Waited For You

Chapter 14

Few days passed in a blink with Atharv making some or the other excuse to enter Sanchi's apartment exactly at her breakfast time and having the food made by her. Initially Sanchi tried to pass rude comments to him when he entered her apartment but it did not affect Atharv at all, he took them as his compliment and dodged them. Sanchi by this behaviour of Atharv gave up and mostly kept mum when he visited after then.
Although there is something to think upon, even though Atharv ate the food made by Sanchi the food never got less for any of them, the food was more than sufficient for them although Atharv is a foodie when it comes to homemade foods. (🤔How is this happening?)
Everyday before leaving Sanchi's apartment Atharv would ask if she could help him to unpack giving the same reason of being busy but she would put down the offer as she thought it was just his trick but why was he doing it had no answer for it.

One morning:-

Like everyday Sanchi was setting her breakfast table murmuring some or the other thing about Atharv like
" Abhi aa jayega ye banda. Lagta hai dimag hi kharab ho gaya hai iska itni beizzati ke baad bhi roj aa jata hai nashta karne. Kabhi kabhi lagta hai split personality hai kya isko. Koi jaadu tona toh nahi na kar diya ispe? Kahi yeh mera khana kha ke apna rashan toh nahi bacha Raha... Hmm ho sakta hai... Par paise toh hai na iske paas, kya pata company doob rahi...."

Just then she felt the ringing of the doorbell and so went to open it but found no one the other side of the door. She closed the door and thought , "Was it just my auditory hallucination?". She turned to move inside the apartment but again opened the door and checked the whole area outside the door for the presence of anyone but found nothing. She came back to the breakfast table and sat there however didn't start her breakfast. Half an hour passed with her sitting idealy and in the same manner another half an hour passed. She got up, kept the breakfast inside the refrigerator and moved out of her apartment. She first checked the door of the apartment infront of hers which was locked and then moved downstairs. She reached the guard's working room and asked "Did Atharv Prasad, the new person who shift in the building recently left somewhere?" The guard checked the records and told her that he has not returned since the previous day and asked her why was she asking about him. Sanchi replied that he is her neighbour and she has few stuffs of him with her which she has to return and headed back to her apartment.

Two days passed the same way. The next day, it was the morning time; Sanchi was going to step out of her apartment for her grocery shopping when she heard the unlocking sound of her neighbour's apartment. She hurriedly moved out of her apartment and found she was correct. She knocked on the door and someone opened it. She was going to say something but stopped abruptly when she noticed that the person infront of her was not Atharv. She said, "Sorry I thought Atharv stepped inside his apartment " and turned to leave but her steps halted when she heard ,
" Why are you sorry Sanchi di?"

She turned and asked, "How do you know my name?". The person said , "Di, you forgot me? Well it's fine as it has been quite a long time since we met and I have grown into a handsome man."
Sanchi laughed on his statement but was unable to identify him so the person introduced himself saying, " Di I am Anay, your chotu - Anay, who used to give you flowers whenever you visited the temple few years back."
Something striked her memory and Sanchi's face lit up, she touched Anay's head and then his cheek and said , "Anay, how are you? How is your mother? Indeed you have grown into a very handsome man. How come you are here?"
Anay said, "Di I am amazing like always and I am very happy to see you again. I am Atharv bhaiya's PA and came here to find an important file. About maa, she died 5 years back ." Sanchi's face fell down, she said , "I am really sorry, I didn't know."
Anay brushed off her guilty feeling and said , "Di why are you sorry? How would you know anything as it happened after you left. She is in a better place now, I am happy for her. It's just that she left me alone here."
Sanchi said , "What are you saying bacchhe, we are here for you, me and Atharv and will always be."
Anay replied, "But you too left me di."
Sanchi felt a pang in her heart and controlling her tears said, " I am really, really sorry baby but I promise it will never happen again. Please forgive me." Anay hugged her and said, "I missed you di, I missed you so much. Please don't leave me again. Please. I will never even make fun of yours from now on. "
Sanchi broke the hug and said, "Means you are still angry with me?"
Anay being confused said , "Huh!?"
Sanchi said, "You will not make fun of mine means ofcourse you are angry and how will your food digest without making my fun?"
A smile popped on Anay's face and he said, "Well di your height didn't increase right? Your height is still the same. You are still choti si."
Sanchi faked anger and said, "You idiot. Come here I will show you who is chotu." And ran after him inside Atharv's apartment but both of them stopped as they saw brown unopened boxes lying everywhere in the apartment.
Sanchi said, "Let me help you in finding the file. How will you do it alone." Anay too agreed and passed the information which Atharv gave to him. Both of them started their hunt and meanwhile kept their conversation on.
Sanchi asked, "Bacche how did you become Atharv's PA?"
Anay replied, "He was always there for me di even after you left. He frequently visited me like everytime. When my mother died he was the one who consoled me and took care of me also kept his promise of making me his PA."
Sanchi hummed after listening his reply and continued listening his talks. Anay continued saying, "You know di nowadays it is quite hectic in the company. A very serious issue has come up because of which bhaiya is not getting time to even have food on time. He is just indulge in his computer screen. Hope this issue gets solved quickly so that I could also get peaceful sleep. Talking about sleep I don't know how does nowadays bhaiya manages to leave the office at last and reach their before everyone even before the guards."
Sanchi was attentively listening all this but showed as if she was just searching the file and when found out she tossed it towards Anay and said, "My chotu is working so hard. My poor baby. Don't worry when you get free from work then visit my apartment, the one beside this one. I will prepare your favourite food."
Anay's face lit up and he said, " You are awesome di. I will try to come to you as soon as possible. I will get going now and here is my number. Take care di" passing a card.
Sanchi saved Anay's number as chotu. Till then Anay already departed from the apartment.

The same night ( Around 1 am):-

Atharv parked his car and with heavy steps headed towards his apartment.
Atharv's face clearly showed how much tired he was and wished nothing but sleep. He unlocked his apartment's door and headed inside, kept his overcoat with bag on the couch and loosened himself on the couch with closed eyes and a sigh.
Just then the lights of his apartment brightened the whole place which was dark till now and he tiredly opened his eyes.