RAGNA SS:MY lady love Ms.Santa claus(chap20 updated -83)(27/10/16 IST) - Page 12

KALPANA...

I went into work on Monday morning still feeling the glow of the weekend. I hadn't been able to think about much other than Raghav all weekend. I had already started planning our activities for the following Saturday. I just knew if I could get him to experience a few traditional Christmas time events and have fun while he was doing it, he would change his outlook on Christmas.

We lived in the Christmas capitol of the world. The whole of Manhattan was lit during the month of December while we waited for the day to come. It was a travesty for him to miss out on that. I tried to convince myself that taking him out on Saturday was a charitable thing to do, but the truth was, I really couldn't wait to see him again either. I had a meeting with sammy when I got in and when he asked me how my weekend went I said, "It was good, quiet." That wasn't a lie. After Friday night I hadn't gone out again, and I had had a good one. I baked cookies and made Christmas ornaments and yes... I know I'm a dork, but I watched "It's a Wonderful Life" three times and cried every time. I cried sometimes because the ending of the movie made me so incredibly happy and sometimes because the memories of watching it with my mom when I was a little girl. Those were happy tears too, happy memories. Mostly, I didn't want to complicate whatever this thing was between Raghav and I. I worked with some amazing, smart, professional people. One might be surprised at how fast a rumor can spread amongst them. I wasn't delusional enough to believe that news I'd gone on a date with the CEO would be something even the people I was closest to would be willing to keep to themselves, so I kept it to myself.

Monday was as usual, a busy day. It was over before I knew it and as I was wrapping up and getting ready to go home I reached to turn off my

computer. On impulse, I typed Raghav's name into the company directory.There were job titles and short bios and a small photo of each of us in the company directory. Once I'd typed in Raghav's name, I was looking at his face. He was more perfect in person, but since I wasn't going to see him until Saturday the little photo would do. I wondered what kind of Monday he had and before I even realized what I was doing I started composing an email.

Hi Raghav! I just wanted to say I am looking forward to Saturday. I hope your Monday went well and don't forget to Ring at least one bell today. I hit send. While I was waiting to make sure it had gone through, I packed up some pamphlets I was going to take home. I was working on a new marketing campaign for the company and was using the old pamphlets to help design a new one. I got them packed into my bag and reached up to switch the computer off again. I saw that Raghav had responded to my email already and I was surprised. I wasn't surprised at what he had written.

Why would I ring a bell?

Because every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.

I was trying to sneak Christmas in on him a little at a time. He didn't respond to that, but I'd gotten it into his head. I switched off the computer and left for the night.

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RAGHAV...

I had been sitting at my desk going over some reports Pakhi brought in when my computer made the little noise it makes when I have new email.

Not intending to read it unless it looked like it was something of earthshattering importance; I looked up at the screen. I was surprised to see the email was from Kalpana. I sat there for a few seconds wondering if I wanted to open it or not. Finally curiosity got the better of me and I did. She was wishing me a good day and telling me to ring bells. I had no idea why she wanted me to ring bells, so I asked her why. Several more seconds later I got another email that said,

"Every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings." I completely forgot about the work in front of me and I stared at the screen. I still didn't get it. I decided to forget about it and re-focus on my work. That lasted less than five minutes before I was looking at the computer again. Finally, I cut and pasted the sentence into my browser and came back with about a bazillion hits. It was a quote from a Christmas movie. The movie was called "It's a Wonderful Life" and it had been made in 1946. I stared at it for a minute and a vague memory came back to me. My mother...who loved Christmas, singing in the kitchen...my father who also loved Christmas hanging up the lights and me, sitting on the couch eating homemade chocolate chip cookies and watching a black and white movie that for some reason made my mother cry. For over twenty years I'd done my best to stuff those memories down deep. My parents were long gone and no amount of thinking about them would bring them back. I'd decided long ago that if it wasn't helping, it was hindering. It was keeping me from moving on. I let it go and now this woman who I'm completely infatuated with wants to put it back in front of me and make me re-live it.

I was torn between being grateful to her for treating me like a human and easing my loneliness, and being angry that she wouldn't let this Christmas thing go. I had to wonder what she had in store for me on Saturday as her hired hand.

I didn't finish up my work that night until after seven. I called Ramu and told him I'd be down soon. I packed up my things and rode the quiet, lonely elevator down to the lobby from the tenth floor. When the doors opened I found myself thinking of Kalpana again and the first time I'd seen her in the elevator. I didn't know her name and we had never spoken a word, but even then I'd felt a connection. As I crossed the lobby I saw Ramu waiting by the car. He stepped over and opened the door for me.

"Hello sir, how was your Monday?"

"Hello Ramu. It was busy, as usual. How was yours?"

"Busy as well sir," he said. I started to get in the car and suddenly I

completely lost my mind. That's how I like to think of it anyways. I saw one of those Salvation Army buckets outside the lobby window and currently unmanned. The bell they rang all day was sitting on top of it and without giving myself time to think about it I picked it up and rang it.

I sat it back down and stepping in front of a confused Ramu, I slid past him and waited for him to close the door before I smiled.

The rest of the week passed quickly and every evening about the same time I found an email waiting in my inbox from Kalpana. They were short and simple, but they made me feel like someone was thinking about Raghav Singhania the man and not just the business guy or the boss or the paycheck. They were nice and it made me feel good to read them. She made me smile...:)

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RAGHAV...

I received a text message from Kalpana on Saturday morning that told me to meet her in Central Park near the coffee cart in front of the ice-skating pond and to dress casually. I put on a pair of jeans that were like brand new because I rarely got out of my suit long enough to wear them. I wore a longsleeved t-shirt underneath a thick, gray sweater. I grabbed my jacket and my keys on the way out. Every step of the way I was wondering what she had in store for me and I traveled to our rendezvous spot with a mixture of dread and anticipation.

I walked about half a mile from where I'd parked my car before I saw her. She was standing near the coffee cart wearing blue jeans and a pink sweater. Even from where I stood, I could see how pretty she was. She had braided her long hair into two braids that hung down past her shoulders.She was sipping a cup of something hot; the steam was evident in the cool morning air. She was looking around, waiting for me and for the first time in probably a decade, I felt the flutter of nerves in my belly. I hated being out of my comfort zone and this was the first time in years that I'd allowed myself to leave it full-bore. I almost bailed, but Kalpana suddenly spotted me and waved. She was smiling, as usual, and her face was flushed with color from the cool morning air. God, she was beautiful. We walked towards each other until we met just along the fence around the little man-made ice-skating pond that was surrounded by little decorated Christmas trees and had a little house off to the side for when Santa visited.

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ps:please drop your valuable suggestions/comments😳

Love,

Stella