#TejRan: Angsty Shots

Nostalgia - Part 2

Karan stood frozen on his spot.

The same spot where the glass washroom gave him a shocking visual of Tejasswi, facing the wall, drenched under the running shower, wearing her nightdress intact - crying inconsolably.

On one hand he was coming to her, blushing & reminiscing the beginning of their journey together.. cut to him seeing her breaking down in front of him.
Something broke in Karan too.

He recalled their fight earlier. For him it was such a stupid fight. How did that lead them here? How did that lead her to cry like this under the shower?

He shook his thoughts and took baby steps towards her. The crying in adjunct to the sound from the running shower deafened her to hear his approaching footsteps, making her oblivious to his presence in the bathroom.

In the softest voice possible, he called out her name.. "Teju?"

Teju's sobbing stopped suddenly and she turned around, only to see his saddened gaze on her.

"Sunny?" She called him back meekly.

Karan's gaze was unshakeable. He kept looking into her eyes, trying to find an answer to his question in her tear filled orbs.. *Why?*

The intensity of his piercing look was too much for Teju to take. Even the droplets of water weighing down his eyelashes under the shower couldn't stop his intent gaze on her. She cut the eye contact unable to continue any further and hung her head down. Karan cupped her left cheek with his right palm and made her look at him again.

He kept looking at her without uttering a word off his mouth. His left hand snaked her waist and he pulled her closer to his body. Not even an inch of a gap between them, their eye contact intact.

Karan now cupped both her cheeks, touching their foreheads together finally closing his eyes, trying to feel her.. her emotions.

Teju's patience gave up and she landed on his chest trying to hug him the tightest with her little hands. Karan kept one hand on her head, pulling her closer with his other hand, his face in her neck. A lone tear escaped both their eyes as they tried to feel each other in their arms during under the cold running water.

After a considerable amount of time Karan broke the hug, still keeping his forehead on hers and asked -
"Raat ke 2 baje pool band ho gaye toh tu shower mein kood gayi?"

Teju's face had the slightest smile hearing him, even though she tried her best to hide it.

Karan kissed her forehead, almost vulnerably. He kissed her eyes, her nose. Then he made her look at him. His eyes conveyed everything to Teju what he was trying hard to, but couldn't find words for. She kissed his hand and hugged his chest again.

Karan pushed down the knob of the shower and lifted her up walking out of the cubicle. He made her stand near the towels on the bathmat.

Opening the buttons of her wet nightsuit he pulled the shirt off her soaking body. Teju didnt stop him. He then knelt to pull her shorts down and lifted her legs up one after the other to take them off. Then he got up and pulled a bath towel and wrapped her entire body in that towel. He took another towel and wrapped it around her head and massaged it to dry her wet hair. Teju held the towel around her body with one hand and let him dry her hair looking at him continuously.

Once he was done, he stepped out of the washroom and went to his walk in closet to get her a fresh set of night clothes.

Teju watched him retreat from the bathroom, staring at the door entrance until he came back.

Karan kept the clothes on the slab and pulled the towel off to wipe the rest of her body. He made her wear her clothes one by one and once he was done, he switched on the hair dryer. Teju held his hand which attempted to grab her hair and pointed towards his own wet clothes. Karan paid no heed to her and pulled her to start with the drying process. He patiently blow-dried her hair section by section and then switched off the dryer.

Karan gestured Teju to go outside and wait while he changed. Teju agreed without a word and went out, locking the door behind her.

Karan looked at his reflection in the mirror. He sighed, staring at himself.. his wet clothes and then the cubicle. His eyes watered remembering the last 10 minutes.

Soon he shrugged his thoughts and pulled off his t-shirt to change.

Karan came out of the washroom in fresh clothes and looked for Teju. She wasn't in the walk in closet. He looked inside the bedroom, and then the attached balcony.. She wasn't there.

He went out to the living room and saw her sitting at the dining table.

Karan sighed in relief and went to her. He pulled her chair out, bent down, held her waist with both his hands and picked her up, hugging her.

Teju wrapped her legs around his waist, face in his neck while he carried her in the same manner towards the microwave.

Karan held her with one hand around her waist and the other serving food in a single plate. Opening the microwave door, he put the plate inside and set the timer to 1 minute 30 seconds.

After he was done he put both his arms around her and walked backwards to rest his body against the kitchen slab while she maintained her position clutching onto him even tighter. He ran his hand up and down her back and kept kissing her shoulder, her hair and her cheeks from time to time.

When the timer went off, he walked towards with microwave again with Teju still hanging onto him and pulled the plate out. He walked towards the dining table, kept the plate down.. and sat down on the chair with Teju on his lap, still hugging him.

"Teju, food." Karan said softly.

Teju cutely nodded no against his neck, still not ready to break the hug.

Karan pulled her, looked into her eyes and kissed her nose. He then grabbed the spoon and fed her the first bite. Teju started eating the food and pulled the spoon from him to feed him the next bite. Karan opened his mouth to eat the food holding her wrist and looked into her eyes.

They kept taking turns to feed each other and soon enough the plate was empty.

He got up from the chair supporting Teju while she latched onto him again and he walked towards the kitchen to keep the plate in the sink. Then he proceeded towards their bedroom and kept Teju down on the bed. He passed her the bottle of water from the side table, waited for Teju to finish drinking and kept the bottle back laying next to her.

Pulling Teju completely to himself he faced her and asked finally..
"Kyu royi tu?.. vo bhi aise?"

Teju broke the eye contact and stared at his chest. Karan pulled her chin up and asked again..
"Laddoo? Kyu royi? Bata.."

Teja didn't know what to say. She genuinely didn't.

She answered softly.. "I dont know.."

"You do. Pata hai tujhe. Bol?"
Karan stayed adamant.

Teju's eyes watered.

Karan cupped her face and asked again.
"Baby? Please?"

Karan was desperate. He needed to know what made her do this all of a sudden. They had a fight.. Yes. They were rude to each other, shouted at each other.. Yes. He walked out of the house.. Yes. She was hurt with him.. Yes. But the reasons were not as massive to make her cry in the shower at 2 in the night with her clothes still on. No. This part didn't make any sense. It didn't. Something was missing. She was thinking.. overthinking.. something.
But what? He needed to know.

"Teju?" He pleaded.

"Sunny..." Teju finally spoke.

"Hmm..?" Karan waited for her to continue.

"Do you.. Regret me?"