25-05-2026, 02:26 PM
Chapter 30 — The Call Shruthi Didn’t Know About
That same evening, while rain continued falling lazily across Chennai, another uncomfortable conversation had already unfolded elsewhere.
At Divya’s house.
And unlike the noisy birthday atmosphere from two nights ago, the house now felt unusually silent.
Heavy silent.
---
Ganesh sat at the dining table scrolling through mails on his laptop, though he clearly wasn’t concentrating.
Divya stood near the kitchen counter holding a cup of tea she had forgotten to drink.
Both of them had sensed something was wrong that night itself.
Not details.
But tension.
The kind adults immediately recognize even when nobody explains it directly.
---
Finally Ganesh closed the laptop and looked at her.
“What exactly happened that night?”
Divya didn’t answer immediately.
Because truthfully, she herself was still angry.
Not only because of Karthik’s behavior.
Because of the stupidity of it.
The carelessness.
The disrespect toward people she genuinely cared about.
---
She sat opposite Ganesh slowly.
“Karthik crossed a line with Shruthi.”
Ganesh frowned immediately.
“What kind of line?”
Divya hesitated.
Then answered carefully enough not to make things uglier unnecessarily.
“He got drunk… behaved emotionally stupid.”
Ganesh’s expression hardened slowly.
“With Lokesh there?”
“Hm.”
“And Shruthi?”
“She handled it before it became public drama.”
Ganesh leaned back quietly now.
Disappointed.
Not explosive anger.
The heavier kind.
---
“That fellow has lost his mind or what?” he muttered finally.
Divya rubbed her forehead tiredly.
“He’s not bad. Just…”
“Don’t defend him.”
“I’m not.”
And she truly wasn’t.
Because unlike others, Divya knew her brother well enough to understand something dangerous: Karthik probably had genuine feelings tangled somewhere beneath all this.
Which made the situation worse.
Not better.
---
Before either could continue, the front door opened softly.
Karthik.
---
The moment he entered and saw both their faces, he knew.
They knew enough.
Maybe not every detail.
Enough.
---
“Akka…”
Divya didn’t respond immediately.
Ganesh looked at him steadily.
No shouting.
No drama.
And somehow that calmness made Karthik feel worse.
---
He removed his shoes quietly and stood awkwardly near the hall entrance like a collegeboy waiting outside principal’s office.
Finally Ganesh spoke.
“What happened?”
Karthik looked down instantly.
“I made mistake.”
Divya folded her arms.
“That much everyone understood.”
Silence.
---
Karthik swallowed hard.
“I wasn’t thinking properly.”
Divya laughed once sharply.
“That sentence should be engraved on your forehead.”
“Akka…”
“No, seriously. What exactly were you trying to achieve?”
He had no answer for that.
Because there wasn’t one.
No master plan. No hidden affair. No grand emotional confession.
Just emotional weakness mixed with alcohol and blurred boundaries.
Pathetic when spoken aloud.
---
“I already apologized to Shruthi,” he said quietly.
Divya immediately looked up.
“And?”
Karthik gave a humorless smile.
“She humiliated me properly.”
Ganesh sighed deeply.
“Good.”
The bluntness startled even Divya slightly.
---
Ganesh looked at him carefully now.
“You know what bothers me most?”
Karthik stayed silent.
“She trusted you enough to be comfortable around you.”
That sentence hit directly.
Because it echoed exactly what Shruthi herself had told him earlier.
---
Karthik rubbed his face tiredly.
“I know.”
“No,” Ganesh replied calmly. “I don’t think you fully understood till now.”
The room fell silent again.
---
Finally Divya spoke more softly.
“You scared her, da.”
That word broke something inside him slightly.
Not because Shruthi had cried.
Not because Lokesh got angry.
Because he realized the woman who once relaxed naturally around him now probably felt uncomfortable even remembering those moments.
---
“I didn’t mean to—”
“Intentions don’t matter after line is crossed,” Divya interrupted quietly.
Karthik closed his eyes briefly.
Because again— she was right.
---
For nearly an hour the conversation continued.
Not explosive.
Not melodramatic.
Just painfully adult.
Ganesh eventually softened slightly after realizing Karthik genuinely understood the seriousness now.
Divya too slowly stopped attacking him once his defensiveness disappeared completely.
By the end of it, the atmosphere settled into tired disappointment rather than active anger.
Normalcy returning carefully.
Fragile normalcy.
---
Later that night, after Karthik finally left the house, Divya remained seated on the sofa silently scrolling through her contacts.
