Part 1 - The Realisation
Anubhav was tipsy. No scratch that. The scientist of the year, Anubhav Kulshresht, a man renowned for his control and intellect was drunk out of his mind. Yes, that sounds more accurate.
With a fuzzy mind, foggy glasses and absolutely zero awareness a drunk Anubhav stumbled around the bar before plopping himself on a bar stool. And what had gotten this sanskaari, all knowing scientist to drink his senses away? The one and only source of problems in his life: his dear wife Gungun Anubhav Kulshresht.
She seemed to be driving him crazy a little more often these days.
He would see her around him even when she was nowhere near. His heart would falter every time she would scrunch her nose in pure annoyance and her smile, oh that smile. He would get all dreamy at the mere thought of her smiling at him.
Yup. He was gone. At first he thought he was just tired and overworked. A few hours of sleep would stop these weird feelings. But it only got worse. His heart would drop every time he would hear her giggle to something her boyfriend said over the phone. Then he would feel this heavy weight settle over him when she would ignore him and then he even started stuttering before her. Can you believe it!? Anubhav Kulshresht stuttering? That too in front of his arch nemesis Gungun!
But he too seemed helpless in the wake of these new feelings. The fluttering in his stomach, catching himself smiling at random times, the desperate need to see her all the time. He was convinced he was losing his sanity. But then it happened.
The realisation hit him when he least expected it. And when it did, it felt like a truck had rammed into him.
He still remembers sitting cross legged on his bed, Ankit and Khushi sprawled next to him while Neeti bhabhi and Yug bhaiya had made themselves comfortable on the chair. It was Golu chahcu’s daily dose of random musings. Unsurprisingly the topic was love. Like it had been ever since the topic of his marriage had first come up.
As golu chachu described falling for chachi Anubhav felt reality settling in on him. When the first few descriptions had resembled his current emotional state Anubhav had simply chalked it up to coincidence. But then as Golu chacha continued, the resemblance became strikingly uncanny and Anubhav found the truth staring him in the face.
He had fallen in love.
Anubhav Kulshresht had fallen in love with Gungun.
Anubhav Kulshresht had fallen in love with Gungun Kulshresht.
Anubhav Kulshresht was in love with Ridhima Anubhav Kulshresht.
Anubhav had barely been able to grapple with this explosive realisation that another bomb came his way - Gungun was all set to top her coming exams.
Though the exams were still months away, a new confidence had awoken in Gungun. She was acing all her tests and was looking forward to doing the same with her exams so she could get ‘rid of him’ as soon as possible.
That was it. It was the last straw. The next thing he knew he was four drinks in; wallowing in misery and self pity. His wife, the woman he loved - would never love him.
What a tragedy.
Anubhav stared at his phone that lay atop the counter. His mind in a dilemma : to call or not to call?
Anubhav’s fingers itched to grab the phone, the alcohol dampening all sensible thoughts that would warn him against this self sabotage.
‘What would you achieve by calling her in this drunken state?’ The reasonable voice in his head spoke but he was quick to shut it down, his own volition leaning towards self sabotage.
And hence the alcohol won, and his sensibilities lost.
Mind spinning he picked up his phone and dialled his papa ki pari.
“Yes chashmish” her voice came from the other side as she picked up the phone.
Anubhav rolled his eyes at her blatant display of lack of manners. If it was another time he would have lectured her on basic etiquettes of answering the phone. But at this point in time the alcohol was urging him to say something else. Something he would probably regret tomorrow.
“Papa ki pari” the words came out slurred
On the other side of the line, Gungun frowned
“Are you ok?” She asked
Anubhav nodded
“Hello?” her voice floated through the headphone speaker.
“Arey I nodded na. I am ok” He said, barely managing not to trip over his words.
“Anub- chant chashmish are you drunk?” She exclaimed
“No. Not at ALL!!!” Anubhav shouted in response.
His voice had gone up a notch higher and Gungun had to hold the phone further away from her ear in order to prevent herself from going deaf.
“Mama ke magarmach, don’t you lie to me. Did you drink?”
“A little” Anubhav confessed, pinching his fingers together to visually indicate the amount of alcohol currently in his system.
He heard her gasp
“The great Anubhav, sanskaar aur rules ka chalta phirta kitaab had alcohol!?” Gungun exclaimed
The humour in her voice did not escape his notice.
“You are enjoying this aren’t you?” Anubhav asked
“Of course I am. Now tell me, exactly how much did you drink Mr Phd?”
“1, no 2, no no maybe like 4. Yeah 4 glasses. But I swear they were small… like very small!”
He heard her gasp again. And then she burst out laughing.
“Aaj tak toh pee nahi aur phir peheli baar mein 4 shots!? Tum to bade tezz nikle crazy chashmish” she said before breaking into peels of laughter through the phone.
“Hasso mat!” Anubhav yelled
“Kyu? Hasne par kya tax lagta hai?” Gungun asked.
“Nahi, tax nahi… lekin mujhe kuch kuch hota hai” Anubhav muttered his breath.
“Kya kaha?” Gungun asked from the other end.
“Main ghar aa raha hoon” Anubhav declared as he stood up, feet still wobbly.
“Tum pagal ho gaye ho kya? Iss halat mein tum ghar aaoge? Tum wahi ruko main aa rahi hoon tumhe lene”
“Aur suno, don’t you dare move. Mujhe address bhejo main abhi nikal rahi hoon”
He didn’t miss the warning in her tone. But he too was Anubhav kulshresht, a retort had already bubbled in his mind and reached the tip of his tongue. His lips parted to allow the words to tumble out when the line went dead, leaving him huffing in misery… he was supposed to have the last word!
But nonetheless, like a duty bound husband he sent Gungun his location and then waited.
***
I originally planned for this to be an OS but it ended out turning to be wayyyyy longer than expected so I am splitting it in three parts 🤪
Now I know I am yet to update the second part of 'The Call' but this inspiration came all of a sudden and I just had to write it. I promise I will try to update 'The call' soon!
I will update this when the post reaches a certain number of reactions :)
Anyways I hope you enjoyed the update and do let me know how you found it!
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