PART-5
Past two days had seen Raghav Singhania with an unusual vigour and charm; the first time in his life Raghav was pursuing friendship with anyone himself. It was always others wanting to be friends with him, and Raghav had been consciously selective with only the truest human beings when it came to accepting friendships. He simply never needed it, or was not focused on this aspect of life. Ever since his school days Raghav Singhania was a focused person, who wanted to prove to the world his own identity, on his own merits and not his father's. Driven by the desire to prove to his and his father's critiques & competitors alike that he deserved all that he was to inherit and he enjoyed, Raghav had always been focused on his studies and supporting fields. Many times thought to be a bookworm, Raghav was either found with books-academic and otherwise; or anything which contributed in the development of his intellect. A topper throughout his academic years, he was a good-looking but a famous nerd. But still people wanted to be friends with him, because of his famous, wealthy genes. Never had he thought that he himself would ever be interested in expanding the circle of his closest friends after all those years. But as he looked past the glass walls of his own chamber to the now empty cabin of Ms.Kalpana Jadhav, Raghav realized that the saying "never say never" was a very real truth for him now.
Yes, the premises of Singhania Group of Companies-Head Office were empty; it was anyway too late for anyone to still be sitting in office. Had it not been for his complex emotions, even Raghav would have been preferably working from the relaxed interiors of his home at this moment. On the other days he left between 9PM and 10PM; and dropped Kalpana on the way. Kalpana's home was on way to his own, so previously also it had never bothered him. He had always respected the hard-working nature of Ms.Jadhav, and considered it his duty to take care of the only female employee working under him directly. It had never struck him before that he was the same Raghav Singhania who used to reject even qualified girl candidates in interviews, if they cited inability to work late hours. The same Raghav Singhania used to fret over Kalpana's safety and security, even before their relation actually started to take a turn.
But past few days had completely changed the equation between him and Ms.Jadhav , or maybe just brought forth the realizations towards their true feelings for each other. Their changing equations had Raghav asking himself questions which he had never asked himself before; neither the need for such thoughts & questions arose ever. "Why do I remain so concerned of your safety Kalpi? Why?" Raghav questioned himself and Kalpana in his mind. "As far as I remember and relive the old me, I was not like this! Then why?", "It is true that before you I never happened to hire any girl who would work directly under myself; so maybe people did not notice the changes in me, and neither did I! But before you, I had never come across any definition of perfection also, be it profession or the beauty of your nature". He sighed and smiled, to think of his new found objectives. Now Raghav had wished to be more than a boss for Ms.Jadhav, to give their unnamed relation a name; and he had made all efforts which he could to at least be friends with her. "Is it love?" he had asked himself umpteenth time in these two days, not satisfied with his friendly aim somewhere. But he could not reach any conclusion or maybe if he was honest, he was afraid to reach the conclusion.
"Not that my fears, reservations and confusions are unreasonable" Raghav thought as he now rested his head back on his chair, and swiveled the chair a bit to keep an eye on Kalpi's empty cabin. His thoughts went back to the times which had been the sole reason of his running away from the acceptance of the feeling of love in his life. The incident was of his BBA Third Year days in one of country's best ranked College & Institute. Raghav was still content with the company of Sammy his best friend and Preeti-his cousin.It would have continued like this only, if not for "Donna Ahuja"- one of college's most fashionable divas. Donna was one girl who was able to break through Raghav's self-made walls and the process had started when one of their teachers himself had referred Donna to Raghav. Apparently she was the daughter of some influential person, a new admission in the First Year and needed help in studies. So it was Raghav Singhania, the topper of college who was requested by his teacher to give Donna some help and tuitions in studies.
It had all started with that help; even the highly apprehensive Raghav had started to let his guards down after one month of their acquaintance. He was someone who was always beware of two kinds of people: first- who wanted to take advantage of his rich legacy and second- who were nothing but a jealous competition for the Singhania father-son duo. His boring lifestyle was his defense and arms to reach his goal. He knew no selfish girl or even boy would want to be friends with a nerd like him. But Donna's attitude made him believe that she was genuinely good; she seemed a good change from the usual kind of other youngsters Raghav met.
Donna belonged to an affluent family but her behavior towards Raghav had always been very normal. Neither did she show any signs of jealousness with him, nor anything which showed she was trying to take his advantage. The moments which they shared were very ordinary just like two friends or acquaintances would, of studying together, helping each other in times of need, giving company or sharing few moments of ice creams. Raghav though still consciously maintaining little distance, had bonded quite well with Donna after almost two months. But it was obvious that someone had for the first time started breaking his self-made walls. So it was not a surprise to Preeti & Sammy when Raghav had told them about Donna proposing him. "I think I may have found my love" Raghav had told them and Preeti could only say: "someone is there for you Rags I know, the one who would be perfect for you, who would love you; who would be with you never to leave you. I just hope for your sake that girl is Donna." Preeti and Sammy could only hope that Raghav had taken into consideration Donna's other friends with whom she was frequently seen. The families of a few of them shared a bad history of competition with the Singhanias.
Not surprisingly after some thinking over Raghav had welcomed this new colour in his life. He'd fought between his mind and heart, and had let his emotions win this time; all his life he'd lived by mind. "It's time to give emotions also a chance", he'd thought because he genuinely liked Donna. He had started looking forward to spend more time with her lately. Thus had begun their small love story whose end was as shocking for Preeti & Sammy as surprising was its start. It was Valentine's Day Party when it ended, changing Raghav forever to a shrewd, clever ruthless person for the professional world. His personal life had also become only a board of calculated moves, with only a selected few allowed in the innermost circle. Donna had broken Raghav's heart that day, when she'd appeared as Tej Patel's date. Raghav who had been waiting for Donna outside the venue with Preeti & Sammy, was shaken to the core. Tej-Donna duo had given Raghav an evil smirk, revealing this was all part of a heartbreaking bet with Donna who was his best friend since long.
