𝙰𝚌𝚌𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚝 II A Shreyas Iyer Fan Fic II

⁘Chapter 8⁘

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"Ugh, this hurts," Shreyas complained when she changed the dressing for his cast. He held her squeezed her hand and Mridula winced at his grip.

"Ow," She winced, and Shreyas loosened his grip on Mridula's hand.

"There," Mridula wrapped up the final bandage, and Shreyas sighed with relief. Mridula tried to remove his hand from hers, but his hand was firmly planted on hers.

"Uhm... Shreyas?" She shot a side-long look at her hand, and Shreyas pretended not to understand what she was implying.

"Yeah?" He asked disinterestedly, but Mridula once again tried to pull her hand from his grasp. His fingers curled around hers and yanked her forward, startling her. She was rocketed forward toward him, her left hand on the bed and her other hand on his chest, obviously trying to find her balance. Shreyas reached out, and brushed past a strand of her hair, tucking it behind her ear. Letting his thumb trail on her cheek. She could hear his steady breathing, and his gaze flicked to her lips. They leaned toward each other, and just as their lips were about to connect, an awkward cough was heard. Mridula immediately stood up straight, leaving Shreyas to kiss the air.

"Was... I... Uhm... Interrupting?" Rakesh trailed off, his gaze flicking from Shreyas to Mridula multiple times.

"Yes," Shreyas grunted softly with annoyance.

"I was just... Uhm... checking his heartbeat." Mridula tried to bluff her way out of the awkward situation, but Rakesh raised an eyebrow.

"Sure, let's go with that," Rakesh muttered under his breath, and Mridula cleared her throat.

"Just give him some pain relief and he should be good for the night," She ordered Rakesh, who mocked a salute. She left the room and took off her coat. The moment she left Shreyas turned a burning glare at Rakesh.

"Couldn't you have waited a few seconds?" He demanded, and Rakesh flashed him a grin.

"No," Rakesh shrugged and told him cheerfully.

"But, I have news." Rakesh's happy smile disappeared, and Shreyas motioned for him to continue. Rakesh filled Shreyas in on his conversation.

"WHAT?!"

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"Hey, mom." Mridula smiled when her mother opened her front door. Mridula was accustomed to calling Sudha, her step-mother, as 'mom'.

"How was work?" Sudha asked the usual question, but there was something slightly different with the atmosphere. Rakesh wasn't home today, since it was his turn to pull the night shift.

"Great," Mridula knitted together her eyebrows in a silent question: What's going on.

"Your father will explain everything," Sudha promised with a gleeful smile and ushered Mridula into the living room. For a split second, her mind time-traveled to the almost kiss incident. How close she'd been to kissing him, and what would have happened if Rakesh hadn't intervened. Sudha had turned Mridula away and inspected her step-daughter.

"Is it alright if I take a shower? I smell like the employee room." Mridula retorted looking at Sudha, who was busy scanning her. Sudha gave her an approving smile and nod, and Mridula left toward her room.

The warm water cascaded down her body, fixing the aching sores of standing all day. She came out of the blissful yet short shower, knowing something was wrong. She changed into a black sweatshirt and white sweatpants. Sudha came inside while she was drying her hair.

"No, change into something else," Sudha commanded, Mridula frowned and looked at her choice of attire.

"I mean, are we going somewhere?" Mridula snorted, and Sudha nodded. Mridula was unhappy, she grumbled while opening her closet. She changed into a black turtle-neck and jeans, feeling satisfied and not in the mood to wear anything fancier. Humming a new song, she walked toward the living room.

"-Yeah, we've collaborated before." She heard a familiar male voice, rounding the corner, she came into view of their guests.

Aravind and His Family.

"Hey, Mia." Aravind gave an awkward wave, and she returned it.

"So, what's up?" She sat down alongside the rest of her family, meaning her father and mother.

"You're father and I talked," Sudha paused to turn her gaze to Ram, her step-father. "And we've decided that it's time you settle down."

"What do you mean?" Mridula asked, even though the sinking feeling in her stomach gestured that she already knew.

"You and Aravind are getting married!"

***

And, I oop~

So... They almost kissed...

I needed to ruin that, so why not let Mridula get married to Shreyas's love rival?