We're here, with the fourth part of the story Disguised. I'm loving it, just go on reading it...
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Episode4:
“Sandy!! What happened, bro?” Pradeep was standing right
next to Sandesh and Adhya was standing behind him.
“Huh?! To whom?”
“To you, dumbo!! I’ve been
waving at you from the entrance. But, you didn’t react. You remained frozen”
“Ah!! Nothing. Just stressed
out due to work load” Sandesh’s eyes frequently rolled towards Adhya. He could
see her face clearly from this close. He felt he might lose his conscious
anytime. But, Pradeep kept him wide awake.
“Hmmm. Well, you remember this
blonde? You took first phase of her interview. She got through all the process
and got selected. She reported today. I was passing by her team chamber and I
felt something pulling me back! And, when I looked back, WOW!! It was like...”
as he met Sandesh’s ‘Don’t you dare start flirting with this girl’ look,
Pradeep fell silent.
“Ms. Adhya, welcome to
Microsoft” Sandesh greeted her.
“Thank you, sir. I’m happy to
be...”
“Sandesh”
“Pardon?”
“Call me Sandesh. No SIR and
all. You’re a part of this company now. That makes us colleagues and friends.
So, no more formalities”
“Sure, Sandesh”
“Well, we were going to the
café. Care to join us?”
“Oh!! I’d love to. But, they’ve
assigned some work. So, I’m afraid I can’t accompany you guys. I’ll join you
guys for lunch, if it’s okay with you”
“It’s okay. Lunch’s fine. Carry
on with your work”
“See ya” she gave a cute smile,
turned and went away. But, Sandesh was staring at the empty corridor where she
had disappeared.
“Nice choice, bro!!” Pradeep
shouted as he shook Sandesh’s shoulder violently.
“What choice?”
“You think you can hide it from
me?”
“What’re you talking about
man?”
“I know you like her, man.
She’s pretty and she’s wonderful. You both make a good couple!!”
“C’mon, Pradeep. Don’t talk
like an idiot”
“Idiot?! Don’t tell me you
weren’t checking her out”
“DUDE!! Shut up. Don’t make up
things” Sandesh was trying hard to divert the topic. But, Pradeep would never
let it go that easily.
“What?! It’s you who’s making
things up”
“Just let it go bro”
“Not a chance. You must tell
me. INDIA WANTS TO KNOW”
“Who do you think you’re? Arnab
Goswami?”
“I’m your best buddy, bro”
Sandesh remained silent.
Pradeep continued, “You may say that a hundred times that you don’t like her.
But, it was clearly visible in your eyes. Your face was beaming seeing her. You
didn’t even notice me; you were immersed in her thoughts”
“I was just tired due to
working for long hours”
“You know what, Sandy? You’re a
terrible liar. And, by now, even Adhya might be aware that you’re in love with
her”
“REALLY!?” Sandesh was stunned
to hear this.
“Hahha!! Gotcha!!”
“Shut up, Pradeep” Sandesh
could no longer hold his feelings away from Pradeep. There was a smile on the
edge of his lips which Pradeep noticed.
“So, tell me everything about
it” Pradeep said as he dragged a chair close to Sandesh and got ready to hear a
romantic story.
“About what?”
“Stop being such a jerk, man!!
I know you like her. So, no more acting. Just tell me about it”
“Well, it’s a long story”
“I’ve all the time in the
world”
Then Sandesh narrated
everything to Pradeep, staring from the moment he saw her in the bus stop till
he took her interview. As Sandesh finished his story, Pradeep jumped up and
shouted, “Aha!! My brother’s in love!!” and all the eyes in that room were on
Pradeep and Sandesh for few minutes. One of the good things in MNCs is that
after spending hours in front of computers, talking to those machines knowing
they would never reply; even the weirdest thing is treated normal. So, they all
ignored Pradeep’s action and got busy with their work.
“Will you stop shouting?! Sit
down, Pradeep”
“Sorry, bro. I couldn’t help
it”
“Someone might get heart attack
by your sudden expression of feelings, dude! Learn to control it”
“Yes, Mr. Sandesh. Only someone
with a heart, not you. You’ve lost it already”
“Hmmm”
“When will you tell her?”
“Tell her what?”
“Tell her that you love her.
What else, dumbo?”
“Easy boy!! It’s just
beginning. I can’t just hurry to her and propose her all of a sudden”
“Early bird gets the worm. If
you won’t, someone else will do it, for sure”
“Early bird might get the worm.
