'The illusion is reality. The only contradiction is the observer.'

- Lionel Suggs

* * *

Suman Tiwari stood there, shivers wracking her body, her mind reeling from the shock of what had just transpired moments ago. She remained entranced, oblivious to her surroundings. Her mind was stuck on processing the gravity of the situation.

It had happened too fast, yet it felt like a lifetime, so suddenly that she hadn't been able to connect the dots. But now she could try, knowing she was out of it and no longer had to worry about Shravan, who had battered Aditya as if his life depended on it, as if he cared about nothing else. No longer needing defensiveness, panic gave way to unrestraint. Initially, she was afraid for herself, and then for Shravan, who had let fury possess him. His rage had blinded him, and no matter how many had tried to stop him, pull him away from Aditya, he hadn't until he had heard Nanu yell at him to stop.

Only after knowing he was safe, after seeing him somewhat in control, everything had stilled around her, and only then she had become aware of her own self. As she realized, her tight hold on her choli became tighter, even though she felt it wasn't tight enough because her hands were shivering and trembling, unable to tighten their grip. No matter how much she held it tighter, she still couldn't shake off the feeling as if she was not covered, as if she was bare, unprotected.

She gasped as something warm unexpectedly wrapped around her, her head snapping up in alarm. Shravan was standing in front of her, wrapping his gray coat around her shoulders. Without looking into her eyes, he softly touched her white knuckles with his fingers and loosened their grip. His silent concern brought a sting to her eyes, blurring her vision of him through a film of tears. She blinked a few times to clear it, making her tears fall on his fingers that were rubbing her own to normalize the blood flow. Suddenly his head snapped up, and he finally looked at her. And when he did, she understood why he was avoiding looking into her eyes.

With a deep frown and eyes immersed in pain, Shravan looked as if he barely had a hold on himself. Standing in front of her, the six-foot-tall Qutub Minar of her best friend looked so wounded, so fragile, as if he would come crumbling down at any moment.

"Wow, such a heartwarming sight, isn't guys?" Aditya's voice suddenly rang around them, breaking the silence between them, making them aware of their surroundings.

As Suman looked around. They were still standing in the middle of the hall of Tiwari Killa, as the last of the guests slowly left them to their family matters.

"Always together, forever! You guys make me sick me your sweetness." Aditya spat as he smiled sarcastically at the sight of them standing together.

Suman saw how the man standing in front of her transformed within a blink at those taunts. He didn't look fragile anymore. The same blind rage was clouding his eyes, the same madness. Before she could stop him, Shravan turned around to face Aditya, who had a sarcastic smile permanently fixed on his face.

"Aditya, shut up for a second," Nirmala whispered yelled at him as she looked at the last guest walked out the Tiwari Killa. She had begged Tiwari Ji to let her son talk because she was sure her Aditya could never do something like this. There must be a reason. Something or someone must have gotten him wrong.

Ignoring what his mother had just said, Aditya continued his mocking while looking at Shravan.

"Why are you suddenly feeling possessive and protective, Shravan? I thought you were bored with her. That was the reason you were so impatient to marry her off, right? After all, you already had..." 

Shravan's strike interrupted Aditya before he could finish his sentence, and its impact threw him to the floor. He had once again bounced on Aditya, throwing punches one after another. He was again acting in the maddening rage of a wounded lion.

Snapping out of their shock, the rest of the men once again got busy pulling Shravan off Aditya, but this time he didn't stop. 

Her legs felt like jelly, but Suman pushed herself to advance towards him. His fist had stopped midway as soon as her small hand landed on his shoulder. Surprised, he first met her gaze, then observed her outstretched hand, awaiting his grasp.

Without waiting for him to snap out of his shock, Suman pulled Shravan up, holding his hand, and dragged him away, not glancing down at the almost unconscious Aditya even once.

* * * 

As Shravan let her drag him along, walking behind her silently, he actually looked at her. His coat looked too big on her, making her seem smaller and more fragile than ever. His chest tightened at the thought of what she must be feeling right now.

Coming back to the place previously occupied by them, she let go of his hand and once again let Preeti wrap her arms around her. Her unblinking movements showed the lingering effects of adrenaline within her system. In a state of complete shock. Standing in front of him, Suman looked so heartbreakingly and crushingly vulnerable that it made breathing difficult for him.

With a sigh, Shravan shook his head at her stubbornness. She should have agreed when Nana Ji had told her to go inside the room with Preeti, but Suman being Suman, had to refuse, didn't she? With a frown, he narrowed eyes at her, wondering when she would start taking care of herself more, when she would understand that she didn't always have to appear strong, so in control, present. She didn't trust him anymore, but couldn't she for once let her family protect her? Couldn't she trust them to deal with the mess?

"Is everyone gone?" 

The authority in Nana Ji's voice snapped everyone out of their thoughts.

As Shravan looked up, he found Mama Ji and Musa Ji nodding, assuring that everyone had left. The Tiwaris and Malhotras alike focused their gazes upon Aditya, who now appeared fully alert. His sullen expression and battered nose brought Shravan a grim satisfaction.

Leaning on his cane, Nana Ji's expression was stony. "I am against violence, but you dared to hurt the dearest child of mine, Aditya. It's only because of your mother's persistent pleadings that I am giving you this chance to talk." 

When Aditya stood there in stubborn defiance, the inpatient Nirmala shook him up.

"Now tell me, Aditya, why? What have I done wrong in raising you for you to be such a horrible human being?" Her voice creaked in between.