Ganesh looked at her.
“You’re calling?”
“Hm.”
“Necessary?”
“Yes.”
Because whatever happened between Karthik and Shruthi was one issue.
But Lokesh?
He deserved respect.
And apology.
---
The phone rang twice before he answered.
“Hello?”
“Lokesh…”
His voice remained calm.
“Hmm Divya.”
For a second she didn’t know how to begin.
Then finally:
“I’m really sorry.”
Silence.
---
“My brother behaved like idiot,” she continued quietly.
“He embarrassed Shruthi. And you.”
Lokesh leaned back against the balcony wall of his apartment while listening.
Inside, he could hear Hasini laughing loudly with Laila.
Shruthi’s softer voice somewhere nearby.
Home sounds.
---
“You don’t have to apologize for him,” he said calmly.
“I know. Still… I wanted to.”
Another silence.
Then Divya sighed softly.
“You know he genuinely feels terrible, right?”
Lokesh answered carefully.
“That’s between him and Shruthi now.”
Fair answer.
Balanced answer.
Still carrying warning underneath.
---
Divya smiled faintly to herself.
Same Lokesh.
Even angry, he spoke carefully.
---
“He won’t repeat it,” she said quietly.
Lokesh looked through the balcony railing toward the rain outside.
“I hope he understands why this became serious.”
“He does now.”
Another pause.
Then Divya added honestly:
“And thank you for not turning it uglier that night.”
Lokesh laughed softly without humor.
“I came close.”
“I know.”
That honesty passed between old friends gently.
---
By the time the call ended, much of the immediate tension had already softened for Lokesh.
Not disappeared.
But settled.
Because now he knew:
Divya understood,
Ganesh understood,
Karthik understood consequences.
The issue had been acknowledged properly.
Handled privately.
Like adults.
---
But inside the apartment, Shruthi knew none of this.
When Lokesh returned from the balcony after the call, she was distracted entirely by another emotional discomfort altogether: Laila laughing with Hasini, warmth filling the house, another woman naturally occupying emotional spaces she herself had withdrawn from recently.
And in the middle of all that, Lokesh never found the right moment to tell her about Divya’s apology call.
So while his mind had already begun calming slightly…
Shruthi still believed she alone was carrying the humiliation of what happened.
That same evening, while rain continued falling lazily across Chennai, another uncomfortable conversation had already unfolded elsewhere.
At Divya’s house.
And unlike the noisy birthday atmosphere from two nights ago, the house now felt unusually silent.
Heavy silent.
---
Ganesh sat at the dining table scrolling through mails on his laptop, though he clearly wasn’t concentrating.
Divya stood near the kitchen counter holding a cup of tea she had forgotten to drink.
Both of them had sensed something was wrong that night itself.
Not details.
But tension.
The kind adults immediately recognize even when nobody explains it directly.
---
Finally Ganesh closed the laptop and looked at her.
“What exactly happened that night?”
Divya didn’t answer immediately.
Because truthfully, she herself was still angry.
Not only because of Karthik’s behavior.
Because of the stupidity of it.
The carelessness.
The disrespect toward people she genuinely cared about.
---
She sat opposite Ganesh slowly.
“Karthik crossed a line with Shruthi.”
Ganesh frowned immediately.
“What kind of line?”
Divya hesitated.
Then answered carefully enough not to make things uglier unnecessarily.
“He got drunk… behaved emotionally stupid.”
Ganesh’s expression hardened slowly.
“With Lokesh there?”
“Hm.”
“And Shruthi?”
“She handled it before it became public drama.”
Ganesh leaned back quietly now.
Disappointed.
Not explosive anger.
The heavier kind.
---
“That fellow has lost his mind or what?” he muttered finally.
Divya rubbed her forehead tiredly.
“He’s not bad. Just…”
“Don’t defend him.”
“I’m not.”
And she truly wasn’t.
Because unlike others, Divya knew her brother well enough to understand something dangerous: Karthik probably had genuine feelings tangled somewhere beneath all this.
Which made the situation worse.
Not better.
---
Before either could continue, the front door opened softly.
Karthik.
---
The moment he entered and saw both their faces, he knew.
They knew enough.
Maybe not every detail.
Enough.
---
“Akka…”
Divya didn’t respond immediately.
Ganesh looked at him steadily.
No shouting.
No drama.
And somehow that calmness made Karthik feel worse.
---
He removed his shoes quietly and stood awkwardly near the hall entrance like a collegeboy waiting outside principal’s office.
