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Dedicating this chapter to - PrincessAshVik 🤗
~
Chapter 31
"No, Shravan. I'm extremely busy today. The new staff need to be taught a lot of things here, besides I need to rush to the market now to buy some crockery and then to the opposite end of the city to threaten the man who delivers me spices. The jerk has sent third class items yet again," Suman said in between mouthfuls of handmade sandwich, holding the phone tightly to her ear with the free hand. "Can't today. Let's go to Tiwari Killa tomorrow, it's just clothes anyway."
"That means another day of your loitering around in torn dresses," Shravan said from the other side of the phone. "I don't like it one bit, Sumo. You know it would be a hell lot easier and practical if you just let me buy you a couple of dresses, just tell me your damn size, woman!"
"Oye, keep that attitude to yourself. Okay?" Suman snapped, slamming down the sandwich on her plate and pushed it away on her desk. "I don't want you to buy me dresses, I'm perfectly capable of providing for myself."
"Then why aren't you doing it already?" he countered.
"Because I'm saving my money for something far more important than buying pretty dresses for myself...," and she bit her lip, regretting letting it out. She just hoped he wouldn't catch on. But then again if he did, what the hell would it cause? It wasn't like she was doing anything wrong!
"And what is this something may I ask that you want so badly?"
Pay the debt that's ceaselessly weighing her down. Nothing more, nothing less.
"Something - that is pretty important to me," she chose the path of discretion. For some reason she was wary telling him about her decision of paying the debt back to his father - or him. Enough had already transpired because of that ominous money, no wonder the subject always made her sweat.
"You'll know eventually," she added absentmindedly and heard Shravan sigh, then chuckle.
"Oh, Sumo... you just have to be so full of mysteries all the time, it's annoyingly cute - you know that!" he mused. "Now, stay safe till I see you home later. Have to head out to the court in a minute."
Suman cut the call with a bye and leaned back on the chair, her fingers lazily traced the cracked line on her phone screen. She sighed at the sight of the water colored cello-tape she'd pasted over the crack. There were many other issues in her life as well that she had cello-taped until now, while hoping all the while that no one observed.
But there was someone in her life at the moment who she feared would rip all those cello-tapes off and make her see things exactly how they were. Not just the worsts or the bests, he had the power since forever to bring out all the extremes from her. And he didn't know the teenager Sumo had been scared shitless sensing that.
Shravan had always been her darkness that she fought and the light that she engulfed.
Suman parked her car on the curb near the market. She was just getting out of her car when she saw a woman who seemed awfully familiar getting out of a black car at the other side of the road. She scrunched her brows, browsing her mind to remember who the woman was. And then she remembered.
Khurana's wife.
Recalling the moronic man gave her the creeps but she brushed it off, she was safe now. It was a quick and easy task getting a restraint order, Khurana was not to get anywhere near her, look at her or try to talk to her - he would be hauled the inside the jail if he did. Suman was happy with the arrangement, however Shravan was a different - grumbling case of blood-thirst.
Ignoring Khurana's wife, Suman went on her own way. It was better this way, she thought. The one time she had seen the woman in the past while taking orders for one of the parties Khurana had thrown, she had observed the woman to be more of a docile kind. Reserved would be the best word, however it was easy to call her posh and proud, but it was the kind sparkle in the woman's eyes that made Suman come to a different conclusion. Mrs. Sakshi Khurana was more that what she let on.
Sound of ragged breaths and puking made Suman halt on her steps again. Instinctively she whirled around to see Mrs. Sakshi Khurana leaning against a wall pathetically while puking her guts out.
Suman ran towards her and held her by the shoulders. "Are you alright?" she bit her tongue immediately and mumbled, "Of course, you aren't. Let me take you to a hospital..."
"No!" the woman moaned weakly, there were tears that travelled down her straight nose and dripped down the tip as she stayed hunched over the wall. "I... I'll be fine. Suman Tiwari, right?"
Suman breathed in relief seeing she'd stopped wrenching. "Yes. You remember?"
Mrs. Khurana nodded and managed to smile feebly.
Suman helped her walk near the edge of the sidewalk and made her sit there. She fumbled in her bag and fished out the small water bottle that she always carried. Mrs. Khurana smiled at her gratefully after cleaning her mouth with the water and sipping some of it."Thanks."
Suman smiled softly and shrugged. "No problem. Are you really feeling alright now?"
She nodded again and then stared at Suman for a long moment in silence, looking away she mumbled with sadness, "I'm sorry... for... for what he did to you."
Suman froze. Until this moment whenever she thought about the incident and the unthinkable that would have taken place if Shravan didn't come in time, she always felt sad and scared for herself. But right at that moment, she felt the trauma of her own experience very small in front of this woman's sadness.
"I...," Mrs. Khurana muttered in a low voice. "I just witnessed him with another woman minutes ago, a... a willing one this time."
