Soon after, they reached the Mohan residence and Sharanya went to her room to change while Aditya went to his study to get some work done. Half an hour or so later, Aditya came out and found it weird that Sharanya wasn't downstairs. He thought she was tired and may have slept. However, Akansha rushed down the stairs calling for Sneha a few minutes later, which made him worried. A minute or so later, Sneha too came out of the kitchen, rushing to the stairs.
"Tell Sharanya I'll be there in a minute," Sneha said in a whisper, but Aditya heard it.
"What happened, Mom? Is everything alright? What happened to Shar? You know what, I'll go," Aditya said as he got up from the couch and made his way to the bottom of the stairs.
"It's fine Adi, don't worry. Kanchi, go and tell her I'll be there in a moment." Akansha nodded and rushed off upstairs as Sneha went to her room.
Aditya somehow guessed what was up with Sharanya as he recalled their chat at his house before going to the supermarket. Thinking of something, he made his way out of the house, grabbing his phone and car keys.
∞A❦S∞
Sharanya tossed and turned in her bed as she tried her best to fall asleep, but no matter what she did, sleep was far from her eyes.
Just as she let out a big, audible sigh and sat up, there was a knock at her door. The door opened and Aditya came in with a bag.
"This is for you," he said as he handed over the bag to Sharanya. As she looked through it, Aditya spoke again. "I don't know which ones you would need, so I got whatever I thought you would use."
"Adi..." Sharanya couldn't really say anything due to embarrassment. However she did manage to say, "gosh, this is embarrassing!" Aditya sat next to Sharanya on the bed and took her hand into his.
"Shar, look at me," he said gently. When she didn't, he gently took her face in his hands and placed a kiss on her forehead, making her involuntarily close her eyes.
"It's absolutely fine! It shouldn't be embarrassing, cuz it's natural. If it is, then why do ladies have it? Shar, you guys are superheroes! You guys go through so much and still have your killer smile on your face. No other superhero compares to women." Aditya poured his heart out while looking straight into Sharanya's eyes. Sharanya just hugged Aditya as his mini speech made her emotional.
"OK now, there's chocolate ice cream or pistachio ice cream. Which one do you want?" He asked.
"Lindors and Ferrero Rochers are more than enough. Thank you, Adi." Sharanya planted a small kiss on Aditya's cheek.
"Adi!" Vaibhav's voice roared through the house. Sharanya looked Aditya, before getting off the bed and going downstairs with him.
"What is Elli talking about?" Vaibhav questioned as Aditya reached the top of the stairs leading to the first floor.
"What did she say?" Aditya asked, knowing exactly what Vaibhav was talking about, but not wanting any confrontation at the moment.
"You and her..." Vaibhav trailed off, wanting Aditya to tell him what was talking about.
"Me and her, what?"
"You are cheating on her," Vaibhav stated his accusation, shocking the ladies in the house. All except Sharanya, who knew the truth. She opened her mouth to tell the truth, but Aditya stopped her by slightly shaking his head.
"Are you cheating on her, Adi?" Sneha finally spoke up.
"Mom—"
"He won't tell you the truth, Sneha. I'll tell you the truth. He is cheating on Elli with another girl. She saw it with her own eyes! Adi, how could you do this? Why did you do this?"
"Dad—"
"It's not you! This isn't Sneha and my upbringing! My son would never do this. This acts of yours, Adi, cannot be justified."
"You know what, I'm gonna go. You need time to understand, I need time to let everything sink. I'll come back when I feel like it," Aditya said before leaving the house, shutting the front door with a bang.
A few minutes later, Sneha spoke up. "What was that?"
"The truth—" Vaibhav was cut off by Sharanya.
"This isn't the truth, Dad. The truth is something entirely different. Elena is lying," Sharanya finally spoke up, further shocking everyone.
"What do you mean?" Vaibhav asked.
"They broke up a couple months ago. Dad, Adi was in that relationship not because of himself or love, but because of everyone related to him at that point! You guys, Elena, her family... Would you like your son to be in a relationship that doesn't give him any happiness?
"It's not his fault that Elena wants him back when he clearly has nothing to do with her. And as far as cheating is concerned Mom, the girl who Elena was referring to was me. Adi hugged me in the parking lot. And I'm totally fine with it! Afterall, nai baala yen maadudru donkene (Kannada proverb: literal meaning is that a dog's tail will be crooked no matter what; figuratively, no one can change another person or their habits), right?"
"So you are saying Elli is lying?" Vaibhav asked.