Finally Ganesh spoke.
“What happened?”
Karthik looked down instantly.
“I made mistake.”
Divya folded her arms.
“That much everyone understood.”
Silence.
---
Karthik swallowed hard.
“I wasn’t thinking properly.”
Divya laughed once sharply.
“That sentence should be engraved on your forehead.”
“Akka…”
“No, seriously. What exactly were you trying to achieve?”
He had no answer for that.
Because there wasn’t one.
No master plan. No hidden affair. No grand emotional confession.
Just emotional weakness mixed with alcohol and blurred boundaries.
Pathetic when spoken aloud.
---
“I already apologized to Shruthi,” he said quietly.
Divya immediately looked up.
“And?”
Karthik gave a humorless smile.
“She humiliated me properly.”
Ganesh sighed deeply.
“Good.”
The bluntness startled even Divya slightly.
---
Ganesh looked at him carefully now.
“You know what bothers me most?”
Karthik stayed silent.
“She trusted you enough to be comfortable around you.”
That sentence hit directly.
Because it echoed exactly what Shruthi herself had told him earlier.
---
Karthik rubbed his face tiredly.
“I know.”
“No,” Ganesh replied calmly. “I don’t think you fully understood till now.”
The room fell silent again.
---
Finally Divya spoke more softly.
“You scared her, da.”
That word broke something inside him slightly.
Not because Shruthi had cried.
Not because Lokesh got angry.
Because he realized the woman who once relaxed naturally around him now probably felt uncomfortable even remembering those moments.
---
“I didn’t mean to—”
“Intentions don’t matter after line is crossed,” Divya interrupted quietly.
Karthik closed his eyes briefly.
Because again— she was right.
---
For nearly an hour the conversation continued.
Not explosive.
Not melodramatic.
Just painfully adult.
Ganesh eventually softened slightly after realizing Karthik genuinely understood the seriousness now.
Divya too slowly stopped attacking him once his defensiveness disappeared completely.
By the end of it, the atmosphere settled into tired disappointment rather than active anger.
Normalcy returning carefully.
Fragile normalcy.
---
Later that night, after Karthik finally left the house, Divya remained seated on the sofa silently scrolling through her contacts.
Ganesh looked at her.
“You’re calling?”
“Hm.”
“Necessary?”
“Yes.”
Because whatever happened between Karthik and Shruthi was one issue.
But Lokesh?
He deserved respect.
And apology.
---
The phone rang twice before he answered.
“Hello?”
“Lokesh…”
His voice remained calm.
“Hmm Divya.”
For a second she didn’t know how to begin.
Then finally:
“I’m really sorry.”
Silence.
---
“My brother behaved like idiot,” she continued quietly.
“He embarrassed Shruthi. And you.”
Lokesh leaned back against the balcony wall of his apartment while listening.
Inside, he could hear Hasini laughing loudly with Laila.
Shruthi’s softer voice somewhere nearby.
Home sounds.
---
“You don’t have to apologize for him,” he said calmly.
“I know. Still… I wanted to.”
Another silence.
Then Divya sighed softly.
“You know he genuinely feels terrible, right?”
Lokesh answered carefully.
“That’s between him and Shruthi now.”
Fair answer.
Balanced answer.
Still carrying warning underneath.
---
Divya smiled faintly to herself.
Same Lokesh.
Even angry, he spoke carefully.
---
“He won’t repeat it,” she said quietly.
Lokesh looked through the balcony railing toward the rain outside.
“I hope he understands why this became serious.”
“He does now.”
Another pause.
Then Divya added honestly:
“And thank you for not turning it uglier that night.”
Lokesh laughed softly without humor.
“I came close.”
“I know.”
That honesty passed between old friends gently.
---
By the time the call ended, much of the immediate tension had already softened for Lokesh.
Not disappeared.
But settled.
Because now he knew:
Divya understood,
Ganesh understood,
Karthik understood consequences.
The issue had been acknowledged properly.
Handled privately.
Like adults.
---
But inside the apartment, Shruthi knew none of this.
When Lokesh returned from the balcony after the call, she was distracted entirely by another emotional discomfort altogether: Laila laughing with Hasini, warmth filling the house, another woman naturally occupying emotional spaces she herself had withdrawn from recently.
And in the middle of all that, Lokesh never found the right moment to tell her about Divya’s apology call.
So while his mind had already begun calming slightly…
Shruthi still believed she alone was carrying the humiliation of what happened.
-Pickup, drop, escape.
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