"I had not said anything about what had happened the day before - about being scared down to my very bones when I thought they had left me. I don't know what came over me. Ever since my mother left us that April day, I suspected that everyone was going to leave, one by one."

- Sharon Creech, Walk Two Moons

* * * * *

Mahinder Sharma - the family court judge - walked towards his office after a very tiring hearing, and just when he was about to enter his office, his PA stopped him and informed him that a certain Shravan Malhotra, a lawyer from Malhotra and Associates, had been waiting for him for the past four hours. And when he walked into his office, he was pleasantly surprised to really find the son of his dear friend waiting for him.

"Shravan," he called him out, making the young man stop in the middle of his pacing from one corner of the office to the other.

"What an amazing surprise!" Mahinder said with a fond smile.

"Sharma Uncle, how are you?" Shravan asked him as he shook hands with his father's friend.

Mahinder Sharma has been a friend of his father for years and he was also a student of Raghuwar Tiwari, which is why Shravan selected him to sign the restraining order he wanted effective within the day.

"What reminded you of me? What are you here for?" Mahinder asked the young man standing in front of him with a fond smile. He had to crane his neck to look up at him now and he was, as always, taken back by the tall farm of the young man. Every time they met, he had to remind himself that standing in front of him was the same boy he had seen grow from a child to a lanky teen.

"Come sit," Mahinder invited him as he too took his seat behind the desk.

"I need you to sign this restraining order," Shravan said as he handed him the papers, ready to be signed on.

"You know that this is an abuse of power, don't you?" Mahinder asked him even though he started to read the papers in the next breath.

"Suman Tiwari? Tiwari Ji's granddaughter?" He asked, shocked as soon as he saw her name.

He knew the young girl, had seen her now and then running around delivering the files Tiwari Ji wanted to send Ramnaath or sometimes even to him. They didn't have the same bond she and Ramnaath seemed to share, but he knew the girl who always had a polite but bright smile on her face.

"Yes. I know I am asking a lot from you, Sharma uncle, but this has to be done today itself," Shravan pleaded.

"I understand, Shravan, consider it done," Mahinder said as he picked up his pen and signed the papers to issue the restraining order.

* * * *

A knock on the door of her hotel room snapped Nirmala out of her thoughts. Standing up, she made her way to open the door, sure that it was her son on the other side,

'Aditya...' She thought to herself. She had been waiting for the past few hours, worried sick for him. He hadn't even let her know where he was going.

"God knows if he has eaten something or not..." she muttered to herself, worried as she opened the door, only to find someone else instead of her son.

"See, she is Mrs Nirmala Ahuja," Shravan told as he indicated her to the staff member standing beside him while all she could do was stand there shell-shocked to find him in front of her.

"Oh, okay, sir. Sorry for the confusion," the staff member smiled politely and left.

"Won't you invite me in?" Shravan asked her with a sardonic smile that seemed to be always present on his face whenever he talked with her.

"What are you doing here, Shravan?" She asked angrily as she stepped aside to let him in.

She was planning to talk to him anyway. He had, after all, created such a disgusting misunderstanding between her son and the woman he loved. When last night Aditya had recounted to her what Shravan had told him, she couldn't believe how low he could stoop. There was a small part of her who couldn't believe he had in him to lie about something so sensitive. But now, as she looked at the tall young man standing in the middle of her hotel room, she realized he very well could have said to her son the things that pushed him to commit the sin he had and ruined his life.

She was angered by the doings of Ramnaath's son, as she no longer could see him as hers. The innocent Shravan she had left behind could not even hurt a fly, no matter what, while the young man now standing in front of her could do anything he wanted to. There was something about his stance, the aura around him and the vibes coming from him made him appear as someone who would destroy whomever he wanted to...

"You still use your maiden name because you are a true feminist or because you are tired of changing your surnames again and again?" Shravan curiously asked her with a smirk.

"Shut up, Shravan," she yelled as she clenched her hands into fists.

"Okay," he said, raising his hands in a sign of peace. "Anyway, I just came here to hand-deliver you what I had promised. Here," he told her as he pulled out the paper from the envelope he was holding.