But, late worm gets to live. I’ll do it when time’s right”
“Whatever! You owe me a big
treat. If I had taken that interview, you would’ve lost a big opportunity of
spending that wonderful moment with her”
“Sure” They were back to work
eventually. In the middle of the work, Pradeep exclaimed, “Damn!! I can’t
believe you’re in love, bro!! I always thought that you’re born to work,
nothing else”
* * * *
“So, how’s your first day at new office?”
Pradeep had asked to break the silence between them. He can’t stand long
silences. The trio, Sandesh, Adhya and Pradeep had gone out for lunch. Sandesh
sat opposite to Adhya, Staring at her face now and then, ready to get lost in
her thoughts. Pradeep sat next to Sandesh. His work was to keep Sandesh’s feet
rooted in the present world.
“It’s good. My team’s
completely open minded and a lot friendly. They’re helping me learn the work
much easily”
“Hmmm”
“Why’s our Sandesh silent all
of a sudden?”
Hearing his name from the lady
he love, Sandesh startled. Pradeep replied to her trying to give Sandesh some
time to recover, “He’s stressed. This new project is sucking his soul out.
Ashutosh sir made him in charge of this project. So, it keeps switching his
moods” Then he signaled Sandesh to talk. Sandesh thought for a second, framed
his words clearly, making sure they doesn’t contain words like I LOVE YOU or
WILL YOU MARRY ME. He then spoke for the first time, “Are you enjoying work? I
mean, are there any problems?”
“Nah! No problems. Work’s
great. I’m learning many things here”
“How do you travel? Are you
getting a cab?”
“Yes. They found me a seat with
my team mate, Nidhi”
“Oh!! Great!! Even I’m on the
same cab” Sandesh was excited about it. The thought of travelling with Adhya
everyday made him jump off his seat.
“Lovely” was all she said.
Then there was long silence.
They finished their lunch and left for office. On their way back to office, Sandesh
was walking behind Adhya, as if he was under her spell. He looked like that pug
which follow a small boy wherever he goes, in one of the old advertisement of
Hutch network. And, the song filled his world, “You and I, in this beautiful
world... Green grass, blue sky... In this beautiful world...”
Sandesh left early as his team
mates, Harish and Siddharth said they’ll carry forward the project. It was
their turn of working late night. Sandesh was waiting near his cab for his
co-passengers, for Adhya to be in specific. The transport department had
replaced that old Tata Indica with Toyota Etios. Ramu-dada was excited to drive
that new car. He kept explaining the specifications of that car to Sandesh
which all went passed over his head. Etios or Audi, it made no difference to
Sandesh. Whichever the vehicle maybe, he’s travelling with Adhya. After waiting
for half an hour, he noticed his angel coming out of the office building. She
was talking with Nidhi and laughing out loud. That sight made Sandesh’s heart
skip a couple of beats. As they approached, Nidhi noticed Sandesh.
“Hey, Sandy!! You’re early”
“Ya. Harish and Siddharth took
over. So, we left early”
“I believe you’ve met Adhya?”
“Yes, we did meet”
“Alright then. Let’s find our
ride home”
“Here it is”
“WOW!! They changed it at last”
“Yup”
“Let’s go home then” Nidhi
hurried to the back seat, dragging Adhya along with her. Sandesh took front
seat with the driver. Throughout the way, Nidhi and Adhya kept chatting and
giggling, alternatively. If you leave two women in a room to sit and talk for
an entire year, there will still be many things left out to talk for them. Only
god knows what they talk. Grrr... Well, even he may not!!
Sandesh was looking at Adhya
through rare mirror. Adhya had noticed it a couple of times. Whenever their
eyes met, Sandesh turned his face away swiftly. After making sure she’s
involved back in the talk with Nidhi, he continued to look her through the
mirror.
“Sandesh bhayya, aren’t you
getting down?” asked Ramu-dada. Their cab had stopped in front of Sandesh’s
home. But, Sandesh was too busy watching Adhya that he forgot it was his stop.
He got down halfhearted. Nidhi and Adhya waved him bye and the cab disappeared.
Sandesh was now standing alone on the footpath; his eyes fixed on the road,
thinking his dear darling might come back running and give him a tight hug.
Well, it happens only in movies. After waiting for long minutes, he walked into
his house slowly; lost in his dreamland.
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