Chapter 1
Shaurya Sabherwal was a confusing man. Confusing to people around him and himself. He was also what you would call temperamental. He knew that. He couldn't control it. Especially now.
His life had had enough problems before. He had childhood trauma, an absent mother, a might-as-well be absent father, and an overbearing family to say the least. He loved his family; he had no doubt about that. But he knew that they could be a little too much for him sometimes.
So he had enough problems before. Before Anokhi Bhalla.
Anokhi Bhalla was a storm. A hurricane, more like. When a hurricane is coming, you get warnings and you take precautions beforehand from the weather predictions but when it hits, it hits hard and stronger than you would expect it to. No matter the precautions, it affects you big time.
Anokhi was the same. He knew she was not someone who he could easily get rid of. He knew she was not someone who he wouldn't be affected by. He took all the precautions. He caged himself against her. But just like an oncoming storm, she came barreling into his life before he could process what happened and flipped him upside down.
And Shaurya, what with his temperamental behavior couldn't make sense of any of it.
And it was all getting a bit too much for him.
So he decided to get help.
The Sabherwal house was empty besides him. His family had gone to an important wedding but he made an excuse that he had work when in actuality, he just didn't feel like it.
The doorbell rang and he jumped from his place on the couch where he was lying down, enjoying the emptiness of the house. He shot up and went to open the door, eagerness and giddiness prominent in him. His face met with a guy's in his mid-twenties holding the leash of a small, brown and white, happy Corgi.
"Hello. You must be Mr. Shaurya Sabherwal. I believe you asked for a day with one of our dogs. This is Jiggly. He's one of our best therapy dogs. He's been highly trained with all the necessities that you might require from him today. And I'm sure he wouldn't fail to make you happy and would definitely help you distress. I've written down all his feeding times and walk times and all other instructions on this paper. This bag has everything you will need to take care of him today. You can always call the company if you have any questions. Someone from the company will come to pick him up tomorrow morning. If you could just sign here..." The guy offered Shaurya with a document and after all the formalities were done and the guy had left, Shaurya took Jiggly inside.
The first thing he did was free Jiggly from his leash and he started hopping around, sniffing everything he could put his nose on.
Shaurya chuckled at the dog's hyperactivity and that apparently caught Jiggly's attention and he came straight towards Shaurya. After sniffing his feet, Jiggly jumped and stood on his hind legs, his forelegs nearly reaching Shaurya's waist.
Shaurya picked him up and hugged him while cooing sweet nothings at him and Jiggly responded with happy barks.
Shaurya was just waiting to receive Jiggly before going to college. He picked up Jiggly's bag along with his stuff and left for college in his car with Jiggly in his lap the whole time.
He clicked back his leash on him so he doesn't wander around to explore his new surroundings,
He walked with Jiggly following him with fast and small steps. Every head turned to look at Shaurya Sir with a dog behind him and a smile on his face. They didn't know what was more surprising; the dog or the smile?
Anokhi was working in the canteen. She was just delivering some chocolate milkshake to a table before her kurti caught on to a nail and she stumbled back and fell on the ground spilling the shake.
The fragrance of the shake didn't escape Jiggly. Shaurya had a light hold on his leash and he was distracted while talking to another teacher when Jiggly applies his full force to free his leash from Shaurya's hold and before Shaurya could process what happened, he saw Jiggly running towards Anokhi who was...on the ground.
Jiggly quickly made his way towards Anokhi. Anokhi was thankful that the fallen shake didn't manage to make its way to her and she was completely clean.
Jiggly almost ran into Anokhi before he stopped to start licking the fallen chocolate milkshake. Anokhi looked at him for a second in confusion before her mind snapped into place and she pulled him onto her lap away from the chocolate milkshake.
Jiggly immediately started licking Anokhi's face and Anokhi burst out laughing at the tickling sensation.
Shaurya ran towards Anokhi and Jiggly to find him on top of her licking her face and Anokhi unable to control her laughter. It brought an unknown calm to him with the always existing excitement he felt around Anokhi. Seeing her with Jiggly flourished such feelings of tenderness inside him that he couldn't snap out of his reverie for a few seconds while he just watched Anokhi and Jiggly play with each other.
There was broken glass on the floor, chocolate milkshake everywhere, and Anokhi on the floor with Jiggly basically submerging her face with his saliva. It was utter chaos but for Shaurya, nothing could have been more perfect.
He snapped out of his trance and went to help Jiggly off Anokhi.
Seeing Shaurya with Jiggly brought a smile to Anokhi's face. He looked adorable. And she loved dogs.
"Sorry sir. Voh bas chocolate milkshake chaatne lag gaya that oh maine isse door kar diya taaki kuch ho na isse. Aur kuch nahi kar rahi thi. Sorry."
Just then Shaurya realized that chocolate was harmful for dogs and his heart filled up again at the thought of Anokhi caring for a dog she didn't even know. Who was he kidding? He knew Anokhi would jump into fire to save a dog. Any animal, really.
"Thank you, Anokhi. I didn't realize ekdum se ki kya ho sakta tha."
"It's very much ok, sir. Aap bas dekh lena ki iski tabiyat kharab na ho. Agar ho toh immediately contact a veterinarian. Yeh aapka dog hai?" Anokhi questioned while still on the ground. Shaurya quickly tied Jiggy's leash to a pole for some time to help up Anokhi. He held one of her hands in his and held her shoulder with the other to pick her up.
"Haan. I just have him for the day. Iska naam Jiggly hai."
"Accha naam hai."
"Maine nahi rakha. Anyways hum chalte hai. Mujhe aur Jiggly ko kuch important kaam hai saath me. Bye." He gave her an awkward lopsided smile before untying Jiggly from the pole and started walking in the direction of his cabin.
Jiggly gave her a happy bark and she waved him goodbye with a smile beaming on her face. Shaurya watched the interaction from the corner of his eyes and couldn't help but let out a small smile himself.
Anokhi looked at their retreating figures. Shaurya was walking in a straight like to his office while Jiggly was moving around in circles around Shaurya's moving feet.
She shook her head with a fond smile on her lips. "Aisa kya important kaam hai jo dono ko karna hai saath me? Shaurya sir ka toh kuch samajh hi nahi aata. Jiggly ke saath important kaam? Jiggly ke saath kya important kaam kar sakte hai voh?"
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