It was late evening and all the people from office had left apart from Swara. She was still working on something until her landline rings. She looks at it and ignores but again it rings so she decides to pick.
Swara: hello?
Os: come to my place .. right now.
Swara: dida is everything alright? Why didn’t you call on my cell?
Dida: yea… just come. You check your phone.
She checks and to her surprise there are 20 missed calls.
Swara: is it urgent? I have some work dida. I will finish it and come. I guess it will take more 2 hours.
Dida: no! You come now. I m waiting. Make it quick. Leave everything and come.
Swara: fine.
Swara leaves her office work and gets into her car and heads towards dida’s house. Within 15 minutes she was there.
As soon as she rang the doorbell, it was opened and
“You! What are you doing here?” She yelled while walking in.
“Aree… Shoru! You came,why are you yelling?” Dida questioned her.
“What is he doing here?” Swara snapped back.
“Are.. Sanskar is here because, I called him, why are you getting upset about it. Come sit with me.” Dida said calmly.
All three sit on the sofa.
” Why did you call me? And most importantly why is he here?”
” Why did you leave him on the site? Poor guy didn’t even have money to pay for the cab so he had to come walking, but thank God I met him on the way. So I got him here” dida explained while Swara glanced at Sanskar, who for the first time was quite.
“Did you ask him why I left him?” Swara questioned and glanced at Sanskar who was sitting quietly.
“Swara but you can’t leave him like that, in middle of nowhere. First of all he’s new here and.. ” dida tried to explain.
“He irritated me through out the way I beard him then on site also and on the way back also he started then I couldn’t take it” Swara said and stood up. ” If you called me for this then I got better work to do. I m not taking him back to office, that’s it! I m going. ”
Swara started walking out and dida followed her and Sanskar too but dida told him to stay in.
“Listen Swara, one last time before you leave” dida said from behind.
Swara turned.
“Swara he helped me that day alot, I had gone to the mall and due to heat I fainted and no one came to help me, only he had come and took me to the hospital. I couldn’t thank him enough and you know he needed a job badly and I thought you would give him one, but he is a good guy and I always see you missing up your schedule so I thought he would be great help. Can’t you just give him a job? I know if you were on my place you would have. Please Swara” dida explained.
“Dida don’t say please. You have done a lot for me. I can’t say no to you. I will not fire him. And I m sending some bodyguards for you, you should take care of yourself but it’s okay. I will handle and please don’t say no. ” Swara sighed and was going from there while dida nodded.
“Shoru! Wait! I heard you had some dinner plans with shomi and Shekhar? What happened?” Dida asked.
“I m busy dida, moreover I don’t want to see their faces. I just get irritated and frustrated with them all the more.”
“Fine. Why don’t you join me for dinner?”
“No, infact I m busy with work, ask Sanskar to come to office now and pick up his stuff, I m going anyways. So… ”
Dida nodded and Swara waited in the car for Sanskar.
***
Office
Sanskar gathered his stuff and was going out but stopped.
” Aren’t you going home? It’s almost 10 pm” Sanskar asked.
“You got your stuff right? Go now and come on time tomorrow or be ready to mop the entire building”
“Fine, you should take some rest, you look darn tired. Why don’t you just go home? It’s your office only, no one will shoot you if you don’t do it today only”
“Sanskar.. I don’t pay you for your opinions. Just go from here. I don’t want anyone coming in between my work”
He left from there. She lit a cigarette and started going through her work again. It was around 3 when she left her office and went to her home.
****
Morning 8 am
Swara headed towards her cabin when she didn’t notice Sanskar thinking he would be there.
He wasn’t there till then and she called Zoya.
“Zoya? My schedule for the day? Don’t you know your work?” Swara shouted at her.
“Ma’am Sanskar is supposed to be knowing that. He’s not here. He asked me yesterday that he will handle all your schedules”
“Urgh that guy! Find out about him and come back to me”
About half an hour later Sanskar came to Swara’s cabin without knocking as usual.
“Would you explain why are you late? Infact I clearly remember that I told you to come on time” Swara asked as patiently as she could.
“Woh! I was coming to office today and then you know I wanted to post a letter so I thought it was on the way so, when I tried to put the letter in the post box my hand got stuck and I tried to remove it but in vain. Don’t ask only how it came out” he sighed.
“Shut up! Why do you post letter in 21 century? And that’s super lame excuse I have ever heard. You don’t even know how to lie”
“No no, I really post letter. I swear m not lying. Do I look like a person who is a liar? Come on Swara. I m not lying.”
