Those Same Old Desires (Match Made In Hell Book 2)

by KASI, MV

  She laughed remembering those times. Sidhu used to say "Sorry my sweetie," and order another dish for her and promptly finish that too before she had eaten enough. She indulged him often, but when she was too hungry, she simply ordered non-vegetarian dishes that he didn't eat.

  "I have some more vadas. Just made a few batches since I got a sudden craving."

  "Sure. I would love some, if you don't mind. I'm sorry, it's one of my favorite and only Anu knows how to make the best South Indian chutneys in my house. Since she has been gone, I have been craving for some homemade tiffins."

  Mahi nodded smiling at his shameless self-invite. She got him another plate full of vadas which he proceeded to eat quickly.

  "So what's happening between you and Ananya? I don't want to pry, but since you are here; I wanted to ask you if I can help in anyway. Not that I'm in anyway qualified to give marriage advice."

  Sidhu finished eating and sighed loudly.

  "She thinks I'm still in love with you and wants you and me to rekindle our romance," he told her with a pained expression.

  Mahi frowned. "Is she crazy? Why would she think that? Since I've gotten back, we barely met once."

  "I know! But somehow she has gotten it into her head that I am not over you."

  She was surprised. "Why haven't you clarified it to her then? Do you not tell her that you love her?"

  Sidhu looked frustrated. "I have been telling her that I love her each and every day. She's mad to think that I don't love her,"

  Mahi looked thoughtful. "Maybe it's not enough. Sometimes you need to be more convincing. Talk is cheap."

  She remembered how telling someone you loved them wasn't enough. Dinesh had yelled, abused, and then hit her sometimes only to apologize later saying that he loved her. It didn't mean anything. In fact she hated hearing that word from his mouth.

  Sidhu looked annoyed. "What? That doesn't even make any sense. And what would you know about love anyway?" he said and scoffed loudly.

  At that remark, both of them froze and felt the atmosphere in the room shift. Rather than remember their happy memories together, they recalled the time when she abandoned him callously and then his anguish later.

  Mahi looked stricken. "Sidhu...I know this is coming out way too late, but I'm sorry for what I did to you. There is just no excuse for what I did. But...I didn't break up with you properly because I just didn't think I would be able to give you up that easily. I knew that if I saw you or even heard your voice, I would break down and refuse to do what my parents wanted me to do. It was one of the hardest and the most cowardly thing I have ever done to a person, and I'm ashamed that I did that to someone I had loved with all my heart," she said, looking at him imploringly.

  Sidhu knew he didn't love Mahi anymore, but he was never able to get over her betrayal. He wanted some kind of closure that would allow him to be free of the painful memories.

  "After you left me, did you ever think of me Mahi? Did you ever feel the same pain as I did?"

  Mahi looked at Sidhu, and flinched at the pain she saw as he recalled those memories. "Yes Sidhu. I did think of you. I thought about you for a very, very long time...you have no idea how much and for how long..."

  He scoffed. "Yes. You must have thought about me as a fool you spent your college days to pass your time with."

  Mahi shook her head. "No Sidhu. I did think of you in spite of wanting to forget you very badly. You haunted me for a very very long time... "

  She looked him in the eye. "Each time my husband abused me...I missed you very badly...I kept thinking that my Sidhu would have treated me with respect and love. And each time I miscarried and was left alone to mourn by myself...I missed you even more...I kept thinking that...my Sidhu would have hugged me, consoled me, and then mourned the loss of our baby together with me...I even chose another man to have a relationship with, only because he reminded me so much of you, and I wanted to so badly redo and wipe away my mistake of giving you up."

  Mahi saw the horrified pity in Sidhu's eyes after she told him about her shitty life experiences during her marriage.

  She smiled sadly. "But I stopped missing you or thinking about you the day my son was born. As I held him in my arms, I let go of your ghost to move on, and I had room only for him in my heart. I was happy and didn't need anyone else to take care of him or me. My son passed away eventually, but he left me enough memories to fill my heart."

