You Are Missing In My Heart!

Lol (I wish there is a react button in IL like FB)

 

Previous Chapters:

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8 - Part 9 - Part 10 - Part 11 - Part 12 - Part 13 - Part 14 - Part 15 - Part 16 -Part 17 - Part 18 - Part 19 - Part 20 - Part 21 - Part 22 - Part 23 - Part 24 - Part 25 - Part 26 - Part 27 - Part 28 - Part 29 - Part 30 - Part 31 -Part 32 - Part 33 - Part 34 - Part 35 - Part 36 - Part 37 - Part 38 - Part 39 - Part 40

Chapter 41:

“So, you won’t tell me where we are?” Nethra frowned and Joe, the man guarding her, grinned in response.

Nethra looked at him amused. “He looks funny when he grins”, she thought and wondered how such an innocent boyish grin can appear on a terrifying hulk’s face.

“Madam, have your lunch! It’s getting cold” he said.

“No! first tell me which place is this! I can see that it’s underground, but where?” she asked curious.

“I am not allowed to say that”, he said grinning again.

“Arghhh! Are you usually this loyal or is it just to irritate me?” she asked.

“You can check that with Arjun sir! But, I am calling him if you are not gonna eat. You have to take tablets”, he said.

Nethra glared at him and said, “No one is scared of your ACP here”, but without further argument she opened the lid on the lunch tray and started having her food.

As she was wrapping up her lunch, she started having hiccups and it continued even after having some water.

“Keep the water in your mouth for a few seconds and then swallow”, said Joe, “someone is fervently thinking about you”, he added and winked.

“It need not be someone. I have a family –my parents. It could be them too”, she said with mock anger.

“I meant them only. Is there someone else?” Joe asked faking innocence.

“I slept already”, said Nethra lying on the bed and Joe laughed aloud. “Tablets” he reminded again. She groaned and sat on the bed while Joe handed her the medicines.

“Ma’am! I have to go out for a while. Will be back in two hours”, he said as he turned towards the door.

Nethra lied down again and looked around appreciatively at the interiors of the room, at how the pale colors added light and space to the room though it’s underground. Her mind immediately jumped to Abhinay’s hotel plan, pulling all the little details she liked in it from her memory. Her mind continued to wander around Abhinay and fondly replayed all the moments she spent with him. She thought about the accident and winced. “Stupid! Looks like he took the entire blow on his side to save me”, she said. ‘I am not even sure how bad his injuries are and how he is now. I can’t trust Aju in that. He would definitely downplay it to keep me from getting anxious’, she thought and a tear escaped from the corner of her eyes. “When did I so madly fall in love with him?” she asked herself. She thought about his endearing anger when she denied his lift offer. “None of this would have happened, if I had not gone with him that day! May be, instead, I would have died long back in the attack that happened in my apartment” She shuddered tracing back to where it all started. “Lift…….!” She pondered and her mind traveled a couple of years back to the reason that made her repulsive of the very word ‘lift’.

Nethra sat in the meeting room with ten other people. Their business unit Vice President was presenting about the organizational achievements and goals from another Country. The huge screen that hung on one side of the meeting room was divided into multiple squares, streaming Videos of people in different meeting rooms at various locations across the globe, along with a presentation with unrecognizable numbers and charts. ‘Will they ever finish?’ she wondered. She neither understood nor was interested about what was being said. It had been 10 months since she joined the company as a fresher and this was fourth such meeting. She looked with awe at people who asked questions in those meetings. ‘What am I doing here?’ she thought. ‘A civil engineer sitting in an IT company’, she shuddered. ‘I should have waited for core offers’, she thought and a small sigh tried to escape her lips, which she swallowed. She was warned already by her lead that every move would be vividly captured by the high definition cameras and screened across locations. She slightly turned her left wrist and looked at the time. It was 7:20 PM and her eyes grew wide in shock which she masked the next second. Her cab would leave office at 7:30 PM, it was already 7:20 PM and the meeting showed no signs of getting to a closure any sooner. Being aware of her team lead’s temper, she knew that she could not leave before the meeting ended. The next five minutes was pure torture for her looking at the watch every 10 seconds and praying that the meeting should end. Her stomach growled reminding its empty state to her.

The meeting ended at 7:28 PM. ‘Will I reach the parking in 2 minutes?’ she thought hopelessly as she walked to her cubicle. “Not leaving?” her teammate asked.

