Bloom into YOU

CH:23- Consciousness, Affliction, and Inclination

It's been more than three days since Karishma and Haseena talked to each other. Haseena did make a few attempts to reach out to Karishma, but after being ignored continuously, she thought of giving Karishma a space. However, in those three days, the one thing that has changed was, that Mr. Colgate has become a regular of MPT. So, it was one of his regular visit hours when he and Karishma were sitting outside at the Badnaam's tea stall and seemingly enjoying the tea.

Nevertheless, despite being with Samar her gaze continued to linger at Haseena's window. She desperately wants Haseena to see them together but she was disappointed after getting no reaction from Haseena in the last three days, "nothing affects her," she mumbled frustratingly, "she must be really happy that I'm not around her," she felt someone has squeezed her heart as the thought cross her mind, "it so unbearable to sit in his presence and listen to him for an hour," she felt her body tensed up as she saw Abhimanyu approaching the station, "I have to go," she said in a rushed tone and almost ran inside the station; ignoring the displeased smile on Samar's face.

"Urmi," Abhimanyu called out to her name, "kidhar hai reh tu?" He scanned the station and was about to move towards Haseena's cabin when Karishma's voice stopped her.

"Yahan kya kar rahe ho tum?" Karishma asked sternly.

"Mein meri Urmi se milne aya tha?" He ran his fingers through his hair and lowered his gaze as a slight blush crept on his face after saying that.

Karishma glanced at him irritatingly, "yahan koi Urmi....," her sentence remained incomplete as Haseena moved out of her cabin.

"Kya re?" She raised her eyebrows, "tu yahan kya kar raha hai?" She nudged him and stood beside him while ignoring Karishma's presence in the room.

Before Abimanyu could answer, Pushpa Ji and Santosh came out of the record room and stared at the new arrival, "Kon ho tum?" Pushpa Ji asked as she looked at him from top to bottom. The man in question was around six feet tall with broad shoulders, and dark brown eyes and his unshaven stubble was perfectly going with his disheveled hair.

"He is so dreamy," Santosh murmured in Pushpa Ji's ear.

"Aye, yeh mera boyfriend hai," Urmila spoke as she made eye contact with both Pushpa Ji and Santosh.

"Good taste," Santosh uttered enthusiastically while raising her thumbs at Urmila in approval. 

"Aye, meri choice hai toh acchi hi hoi gi naa," She said with a broad grin on her face while peeking at Karishma who was discontented with all the happenings.

"Yeh yahan kya kar raha hai?" Karishma asked as she held Haseena's upper arm and pushed her to the other side and stood in between them.

"Mere se milne aaya hai aur kya?" Urmila moved towards the other side and stood beside Abimanyu, "tere ko kiya?" She asked, "tu," she scratched her head, "aap jaye na unke pass," she pointed towards Samar who had just entered the station.

Samar smiled nervously after getting all the attention on him, "I'll take your leave, Karishma Ji," he stood beside her, "so, will we see you tomorrow?" He asked politely, confirming his routine visit.

"Umm...," Karishma shifted at her spot a bit and peeked at Haseena through the corner of her eyes who has all her attention on her, "I am not available tomorrow," she tried to smile, "I'll text you," she said while placing her hands in her pocket in order to hide her uneasiness due to Abhimanyu's presence.

"Is everything fine with you?" Samar asked with annoyance in his voice as he glanced at Haseena who was pretending to be immersed in a conversation with Abhimanyu.

"Yes, I'm good," she uttered without making eye contact with Samar; she wants him gone from there.

Samar observed Karishma closely, she seemed so distant to him, "Hmm..," he glanced at her, "I'll wait for your text," He said displeasingly before leaving. However, Karishma was too distracted to notice any of his tone or actions but Haseena didn't miss his single move.