Lockdown

Serious

SOHIT POV

I have never seen her that serious. 

At least not in the past 2 weeks that I had known her because all I had seen was her quirky side but this time, she was seriously working. Like, her entire focus was on that one story that she kept making changes in. I don't even think that she slept that night. Instead, when I woke up, I found her looking at an email that she had typed for a big publications company. 

" What are you waiting for?"
" Huh? I just... I think it's too early. I should have like at least 3 drafts ready..." 
" Just send it na. Don't think much. If they take it, they take it. If not, you can just work harder," and I sent the mail making her gasp at me. Of course, what ensued next could be classified as a fun pillow fight but after I got into the washroom, I did not find her taking even one glance away from her laptop. She just kept writing and typing. Also, she didn't make any food that day. We ordered but even that, she didn't eat! No, I'll be serious. I had to feed her everything that we had ordered with my own hands because she just didn't even look at any of it. Now I understand how she maintains her weight... By not eating at all! 

But somewhere, through all the nagging I did to her, I also felt happy. I remember her loud shriek when she turned to chapter two the previous night and how she had kissed me after reading every single word. I truly saw happiness and hope in her eyes that night and it was unlike that one night that we were talking about her and she told me that she had lost hope in her dream. It was so much better than seeing her depressed as fuck.

So, just to encourage her, I began working right beside her and I could just feel that she liked the silent company much more than anything else. Although she had headphones over her ears and her focus was on that old book that she wrote, I knew that she was pretty happy and content having me around her... 

But everything can't always be pleasant... 

I got a phone call that day. One that I had been avoiding for about 2 weeks now... I couldn't ignore it anymore. She had called through her father's phone and that old man was someone whom I couldn't cross. 

" What is all that on your IG?! You are staying with another girl!?" thankfully Pari had her headphones on. But I still didn't want her to hear any of it so, I got out of that room, walked into the smaller room that had a balcony in it, and stood outside, on the balcony. 
" I am sorry Swara but I don't want to date you or even marry you,"
" HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT WITHOUT EVEN TRYING ONCE?! I'm pretty sure that if we begin to date right now-"
" I have someone else now. Swara... It's not that you are someone bad. You are really good just. Not for me-"
" What do you mean not for you!? I told you! I can change everything for you!" 
" And that is what I don't want you to do... I don't want you to change and I don't want to change myself either. See, your father and I do business and I really don't ever mix business with family. Besides, it's not only business. It's equal between me, Kartik, Mayank and Ved,"
" Of course, this is what you say now. But then later when you will need my father's help, don't ask me to convince him to help you anymore!" 
" We have reached a pace where the company can sustain itself Swara. We haven't asked your father for investments even once in the past 9 months," 
" So what!? You think that you can do everything?! You had given me a word Sohit! We were supposed to get married! IF ONLY THIS STUPID PANDEMIC HADN'T HAPPENED!" 

Like I said before... My investor's daughter. Swara. She was a nosy one and an ugly one, from the inside. She had been pestering me since her father invested in my idea and for obvious reasons, I had always shoved her out. The real reason I left Delhi and came to Mumbai was that her father had sat me down and blackmailed me into thinking of marrying her while I just wanted to run away from her. So, I came here after telling her that I would "TALK" with my parents. I'll be honest, I just wanted my parents to fix my marriage to some dumb girl in Bengaluru rather than me getting stuck with that girl. 

And then I met Pari... 

To be honest, I'm lying to her if I say that I can take her to Delhi with me. The moment she does enter my house, I'm pretty sure that Swara would attack her. And I don't want that to happen. But I don't think that we have any other option. I wanted to tell her about Swara for the longest time but I never got the chance to. Either we are always bickering or we are laughing. I just, don't ever want to change the weird chemistry that we have. That chemistry is definitely something that I might never be able to find with someone else... It's special and I am as serious about her as she is about her old story.