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You said in a day but you didn't updated till now please update the next part as soon aa possible
Originally posted by: Spark.Shreya
Hi, well I am late again for the same reason:(
This update was just as authentic as all others. I think this realistic approach is the usp of your story .Totally loving it cuz every scene that you write is gradual and it takes the story ahead in the most natural way.This part took a little drift from SwaRon n I kind of missed their moments here but then having said that I feel it perfectly fits in with the present scenario. Sharon did need to get some fresh air forgetting about all this mess and what could have been a better distraction than college!,but poor girl,having a hard time there as well.That sudden outburst was unexpected but what Sharon said was right.Swayam should stop living in the past. I liked that hidden frustration behind her anger.She's already into him,quite much to not ignore it now. Swayam went without meeting her,felt sad about that..Rey and Taani surprised me. Especially Taani cuz she was so casual about the kiss. Lets see what lies ahead!A request ,more and longer Swaron scenes please,cuz you just write them so well..I am totally engrossed in reading them.Also plz update sooner cuz it really becomes difficult to wait,well thats how much I love this ff!..Shreya <3
Originally posted by: 3sisters
You said in a day but you didn't updated till now please update the next part as soon aa possible
Chapter 12 - A Cup of Tea
The following Monday Swayam came back from his Delhi trip. Sharon was in the college library, making notes. The semester exams would begin in a month and she had a lot to catch up on. When she got back, he had already freshened up and was unpacking.
Her face lit up when she saw him, "Hi, how was your trip?"
He looked tired. "Productive," he muttered, putting a bunch of neatly folded ties in the bag. What he was doing didn't look like unpacking. In fact it looked like he was repacking.
Sharon wanted to apologize for her outburst, 3 days ago. It was insensitive of her. She cleared her throat, "I wanted to say sorry for that day. I was rude and said something that I didn't mean about the Kria episode."
It's okay."
"No, it's not. That was really insensitive of me. In my defense, I was in a bad mood. My professor refused to let me submit an assignment so...," she trailed off.
"Like I said - it's really okay," he repeated.
Sharon nodded, "I have something else to say," this part would be hard, "About the Kria episode."
Swayam looked at her, "What?"
Sharon spoke apprehensively, "Your mom, she was involved."
Swayam shot her a confused look. Sharon took a deep breath and told him everything - her conversation with Kria and with Anjali.
Swayam looked lost in deep thought and didn't speak anything for some time.
"Are you okay?" she prodded.
"That is a lot of information to process," he commented, still pensive.
"I know, I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news," she replied apologetically.
"I wouldn't call that bad news," he replied, "a lot of things make sense now."
"So," she wondered, "what now?"
Swayam rubbed his eyes and craned his neck, "Now I need to pack. I have a flight to catch."
"Flight? You just got back."
He nodded, "I am going to London for 2 months. We have a new project there and I will be heading it."
"2 months, that's a long time...," she stuttered.
He gave a slight smile, "Why? Will you miss me?"
She bit her lip, "I... no..." she mumbled, her cheeks turning red.
"I should be heading for the airport," he said, looking at his watch. He called a staff member who took his suitcase.
Sharon stood still, with books in her hand. He was leaving for 2 months and she felt a pang of pain. He walked towards her, "About the other day, you know when you yelled, just forget about it."
Sharon nodded. He looked at his watch again, "I should be going."
"Yeah, you should."
But he stood there, in front of her, just a foot away.
"What?" she asked.
He didn't say anything. He leaned in and kissed her on her cheek, "Bye," he said softly and left the room.
Sharon remained motionless. He kissed her! On the cheeks but he did. That was one of the very few moments of intimacy that they had. She ran her finger over her cheek and closed her eyes, recalling the feeling of his lips on her skin. She gulped- these 2 months were going to be tougher than she had thought.
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They say absence makes the heart grow fonder. Sharon was experiencing this exact thing. She found herself thinking about Swayam. She realized she was missing him. Her mind kept going back to the day when he kissed her cheek. She smiled thinking about it and him.
