Pyaar ki Baatein

Chapter 5

Saanvi couldn't sleep. She didn't want Tara and Vihaan to be so comfortable with each other. Granted they didn't see each other every day or spoke regularly but she didn't want Tara getting attached to anyone who's not going to be a permanent figure in her life.

Vihaan was a great boss, a good employer. He paid her well, he arranged daily commute to the office for her. Though, initially, she was against it, she quickly realized how uncomfortable it would be to travel public in professional wear and all the time she saved having her own transportation. He asked about Tara from time to time, he didn't judge her when he got to know she was a single mother unlike her colleagues and neither did he push her to know about Tara's father. She was grateful to him but that was it , she didn't want to form any other attachments to him outside of work. Her world was work, Tara and maa. Pathetic for a 25 year old to be saying that? Maybe. She didn't care, however. She knew what to prioritise and she did exactly that.

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Vihaan was filled with content. He was scared he was going to burst into a song any minute now. Saanvi and him spent some time outside of work for the first time in a long time. He also got to see Tara. She was the cutest kid he had ever seen. She had a smile on her face 24/7 and Vihaan wondered if that's what Saanvi would look like if she ever graced him with her real smile. 

He recollected the moment he met Tara. He passed an order in his company to start a daycare for employees who couldn't leave their children at home after learning that Saanvi was a single mother. He didn't know if Tara needed daycare but he got a small nursery in his company anyway.

 One fine day , after a few months of opening the day care , Saanvi brought in Tara. Vihaan wanted to meet the mini version of his love and went to the daycare under the pretext of checking if the nursery was running smoothly. The minute he stepped in , a tiny figure bumped into his legs spilling her chocolate milk over his pants. One look, and he knew that was Tara. For a two year old, Tara apologize too sincerely and so did Saanvi. Vihaan didn't mind. He knelt matching his height with Tara, making friends with her and the rest of kids present. He spent the entire day with them , playing and reading them stories. Since then , he saw Tara every other month and he knew , he had a better relation with Tara than Saanvi.

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The next day when Vihaan told her he'd would be dropping her, she stood fixed to the ground and firmly refused his offer.

Vihaan knew that he wasn't exactly in the right lying to Saanvi about the situation of her commute. All he wanted was to spend some time with the woman he was madly in love with.

He sighed heavily and asked,

"Is it so bad that I drop you to your home?"

"Yes."

"Why?" Vihaan wanted to hear Saanvi say it.

"People are going to talk and I don't want that." There, she said it and she hoped that he would understand now.

"Are they talking now? Did someone say anything to you?"

"No but they spoke when you arranged a car for me to help with my commute everyday. I understand all this doesn't bother you but-", she was cut off by Vihaan.

"What bothers you bothers me, Saanvi." A shiver passed through her as soon as she heard him.

"The people who started to talk about the car, the ones who were rude to you, they were fired two weeks after. Do you see them in the office, now?" Vihaan asked.

 She didn't see them in the office anymore but she also didn't know they were fired. She didn't know they got fired because of that. 

"And before you feel guilty, I gave them a chance to stop , to rectify their mistakes and apologize to you but some people never learn. So, I fired them. I don't pay people for gossiping."

Saanvi was stunned. She didn't know what to say to that.

"Why?" She asked, finding her voice. "Why would you do that? Why do you care?"

"I'm not going to let anyone utter nonsense about you." Every sentence that came out of his mouth today was layered , coated with deep meaning and she didn't know if she wanted to it be real and raw or act like it didn't matter. 

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