Page 33 of That Same Old Love

Ananya was having the most horrible week ever. Two weeks ago her brother unpleasantly surprised her about his serious relationship with Mahi. Although she didn’t hate Mahi like she did during their college days, she still found her to be a painful reminder on what was wrong with her own marriage.

And adding to the misery, Disha had sent her a message three days ago that she had seen Sidhu come out from someone’s house very early in the morning along with a strange woman looking disheveled.

She would never suspect Sidhu of cheating on her, but she had probably pushed him to his limits.

It had been almost close to five weeks since she had left Sidhu and their home, it was the longest they had been apart without having any intimacy.

Maybe any man would be driven to cheat their irrational spouses who gave them a green signal to do so with their blessing.

Sidhu had been visiting that house often according to Disha, who lived in the same gated community as Anita.

Letting go of her pride, she followed Sidhu the previous day and saw him enter the house just like Disha had informed her and saw a woman along with him.

Even though she more or less caught him entering that house red-handed, she didn’t confront him that day.

She drove back home with a broken heart.

She was crushed and then outraged. She was outraged that he had given up on their marriage so easily and moved on.

Sure he called her multiple times a day these past five weeks and she didn’t answer his calls, but she wanted him to fight harder.

Make her feel that she was worth it and make her feel that he wanted her.

“I’ll kill him!” she choked on the phone while talking to Disha who had eventually sympathized with her from the past three days. Before that, Disha called her silly and overdramatic for leaving Sidhu.

“Take some deep breaths and listen Anu. In through the nose and out from the mouth,” Disha instructed through the speaker phone. “You have got to confront him and demand him for answers.”

That morning Ananya was going to confront Sidhu once and for all. She would demand answers and maybe bring their never ending limbo to a resolution.

As she went towards the dining table, she saw that Mahi was already there with Samrat making disgustingly mushy expressions at each other.

In the past two weeks, Mahi had badgered her to form a somewhat reluctant friendship of sorts. She still didn’t like Mahi like a best friend or anything, but for her brother’s sake she extended that olive branch. And Mahi being Mahi, grabbed the branch and then sat on the tree, refusing to let go.

Mahi had been pretty good with Srishti as well.

For some reason Srishti behaved very differently when Mahi was around, she behaved like the sweet little girl that she used be before all the tensions at home began.

Srishti had spent a few days and weekends with her and they spent some quality mother-daughter time strengthening their bond.

Mahi often ate dinner with them. Last week something memorable had happened. Mahi had made her break a long term self-imposed restriction.

“Hey Ananya, you would like to try some of these and give me your feedback? I made my special ground chicken potstickers,” Mahi asked her when she joined her brother and Mahi for dinner.

“I don’t eat non-vegetarian food,” she replied, staring longingly at them since they smelled very good.

Mahi looked thoughtful. “Really? That’s strange, Samrat eats meat like it’s nobody’s business,” she said looking affectionately towards him.

She fidgeted a little, seeing Mahi and her brother together. Although she hadn’t caught them doing anything in front of her, she could not miss seeing some faint marks on Mahi’s neck that were clearly hickies. She wasn’t a naive fool to think that their relationship was platonic.

“I gave up eating non-veg food when I got married,” she replied irritably.

“Wait. Sidhu made you give up meat? That doesn’t sound like him. I literally used to try and order only meat dishes during college because those were the only things he wouldn’t grab and eat from me,” said Mahi with a frown.

Immediately Mahi’s expression changed as though she realized that maybe a reminder of Mahi’s and Sidhu’s past relationship wasn’t the best idea.

But she wasn’t upset by the reference, and had seen Mahi and Sidhu at their college cafeteria often to know they shared their food. That had been more than a decade ago.

“No. Sidhu didn’t ask me to. I offered to do so, on my own,” she said.

Mahi and Samrat looked at each other briefly.

“Oookayyy then. But hey since you are pissed at him, would you like to try some?” asked Mahi, tempting her by literally waving a fork with a potsticker on it under her nose.

She bit her lips and hesitated for a few seconds before reaching out for one and taking a bite.

The hot, spicy and slightly chewy potsticker literally melted in her mouth and she felt so good.

While the potsticker was tasty enough, she felt overwhelmed with happiness by the fact that she was able to break her self-imposed restrictions that wasn’t even demanded in the first place.

Ananya shook her head at the memory and focused on that morning’s mission.

“Hey Ananya. What’s the occasion? You’re dressed to kill this morning in your sexy sari,” commented Mahi, grinning.

She ignored Mahi’s comment about her attire, since she was embarrassed that she deliberately wore the sari knowing Sidhu went crazy whenever he saw her in low cut sleeveless blouses with chiffon saris. “No occasion. Just meeting some friends for lunch later,” she said and greeted her brother.

“Then why do you look angry?” Mahi asked.

“I’m not angry,” she said, sounding angry.

Mahi had a thoughtful expression and then smiled. “You are meeting Sidhu today, aren’t you?”

She was annoyed at Mahi’s deduction, which was accurate.

When she got back from following Sidhu, she had spoken on her speaker phone to her friends from the living room because she was bent over on the sofa taking deep breaths through her mouth.

Mahi could hear her from the dining room and asked her about it.

She had been too overwrought and confessed about what Sidhu had done. As usual Mahi scoffed her concerns away and told her that Sidhu loved his wife deeply.

“Anu, are you finally getting back together with Sidhu?” asked her brother, smiling.

Most of his happiness must stem from the fact that he was imagining having the house to himself and Mahi. Even though they had announced that they were in a relationship, Mahi didn’t spend the nights in her brother’s home. They spent all of them at Mahi’s home. She found that somewhat sweet.

“No. I’m not getting back with Sidhu. I-I caught him cheating on me. I’m confronting him today to demand some answers.”

“You caught him cheating? How?” her brother asked with a frown.

“Ananya followed her husband yesterday like a stalker,” said Mahi, smiling wryly.

“Like I had a choice.” Her tone sounded defensive.

“Yeah, good point. Simply talking or asking Sidhu would have been wa-a-y too complicated,” said Mahi, earning a scowl from her.

But Mahi grinned at the scowl. “God! Both you and your brother have the same matching scowls,” she said and earned a mock scowl from her brother.