A man sat in the cafeteria, waiting for someone, idly playing with his fingers. He appeared out of place in his casual wear amidst others wearing office attire, indicating that he was an outsider and not part of the office staff.
Approaching him was a man in a crisp blue shirt. "I'm sorry, actually the meeting ended late, so..."
The man looked up, gave him a polite smile. "No problem, Mr. Malhotra."
"Drop these formalities. I don't know how many times I've told you to call me by my name. I'm hardly a year older than you, Ishan," Mr. Malhotra insisted.
Ishan smiled "You are my senior"
"I were your senior in college, now we are going to work together."
"We haven't decided on the deal," Ishan reminded.
"Yeah, the deal. What's your proposal this time?"
"Nothing new. As I mentioned on the phone call, I am now ready to do this project, but I have one condition."
"What condition?"
"You know that very well, Mr. Malhotra."
"So you are still not ready to draw faces?"
Ishan Kishan was an artist; he painted, the only thing he truly loved. However, he never drew faces except when he painted his mom's portrait because she was the only person he loved.
Ishan's childhood wasn't easy; his parents' relationship was toxic, resulting in their divorce when Ishan wasn't of legal age. He wanted to go with his mom, but his dad fought hard for his custody. One might think he did it out of love for Ishan, but that wasn't the case. He wanted Ishan for two reasons: to assert dominance over his wife and to secure Ishan as his heir.
His mom settled abroad and started her business there; she visited Ishan whenever she got time. Despite Ishan earning more than enough for himself, his mom didn't hesitate to spoil him.
"I was never ready to paint faces."
"But you..."
"Mr. Malhotra, I am not going to back off on this condition."
Mr. Malhotra sighed. "Okay, Ishan, but I also have a condition. I also won't stop persuading you to draw people."
"Do as you please," Ishan replied.
Mr. Malhotra, who had been Ishan's senior during their college and was now the CEO of Malhotra enterprises, wanted to organize an art gallery in collaboration with Ishan, a very renowned artist. He had been persuading him for months to do it, but he never thought that Ishan himself would come to him to say yes to the deal.
But what tempted Ishan to accept the deal? He was never short on money, so that couldn't be the reason.
As Ishan returned to his home—or rather, his apartment, as he wondered where home truly was now—the absence of the person who had made it feel like home weighed heavily on his heart. This feeling of emptiness had persisted every time he stepped into his house for the past four months.
He had decorated it with the hope of spending the rest of his life with HIM, but fate had other plans. Ishan's happiness was short-lived when his husband, Mayank, asked him for a divorce.
It was so sudden that Ishan thought he was dreaming. "Are you pranking me?" he asked Mayank, panicking inside.
"No, Ishan, I'm very much serious here! This..." He pointed towards Ishan and then at himself. "This is not working."
Ishan was so confused. They never fought; they surely had their arguments, or you could call them disagreements, but wasn't that what couples did?
For another two days, Ishan couldn't believe that what was happening was real. Mayank packed all his stuff and filed for divorce.
When Ishan was signing those divorce papers, he couldn't believe the whole situation. He never in his wildest dreams thought that he would be signing his and Mayank's divorce papers.
Ishan never claimed to love Mayank, but the idea of spending the rest of his life with him was never overwhelming for him. He thought he might end up falling for him, and even if not, then at least he liked him enough to spend the rest of his life.
But before Ishan could fall for Mayank, he shattered Ishan's world by giving him a divorce without any proper explanation. Mayank kept saying "this is not working between us," but what exactly wasn't working between them? Ishan didn't know.
Since the day Mayank left the apartment, Ishan didn't want to come here. It reminded him of all the happy times they shared with each other. Sometimes Ishan just passed out in a bar, and in the morning, he just went to his studio. Sometimes he just crashed at some friend's house. But on the days when he had to come here, the heaviness in his heart just increased.
Their divorce was still under process, which meant they were still husbands, but in name only. Ishan didn't talk to Mayank since the day he left. Hell, Ishan didn't even know where Mayank was right now.
And to distract himself and move on, he decided to accept Mr. Malhotra's offer. He had to give five paintings, which would be exhibited by Malhotra's enterprises in their ART gallery.
It was a fantastic opportunity for Ishan to expand his reach as an artist. But he couldn't care any less about that; he just wanted a distraction, that's it.
As he stood on the balcony of his room, feeling the cool breeze of the night hit his face, he saw some shadow, or maybe he was just imagining it? He looked at the clear sky with a crescent moon and let himself drown in the beauty of it, momentarily forgetting all his worries and pain.
~~~
If I end up fucking this story then please don't blame me, blame Beaut1io & ffsbby because these two pressured me to write this!
Also the main plot is based on an insta reel
It's a short story (If I ever end up completing it)
