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Chapter 10
The Basu-KM case was working well in favour of KM communications. The first two hearings were hugely in support of KM communications and the workers worked with renewed excitement. In addition to the case going so well, the first package they have released after the debacle brought them success though not as huge as the one they expected the first time. Things were looking up for everyone at KM. It was Friday evening and the workers were all rather relaxed.
Prerna was obsessively searching for the least expensive air tickets to Chennai when a sudden bang went off that made her topple off her chair. And then everything went dark. Trying to figure out what all the commotion was all about, she turned towards the only other light in the room apart from that of her phone, the light emanating from her dear team mate Anurag's laptop screen. His face illuminated by the light seemed to look a little irritated, as he looked around in confusion. Shaking his head, he turned his head back to the screen, totally unperturbed, looking with such concentration, it looked like he wanted to burn a hole through it.
Prerna sighed, a look of complete exasperation and incredulity crossing her face. She made her way to his seat and swiftly shut his laptop off, plunging the whole room into darkness.
"Sharma, why would you do that?" Anurag said, his voice sounding extremely tired.
"Didn't you hear that boom sound?"
"Which sound?" Came his voice, now sounding confused.
Prerna listened in stunned silence. The sound was so loud, she wondered if a terrorist planted a bomb somewhere there.
"What?" She asked, gobsmacked.
In reply, Anurag chuckled merrily. "Of course I heard it, Sharma. I have no hearing problems."
"Well, that's one problem less, at least." Prerna muttered.
She immediately lit her phone screen up and flashed it onto Anurag's face so that she didn't miss that pissed off expression she so loved. Err. Liked. No, loved. Okay, whatever.
She sighed in content. Each of his pissed off reactions added ten seconds to her lifetime.
"Don't do that, Sharma," Anurag said, guarding his face from the sudden flash of light with his hand.
"Oops, sorry," she mumbled, immediately turning the phone off. "Let's go find out what happened." She said, taking him by his hand.
They barely made it to the door when an announcement was made - that the power was down because the transformers were overloaded and the back power would come up in a while because apparently there was some problem with that as well.
Great.
Prerna wondered sometimes if she was actually working for one of the biggest companies in India.
Anurag made his way back to his seat, tripping and groping and collapsed into it with a tired heave.
It was raining outside. Heavily. It was better to stay indoors. And the view from the wall size window was captivating. The evening sky was pink which wad steadily turning grey because of the fast approaching clouds.
Prerna looked down her window to find people rushing haphazardly for cover and vehicles speeding like bullets. Thank God she was indoors. Rain was fine when she was indoors. Lovely, even.
She slid down to the floor, bring her knees close to herself, hugging them as she leaned on the glass window, making random patterns on the mist forming on the window.
Anurag who was about to open his laptop again, looked at her. She looked so serene gazing down the window, her expression content. Wishing not to disturb her tranquility, he approached her and asked softly, "What are you doing?"
Prerna looked up at him smiling. "Trying to enjoy the rain," she said, pointing a finger at the window. "Come sit," she said, patting the space next to her.
Anurag, settled down beside her almost immediately.
A few moments of comfortable silence later, Anurag spoke.
"You don't like rains?" He asked.
"Not at all!"
"Why?"
"Everything becomes so damp and dark!" Prerna replied, pointing at the scene below. "See, everyone is rushing here and there. It disturbs the routine. And the feeling of droplets on skin! It feels like needles. I am not fond of it. Now that I am inside, it seems fine."
"But it was raining that day."
"Huh?"
"The day you came looking for me at the chai wala?"
"See, I risked the rain and came for you. And what did you say?" She asked, her face assuming the same expression of the emoticon she would use whenever she meant something sarcastic when they texted.
Anurag chuckled at her expression. "I said you sucked at consoling"
"Yeah. Typical asshole" she said, giving him a disgruntled look, earning another chuckle from him.
"What about you?" She asked, a few moments later.
"What about me?"
"You like rains?"
"No"
Prerna waited in silence sensing there was more to the no.
Anurag looked down at his toes as he spoke, "It rained the day my mom died. It rained the whole day."
His voice was a mere muffle. It would have been inaudible had she not been listening keenly.
"I am so sorry, Anurag!" Prerna said, feeling extremely guilty. "I will shut the blinds off, right away," she said, getting up, when Anurag held her wrist.
"No, it's okay, sit down. I want to see the rain," he said.
Prerna sat back down, right next to Anurag, her hand still in his.
They sat in silence for a few minutes, watching the rain create havoc, wrecking apart hoardings and branches, but not taking in the sight, each lost in thoughts.
"I remember that day so well." Anurag said, his voice choking, eyes welling up.
Prerna watched him tenderly, her eyes taking in all his vulnerability.
"We fought that day you know," he said, smiling wryly, looking up into her eyes. "You and me. We were all supposed to score each others French quiz and I got your paper. I was so keen in examining your paper, I deliberately searched for even the littlest of mistakes and gave you a very bad score. You were bawling that day," he said chuckling through his tears.
Prerna smiled too.
"I was ecstatic." He said, still laughing. "I wanted to go home and tell mom what I did."
He held her hand.
"She knew all about our squabbles, you know! And she never used to support me," he said,"only Nani used to support me. Mom thought I was mean to you for no reason,"
"Which is true," Prerna said, giving him a slight shove.
"Which is true," Anurag admitted, "but I finally got you this time and that too genuinely! I wanted to tell her that! But she-" he said breaking off, choking for breath as fresh set of tears poured from his eyes.
Prerna moved closer, wrapping her hand around his arm.
