Chai and Tea

22. Ahir Departing

Anokhi sat at her laptop trying to process the new information. To say she was surprised was an understatement. Her boss had setup a call to discuss the final parts of her project. Since the call was with the USA office, she had to log on at night. Luckily, today was Shaurya's last night of night shoot so she didn't have to worry about him overhearing anything.

Unfortunately, ahir was at home and so was Devi. She was sure they both were pressing their ears against the door to hear everything. Her suspicions were proven correct when she noticed them both seated at the sofa looking at her.

"Eavesdropping is not polite"

"We wouldn't have to eavesdrop if you hadn't taken the call in your room." Devi said unapologetically.

Ahir nodded his head in agreement.

"So what are you going to do?" Devi asked.

"I don't know?" She replied honestly.

"It's your dream job. What you have been working towards all this time" Ahir chimed in. 

"I know." It was her dream job. Ahir knew about it because she wouldn't stop talking about it. It was the reason she had agreed to come to India. Now when she was actually offered the job, she was not as happy. Her dream job would involve her moving to London for 2 years. Before she had no issue with relocation but now - with Shaurya. It would involve leaving him. He surely couldn't move with her, his entire career is based in Mumbai.

"Anokhi.. Anokhi.." ahir snapped his fingers in front of her face.

"Sorry. What did you say?"

"You need to tell Shaurya."

She sighed. "I know that Ahir. I just don't know how to"

Devi walked over to her and took her in a hug.

"You shouldn't be so worried. He will be happy for you. Do you think he wouldn't support your career?"

She shook her head in a no on Devi shoulder.
"Shaurya would support me. But I don't know if I can do the long distance thing Devi. And I don't want Shaurya to give up his career for me."

"Rather than worrying you should talk with him and figure it out."  She moved back and placed a reassuring hand on her cheek. "I will make dinner. You just relax."

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Shaurya was exhausted. For the past 10 days we was shooting for 12 - 16 hrs a day. Ishika was scheduled for a vacation over Christmas and they barely had any bank episodes. Since recent track change they were working extra hard to create some buffer episodes. With the additional stress of Ishika's vacation the cast and crew were working around the clock.

He looked at the files that Gaurav had gave him as he was leaving the set. One of them was the a contract renewal. Even though the show was under the scanner, the production company wanted to renew everyone's contracts in order to pressurize the channel into giving the show an extension. The other file was a bit of a surprise for him. It seems like Gaurav was going to start working for another production house and wanted Shaurya to be the lead for his new show - Rab Se Hai Dua. The file had a contract for two years and would start next year.

He sighed thinking about what to do. He had planned on discussing the next steps with Anokhi but he barely had anytime with the crazy schedule. Anokhi's workload had decreased significantly since she had completely her project. He was planning on talking to her about her next project too, before Ahir came but that did not happen. Since Ahir was leaving tomorrow, he would be able to finally get some alone time with Anokhi and settle everything.