Chapter 3

Teaser pg 1

Part 1- pg 2

Part 2- 

“Anu!” he sighed and with cloudy eyes he caressed the screen of his phone with his thumb and lovingly hovered over her name .... as though the name spelt magic...like it were a painkiller that could drive all his pain away...she was indeed some kind of everything....

At first he hustled to get back to the lobby with excitement, heaps of positive energy and a lot of hope but then his pace decelerated as he saw her sitting there with her laptop, anxiously waiting for a reply.

As he inched closer there was a myriad of emotions congesting his heart and head...how he wished to run up to her and sway her in his longing arms to never let her go...she was so precious to him and the thought of hurting her, hurted him...

Bemused with the overwhelming rush he tried to detangle each emotion and placed it in the order of what he felt the most... happy was the first, relieved a close second with excitement and anxiety catching up swiftly...

After a lot of this and that he finally got to the sense that stayed with him the longest and that was guilt and discomfort...he knew not why and he could give his everything to rid himself of the awful feeling that made him behave irrationally and leave her by herself when she must have needed him the most...

His eyes welled up and his heart was in his mouth as he fast approached her at the slowest pace gathering every bit of courage to face her...

The short span from the lift to the reception felt like a barren desert he had to cross through a mirage of overpowering emotions in the quest of reaching the oasis.

Clueless on how to react he cleared his wailing throat and pushed his glasses to the forehead and brushed the tears away to make himself presentable before he finally went up to her...

“Anujjj” she mouthed on seeing his tall figure right in front of her and he melted into a puddle in that very moment, with his eyes tearing up again just like hers...

“Anu...pama... tum yahan? “ he asked even though he knew why...

“haan...mai yahan! “ she exclaimed and arched her brows zealously while he was still awestruck to see her there.

“sorry mai tumhe expect nahi kar raha tha isliye aise...” he said in an effort to convey his confused feelings..

“aapko lene... nai matlab...aapse milne aayi hoon.....” already floored by her deliberate fumble, he looked at her intently to let the feeling sink in, which made her nervous instead...

”aapko disturb toh nahi kiya maine?...agar aap biji hai toh mai wait kar sakti hoon...matlab jab tak aap free nahi ho jaate...main yahin sofey par intejaar kar sakti hoon, aap jayiye aur apna kaam khatam kar lijiye, surri mujhe bata kar aana chahiye tha...par maine socha ki surprije doongi lekin ye nahin socha ki aap biji bhi ho sakte hain...“ she rattled on like usual and made him feel like the old times...

Though he could watch her talk all day, he felt a little intimidated with the audience she had pulled with her blabber...

“Anupama, hum kahin bahar jaakar baat karey?” he gestured to the people watching them...she bit her tongue with embarrassment and quietly followed him to the elevator uttering a ‘surri’ under her breath...

Gosh, he’d missed her antics terribly...his eyes were fixated on her as they got in and out of the lift then walked towards the exit to the building....

Breathing in the fresh air, they stood outside facing the sea...the inviting smell of waves stirred a reminiscing feeling in them and they both yelled in sync  “samandar chalein? ” and laughed happily thinking some things will never change....

******

Though it was a short walk to beach from the office, the very justified yet awkward silence made it feel like a whole lot longer...

While he struggled to process and prepare his defence for leaving abruptly, she was engrossed in her conflicting thoughts on his reaction of seeing her there...was he happy? yes she said to herself, was he angry? she asked and no was the answer to that for sure.. wondering how to start the conversation that she had mentally rehearsed a hundred times on the way, she rebuked herself and rushed slightly ahead of him....

While fighting the conflict in her head, she misread the oncoming traffic and stepped on the busy road when a car screeched its brakes inches away from her...

“Anu!!!!! “ he screamed as he saw his life flash before him...with his heart pounding in his chest, he leaped across to pull her off the road and yanked her straight into his arms...

*******

so yeah that happened I know I’m testing your patience but please comment and tell me what you liked so I can focus more on it in the next part, which by the way will be posted by evening woh bhi IST not BST, the song that could justify Anuj here was abhi mujhe mein kahin, love it again for many reasons...ok phir shaam ko milte hai, thank you for all the comments before mann khush ho gaya