SanDhir FF: Espresso Love (Ch.39 P.111 Dec.02) - Page 58

Originally posted by: cardcaptor

awesome one
cliffy 😔

thanks for pm

Originally posted by: .scarlet.

Yayyy

Read it! loved it!

I have so many things to say :p ^.^

but baad mein :p

Originally posted by: ritikaagrawal

oh my god...both in elevator😳😳😳
hayee hayeee😊😊
damn excited for next😉

Originally posted by: BornAries

No 😲 You can't stop there 😲 I want to know what happened/will happen in the elevator

I am loving Randhir *_*

but I want to know what happened in the elevator waannn

Thanks for the Pm 🤗

Originally posted by: RIDDSI

WOW..

another amazing update

loved it to the core girl

u r really good writer

sandhir alone in lift and u stopped

thats not fair yaar

update soon

keep writing

all the best

RIDDHIMA

Originally posted by: ruchi159

Nice update;-)
Loved it;-)

Update soon

Originally posted by: Aimer_vous

Simply beautiful 👏

Love it

Originally posted by: .scarlet.

this is such a cute emoji ^.^ describes my current state completely :p

PART TWENTY THREE - DEAD EYE

I could feel his fingers digging through my skin as he held my arms tightly. He looked at me dead in the eye, making me shift nervously under the scrutiny. It was as if he was prodding me; daring me to utter a word. But I couldn't. "What happened Ms. Agarwal? Cat's got your tongue?" he smirked, letting go of me at that very instant. I wanted to retort - to say something at the least - but all that came out was a string of incoherent syllables which sounded nothing short of gibberish.

By this time, he was leaning against the wall - arms crossed and one foot tapping the floor. "Back in the office, you were ready to pounce. What happened now?" he cocked an eyebrow. "I... I didn't... it wasn't me who..." but he didn't let me finish. Coming dangerously close to me again, he whispered cautiously, "Leave me alone Sanyukta! The more you'll force me, the longer it'll take."

But instead of feeling warned, I smiled at his threat. I had evidently caught him off-guard with that reaction. "Why are you smiling? This isn't one of our stupid college fights," but he bit back the last word - though a little too late. I was grinning by now; it was my turn to take charge now, I thought to myself.

Instead of pushing away from him, I grabbed his forearms and pulled him closer to me... Closer than he already was.

"So Mr. Shekawat, you still remember those huh? And the more I'll force you, the longer what will take?" I asked, cocking my eyebrow back in response to him. "Because from what I can tell, it's already working!" I said nonchalantly, biting back the smile that was threatening to escape. I knew I was pushing it, but his words had made me believe there was hope after all.

I saw his fists curling, standing quietly in front of me with baited breath. I let go and copied his previous stature as I leaned against the wall.

"Don't do this to me Sanyukta..." he said in a low voice, barely audible but filled with despair. I knew he was right, and so I backed off. In that moment, I had forgotten that things had changed. We had changed...

"I'm sorry Randhir, I really am! I don't want to force you, in fact I tried to tell Mr. Solanki that it wasn't a good idea for me to accompany the two of you, but he seemed adamant. I promise I won't try to talk to you until you feel ready!"

--

--

I could see the sincerity of her words in her eyes. She really meant what she said. But I just didn't know how to get my head wrapped around this situation.

"What was the point of the letter then? Why aren't you giving me the one thing I'm asking for?"

"But I am Randhir! I am giving you time! I told you in the letter, I don't want you to feel obliged to listen to me. I won't blame you if you decide never to hear me out either, but I had to try. I want to tell you my past. I want you to know why I did what I did. But if you don't want to hear it, I will respect it. I may be a coward, maybe even selfish, but you know this more than I that I have never ever wanted to hurt you. And if my being around you hurts you this much, maybe I shouldn't even be here," her voice broken off by the end.

The elevator opened in the next moment, and she got off - despite it not being her floor. She turned around, "I'm sorry!" she cried out softly as the doors closed.

I grunted and punched the wall, trying to vent out my frustration. I don't know what I was feeling, but I knew I couldn't let her go again. Not this time. Not again. I took out my phone and sent her a quick message. *Stay back tonight, we're going out for dinner. To talk...*

Putting my shades on, I walked out of the office confidently, not letting anyone know how shaken up I really felt.

--

--

I wasn't sure if I felt happy that he was giving me a chance, or ashamed of myself for probably guilt-tripping him into this.

But now that he wants to hear me out, my main worry took precedence. What will I tell him? HOW will I tell him?

Heading to my cubicle, I tried to distract myself by taking notes from the files I was reading - but it was all in waste because the only thing I could think of right now was how he was going to react. And Riaan? Do I even tell him about Riaan right now?

These thoughts rang around in my head for the whole afternoon, making it painfully obvious that no amount of distraction could silence these voices.

