U̶N̶C̶O̶N̶D̶I̶T̶I̶O̶N̶A̶̶L

°|KNOCK IN OR KNOCK OUT|°

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The weekdays rolled by as Bani was engrossed in settling all the prior work commitments to save the weekend just for herself. As she had to channelise her emotions, clear her vision and pull her thoughts together before actually confronting Mr and Mrs Sharma. Voicing her vulnerabilities was a thing she has always struggled with. Reminiscing how effortless it was to open up and speak her mind in front of Meera. So, to get a hold of herself she marched towards the backyard, 'her happy place' adorned with just plants from ornamentals to herbs...succulents to trees... roses to daisies. Talking of roses, she remembered how Meera teased her quoting, 'ROSES ARE NOT OVERRATED', not exactly overrated but overhyped by people to be specific, no offence to the roses though. But her forever favourite, close to her heart and even closer to her room were 𝙹𝙰𝚂𝙼𝙸𝙽𝙴𝚂, which graced the balcony attached to her space.

          𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘩𝘺𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘴,
              𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘫𝘢𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴;
        𝘜𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘢,
             𝘈 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵;
        𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘥𝘶𝘭𝘭, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵.

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Mr Sharma returned from his office in the evening, and by looking at him she could tell he was in a good mood which added another plus to her will to initiate the conversation then and there, but since he said he had an announcement to make which would probably be on the dinner table, she decided to commence on it post supper. Thinking of all the possible reasons for his high spirits; she headed towards the kitchen to make his all-time favourite "cheesecake", as a habitual gesture executed whenever he would be in a jolly mood post-work, which is a rare occurrence: might be a deal he cracked or a long time due sanctioned order or some great profits his import-export company made. Anything that could please the businessman in him.

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As the dinner was served all three of them sat to have their meal, breaking the suspense Mr Sharma spoke,
"𝘚𝘰, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘢'𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘩'𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺"
he paused for a moment to take a look at Mrs Sharma and Bani who had an applauding smile on their faces and resumed,
"𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘵𝘪𝘦 𝘶𝘱 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭, 𝘢𝘴 𝘉𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘚𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘢 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘉𝘢𝘯𝘪."
Bani who was until then too indulged to finish her meal to catch up to them before they finish theirs, choked hearing the last statement. Mr Sharma by passing a glass of water, voiced,
"𝘚𝘰, 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵,𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘣𝘦 𝘏𝘜𝘎𝘌 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘶𝘴"
Looking at Bani's face which had lost all the colours; he assured, "𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘶𝘱 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴". Bani who sat rooted on the chair, tongue-tied, managed to nod as she excused her and marched towards her room gasping for breath.