A/N: Yeah baby, I am BACK! Sorry for being gone for so long... You know with all the exams...and I kind of lost track of the story. It took me a while to revive it all again so... Enjoy! Do tell me if you like it...
Chapter 14
The next morning, the prospect of going back on motorbikes all on their own seemed too tedious and exhausting to all of them. Biking was fun when it had started; now, they couldn't help but feel like cursing their past selves for making that god-awful decision. The boys and Sharon were woozy with the alcohol in their system showing effect, Sameera seemed too exhausted to even move, her eyes bloodshot; it felt as if she would collapse on the way downhill and slip off the bike to her death. Tani had bags beneath her eyes as if she couldn't sleep the whole night. Rey was in full on grumpy mode, making noises to make his disapproval known. There was an unusual silence while they all had their breakfast in the twins' room.
"So... we'll have to leave today by ten," Raghav reminded them albeit half-heartedly.
"Do we have to?" Govind grumbled, rolling about on the bed. Either one of Sameera and Tani, squished into one armchair to keep each other warm, made a distraught noise.
"Maybe a bit later," Shikhar said, with a hot cup pressed to his forehead, perched on a coffee table. "By the way, could anyone exchange seats? My ass is freezing."
The room resounded with murmurs of "Nope", "Sorry", "I'm good". Shikhar shrugged and went back to pressing mug on his head. By the end, everyone decided to leave for Leh after early lunch.
Sharon noticed Rey refused to utter a word or look at Tani who, even in the sleepy haze, kept throwing fervent looks in his direction. Maybe, Sharon deduced, they looked pretty much the same as Swayam and herself. Swayam was leaning against the door and refused to look at anyone, his eyes fixed on his cup.
Sharon mentally humph'ed at that. She was pretty sure that he was not looking for the meaning of life in the abyss of swirling dark liquid. He could definitely afford to look up.
"Well if that's it then, might as well sleep a bit more," Shikhar plonked himself on the top of Govind who muttered something muffled which sounded very much like "You're warm".
"So," Sharon huffed out, standing up, "I'm going to my room. You guys coming?" she asked the bundle of blankets on the armchair that was her two roommates.
"It's nice here," one of them mumbled. Sharon rolled her eyes but couldn't help finding it just a bit adorable.
She strolled out of the room, not blinking away from Swayam, who now looked her straight in the eye, but his expression still unreadable. He moved out of the way, opening the door for her, followed by a stiff Thank you' from Sharon's side. Sharon took one step out gripping the door, when she felt her little finger interlocked with Swayam's. She snapped her head in his direction to see him look forward with a blank stare and soon he dropped his hand.
Puzzled, Sharon clumsily walked out of the room. The cool air hit her immediately, the temperature difference hitting her hard. Wrapping her hand tightly around her two layers of sweater and sweatshirt, she brisk walked to her room.
Sharon quickly shut the door behind her and plunked down on her bed, squeezing her eyes and pressing her cold palms in her eyeballs. She really needed to start using gloves but well, it felt good on her burning eyeballs, somehow.
Sharon was confused. What did all of this mean? Whatever happened last night, and then Swayam's downright ignoring and then the little touch, which felt a lot like reassurance but she was too scared to take it that way.
She didn't know how long she had been sitting that way, but she heard a soft but firm knock on the door. Sharon peeked up, hoping it was Swayam. She almost jumped from her seat to the door and opened the door and she let out a relieved sigh seeing it was indeed Swayam.
"May I come in?" he asked, looking around.
"Sure," Sharon moved aside to let him in. She knew she wanted this but now that it was happening, she could feel her heart beating in her chest, almost threatening to jump out of its ribcage and it was so silent in the room that Sharon actually felt worried that Swayam would be able to feel her heart beat like a hummingbird even from a distance.
"So?" Sharon hinted.
Swayam who had been pacing with his hand in his hair pulling at the strands, now froze and glanced up with the look of utter foreboding. He took a deep breath in and out and his face reflected the dilemma of wavering determination.
Sharon decided to ease him. "You want to talk about last night?" she asked him softly.
Swayam pushed out a heavy breath from his lungs and his body crumpled like a puppet without strings. He crouched down on the bed curling around himself as though trying to protect his heart from some damage.
"Yes," he finally blurted out, but paused again.