--

--

I sent Vidushi a quick text, asking her if she was free to grab a quick bite. Unfortunately, she was caught up in scheduled meetings for the whole day. I wasn't able to get a hold of Parth, so I assumed he was busy as well. Unsure of what to do, I ended up just driving myself to The Coffee Club. Although I wasn't intending to tell Mr. Shalvi about any of this, I did want to just talk to him. His words always guided me, in one way or another.

"Randhir! What a pleasure to see you young man! How are you?" Mr. Shalvi came from behind, patting me on the back. A smile automatically came on my face, "I'm doing fine Sir, thanks. And how about you? How's Mrs. Shalvi doing?"

"Fit as a fiddle," he cheered. He was indeed a very happy man, not to mention how contagious his happiness was. "So what's wrong?" he asked me directly, catching me a little off-guard. "No no, there's nothing wrong. It's just been really busy at work."

"You've been stirring that once-hot now-cold coffee for a good 15 minutes son. I may be getting old, but I haven't completely lost it, at least not yet," he smiled. I responded back with a smile of my own and gave in, "It's about Sanyukta," I trailed off, sighing. Everything seemed to be about her these days.

His weary smile thinned out; a look of compassion crossing his face instead. "So she finally told you huh? Don't be too hard on her though Randhir. That decision was hers to make, and we can't judge her for it. Anyway, it's not the child's fault his father was so cruel..."

But I was confused; "To whom are you exactly referring?" I asked, not being able to follow the conversation. Whose child?

"Riaan, who else? Sanyukta came over to meet Seema and I and brought him along. He's a very bright child," a smile accompanied his words. It took me a while to put two-and-two together, but I was in for a complete shock when I finally understood.

"She has a child?" I asked, but more so to myself. "She didn't tell you? I thought that was why you were upset!" He seemed very distressed knowing he had revealed something I wasn't aware of, but I knew it wasn't his intention. That being said, I was already lost in thought since the morning, contemplating how the dinner was going to go. But this, this had me completely spell-bounded.

I paid at the counter and was about to leave, but I walked back to Mr. Shalvi.

"Beta, I'm sorry," he spoke, genuinely feeling bad. "No it's okay. Don't worry. But can you promise me one thing?"

"Yes of course, anything!"

"If by any chance you do see her or speak to her, don't tell her I know about Riaan."

He nodded, and I didn't take long to leave from there after saying bye. My mind was now swamped with even more thoughts before, more haunting than ever before. She had a kid with Sameer?

--

--

It was 6:45pm, and I was done all my in-office assignments. I was still deciding about what to tell him... Do I speak about Riaan? Or do I just tell him about my whole situation with Sameer? I was confused. So confused. But then I decided to throw out all my worries; this is Randhir we are talking about. I have hurt him enough by lying to him once - or well, hiding the truth. I couldn't do this again to him. But was I ready to disclose such a huge thing to Randhir?

I know I shouldn't expect him to forgive me, and or to hope for us to get back together the way we were before. Especially after all that I put him through. That would be terribly selfish on my part. But after all that I had been through in the past couple of years, I couldn't help but wish we could go back to how things were. I couldn't help it! And if telling him about Riaan would increase his anger, I don't think I was ready for that right now...

*Where should I meet you Randhir?* I sent him a text.

*Stay in office, I'll pick you up in half an hour.*

*I'll have to go and change though. It's okay, just tell me where to meet you.*

*Send me your address, I'll pick you up from there. No discussion.*

As stubborn as ever, I thought as I sent him my address.

I packed my bag and took the auto home, dropping by Ankit's home to pick up Riaan.

--

--

I drove to the address she had sent me, the address being of a residential complex.

Knowing very well what the evening was going to consist of, I decided to hear her out. Mainly because I wanted to know what had happened, but also because I needed to get rid of this baggage I carried around these days. It was tiring to pretend as if nothing was wrong. Maybe hearing her out could at least rid me of my contemplations of the past...

It had been only a couple of minutes after I'd text her that she came down. Obviously she looked beautiful, as always, but I didn't find it in me to compliment her... aloud, that is.

"So where are we heading?" she finally broke the silence we had been driving in for the past 10-15 minutes.

"I was thinking Indigo? It's a nice casual ambience so we'll have the privacy to talk..."

"Erm, Randhir... Perhaps we should go to someplace else?"

I turned to face her for the first time since she sat in the car; "And why is that exactly?"

"I can't afford to eat at Indigo..." Awkward silence filled the air again as she shuffled around with the hem of her scarf she was sporting. "So now I can't even pay for your dinner?" I remarked.

She exhaled heavily, "You know that's not my intention behind this. I just, I have to be independent. I can, and will, pay for myself. These few years have taught me that at the least," the last bit being just a mere whisper.

"Fine," I concluded, it was pointless to argue with her. "You have any suggestions?"

"How about Nirvana?"

I nodded, and we headed off to Nirvana instead of Indigo... Once again, she won.