Periods, Pyaar And Patriarchy

Chapter Twenty-four

"I refuse to believe you're sleeping, Shweta!" Shruti says, for what must be the third time. Shweta who is in fact very much not asleep under the bedcovers pulls them tighter against her own face. Why couldn't her sister just leave her alone? She doesn't make a sound hoping that her sister leaves, believing that Shweta was asleep.

"Come on, Shweta! You're not asleep and we both know that." Shruti says, getting exasperated as she holds her phone in her hand. "And I want an explanation as to why I'm receiving calls from your boyfriend at three am in the morning!"

Shweta cringes. She hadn't switched her phone on the past day as well and now, it had led Vaibhav to call her sister. Apparently, the only thing he seemed to have asked according to Shruti's annoyed rant was if Shweta was okay. At three am, something Shruti didn't really approve of.

"Shweta." She says, warningly. "If you don't tell me now, I'm going to scream and land both of us in trouble."

"Fine," Shweta says, as she sits up on the bed. "It's hard not be awake if you're going to start your monologue at 3:00 in the morning, while I'm sleeping." She grumbles.

"I didn't start the monologue first," Shruti says, thrusting her phone at Shweta's hand. "He did. And if you had any sense in you, you'd know better than to ghost a guy you've known for four years, now!"

"I'm not ghosting him." Shweta says, "I'm just taking some space and time for myself."

"Except that you should probably inform him so he doesn't descend into a frenzy thinking you're dead!" Shruti glares at her with her puffy, sleep-deprived eyes.

"Well, if he had any common sense, he'd realize that it was exactly what he did when he was on the trek! I'd probably have been the last person to find out he was dead too!" Shweta whispers angrily.

"Look, I'm the last person to be an advocate for your boyfriend but at least he'd informed you that he was on his trip." Shruti rolls her eyes. "You just went missing on him, Shweta. There's a difference."

"I don't want to talk to him," Shweta says, stubbornly. It had been such a nice afternoon with Bhavya and she had been looking forward to having at least a few days before she started crying again. But no, now she wanted to cry this very minute.

"Then tell him that," Shruti says, meaningfully thrusting the phone at her sister.

Shweta sighs, as she takes the phone from her sister. She stares at the number on the screen, Vaibhav's number. Shruti didn't have him saved as a contact so it was just a bunch of digits on the screen. She presses the number. The phone rings for exactly three rings before Vaibhav picks it up.

"Hello." He says, hopefully. Calling Shweta's scary sister had been a shot in the dark but at least he'd reached her.

"Hello," Shweta says, her heart lifted a little when she hears his voice despite the sting of his betrayal.

"Shweta." He says, his voice sounding raw. Like he'd been screaming himself hoarse. "How are you?"

"It's just." Shweta forces herself to say. "Now's not a good time, Vaibhav. Can I talk to you some other time?"

"Shweta, please." He says, "Just tell me, we're not breaking up. At least not like this."

"No, no," Shweta says, glad that he was hurting over the idea of the separation too. "I just, I need a bit of space."

"Shweta." He says the hurt in his voice is very, very evident. But what was he expecting her to do? Pull him close after all he'd done was push her away? "Okay. Just, please don't block me out like that again, okay?"