(Graduation Day, Suraj side of the Story)
Suraj walked away to pick up the call, his back towards Chakor.
"So, what did she say?" A voice filled with glee came from the other side. "Well, if you hadn't decided to call at the most appropriate time, I would have proposed to her and would have been waiting for her answer by now," he replied sarcastically.
"Oh sorry sorry! You have the ring with you right?"
Suraj smiled. "Yeah," "Waise if I were that girl, I would have told Yes the minute I saw the ring!" She was definitely jumping right now.
"Ragini," Suraj said sternly. "Yes, Bhaiya?" "You're going to have an arranged marriage. I swear you're like a kid. You would marry a guy if he bought you foreign chocolates. How did you turn out this way?"
"Oh I don't know, why not ask my brother who's spoilt me rotten?" Sarcasm ran in their family. Quite well too, in fact.
"Alright, alright. I give up. Now cut the call, I need to go back to her. And go to sleep, it's half past eleven." Suraj said, smiling. He put his hand inside his pocket and felt the leather covering of the small square box that held the ring. He clasped his fingers around the box, taking it out of his pocket. Letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding, he turned toward her...
... Only to find himself all alone.
(Present time)
Suraj squeezed his eyes shut as he remembered that day.
05th May 2011. The day she had left him. The day he had locked up his feelings for good. But some part of him still ached to see her, at least just one glance of her, happy, and he would never ask for anything again.
He wouldn't lie. He had dreamt of making her his wife, having a family with her, owning a house, and he would come back from work and she would be there at the door waiting for him...
He sighed. The day SHE had left him, he felt his whole world crumble. He hadn't felt so bad when his father had left them, or when his mother killed herself, or even when his grandmother, who had brought him up, passed away recently. He just felt so hollow, like someone had cut a hole through him, when he turned and she wasn't there.
Presently, he looked out of the flight window, and could see greenery all over. Bangalore wasn't called the Green City for nothing. They would be landing in another 10 minutes, the Captain's voice came over. He sighed. He was supposed to report for work today, so no question of taking a quick nap after landing. Idly, he wondered how his new work place was. To be honest, none of his previous work places were excited about welcoming their 'Boss'. Oh well, he just had to wait and see for himself.
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Collecting his luggage, he made his way out of the airport, and found a huge placard bearing his name at the entrance, a 'WELCOME' in big, bold letters written on top. Slightly raising his eyebrows in amusement, he made his way toward the people, offering a small smile to them. His P.A. had already reached a day before, and had made all arrangements for him, and he was thankful for that.
"Everyone's waiting for you at the office Sir," Rishab (his P.A) said while driving. "Quite unlike our previous work places, I'd like to say. They've even decked up the whole place for your arrival." He smiled.
"Really now," Suraj couldn't hide the surprise in his voice. "And drop the Sir, Rishab." He drawled.
Rishab laughed. "Yeah, yeah, I... HEY! WATCH OUT!" The wheels of the car screeched to a halt as Rishab forcefully pressed the brake. Had Suraj not been wearing his seat belt, he would have definitely injured his head.
"What happened?" He asked groggily, regaining his composure slowly. "A kid just came out of nowhere! I can't see him. I'll check outside." Saying that, Rishab clicked his seat belt off and got out of the car hurriedly. Not one to wait in the car, Suraj followed suit.
A boy was sitting on the ground, sobbing. His bag was a few feet away, the contents strewn everywhere. The car hadn't hit him, thankfully, but he had fallen due to the shock and had injured his leg, and it was bleeding profusely. Suraj looked around for his parents or any of his companions, but found the road deserted. Kneeling down, he asked the small boy, "Hey there, little guy. Where's your mom?"
The boy looked at him with huge eyes, and suddenly he started wailing. 'Oh no,' Suraj thought inwardly.
"Pleash no tell Mama Yuvi cross road by himself," the boy spoke between wails. Suraj smiled down kindly at the boy. Rishab had wet his handkerchief and was trying to clean the wound presently. "I won't," Suraj assured the boy.
"Pinky promish?" The boy held out his little finger and looked up hopefully. Suraj held out his own, much to his amusement. "Yeah, pinky promise." Rishab had to stifle a giggle at the sight.