After a beat of silence, Sharon cleared her throat, "You have to make it quick. I don't know how long the girls are going to stay in that room. So I guess you better hurry."
Swayam squeezed his eyes shut before he opened them, raising his head to Sharon. "I... I honestly don't know what to say. I know I need to talk about it before... I don't know what... but there are some things we need to get cleared out... I guess."
"Like what?" Sharon pressed.
"Sharon..." he sighed, making it sound like a curse on him, shaking his head. "You are engaged."
Sharon's heart sank. So he wanted to end... whatever it was between them. "Yes."
"And last night was... wrong to every level."
"Well," Sharon shrugged, "for some reason I don't regret it."
Swayam gaped at her, incredulity written all over his face, "What? You don't regret it? Sharon, you're about to get married. Whatever happened last night was... you... you cheated on Rey, Sharon," he ended, scandalised.
"What do you mean I cheated on him? You are equally to blame," Sharon exclaimed indignantly.
"That's not the point, Sharon, and you know it," Swayam snapped, glaring.
"Fine," Sharon claimed, lifting her palms for emphasis, "Fine, I did. So what am I supposed to do now? What do you want me to do now?"
Swayam shook his head, with an expression of pure disbelief. "I don't understand the two of you. You two are about to get married and the groom tries to woo his ex-girlfriend back and the bride gets off with said ex-girlfriend's brother. That's... that's so twisted... what even are you two? Do you take matrimony to be some kind of joke?"
Sharon felt like Swayam had just slapped her right in the face. So, he wanted to play the blame game, was it? Bring it on! "If you're here to make me feel cheap, you may leave Swayam. And stop making it seem as though all of this is my fault. Where was all this righteousness last night, huh?"
"I am not the one getting married here," Swayam retaliated.
"So that gives you the right to get it on with just about anyone, does it? Who the hell are you to do that? No listen to me," Sharon snapped when Swayam turned away from her, "in case you don't remember, I was in a very vulnerable state right then. You took advantage of that fact-"
"Oh, so is that supposed to mean, you would jump on any person who would show you sympathy?" Swayam interrupted her, taking a step towards her.
"And apparently you would allow any person to jump on you, as long as you can get it on, isn't it?" Sharon spit out. "Stop pretending to be a saint, Swayam. Stop trying to lift yourself in your own eyes. You are just as disgusting as I am."
"I... you don't understand," Swayam murmured, "It's... it's complicated. I... I don't say what I did was right but you were there... with me after..." he shook his head, "and I had this huge crush on you when we were in college and-"
"Wait...," Swayam stopped talking to look at Sharon who stared at him, eyes wide, "Does that mean you were just living out your teenage fantasy last night? That you were just getting it done with... like closure or whatever...? And there I was..." Sharon tugged at her hair strands glaring around wildly.
Swayam stayed quiet. This was as good explanation as any he could provide to get out of whatever mess they were. He was sure that was nowhere near the truth but he didn't correct her, he couldn't. For her sake.
Sharon was glaring at him like he was the most disgusting thing she had ever seen. "I was so stupid to think... I can't believe...," Swayam sighed as he watched Sharon's eyes glisten. In no world had he ever imagined breaking Sharon's heart but he stood where he was letting his stupid dreams, his pathetic heart get shattered, watching everything, feeling everything.
He had not expected it when he felt a fist collide with his jaw, making him spin sideways and stumble backwards. He almost welcomed the sting though, serves him right. "You're... you..." Sharon pushed him hard, yelling, "Get out!"
Sharon kept screaming at the top of her voice, over Swayam's warning tone, "Sharon! Sharon!"
Swayam finally moved forward to cup her head from back and cover her mouth with other. That spurred Sharon angrily and she began relentlessly hitting him, scratching him.
"Calm down, Sharon, Sharon!" Sharon finally froze, glaring at him. "Calm down. It's a very quiet place, if you keep screaming, someone is bound to come in, asking about what is going on."
Sharon jerked out of his grasp and moved back. "Get lost!" She hissed. "Get out."
Honestly, Swayam had no expectations from this discussion. He had only hoped he wouldn't end up hating himself which turned out to be a lost hope. Swayam cast one look at her, trying to sear the living image of hatred on his brain forever, feeling his heart physically hurt as he turned around and walked out of the room.
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