Suman cringed. Figures why she was puking her guts out back there.
She couldn't imagine what she would do if she saw Shravan with someone else like that.
Huh! Hold on. Stop right there.
Where had that come from now? Suman mentally slapped herself several times for thinking like that. Shravan was not hers; they did not have a real relationship - she chanted again and again.
What felt like after forever, Suman spoke, "Why don't you leave him then? You certainly know about all his sins."
Mrs. Khurana laughed lightly.
Suman had never heard such a heartbreaking sound before.
"I ask that to myself every single day," she said attempting to weakly stand up on her feet.
"Careful." Suman held her arms, standing up too. There were no further words said as Mrs. Khurana sat inside her car.
Suman watched the car drove off. She finally went towards her own destination, in her mind whirling were the thoughts of how everyone had some - more or less twisted angles in their lives, and a common monster that conjoined so many people with each other not knowing it himself.
That night, Suman had just come out of the shower putting on her comfy pajamas and night t-shirt. She went to stand by the window to gaze out at the night street while combing her wet hair.
A knock on the door made her halt the lazy swipes of the comb in her hair.
It was either Meethi coming to say goodnight before heading home or Shravan who'd probably come back from the office at last. The poor guy had been stuck in one meeting after another till so late. Yes, he had called her earlier to let her know just that and say he was going to be late. Other than how husbandly he sounded, Suman had to agree that it was pretty sweet and thoughtful that he called her.
In fact, he was calling her a lot throughout the whole day. One would think that he was missing her. The thought made funny jitters to erupt in her stomach.
She was pathetic.
"I didn't disturb you, did I?" Shravan asked, leaning against the doorframe as she opened the door.
Suman rolled her eyes. "Yes, you did."
"Good."
He pushed past her nonchalantly into the room.
Shaking head Suman closed the door. Turning around she watched as Shravan casually plopped down on the edge of her bed.
He was wearing his trousers and a half sleeved t-shirt, his hair wet as well from the shower.
The first thing that popped in her mind was - she missed his robe. And the sight that peeked out of the gap that robe always created.
Disgusting gutter brain!!
Shravan patted the bed beside him. "Are you going to stand there for hours? Come here, sit."
Suman raised a brow. "What're you doing in my room so late?" she asked while walking down to sit on the bed but a good distance away from him.
"Way to make a person feel welcome, Sumo!"
She smiled. "No need to be so over dramatic."
"Can't I hang out with you a bit?"
Suman rolled her eyes, propping up her legs and folding them on the bed. She grabbed a pillow and kept it on her lap, resting her elbows on it next. Leaning back against the headboard then she looked at Shravan.
"Haven't you called me every freaking hour of the day?"
Shravan smiled cheekily, placing his palms on the bed behind him. His abs pushed out perfectly against his cotton shirt in this position. "I was just... showing my many clients how much I love my wife."
Heart thudded. Breath stopped. Kidneys twisted. Liver lurched.
Why did he have to always say crazy things like that? He was killing her. Slowly and painfully.
"Ha ha ha," she poked her tongue out to cover up the internal turmoil. "Very funny."
Shravan chuckled, and looked away rubbing the back of his neck. He looked back at her the next moment though. "So, how was your day? Anything interesting happened?"
Her mind immediately zoomed back to the unexpected encounter with Mrs. Sakshi Khurana. She pondered over whether to tell Shravan or not, at last she decided that it was better not to. It was not that big of a deal but telling Shravan would just mean a freak out session from him. Even the very name of Khurana had Shravan turn into a raging bull every time. And she didn't want to diminish that easy smile he had on his face at the moment.
So she replied, "The usual. Cooking and stuff."
"What about yours?" she asked quickly.
Shravan took a few seconds to answer, she noticed, and there was this slight shadow that crossed over his face. But like her, he replied the same, "Nothing new. Boring cases, long meetings and critical clients."
All people have walls around them, they are created for different reasons, are to be respected but also to be scared of.
Pushing off the pillow from her lap, Suman stood up from the bed and walked near the window again. She went back to combing her hair, feeling eyes staring at her from the bed.
"You keep your towel over the curtain rail ?!" Shravan's asked in a amused tone.
Suman glanced at him through the corner of her eyes and then at her towel that was hanging from the curtain rail. "It dries easily there. You see, a hell lot of fresh air comes in through the window all night."
"Sumo!" Shravan chided. "It's not safe to keep the windows open all night. What if a thief, a burglar or God forbid a serial killer climbs in? What if someone kidnaps you!"
Suman grunted. "Don't be a mother hen, Shravan? Sometimes I feel suffocated waking up from sleep. Don't you remember I always kept my bedroom window open back in Tiwari Killa?"
"You had grills on the windows in Tiwari Killa, which the windows clearly don't have here."
