A Promise : To You For You

Chapter 35

"Where have you been dude?" Swati screeched from the other end of the call the moment she picked it up.

"Ghosh Swati! You are so loud." I exclaimed at her over-enthusiasm, which I failed to reciprocate.

Sometimes I wondered how she managed to stay energetic all day long.

"Where the hell have you been rotting, you idiot?! I was almost certain that you were dead." She said scolding me for ghosting her out with no contact ever since the day of puja.

"Well, you know now that I am alive and breathing." I replied nonchalantly in a casual tone. My voice sent the message that she better get over this complaining part and she understood.

"Yeah yeah, whatever." She retaliated in the same bored tone. "Anyways, tell me what's up? How's the work?" She questioned with interest. I could hear some hushed whispers in the background and realised it was Prashant whom she was telling that she was on a call with me.

I let her speak to Prashant and looked around my surroundings on the lawn where the fairy lights decorating the mansion and the segments of the lawn, shone under the night sky. The yellow light illuminated the greenery, giving the surroundings a calming and cosy effect in this chilled weather.

Instinctively, I wrapped my arms around myself, having the liberty of not holding the mobile in my hands due to the call being connected through earphones. The night was calm and quiet and I felt comforted being held in my arms. After rubbing onto the sides of my arms in a sense of warming myself, I eased my hands into the pocket of my pants as I heard the sound of whispers coming to an end and waited for my friend's attention to be bestowed upon me once again.

Post Prashant's departure, Swati apologized for the interruption and gave her full attention to me. "Sorry, Prashant needed something. So yeah, now tell me wassup?" 

I filled her up with the details of tomorrow's party, held to celebrate the anniversary of my parents and Nikhil's birthday and success. "The party, I told you about earlier, is tomorrow and the preparations are going on in full swing. Nikhil took over as CEO two days ago and Mamma has been ecstatic ever since then." I told her gleefully. "Mamma has been monitoring the preparations herself with the event manager and I am telling you I haven't seen her this happy in a long time." I added, with a glint of happiness and amazement in my eyes.

I thought of the smile that adorned my mother's glowing face when she took care of the preparations for the party. Nikhil's promotion had brought her immense joy and it encouraged me to excel in my job and achieve success which would one day make her proud of me as well and forget all the heartburns. 

"That's news." She said chuckling. "Otherwise all I can imagine about her is her sulking over the past with a grim expression and a grumpy mood." She added, finding it funny however  I scowled at her statement. Of course, I did not like the comment and she realised it herself. 

"Okay, I did not mean any offence, you know that." She said ruefully. "Anyways, you didn't tell me how's the work." She asked, diverting the subject smoothly, being aware that I did not appreciate her 'critique' about my mother's behaviour. 

I sighed.

"Work has been going fine." I said, wondering how I felt about it.

It had been difficult to handle Rhee with his "fluctuating behaviour" if that term could even justify his actions in recent days. Other than him, the projects were demanding lots of effort and time which sort of drained the energy by the end of the day. Moreover, as the date of meeting with the clients of the London hospital project neared, my nerves became more anxious.

I guess work wasn't going fine.

I thought to myself.

I dismissed the thoughts and asked her about her work. "What about you?"