"I got the news at night. They kept me in the dark about it till the doctors announced she couldn't be revived. It was raining so, so heavily. And I was alone at home. Naani came back and then-then, it was so-," he said, digging his fingernails into his hand, and face, so hard it drew out blood almost immediately.
Prerna lunged forward, forcing his fingers apart, aghast. She drew him to herself as he broke down into heart wrenching sobs, running one hand through his hair, and the other on his back, trying to calm him down, as tears pricked her eyes.
Anurag collapsed completely, shaking as he cried.
Prerna clutched his hair, mumbling calming words into his ears. They sat that way for a while. Anurag's arms, slowly made way to Prerna's waist as he gently pried her off himself, after he let them rest for a while.
He drew back and saw Prerna looking at him, concern and worry writ all over face.
He took her hand into his and said,"It's been years and I still feel so helpless, Prerna. She was my strength. My weakness. My world."
Prerna gently laid her head on his shoulder. He wrapped his hand around her, drawing her close. He needed her. Her comfort. Her care. He yearned for it this moment. It gave him strength to keep speaking.
"That was probably the last I have seen of my dad. He came for the last rites. He was a womaniser. It broke my mom's heart. I hate him for hurting her, Prerna. I can't ever forgive him."
"I am sorry, Anurag. I dunno what to say," giving his arm a tight squeeze.
"You don't have to be sorry. It's my fate," he said smiling at her wryly, remembering their conversation from the other day.
"No. I have to say sorry! I was so mean to you back then. You were going through so much personally and you probably took that out at school."
"What are you talking about?" He said, turning his head to look at her, "about me being an ass to you?"
Prerna nodded.
"That was completely intentional," he said, sniggering. "It was-"
"-part of your charm," Prerna completed, drawing back, the sarcastic emoticon expression back.
"Yeah," Anurag said, not liking the feeling of her moving away from him one bit.
"Why did you hate me so much?"
"Why did YOU hate me so much?"
"Because you laughed when I tripped and broke my teeth in the kho-kho game in grade eight!"
"Oh really? You used to laugh at me when that Math teacher used to thrash me black and blue for not getting my answers right. What about that?"
"You used to call me names for oiling my hair."
"You complained to the Head Mistress that I brought a Play Station to school."
"You locked me up in the dance room."
"You are making me sound so vile! There were twenty other people and two adults with you, okay?"
"Then what about the time you got your project sponsored instead of mine by flirting with Ms.Anita?"
"Gross. I didn't do anything of that sort," Anurag denied, only half heartedly.
Prerna smirked. He was irked.
"You used to top by crying and getting extra marks for your paper," he said, grinning maliciously.
"That's not, okay- I was obssessd with marks. But I come from a scholar family. It was imperative that I get 99."
Anurag scoffed.
"You stole my pencil case," he accused a few seconds later.
The statement elicited such a foul, pure Hindi swear word from Prerna, Aviansh's jaw dropped. He looked at her shocked even as he started laughing.
Prerna slapped a hand to her foreahead with full force.
"Don't do that," Anurag said, hitting her on the head from behind. She always hit herself so hard whenever she did some screwing up. Mad girl. "And what's with language," he burst out laughing."Who are you and what have you done to my Prerna?"
His Prerna. Prerna's heart gave an enormous jolt at that. She hastily replied,"That is so wrong. I didn't steal anything. Okay?"
"After you do so much gundagiri I will have to say okay, right?"
Giving him her favourite finger Prerna turned to the window, resuming her doodling.
Anurag ruffled her hair, laughing.
"What was the deal with you and Ms Anita though?" She asked, smirking.
"No deal, okay? She was hot that's all."
"Hot?" Prerna said laughing. "God! No way. Ms Shreya was hot."
"Shreya who?"
"The Music Teacher? Big bindi?"
"Oh haaan! She was damn gorgeous, Yaar." He said looking wistfully into space.
Prerna laughed at his exaggerated reaction. "Tharki you are. But she had something going on with the PT Sir, no?"
"Who? Brijesh?"
"Yeah him."
"That guy had something going on with everyone." He said.
"Just like you then,"
"What?"
"Weren't you and Satakshi dating?"
"No Yaar, she was dating Akash."
"Preeti?"
"No wayyy"
"Ashna? Kritika? Bhoomi?"
"Woah! You have complete statistics about me, Sharma. You were so interested in me?"
"No. I remember because you had something to do with everyone in the class except me."
"Well, I didn't know back then."
"Didn't know what?"
"That Prerna Sharma was so beautiful. Inside and outside," he said.
The statement was so sudden, it rendered Prerna completely speechless.
Doing what she always did when he said such things, Prerna diverted the topic.
"Um, we will know all about your hanky-panky when we go to Chennai next month. All your exes will be there."
Prerna's ex-best friend Reeya, from school was getting married and had invited everyone in the batch and expressly requested all of the to come. They were all going.
Anurag who noticed the blush on her cheek didn't get disappointed at all at the change of topic.
He was about to say something when the lights came back.
Prerna looked at her watched, gave a short yelp of horror because it was nearing nine and rushed herself and himself outta the room all packed in the next five minutes.
It was when Anurag came back to retrieve his blazer lying by the window that he noticed the random doodles on the window.
Many were Prerna's names written in different styles. One said she is the best. Anurag snorted. Another said 'Loki is love'. Anurag shook his head and was about to leave when he noticed one small doodle at the corner where she sat.
It was his name.
With a tiny heart next to it.
Author's Note :
Please excuse me for the delay and the lackluster quality of this update. But it was an essential chapter.
I would come back and edit it as soon as I can.
And I promise to write sooner and better.
Love to all!
Happy Makar Sankranti to all celebrating.
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