Am always with you.....

Chapter 36

BEN

Days passed by. I got familiar with my job, adjusting to this new side of college life. I made new friends- my students, got along with my colleagues.

Venu never left me; she would always follow the moment she found me, similar to a puppy. Slowly, I understood- this was how she was. The kind who pushes you, the aggressive one. She would bring me to places, parts of the town I didn't know existed even though I was born here. We went for lunch, dinners or coffee and even went shopping together. I got comfortable with her aggression, and we became close friends. Just like how I had confusion gang in school and college, now I had Venu at workplace.

One weekend, I went back home to dust the place. And I wanted to go to the beach for sunset. The sky was dark and cloudy but thankfully there was no rain. The sun was nicely hidden behind the clouds, not even trying to play hide-and-seek. Still, I sat at a spot and just enjoyed the atmosphere.

It would have been better with Zach.

Emersed in my thoughts, I failed to notice that faraway, 2 women had entered the waters. When I finally saw them, they were entering the danger zone of water, I got up and advanced towards them.

I must warn them.

As I got closer to them, one of them felt familiar. Indeed, was the case- it was Venu!

I shouted, "Hey! Venu!" I shouted for few more times and waved to them in vain. When they saw me waving at them, I gestured them to come out. Maybe they understood something was wrong and came to the shore.

Venu recognized me, hitting me with delight, "Hi, fancy meeting you here!!"

I asked her, "What are you doing here?"

"I am visiting this beach. This is my roommate, Preet Singh."

I greeted her friend, "Hello, I'm Ben. Venu's colleague."

"I came to warn you guys that the sea will be unstable, with the winds and high tide. It might rain as well."

"We came here knowing that, but just got lost in the moment", Venu said nervously.

"You guys are all wet. Do you have spare clothes, or are you going back like this?"

"No, we have brought some clothes, we just need a place to change. Can you wait for us here? We will quickly change, and we can go back together."

I hesitated, "If you both don't mind, you can change comfortably at my place. It is not far from here."

Venu looked puzzled. I took them back home, helping them to the rooms. In the meanwhile, I prepared some hot coffee for them.

"You have a nice house, Ben." Venu came after changing her clothes.

"Yes, I love it to the bones. Commuting to the university is hard from here, so I stay with Aunt Joe."

I offered her the drink. She sipped it happily.

"Thanks. I just needed this after shuddering in the wet clothes."

"No issues. Where is your roommate? I made a cup for her as well."

"She'll join us in few minutes. Thanks Ben, we got a comfortable place to change. Honestly, the washroom is very uncomfortable!!"

I laughed, "True that."

Preet joined us, "Thank you for your help, Ben."

"My pleasure. Here, I made some coffee."

After some chats of the neighbourhood and our lives, we left for the town. Venu and her roommate had brought their own bike and hence they departed. Since tomorrow was Sunday, I decided to stay back.