Akansha stepped in and added a fact she knew about Elena. "Dad, I've been trying to tell you guys this since Anna broke up with Elli Di like 2 months ago. But you guys won't listen! Let that be for a moment. Elli Di, or should I say Elena, has been trying to call home since the last two weeks, for what reason only she knows. And I'm being very serious here. She tries calling and every time I pick up, she's like give it to Mom or Dad cuz she can't talk about it to me.
"Now that she saw Anna and Sharu akka together, she found the perfect excuse to manipulate you guys so that Anna would agree to get back with her. Under the pressure of family. I know I'm being selfish here but this isn't good for Anna or us! I want Anna to be happy no matter what he does or who he's with. The key here is his true happiness and nothing else!"
"Dad, Mom, I'm going to Adi's place. I will not return without getting him. He did what he had to in that moment. Now, I'm going to do what I am supposed to do," Sharanya said as she blinked back the tears that were forming. Grabbing her purse, she took Aditya's jacket along with hers as she left the house.
∞A❦S∞
Upon reaching Aditya's house, Sharanya was shocked to see the front door open. Rushing in, she looked around the place to find Aditya, only to find it all trashed up. Letting out a deep sigh, she ran to Aditya's room as she heard something drop from there.
Upon getting to Aditya's room, Sharanya was surprised to see the mess that he had created only minutes ago. The place that looked like a professional had cleaned it in the morning, now looked like a tornado had hit that place.
"Adi!" Sharanya called out, but he didn't answer. Looking around, she passed her hand through her hair and placed a hand on her waist.
Footstep were heard in the living room — soft enough to not make any sound, but enough to be heard by Sharanya. Sharanya quickly wiped the tears that fell onto her cheek and moved to the living room. Just as she got there, she saw Aditya moving to trash up his most beloved certificate shelf.
"Adi, stop it!" Sharanya yelled as she held him mere steps away from the glass shelf. Even when she held him, Aditya rummaged through the drawers of a table nearby.
"What has gotten into you?!? Answer me! Adi, stop it!! Adi!" Sharanya kept on calling him, but he wasn't responding to anything. Tried of shouting at Aditya, Sharanya let go of him and dropped down to her knees.
"Adi, please stop! For my sake, please!" she begged, letting out the tears she was holding back.
Aditya, who had rummaged through whichever nook and corner he could find, stopped on hearing Sharanya's sob. As he turned to Sharanya's crumpled figure, he spotted a box which glimmered slightly through the darkness.
"I found it!" he said in a whisper. Sharanya looked up at the sound of his voice before following his gaze to the box a few feet away from her. Aditya dashed to the box and opened it as if it were a precious diamond that was lost. Sharanya instantly recognised the content in the box to be the watch she had given him for his 16th birthday.
"Adi! Wh—" Sharanya was about to ask him why he had trashed up the whole house for a mediocre watch, but Aditya kissed the watch and hugged her before she could say anything.
"Everything is gonna be fine now, Shar! I've finally found what I was looking for! I finally found the missing piece to my puzzle," he said as tears flowed through his eyes. Sharanya cupped his face and placed a soft kiss on his forehead, before joining their foreheads as tears gushed through both their eyes.
A few minutes later, Sharanya sniffed and wiped her tears before swiping the tears off with her thumbpad softly under Aditya's eyes.
"Let's go now. Mom, Dad, and Kanchi would be very worried about you. You got what you wanted, right? Let's go," Sharanya whispered. It was as if talking any louder would break either of them. Aditya nodded and got up with the help of Sharanya. Looking at his state, Sharanya decided that she would drive.
"I'm gonna drive, OK?" Sharanya commanded as she took Aditya's car keys. However, Aditya didn't respond since he was too busy clutching onto the watch as though he would die if he left it even for a split second.
∞A❦S∞
A/N: Oof! High-octane drama created by the EX. As a reader, why did you think Adi left the Mohan residence in the middle of an important discussion/argument? Personally, even as an author and the creator of this situation, I haven't understood why he did that? Maybe it was for Sharanya to take a stand, or to give himself that space that he didn't know was needed in his life. Either way, don't we love that Sharanya stood up to her friend?
As I had said earlier, the bracelet and the watch that were exchanged on their 16th birthdays are important. This is one part of the mystery, but the second part might crack you up (or make you feel like it's ____). That, however, has to wait for a while as the next chapter has one of my favourite moments so far. Until then, peace out!
TO DRAMA, DRAMA, and MORE DRAMA,
♥️LOVE LOVE♥️
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