At the sight of her tears, Aditya whined. "Mom, why don't you ask Shravan and Suman? Why do you think I am at fault here? After what they have done to me, what else should I have done?" Aditya glared at the duo.

"Why are you dragging them into this? What could Suman and Shravan have done to you that could justify what you have done?" Nirmala cried out, her voice trembling with distress and shock.

"Mom, they lied to me. She lied to me from the start. They played games with me, and she betrayed me, Mom. I had asked countless times, both of them, but they lied to me every time." Aditya yelled, his glare now focused on Suman. 

Without a beat, Shravan stepped in between as a wall, shielding her with his body.

* * *

A deep weariness, a churning sickness, and a profound sense of helplessness washed over Suman. Hearing Aditya narrate every senseless conversation he had had with her and Shravan on their non-existent past and his insistence on it made her sick to her stomach. 

Slowly, she leaned forward and laid her forehead against the towering and extremely powerful wall that stood between her and the rest of the world. Closing her eyes, knowing very well that till Shravan was standing there, shielding her from the fire line, she would be safe.

When Shravan felt her resting her forehead in between his shoulder blades, he felt as if his whole body was lit on fire. Clenching his hands into fists, he realized she trusted him - even after all that happened between them, she still had faith in him. As the realization sunk in, he felt guilt and regret consume him as nothing else ever had. He repented hasty judgments and realized how late he was at recognizing that he had broken that trust by narrating Aditya the lies he had the night before.

"Suman Tiwari acts like a pure innocent girl, but the truth is she had been in an intimate relationship with her 'best friend' for years," Aditya yelled.

As everyone else around them gasped and started to talk at the same time in defense of their children, both of them stood there shocked at the turn of events. Suddenly Shravan realized where Aditya was going to take the conversation, and as he thought about it, he was shaken by the possibility of Aditya uttering what he had said last night out loud, in front of their whole family. He hadn't thought of that as a possibility and if he was being honest with himself; he hadn't thought of anything at all before uttering those lies.

As always, his impulsiveness and anger had led him to commit something without a second thought. But now that Aditya was about to tell their family what he had said out loud, he felt as if the ground beneath his feet was about to give in. Alarmed and panicked, he tried to think of something that could stop Aditya, but right when his sharp brain was needed, it couldn't think of anything that could get them out of the messy situation he himself had put them in.

Only when he felt a tight grip on the back of his shirt, he snapped out of his shock. Suman, who was gripping the back of his shirt with both hands, hid herself behind him as a child would. That one move of hers made him desperate to find a way to get out of the situation without having any finger-pointing at her. Oh, how he repented, not calculating the possible effects on her of his monologue to Aditya.

When Suman felt his hand on her wrist, she opened her eyes to look at his back as he slowly pulled her hands to loosen her hold on his shirt. Turning around to face her as he held her wrist gently in his hands, Shravan felt lifeless. With his head bent down and his eye on their hands, he took a deep breath, drawing in some courage to confess the biggest crime he ever could commit.

"I told him that we had a relationship and..." He stopped unable to complete the sentence, unable to raise his head and look in her eyes. Unable to say the words that last night came out of his mouth so effortlessly.

"Are you all blind? Even now they both are busy in their own world and you all are saying that they are only friends? They fooled you all. Do you have any idea what these 'sanskari', well-behaved children of yours have been doing right under your nose?" Aditya yelled behind them, pulling them out of the conversation they were trying to have.

"Just, please, Sumo, I don't know what to do now. Please, do something!" Shravan begged her.

As she looked at him so alarmed and panicking over something, she realized he had used the same tone he had whenever in school he had messed up with some big guy only to come running to her after finding out he could not fight with the bully he had thought was easy to fight with. The same tone she had used countless times whenever she got in trouble during their teens and needed his help. Back then there used to be an unsaid rule between them; if any of them got into trouble, the other had to help, no questions asked.

"Stop with your rubbish accusations, Aditya. You have no right to say such disgusting things about them. How dare you say such vile things about my Suman?" Raghuwar Tiwari yelled out.

Not finding words, Aditya turned around to find a listener in his own mother, after all, no matter what, she had always taken his side.

"Mom, I haven't said anything wrong. He admitted to me last night that they have done it all. He told me that there isn't any kind of distance between them because they have eliminated any kind of distance between them, have between them a kind of intimacy that even the husband and wife who promise each other what even seven lifetimes wouldn't be able to achieve...You get what he meant, right?" Aditya asked after repeating his words, making Shravan cringe at how they sounded said out loud by someone else.

Staring at him in total disbelief, Suman gasped. Could Shravan say such things? And as she saw him cringing and wincing at every word as if they were hurting him physically, she knew the answer. He had once again done something impulsively without giving a damn about the consequences. Without giving a damn about her.

"Shravan, what is Aditya saying?" Ramnath asked, horrified.

"That, papa, last night, I..." He stopped midway, not knowing how to complete the sentence.

"Why are you all asking only Shravan? It's one of his old habits to protect Suman. Of course, he will lie for her. You all should ask Suman what she has done for her husband-to-be to react like this," Manju Mami said while glaring at the girl hidden behind Shravan's tall frame.

"Mami, Suman has done nothing. It's my fault, she has nothing to do with this..." Before Shravan could defend her further or confess, he was interrupted.

"Whatever Shravan told Aditya is true," Suman whispered...

****

"Copyright to this story is held by the writer. All rights reserved. These writings or any portion therefore may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever. Plagiarism is a punishable offense."