The real task was finding the job that would pay enough money as well as contribute to the experience. Nishant texted Shradha about his plan and told her that they could work as partners. That way she could get larger portion of the earning. But she wasn't convinced in the beginning that Nishant really needed a job. But after discussing for an hour on the phone, she felt that it could really be a learning experience for him and she obviously could use the extra money. She would not mind buying few more gaming equipment. And Nishant had also told her that he would be using her gaming laptop once in a while as it would be an investment for him. So they agreed for a partnership and started looking out for the ideal job.
After going through multiple online websites, they finally agreed to try their luck with event management companies. Any corporate or personal event would need manpower and they would be usually paid per day. So this meant that if Shradha and Nishant worked for a day, they would earn 2 or 3 thousand rupees each. This was a very good deal with money and experience. So they both contacted multiple agencies and established connections. It took almost a week of talking and face to face meetings, to gain the trust. Then the work started. Typically, most of the events were corporate, which were something like, conferences, product launches and employee engagement programs. These were good to be in, as the crowd was sophisticated and professional. Then there were also personal events, like birthdays, weddings and engagements etc. These events were tricky as the rich tended to be mean and looked down at the organizers and the workers. Nishant was a little skeptical about working for these personal events but Shradha convinced him that, this was the best place to understand human nature and gain the experience which added 'depth to the profile'. That last bit was enough to keep nishant's mouth shut in this matter.
Days went by and the friendship was growing. During the events, Nishant would pick up shradha from her house and they would go together to the venue. And after the event Nishant would drop Shradha back and then he would head home. Most of the events would end by 10 or 11pm in the night. Which meant Nishant had been going back home late, as Shradha's place was far from his place. Sheela would be worried all the time, as this was the first time in years that her son was coming home late. He would be away for the whole day during events and would be busy reading novels on the free days. Sheela felt that her precious son was changing. He no longer cared about what the society would think on this matter. He seemed to be on the phone and texting, but whenever she asked, he would just say 'no one' or 'nothing'. He was also reading fiction books now and despite of sheela's lectures on how its distracting, he had not given up on those. On top of all these, she knew that he also had a new friend called 'Shradha' who was also working with him now. Although Sheela had never seen Shradha, she was scared that this girl would be the ultimate distraction who would get in the way of Nishant's masters or in other words, Sheela's dreams.
Sheela knew that Nishant was spending time with Shradha and she really wanted to meet this girl. It was very important for her to know what kind of girl Shradha was, so that if needed, she could avoid her son getting hurt. But Nishant had never given Sheela more information about Shradha, despite her relentless questioning. His answer was, " she is MY friend. Why do you need to meet her? And I have already told you so many times, WE ARE JUST FRIENDS. She helps me with lit club assignments and I help her with coding and programming stuff. That's all. Don't overthink about this matter. " "But how can I not be worried?" Sheela thought, "I am clearly seeing changes in my child and it seems to be her influence. What if she gets him addicted to, drinking or smoking or drugs?". Sheela's husband was a sensible person. He told her not to be oversensitive about their son and leave him be. Even if he makes some mistakes, it will all be a part of overall experience. But Sheela was not at all convinced and she decided to somehow find a way to meet this girl and know more about her. And the opportunity came after few days.
It was a Saturday and there was one event in the evening, around 4pm. As usual, Nishant was supposed to pick shradha from her home and then they were supposed to go to the venue. But due to some unforeseen reason, then decided to prepone the event by few hours and Shradha received the call with new reporting time. She said she will inform Nishant about it and dialed his number immediately. Nishant was in bathroom at that time and Sheela was cleaning his room. When she saw Shradha's name on the caller ID, she immediately answered the call. Shradha was surprised to hear female voice on Nishant's phone. She concluded that it must be his mother and spoke politely.
"Hi Aunty, I am Nishant's friend. We were supposed to go for this event at 4pm today, but they have preponed the reporting time to 1pm. So could you please tell him to pick me up at 12pm today?"
"Hi Beta, Nishant is in bathroom right now. Actually he is not really well and I don't want to send him out without lunch. So why don't you come to our place so that you guys can have lunch and leave together from here? I remember Nishant telling me that the venue is closer to our home."
"Hmm ok aunty. I don't know address to your house. Would you please ask him to send your location on whatsapp?"
Sheela agreed to this and after saying goodbye she opened watsapp on her son's phone. She found Shradha's number and sent her the address as well as GPS location.