Tej had challenged Donna to break past Raghav Singhania's barriers and get him to say yes to her love proposal. "Your Dad has always been an obstacle to my Dad's prosperity; and his son, who happens to be my classmate, is mine obstacle in college. How could I let Raghav Singhania go, before leaving this college? The whole college is aware of the competition between us in every field from studies to extracurricular activities" Tej had informed a shocked and broken Raghav, with Donna hanging on to his arm. "Don't mind Rags, I have no personal issue with you. But I had to do this for my best friend", "But, oops, you didn't know Tej is my best friend? I did it for him; I am sorry sweetheart but I don't love you. And do not mind but, who can possibly want to be the girlfriend of a boring geek like you; not me at least!" That was the first and last time Raghav Singhania had shed tears for any girl. He'd gone on to top University henceforth, completed higher education out of India and returned to India to help his father in business. As far as girls were concerned, if any was ever in his life it was on his own terms and conditions; and to the extent he wanted. None had been fortunate enough to become his true girlfriend; he used the most cunning girls of all and then broke all contacts with them. After his father's demise Raghav had taken the business to even greater heights and the girls flocked to him like honeybees. But he was never interested in anyone, until he saw Kalpana Jadhav. The girl had affected his heartbeats since the first moment he'd set eyes upon her, he'd felt a strange possessiveness for her, which reflected in his safety concerns for Kalpana.
His latest circular for the female employees working in the Singhania Group reflected that elusive care, for Kalpana. That morning all the departments and executives had received copies of a circular which stated that none of the female employees would work beyond 6P.M., unless it was a matter of unavoidable urgency. The result, Kalpana had left the office premises much before than her usual timings. But it was Raghav's hidden love for Kalpana which had made him do this, "if she doesn't leave with me, I won't let her commute alone in late hours of night". Raghav knew that Kalpi was stubborn enough to work late hours despite Raghav's orders and requests. She was as much a workaholic as he himself was; and this attitude of hers had irked Raghav no end since past two-three days. He'd even made it compulsory for all female employees to avail of pick and drop facility; and was buying more vans for this purpose. Kalpana was one of those employees, who had not availed of this facility till now, stressing that her home was not far away so she didn't require this. "Stupid girl; never thinks about herself" Raghav thought while gazing the ceiling of his office as a small smile played on his lips thinking about the events of past two days.
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"It is sufficient Raghav, how much will you feed me?" Kalpi said while taking a bite out of the apple which they were sharing. "It's my pleasure Jaan, you really need this energy today" Raghav said and winked naughtily at her, making Kalpi's doe-shaped eyes widen before she lowered them again as a deep red blush crept up her cheeks. She hit him lightly on his shoulder "don't tease me!"
"Tease you? I am not teasing you jaan, I am saying out the truth" Raghav said as he kissed the part of Kalpi's cheeks where her blush was clearly visible. "My love for you, might make my love breathless today. Are you ready to feel it, my love?" he whispered against her ears, with Kalpi still in his lap and her eyes were closed now. She smiled with her eyes closed and tried to distract Raghav's attention, for even the mention of their much awaited moment was making her heart go a loud thud, thud, thud.
"We haven't completed our story yet my dear husband. Where were we? On my Aai and Baba, on what led them to take such a big decision" Kalpi said and heard a loud sigh from Raghav's side. Opening her eyes, she saw Raghav's face wore a cute and innocent look, like a child who was getting impatient to get his promised candy. This made her chuckle and Raghav raised an eyebrow "wait till we reach our bedroom" he quipped. "But for the moment, I don't mind reliving our moments, our journey, till we reached our individual realizations and acceptances" saying so he lovingly rubbed his nose against Kalpi's while taking a bite from the one apple they were sharing.
My mother had been ecstatic to see me home so early and to be honest so was I. It had been a long time since I spent some quality time with my family on week-days. After a long time, I helped my mother in cooking dinner and shared some light moments, with her teasing me that I've forgotten cooking. That was my Aai, my friend, for me my Aai was always my friend one whom I remembered in every happiness and every pain. I used to share each and every thing with her, but you coming into my life made me realize that a mother shall always be a mother. Even though I and Aai were very close but there were some things still which I knew I won't be able to share with her. For the first time I was not sure if my Aai would understand my situation and my feelings. I knew for a mother her daughter's protection from every pain was of foremost importance and when I myself was not sure of anything about our relation and our future, what would have I told my Aai? That I let my boss kiss me, that I get affected by him! Even though my secrets would have been most safe with my Aai, but my and her viewpoints would not have matched. At least that was what I'd thought in those moments; and as far as a few other best friends of mine were concerned- Raghav Singhania was too big a name for anyone to digest this news and not pass on to someone else. For the people whom my best friends would have considered their closest one, would not have necessarily kept this a secret. I could not take any risk when my and my family's heartbreak, good name was so important for me. That evening I spent a good time with my parents, even my father who was joking around the two ladies of his house.
I'd even spent a good time on video-conferencing with my brother who was posted in Singapore then. But then, like I say, a mother would always be a mother. My mother had maybe started sensing the absence of twinkle in my eyes even while I was laughing. After dinner I had gone straight for a walk to the park in front of our block, and my parents stood in the balcony. They observed each and every facial expression of mine and body language. I was oblivious to all this, unaware that the more efforts I made to hide everything from my parents, the more they became worried. Maybe I had tried too hard to push you away before, and in all this my senses continued coming closer to you, even in your absence. The last two days which you had spent as a friend with me, without crossing any boundary of comfort had an even more profound effect on me.
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