Upon snatching the papers from him, she began to read what was written on them. The more she read, the more her anger got the better out of her.

"Aditya told me everything you had told him the other night. How can you still think you have any right or say in this matter? I can't believe you have the guts to pretend that you haven't done any wrong," Nirmala said as she glared at him after reading the restraining order.

"You see, I have inherited from my both parents this characteristic of not feeling guilty for the mistakes committed but being very good at pointing out others," Shravan said sarcastic smirk. The tone of his voice was as hard and as cold as the words said by him were.

"Does Suman know what you have done? I am going to tell her and then I will see how would you be able to represent her as a lawyer," Nirmala said and smirked at him when she saw his smirk being wiped off his face.

"Don't bother, she knows," he told her as he wrapped his arm around his chest in a defensive stance.

"And still you are here? How come? Did she forgive you?" Nirmala asked, shocked.

"You must have forgotten everything that has anything to do with me, that's the reason you maybe don't remember that my and Suman's bond doesn't depend on the stupid stunts I pull or the mistakes she and I make," Shravan said her coldly as he looked to his left, not bothering to look at her.

"I can't believe you don't realize the sin you have committed, Shravan. Do you realize what you have done to her, to my son? Aditya's life is destroyed because of you. They both lost each other, the love between them, just because of the misunderstanding you created between them," Nirmala yelled as she glared at him.

"Not that I owe you any explanation, but let me enlighten you that what your precious son had done last night has nothing to do with what I told him. What I told him didn't justify what he had done. If he knew Suman enough to fall in love with her, he should have known I was lying. He should have asked her, called off the wedding, anything. What he chose to do has nothing to do with me," Shravan said with his hands clenched tightly with his arms still wrapped around his chest in a defensive stance.

He realized what he had done was wrong, but he refused to accept the blame for what Aditya had done as his mistake. He wouldn't be able to breathe even if he considered what happened as his doing. He had said what he had said only to wipe off the idiotic victorious smile from Aditya's face, but that didn't mean Aditya didn't have the choice to ask Suman the truth. Instead of doing that, he had forced himself on her, his Sumo...

Her being married to someone else, to Aditya, he could tolerate - he had. With all the facade needed and his guards up, he had found it in him to let go of her. But her being hurt, in any way, he couldn't. No matter how many times he himself had stupidly hurt her, no one else could hurt her and get away with it. That was how things had always been between him and the girl who meant the world to him...

"You came in between them, Shravan. They both were so in love with each other. Why did you do that? What have you gained?" Nirmala asked as she kept looking at him with anger in her eyes.

"He loved Suman? Do you still suffer from that misunderstanding? He didn't love her, not even for a second. If he had loved her, he wouldn't have done what he did," Shravan growled as his hands dropped to his sides to form clenched fists of tension.

"Aditya did what he did, but what did you do, Shravan? You too can't claim that you love or respect her," Nirmala said in anger.

"You are right, I can't claim that anymore," he whispered with a sigh as he squeezed his eyes shut. All the fight left him as soon as the gravity of her words hit him.

"Anymore?" Nirmala frowned.

'Is there something I am missing?' she wondered as she looked at him and took in the pained expression on his face.

"What do you mean by that?" Nirmala asked in confusion and then suddenly a striking realization hit her.

"Shravan, do you have feelings for Suman...Do you..." Nirmala stuttered in hesitation only to be interrupted by him when he let out a sardonic laugh as he shook his head at her.

"So, I was right," Shravan said with a smirk. "your 'motherly' instincts don't work for me. But if something is related to Aditya, you can suddenly understand everything," he said bitterly, emphasizing his sarcasm.

"We aren't talking about Aditya. We are talking about you, Shravan." She said in frustration.

"No, Mrs Nirmala Ahuja, we are talking about you," he exclaimed.

"You should have told me at least once, Shravan, what was the need to do this all?" She scolded him, but when she looked up at him, she found him shaking his head with a biting smile on his face.

"You were and are not important enough for me to tell you anything, Mrs Ahuja. But yes, I had tried to tell my mother once," he confessed with a tiring smile.

"What? When?" Nirmala asked, shocked.

