-It isn't over!
---When Shravan and Suman lived in the same house and odd circumstances---------
Suman bragged in the Tiwari house, still an hour before midnight. The only other residing member was comfortably packed in one of the loungers with a newspaper sprawled in his hands.
Who reads a newspaper at 11 in the night?
She spared him a look, a glare. And then when he didn't move, she pushed the table in a jerk so that the newspaper falls over and Captain Shravan Malhotra gets the light of the night. 'Whooaaaa!' he exclaimed suddenly, sleep still raw in his eyes.
'Get to the bed Captain Malhotra!' Suman shrugged and finally marched towards her room in even anger. Shravan followed her fuming figure till she shut her door in an upsetting voice.
Shravan looked down at his hands, devoid of the newspaper, which was resting in peace on the floor. He shook his head, picked the paper, and cursed that Suman was such a teacher. But then suddenly something flashed in his mind- Suman Tiwari was supposedly going to be late.
He had been living with her for a month now when he was given duties at the Bhopal Cantonment with a torn shoulder muscles (which he kept on ruining in awful moments). The army quarters were all busy, and Colonel Sinha thinks that Captain Suman is the best neighbor cum doctor he could afford. He had work and a whole lot of hell to endure.
Suman and he lived through the mechanics of the day with the utmost indifference. Still, he could find moments where they behaved unlike their normal partition of foraging patterns. Like she might pour an extra cup of tea, or let the geyser stay on even after she had a bath. It would take an eternity for them to enter mutualism, so she stayed in an I-don't-care attitude. He followed it with perfect nonchalance as well, as he took the cup like it was all meant to be that way as if the cup full of tea was generated straight from some alternate universe.
One thing which stood rigid for all these years was her discipline. If she said that she would be back by so and so time then it will go as it is. She had a natural biological clock for discipline. But tonight she had figuratively ruined her own routine and Shravan wanted to know why.
Why?
Because he had nothing fruitful to do. Plus, he somewhere liked Suman Tiwari bickering with him on the small stuff. It felt lively.
---------------
Suman could close her eyes and replay the whole scene where she had pushed away Vikram and had almost run away like a buffoon. They were having dinner, in which she was only interested in the different sizes of the crockery, and of-course moonlight. She guessed the day of the month from the size of the moon as Vikram mumbled on some law terms. And then he had suggested a dance, which she couldn't help but accept with pressed lips.
Didn't he know that she had a physical training drill that day? She was literally exhausted. But then it was so nice to see the faint hint of envy on Shravan's face when she left the house for an alleged date. He would nod and close the door but she could feel his eyes on her till she was out of view. It wasn't hard to live with him, a bit too sensitive to her senses. Like, she liked seeing him in the morning while taking tea. She was habituated with a hustle around her and having someone living with her made her feel good. Plus, she enjoyed seeing him try hard to pull up his short hair (maybe trying to impress her or god knows what?) when he was just out of the bath.
During the dance, Vikram was all mush and he thought that after shaking an arm or two he was perfectly designated to kiss her. She was so quiet and aloof that he took it in all the more wrong direction, and she pushed him away royally, maybe slapping a bit.
There was a knock on the door, maybe it was the third time. Pulling herself out of trance, she opened the door to reveal the man who practically resided two rooms away.
'This isn't your room.' She squinted her eyes. He stood with his palms inside his pajama pocket, which had army strips. Suman had rolled her eyes seeing his vast Army wardrobe, thinking that he literally obsessed over the profession, something he might have borrowed from her attitude a few years ago.
'I know.' he spoke, as a matter of fact. He stood leaning against the pole and Suman huffed and stood aside. She walked back thinking that he might follow. She sat on her chair with a thud!
'What?' Shravan arched his brows looking at her.
'I should be asking you this because figuratively I didn't come and sit at your bed firing questions.' Suman was annoyed.
Shravan grabbed his tongue, pitting an apology in his stomach. 'I mean, I thought I would see you after twilight.' he flashed a light grin.
'Oh let me go out then!' Suman stood up but Shravan pulled her back.
