As soon as Aarush went out of her cabin, she picked up the call. "Tarun! Hey!" Samaira mumbled. "Samaira, are you okay?" "Yeah, I am great. I am at work and can't talk to you right now. Okay. See ya." and she hung up the call. Her thoughts were a mess and somehow, she again thought about Aarush. She rushed out of his cabin to check on him.
He was talking to Tara and seemed to distract himself from the events that happened in her office. She wanted to rush there and just give him a tight hug, but she composed herself and sat on the chair. The last couple of days were dreadful and her head was throbbing, imagining Aarush with that girl, Sonia. She is his fling. Why does he need a fling for himself? What happened? But it was an enormous relief that he didn't have feelings for her. She felt calm right now and found her appetite back. She went to the cafeteria and had a full lunch. As she reached the cafeteria, she saw a familiar face.
That face. Right, Manik Trivedi, he was her schoolmate. "Hey, Manik," Samaira exclaimed as she reached the counter. "Hey, Sam. It's been years. Where have you been? Aarush told me about your recruitment.". He hugged me sideways and took his coffee. "Yeah, I came back to Mumbai. I was kind of missing it.". "Missing Mumbai or Aarush?" he questioned and she smacked his shoulder and soon they both broke into laughter.
"No, I didn't even know he was the CEO.". "Right, he told me everything.". "Ahh! I see you still share everything. We were both classmates for so long and after meeting him you cut ties with me." She placed her order for lunch and joined him. "It was nothing like that. You got busy wanting to excel and, of course, Aarush."
He did notice Samaira. "And who was busy checking Mukti? I guess the boy in front of me." Suddenly his smiling face turned into a gloomy one. She guessed things were not normal between them. She needs to change the topic. "So, are you here to meet Aarush?". He froze at her question and looked disturbed. "Yeah, I mean, I want to, but I am scared. I kind of created a scene at his place and I don't know what to do?".
He told her about everything and how insecure he was about Mukti. Mukti going to Africa and their past. She was now confident every love story has its problems and both lovers overcome them together. She made him stay for lunch somehow. Aarush and Manik were inseparable during school days and are still the same. They also used to ship them. And Samaira used to be jealous of Manik.
She asked him to walk her to her cabin. He was hesitant but agreed. "Here is Aarush's cabin. Just talk to him. He will understand your point. Go!'' She was pushing him towards Aarush's cabin. When he reached the door. "You are like brothers. Go fix it." She gave him an encouraging nod and paced towards her cabin, engrossing myself into work so much that she lost track of time. It was after days she was working because she wanted to work and not because of mere distraction.
It was 7:00 by the time she finished and decided to wrap up for the day. When she was about to enter the elevator, she saw Aarush coming out of the cabin. He looked towards Samaira and she gave him a soft smile. By looking at him she found her peace. Can everything turn the way she wants?
She wanted her happiness, her Aarush. However, the idea seems miles away. Her drive home was melodious, all the early 20s songs playing through her playlist. As soon as she reached home, she had a perfect plan. A cold shower, her favorite ramen noodles, and a chilled chocolate smoothie.
During the shower, she was wondering about all the possibilities of Aarush and her getting married. Appeared like there weren't any. Her parents would never prefer their loss over her happiness. They never did. She got out of the shower, wore her pink tie-dye crop top and pants. Ramen looked so delicious; she just couldn't wait to dig into it. She turned on her favorite show, Brooklyn 99, which she couldn't stop watching on loop.
It was a flawless plan to relieve the workload of the day. When she was in the middle of her dinner, she got a call from Tarun, but she ignored it. But the calls didn't stop. It was her mom who was calling her now. She kept prevailing Sam's number and, in the end, she lost her cool and picked up the call. "Hey, mom, is it urgent?" she said.
"Of course, it is. We think that you should be ready to get married to Tarun now. You have a stable job there and Tarun would handle business there. So, it is just the perfect time." What!!! Hell no, she knew they didn't care, but they are hell-bent on proving her right every time she thinks they won't stop lower than they already have. "Mom, I am not ready."
"Dear, don't take it the wrong way, but we will decide when our daughter will get married. Tarun is ready." "But I am not a mom, it should work two ways." she was on the verge of crying. She doesn't want to get married to Tarun, engagement is fine, but marriage is a big deal for her.
"Mom, at least you try to understand me." "I don't want to listen to anything. I just want you to say yes, even if you don't, your dad will fix the marriage date before the next weekend." Before she could protest, she hung up the call. She couldn't comprehend what was going on. She needs to stop them. She doesn't want them to ruin her life, so she called Tarun, "Where are you? I called you so many times."
"Forget it. What's happening? Why do they want us to get married?" "Dad is getting restless and so that deal could start early. He is taking this decision." "And you said, yes?" "I had to Sam. Dad could never handle me saying no to a business deal and the losses." "You idiot, this is not a business deal. It is our lives they are playing with and I won't let that happen. I am coming to Delhi as soon as possible."
"Please, my dad wants us to get married within two months. Only you could persuade your parents. I am helpless.". "Fine." He is helpless he says? She was tired of him and from everything.
Fucking coward! She was cursing him for about an hour. Was she a toy to play with? Her dad didn't love her at all. He wanted a son but could never have it because her mother had a lot of complications when she was pregnant with Samaira. After her operation, she could never become pregnant again as her uterus was removed. Her sister was a world to him but Sam was not even specked dust.