"You don't remember, I know, but still, try to remember the last time I had talked to my mother," he said, stressing over the words before continuing.

"You were busy with an assignment of yours, and I wanted you to read something," he whispered as he looked at her with so much vulnerability in his eyes that it shook her.

As she tried to push herself to remember, she realized he was talking about a few nights before the day when she had left Malhotra house behind her, eleven years back. He had come to her and had very nervously asked her to read a poem he had written because he wanted to talk to her about something, but she had been already late in completing her assignment, and couldn't delay it any further. The reason she - under great stress - had yelled at him in frustration to go away and he had quietly left.

But when she had been done with her work, she had felt very guilty about it and that had made her go and talk to him, only to find him lying on his bed, hugging his diary with his eyes closed, pretending to be asleep.

Only then she had realized how much her refusal to listen to him had hurt him. With the wet tears still on his cheeks, his eyes closed behind the thick glasses that he used to wear, he had continued to pretend to be asleep even as she had called him out numerous times. Already knowing his stubborn nature, she had given up and had slowly pulled his diary away from his hug and had read the poem he wanted her to read, but couldn't understand why he had been so excited yet so nervous to make her read it. That had been the last interaction she had had with her son, to the day she had once again met him, a few months ago.

"Sardi ki dhoop...Garmi ki chhaon... Barish ki pehli boond...Ek piyaara sa gaoon...Dekh kar tumhe janee kion hamesha yeh khayal aata hai...janee tumhari har beetuki baat pe bhi, kion mujhe pyaar ata hai..." He recited quietly in a trance as he looked somewhere behind her, lost somewhere else.

With a sigh, he blinked, snapping out of the trance, and shook his head. He took a few steps away from her and finally looked at her with a wounded expression on his face. For the first time, he didn't mask his feelings and didn't cover up his open wounds, too tired to keep the guards up, too broken to put on a facade.

"It was Suman. I had written it for her, for my Sumo..." he whispered as his eyes teared up.

Nirmala could only gasp at what he had just revealed. Shravan loved Suman? The very same girl her Aditya was in love with?

"You are upset, angry that your son lost the love he had felt just for eleven days, and I had loved her for more than eleven years. Do you realize how much I have been suffering for all these years? Do you realize what I was feeling when I was doing their wedding preparations or had to sit through every ritual? Because your son did, you should have seen him gloating over my suffering, because yes, Mrs Ahjua, your sadist son knew," he told her with a half-smile.

"Do you have any idea how must I have felt - ke meri kiya haalat thi?" He asked her quietly as he blinked fast to push back the tears.

"Shravan, still, you took a very disgusting step to gain Suman," Nirmala accused as she glared at him.

Without a doubt, he was the way he was because of his father's ego and misguidance. Like father, like son. Ramnaath hadn't taught his son anything other than forcing his will on others. And Shravan had done the same with Aditya and Suman. He wanted her so he took her away from Aditya. That was what he had done. As the thoughts passed through her mind, Nirmala couldn't help but feel only anger for the young man standing in front of her.

"Do you think I had done that to have Suman?" He asked as laughed sarcastically while shaking his head.

"I had decorated the mandap with her favorite flowers - a parting gift from my side. I had given up on her the second she had chosen Aditya, and every hope had died when I had heard him announcing their marriage. I don't run behind mirages, I am very used to being unwanted, denied, and rejected. So, no, Mrs Ahuja, I hadn't done that to have her."

"You should have known that, but I guess when it comes to me, you don't want to know or understand anything. You may not remember it, but I don't know how to claim - mujhe haq jatana nahi aata, and you may not even realize it, but I don't know how to snatch - mujhe kissi koh cheenna ya pana bhi nahi ata. I don't have enough confidence to make that happen for me, nor I am that lucky for that to happen to me." He said with a sad smile.

"I never had been given the security or had the confidence to claim anyone or anything as mine. So how could have I had claimed or thought of her as mine? I could never snatch Suman nor can I ever have her," he said as he tried his best to control his voice from quavering. But it was still trembling, and so were his hands, despite being clenched tightly into fists. He blinked hard and fast to push back the tears, but some still escaped from his eyes, slipping down from his jaw, forming tear streaks on his cheeks.

