Chapitre 75: Chapter 74
"Charan…" Shreya called out for him.
After dinner, Shreya was dragged in by her aunt to help her with some bank issues. It was so painfully obvious that it was an excuse to let Anand uncle and Charan talk alone. After all, to Anand, everything Bhagya ever said is more than an imperial command. So he wouldn't have said no to her if she had asked Anand to help her. But then Shreya just played dumb and helped her anyway.
But as soon as she got back, Charan was already ready to leave. He said his goodbye as soon as she joined his aunt and uncle in the living room and was out of the house in 5 minutes. Shreya did not have any chance to talk to him. So she had asked him to wait for her at her apartment.
She wanted to talk to him before he went back to his mum's place. But when she entered the apartment, she was met with darkness and pin-drop silence. So she was now not sure whether he had received her message or not.
But before she could call out for him again, she was engulfed into a pair of warm arms stark contrast to the chillness outside. Shreya nuzzled in immediately and asked in a very small voice, "Did he say something hurtful?? Please don't take his words to heart… he is just a tad bit overprotective. He will come around eventually…" She comforted him worried before even knowing what had happened between Anand and Charan in the living room before she came.
Charan frowned confused. "Did you not ask your uncle what he said??"
"No, he stubbornly refused to give me an answer when I asked him, saying this was his revenge or something for siding with you before the dinner." Shreya muttered slightly frustrated but then asked in a meek voice without giving Charan the chance to talk, "He did not say anything mean right??" Her voice was laced with concern. Even though the chances of Anand saying something mean to someone she cared about is pretty slim she was still concerned because she knew how overprotective Anand was. But even if Anand did say something mean to Charan, she knew she would never be able to go and question his uncle. She loved him way too much to do that.
But more than that, maybe if she had her parents, she would have had the courage to do that and stand up for Charan against them, but after losing her parents, somewhere in her thirst for parental love and a family she completely lost that courage. Unknown to herself in spite of all the efforts taken by Bhagya and Anand to make her feel belonged insecurities crept in her heart
She never had the courage to tell Bhagya her food preferences let alone question Anand about his behavior to her boyfriend. She might look all high and mighty on the outside. She might even pretend to threaten and tease her uncle, but under all those, she never got over that one fear that unknowingly latched on to her and spread through her like a virus.
'What if I say or do something that they don't like and they stopped loving me?? Then I will become an orphan'
This fear paralyzed her to the point where she stopped seeing reason. She never even stopped to think whether Anand and Bhagya were someone that petty or that callous and uncaring. For Bhagya and Anand, Shreya was as good as their own child. Anand would proudly call her his first daughter even when Adithya- (Shreya's dad) was still around. But then Adithya would also call Akash and Bhavna ( - Anand's youngest child) his own kids too. But after losing Adithya and Susmitha- (Shreya's mom), Anand took it upon himself to be there for Shreya. Some times, he treated Shreya more than his own child but that never affected Bhavna and Akash since they did the same. It was almost like the whole family tried to overcompensate her for losing her parents.
Shreya was not really oblivious to this. But even after knowing she couldn't really control her broken paranoid heart from being afraid.
Charan pulled away from the hug. And when his eyes landed on hers, he could see some sort of complicated and painful emotion pass through her as if someone is asking her a choose one of her hands over the other.
"Hey… stop overthinking okay… He did not say anything mean. In fact, he actually hugged me and asked me to take good care of you!!" Charan said with the brightest smile.
Shreya looked up shocked at first but then her brows frowned in suspicion. She looked at him keenly to see whether he was lying but when she found his clear eyes, all her anxiety from the past hour vanished in a second. She felt so relieved that her legs gave out. That is when she actually knew how anxious she herself had been.
Charan caught her immediately while Shreya just tightly held on to his neck without letting go. Since they were still at the entrance of the apartment, Charan lifted her on his hips and carried her to the living room and sat on the couch.
Charan tried to pull her away wanting to look at her but then Shreya stubbornly refused to let go. Resigned, Charan spoke against her shoulders and asked her, "hey… what is it??" He was confused. He did not understand what was going on.
Shreya stayed quiet for a long time but then she pulled away at last and sat on his laps properly. She then took his hands in hers and started talking.
"I just… I am just so so glad he agreed. I really don't know what I would have done if he did not approve." The vulnerability in her voice was very apparent. She looked straight into his eyes and continued without a pause. She spoke the words that literally took his breath away without really realizing what she was doing to him.
"I love you, Charan. I do. And I love Akira more. But my aunt and uncle… they are just so much more. I wouldn't know how to smile without them… I can't lose them Charan… for any reason!!"
Cadeaux
-- Cadeau
reçu État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone