Your fabricated lie

36 - Us

Work is work. No matter where you are sitting in the hierarchy. I took leave for 45 days and Rajesh led the legal team till then. Still, I had loads of work on my head. I worked on all those pending works for more than three hours with Rajesh and Karthik.

After slogging for three hours, we went to have lunch. That one-hour break is everything I ever need. I must do everything in that break. Eating, making calls, checking my phone, social media, etc.

I checked my phone to see if I got any texts and to my surprise I had ten missed calls from Aditya and more texts than that. All his texts were the same. Like, where are you? Then ten question marks in ten different messages as I was not replying.

Then he texted me if I came to his house yesterday night. Then again there were ten question marks after that.

"It's been a while since I had momos," Karthik whined while having lunch. "How about going out tonight?"

"I have plans tonight," I said while scrolling through Aditya's texts. I already made my plans while sitting here, doing my lunch.

Noticing my pink cheeks, "Meeting anyone?" Rajesh asked.

I got another text from him which was nothing but a question mark. When I was wondering whether I should send a reply or not, I got a call from him.

For some reason, I didn't want to answer the call. "Are you not gonna answer it?" Rajesh asked.

"Ignore it. Just some customer care call," I flipped my phone.

"You sure about that?" I heard a voice from behind and I can already tell that it is Aditya. I turned behind, holding in my smile.

"Hey! Wanna join?" Rajesh was being generous to him to which the reply was, "Do you mind if I borrow her for a second?"

"They don't but I do," I said, avoiding eye-contact. He left without uttering a word and that surprised me. He surely does things I least expect.

"I asked you not to hurt him," Rajesh took Gautham's duty.

"I didn’t see that coming. I was just trying to play hard and he... forget it". I got back to complete my lunch. I was disappointed by that act of his.

We three and the entire staff were having their lunch in the canteen.

And then we heard a sudden, loud announcement. "Hello? Mic check. 1... 2... 3..." we heard and everyone paid attention at once. "I request everyone to spare a minute of their precious time," the announcement further read.

"Don’t you think he sounds like Aditya Sir?" Karthik said. Rajesh and I looked at each other in complete shock.

SHIT!

I rushed to the broadcasting room. Just for context, the broadcasting room and canteen has three floors in between. While I was waiting near the elevator door for it to come down, "My name is... let it be. It isn't even that important. So, there is this girl I am in love with and she is working here," he proceeded to say.

So it is a love confession???!!!... FUCK!

Realizing that I can't waste my time anymore waiting for the elevator, I decided to take the stairs. I rushed through each floor despite my breathless state.

"I already told her but she is ignoring me constantly for months together". Two more floors.

"So, I have picked up my twenty seconds of insane courage and stepped in here to ask for her reply". One more floor.

"Ms. Anusree Karthikeyan, will you marry me?" he confessed. Me entering that room and his confession were at same time. I was genuinely shocked and surprised but my breathless state didn't make it look that way. I was panting.

"Will you let me have the privilege of being yours?" he asked. I took long and heavy steps to turn it off.

"Have you gone crazy?" I yelled at him.

"Well, I didn't find a better way to confess my love," he said.

"Adi..."

"Coming home in the middle of the night, disposing of all the liquor in my house, making sure I am wrapped in a duvet, cleaning my messy house and then cooking for me in the morning is fine but me announcing it publicly is not fine? How fair is that?" he asked and I absolutely had no answer for that.

"That wasn't love," I managed to say something.

"Oh! I see. Then what's the accurate label for that? Care? Concern? – Let me remind you, care and concern come with love".

"Not necessarily!" I picked up an argument.

"So, you don't love me?" he asked and that was a checkmate.

"It's – It's complicated!” I stuttered.

"Had you didn't pay a visit to my house yesterday night, I wouldn't have done all this. You started it," he blamed me and again, I chose silence over violence. After a short pause, while staring at me with those puppy eyes, "Anu... what should I do to make you mine?" he asked.

My heart skipped a beat when I heard those words coming out of his mouth. I just wanted to check if he was drunk or sober. He kept staring at me.

I sighed heavily.

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After 40 years:

I brewed the coffee and poured it in two coffee mugs. My old shivering hands held them and I made my way to the hall room. Handing over the coffee mug to my significant other while he was on call with Vikram and Shreya, I sat beside him.

We both talked to our kids for the next thirty minutes while sipping on coffee. Thanks to technology! Though we are miles apart, we get to have family time at least thrice a week.

After hanging up the call, I leaned into his arms. Our hairs turned gray, neither of us looked that magnificent. Our skins are wrinkled! We are nothing but withered flowers.

Our beauty faded but love didn’t. Our energy's drained but our moments aren’t! We grew old together and there is nothing that makes me proud more than this.

Aditya is the best thing that has ever happened to me in my entire life. 'Is this the person I can spend the rest of my life with?' Years ago, this question kept on hitting me and I wondered if it was the right choice to marry him.

This man right here gave me an answer to this question and still gives a new reason every day. I warmly looked at him with that poor eye sight of mine. He planted a kiss on my forehead and said...

"I LOVE YOU!"

------------------- THE END -------------------