"So the answer is no, Mrs Nirmela Ahuja. I had said what I had because Aditya wanted to hear it. He had been suspecting that there had been something between us from the start, but he didn't give up his obsession with her. In fact, even after believing in what I had told him, he didn't call off the wedding. Instead, he attacked her. He wouldn't have stopped if I hadn't pulled him away from her. How can you still think he ever loved her? How can you still defend him?" He growled as he snapped at her. Angered more for what happened to her than the accusations thrown at him.

"I am not defending him," Nirmala objected, "I am asking you how come you are the one who is doing this?" She asked as she waved the restraining order papers in the air between them.

"That's because she has given me that right," he told her, dismissing everything else.

With a deep sigh, he harshly wiped his cheeks with the back of his hand. And when he looked up at her, there was no trace of the previous vulnerability in his eyes. The expression on his face was as hard as steel, and his gaze was penetrating.

"And anyway, if you are done with your accusations, let me tell you about what I came here for. The paper you are holding is very much effective from now on. That means Aditya has to stay five miles away from her or he will be arrested," he said coldly and then stepped closer to her menacingly. "And if that happens, let me assure you, he won't get out of jail. So, it would be better for your son if he leaves this city and never comes back," Shravan said with a hard tone in his voice that left no room for objection.

With a last look at her, he stepped away from her and then moved towards the door.

"Shravan!" Nirmala called him out, but he stepped out the door without looking back or paying her to call any attention.

As he walked out, he didn't look back even though there was a part of him who wanted to turn back and tell her how she was the reason, directly or indirectly, of all the hurricanes and the destruction in his life, self-inflicted or otherwise. But he didn't turn back. As always, he left things to go unsaid...

* * * * *

Ramnaath paced around his son's room in tension. He had not slept a wink and from the second Shravan had walked away; he had been worried about him. Hundreds of horrifying images of something bad happening to his child haunted him, and tortured him, while he desperately tried to contact him.

When suddenly his phone rang, Ramnaath jumped to pick it up, so sure it must be his son. After all, Shravan couldn't stay angry at him for long. He always forgave and forgot his mistakes, ever since he was a child.

"Hello, Shravan?" He said without looking at the name on the display of his phone.

"Hello, Ramnaath?" It was Tiwari Ji instead.

"Tiwari Ji?" He asked and then with a tiring sigh realized it wasn't Shravan. Shaking his head, as he rubbed a hand on his face, he tried to let go of the disappointment to talk to his mentor who was very ill himself.

"How are you feeling now?" Ramnaath asked, guiltily.

All the while he had been trying to call Shravan all night - worried and concerned as he was - he had forgotten about how distressed his Guru must be feeling because of what had happened last night.

"I am fine, but you sound worried. What happened?" Tiwari Ji asked when he heard the tiredness in his voice.

"Shravan has been missing since last night. I don't even know where he is, how is he," Ramnaath whispered, melting as soon as he heard the concern in the voice of the man who had been his father figure.

"Shravan was here last night. And that is actually why I wanted to talk to you. Can you come home now?" Tiwari Ji asked with a sigh.

With a sigh of relief, the tension in his shoulder somewhat disappeared. He should have known that. Of course, Shravan would go to Suman. His son always ran to her whenever he wanted an escape from reality or if he was worried about something. It was Shravan's habit to do that, something he was aware of, but never he had ever commented on it. Not eleven years ago, not even now. There was a part of him that felt envious of the hold that the little child-woman had over his son, the influence she had always had over Shravan.

But for once, Ramnaath was more relieved that his child was safe and that he had spent last night somewhere safe, around someone who loved and cared for him, something needed after that the dark and destructive night last night had been for Shravan. Regret and guilt drowned him like never before, making him realize that there was nothing worse in this world than being the cause of the unhappiness of your own child's life. No agony was greater than the one he was feeling...

"Did you see him? Did you talk to him? Is he alright?" He asked hurriedly, "Did something happen, Tiwari Ji?" Ramnaath asked warily, his heart shaking at the possibility of something happening to his son.

"He is alright, Ramnaath. But it seems like you aren't. Come here, as soon as possible," Tiwari Ji said in a gentle yet commanding voice.

