Chapter Text
May feels a soft kiss on the crook of her neck. She turns around to see her handsome husband staring at her. "Good morning, sleepy head" Ravi says as he plants a gentle kiss on her lips.
On the nightstand next to the bed, she notices a breakfast tray with a heap of pancakes, a glass of orange juice and some freshly sliced fruit. "What did I do to deserve breakfast in bed?" she asks, flashing a naughty grin. "You know what you did" Ravi answers cheekily as he pushes himself off the bed and hands her the tray.
May frowns as she takes the first bite of pancake. "I wish I didn't have to work today" she says. May has an early shift at First Presbyterian today but Ravi is off duty. "Me too baby" Ravi says as he flexes his muscles in the mirror. "Think I'm gonna hit the gym and run some errands while you're at work."
After May leaves for her shift, Ravi hops into the shower. It's not long before he hears a knock at the door. Ravi exits the shower, grabs a towel to wrap around his waist before heading to the door. Another loud knock before he can get to the door and he shouts out, "just a second" as the knocking stops.
Ravi hopes it's not Buck at the door being impatient as usual. He is looking to have a relaxed and peaceful day off. As Ravi opens the door, he thinks to himself that he would rather it had been Buck at the door afterall.
Ravi's parents are standing at the front door of the apartment. "Amma, Appa, what are you doing here?" Ravi asks, clearly shocked. "Come in" he says as he steps aside for his parents to enter. He gestures for them to sit down as he quickly heads to the bedroom, throws on a grey sweat pants and a hoodie and returns to the living room.
Ravi hasn't spoken to his parents since him and May got secretly married. His parents had found out about the marriage and called him in a fit of rage expressing their disapproval.
They had always wanted him to take a bride from his own cultural background and Ravi had agreed that when the time was right, he would allow his parents to choose him a wife. Then Ravi met May and everything changed for him.
Ravi was in love and the happiest he'd ever been in his life, but his parents weren't convinced. After a huge blow up over the phone, Ravi hadn't heard from them again in months. Needless to say Ravi was not pleasantly surprised by their visit.
He quickly throws together some light refreshments and joins his parents in the living room. The tension in the room is thick and after a few moments of awkward silence, Ravi's mother finally speaks. "Son, you look well" she says. Her voice is pleasant and comforting.
"Thank you, Amma" Ravi responds. "I am well, well and happy Amma." Ravi's father is silent for a moment before he chimes in, "the reason we are here is, we have someone we want you to meet."
Ravi immediately gets up from where he is sitting, walks over to the mantle by the decorative fireplace, places one elbow on the mantle and palms his face with his other hand, "not this again" he said defeatedly. "I'm already married for God sake and I love my wife" he scowls at his parents.
His father lets out a disgruntled sigh and his mother gets up to approach him. She places her hand on his shoulder, "We only want what's best for you, my son. Noone is asking you to marry her, we just want you to meet her." Ravi places his hand over his mother's, "please just drop this" he begs. "You've never even met my wife to judge her, how would you know if she's right for me?"
His father's demeanor becomes angry and he is about to let Ravi have piece of his mind, but before he speaks Ravi's mother cuts in, "just one meeting and we will let it go" his mother promises. "One meeting" he repeats and she nods her head in agreement. "Fine" Ravi concedes but he is not happy about it.
After his parents leave, Ravi is exhausted, angry and frustrated. He heads to the gym to work off some of the stress and contemplates whether he should tell May about their visit but he quickly decides against it. He doesn't want to upset her.
When May first learned of Ravi's parents disapproval of their marriage, she was gutted. She cried for weeks on end. How could two people she had never met before dislike her so much. Ravi had done so much work to reassure her that they would come around in time but their visit proved otherwise.
Ravi's day off had rolled around and it was the day of the meetup his parents had arranged. He was supposed to meet Miss Padma Prakash at a small coffee shop close to his and May's apartment.
Ravi paces up and down the bedroom. He knows this meetup is a bad idea and keeping a secret from his wife is the worst part. He musters up the courage and finally leaves the house.
On his way to the coffee shop, Ravi imagines what he would like to say to Padma. "Hi, I'm Ravi and I'm happily married," or "Hi, I'm Ravi and my parents are certified psychopaths that forced me to meet with you even though I don't want to." He chuckles dryly to himself as he runs through a few more scenarios in his mind.
