AN INEQUITABLE LOVE

The Party

"I'm not going to come unless you pick me up Sidharth", said Shehnaaz wiping a lone tear that had escaped her red eyes. The day turned out to be worse than she had expected. Her constant mood swings had taken a toll on her as she sat like an angry bird with her dress in her hand. Sidharth, who had been busy since the morning was having a tough time dealing with his lady.

"How can I come now sweetheart? I have so many people to greet", sighed Sidharth. Shehnaaz was too stubborn to handle at times. He had people to attend and leaving everything in the middle would be too unprofessional on his part. He had expected Shehnaaz to understand him but alas! God knew what had messed up her mind again.

Shehnaaz on the other hand realised how unreasonable she had acted but there was nothing she could do to help it. She could not bear the thought of being the second one in his life. It had been still bearable had he not accepted her already. Words had been said and so had the love been felt. She could not wait for them to be together anymore.

Shehnaaz had been waiting for Sidharth when a sleek black car was parked at her door. She recognised the car very well as her eyes looked for the only man she wanted to see at that moment when her phone pinged with a notification. Sidharth very simply with a full stop at the end had asked her to sit inside the car. She couldn't help but frown at the text as she left him on read.

****

The hall looked like a dream. She remembered Sidharth mentioning about a small get together and this was no where close to small.

"Confidence Sana Confidence". Shehnaaz whispered to herself as she slowly walked in with an awestruck Shrey by her side. "Mumma", he said as he looked around the place. The room shined as if someone had accidently spilled a huge box of sparkles over it. It looked magnificent. The number of chandeliers to the little lights on every corner which reflected on the yellow walls giving a very different warmth. The black curtains complemented the golden bouquets wound around the pillars. It lasted till Shrey's eyes fell upon the kids section, he dragged his mom towards. Sidharth had made sure to organise a corner for kids so that the parents could enjoy the evening which Shehnaaz had liked initially but had mixed feelings about it now. Her eyes searched for her only man as she sat alone of some good forty minutes now. Shrey who had already made friends, wasn't willing to move out of the area and she felt too out of place to interact with people. Only if Sidharth had been there!

The moon shone brighter. Shehnaaz met a handful of people at the party; receiving a warm welcome from some while some of them passed her weird looks. Only if she cared! Shehnaaz had gone through a lot to actually waste her time overthinking about their baseless comments. Out of all the things, she had definitely learnt to plaster a fake smile on her face while greeting these even faker people which worked every time.

She walked through the alley, looking for a way to the washroom when something else caught her sight. She saw a little door decorated with lights around its frame which led to a very small balcony, hardly a balcony but it looked ethereal. She decided to walk ahead looking for the washroom when a man clad in a black suit caught her attention and even with her eyes closed would she recognise him.

With steps lighter than feather she walked ahead, trying to be as quite as possible. She reached just behind the man's back contemplating whether to hug him or not when she felt a sudden pull towards him. A gasp left her mouth as she was pinned against the railing which hardly reached her waist.

"Sidharth!", she gasped. "Gir jaati toh!", she exclaimed with her hand gripping onto her dress. "Girne deta tab na, jaan", the name hit the final nail for Shehnaaz. She snaked her arms around his torso, "I love you", she whispered.

Sidharth couldn't contain his smile as he held onto her waist with his right hand. Leaning back enough to gaze at her face he asked, "Gussa the, hmm?" His voice made her heart flutter; as if he was intentionally doing it knowing how great an effect did his voice have on her. Shehnaaz just hummed. "Kyu?", he asked again with an even deeper voice. Even Shehnaaz leaned backwards. Looking into his eyes she replied, "Pata hai aapko already. Mai repeat nahi karne wali", and hugged him back.

What could Sidharth do at the end of the day? Although Shreya and he were basically done, he couldn't just take her back home just because she woke up one day and had that urge. As much as he loved her and respected her feelings, Sidharth also had a lot of things to look into before he took a step. It wasn't easy. Neither for him nor was it going to be for them.

Holding onto her even more tightly he rested his chin on her head and spoke, " I do understand, jaan. Why won't I? Lekin tum yeh bhi samjho na ke mai kaise aata. Sab subah se sar pe chadh ke baithe hue hain. I didn't even get time to breathe and when I called you, you snapped at me. I'm so sorry that I couldn't make it to your place babe but I'll surely make it up to you and my baby! Hmm?", and placed a kiss on her forehead.

*****

Hello hello hello! How have you all been? I updated almost an year later and apologies for that!

As much as I enjoy writing, I had a major block and no matter how many times I sat down with my laptop with this page opened, I couldn't write a word. Even my drafts got deleted twice after writing them down and so I couldn't really update. I can't promise on this chapter as I've scribbled down anything and everything that came to my mind but here I am promising you a better chapter soon.

I can not promise fast updates as I have a lot on my plate at the moment and it's not easy for me to handle. I hope to get back sooner than ever with more updates and complete this story which is the closest to my heart.

Apologies again!

Love,

Mann