  Sidhu felt bad for the proud and brave woman in front of him. Mahi had been so spirited and full of life when they were together. Listening to her life experiences made him feel petty, especially considering how quickly and how deeply he had fallen in love with Ananya.

  "I'm sorry Mahi. I didn't mean to remind you of your painful memories."

  "That's okay. I just wanted to apologize to you on what I did to you so I can clear part of my conscience."

  He nodded. "It was a long time ago Mahi. We were young then and we all make mistakes. I had forgiven you a while ago."

  She smiled at him. "I knew you would. And enough of my pity party. So tell me why you are actually here, then?"

  "I already told you—"

  "Sidhant Shah, I know all about your plans and schemes remember? We were both like two peas in the same pod. The only difference was that your schemes and actions weren't malicious or mean spirited. You were always pulling some or other silly tricks on me during our time together. Now spill," Mahi said firmly.

  Sidhu shook his head smiling at her accurate deductions, although most of the current plan had been Samrat's idea. Sidhu was just going to take it a step further to get Anu to react more. His mere presence wasn't going to get Anu to react as much as what he was about to do later.

  "Nothing, Mahi. I uh just needed some advice from a friend on how to convince Anu to get back to me."

  Mahi narrowed her eyes at him, not buying his bullshit. "Okay. So anyway, if you really love your wife, why would she suspect you still have feelings for me?" she asked him curiously.

  Sidhu looked frustrated. "I don't know. I loved you when we were together. And with you, my love started with an attraction and then it was more of being with a similar likeminded person who wanted to escape our stifling families.

  But with Anu, it was different.

  When Anu and I got married; I started to fall in love with her almost immediately. She was so brave and courageous; she didn't really want to escape from life or reality even when it was rough for her. She had the most difficult pregnancy and childbirth, but she never even complained once. She was pregnant and huge with my child in her stomach during her last year of college, but she still attended classes and gave all her exams. She got along with the most difficult people from my family and tolerates them by living in a joint family.

  She did all this while raising our child and managing a successful career for herself. She is such a brave and strong partner who is also soft and desirable at the same time."

  Mahi smiled at the awe and love she saw in Sidhu's eyes when he spoke about Ananya.

  "Then tell her all that you fool. Women want specifics. Tell her that and then convince her that there can be no one else than her in your life," Mahi suggested.

  Sidhu nodded and checked his phone for messages. "I need to leave now. Thank you for the food and for listening to me."

  "Anytime, Sidhu. I'm relieved as well that we both have gotten our closures. I sincerely want you to be happy with Ananya. And I've already met Srishti. She's a great girl. You and Ananya have done a great job with her," said Mahi earnestly.

  Sidhu smiled. "Yes. Srishti told me about meeting you several times. I'm glad she has you as her friend."

  Mahi went outside to see Sidhu off when she spied Ananya on Samrat's balcony.

  Ananya looked shocked and then crushed when she saw Sidhu coming out from Mahi's house. Samrat had very casually mentioned a while ago to Ananya that he saw Sidhu's car outside and asked if she had driven it there.

  Before Mahi could react, Sidhu dragged her cl
ose in a bear hug and held her for a while.

  Mahi was shocked for a few seconds, and then, "I'm going to kill you Sidhu," she hissed in his ear, figuring out her role in the charade.

  "Is Anu watching us hug?"

  "You know damn well she is," she answered him with annoyance.

  He released her. "Thanks Mahi for the help. I hope we meet again soon. Say hi to Samrat when you see him," he told her grinning and got into his car before driving away.

  CHAPTER 22

  Mahi couldn't return back to her house after seeing the devastated expression on Ananya's face. She crossed the street and rang Samrat's bell.

  "Why can't I have a drama free time for a while?" she muttered out.

  Samrat opened the door and looked down at her with a straight face. "Yes? How can I help you?"

  They heard Ananya running down the stairs hurriedly.

  "Who is it? Is it Sidhu?" Ananya asked hopefully.

  Samrat stared casually at Mahi, who was still waiting outside the door impatiently.