As the days passed by, she became more and more engrossed in her studies. She assumed Swayam must be busy with his work. He used to text her sometimes - generic texts like "how was your day?" or about exam preparation and she would ask the same.
He had called her once. It was an awkward call to say the least. They made small talk and then there was silence on both sides of the line. She didn't really understand why he was calling her or texting her. Was he trying to make an effort? A part of her shrugged the thought off, another part hoped that that was the case.
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London in October was cold and grey. Contrary to general populace, Swayam liked this weather. Every evening he would walk from his office to his hotel suite. He got a lot of time to reflect on these walks and this time he had a lot on his plate to think about.
His mother's involvement and the deal that she made with Kria surprisingly didn't bother him much. He had always wondered till this date why she left him in a lurch and now he had an answer. He had closure now. He felt lighter, he felt free.
Sharon was instrumental in all this unraveling. He had opened up to her- the first person with whom he shared his inner most thoughts. She was the first person with whom he had a non-professional conversation in ages. He had done so because partly she had opened up to him, revealing her fear and partly because he just wanted to get it all out. 4 year of suffering in silence, of staying locked in a cage felt like suffocating and when he heard Kria and Rey's wedding news, he just couldn't take it anymore. Everything erupted.
Sharon had apologized for being rude to him. She had yelled at him to move on. She was right. Everyone around him was going ahead in their life and he was still looking back- stuck in the past. How many cherished moments he had missed out on due to this, he had lost his friends, his sister -Taani and mainly his desire to pursue his dreams- all because he couldn't accept the fact that Kria had left him.
The day when Sharon shouted the same thing, it jolted him. He was already thinking on the same lines but what she said made so much sense- Bad things, things out of one's control, happen all the time. That is life. One needs to make peace with it and move on. Move on- just a 2 word phrase, so simple yet so elusive.
Sharon... her image put a smile to his face. She had come in his life by chance- because of a deal. And now, he couldn't get her out of his head. He wanted to talk to her, hear her voice. He texted her a few times and called her too, over the days but couldn't get past the generic questions. "How are you?" "How are exams going?" "How's everyone at home?" were just the few questions he could muster up the courage to ask.
Swayam Shekhawat, who makes hostile deals and takeovers, couldn't tell his wife why he was really calling her. He missed her, how hard was it for him to say! After much deliberation, he made a conscious decision - he had wasted a lot of time dealing with his past. Now he wanted to focus on his present- which included Sharon.
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2 months later
Sharon was done with her first semester exams. She felt confident about getting a good score (she needed to get a good score). Those long hours in the library had paid off. These past 2 months, she had not talked properly to a single soul. The longest conversations she had were mostly with Taani, which lasted for a maximum of 5 minutes.
Her winter break was for a month. She made a mental note of catching up on all movies that had released and slacking off the entire day. Each portion of her body ached.
She entered the room, thinking of taking a nice bath and then a long nap when her eyes fell on the figure in front of her. It was Swayam. He was back.
She was so delighted to see him that without thinking she ran towards him and hugged him, "You are back!" she exclaimed, encircling her arms around him.
He smiled, "Seems like you missed me."
She released him from her grip, took a step back, and chuckled nervously
"I did," he said softly, almost a whisper or so Sharon thought.
Sharon raised her eye brows, "What did you say?"
"Nothing," he lied and changed the topic; "I am famished. What's there for dinner?"
"Mom, dad and Taani are out for an event. I was going to order Chinese. If you want I can ask the cook to make something for you," she replied.
"Chinese sounds good," he said.
She nodded and took out her cell to make the call.
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After dinner, Sharon picked up a pillow and blanket from the bed and headed to the couch. These past 2 months she had slept on the comfortable bed and now she was back to the couch. It wasn't that bad but not as squashy as the bed.
"You can sleep on the bed," came Swayam's voice.
Sharon turned, "where will you sleep then?"
"On the bed," he replied.
"Excuse me?"
"I mean," he started stammering, "Not... together."
Sharon looked at him, befuddled, "Are you fine?"
"Yes," he gave a nervous smile, "What I meant was it's a big bed. We can share it. Sleep on different sides."
Sharon felt him blushing. "Why are you being so nice?"