Ravi sits down at a corner table with a piping hot cup of plain black coffee. His eyes search around for the person he thinks could be Padma. He doesn't see anyone that could possibly be her. Just then, the door to the coffee shop swings open and a slim, caramel skinned woman enters.
Very few can match the beauty that is May Grant but this woman comes strikingly close. She has long, black, impecably curled hair which is held back from her face with designer sunglasses. She's wearing a bright yellow sundress that hugs her slim body in all the right places and accentuates her ample clevage. Her sandals, also designer, lace up her well defined calf muscle stopping just short of her long, perfectly toned legs.
She heads to the counter and purchases vanilla bean latte before walking over to the table Ravi is sitting at. As she approaches, Ravi's mind goes completely blank. He cannot call to memory any of the scenarios that he had played out in his head earlier.
"Ravi?" she asks softly. Her voice is like honey on his eardrums. He stands up after a quick beat "Yes, Padma I presume?" "Yes and pardon my forwardness but you're much more handsome than your mother described." Ravi lets the words roll off him without making an impact. He gestures for her to take a seat and she does.
The first few minutes are very awkward and Ravi takes a sip of his coffee before he speaks. "Look, I." "So what part of India are you from?" Padma cuts him off. "Kerala", he replies politely. "My dad's side of the family's from there" she says with a smile. "Small world" she continues. "Yes, small world" Ravi echoes.
Two hours of interesting conversation and shared laughs had passed before Ravi remembered that May had asked him to pick up dinner. He looks down at his watch, "damn" he says, voice just above a whisper. "I'm sorry, I have to head out" Ravi says as he stands up from the table. "It was nice meeting you, Padma" "Yes, you too" she replies, grin stretching across her face.
Ravi picks up sushi from May's favorite sushi place before he rushes home to take a shower. Not long after, May walks in from a very long, tiring shift. She's clearly exhausted as she plops down on the couch in her scrubs.
Ravi emerges from the bedroom in a grey sweat pants and no shirt. He is drying his hair with a fluffy white towel. "How was your day, my love?" he askes as he walks over and plucks a soft kiss from her lips.
"Exhausting" she lets out with a weary sigh. "I got your favorite sushi for dinner" he tells her. She perks up momentarily, "Vino's?" she asks wide eyed. "Of course, babe" he responds. He does not mention his coffee shop meet up.
Ravi and May's schedule has not aligned for quite sometime and today's off day meets Ravi at the gym. A usual occurrence once he's off. He has just finished a set when he notices a wave from a familiar face across the gym.
She walks over and greets him. "Fancy seeing you here stranger, come here often?" Padma asks jokingly. "Yeah, kinda" Ravi replies as he walks over to another machine. She follows closely. "Well I could use a spotter" she says skipping over to stand in his line of sight again. "Sure" Ravi says as he calls over one of the trainers he knows to help her out. Her disappointment is evident and Ravi notices.
He finishes his final set, packs his water bottle and gloves into his duffle bag, places it over his shoulder and leaves. On his way out he shoots her a small wave and tight smile but doesn't say a word.
That night, as Ravi lay in bed, phone in hand, scrolling through social media, a notification pops up on his instagram. May, who is laying next to him, glimpses over at his phone momentarily before resuming her own doom scrolling. He opens up the notification to see a follow request from Padma Prakash.
He accepts it quickly, follows back and shuts his phone off. He turns to May, kisses her softly and turns over and goes to sleep.
The next morning, Ravi is sitting at the dining table in the firehouse lounge. He opens up instagram and sees a post from Padma's page. She is wearing a bright blue bikini and sitting on what looks like a beach in the Caribbean. He likes the post and scrolls on. Just then, the alarm rings out and he jumps up and heads out to their first emergency for the day.
May is on shift today at First Presbyterian and the head nurse has gathered all the nursing staff on her shift together. She announces that they will be getting a new trainee doctor on staff. The rest of the team is excited to meet the new doctor.
"Guys, please give a warm welcome to Dr. Padma Prakash, she will be our new trainee doctor" the head nurse says. The team all take turns to introduce themselves to Padma and she feels like a part of the team already.