"Okay, I will be there soon," he said before ending the call.

Picking up his car key, ignoring the curious glances of his family, he almost ran out of the Malhotra mansion. Driving in a rush, he reached Tiwari Killa in less than an hour. As soon as he entered, he almost ran into Suman who was pacing right to left just before the main door as if she was waiting for someone.

Looking at her, the anger that his worry for Shravan had suppressed took over him once again. The reason why his child was now running away from him and didn't come home the whole night and the morning was now standing in front of him, glaring at him as he too, glared at her.

"You didn't do the right thing, Suman. You shouldn't have told him," he almost growled at her.

"No, Mr Ramnaath Malhotra, you should have never hidden things. Shravan had every right to know," she snapped at him.

"Where is he?" Ramnaath asked her with authority in his voice.

"He told me he was going to court. He is about to come back anytime now," she told him with a sigh.

"How is he?" Ramnaath asked her, not finding it him to look in her eyes.

"I don't know. He didn't talk much, but it felt as if he was broken enough to not even care about it anymore," she whispered as her eyes teared up.

"Will he be alright, Suman?" Ramnaath asked her as his voice quavered. He didn't know what it was that made him ask her that, but he wanted to know. He wanted her assurance.

"I hope so," she whispered. "There is nothing else I desire more than his healing and happiness. Wherever and whomever it lies with, I just want him to be fine..." she murmured, her voice nothing more than a whisper, while her eyes cried.

Hearing her say that, for the first time in his life, Ramnaath felt as if the goal of his life: his child's happiness - was someone else's goal too. For the first time, he felt connected to the child-woman standing in front of him because she was the only one apart from him who was praying and hoping for his son's well-being with all of her.

As he looked at her crying, yet unaware of the tears that were slipping from her eyes because she was too busy constantly looking at the door in Shravan's wait, Ramnaath felt regret like he had never felt before. He was sure the guilt he felt would suffocate him any moment now. His son was right, after all. Shravan was right in loving her, trusting her, in wanting her in his life. There has to be no other girl for him than her...

Ramnaath still saw Suman as a stubborn girl. She still was too independent, way too self-centered, way too Nirmala alike, but there was a side of her that he was seeing only now. A side of her that made him look at her in a new light, and could maybe even make him accept her as his son's would-be-wife because her heart was in the right place. She cared for Shravan as no other girl could. She wanted Shravan's happiness as no other girl would ever want. And that only made her the perfect girl for his son. And that realization struck him like a thunderbolt and suffocated him because it was he who pushed her away from his son.

Regret, guilt, dissatisfaction, and failures, that was all he had seen and felt in his life. Was there someone else in this world who felt more disgusted with themselves than Ramnaath was with himself at the moment? He wondered. Were these the only emotions he was destined to feel? He asked himself. Could he not do anything to repair the biggest mistake he ever committed? He wanted to know.

"Ramnaath?" a frail voice called him out, snapping him out of his thoughts. Looking up at the floor above from where the voice had come from, he found the same man who had been the source of light and reason in his life. His mentor, Raghuwar Tiwari, was always, there to guide him.

"Come up, Ramnaath," he ordered and moved away from the railing he was leaning on.

With a sigh, Ramnaath did what he was told. Walking away from the girl who was still looking at the door with worry marring her face, he took the stairs and walked into his mentor's room.

"Come sit, Ramnaath." Tiwari Ji told him.

"I am very disappointed by you," he was told in a cold tone and that made a shiver run down his spine. 

Did Shravan or Suman tell him? Did his mentor get to know what he had done with his favorite and dear granddaughter? Did he get to know what happened with Nirmala? As the fear of losing the love and pride his father figure had in him hit him, Ramnaath felt a node in his throat. Was he going to lose everyone because of what happened with Nirmala or what he had done to Suman in his attempt to protect his son? It seemed so...

"The truth is, Ramnaath, that I have realized that mine and your Law degree and years of experience mean nothing because we couldn't realize what was in front of our eyes all this while," Tiwari Ji continued with a deep sigh, making his head snapped up as he looked at him with confusion.