Tears rolled down her eyes like a damn river. She needs to go to Delhi as soon as possible but she has a lot of business meetings arranged till next Wednesday. Alas! She will have to ask Aarush for leave for 2 days.
The night somehow passed away and she slept on the couch with her unfinished dinner. She got up, threw it in the garbage and cleaned the living area which was full of tissue papers. Life became more depressing and even dressing up didn't make any difference in her mood. What the hell was she going to say to her parents? She didn't have any idea. Now she had to take a stand for herself.
She was done being their puppet. During her drive, she checked her calendar. Shit! it was packed. She cannot get out of Mumbai till next Wednesday. Her journey to the cabin was dreadful. She stopped in between at Tara's desk and told her to inform her when Aarush would be free. She rechecked her last pitch and was ready for the meetings.
After 2 long consequent meetings, she got some time to breathe. As she was preparing the meeting report, she heard a knock on her door. "Come in," she said, Tara, poking her head inside. "Mr. Bakshi is free right now, I think you can talk to him," she said with a smile. "Thank you, Tara." and she closed the door.
Sam completed her report and went to meet Aarush. She knocked and went inside; he was on a call but waved her to sit on the chair in front. "Yeah, let me know by tomorrow. Great." and he ends the call. "So, what's up?" he sat there with a big smile on his face. "Aarush, I need to go to Delhi by next weekend. I checked my calendar and it is packed till next Wednesday."
" So you want to reschedule the meetings?" he asked with curiosity. "No that's not what I meant, I would put my work first but could I take leave on Thursday and Friday next weekend?". He was thinking by looking in my direction. "We have a conference for digital marketing next Thursday." he paused, "We can't postpone it any further. Looks like we need to prepone it, but that would be a lot of work for you." His voice was laced with concern and a felt relief washed over her.
"I could handle extra work. I will prepare for every meeting." Her answer was spontaneous as she had no other option. There was silence for a couple of minutes and Aarush spoke, "Or else we can bring back old times. What do you say?" Samaira was confused. He read her mind and continued, "We were a pretty great team. Debate competition?" He arched his eyebrow remembering it. He wants to help her. She can't believe it. "Are you sure?" he nodded. "Thank you, that would be great. See you then." "I will walk you.". At the door, she halted and turned towards him.
" I know you won't tell me; you are worried but I can sense that from your tone. I want you to know that I am there for you as a friend and as a colleague." He was concerned about her and that just was enough for her to cry. "Thank you," she said and stormed off to her cabin. The week went by pretty well. Thursday arrived preparing the presentations with Aarush and the small coffee breaks helped to ease her workload. Aarush and her worked late nights and prepared for every meeting.
She had cracked all the meetings and she could see that she has earned something in her life. The entire week she didn't even let herself worry about the "marriage stuff" her family was working on. All she knew was that she was great at handling one problem at a time. With the help of Aarush, she could bring changes in the marketing strategies of the company, and with the help of Tarun, she could stop this marriage deal.
Soon enough, Thursday arrived, and she was dreading this day. Grabbing a duffle bag she headed out and drove to the airport, music calmed her but did nothing to stop the storm building inside me. She wanted to stop this marriage but that thought seemed way too far than she expected. Their parents are not ready to listen to him and are treating them like puppets. Just because Tarun and she are friends doesn't mean they are ready to marry each other? They have their plans and ambitions but it doesn't matter to anyone. While her sister, Vydehi enjoys her freedom to the fullest, she has to fight for it. Life was never fair to her and my parents did a great job in making it worse.
After going through all the security checks, she settled herself in her seat, keeping her sling bag closer to her. She has almost 2 and a half hours in her hand before she faces reality, so picking up the book she was reading she engrossed herself in it, wanting to escape this reality even if it is for a few hours.
It was 9 when the flight landed and she left the airport. Hailing a cab, she gave the driver the address and rested her head on the window trying to come up with a plan to stop everything for once and all. She needs to do this, either it is today or maybe never after this. The drive was short and she paid the driver, getting off the cab. Taking a deep breath and calming her nerves, she turned around to face her family. Her dad stood at the doorstep as if expecting an emotional burst out.
But to his dismay, Samaira just took her bag and walked inside ignoring her family. Heading to her room, she dropped the bag in the corner after grabbing an oversized t-shirt along with denim jeans and got changed. Lunch went silent and awkward but no one spoke a word so she too kept her mouth shut. "Samaira, it's good you have returned, now we can get the wedding preparations started," Dad said, breaking the silence.
Clearing her throat, she replied. "I was, I am and I will never be ready for this marriage. Do whatever you want to do dad." "Samaira!!" her mother screeched but Samaira paid her no heed. It was time for her to stand up for herself. "Samaira, we have always done everything in our power to make you feel happy and content. So why can't you do something for us too?"
Her dad stated but she too was ready with a perfect reply. "Thank you for doing everything you did even after I didn't ask you to, and for your kind information, I too did everything you told me to. You asked me to ace my school, I did. You wanted me to complete my studies at IIM Delhi, I did. But now this marriage is something I will never agree with you."
She scraped the chair and got up having no mood to finish the lunch further. "Our business deal is at stake." her dad tried to interrupt. "And my whole life." Saying this she left the room, wanting to have a talk with Tarun and his family. She had to convince them to stop this marriage.