Parchaiyaan: A Short Story | Part 3: Page 4 | Nov. 19 | - Page 2

Ishita walked up with Shagun to Mihir's apartment, but after receiving no response to his doorbell, she decided to use the spare keys Mihika had given her a few weeks ago. She walked into the house, and Shagun walked in behind her, not once stopping before she strode to her temporary room in her brother's house.

Ishita sighed, and walked over to Mihir's room, quite confident that Mihir and Mihika would be in there. She knocked on the door, but the door opened a little bit, enough to let her see what was going on inside. Of course, it was unethical for someone to look into a couple's room, but human nature didn't allow Ishita to follow her morals for once. Plus, she just wanted to make sure her sister was okay.

What she saw made her sigh in relief. Mihika was sleeping in Mihir's lap, while he was sleeping with the support of the headboard. His hand was in her hair, as if he had fallen asleep massaging her head. Her head was turned towards his stomach, as if she was looking for comfort. Ishita smiled at the two and gently locked the door from the inside so Shagun couldn't barge into the room. These two needed to be alone.

She walked down to the parking where her husband was waiting in silence. They hadn't spoken a word to each other since they got to the hospital. Mostly because Raman was irritated at her demeanor with Shagun and Mihika. When she should have been supporting her sister, she decided to support his ex-wife. What kind of woman was she? What kind of human was she?

He heard her door open, and from the corner of his eye, saw her sit down and close the door. She buckled herself in and closed her eyes, resting her head on the back of the seat. She had had a long day and she just needed some peace and quiet without all the drama. Raman took a look at her and knew instantly that yelling at her for being stupid wasn't going to fare well for him, so he just drove the few kilometers to the guest apartments. He hoped that the renovations of the Bhalla house would be over soon, because nobody was comfortable in the guest lofts. It just didn't feel like home. He parked the car in the lot and got out of the car and walked over to the passenger side. He opened the door and tapped Ishita, who had fallen asleep on the way home. She opened her eyes and looked into his, and a look of desperation passed between the two. Shagun's wedding was called off...now what?

Ishita got out of the car and Raman gave her his arm, and both of them were off to their house, burdened with more problems than before. What would they tell Ruhi? How would they handle the Iyer family? How was Mihir going to cope with all this? But all that was talk for the morning, because it was almost 3 am, and nobody was awake. Everyone knew the gist of everything that had happened, but nobody knew the details, and Raman and Ishita knew that they were all itching for some information. They would deal with that in the morning though. They walked into the house quietly, and entered their room.

Within minutes, both of them were asleep on the bed, forgetting to change out of their festive clothes or turn off the lights. They were drained.