An Illusion That's Love

Chapter 10

"Can I talk to you?" Ananth whispered to Vandana the next day. She looked up at him and nodded. It was morning. "Tell me," she said.

"Not here. Come to the balcony with me." He said.

"Okay," She said. They walked off to the balcony of the office. Vandana turned to Ananth. She had been thinking about just him since last night. She saw his reasons, yet she did not want to end up marrying him. She could not imagine having his mother as a mother-in-law. Also, her own parents would never agree to a marriage with him.

"I think we can just do your casual dating thing." He said, leaning to the railing.

Vandana crossed her arms. "What are you planning?"

"No plans?"

"Out with it, Ananth. I know you."

He fidgeted.

"I was hoping I would be able to change your mind. Eventually..." he said.

"I don't think you can. I don't want to give you hope or waste your time."

"You won't. But I want to try to do this. Make this work."

"Why?" She asked. "It's not like we are in love with each other."

"I know... But don't you know as well? There is something between us.... Something definitely is happening. This has not happened to me in a long while. I have not felt like this for years. Honestly, I don't want to give this up and get into a boring arranged marriage in which I have no feelings towards the girl. The prospect of that is haunting for me. I have never thought like this before you came along. I thought I CAN get into a loveless, feelings-less marriage. But now... I am not so sure." He was being honest. "I don't want to live my life so boring anymore. I don't want to live by my parents' orders and wishes. I want to live my life. I know we are not in love... I know we can easily survive without each other for the rest of our lives. But... You seem like the right step to take at this point in my life. This feels like the start of something extraordinary."

Vandana understood what he meant. But she still could not promise him a life together. "I don't know..." she said.

"You need not give me a commitment right now. But can we just let it hang in there for a bit... We can spend some time together and see where this is going. We can analyse our feelings and see if it will work out for us in the long run."

Vandana considered that.

"Okay, fine... But I am not giving you any promises."

"That's okay..." He smiled. "As of now, I just want to spend some time with you." He took her hand in his hand. "I... like being with you like this. I missed you, Nandhu."

"One condition before we do this. Can we stop calling each other 'Nandhu'? It's cheesy as hell." She cringed. Ananth laughed. Just then Girish walked into the pantry. He quickly left Vandana's hand. Girish noticed them.

"Hey, Girish." Ananth acted casual.

"Hi..." Girish suspiciously looked between Ananth and Vandana. "Hope things are alright."

"Yeah. Just catching up," Ananth said. Girish got his coffee and biscuits and left.

"Let's not be so obvious inside the office," Vandana said. "We do not need more office gossip."

"Also Girish give me the vibes that he won't like an office romance. So you are right. Let's keep a low profile."

Vandna walked back into the Pantry and to the office. Ananth waited a bit before going in. Vandana was at her laptop working. Ananth sat down in his seat and began working too. Vandana's skype message blinked. She opened the message. It was a private message from Ananth. 'Did I tell you, you look really nice today?' He had written.