~ Building Life ~ (A Swadarsh FF) ~ Note, Page 76 - Page 11

Headache! Adarsh had a throbbing, nagging headache since his breakfast with the Ginali's. He had hoped to get a hot cup of coffee as soon as he reached work, but did not have a chance as he had to run to attend a meeting. That is all he had been doing since morning, running between meetings and working on reports that were soon approaching deadlines. The constant headache had been bothering him. He thought he might be coming down with a flu. When he reached home, he hoped to get some dinner and take some medicine and relax for a while. He also has some pending reports to work on and knew this was going to be a long night. He did not like that prospect.

He found that he had been unable to enjoy dinner too. That truly bothered him, and he was now sure that he was taking ill. He had his favorite dishes on the table, yet did not have an appetite for it. After eating some, he excused himself and went back to his room to get some much needed medicine.

Adarsh's aloofness at dinner had not gone unnoticed by Suhasani. She wondered if he was falling sick, and decided to check on him after before calling it a night. She sat with the others for a while after dinner, and when everyone retired for the day, went in to the kitchen to make some green tea for herself and Adarsh. Once ready, she walked with the 2 mugs to his room. When she knocked the room and did not hear him respond, she slowly opened to check if had fallen asleep. She was surprised to see him in his balcony, oblivious to everything around him. She walked in, and nudged him to make him aware of her presence. He was quickly brought back to the present, and looked at her for a second to regain his composure

Acha, dheku toh? She touched his forehead to check for a temperature. He didn't have one.

Suhasini could tell that he was lying because he avoided meeting her eyes. She smiled to herself. Acha, very nice. Mujhe bhi milna chahiye unse. Phone pe baat hui hai meri, but I have not had a chance to meet them.

Adarsh took a few sips of his green tea. Nahi mom, aisa toh kuch nahi hua hai office mein

It is then that it hit Adarsh as to what had been bothering him. No, he was extremely fond of Swadheenta and had come to know her as a really nice person. They had become friends too and had helped each other many times. But he was not in love with her. He had not been hurt by what he heard this morning about her alliance with Jeevan. But he now realized that what bothered him was the fact that she seemed unhappy about it. Her eyes had become sad upon hearing about Jeevan. He then recollected that he had heard her mentioning to Asad about her dislike for Jeevan during that eventful phone conversation that had led to their first misunderstanding. So why wasn't she refusing to marry him?

Liked it

It might b d first step of falling in love

Cont soon

Love, don't know. We will see. But they are good friends and at-least know that they care about each other.

Yes, Suhasini shares a very good bond with all her children, particularly Adarsh.

I am trying to be realistic. They have enjoyed each other's company, but they have also fought, had their share of misunderstandings etc... just like 2 regular people. For neither one of them was it love at first sight. So, considering the time frame for which they have known each other, it is too early for it to be love... don't you think?

Let us see what else happens..😳

Hey, Thank you. I didn't reply to your comment earlier. Yes, it is sad that her bond with her dad is one of respect only. She is too scared of him to love him unfortunately.

I have posted the next part. Hope you enjoy that too.

With the knowledge that Swadheenta's parents and Jeevan were coming into town the following week, she found the additional need to have more fun this week. It somehow felt like this was the last week of freedom she had left. Asad and Swadheenta made a pact to go out every night for momo's, a roam around the city after her work and his college, watch at-least 2 movies this week, and a lot of such silly things. It was true that her parents would head back to Chennai with Jeevan after 3 weeks, and that there would still be time before the wedding. She would still be able to do a lot of fun stuff. But if like maamu said, her appa would force an engagement before leaving, she knew things would change. She would then be committed to someone else, and that would be a huge weight on her independent soul. She had thought about all of it many times after her conversation with maamu, but didn't get the courage to oppose it. She was still unsettled about the whole situation, but didn't know if she would be able to do much to change it. After all, her parents believed that they had made a lot of exceptions in her case. This was the biggest decision in her life, and she should be the only one to have a say in it. But her family didn't think that way. Since it all seemed too confusing and overwhelming, she decided that she would let the next 3 weeks play on their own. If Jeevan is whom she was meant to be with, she would learn to accept it.

