ᴇx-ʙᴏʏʀꜰʀɪᴇɴᴅ, ɴᴇxᴛ ʜᴜꜱʙᴀɴᴅ

Chapter 4

Yuvaan

Where on earth do I go now?
I stood in front of the office. I have no idea where I'm gonna go but I can't be back for an hour now.

I felt my phone ring.
"Hello?" I said, picking up.
"Mr Yuvaan. This is Mr Rupert from IBM."
"Hi! Tell me."
"I'm glad to tell you that we can go ahead with your deal of a joint merge into a few industry."
"That's wonderful. How come?"
"We got an interviewee today. She had amazing experience in data engineering and consulting, she worked as a consultant as well. We've given her the job and if possible internally and with you, then we can go ahead and merge our branches and create a joint venture into consulting."
"That's excellent. Is she qualified?"
"Yes yes. She is very good. We interviewed her for almost 45 minutes. She was very good."
"That's really good then. Let's stay in touch. I'll come to your office in an hour. Will she be there?"
"Unfortunately not. I gave her the job and let her go, I'll contact her in 24 hours."
"Okay no worries. I'll be there."

Great. For the last year I've been working to make this dream come true. I wanted a merger with IBM, a highly recognized American firm.  I wanted to tap into another market as well and had plans to collaborate with IBM for this.

I felt proud of myself. Dad would be happy too.
I smiled and then, my eyes fell on that place.
Sampoorna Bhagwan Mandir. 

I closed my eyes looking up.
Not today, God.

I hadn't stepped in this mandir in years. I didn't want to step in it today as well, but I wanted to thank God for this good news. Torn in between, I finally decided to just go.
I'll just pray and come back.

I sighed and stepped near the temple. I removed my shoes and stepped in and felt a wave of pain and flashbacks coming back.
Why did I do this?
Ugh. I walked on and saw a crowd at the temple.
11:30. Right. Aarti time.
I remember the aarti timings. I used to come here a lot... with her.

I walked on and saw Aaji. Oh my God. Aaji.
I haven't see her in years either. She looked well.
Do I have the guts to see her?
No. I don't.
I walked away quietly and entered the main temple area and knelt down and prayed. Just when I got up and stepped back, I noticed my watch get stuck in a lady's duppata.

Oh God.
Why do I feel strange?
Why do I feel... different?
Why can't I take my eyes away from the lady praying in front of me?
Who is she?

I saw her praying intently, even though I wasn't able to see her face, she looked very lost in prayer, so I didn't want to disturb her. I stood there, with my hand folded as I prayed again, with her duppata still wrapped around my watch. 

Suddenly, the crowd increased tenfold and I was almost lost from the idol into the huge swarm of ladies walking towards the front. I thought to get up and I saw her get up too. She was going to turn back when I felt a lady push me to a side so I turned back to see who it was. Then, I couldn't see that lady anymore.

I got my hand ahead and it joined with hers, who was trying to free her duppata.

Goosebumps.
A wave of goosebumps.
Why did it feel that way  when her hand brushed against mine?

I looked forward and saw her untie it and her figure lost in the swarm of crowd. I stopped and attended the aarti and then stepped out.

As I was leaving, I bumped into Aaji.
Oh no.
"Yuvaan!" 
"H...Hi Aaji." I said, taking her blessings.
"How are you bete?"
"I'm good. How are you?"
"I'm well."
"Are you okay? Is everything okay?"
"Yes, Yuvaan. Don't worry. I got a job here as a bhajan and aarti singer."
"Wow! Does that pay well?"
"It pays enough to meet our needs."
"Aaji, you have a blessed voice and a blessed hand. You know that your cooking can pull an entire crowd. Why do you do this?"
"Beta, this mandir gave me a lot of shelter. I don't want to ditch it."
"Don't ditch it, but expand yourself."
"It's okay beta. You tell me, how are you?"
"I... I'm good."
"What have you been up to?"
"I joined Dad's company. I'm good."
"It's a shame. You two. Your wedding was the last thing I was looking for."

Oh God. Way to adding salt to the wound.

"Aaji. We... aren't together now."
"I know beta. I heard Very unfortunate."
"Wait? You heard? From who?"
"Nishtha bete, she only told me."
Nishtha told her? What? When?
"W...what? She told you?"
I saw Aaji suddenly smile, "Maybe you two's good times will start now and you'll be back soon Yuvi."
"How can you say that Aaji?"
"Because she was in the temple just now and she also came here after almost 4 years."

Nishtha was here?

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