clashing connection

Aditi

I lay in bed, staring at the photos of Sahil and I, and thought back to what Jai had said in the train. He was right. As much as I hated to admit it, his advice was right. It would do me good to get rid of our photos..... the thing was, I couldn't bring myself to do it. I bit my lower lip, my thumb hovering over the delete button. Finally counting to three, I squeezed my eyes shut and pressed delete. Immediately, all the photos I had selected disappeared. I felt empty, relieved, but also exhausted. Locking my phone, I went to sleep, unable to handle thinking about what I had done.

~~
"Papa yaar, yaad karo ne aji konu business che... pleaseee." I whined. (Dad, try to remember who else has a business... pleaseee.)
He handed me his phone, irritated by my constant demands since this morning.
"Sawar thi mandi paid che, shanti thi Suva toh de. Le mara phone ma jeno number tano joy e lai le." He went to his room, swiftly locking the door.
(You've been at it since this morning. Let me sleep in peace, at least. Take my phone and just take whosoevers number you want.)
It was true, from the moment i had woken up, I had asked my parents to share every possible person's contact, they could remember owned a business or worked in a renowned company. So far, I had managed to note down twenty numbers. I scrolled through his phone, trying to remember who else I had missed in noting down.
After noting five more numbers, I finally went to bed. Scrolling aimlessly through instagram, I stumbled across my story highlights with Sahil. I paused, stuck between wanting to leave it as it was and wanting to delete it. After deleting the photos last night, I hadn't had the urge to look at them.... it had certainly helped to an extent. Finally, I deleted all the highlights of us. Slowly, I was starting to accept our break up. It wasn't easy, but these small steps helped.

~~

Jai sat beside me , out of breath just as the train began moving. I rolled my eyes, wondering which diety had it out for me to have him sit beside me today.
"Hey," He panted.
Faking a smile, I greeted him.
"Hi.... do you need water?"
"Yes, please...."
I obliged, handing him my bottle. After quenching his thirst, he turned towards me, eyes bright.
"So.... how many contacts did you manage to collect?"
"More than you, I'm sure." I quipped.
"I don't think so.... my number is not so easy to beat."
"Yeah, right. How many did you collect?" I asked, curiosity getting the best of me.
"I asked first, so you should answer first."
"Ugh... fine. I collected 25. Now, tell me your number."
"Hah... I collected 27. I knew I would beat you."
"Hmh, it's just two more. Besides, what matters is how many we'll convince to invest in the festival." I turned away with a frown.
"Sureee, just admit it. I've beat you in the first task." He elbowed me lightly.
Turning towards him, I blew a raspberry, imitating him in a childish manner.
"Smart-ass."
He burst into laughter, his eyes sparkling in amusement as he took in my actions. I don't know what it was about him, but he brought out my childish, competitive side. Crossing my arms, I looked out of the window, annoyed that he had already done better on the first task.

~~
6 boring lectures later, I was seated beside Aisha, as we all submitted our list of contacts to Vansh. He took his time, going through all of them while we chattered idly. Puneet entered, grinning wide as he told us to keep quiet for an announcement.
"So.... with the Ganpati festival coming up, we've decided to host an event. It will be called the Kshitij Carnival. We'll be having visits from celebrities, for the same. This will be your first experience in PR."
We all let out a thrilled cheer, excited to experience our first ever event.
He then told us about what all we would have to do and how he was going to divide the tasks among us.
"Aditi and Jai, come here for a second, please." Vansh called us.
Exchanging a look of confusion, we made our way next to Vansh.
"I see you both have contacts in Reliance. Can you tell me what relation you have with the contact?"
"He's my uncle." Jai provided.
"He's my father's friend." I replied.
"Hmmm.... Jai, can you contact him and pitch the festival to him. Since he's your uncle, there are higher chances of him agreeing. I'll help you out with what to say and how to negotiate."
"Of course, just tell me when." Vansh chuckled, slapping him on the back as he stood.
"Aditi, if Jai fails to convince his uncle, then we'll rely on you, okay?"
"Okay... but you know, my contact works in the marketing team, so it would make more sense to contact him first."
"Yes.... but Jai has a more personal connection. Let him try, and if it doesn't work out, we'll work on convincing your contact." With that, he walked away.
Silently fuming, I sat back down as Jai's smiled widened.
"Did you see that? Not only did I bring in more contacts than you, but I also received another task. "
"We'll see whether you can manage to convince your uncle or not because if you fail to, I will automatically receive the task." I said with a flip of my hair.
He narrowed his eyes, leaning in closer.
"Trust me, I won't let you have this task.... I'll succeed."
"Hmph," I scooted away from him.
Both Puneet and Vansh then shared a list of newspaper agencies. They divided those agencies amongst all of us and asked us to ring them up. They gave us a script that contained details of the Carnival we were going to host. They wanted us to ask whether these agencies would be interested in printing news articles of the same.
"Darna mat... ekdam simple hote he ye log. Bas izzat se baat karo, aur agar kisi ne gaali di toh kaat dena call. Jisne haa bola, usko green mark kardo, jisne na bola usko red, aur jisne nahi uthaya usko blue mark karo aur kal unhe firse call karna. Koi madat chaiye ho toh bol dena." Vansh instructed.
(Don't be scared.... these people are very simple. Just talk to them with respect, and if they curse or anything, just cut the call. Whoever says yes, mark them green, those who say no mark them red and those who don't pick up, mark them blue and call them again tomorrow. If you need any help, just let us know.)