'Coffee?' he asked her like a routine and she looked at him with earnest fragility. She nodded her head slowly and he moved ahead towards the kitchen, this time Suman following him.
She couldn't help but fit in the seams of his habits. She could rarely question him about how he could nurse her a coffee when she needed it. Or why he would come home from the Cantt with a bag full of her favorite chocolates and say that it's for him but still keep it on the dining table for her to grab. He perfectly knew that she liked reading the newspaper at 8:15 with her breakfast so he would quietly fiddle with peanut butter and bread. Of course, he won't forget to make a point to tease her of something or the other once she was done with her reading routine.
----
'nothing.' she sipped Shravan's hand made coffee. He had a habit of shaking cardamom with milk and it so happened two days ago, that he was late from his duty. She was walking around the house, thinking of nursing herself with a cup of coffee when she deliberately added his special ingredient because it had become such a habit.
'I didn't make it for you to say that.' Shravan narrowed his gaze feeling a bit betrayed. Moreover, he won't tell her how content he was seeing her standing with her ruined date. She was looking enchanting with that creamish kurta with a maroon border. And she had flaunted her curls deliberately in front of him as if it was going to affect him? like seriously? anyways.
'Umm, I just had a bad date.' she rushed through her words.
Shravan gave her a side look, and then dramatically put his palms on his hips. Suman gave him a puppy look. She closed her eyes and spoke 'Vikram tried to kiss me!' she looked at him instantly seeing his face fall like a helpless bird. 'And I felt my stomach dissolving and skin burning like it was eating me from the inside, so I pushed him and ran.' her breath was so uneven by now that she felt like falling off a cliff.
Shravan could feel his moods somersaulting. He felt like punching Vikram in the face, gut, and wherever he found a place. He hated men who didn't practice consent. And when Suman told him that she had pushed him away, he felt like awarding her a promotion. However good he felt, right now he had to show that he felt nothing- when he was literally going over massive mood changeovers.
'Hope he wasn't injured, Captain. Poor guy!' he gave out a laugh and Suman for a moment felt like throwing her coffee all over him.
He should have been angry. Yes. Angry.
Why? She didn't know.
Like Obviously.
Suman couldn't curtain the hurt in her eyes. She felt like Shravan had wronged her when she didn't really expect him to console her condition. The heart was a funny thing!
'Good for you!' She mumbled, a bit disappointed and low. She was hysterical at her heart behaving in such a manner, sad on thinking that she assumed that she and Shravan had evolved to be sensible housemates.
Shravan felt like being beaten up. He was expecting a warm and energetic taunt from Suman, whereas she looked more than disheartened. As if, his reaction had made her miserable and not Vikram's action. He could feel a punch in his gut.
But why? he didn't know.
Like obviously!
'Suman.' He called out to her. She stopped in her tracks, eager to hear what he wished to say.
Shravan came forwards, stared at her hands around her coffee cup as she looked at him ready to swallow him with her eyes. 'I will talk to him.' he whispered and she questioned him silently.
'Because he is my friend.' He clarified. He didn't care what he meant while saying I will talk to him, he could just see the creases of her forehead disappearing. A mild smug smile fell on her lips as she shook her head in negative.
'Don't.' she said, but before Shravan could say anything more, she blurted out in a moment
'I don't love him.' she was again, mad at her tongue. Although, she didn't lie. She could hardly feel her skin when she touched Vikram. It ate her from inside. As if she was doing something wrong.
Suddenly, she felt Shravan's hand all over her's.
Was she oblivious or was she uber comfortable when he touched her? She really didn't remember when he had caught her hand, it was so normal and so, so warm.
Shravan felt his heart take a leap in glee. He nodded his head and left her hand, and stood there until she left with a thank you for the coffee and good night.
Apparently, his tongue, pitting against his brain- had added a sweet dreams, which was totally unwanted. But he couldn't deny the fact that when Suman took the stairs, she was all smiling and blushing as if, all these 7 years were a blink, that their separation was a thing in the alternate universe, as if 'It isn't over!'
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How was it then?
Why?
like obviously!
THANKS DEAR😊😊