Swara got up and folded her hands on the chest “who were you posting letter to?”
“Waise toh it’s a personal question but anyways what to hide from you. . . I was posting letter to my maternal grandmother’s sister’s daughter’s son’s neighbor’s daughter’s friend” he took a deep breath.
“What?!! Who’s what? Anyways, tell me about my schedule and next time don’t give such lame excuse. I don’t even believe in these lies”
“God knows who is this person, first of all my maternal grandmother doesn’t even have a sister” he muttered under his breath.
“What are you muttering? Brief me about the schedule. ” Swara banged the file on the desk.
“Nothing . . . You have meeting with some Sen at 10.30, then at 1pm with Daksh Sharma at his office, and 5pm you need to be present for the interview with Rathore for his and yours new product launch. That’s it!” Sanskar said without breaking the flow.
“Now go and mop the entire building” Swara said sternly.
“What??!!!! Did I not tell you why am I late?” Sanskar said making puppy eyes.
“Ohh so you really think I believe in your stupid, lame excuse?”
“Are you serious? You’re joking about it right?” Sanskar said with a smile on his face.
“Your wish! But I m not” Swara said grinning. “I need you back by 12 since we need to go for meeting with Daksh.”
“What??! You need me to mop ten floors in 2 hours?” Sanskar was shocked.
“I told you not to come late, now go”
Sanskar went from there and Swara got back to her work again and then had her meeting with Mr. Sen and he had left after signing the contract, Swara was taking the stairs to come down from the conference room to her cabin. While Sanskar was mopping there.
Swara was busy with her phone and without noticing the water she walks there and before she realized she slipped and fell twisting her ankle and wincing in pain. Sanskar rushed to her immediately.
“Swara?!!! Are you fine?”
Swara was holding her ankle and wincing in pain.
“Yes of course, I totally fine, it’s just that I was checking the gravity and my ankle how it looks and how I m acting?” She asked sarcastically while Sanskar stood there confused.
“What are you looking at? Help me get up. Idiot!” She shouted at him.
He helped her get up and she tried to stand but was unable to stand up. She limped. Sanskar got a chair making her sit on it and tried to touch her ankle. But she shouted in pain.
“I think you broke your bone” he said worriedly.
“Listen, nothing will happen, just help me go to the cabin. I have my first aid there I will manage.”
He took her slowly to the lift. Holding her by her waist and one hand supporting her hand.
“I m not coming through the lift, take me through the stairs”
“Are you mad? You couldn’t walk properly till here and how will you go down 4 floors? Come in lift will reach fast” Sanskar said pulling her towards the lift.
“No! I m not coming through the lift at any cost, leave me I’ll go by myself through the stairs” she turned to move but without his support she was about to fall but he held her.
“Why can’t you listen? You barely are in walking state and you want to go by stairs?! Have you lost your mind?” He yelled at her but then took her in his arms and walked down the stairs.
“Put me down! I can manage” she yelled at him.
“I can but it will break your backbone too.. you then you will blame me for that”
“It’s your fault only, if you had to mop properly then this stage would have not occurred”
“Ohh really? Don’t you have eyes? Or are there buttons stuck in place of them? You could have seen the water” he snapped back. And she kept quiet knowing some where it was her fault too.
They reached her cabin and Sanskar placed her on the chair.
“Where’s the first aid kit?” He asked.
“In my desk, right side third drawer”
He opens up and finds only cigarette packets. He opens the entire right side drawers.
“Are you sure? I only find cigarettes in your drawers” he looked at her she was holding her ankle.
“Idiot! My right side not yours. blo*dy moron” she shouted at him.
“Wow! First you create a mistake and then yell at me without a reason”
“Just shut up!!”
He finally got the kit and goes to her with pain relief spray. He sprays a little and she yells in pain. He wraps a bandage around her ankle.
“I still think you should consider taking a check up and consult with a doctor, it looks bad” he said worriedly looking at her foot.
She slowly moved towards her desk and took the file and checked on the time.
“We’re running late, it’s already 12.30. We need to reach fast to meet Mr Daksh Sharma.”
“Have you lost your mind?! See your state. Can’t even walk properly and going to meet Daksh. How will you give your presentation?”
“Listen if you want to come then come or I’ll go by myself. ” She proceeded towards the stairs slowly.
But she couldn’t walk anymore though she tried the pain was unbearable. She felt her eyes going to close and everything going dark. She still walked forward but not anymore. Her eyes shut down and she was unconscious in his arms.
*****
Thanks for reading.