Humari Yaadon ke Shraman

Burden of guilt

He turned towards her and so wished that his lips would be in place of that mango. The Great Shravan Malhotra was jealous of a freaking mango. He took steps toward her and stood in front of her. He leaned closer toward her. His right hand caressing her left cheek. She closed her eyes, sensing what his touch was doing to her. He tapped her lower lip the pad of his thumb, her lips parted away on its own. Looking at her standing like this, eyes closed, lips parted, and a freaking piece of mango on her lower lip, it created havoc inside him. He leaned down, pecked her, biting on the place where a few seconds ago there was a piece of mango whose place he wanted to claim and he did. She stood there dumbfounded as she felt something on her lips, she was still accepting the sensation when she felt a loss. She opened her eyes only to find herself standing alone. She quickly got into her surrounding and climbed downstairs. By the time she reached the Tiwari's were bidding adieu to the Malhotra's and he was already seated in his car.

She came back into her room, her thoughts were all about him. How out of nowhere he kissed her. Even though it was just a peck, he did it. She felt so happy. She has always dreamt about this since his departure but never thought he would do in real life. More than shocked she was surprised. Maybe he feels the same about her as she does for him. Or maybe this was a mistake. She pondered over this for a while until sleep took over her. 

It's been quite a few days since that incident. He has been avoiding her since then. Not picking up calls, neither replying to messages. It was getting on her nerves. She had to clear it out of her head. 

She took her car drive toward his office.

He was in his cabin with a client when he heard a voice. A voice which was as angry as a bull. He had never heard her like this before. And he knew it was because of him. He thought of worst possible outcomes, maybe he forced himself upon her, maybe she never felt the way he did...

She was no longer Suman. It was her Sumo mode. The entire staff knew that their boss has messed up something really bad.

"Kaha h voh?", she asked the receptionist in her rage, and the receptionist being a newbie didn't have any idea who Suman was talking about. 

In her timid voice, she asked, " Who ma'am?". And that question blew her lid off. 

"Forget it", saying she stormed toward his cabin and slammed open it. Flabbergasted to see who dares to come in while Shravan Malhotra was sitting with a client, the client turned his seat. 

Shravan you are so dead now, he thought to himself. While the client decided to leave, not wanting to be a part of the wrath that was not for him.

"What the heck is this suman?", he asked her pretending to not know why was she behaving this way. 

"You are asking me as if you don't know. You have been ghosting me ever since then. I tried contacting you in every possible way - calling, texting everything and what you did? Huh! Instead of clearing out everything you bloody hell ignored me and told your staff to tell me that you weren't in the office the other day when I came. And now you are asking me what I'm doing? It wasn't me Mister, it was you who did it.", she said poking her finger on his chest.

He was taken aback by her sudden allegations on him and he admitted to having done it. He was so much into the self-guilt phase that he didn't realise how badly he has been treating her. She didn't deserve this. He had to know about her feelings. Yes, it wasn't something well thought of before, but now it was done and he can't go back in time and change it. She was waiting for him to reply for a few minutes but he didn't speak a word. They stood there silently while he had a frown on his face, indicating that he was thinking about something deep. It took her no time to guess that he was thinking about the whole situation. 

"Overthinking se kuch nhi hoga", she said in a much calm voice, knowing that this Qutub Minar won't utter a word if she continued being this intimidating.

And he hmmed. "Seriously Shravan! Hmm is this all that you want to say? If yes then I'm sorry I can't do this.", saying she turned to leave. He grabbed her wrist from behind and made her sit and kneeled himself. His head hung low.

She waited for him to speak and then he did.

I'm sorry sumo, for whatever I've done. I shouldn't have done it. It was forceful. It was without your consent and I felt as if I was throwing myself upon you. But I don't regret it sumo. Not even a single bit. I wasn't in my control when I saw you there. It felt so right, that moment and I had to ruin it, damn me! And I do realise that I shouldn't have absconded, I shouldn't have been this insensitive toward you for that matter. I'm really sorry Sumo. But I feared, feared to lose our friendship, to lose the trust you had in me but I feared to lose you. I thought you might leave me.

I was drowned in guilt from that day. I didn't know if you feel the same for me as I do. I didn't know what got into me and I behaved and acted the way I did. But I'm saying it again that I don't feel it as a mistake because I love you Sumo. He said while holding her hands and head still low. 

She made him look into her eyes and asked, "Do you love me? For real?" And he nodded his head in agreement like a child. Her eyes were moist and so were his. 

She mouthed "Gadha" before pulling him with his collars toward her and placed her lips onto his. He was shocked, was an understatement. Not getting a response she pulled back and said, "I guess you don't love me..." before she could complete her sentence, he held her face with his hands. His right hand caressing her left cheek and his left hand slid on to her waist and he pulled her towards him. She came crashing on his chest.

His hand held her protectively. She looked at him lovingly and her eyes depicted the same desires as his. He raised his head while she lowered hers a bit. They kissed. Slow yet passionate. Pouring in all their love for the other one. 

They broke apart as they were out of breath.

"Of course I do", he said giving a chaste kiss and hugged her.

------

Happy 5th Anniversary! Hope you enjoyed reading this 🤗