okay frnds
The Crystal Hall was a typical rich place ' kind of places that Naku distasted. She has seen up close and personal, how beautiful palaces were turned into commercial use. Once which made a home, transferred into business houses to hoard money, back in where she belonged to originally. She never liked attending social gatherings at such places; she has always been a faraway observer. Although sometimes, she was required to put her best foot forward and attend the party, get introduced to the so called crme de la of the society, as the daughter of the host and paste a plastic smile on her face; but that's that. She never entertained the idea of stretching those attendances beyond that. Nevertheless she used to love watching them, observing their every move, listening to every flying rumour, from the passing bearers. She used to love to wander near the pantry, tasting different delicacies prepared, and sneaking out a couple of bottles of old vintage wine and something to munch, with the help of her equally naughty cousins.
Those sneaked out stuffs used to be the provisions in the little gatherings in her own room, which were far more interesting than the ones where business deals were signed, contracts were made and politics was the only valid discussion topic. Naku always thought that such stubborn characteristics of life could even make a poet imagine of the share market graph by just a look at the waves in the sea. The gatherings in her room were always far more enjoyable, where discussions used to roll, like a football in a field, ranging from old literature and culture to new cuisines in vogue. They used to talk about their future, their friendship, their careers, their responsibilities, their new found love life and many such things.
She was walking down the aisle leading to the reception at the lobby, when a man came over and addressed her by her name. Hearing her name she jerked back, only to come face to face with a man of average built, and a well maintained physique. He was wearing a black suite. "I am Sudarshan(😉😆), the personal body guard of the man you have come to meet. I take that you are here to collect your cell phone?" he asked.
"Yes" said Naku.
"This way please, come with me. I will show you to your table" he added, and Naku followed.
As they reached the table at the end of the lounge, a man stood up to greet Naku, holding his hand out. Naku immediately recognised him. The man from the library early that day. Damn she thought. She had to lose her cell phone to this man; an eye candy, she was reminded of Leela and her over excited FAQs; and fought hard to hide her smile.
"Hello! I am ..."
"Nakusha Chauhan" he completed before she could finish. "Please sit down" he added pulling out a chair for her. Perfect chivalry thought Naku.
"Well I am sure you remember me don't you? Earlier today in front of the public library -" the man said with his deep baritone.
"Yes, I do, although, I could not quite clearly see your face" Naku answered; with a little shaky voice for which she mentally chided herself immediately.
"Well do not worry, for I am the same person. I am sorry though, that I had to look you up in the archive of the public library, and then your mobile service provider; and had to call you over here to collect your belonging" he said.
"Or, you could have come over to my apartment in person" Naku added.
"Well, yes, I could have, but I had to make sure that it was the place that you lived in, had you not been there, then my visit would have been a complete waste, and I am a very busy man" he replied in a very matter of fact way, then added "And besides, I am staying at this hotel itself. So I thought would be convenient"
"Yes, of course, you were kind enough to keep the phone safe, and bothered looking me up, and tracing me down, to return it to me, this is the least I can do to show my gratitude." Naku said with a little annoyance in her voice.
The man understood her annoyance and said "You can always count on me to keep misplaced things safe" piquing her annoyance a grade higher. "And in this case the pleasure's all mine" he added with a slight hint of smirk and gleam of his eyes.
"It is the history, the happenings of yesterday that frame our future, one should always understand that" said Naku
"I am sorry to hear that you think, most people would find my profession boring ' 'digging into the past' ' they may call it, and you are probably right, but I think they miss out on a lot of logic of the present" added Naku.
"But what I fail to understand is, how do you know, that it might be boring when you are, I'm sure, clearly not into this profession"she almost retorted back, staring straight into his eyes.
"And I dare say that you are pretty sharp and bright for your age" he said with a mocking look in his eyes shining with challenge.
Naku looked up in a 'don't dare me' way immediately and said "And what is it about my age that bothers you so much?"
Ye Hai Mohabbatein
Mangal Lakshmi