Swadheenta had been really touched when the day after Adarsh's breakfast with them, Suhasini had called her and spoken to her about the sudden engagement, and asked her if she was happy about it. She had mentioned that Adarsh had informed her of this development, and because it was sudden, she just wanted to make sure that Swadheenta was happy. Swadheenta has been honest about her emotions and told her of her dilemma, but had assured her that she will deal with it and be ok. She had made a mental note to thank Adarsh for being so concerned and thoughtful.

Swadheenta was still working independently having taken a sabbatical till she could finish the Ahuja case. She had been meeting a lot of people in different government departments to collect evidence against Mr. Ahuja. Suhasini had been guiding her unofficially, as had Adarsh. Today, she was scheduled to meet a Mr. Shukla ji at the land registration office to get a file with Mr. Ahuja's original land documents. She had figured it out that one of the 2 documents had to be a fake one, and since she believed Mr. Prakash and the other farmers and had their documents analyzed, she had hoped that analyzing this document would shed some light. Upon reviewing the copy of the document that had been given to her, she noticed after careful consideration that there seemed to me a mismatch in hand-writing of Mr. Ahuja's name. One copy of the original had been submitted as evidence at the court. She had required Mr. Singhvi to help her get it for review, but as expected he had not been helpful. She knew that another copy of it will be available at the registration office and had sought Adarsh's help to get it. He had guided her to Shukla ji.

On the other hand, the minute Swadheenta called Mr. Singhvi to request for access to the original documents, they had started panicking. The knew that if she got hold of the original documents, it would be the beginning of their debacle. She had been a new lawyer, and Mr. Singhvi had assumed that he would be able to take her down without a problem. But she had turned out to be smart. And now, she was on the verge of bringing down everything that he had built for himself in his career. She had to be stopped. Planning something in his mind, he made a call

Having finished this conversation, he placed another call

Swadheenta started her day as usual. Having freshened up, she decided to go to the land registration office after breakfast. During breakfast she made plans with Asad to have dinner at Dilli Haat. His scooty had been given for repair, and she planned to pick him up from college after he finished his classes. When she had just reached the land registration office, she got a call

She cut the call and went inside looking for Shukla ji. Having found him, she approached him and asked about the file

I am sorry madam. Nahi ho paayega. With that he walked away only to come running back in 5 minutes. Swadheenta had been sitting there thinking of what else she could do, when he came back to her and promised to hand over the file later that night. While she still stood surprised, he added

Just then Adarsh walked towards them. Shukla ji teased about her pretending not to know him, and having promised her again about the documents, left. Swadheenta took this opportunity to pull Adarsh's leg some, and then thanked him profusely for his help. She offered to take him out for some coffee, but he had to refuse because he was on his way out of town for some work. He was going to be back late at night. They agreed that they could meet another time, but Swadheenta was quick to suggest that he was welcome to join her and Asad for dinner at Dilli Haat if he managed to reach Delhi in time.

Throughout their entire conversation, Adarsh noticed that there was a black SUV with tinted glass parked on the opposite side. He could tell that there were 2 people in the car, for the passenger side of the window had been lowered, and the guy kept looking at them occasionally. Not thinking much of it, he had continued his conversation with Swadheenta. However, when she left, he noticed that the car also left from the spot, and followed her general direction. Out of sheer intuition, he made a note of the car's number. He intended to check the details of the car sometime later, just to make sure there was no trouble.

Swadheenta went home after her visit to the land office. She spent the rest of the day at home, reviewing some other documents and documenting her argument points. Towards evening, she went to Asad's college to pick him up. They headed towards Dilli Haat and had a gala time enjoying all the food. Having spent close to 2 hours there, they decided to head back home since it was fast approaching to be 9. While on their way back, they got a call from maami asking them to pick up some ingredients for a dish she wished to make the following day. Just as they approached the store, Swadheenta got a call. Having seen who the caller was, she indicated to Asad to go and get the stuff while she finished talking. When Asad went in to the store to buy the stuff, she answered the call-

Adarsh was just returning from his work and wanted to check if they were still at Dilli haat.

The next minute, a fast approaching black SUV came rushing towards her and slammed into her. She felt a forceful bang on her left side, shooting pain through out her body as she fell to the ground hitting her head against the road before everything blacked out.

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