Suman was getting irritated at this point, spinning around she threw the comb at Shravan. He caught it in time and gave her a - what the hell - look. "Are you here in my room, in the middle of night, just to pick a silly argument with me?"
"Of course, not," Shravan heavily defended.
"Then please, maintain the peace."
Shravan was quiet after that but clearly didn't look happy by the way he was glaring at the open window. This window was clearly his newest enemy.
Ignoring the sulking man on her bed Suman stared outside again.
A couple minutes later she heard a set of yawns and shuffling on her bed. She turned her face to find Shravan lying, cuddling his head into a pillow snug to the footboard of her bed where he was sitting a while ago.
"Aye, don't fall asleep here," Suman warned. "I won't be able to carry you to your room."
Shravan snorted from the bed. "And you called yourself Sumo the wrestler! Don't worry, I'm just lying down for a minute, not falling asleep or whatever. So relax."
After a second of silence, they were soon talking about the days they were away from each other. The funny and sad experiences of their college days in two different countries. Shravan told her about the first case he handled all by himself in London and the joy he felt when he won it royally. And then there was the time when he didn't win a handful of cases in those beginning days. Failure was to be valued if one wanted to be successful and Shravan had done just that to be where he was now. Suman felt proud of him, she listened to him attentively, not missing even a ounce of emotion that he expressed through words.
Leaning against the window frame, she told him how she felt when she opened PCT. How hard it was to gather the capital to launch the business and how impossible it was to get clients in the beginning days. Nanu had been her strength throughout it all, encouraging her to be the independent woman that she was today.
"... and then I said - no matter how stupid she is Simmy must be in PCT." She had just finished telling the story of how she hired Simmy years ago, was when she sensed the unusual silence in the room.
Shravan had been lazily humming, commenting and laughing here and there as she talked. But not anymore.
She turned from the window to look at him. A soft smile spread on her lips seeing him sound asleep, snoring softly because of the weird angle his head was tilted off the pillow so that he faced her towards the window.
Shaking her head slowly she walked to the bed and holding his chin closed his slightly gaping mouth. Then proceeded on to extra carefully shift his head on the pillow comfortably.
Suman stood back up straight to look at his entire form. He slept almost curled into a ball near the footboard. If he were to lay straight he was so going to slide half his body out the bed.
Right here, right at this moment, as she saw him sleep like this she felt like she was looking at the Shravan from ten years back. Her chasmish. It was surreal.
And she was turning into a perverted freak!
As silently as possible Suman covered him with her comforter. Leaning in she ran her fingers through the mess of hair splattered on his forehead. She sighed at the hypnotizing sight of his face as he slept, even when he was sleeping he never failed to do terrible things to her heart.
"What am I'm going to do to you, Shravan?" she whispered.
When she was climbing up the bed like a sneaky ninja, she heard him sigh. Strangely she felt like he had heard what she said. But then again it was possible that she was just extremely tired and sleepy, and was feeling weird shit.
Putting her thoughts to a stop she settled into her pillow, she had to lay curled though for Shravan was sleeping near her feet and she didn't want to wake him from such a nice sleep. The guy worked like a maniac all day.
Lie! She just wanted to have him sleeping on the same bed, because she was a sefish freak. She had turned into a greedy ogre since sleeping in his arms last night.
Suman's last thought before falling asleep was mentally slapping herself in the face again and again. And again.
~
Did you notice they're hiding things from each other? Please note that. Hiding things just might create a distrustful monster. And lets not forget the moral from last chapter - Forgiving is easy and forgetting is hard. Now we need to tie the distrustful monster and what they can't forget from the past with one thread. Tadang! That's the recipe of destruction.
Anyway, before we ruin is all, let's first build them up. What say? ShraMan are coming closer!!!!
By the way, I'm asking you guys the same question Suman asked the sleeping Shravan - "What I'm going to do to you?"
What she should do to him, really? If Shravan's acting to be asleep just so he can sleep in her bed (awww...), and has really listened to her, then what's his possible mental reply?
Also, which part of this chapter you liked the most?
Lot of people liked the pillow scene most in the last chapter, and so, again involved a pillow here in this chapter. And probably more pillows will be included in different angles later as well!
Mrs. Khurana is back before Mr. Khurana! Trouble ahead, yep.
Please don't forget to like and comment! Now that the show is ending, we really need to co-operate and keep ShraMan dreams ongoing. Will be waiting for your feedback eagerly.
Take care.
Lots of love.
Lara.
P.S. I'm already done writing the next chapter. The only reason it's not uploaded as the extended rest of this chapter 31 - is because what's coming next will kick it up a notch for ShraMan. So, please like and comment fast for chapter 31 so that I can upload chapter 32 quickly!
PMs will be sent to those who liked and commented.
Edited by devilaonmoon - 8 years ago
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