Better Together

Chapter 25(Abhay)

Last few weeks had been really good for me as the ice between me and Sahika was broken now. When she first mentioned about the truce and us being friends, I had thought that she was joking or this was a part of some plan.

But slowly as the days turned into weeks, I realized that it was not a joke. She genuinely wanted to be my friend for the sake of this company and for the sake of 'us'.

Two weeks ago I had received my first pay cheque and just as the working hours ended, she turned into my friend from my boss as she rushed into my cabin while I was packing up my things. She demanded that this was technically my first pay cheque after internship. So we should celebrate.

We all went out together, our old college group minus Sahil. In the last few weeks as I started catching up with my friend again, I came to realise that no one except for Sahika was in contact with Sahil and they didn't even care about him.

Yakshita's brother and Ashika's boyfriend also accompanied us. Sahika had told me about Neil and Ashu as she thought they were a really cute couple but I seemed to think otherwise. According to me, there was something missing between them, as if they were hiding something and failing badly.

No body else at the table seemed to think so. So I pushed the thought aside and decided to concentrate on the food and gossip on the table.

By the end of the night, one thing was clear. All of them were my real friends and the last six years didn't matter much to them. They had accepted me back in the group with open arms.

On the same night, I received a heartly invitation to Yakshita's wedding which was taking place two weeks from then aka 3 days from today.

I had denied the invitation, stating that Sahika and I can't both ditch office together and one of us needs to be there in cases of emergency. This was a total lie of course.

I didn't want to go because I wanted to provide some space to Sahika. She has been acting so good to me and we are so caught up int his act of friendship that I think she needs some time away from me to think everything thoroughly, actually even I need some time to jot down everything into my mind.

I was deeply engrossed in work when I got a call on my landline, it was Pranay. He wanted me in his office. As I went there, I found him sitting with a few other higher ranked managers as if in a meeting.

When he noticed me standing outside his cabin. He very swiftly excused himself from them and asked me to get in. He had a stern look on his face which was very rare. "Abhay, as you may know Sahika is leaving tomorrow for her friend's wedding.", he said totally unaware of the fact that the said friend was my friend too.

"Yes sir.", I replied.

"As you would also know our joint campaign with the Roys is going on in full fledge.", I nodded, unable to form any words. I think, I know where this conversation is going. "In Sahika's absence, I want you to take full charge of the campaign. I know it's a big responsibility and you are new but I believe you have worked closely with Sahika for this project and so I am placing my trust on you."

"Yes sir, I will try my best.", I somehow managed to say.

He nodded and got back to his laptop. I took this as a queue and left his office. As I entered the elevator and pressed the button to my floor, I finally took a breath. I was excited, nervous and scared all at the same time for this project.

Next day, I started gathering all the files regarding the campaign. Sahika hadn't come to the office today; she was going to leave for the venue in 2 hours.

I received a few mails regarding the campaign and replied all of them with full confidence in spite of my shaking fingers. I had been answering most of these emails since I joined this job but doing this without Sahika's supervision was the mean task.

I started going through all the files of the campaign. Dring the process, I found out that a blue file regarding the budgets of the project was missing. It was around lunch time, when I left the cabin for the first time in the day and went to Kriti's desk.

I informed her about the missing file and after going through Sahika's cabin once, she confirmed that Sahika had taken the file home a few days ago. I wanted to see the file in case any budget related issues arise in the next 3-4 days.

I ditched my lunch and immediately went to Sahika's house; she must have left till mow. Kriti had told me she would call at Sahika's home and inform then that I was coming. She had also sent me the address unaware of the fact that the route was stuck in my brain.

As I reached my destination and rung the door bell, my nerves started rocketing again. After a few minutes a lady wearing a beautiful green kurta opened the door.

"Hello ma'am, I am Sahika ma'am's secretary, I am here to pick up a file. Kriti must have told you.", I said to the lady.

"Hello Abhay, you don't need to introduce yourself. I know all about you.", she said and went inside the house, gesturing for me to follow her. My mind started racing at her words, all about me as in my position at S MEDIA or everything about me and Sahika.

I gulped and followed her inside the house. I had never been inside Sahika's house. On rare occasions when I dropped her home after college, she had always invited me inside but I declined.

The house, the furniture, the interior and the decorations all screamed old money and class. It was the kind of house that had secret lockers and movie rooms for personal screenings.

The lady guided me as she started talking again, "I am Sahika's sister-in-law by the way. Pranay's wife. My name in Kushboo. I have myself worked as the head of accounts department in S MEDIA for 5 years. So mostly everybody from office knows me including Kriti."

"Nice to meet you ma'am.", I said to her as we reached a room which had a 'do not disturb' sign as the name plate.

"This is Sahika's home office; you will find your file inside."

I entered the said room and started searching for the file. After a few seconds, my eyes fell on Sahika's desk. There was a photo frame kept on the desk. It had a picture of me and her but the most surprising thing was that the frame was made with resin and dried rose petals.

"Sahika had brought bouquet home on her birthday", Khushboo ma'am's voice startled me and I kept the frame down. She came to stand next to me and picked up the frame. "When the flowers drying out, she refused to throw them away. After her trip Bangalore, the flowers were completely dried but she was so attached to them that she got the preserved into this frame."

I was so shocked, I couldn't speak anything, I knew she was talking about the bouquet I had given to Sahika. When I didn't reply she continued, "When I said I know you, I meant I know everything about you."

She then opened one of the drawers and fetched a diary, "Take this home with you Abhay, and read it. You really need to.", she said and gave the diary to me.

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Hey readers,

So the roses are now back. Happy to see them?

I want to clear one thing, Sahil is not a negative character and he never lied to Sahika, nor did he ever try to create misunderstandings. If you read the chapter nicely you would notice that he just told Sahika what he knew about Abhay's alliance with Rashi and it was true. Just that he had no idea what was going on in Abhay's mind. So please stop villainizing him. He did no harm to anyone except for his lungs and Sahika's liver, atleast not intentionally.

Keep voting and supporting.