"So where's your Mama?" Rishab asked tentatively, still working on the wound. "Mama in ofish!" The boy chirped. "And where's her office?" "Ofish veeery far," the boy dragged, and Rishab facepalmed.
Seeing as they couldn't get anything out of him, Suraj picked him up. "Let's take you to the nearest hospital first," he said, seeing as the wound wasn't something minor. Rishab, meanwhile, picked up his bag and carefully placed all the contents inside. "There's a school diary inside, we can probably get contact details from there." He said to Suraj, who placed the boy in the car, and nodded to Rishab.
While Rishab drove, Suraj tried to contact the number given in the diary, but to no avail. The boy kept staring at him, never once taking his eyes off of him. Suraj, somehow, didn't feel uncomfortable under his scrutinizing gaze.
After dialling the number 7 times and still getting no response, Suraj gave up, exasperated. Meanwhile, they had already reached the hospital.
Suraj stayed with the boy, while Rishab continued to ring his mother. Since he couldn't have his phone will in the Doctor's room, Suraj passed his phone to Rishab.
"So, what's your name?" The female doctor asked, smiling kindly at the boy. "YUVI!" the boy said, all excited. God knows what was exciting about a hospital. "Wow, that's a nice name! And how old is Yuvi?" The boy held up his chubby fingers and announced proudly, "Yuvi is 5 years old!"
"Oh my, you're already a young man!" The Doctor said with animated expressions, and Suraj giggled from his place at the corner of the room. He abruptly stopped though, when the Doctor said, "You have a really strong son, Sir. He didn't cry at all," she said as she ruffled Yuvi's hair.
Suraj stood there, gaping at her. Oh well, in any other situation, it would be normal to assume they were father and son. But still. "If you could please fill in the particulars in this form for me," she said, passing him a sheet of paper. How should he explain that he wasn't the boy's father?
Before he could speak up, the Doctor had left them. Suraj stood there, looking at the sheet, perplexed. Meanwhile, Yuvi had reached for his bag and had busied himself keeping his pencils and notebooks in place, unaware of his surroundings. He seemed to have dragged Suraj's wallet in the process as well, which Suraj had taken out while paying the Doctor's fee.
Curious, he peeked inside, and his eyes went wide. He looked at the wallet, and then at Suraj, and tears formed in his eyes, threatening to flow down any minute. Yuvi opened his mouth to speak, when Rishab barged inside.
"His mother called back to your number. She's on her way," he said, all in one breath. "O...kay. The Doc just gave me this form thinking I'm his father," Rishab giggled at that and Suraj glared at him, "Just stay with him while I go and at least show my face for a while in the new office. Anyway his mother's coming soon."
Rishab nodded, and Suraj got ready to leave. Realising he didn't have his wallet on him, he looked around and saw Yuvi holding it. He walked toward him and smiled, "Hey Yuvi, Rishab UNCLE," a gasp from Rishab, "will stay with you till your Mama arrives, okay?"
Saying that, he took his wallet and got up to leave, when Yuvi held his thumb with both of his small hands. He looked up at him with teary eyes, and spoke in a small voice, "Papa," and Suraj's eyes went wide. "Yuvi be good boy. Please no go," and he started sobbing.
Suraj didn't know what to do. He was shocked when the boy had called him 'Papa'. Probably the kid was still in shock. Shaking his head, he bent down and said, "Don't worry. Your Mama will be here soon. And... I'll come back too." He added the last part since the boy looked hopeful. Suraj didn't know why, but he said that he would be back on impulse. He didn't like to lie or give false hope, but the way the kid looked at him, Suraj would have to be a cold blooded beast to refuse those eyes.
The boy seemed convinced, for he let go of his hand and smiled up at him. He patted Rishab on the shoulder as he passed him, and walked out of the room, looking back only once. He got into his car and started driving towards his work place, his mind filled with the boy's words. He didn't feel like leaving him back there, even if his mother was on her way and quite frankly, he didn't have any business there. His office building was now in view. He inhaled deeply in an attempt to regain his composure.
He might be the Boss, but even he had to make a good first impression on his colleagues.
