Chapter 10 link: Chapter 10
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“There’s a way to be good again.” His fingers constantly running through these lines at the back cover of the book, Sanskar seemed lost in his own trail of thoughts. He was staring blankly at the book’s cover. His mind was full of glimpses of that day, the day he first met her. He hadn’t seen her face clearly, for her face was partially covered with strands of black hair, which only allowed the eyes to be seen. She was dressed casually- a trendy yellow kurta over a pair of jeans. Nothing peculiar about the way she was dressed-up. She was as casually dressed as any random girl would have been. She was not special in any way. “Can’t you watch your steps while you walk?” His mind was now ringing with her words. Even they were full of anger, he thought. Again, nothing different, nothing unique, nothing special. In these two months, he had not thought of this whole thing even once. Now, he wondered, why did he not tell Swara that it was him that day. She had bumped into him that day. “Why did I keep quiet? Ofcourse I’m not afraid of her, neither do I care much about her. But why this silence then?”
“Sanskaar! Have your breakfast betaa!”
He was brought back to reality with his mother’s hollering voice. He kept the book back, stared at it for another few minutes, all lost, and then went to have his breakfast.
“Back from holiday, Ms. Bose?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good, are those surveys done?”
“Only a few left. I’ll bring them in an hour?”
Swara waved everyone as she walked towards her desk. Finally, back at work after two weeks made her happy. “I think I’ll get myself a coffee and then start the work. Yes, that’d be perfect!” Swara walked towards the canteen but stopped midway as she heard a voice she felt familiar. As soon as she saw him, her eyes widened- both in shock and surprise. “Is he stalking? Shakal se toh nahi lagta tha aisa, but who knows? And what work he’ll be having here?” She walked towards him and patted slightly at his shoulder.
“Tum yahan?”
“I should be the one asking this!”
“Why would you ask me so?”
“Because this is my workplace. Now don’t act like you never knew! You’re stalking me? Hai na??”
“Excuse me? Are you always out of your mind?”
“What do you mean?”
“Ma’am, I work here!”
“Achha mazaak tha! Agar tum yahan kaam karte toh mujhe pata hota! Now tell me the real reason why you’re here? I know tum mujhe stalk kar rahe ho!”
“Swara listen to me! I’m not..”
“No no no! You listen to me! No wait! I’ll call the guards and they’ll listen to you! Security!!!”
“Ms. Bose, what’s going on here? Why are you calling the security?”
“Mr. Sahni, this man..”
“Oh yes! I’m sorry Swara, you didn’t meet your new colleague na? He’s Sanskar Arora. He joined us two weeks before while you were on your vacation.”
“He works here?” Swara exclaimed loudly, so loudly that she herself felt embarrassed. “Uh.. I’m sorry, sir.”
“It’s ridiculous why you’re so shocked with this fact, but yes, he does work here. I hope you all will now get back to work, and Ms. Bose, the survey reports should reach my desk in an hour.”
“Sure, sir.”
“How come you work here? I mean, such a big coincidence!”
“Actually, I really had no idea of you working here..”
“Pata hota toh kya yahan kaam nahi karte?”
“No, not like that! It’s just.. Eh.. Leave it! Where’s your desk by the way?”
“Over there! Yours?”
“Unbelievable!” The way Sanskar rolled his eyes made Swara startle. “Kya hua?”
“That’s my desk. Next to yours!” He sighed.
Swara looked at him in surprise. She sighed deeply, this she did to prevent herself from giggling. Nevertheless, a slight smile curved on her face and she headed towards her desk.
Precap: SwaSan’s budding friendship.