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Chapter 2: Dreams and Disasters
The lights in the OVT Industries were still on though the surrounding offices had ended their shifts a pretty long while ago. A lone girl was still busy at her desk, her eyes scanning through the documents in her hand. The fluorescent lights on the ceiling had done a good job in hiding how late it already was. There was no ruffling of papers, no chit-chats over a cup of coffee or high voices yelling around shouting orders which made the working place eerily quiet. The only sound interrupting the strange silence was the vigorous scratching of pen on paper and a few quick presses of the keys on the keyboard. Finishing the file she was working on, she extended her hand to pick up another. It was well past 10 pm and the workers had long taken their leaves. A huge heap of files still lay before her and she knew she had to finish them before she could leave for her home. Pressing her head hard, she looked around taking in her surroundings. She had been so engrossed in her work that she had failed to notice the people around her leaving for home one by one...or in groups at times. …She was used to working late and it didn't trouble her. Her work had lately served as a medium for draining her sorrows. What surprised her was that she wasn't the only one working late…a faint light coming from the room marked CEO, OVT Industries told her that she had company.
A week had gone by since she had joined her new office…She didn't know if it was right to call it new! It had been her home for the past four years. She could tell every little detail of her workplace with her eyes tightly shut. There were no visible changes in the last month which was the only time she hadn't come to that place regularly. She had joined the office as a mere clerk and had slowly worked her way up to the CEO before leaving for complicated reasons. This time she had joined as the Marketing manager, the post which she occupied before getting engaged to the owner of the company, Arjun Kirloskar. The place was extremely special to her as it was here she had found her soul-mate only to be separated from him.
Her soul-mate was now married to her half-sister and she had taken an active part in bringing the change. He was set to be married to her and it was her change-in-decision-last-minute act which had complicated the situation. Her impulsive decision had changed three lives forever…and she doubted if it was for better. But she did what seemed right at that moment. Her aai had waited for her family since last eighteen years and she deserved to have them back in her life. She had hopelessly tried to stop the divorce proceedings of her parents only to fail. When Ovi had placed the offer in front of her, she had found her silver lining. She had hesitated as accepting the offer meant giving up the love of her life but not for long as she made her decision.
The letters were a blur as her mind wandered into a distant world. What if everything had gone according to the way it was planned! She would have been happily married to Arjun and would have been living the life they had dreamt of. He had promised to give her all the happiness she deserved and she had sacrificed it for her mother's sake. Their love story had been meant to remain incomplete…or so she thought.
The wedding night had been a hell for her. Convincing Arjun had been a hard task and watching the marriage going on had been harder. After telling the truth to her aai and aaji, she had locked up herself in her room and had cried her heart out. Later, she had called Ovi to remind her of the deal and her response had forced her to reconsider her decision. Luckily the things had gone the way she had wanted them to. Ovi had fulfilled her part of the deal and her aai was reunited with her family…She could see the happiness in her mother's eyes, Ovi-Teju had their mother and her baba had accepted her aai back into his life with a whole heart. The love and affection which had been bottled up for past eighteen years had now found their way…As she buried her face in the files once again…a recent memory found its way into her mind.
I will make sure that you don't enjoy your stay here! It had been his welcome words to her. She had joined her office only to find out that she was working for Kirloskars. His eyes had been cold…and distant. She knew he was hurt by what she had done but what worried her was if it was beyond repair! Time would set everything alright, she had kept telling herself. What she didn't know was that some wounds were too deep to be healed.
She had immediately signed her resignation letter only to realize that there was no way out and she herself had closed all the routes. "Aaji…I have got a new job," she had happily informed her aaji in the morning. She had been shocked when she was asked to sign a contract for three years. It's our company's policy, the person had told her. She had been in need of a job badly and had signed it without giving a second thought. She had decided to begin afresh…the new job being the stepping stone but little had she known then that her destiny was dragging her back to her past… A past which had awaited her return for too long, a past to which she belonged to!
She had cried herself to sleep on that night. She didn't know how she would face the person everyday that she had betrayed badly. He was her sister's husband and she needed to maintain her distance from him. She thought of running away but she knew that it wasn't an option. She could run away from situation but the reality she wanted to escape from would haunt her forever.
She had never known fairy-tales could exist, neither had she known that they could end in disasters. Her life had been turned upside-down by a magical whirlwind…and she had herself been the cause of it. She had always lived her life believing that she wasn't entitled to love. She was a middle-class girl and she was supposed to get married before she felt butterflies in the pit of her stomach…That's what she had heard and that's what she had believed in. But he had changed it all. He was the last person on earth she would have fallen for…he was rude, arrogant and full of himself. But when destiny plays the threads, human beings serve as mere puppets.
What they had shared had been magical….It had all started as a fight and had ended in tears. Everything that lay in between mattered and she had clutched onto those memories because she knew if she lost them she would lose herself. She missed his laughs, his cute little talks, his fake anger, his pouting faces, his soft touches and every other small thing related to him. He had taught her to love but what she had given him in return…a curse of never being able to place his trust in love again.
He had just talked to her once since she had joined the office. She was in a hurry for a meeting and had collided with him on the way landing up on the floor. The files had fallen down from her hand, scattering the papers in it. He had extended out his hand for her support but she had chosen a nearby desk over it.
"Watch it miss!" he had said, withdrawing his hand.
"Sorry Arjun…Actually I was…" he hadn't let her complete her sentence. "Sir…" he had said, she must have taken a little too long to respond which made him say, "Call me sir!"
He had then headed straight towards the meeting room without sparing a glance at her. She had slowly collected the papers, rearranged them in files, said a 'thank you' to a few people who had helped her and had followed him where she had to give the presentation.
The meeting had gone smooth. An effective speech…a deal signed…a few pats on her back and it was over. As she turned to leave, she heard a familiar voice.
"Nice presentation…Good job!" and he was gone.
"Thank you sir" she had responded in vain.
She wanted to tell him how she felt…Her life was no less a nightmare when compared to his…They were facing the same storm and she was as hurt as he was, only difference being she didn't had anyone to blame. She knew that he blamed her of what she had done to them and their future. She wanted to hug him and tell him how much he mattered in her life. She could feel his pain and she blamed herself for inflicting it on him. How she wished she could turn back the time! She had wasted a forever she could have spent with him.
And then the face of her family flashed in front of her eyes. How would her aai feel if she ruined Ovi's happiness for her own! Her baba! He had given her all the rights of a daughter and she couldn't break his trust…And Ovi…Arjun was her husband! How could she snatch someone else's life for her own! She had promised Ovi that she wouldn't come between her and Arjun and she knew that she had to stand up to that, no matter what! She had already made her choice and she just couldn't back out…
"I will move on," she decided in her mind, "I have to!"
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