  "No Anu, it's not Sidhu. Someone else," he replied loudly and then, "Just some crazy neighbor talking to herself again," he said softly.

  Ananya sighed, "Oh" and went into the guest room downstairs.

  Samrat still stood blocking the doorway. "So you haven't answered me yet. How can I help you? Are you here for anything specific?" he challenged Mahi.

  "I'm here to talk to Ananya...to clear a misunderstanding."

  "And?" he prompted.

  "What do you mean and? Just that. So if you'll move aside." Mahi was getting irritated by his silly behavior.

  Samrat watched her tapping her foot impatiently. "And what about the fact that we are together and Anu doesn't know it yet? Do you plan on telling her that or should I do it now?"

  "No...I told you already we should wait. We have a lot of time—" she broke off with narrowed eyes. "Say hi to Samrat when you see him. You made Sidhu pull that trick a while ago, to force me to meet Ananya, and to get the dialogue started. You...you...," Mahi was fuming.

  Samrat smirked. "So all those mystery and thriller movies that I made you watch with me have finally paid off."

  Mahi wasn't amused. "You think this is funny? Ananya already hates me and now she will have more reason to loathe me. What you did was juvenile and the plot was more in terms of a bad television soap opera rather than a mystery."

  He pulled her inside the house and closed the door. Cornering her on the wall, he trapped her by placing his hands on either side of her.

  "Are you crazy? Your sister will see us," she hissed trying to escape from under his arms.

  But he moved closer, much closer, almost touching her everywhere from her shoulders to legs. "You drove me to that bad television soap opera scheme. And Anu needed a reality check on how she would feel if her husband actually contemplated cheating on her. Sidhu and I were hoping that she would confront him. She is refusing to talk to him or meet with him from the past three weeks," he growled.

  She placed her hands on his chest to keep him at bay, just in case his sister came out from the guest room.

  He didn't budge.

  He glared at her. "And you. You have been stalling for a while, and I'm sick of keeping our relationship a secret from my family like I'm ashamed of it. They will find out eventually from some source of gossip, but I would like to be the one to inform them first."

  She looked guilty and uncertain.

  His face softened. "And I miss having you in my house, to hold you, to kiss you and then to—" he broke off when Mahi placed her fingers on his lips.

  He licked her finger with his tongue, making her giggle at the ticklish feeling.

  "I miss my messy house, now that you aren't here...I have too much time left in my hands because I'm not cleaning up after you," he said and grinned when she whacked him.

  She took a deep breath through her mouth. "Okay. I'm going to talk to Ananya now. Call her out, and let her know that I'm here to talk about something important," she said nervously.

  Samrat lifted her off her feet and leaned down towards her neck to kiss her.

  "Stop! You maniac! I know you love going all vampire on me, but I don't want to be caught with freshly made bruises on my neck when I'm speaking with your sister."

  He hugged her. "Relax, my sister doesn't bite," he soothed and then, "whereas I do, but then you love my vampire bites. You moan and ask me to—" he broke off laughing when she punched him on his arm.

  "Go and get her," she hissed as he lowered her to the ground.

  "Okay, okay, I am. And those kick boxing classes at the work gym must be really good." he said rubbing his arm while walking towards the guest bedroom.

  Mahi couldn't hear the conversation going on inside. She hadn't exactly plan a speech, since she didn't think the day when she would have to give out her deep felt apology would be anywhere close by. Maybe it was a good thing that Samrat had forced her hand even though she would never admit that to him.

  Soon Samrat come out from the bedroom followed by a mutinous looking Ananya.

  Samrat looked at Mahi and winked at her saying, "Okay, I'm going to leave you both downstairs since I have some work to take care of. Try not to kill each other meantime."

  Mahi felt awkward being left alone with Ananya. She tried to break the ice by starting with an apology. "Ananya, I just want to say that I'm sorry for how I behaved with you during our college days. I was really mea—"

  "Mahi, you have already gone through this spiel at Srishti's party. I don't understand why my brother dragged me out from my room to listen to the same thing. I'm rather busy now. So if you'll excuse me..." Ananya was about to leave.