Padma is assigned to work with Nurse May. She is the best of the team and they quickly become aquainted. May is warm and welcoming and she shows Padma the ropes. Padma is grateful for how helpful May seems and they become fast friends.
That night while they are eating dinner, May mentions that a new trainee doctor has joined the team. Ravi listens intently as his wife gushes about how great the new addition is but May never mentions Padma's name. Ravi is thrilled that May has a new friend at work.
Ravi contemplates whether to go upstairs to May's ward to sneak a quick kiss from her but as the elevator dings open, Chim calls out to him. Another emergency pulls him away. It's been months since Ravi has been able to see May at work. She's no longer in the Emergency Department and that's where they usually drop off their patients. He will see her at home, he thinks as he runs back to the engine to join the others.
It's also been months since Ravi has seen Padma face to face but she has been contacting him via instagram. Nothing inappropriate from his side, just a few polite responses here and there, restaurant and cafe recommendations and a few recipes. She's been doing some light flirting but Ravi just ignores it.
Ravi's instagram is notoriously private, he hardly ever posts, just a few pictures in his different uniforms and an inspirational quote here and there. Certainly none of his wife's pictures or pictures of their secret wedding, they didn't take any. That is innocently due to how little time he has spent on the app. He just never updated it after he and May got married. Hers is pretty much the same.
May and Padma sit down to lunch together. It's the first time they've had any free time to chat. "So May, tell me a little about yourself" Padma says. "Are you dating anyone?" "I'm actually married" May responds. "Four years, this year" she says not wanting to reveal too much too soon. "That's awesome" Padma says. "What about you?" May asks. "I know you moved here recently. Have you met anyone?" May asks excitedly.
Padma gives May a coy smile. "I have" she says. "Nothing serious but we have been talking for a while. We've only been on one date." Padma pulls out her phone and pulls up Ravi's instagram. "He's a firefighter" she says before turning the phone to May, a picture of her husband in his uniform on the screen.
May swallows the puke that has crawled up into her throat. "He's very handsome" she offers as she takes a huge gulp. "That he is, and super sexy" Padma adds. May can feel her face getting hot. "What's his name?" May manages to get out, in total disbelief at the conversation they are having. "Ravi Panikkar" she says. May fights back tears as she excuses herself from the table. She waits until she is in the bathroom stall to completely break down.
Ravi walks into the apartment and heads straight to the bedroom. He can hear May shuffling around inside there. He walks up behind her, places his hands on her waist and kisses the back of her neck. He can feel as she flinches away from him. He peeks over her shoulder to realise that she is packing some of her clothes into a duffle bag.
Ravi pulls back and steps around the bed and into her line of sight. She doesn't look up. He can see that she has been crying. "Babe, what's going on?" he asks. No response. She picks up the bag from the bed, places it over her shoulder and heads to the door. Ravi hurries over and tries to stop her from leaving by grabbing her wrists. "Don't touch me" she finally shouts. He lets her wrists go and she heads out the door, weeping silently.
On her next shift, May decides to confront Padma. "But your last name is Grant" Padma says clearly confused. "Grant - Panikkar" May replies. "I use my maiden name at work." Padma is shocked. She quickly reassures May that her and Ravi have never gotten physical and that all their conversations thus far haven't been inappropriate. "Maybe I read too much into it," Padma says.
She doesn't tell May that Ravi's parents are the ones who set them up to meet. She thinks it's too messy. May feels a deep sense of relief that Ravi and Padma haven't been intimate but she knows the trust between her and her husband is severely broken.
"I'm not mad at you, I swear. You didn't know and he didn't tell you." May is a girl's, girl and she doesn't blame Padma one bit. If anything, it's only opened her eyes to the fact that she can't trust her husband. The two ladies share a long hug and continue with their work day.
May gets home from her double shift to find Ravi sitting on the front steps of her mother's house. He stands up slowly as she approaches, "Babe, can we talk?" he begs, but she walks right past him and heads inside. Ravi lingers for a few moments before getting into his car and driving home. He tosses and turns like he's done every night since May left, but sleep hardly finds him.
After May takes a shower, she lays down on the bed in her childhood room. She picks up her phone and swipes away the hundreds of messages, calls and text notifications she's received from Ravi. She buries her face in her pillow and cries herself to sleep.