"Just realized certain things," he answered.
She replied jovially, "If I knew 2 months in London would change you, I would have sent you there earlier. Anyway I don't mind sleeping on the couch. But thanks for offering."
Sleeping on the bed had ruined her habit. She found the couch too small. She kept turning from one side to another for an hour but couldn't sleep. She sat up on the couch. It was 2 am. She looked over at the bed and saw that it was vacant. Swayam was standing in the balcony.
She walked over to him, "Not sleepy?"
He shook his head, "Jet lagged. It's 8:30 pm right now in London- too early for me to sleep."
"Do you want to have tea?" she suggested, "I'll make it."
"Okay," he accepted.
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"How weird is it that in 6 months of staying here, I have never been to the kitchen?" Sharon observed as she put the pan of water to boil.
Swayam was standing next to her. "I wanted to tell you something."
"What?" Sharon asked, adding the tea-leaves.
"These past 2 months, I have been reflecting a lot, especially on what you said the day I told you about Kria. And you are right. For so long I have been angry and in pain but I realized, and you helped me to, that it was because I was holding on to the past. When I started letting it go, I felt better and lighter, like a weight had been lifted from my heart," he explained.
"Wow," she exclaimed, "that's a heavy conversation to have over a cup of tea. We should have something stronger."
He smiled, "I thought you'd be happy."
"I am happy," She commented, "just trying to wrap my head around it."
"I wanted to thank you - for giving me that push and for being just being there," he said.
"You don't have to thank me," she replied modestly, "I didn't do anything."
"More than you know," he added, looking at her
She looked away from him. His gaze was making her nervous. "Umm... the tea is ready."
She poured it in 2 cups. "It's nice," Swayam said, taking a sip.
"My grandma, dadi used to make it exactly like this, especially on cold winter mornings." Sharon replied.
"Were you close to her?" he asked.
"I was her favorite grandchild," Sharon replied with childlike pride, "Rey was so jealous of me. Dadi named me after her mom, my great-grand mom."
"Your great grandma was named Sharon? A little too fancy for that time," he suggested.
Sharon shook her head, "No, her name was Sharanjeet. That's my real name. My mom was not a fan, so she modified it to Sharon when I started school."
Swayam looked at her, trying to suppress a smile, "So your name is Sharanjeet?"
Sharon glanced at him and realized he was at the verge of laughing, "Shut up!" she said, jovially.
This made Swayam laugh. It had been months, maybe years since he had laughed like this. It felt liberating.
Sharon smiled when she saw Swayam laugh. It was the first time she had heard the sound of his laughter- it was cheerful. She couldn't help beaming even though he was making fun of her. His laughter was so innocent, like a child's.
She leaned close to him and gave him a light peck on his lips. It lasted for a second. He stopped laughing and looked at her, in surprise. She was surprised at her own action. He looked so cute that she couldn't resist.
She started stuttering, "I am so sorry. I don't know why-"
Before she could complete her sentence, Swayam's lips were on hers. Her breath stuck at her throat as she felt his soft lips caress hers. She closed her eyes and parted her lips to deepen the kiss.
He encircled his arms around her waist pulling her firmly to him. She ran her hand through his hair and pulled him even closer. The kiss was gentle and slow, their lips were savoring each and every moment.
When they pulled apart, Sharon's heart was pounding against her ribcage and her mouth was dry. She was short of breath and so was he. The kiss felt blissful. Sharon had never been kissed before, it was her first kiss and it was everything she expected and hoped for.
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On reaching the room Swayam bolted the door. Sharon looked at him apprehensively. What now? She thought.
"So..." he began, "it's late."
"Yeah," she nodded.
He looked here and there, "You know... you could sleep... on the bed."
Sharon had a mischievous look in her eyes, "And do what exactly?" Her words amazed her. What was she saying! And what was she implying?
Swayam chuckled, "We could always talk."
She giggled, "Right."
He took a step closer to her, "Or... we could...," He didn't complete the sentence. He pulled her into his arms and held her tightly. She placed her hands around his shoulder.
"This is better," she said and closed the distance between them.
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