  Mahi didn't know how to stop her. "No wait. Please let me explain to you why I did it in the first place."

  Ananya briefly glanced at her but didn't look interested. "I really don't care why."

  Mahi panicked slightly when she saw Ananya leaving and she blurted out, "I was jealous of you and I wanted to make you miserable."

  Ananya stopped and turned, looking puzzled. "What? You were jealous of me? Do you think anyone would believe that story?" she asked, scoffing.

  Mahi shook her head. "Believe me Ananya. I wasn't just jealous, but wildly resentful of you too. Of your perfect life."

  "What perfect life?" asked Ananya, still looking at Mahi in disbelief.

  "You had a loving father, mother and brother. I didn't. I would sometimes look at your family's interactions with you and think, 'they actually like their daughter or sister!' I would be amazed that they really wanted to spend time with you and know what was happening with you or even genuinely want to help you."

  Ananya was listening to her keenly.

  "My mother's constant comparisons didn't help. I wanted your life, but couldn't have it. So I made part of yours hell instead," said Mahi softly.

  "But you had Sidhu," Ananya stated.

  "Yes, Sidhu was in my life during those four years of college. He tried to keep me sane, but I was too messed up and destructive to ever listen to his reasoning. Each time I saw you, it reminded me of what I was missing. I don't feel like that anymore, even though I know you still have a perfect family."

  "I don't have a perfect family Mahi. Not anymore," said Ananya looking forlorn.

  Mahi took that as a cue to explain Sidhu's presence and Samrat's harebrained idea to make Ananya jealous enough to talk or meet her husband.

  "Ananya, what you saw in front of my house a few minutes ago—"

  Ananya raised her hand indicating her to stop. "Mahi, I have started to forgive you for your college stunts a while ago. I cannot forget what you did, but I have nothing against you now and I know you are not in love with Sidhu anymore. Whereas Sidhu...he..."

  Mahi was both overjoyed that Ananya was forgiving her, and frustrated that she still thought Sidhu had feelings towards Mahi. "I spoke to Sidhu a while ago. He told me how much he loves you. I believe him and so should you."

  Ananya shook her head. "Please, w
hile I appreciate your concern, I would prefer it if you didn't get involved in this matter."

  "Ana—" Mahi broke off when she saw Samrat coming down the stairs to join them.

  To Mahi's horror, he slid his arm around her waist and stood next to her smiling at Ananya.

  Ananya's naturally big eyes grew bigger and wider in shock.

  Samrat smiled at his sister. "So Anu. What do you think? Will our parents be okay with the arrangement? I know they will, but I might need your help to convince them just in case they are not too happy."

  "I didn't get a chance to tell Ananya about us Samrat!" Mahi whisper yelled.

  Samrat didn't look too bothered about it. "That's okay. We'll do it now. Anu, Mahi and I are together. We have been seeing each other from the past seven months and have decided to live together as a long term couple. So you'll end up seeing Mahi at my house whenever you visit me."

  Ananya didn't quite react like how Samrat thought she would. She glared at both Mahi and Samrat and went into her room to slam the door shut.

  Samrat sighed. "She'll get over it. So anyway, good news is we can spend the night together," he said huskily.

  Mahi was agitated. "Oh my god! She just said she had started to forgive me, and then you come strutting down here to drop another bombshell! She hates me again!"

  "No, she doesn't. And why do you care so much? You were never the kind to care about what anyone thinks of you," he said, trying to steal a kiss.

  She glared at him. "I don't care what everyone else thinks of me. But I do care what your family thinks of me."

  He broke into a wide grin. "I'm glad you feel that way, even though it's a little misguided. Don't worry, my parents will love you and Anu will get over it soon."

  And this time when he pulled her closer, she went to him, and hugged him anxiously, while he stroked her hair gently.

  "I really hope so." she said and sighed. Then looking up at his face, "Thank you for what you did with Sidhu," she said softly.

  Samrat didn't pretend to not understand. "I knew how much Sidhu's forgiveness meant to you," he replied gruffly.