't hear what they were talking about but he seemed to be amused
at first and then angry, he would turn away and she would force him to look at
her.
A while later I noticed that he got up and was
smiling at her now, and the two of them were staring at each other with smiles
on their faces. He took a seat on a chair and she pulled up a chair in front of
him. They seemed to be in their own little bubble, he had an amused smile on
his face and then a fond one as they spoke about something. I didn't miss how
she moved her chair closer to him as they spoke and how he instinctively leaned
in. I think it was the smile on their faces as they gazed at each other that
made me realize that they weren't just best
friends, they were much more than
that. They were in love with each other. With that I had walked outside to get
some fresh air.
But I couldn't catch a break that day, she had
walked out and was about to get in her car when I heard him calling her name.
He walked right up to her and put his hands around hers to hold her umbrella.
My heart sank further in my chest, they looked like a picturesque couple right
out of a movie standing under her light purple umbrella and speaking to each
other. I noticed that he said something to her that made her smile grow so big
that it was almost blinding. And he was smiling too and looking at her fondly.
Even when she was leaving he kept calling her name and causing her to turn
around like he didn't want her to leave, like he just wanted to keep looking at
her. He was definitely in love with
her.
Of course, my heart was broken and my friends
decided that I needed a night out. So we hit the most exclusive restaurant in
Delhi only to find the two of them there as well. She was all dolled up, and
they were definitely on a date. I watched as she ushered a family into the
restaurant with him walking behind her with a smitten smile on his face. She
was talking and laughing and he was staring at her like she was the most
beautiful thing in the world, and she gave him a questioning look to which he
just smiled back before ushering her to their table.
At this point I was so ready to leave, so we
decided to leave as soon as we finished our drinks, only to find them standing
outside waiting for the valet to bring their car. She said something to him and
they just stared at each other for a long time. It was the most peculiar thing,
they just stood there looking at each other as if nothing else existed. I
watched as the valet called them but their eyes didn't stray from the other,
and Shravan just held his hand out asking for the keys. They didn't say
anything to the other and he walked to the car but didn't get in before giving
her one last piercing look. The intensity had my mind boggled.
I felt even worse than before, my feelings had
grown, he was the perfect catch after all but it was clear that my feelings
wouldn't be reciprocated. His heart belonged to her, and no matter what I did
he wouldn't notice me. Even when he seemed to be very mad at her for something, and would snap at
Pushkar when he even mentioned her name, you could tell that he missed her. Something
had happened, he was troubled and I didn't see her for a whole two weeks. Her car wasn't outside the Malhotra mansion
those days and she didn't walk through the door of the office either. My hopes
went up for a minute.
Something weird happened then, it seemed like
Shravan had a problem with his dad all of a sudden. I had overheard him telling
Pushkar that he wanted to go back to London and couldn't bear to live in the
same house as his dad anymore, it had come as a shock to me because I thought
they were very close. A few days later she
walked through the doors of the office again with a determined look on her face
and walked right into his cabin. They were in there for a whole hour, and you
could see their feet and his hair from the transparent glass at the top and
bottom of his cabin wall, he was
pacing and she was walking behind him. At one point they were both turned
towards each other, their toes touching and then all of a sudden her feet were
off the ground and in the air, and his head seemed to disappear. They were definitely
hugging. They stood like that for a whole five minutes and then they walked out
of the cabin and ran into Pushkar. Shravan said something about cancelling his
ticket and I figured his plan of going back to London had changed, because of her yet again.
I noticed that both of them stood right against
each other, even closer than they did before, while they spoke to Pushkar, and the
two of them had dark circles under their eyes, like they were both tired and
hadn't slept for a while. But he looked less bothered than he had in the
morning, and there was even a slight smile on his face. I wondered what had
changed, her sudden reappearance was interesting and her ability to make him
smile incredible. He walked her to her car, and I watched from the window as he
opened her car door for her, she didn't get in though, she stood between the
body of the car and the door, looking up at him. She said something and he
smiled slightly, he kissed her forehead lingering for a few seconds before
letting her sit in the car and shutting the door behind her.
I wondered what was happening in the Malhotra
family and how she was a part of it, the tension between Shravan and his father
didn't dissipate, they were very formal with each other, Shravan seemed angry
and Mr. Malhotra seemed sorry. There was
an additional frequent visitor to their house, a very refined woman in silk
sarees and an impeccable bun, sometimes Shravan would be with her and other
times Suman. The resemblance between the woman and Shravan made me think that
it was probably his mother, someone I didn't know to exist.
Weeks turned into months and Suman was a constant
presence in the office, she was there every day now, around lunch time and
Shravan always had lunch with her, sometimes with Pushkar and other times
without. Whenever someone opened or closed the door you could hear the animated
conversation or laughter coming from within. Sometimes you could see her feet
on top of his while they stood in his office, it was when they were hugging or
kissing, he seemed to pick her up when they hugged and if you listened closely
you could hear a little squeal of happiness from her whenever her feet were
lifted off the ground. He always walked her to the car and kissed her forehead
before she left.
If I thought that they were in love before, it
was so blatantly obvious now, the whole office seemed to pick up on it. And it
didn't come as a surprise when invitations for an engagement party were sent
out. She was already wearing a ring though, I had caught sight of it as she
spoke with a colleague, it was delicate and beautiful, much like her I guess. I
would have expected him to get a huge diamond, he had the money for it, and it
was what I would have wanted. Someone asked her how he proposed and she said it
was a secret but the smile on her face said it all, this was a dream come true
for her.
The engagement party was just as grand as would
be expected. She looked like a dream in a pale pink lehenga, her hair was out
and curled around her face, but the most beautiful thing about her was the
smile that adorned her face. I heard Pushkar telling his brother to breathe
when she first walked out and I looked back at him to be blown away by the way
he was looking at her. The two of them had huge smiles throughout the ceremony,
especially as they slid the rings on each other, and his mother seemed to be the
happiest, her speech almost making me cry.
Apparently, the two of them were childhood best
friends. Always bickering and fighting but still best friends that cared a lot
for each other, and managed to connect again even after spending ten years
apart. His mom mentioned that there was something about the two of them back in
the day too that made her believe that they would end up right where they were
standing today. She thanked Suman for bringing her son back into her life and
said that she couldn't have wished for a better life companion for her son. Suman
was crying at this point and Shravan casually put his arm around his fiancee
and pulled his mother into a group hug.
The wedding was just as touching, a little tear
left his eye when she walked to the altar, and they both had huge smiles on
their faces throughout the ceremony. And for the first time in a long while I
was happy, even though I had technically lost. But I realized that there was no
competition in the first place because his heart had always belonged to her,
and she was the only one for him - the only woman he cared about. I walked out
of that wedding hoping that one day I would find a man that looked at me like
Shravan Malhotra looked at his wife.
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