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When Sonakshi snuck a glimpse at Dev she was horrified to see him staring at her. She looked before her and saw the empty straight road through the glassed windshield. She looked back and saw Dev still looking at her.
"Dev!" She reprimanded, frantically looking at the road again.
Getting no response from him, she swats his face so that he's forced to move his face to look before the imperative that he should have been prioritizing from all along. Sonakshi took in deep breaths of anger that was accumulated due to his reckless behavior.
She was happy that he was happy. She had never seen him be so carefree and relaxed before but it was scaring her a bit as well. His new behavior was an absolutely refreshing change. He would get angry at her but there was a hidden passion and immense love laced with it. He would smile and laugh with the intention of eliciting a laughter out of her through a tease.
But there was the reckless side to him that was beginning to scare her a bit. It has merely been one day but he has started to become lax about his office work. He would make excuses to not go, postpone meetings without providing a justified clarification and now, ignore safety rules by refusing to look at the road ahead.
Sonakshi broke out of her thoughts as she felt a soft human touch by her hand. Looking down she saw Dev's hand ghost near hers. A sensation that she could only describe as butterflies fluttering in her heart. She began to feel a pounding due to excitement and nervousness but she tried her best to dismiss that feeling away. While she wanted to relish in being under his touch, she had to try to knock some sense into him.
She pulls her hand away and immediately misses the warmth that was coming from him. She slightly shivered as she dreaded what the outcome of her words were going to bring about.
"Dev, pull over." She requested, tapping the window softly with her nail.
"Are you okay?" Dev asked, alternating glances between Sonakshi and the road.
"Yeah," She said, dismissing his worry, "just pull over."
Dev does as she said and puts his car on standby. His fingers resting on the steering wheel, he turns his body slightly towards her to give her his full attention.
Sonakshi gets lost in his happy face. His eyes were lit up from looking at her. It was almost as if he was getting younger in his years.
Sonakshi shook her head to break herself out his spell and tried to pull herself together to pay attention to the task at hand.
"Dev, we need to talk." She spoke seriously.
Dev's face fell and grew pale. He sat up straighter in his seat and opened his mouth to form empty words.
"Are you okay?" Sonakshi asked, now getting worried for him.
"But why?" Dev asked, his voice filled with disappointment and helplessness. "I thought we were good and happy, so why?"
"What?" Sonakshi asked entirely confused as to what Dev was going on about. "Dev, what are you talking about?"
"You're breaking up with me, aren't you?" Dev spoke in such a small voice that Sonakshi almost missed hearing it.
"What!" Sonakshi repeated with an exclamation that made Dev jump. "What gave you that idea?"
"You just said we need to talk and couples only say that when they're generally breaking up." Dev explained himself now feeling extremely embarrassed for his over-reaction.
"Mr. Dixit, you are absolutely impossible." Sonakshi stated her classic phrase in immense disbelief. "Just because someone says they need to talk, it doesn't mean that they're heading for a break up. It just means that they need to talk. And just where did you learn this from?" Sonakshi asked twisting her body around so that she was facing him better.
Dev began twisting his shoulders in an odd angle signaling he was about to make up an excuse for himself.
"I just... read somewhere... online.." He trailed off and finished when he saw Sonakshi shaking her head. "Okay, forget that. Tell me," He picks up her hands and runs his thumbs over her knuckles, "what do you want to talk about?"
"You." Sonakshi replied with a smile. But when she hung her head to compose herself and then looked back up, that happy, blushing smile was replaced with a dreaded one. "You and the way you've been behaving lately towards your work."
Dev took a deep sigh and looked away, clearly not the topic of conversation that he was hoping for.
"Dev, the way you've been neglecting your work, it's not good. Now, granted I don't know anything about your business or the way you handle your projects but the way you have been neglecting your duties is not good. Your work ethic that has helped to establish such a grand empire... I don't want anything to happen to it."
"Sonakshi, you don't have to worry about it. I'll handle it." He repeated the same words that he used on his mother to her, with a scrunch of his eyebrows.
"But I do have to worry Dev. Yesterday, you went late, today you went in the morning but came back before lunch. So tell me how much work did you get done in just three hours?" Dev once again looked away. "Not to mention all those meetings that you have postponed. Dev, it's not just a business that is handled in profits or deficits. You have to think about all those individuals involved who put in their hard labor into making sure that your company remains at the top. You postpone meetings in the snap of your fingers because you're the boss. What about the employees who stayed up till late at night to make presentations or finish up reports to submit on time?"
Sonakshi paused to see if she was getting through to him.
"And what you were doing today, that was dangerous." She said softly. At his furrowed brows, she clarified herself. "The way you were driving, without looking at the road. That was really dangerous."
Dev's shoulders slumped and he let go of her hands to take the steering wheel instead. The cool material made his warm palms tingle.
"I know that you're really happy right now and are just so lost in this feeling. I am as well and trust me I want to throw the entire world away for a few days so that it could just be us for a while but we can't. We have too many obligations at the moment. You can't be so careless like this Dev."
When he turned to face her, Sonakshi saw that his eyes were watery.
"Dev.." She began off not expecting that sort of response.
"I'm sorry." Sonakshi slightly shook her head and scrunched her eyebrows unsure of what he was apologizing for. "The way I behaved with you right now, it wasn't right. I should have been more careful in my driving but Sonakshi I've told Maa many times, and I'm going to tell you as well; don't worry about my business. It's like you said, I built this company with my own hands. T here is no way I'm going to let it fall so easily. And as for the employees, you don't have to worry about them. I know each and every one of them, and I know the amount of labor they all put into their work. Sonakshi," He takes off his seat belt and turns to face her again. "All my life, all I've done is work. I have been the responsible one who has had to look after his family at the age of eight. It's not an easy task to take up but I did and I succeeded in it. There is no way that I am going to let my mother's years of hard work and sacrifices go to waste." Sonakshi looked down, embarrassed, wondering if she might have overstepped her place. "But that doesn't mean that I'm going to let the one thing that gives me a peace of mind go away so easily. Sonakshi, falling in love with you," He pauses trying to find the right words, "has released me. I feel free." He said the last word with a raise of his shoulders and a liberating smile. "I don't feel bogged down with work problems or family tension. I feel like I have the perfect opportunity to find myself. To know who I really am. You know, I never bothered to think about my likes or dislikes in small things such as music before. But now I do. Now I think about everything about myself, I second-guess and question everything I do because I want you to like me. Whenever you look at me, I want you to feel proud that the first person you fell in love with was worth it. That your wait was worth it. That I'm worth giving your time to."
Sonakshi's eyes got misty at his revelation.
"There's going to be a lot that we don't know. A lot that we still need to figure out, but we'll do it. We'll find that balance." Dev declares with a confidence, knowing smile.
"Promise?" Sonakshi asks, extending her hand out.
"Promise." Dev shakes her hand with a small chuckle. "Now, shall we?" He asks pointing towards the long road ahead of them.
Sonakshi nods her head in affirmation, with gleaming teeth showing.
Both keeping their eyes on the road, they blushed and smiled as their fingers interlocked with each other in a firm hold.
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