Breathless | ✔

*Chapter 9*

"Would you like to take this purple silk shirt?"

Susheela is busy in packing luggage for their trip to Kashmir. And Pramod is observing her secretly from back while working in laptop sitting on the bed.

"Yes sure. By the way, you are packing my stuffs?" Pramod asks.

"Yeah, can't I?" Susheela eyed him replying.

Pramod giggled. "Of course you can!"

Both went back to their respective jobs.

***

It was the next day. Pramod and Susheela arrived at their destination with a hope of staying here for five days. They checked in in a hotel, now in their room at 9 at night.

"Dr. Pramod, can I just get refreshed?"

"Yes go ahead."

Susheela went to the washroom while Pramod was waiting for her to be back, actually for his turn.

Suddenly his phone beeped displaying a much familiar number on the screen, he instantly got up to pick the call.

A few moments later, Susheela coming out of the restroom found Pramod talking over phone facing the window.

She was kind of trying to find out who the person of the other side was, which she even did hearing a name "Lily". She was confused, not even sure why. Did Lily call him at this late? Why?

(Talks over phone)

"Pramod what am I listening? Are you- are you serious? What the heck is going on here? You- you went to honeymoon with that-"

"Listen to me Lily it's not a honeymoon why are you exaggerating? I just said-"

"IF NOT HONEYMOON THEN WHAT? ARE YOU HELLA KIDDING ME? And I'm exaggerating? Okay, fine, let's call this a normal trip. That is what you want right? STILL YOU WENT ON A TRIP WITH THAT CHEAP GIRL!" Lily shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Mind your tongue Lily, she is not cheap! And why are you behaving like this, please at least you try to understand me?" Pramod pleaded.

"How much should I understand? How much Pramod? The person I loved since years, waited to marry since ages, first got married to someone else, enjoyed all the rituals together, and even went on.. Hah, my bad! You know what, it was never easy. Seeing your beloved with someone else, alone, you will not feel the pain Pramod. You will never know how much it hurts." Lily sobs telling all these. Meanwhile her breathing got hitched and she cut the call right then, without waiting for a reply.

Pramod felt as if he was being killed inside, it was suffocating. He slowly entered the washroom hiding his tears.

Susheela was lying on the bed with eyes closed, pretending to be asleep. She actually could not hear or understand anything what they talked about, but things were just not okay.

Along with all those, another thought was hovering over her mind that she was unable to get rid off. It was like "If he talks to Lily, why do I feel jealous? That's not even, jealousy, something else. Have I caught any type of possession over him? But why? He is not mine anyway."

***

1st February, 2022

Susheela just returned from her University and got freshened up.

Preparing her meal, no sooner had she started eating, than she received a call. It was an Indian number, yet unknown.

"Hello, who is it?"

"Bhabi? It's me, Priya." A soft voice from the other side touched her ear.

"How are you Priya? How is everyone?" Susheela asked as normally as she could, even though tears filled her eyes up.

"Pramod bro is not fine bhabi, can you please come back?"

"I did not ask about him Priya, I wanted to know about the family members. How is mom? And dad?"

"Don't do this bhabi, please. It has been 2 years since you left. He is going through the hardest period of his life because of you, please come back."

A drop of tear left Susheela's left eye. "You know very well that I can not return. It was really really difficult for me to leave all the feelings behind, get over them and land in London. I'm never returning Priya, I just can't."

"Alright. You do not need to come for him, at least come to attend my wedding? I will be waiting for you." Her dominating tone did not fail to make Susheela feel even more emotional, well she controlled it at its peak.

"If I ever go back, I will surely end up hurting your brother again. I don't want to do that, I don't want to get attached to any of the people there once again. Please, just forget me Priya. My wishes are never going to leave you, promise."

Priya cried, and continued. She tried hard to say a few more words but her loud sobs did not support for except the last line.

"If anything happens to Pramod bro, I'm never going to forgive you bhabi."

She noticed Pramod standing behind her right at the moment, and cut the call. Susheela put her phone away in deep frustration.

"Why did you call her?" Pramod inquired.

"Does that matter?" Priya replied wiping her cheeks.

Pramod went near her and hugged, caging the younger in his arms. He then whispered taking a deep breath, "She will never come back. She will never be near me again."

________________________________

That's all for today!

Hope you guys don't get confused with the date, the previous things were of 2 years ago.

If you still have questions, feel free to ask.