MY AVERAGE LIFE

Part 60

Sharath Pov:

The last two days without Shivani were torture, plain and simple.

I didn't know where she went, didn't know why she needed to go, but I trusted her when she said it was something she needed to handle alone. Still, not knowing drove me up the wall. I spent every minute thinking about her—what she was doing, if she was okay, and wondering why she wouldn't let me be there with her. Shivani was everything to me, and without her around, it felt like there was this gaping hole in my life.

And Madhav? Let's just say the poor guy got the worst of it. Since Shivani left, I made it my mission to get on Madhav's nerves at every possible opportunity. The guy runs his own company, has a hundred things to worry about, but I didn't care. It gave me some weird satisfaction, bugging him every time I started missing Shivani more than usual—which, let's be real, was like every five minutes.

It started small. I'd text him at random times, asking stupid questions like, "What's the best way to file a report again?" or "Do you think blue looks better than black for tomorrow's meeting?" At first, he'd just reply with one-word answers or ignore me altogether. But then, I upped my game. I called him into the office for completely unnecessary meetings. Like, literally pointless meetings. I made him sit across from me as I "reviewed" reports I'd already seen or asked his opinion on things I didn't actually care about.

He finally snapped when I dragged him in that day to talk about shares in the company—shares that had already been settled.

"Sharath, seriously? Are you calling me to talk about shares? My company's on the line, and you want to discuss numbers we've already finalized? What's wrong with you?"

I just smirked and shrugged. "Can't a guy ask for advice from his friend?"

"You don't want advice, you want to drive me insane," Madhav groaned, rubbing his temples. "I swear, if this is how you act when Shivani's gone, I'm going to beg her never to leave you alone again."

That got to me, he should do that. I didn't want her to leave me alone either. But I just brushed it off, making some snarky comment about him needing more patience. I knew he could tell I was frustrated, though, and he was mostly just playing along. It wasn't really his fault that I was a mess without Shivani around, but I had to take it out on someone. So, Madhav became my punching bag for two days straight as he tried to help her to stay away from me for fucking two days.

But then, halfway through the second day, I called him in again for another completely unnecessary reason. Something about wanting to review contracts for the tenth time and I didn't leave any option for him to reject me because he knows if he will not be here now I will do something more which he would regret later. I knew I was being a jerk, but I didn't care. It was either irritate Madhav or lose my mind thinking about Shivani.

I was in the middle of making some pointless comments about projections when the door opened, and then I felt it. A shift. A presence I hadn't felt in what seemed like forever.

Shivani.

I snapped my head up, and there she was. Standing right in front of me, looking as perfect as ever. My heart stopped for a second, and I couldn't move. She was back.

Before I knew it, I was on my feet, moving toward her like my life depended on it. I barely registered the fact that Madhav was still in the room. All I could think about was her. Shivani was here. I didn't care where she'd been, didn't care what had kept her away—I just needed to hold her.

I didn't even say anything. The second I reached her, I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her in, holding her tight like she might disappear again if I let go. I buried my face in her neck, inhaling her scent, letting her warmth calm every anxious thought I'd had over the past two days. It felt like I could finally breathe again.