Fated Colleagues [FATED SERIES BOOK #1]

Kareena

I hung up the call.

Are my aunts crazy? They invited Gaurav for lunch, this soon? They could have waited for a month, at least?

Not everyone is as opposed to dating as you are.

My mind mocked me.

Hey, come on I ain't totally opposed to dating.

Don't lie to yourself.

My mind's becoming sassier with each passing day.

My eye passes to the standing tall figure of the man who's apparently also the reason for me hindering my dating plans, altogether.

Since when is he standing here?

Did he listen to everything I had said on the call?

"Who was it?" He asked, handing me the hot plate of tacos from the stall. He remembers, doesn't he?

He remembers how I loved tacos with a pinch of extra pickle on the side, for it's visible on my plate. A sad and happy feeling passes through my heart as I both, cherish and bear the pain, through the memories.

"Rina?"

"Don't call me that, Mr. Sinha." I saw the visible irritation pass through his facial features.

"So, we're having the formal end of the straw on a lovely Sunday evening, aren't we?"

"We're nothing more than formal colleagues, Mr. Sinha." My words cut deep through his heart as I saw the jaw tick.

Face it, Rishav, face a fragment of my jumbled emotions which you let me handle years ago, leaving me into the mess.

"And if you please, could you tell me why I'm called here, so that I could end this and go back home a little early?" I say, biting on my taco, "i can't waste my weekend over this." I say as my taste buds burst in my mouth.

I know very well that I would have slept through the weekend, but who cares?

Rishav seemed tensed and coughing through his hesitation, he said, "What's the rush, Kareena? Let's enjoy the taco first and then we'll discuss together."

Him calling me Kareena, stabbed my heart, he's always addressed me as Dave, the very few stances where he needed me to discuss something, over work. Him uttering my real name instead of the one he's got his exclusive rights on, served as a painful insight into the reality that things aren't the same anymore.

"Who was it, by the way?" He asks, biting on his taco. I couldn't miss the way his mouth worked with the taco and as much as I hate it, my mind went in the most explicit pathway of thoughts until I realised what he asked.

Why was he asking me? Has he listened to things I said? Why is he even intrigued?

"Eavesdropping isn't a very nice thing to do, Mr. Sinha and why should I tell you who I was talking to?" I said.

Rishav smirked. "Sure, have your privacy." He said.

It, kind of, pissed me off, that he wasn't pushing things harder.

I asked him to call me Kareena, he does it.
I refused to let him know who was at the call. He accepts it.

I know things have ended, things have changed between us, we aren’t the exact same anymore. But, don’t act so straightforward regarding it, damn it!

Somewhere, deep within my heart, I want him to press things further. To invade my personal life, ask me what I've been doing all these years. Scream how he hates his actions, how he hated being away from me, how he realised whatever he did was a mistake and begs me for forgiveness. I want him to want me, to fill in every void and insecurity I felt with his actions and his words. I want him to go mad over wanting me back so that I can reject him.
I will reject him. Make him taste his own actions. He'd then know how painful these years were. How I almost cried to sleep, every night, after he left me. How I had tried to get through to him, to ask him why he's doing this for me. I want him to yearn for a glance of me, for one word from me, to feel the same excruciating traumas I've faced all these years, all alone. Right. My family wasn't aware of this, they knew nothing of it and had often worried about my health which was visibly going down to the gutter.
I want him to live through my pain, twice, to repay.