"What are you talking about, Tiwari Ji?" He asked, confused, and a little relieved.

"I am talking about Suman and Shravan," Tiwari Ji said before continuing, "I guess we committed this mistake because we have seen them together like that since forever and have gotten used to that sight. We are so used to seeing them together that we couldn't see what others could," he told him as he leaned back on the headboard of his bed.

"What happened last night confirms that they would want each other in their lives forever and it's not possible to find two people who would marry them but have no problem with the kind of friendship they both have," Tiwari Ji concluded with a sigh.

"I can't understand where you are taking this conversation, Tiwari Ji," Ramnaath said with a frown, yet hope was slowly growing in his heart.

"Shravan was here last night. I found him sleeping beside her as she tightly held his hand in hers," Tiwari Ji informed, making Ramnaath gasp.

"I know that they do deserve the trust we have in them, but that goes without saying that they both are way too involved in each other's life to be seen just as friends nor do they act like one. Now that I look back, I can see why Aditya had that misunderstanding," Tiwari Ji said as he thought of the sight he had witnessed in the morning when he had walked into his granddaughter's room.

"Despite being lawyers, we missed all the signs, Ramnaath," he said as he shook his head in disappointment. "I had been unnecessarily finding a nice groom for my Suman when the perfect one for her was right in front of my eyes," he said with regret in his voice. He should have had paid more attention and looked more closely, and more clearly.

"I would be honest with you, Ramnaath. After what happened with Aditya, I can't trust anyone else but Shravan with my Suman. Only he will keep her happy and he will protect her, cherish her the way she should be," Raghuwer Tiwari said with confidence in his voice.

"I know you too want a nice girl as Shravan's wife, someone who will be there for him, always. And I know Suman would always be at his side. She would never leave him alone," he continued with pride in his eyes.

"So, I have called you to ask from you your Shravan for my Suman. It may seem as if I am asking Shravan for her with so much attorney, but you can give your honest answer, whatever it may be," he said as he looked at his student, sitting on the edge of his bed with his head bent.

"What is your answer, Ramnaath," he asked him gently.

"Tiwari Ji, you once again just granted me the world," Ramnaath choked as he looked up at him, tears slipping from his eyes and the feeling of gratefulness filling his heart.

"If you hadn't said that, I would have asked for her, for my Shravan. There is no other girl than her, for him, I know that now," he quietly admitted.

"So, is this alliance formed?" Tiwari Ji asked him with a gentle smile.

"Yes, Tiwari Ji, nothing will make me happier," Ramnaath said with a content smile on his face as he wiped the tears away.

"We still have to talk to them, but we are going to give them no reason to say reject the proposal. Let's call Shravan and talk to them today itself," Tiwari Ji said in an excited tone. His eyes had a glint of happiness in them.

"Tiwari Ji, I think we should wait for some time. The events of last night are still fresh. Let's give both of them time to recover. They have to have a clear mind when we ask them so they won't feel as if we are imposing our will on them or they have to say yes because of what happened last night. This time around, they have to decide for themselves," Ramnaath said, wary of Suman and his son's reaction.

That should be his first attempt to learn from his past mistakes, he decided. He would not impose his will on Shravan and Suman this time around. He was clear in his head. He would let them take the step and only help them if they needed and asked for it...

"You are right, Ramnaath. I just want to see them together, married as soon as possible. Suman is very dear to me, more than her mother Priya herself was, and I just want to see her finally happy and content in her life," Tiwari Ji said with a sigh, longing in his eyes was clear as day.

"I want the same for Shravan, Tiwari Ji," Ramnaath spoke carefully as his heart prayed for his son's happiness, as well as the girl's with whom his son's happiness lied...

* * * *

Translation of the poem:

"The sunshine in winter, summer's sanctuary,
The first drop of rain,
A lovely village,
I don't know why whenever I look at you, I always think (of them)
I don't know why even your senseless talks make me fonder (of you)"

A/N:- A long and emotional update to make up for the tardiness... :D

I hope you all liked it...Please leave a comment or two to let me know how much Shravan made you cry along with him, for him... </3

Thank you for your support and encouragement! :)

Thank you! :)

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