One shots

My Whole World

It was a small conservative town in UP. They knew of each other since they were kids. But, they rarely talked or even looked at each other. They mostly carried on their life as the other did not exist because they belonged to different social classes.

Virat. He was her father's accountant's son. He hung around the office as a kid because his Dad worked long hours. After Virat's Dad died, she did not see him for months. It was her Dad who searched for Virat and brought him back.

"Your Dad was my right hand man. He was my most trusted employee. He is dead. You have no means to survive. You will learn the job and fill his place." She had heard her Dad tell him as if it was all decided. That was the only time she had seen tears in Virat's eyes.

Now she rarely saw her Dad without Virat beside him. Over the years, he learnt everything regarding their business and more than replaced his accountant Dad's old role in the company and beside her father. He was now her Dad's most trusted employee. And sometimes they seemed more than employer-employee. Always chatting, always joking. She never understood how her Dad gave him the lenience he never gave her.  Inside somewhere she felt a little jealous of that close rapport that he had with her father.

Manvi. Her mom had died when she was 8 and although her Dad married again with the  hope that it will give her a new mother, that never happened. Pretty soon her step family occupied her home and her father's life, often trying to live their lives as if she did not exist. Trying to ignore all the hurt around her had turned her into a aloof girl who appeared not in reality but in some distant place in her thoughts. Her father worried about her but he was not an expressive man nor a man of many words.

As usual that morning, they were busy chatting about work. Virat was driving and her Dad was sitting in the front chatting. Manvi was in the back drawing something in her journal indifferent to the conversation in the front of the car. Virat stops at their office.

"Drop her in the college and come back, will you, please?" Her Dad asks getting off the car.

Virat rolls his eyes. "I don't understand why you ask me everyday like I never dropped your daughter before. I drop her at college every single day Seth."

Manik Seth laughs. "Because it's not your job to drop her and it's a favor for me. You've got to be nice when asking a favor. Bye Manvi beta." He bids them bye and walks inside.

As they were driving to college, he gets lost in some work related thoughts and she still engrossed in her drawing. He stops at the college gate and she gets off without a word. No thankyou. No eye contact. They just go about their separate days.

One evening, they were sitting in the office chatting intensely about work and suddenly Manik Seth gets side-tracked about something related to his stepson. "Why can't that idiot be like Manvi? Manvi has never gone against my wishes. I tell her something and she follows it blindly. And look at this idiot. He wants to be a musician. Who makes money as a musician."

"AR Rahman." Virat chuckles.

"He is one in a million and has talent. This guy has none."

"Can we finish this?" Virat points to the files, not wanting to get dragged into his family affairs.

But Manik Seth continued.  For some reason, he did not have any qualms confiding his personal things with Virat.  "Manvi wanted to do arts. I said no and got her admitted into commerce. I haven't heard a single protest from her."

Virat thinks about that for a moment. "Maybe she is scared of you."

"What rubbish. I haven't ever even raised my voice at her. You don't get it - she is my perfect kid."