Becoming Sweethearts [✓]

Part Forty Eight

Gauri woke up the next morning and was shocked to realize that she had overslept, right there on the floor. She wondered why she had been laying on the floor, and then remembered the argument she and Omkara had the previous night. She tried to move to stand up on her feet but felt every muscle of her body aching. A chill ran through her bones, making her feel feverish. The headache was killing her minute by minute since the sun was shining bright. She looked at the alarm clock that she'd forgotten to set the previous night in her tensions. It was already nine, and her usual shift began at eight. Deciding to log in for the second shift, she messaged Krishna the same who replied with a 'K'.

Gauri checked to see if Omkara had called or messaged her. There were no missed calls too. The Oberoi group chat, however, had a good morning message from him about two hours ago, with Shivaay exclaiming that he'd woken up as early as four in the morning, Germany time! He had simply replied with an upside-down smiley, after which Annika and Rudra had sent a good morning to him too, reminding him that he was finally returning by tomorrow noon. He had sent a thumbs-up emoji at that.

Gauri looked at the messages and decided to text him a good morning personally. Then, she decided against that. She wanted to call him up and talk to him. She had decided that she was going to keep apologizing till he pardoned her. She dialed his number, knowing that it was only five in the morning over there, and he would probably be awake.

Omkara looked at his phone and saw her calling him. His first instinct was to answer her call and talk to her, letting her know that even if he was hurt after her words, he wasn't angry with her; that he too had spoken in anger and didn't want her to hold anything of it against him. He remembered how his mother used to plead with his father, asking him not to stay mad at her or him and Rudra. He could never imagine subjecting Gauri to such mental torture, no matter what. He loved her too much to hurt her, even if he wasn't completely the one at fault. Then, there was another part of him - the egoistic part - that was keen on teaching her a lesson. If he forgave her easily, she would someday repeat it. He felt petty at that thought, but knowing Gauri, he knew it was what was needed. He disconnected the call, not wanting to talk to her. Anyway, he hadn't slept a wink since last night. He had smoked two packs already, yet the void in his chest hadn't filled yet. He was hurting himself by hurting her. "Sharma, why are you doing this to me! Why am I doing this to us?" he exclaimed looking at his phone ringing again. Desperately, he ran his fingers over his eyes, feeling the burning in his eyes at the lack of sleep.

Gauri's heart broke yet again when he did not answer her call for the second time. Maybe he had gone back to sleep, she assumed. She sent a text message to him, personally, and in five seconds, the double ticks turned blue on the message; he'd seen her text message. She saw him online for about half a minute before he went offline. She called him again, and he didn't pick up, again. Fresh, hot tears came streaming down her cheeks. "I deserved that," she told herself.

By now, forgetting that she was actually starting to have a fever, she got up to head for a shower. At this point, she didn't even care that she had a cold-water bath. Nothing felt good without him, and now that he was mad at her because she had given him a cause to feel that way, she didn't even care. A twisted thought crossed her mind: Maybe if she fell sick, he would talk to her at least out of pity? She shook the thought away. She had promised him that she would take care of herself in his absence. After her shower, she grudgingly ate a dry slice of bread and drank a cup of coffee. Stubborn not to take paracetamol, believing she'd be fine, Gauri left the house and headed for work.

***

"Gauri, why did you come to work with a fever?" Krishna asked with a worried look when he saw a pale Gauri turning up to work. She had almost fainted near the pantry, and while she had dismissed it saying it was nothing, Krishna didn't listen. "I know I said that I cannot sanction your planned leave, but that doesn't mean you turn up at work half-dead half-alive! I'm asking the company cab to drop you home right away!" he ordered, and without listening to anything that she had to say, he contacted the 'Transport Desk' and asked them to do the needful.