Espresso Love (SanDhir)

Chapter 8 - Italian Roast

"Hello," said the voice on the phone, and I could swear to God it was her. My Sanyukta. My Farzi.

"Sanyukta!" my voice slipped out before I could contain the excitement. "Randhir!" I heard her gasp and put the phone down. It didn't matter to me though; just hearing her voice gave my life a new lease. It had been years since I last heard her say my name. She brought life into it, as if saying something so precious and invaluable. The way she said it always made me want to kiss her. And now that I had heard her say it again, I felt a ray of peace penetrating my heart.

"It was her," came out a mere whisper. I felt a hand on my shoulder, but I couldn't bring myself to turn. My eyes clouded as I recalled the last time I had heard her voice.

—

"Sanyukta, I know something is going on with you."

"Why would you say that? I'm telling you! It's better for both of us if we break up! Trust me!"

I was enraged. "You have never been the one to run away from a problem, then what's it this time?" I prodded her. "You can't just expect me to believe your bullshit of an excuse after having gone through so much together!"

"Randhir, you know how much I love you. So trust me on this. Please!"

I fell silent, frustrated from what she was saying. I shifted the phone to my other ear, "What if I say I don't and I never will for this?" I spoke, my voice threatening to betray.

"It's over Randhir," and she hung up.

—

Her voice had been laced with a tone of defeat, a tone I had never felt in her voice before.

I finally looked behind me to see a worried Parth and a frantic Vidushi trying to grab me a glass of water. I cleared my eyes and smiled; "I'm okay guys!"

A look of understanding crossed Vidushi's eyes as she met mine. We had been through this before, I realized.

"So she is married," Parth said, breaking the silence.

I had been too caught up with hearing her voice to realize the conclusion that was just drawn. And then as he said it,the truth finally dawned upon me. My smile vanished, as my mind went into an over-drive thinking of all the reasons why she would have gotten married.

She got over you Randhir! She found someone else! She did that which you couldn't; move on, my mind screamed out to me.

But my heart defied the logicality of my mind; Maybe she had no choice!

The more I tried to ignore these sounds, the more audible they became.

—

"So are you saying that if we break up, you will actually find someone prettier and get married to her AND have kids?" she lashed out, crossing her arms.

I smirked, "Yes of course! I would find a girl who wears sexy dresses, goes to bars..." I stopped, not knowing if I was treading on thin ice. She glared at me, and I don't know what took over, but I continued. "You know, someone who likes to have fun!"

She pointed her eyes at me before stomping off, muttering under her breath, "Once an MCP, always an MCP."

I laughed at her anger, even though I knew it was going to be so much work to pacify her. After the incident, she ignored me for a couple of days despite my countless efforts to get her to speak to me. Then one night, we were all going out to a club for Kaustuki's birthday. It was usually the kind of thing that Sanyukta would pass over; but in an attempt to challenge me, she agreed; or that's what I thought at that time anyway.