“I just have 2 minutes!”, she said hastily throwing her stuff into her handbag.

“Run! You still have a chance, if your route number is greater than 10”, he urged.

Throwing him a thanking smile, she rushed to the lift and pressed B2, the basement parking where their company cabs would be parked according to their route numbers. At the center of the parking, a board would be placed mapping the route number with the areas that particular cab will cover. At departure time, the cabs would start moving in ascending order from route number 1.

She rushed out of the lift and ran to the board. She could see that the cabs already had started moving. She quickly ran her index finger on the board to find her route. “Route 9” it read. It was 7:33 PM by then and cabs till route 12 had already left. Her shoulders slogged and her stomach growled again.

“Shut up”, she muttered under her breath to her stomach and started walking back to the lift. The next cab service was at 9 PM.

She pressed the upward arrow and waited for the lift to open, cursing all those who planned and conducted the meeting. The lift opened and a person came out and seeing her, he smiled. He looked familiar. She hesitantly threw a half smile at him and tried to get into the lift.

“Missed your cab?” he asked.

‘Omg! What does he want now? Am gonna faint in hunger here!’ she thought while her lips answered, “Yes!” She then remembered that he was part of the same business unit and he was also coming from the same stupid meeting.

“Oh! You look tired” he said.

‘Argh! What a discovery!’ her mind mocked again. She just smiled while her mind tried to recollect his name. She remembered that he was introduced to her when she joined.

“Where do you stay?” he asked, while the lift closed and moved up without her.

‘Moron! He didn’t even have the decency to stop talking while it’s clear that I am trying to get into the lift’ she cursed in her mind but said, “Ramapuram”

“Oh! Then I can drop you! My place is at Porur”, he said casually.

“That’s fine! I will take the next cab”, she said hesitantly.

“Are you sure? You still have one and half hours for the next cab”, he asked. “No trouble for me at all, if that’s what you are thinking”, he added.

At the same time, her teammate who spoke to her while she was leaving came out of the lift. “Oh you missed your cab?” he asked and laughed aloud.

“Praveen! I am already irritated”, she said her tone threatening.

“How long will you take?” the new person asked Praveen. It looked like he was waiting for Praveen.

“Sorry boss! Come” Praveen said turning to walk away.

“You sure Nethra?” the person again asked.

“Nethra stays at Ramapuram. I was telling that she can join us”, he explained to Praveen’s questioning glance.

“Oh is it? I didn’t know that. Then come come.. let’s hurry.. come Nethra”, Praveen said without even thinking that there was a chance that Nethra could deny.

Not willing to create further drama and also urged by her still growling stomach, she followed the two men. ‘Anyway Praveen is there’ she thought.

Praveen got into the front seat and Nethra sat at the back of the red Santro, while the new man took the wheel. The cab started at Karapakkam and the two men chatted casually mostly about different teams and managers, with occasional nods or ‘hmm’s from Nethra.

After about ten minutes of journey, the car stopped near the Madya Kailash junction and Praveen got down. “Why are you getting down here?” asked a shocked Nethra. “Because I need to go home and for that I have to take the train from here”, laughed Praveen.

The car started while Nethra still sat shocked. After a couple of minutes, he asked, “Do I look like a villain?”

“What?”

“You really look so scared Nethra!” he said a little embarrassed.

‘Oh my God! Looks like its written all over my face’, she thought and hastily said, “Nothing like that. Sorry, was just tired” she lied.

“May be you should call home and inform.. that you have started late”, he said trying to imply that he is no danger.

Nethra genuinely felt bad for embarrassing someone who was helping her. “That’s fine. We just started ten minutes later than my usual cab right”, she said.

The journey continued mostly in silence except for Nethra guiding him the route to her house.

The car stopped in front of her house. “Thank you!” she said heartily as she prepared to get down.

“That’s all?” he asked amused, as she opened the car door. “Will you not even ask my name?”

‘So he knows that I don’t even know his name!’ embarrassment colored her face.

“I am Kishore”, he smiled.

(Contd.)

 

Thank you dear Priya for the feedback. Glad that it qualifies to be read again

 

Thanks a lot Maa for your continuous support. He did reveal to Vasan that she is safe with him !

 

Thank you dear PS! Missed your FBs (or may be I was the one missing!) Happy that you liked the turn of events! Posted the next!