Desire ✔️

Part 106 : Magar Jee Nahi Sakte... Tumhaare Bina

17 July 2018
Outside the Ballroom at the Mehta Resort

Raman and Ishita were at the door when she heard her name being called urgently and turned her head around to look.

Her heart sank as she saw who it was that had been calling out to her.

Subbu. He was walking rapidly towards them and he could not be avoided.

"Raman, wait" she put a hand on her husband's shoulder as he pushed at the door, and Subbu reached them.

"What's the matter jaan?" Raman asked as he turned around, to be confronted by a tall Indian man staring at his wife.

"Hi, I'm Raman Bhalla" he said quizzically, as he drew his wife closer, a hand going protectively around her waist. "We haven't met. You are?"

"Raman" Ishita said with a sigh. "This is Subbu."

Ishita felt her husband tense, the fingers splayed on her waist contracting into a fist, the smile on his face freezing as he stared at the man standing before them.

Raman Bhalla heard the name "Subbu" from his wife's lips and then he heard no more as a red hot anger surged through him, his ears buzzing with the pounding of his heartbeats. Subramaniam Iyer. His wife's former fiancée. The man who had broken his madrassan's heart. Her first love, whose betrayal had left such deep wounds on his wife's psyche that even today he wasn't sure if his love had managed to heal all of her.

And that very man, the man who had caused her so much grief, was staring at his madrassan now. Staring at her with a mixture of admiration and anxiety. And so Raman Bhalla clenched his fists, since the only thing he wanted to do right now was to slap that man's stupid face.

"Goddamn this Subbu" Ishita swore to herself as she looked anxiously at the thunder dawning on her husband's face. First Gina and now Subbu. Why couldn't these people just leave Raman and her alone? She knew what Subbu wanted, the anxiety in his face gave him away, but she did not need Raman to misunderstand, or to get into a confrontation with Subbu. She knew how insecure her husband was about Subbu - he could not even take her former fiancées name.

"Raman" she said aloud, pushing the door open and pushing her silent husband out. "Let's talk outside please. And we have to go now, don't we? Subbu, Raman and I were just leaving and..."

Her voice trailed off as they stepped outside and Subbu walked out behind them, the heavy wooden doors shutting behind him, muting the noise from the party inside the ballroom.

"Raman" she said again, anxiously, clutching her husband's hand tightly as he continued to stare unflinchingly with an unfathomable expression at Subbu. "Let's go, it's getting late."

"What do you want?" Her husband's voice was thick with fury, barely recognizable as he continued to stare at Subbu, not appearing to hear anything she was saying.

"Woh....mein....mujhe Ishu se kuch ...kuch baa... baat karna tha...aa... akele mein...." (I...I have to talk to Ishu.....) Subbu stammered as the fury in Raman Bhalla's voice and the unmistakable anger in his face registered with him.

"Not Ishu. She is Mrs Raman Bhalla to you" the anger was palpable in her husband's voice and Ishita clung desperately to one of his hands, as the other clenched into a fist once again. "Aur tumhe Mrs Raman Bhalla se jo kehna hai mere saamne kaho." (And whatever you have to say to Mrs Raman Bhalla, you can say in my presence)

"Well, well.... what is this then? Koi puraana aashiq lagta hai Ishita ka. Ya shayad naya ? (Looks like an old lover of Ishita's. Or maybe a new one)So you're not as innocent as you appear to be, huh Ishita Bhalla?" A husky female voice cut in before Subbu could respond, and Ishita groaned in exasperation. As if Subbu was not enough, now Gina Shah had to join in too. She had been so engrossed in the drama being played out between her husband and Subbu that she had not realised that Gina had also come out behind them, had been listening to the exchange between Raman and Subbu.