This story was inspired by one particular scene from the show. Episode 147, when Shravan after his talk with Choti Sumo enters into his room with the wish of reconciliation. I LOVE that scene more than words could ever convey. The way he sat and looked at her, his hand reaching out to her but finally the tiredness takes over him and he just slumps down. That's basically a continuation of that just had to add the weather and create a situation for the contest.
Shravan Malhotra gazed through the curtain less window of his cottage as the crisp white snow enveloped the ground in a sparkling immaculate sheet. For years he had lived winter away from home, believing it to be necessary to his wellbeing.
Yet his heart truly belong to the fading colors of the summer's sun. He could never forget the way sunlight made her brown chocolate eyes sparkle, rays of sunshine illuminating her beautiful face and bringing the reddish tint of her hair.
He breathed in deeply. Marital bliss, he thought to himself. He was yet to find it amidst the chaos of his life. Only two weeks after their court marriage and there was no progress between them.
Despite the aloofness, they were hyperaware of each other as always, a touch, a glance and they found themselves shifting and at the same time in the wait of another acquaintance.
Their respective families had plotted against them and after much coaxing, they sent them on a honeymoon in a hill station to spend some quality time, together.
They were ordinary people, she and he with simple dreams and desires, so why do they have to constantly fight with each other for each other, why do words always fall less when it comes to them?
He often asked himself where did it all went wrong with her, how do they begin to mend their broken relationship, why did everything had to be so difficult for them?
He closed his eyes for a moment only for her face to flash like lightening in his mind. For the first time in a very long time, her eyes shone with abundant happiness and a smile has erupted on her face. "...Aur agar tum nahi milte to tumhare aane ka intezar karti, jaise pichli bhar kiya tha, main tumhe akela nahi chodta."
His eyes sprung open as he saw the bathroom door open and Suman walking out. She came at a standstill as their eyes met momentarily before she lowered her gaze to the floor, her fingers tugging at the collar of the sweater, she had borrowed from him. His eyes raked through her petite form and unknown to himself a small smile had tugged at the corners of his lips. She was dimly aware of him and the way he looked at her was so unnerving that she immediately slipped under the covers.
Weary of the journey, he also decided to give some rest to his aching body that sought solace in her little puffs of breath and her cold fingertips he never failed to caress before succumbing to sleep, since the day she has become his.
He never told her and he hoped she would never find out that he woke up in the middle of the night to make sure she wouldn't die of suffocation, he hadn't figured how but the comforter always made it to her face at some point in the night.
"Sumo." He murmured softly only to be answered with the crackling sound of the chimney fire. Her name coming from his mouth always felt like a soft caress to her aching heart, a heartfelt prayer you joined your hands for.
She laid on the far right side of the bed maintaining the distance between them with brio. Even when her back faced him, he could see right through her facade. Her supposedly sleeping form was shivering and trembling from the cold seeping through her clothes and he could hear the gentle shattering of her teeth, owing to the almost absolute silence in the room.
He raised himself on his forearms and tried to take a look at her but as always the comforter came in between. Breaking the silence that had settled into the room, he asked, "May I hold you?"
A whole minute passed and she didn't say anything. His back was hurting from the awkward position he was in, half-sitting, half-lying when wordlessly she shifted to make some room for him under the blanket.
Very gently, he joined her under the covers, at first hesitant to touch her, simply running his fingers through the dry way mess her hair had turn into after the shower. Mustering courage, he moved closer to her and wrapped his strong arms around the middle of her stomach and rubbed his hands over her arms, his feet resting over hers, to give her the much needed warmth.
Her arms were spouted with goosebumps and she felt slightly delirious and she wondered if it had to do with the cold or more because the front of his body was pressed against the back of hers. She had never been so close to him and now that he held her like this, she felt anchored, sheltered like never before.
His heart thudded loudly in his chest as his head bent forward to rest on her shoulder, his nose nuzzling her neck and his face hidden by her tresses. He inhaled the scent of her. He didn't think it through, he just had the urge to be physically close to her, to hold her. His heart brimmed with emotion as her tears fall on his fingers that were rubbing hers, dissolving the coldness of his heart into the zeal of love.
"Sumo." He spoke gently, his voice muffled against the skin of her neck. She bit the inner flesh of her cheek to stop the tears from flowing down her cheeks.
"Meri taraf dekho." He pleaded, his voice a mere whisper.
She turned around in his arms and their noses clashed softly. He smiled fondly, hers was red and the tip of his had gone numb. Her eyes were cast down as her fingers unconsciously played with the white collar peeking out under his black sweater. Her small action somewhat eased the numbing hurt that was now a part of him.
He cupped her face into his palms, his thumb running back and forth on her cheek, smearing her tears. She didn't flinch like he had expected her to, instead her fingers crept up to caress the skin of his palm as he kept gazing at her with all the love he possessed for her and only for her.
"Kya sab kuch pehle jaisa nahi hosakta?" He questioned her, his voice slightly quavering and his eyes glistening with hope, giving away all the fears he has encaged within himself.
Her own heart stopped beating for a second and for the first time in a very long time she could recognize the man she had fallen in love with, her Shravan. She wanted to lash out at him, to push him away, to humiliate him like he had done it so many times in the past but it took one tear to slip form the corner of his eyes and whatever flared in her is already softening.
As his gaze lowered and tears drenched his face, she realized that the man who laid by her side, who shared her bed as her husband was no saint, like her he had fumbled too many times with no hand coming to his aid, like her he had spent his whole life enduring being a burden but unlike her he could bow down in front of her, he had the ability to forgive and to ask for forgiveness.
She did not utter a word or even move a muscle but there was a faint indication of a nod and before he knew she had wrapped hers arms around his neck and placed her head on his chest, his exuberant heartbeat creating the link between them. She had forgiven him.
So when he closed the distance between their faces she doesn't question him, when he kissed her hand she lets him, when he kisses her forehead she lets him and when his hold tightened almost suffocating her, she lets him. She had waited too long for this to happen. They had waited too long for this to happen.
Under the blanket, Mr. Malhotra and Mrs. Malhotra whispered promises of love and togetherness no longer caring about the crackling fire or the tempestuous weather outside, basking in each other's proximity were worth all those apprehensions because they would weather this cold cruel winter together.
