Page 84 of That Same Old Love

And this time when he pulled her closer, she went to him, and hugged him anxiously, while he stroked her hair gently.

“I really hope so.” she said and sighed. Then looking up at his face, “Thank you for what you did with Sidhu,” she said softly.

Samrat didn’t pretend to not understand. “I knew how much Sidhu’s forgiveness meant to you,” he replied gruffly.

Later that night Samrat told his parents about his relationship with Mahi. They were surprised, but happy that he had opened his heart again to let someone into his life. They did make some comments about marriage and grandchildren, for which he promptly replied that he was still trying to woo Mahi.

He told his mother briefly about her abusive husband and also about how she lost a son when he was four years old. His mother sympathized with Mahi and asked him to not push her too much if she wasn’t willing.

CHAPTER 31

Ananya was having the most horrible week ever. Two weeks ago her brother unpleasantly surprised her about his serious relationship with Mahi. Although she didn’t hate Mahi like she did during their college days, she still found her to be a painful reminder on what was wrong with her own marriage.

And adding to the misery, Disha had sent her a message three days ago that she had seen Sidhu come out from someone’s house very early in the morning along with a strange woman looking disheveled.

She would never suspect Sidhu of cheating on her, but she had probably pushed him to his limits. It had been almost close to five weeks since she had left Sidhu and their home, it was the longest they had been apart without having any intimacy. Maybe any man would be driven to cheat their irrational spouses who gave them a green signal to do so with their blessing. Sidhu had been visiting that house often according to Disha, who lived in the same gated community as Anita.

Letting go of her pride, she followed Sidhu the previous day and saw him enter the house just like Disha had informed her and saw a woman along with him. Even though she more or less caught him entering that house red-handed, she didn’t confront him that day. She drove back home with a broken heart.

She was crushed and then outraged. She was outraged that he had given up on their marriage so easily and moved on. Sure he called her multiple times a day these past five weeks and she didn’t answer his calls, but she wanted him to fight harder. Make her feel that she was worth it and make her feel that he wanted her.

“I’ll kill him!” she choked on the phone while talking to Disha who had eventually sympathized with her from the past three days. Before that, Disha called her silly and overdramatic for leaving Sidhu.

“Take some deep breaths and listen Anu. In through the nose and out from the mouth,” Disha instructed through the speaker phone. “You have got to confront him and demand him for answers.”

That morning Ananya was going to confront Sidhu once and for all. She would demand answers and maybe bring their never ending limbo to a resolution.

As she went towards the dining table, she saw that Mahi was already there with Samrat making disgustingly mushy expressions at each other.

In the past two weeks, Mahi had badgered her to form a somewhat reluctant friendship of sorts. She still didn’t like Mahi like a best friend or anything, but for her brother’s sake she extended that olive branch. And Mahi being Mahi, grabbed the branch and then sat on the tree, refusing to let go.

Mahi had been pretty good with Srishti as well. For some reason Srishti behaved very differently when Mahi was around, she behaved like the sweet little girl that she used be before all the tensions at home began. Srishti had spent a few days and weekends with her and they spent some quality mother-daughter time strengthening their bond.

Mahi often ate dinner with them. Last week something memorable had happened. Mahi had made her break a long term self-imposed restriction.

“Hey Ananya, you would like to try some of these and give me your feedback? I made my special ground chicken potstickers,” Mahi asked her when she joined her brother and Mahi for dinner.

“I don’t eat non-vegetarian food,” she replied, staring longingly at them since they smelled very good.

Mahi looked thoughtful. “Really? That’s strange, Samrat eats meat like it’s nobody’s business,” she said looking affectionately towards him.

She fidgeted a little, seeing Mahi and her brother together. Although she hadn’t caught them doing anything in front of her, she could not miss seeing some faint marks on Mahi’s neck that were clearly hickies. She wasn’t a naive fool to think that their relationship was platonic.

“I gave up eating non-veg food when I got married,” she replied irritably.

“Wait. Sidhu made you give up meat? That doesn’t sound like him. I literally used to try and order only meat dishes during college because those were the only things he wouldn’t grab and eat from me,” said Mahi with a frown.

Immediately Mahi’s expression changed as though she realized that maybe a reminder of Mahi’s and Sidhu’s past relationship wasn’t the best idea.

But she wasn’t upset by the reference, and had seen Mahi and Sidhu at their college cafeteria often to know they shared their food. That had been more than a decade ago.

“No. Sidhu didn’t ask me to. I offered to do so, on my own,” she said.

Mahi and Samrat looked at each other briefly.

“Oookayyy then. But hey since you are pissed at him, would you like to try some?” asked Mahi, tempting her by literally waving a fork with a potsticker on it under her nose.

She bit her lips and hesitated for a few seconds before reaching out for one and taking a bite. The hot, spicy and slightly chewy potsticker literally melted in her mouth and she felt so good. While the potsticker was tasty enough, she felt overwhelmed with happiness by the fact that she was able tobreak her self-imposed restrictions that wasn’t even demanded in the first place.

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