A Part, Yet Apart

Chapter 2- Choices I made

Nandini's POV:

"Navya, is everything ready?" I asked her. "You don't worry, decoration done, catering wale aa gaye, name revealing ke liye setup bhi ready hai" she said in one go. "Cradle ka decoration! Is Abhi here? Kuch dher mein function start ho jayega, photographer nahi hai tho sab ko kya bolenge. Return gifts bhi ready rakhna" I said. "Ha sab ho jayega" Navya said. This is the first event we got and I don't want any trouble. Navya and I helped them in distributing the return gifts and we saw how happy the couple were. ''Thanks to you, this function is so successful only because of you. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to pull it off with the small baby'' they said handing over an envelope with the fee. Navya took it from them. ''Please recheck the amount seems to be less'' she said handing it back to him. ''Sorry that we cannot afford more than this. You knew our budget!'' he said hesitantly. ''Then you should have cut the cost elsewhere but apne aisa kiya hi nahi. How can you pay us less after our job is done'' Navya asked. ''Please try and understand us'' his wife almost pleaded. 

''Navya, leave it. Let's go'' I said. I know that we could do nothing there arguing with that couple. ''This is not going to work like this Nandini. You should not let these kind of people go away like this'' I've completely let her down. ''I'm sorry for this Navya but we would even get nothing standing there and arguing with them'' I said. ''We don't even have any projects this month Nandini. There was only one and wo bhi Aryaman ke wajhe se haath se nikal gaya'' she said as we returned to the office. It was only then we remembered the couple who came to meet us last month for their wedding. They both seemed to have a lavish wedding but hearing Aryaman's name from him, I was scared that I didn't want to go back. 

For the next two days, except me and Navya not even an insect passed by our office. I felt like I'm not just wasting my time but Navya's too. I had to pay Navya as she left her job to work with me. Having a friend like Navya itself is a boon for me and I don't want to let her down. It would be my responsibility to pay her in time. It was because of my personal life, she is suffering too. ''Navya, I'm thinking whether we can reconsider the couple who came here last month'' I finally said to her. I gave it a thought and there is no reason that I should deny this offer. I promised myself that I would not let my past affect my present or future, now if I take a step back, maybe I would never dare to move ahead in my life. ''Are you sure?'' Navya asked. ''Absolutely! What if Aryaman recommended us! We would work and get paid for what we have done. Mujhe kis aur ka pawah hi nahi hai'' I would be lying if I say him or his family doesn't affect me but I had no option to choose.

''I'm glad at least you made a decision. But how are we going to find them, they didn't gave some contact details even'' Navya said. ''Yes, I sent them out before filling their details too. But there should be some way'' I said. ''And will they accept if we ask now?'' Navya raised a doubt. ''At least we can try'' I said. ''There is a way, if you want to know who is the couple'' Navya suggested. ''Ha, I already said we have no option, I'll agree to whatever you say'' I promised. Navya then quickly got my laptop and opened my Instagram account. ''Login now, we can still find them as that guy said he is Aryaman's friend'' she said. ''Idea is good but why from my account, I think I have already blocked him'' I said. ''Aryaman's profile is not public and we aren't following each other too. If you unblock him, then we may find something'' she suggested. ''What if Instagram notified that I have unblocked him'' I asked her. ''It doesn't notify any of the users Nandini, don't think too much'' she said. I hesitantly logged in and unblocked him. 

''Give it to me, I will look'' Navya said before I scrolled down to see the pictures he posted. ''Nandini, do you remember their names? They told us when they were here'' she asked. ''Ha, they said Karthik and Neha'' I said. ''We can easily search from his followers list'' she said. We have checked both the ones who followed him and whom he is following and found 3 profiles with the name Karthik. ''He should be one among these 3 people'' we said making a conclusion and decided to check each of the three profiles. We eliminated the first profile by just looking at his display picture. He was not the one who came here. But the problem is one among the two profiles is not a public account and the other one had posted only quotes and the pictures of the scenic nature. ''No luck'' Navya sighed and then I took my laptop. ''We can search with the girl name still'' I said and searched for the ones with the name, Neha. There was only one profile and it was a relief that she is the one. 

''Now a days, women are way ahead of men in almost everything'' Navya commented. There were many posts in her account and found few pictures of her with Karthik, her fiancé. ''This seems to be from their engagement party Nandini'' Navya said. We then checked her Insta bio where she mentioned her email address to reach out to her. I mailed her and also messaged her in Insta about me. ''I hope she would see and message us'' Navya said. Later, we realized that Neha tagged Karthik in their engagement post and it redirected us to another account with Karthik's name. This was the same profile who posted only quotes earlier. Thankfully, he mentioned his phone number in his bio and it was a big relief to both of us. ''Isn't he really strange! I mean he didn't even post a photo of him but gave his phone number in bio'' Navya said and she is indeed right.

It was only then I was again redirected to Aryaman's profile and happened to see a pinned post of his. ''Found the love of my life. Tara, take my heart forever''  was the caption. ''Aren't they looking adorable'' Navya said. I nodded as yes and looked at the date of that post. It was posted almost an year ago, which means he was married then. I still remember Aryaman once promised me to introduce his girlfriend when she says yes. I'm happy that she said yes and they are married now. ''Look at this Nandini, he seemed to marry a Telugu girl too'' she said. Yes, they were in traditional telugu wedding attire and my heart goes for this couple. We then scrolled down to see his family picture and my eyes stopped there. It made many of my memories fresh which I wanted to forget since the last 2 years. ''Can we please shut this down now?'' I asked Navya without meeting her eyes. ''I'm sorry'' she said. Navya called on the number and went out to speak. 

I shouldn't have scrolled down or I shouldn't be feeling bad now. Devuda, why are you making it so hard for me? Isn't everything already over. Him or his family reminds me of all the trauma I have been through. I knew that it was my mistake and not anyone else but I don't want those old memories to trigger again. ''Good news Nandini! This is indeed Karthik's number and I spoke to him. But the thing is he wanted us to meet Neha's family to convince them'' she said. ''Yes, we should be meeting them. Shall we meet them tomorrow then?'' We were determined to get this by hook or crook.

I hope we get this event as this is so important for me to be able to pay all my bills but I don't want it to cost my mental peace.