The Sparks Of Love| ✓

Chapter - 17

• goodbye •

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With a long list of follow ups with reports and meetings back to back, Maithili finally left liberated after the clock had hit five and she could finally leave. Her eyes went back to look at the door of Nikshit's cabin for the umpteenth time today. He has been as busy as a bee as well. There were still a few people standing in a queue outside the cabin waiting for their turn to go inside.

He was going to stay until late again it seemed.

It was a tiring day. Maithili felt her joints would make cracking noises even if she made casual moves. Unexpectedly, she ran into Vidhart on the ground floor, who was actually waiting for her. Maithili walked up to him on getting a wave of hand to come over.

"Beta, you can come home with me. I'm about to leave. Nikshit is going to stay until later hours, there's still a lot to wrap up." Vidhart's forehead already had creased lines when he did not notice any change in her expression that showed sadness or perhaps disappointment with the situation.

Vidhart realized that Nikshit is yet to tell her about his transfer.

"Okay." Maithili smiled before following him towards the car. Even though Vidhart was a man of few words, whenever he spoke it was very warm and endearing. Especially when he addressed her with 'beta' it made her feel like a pampered child. Kaushiki and Vidhart really treated Vrushali and her like their own children.

The car ride wasn't silent, there was a radio FM buzzing with songs and some chitchats in between. Vidhart really wanted to tell her himself but he couldn't get himself to suddenly throw a bomb on her head just like that. Moreover their equation wasn't as frank as that of friends.

The barely thirty minute ride home was very uncomfortably restless for him. For one, he was an awkward person and two, he wasn't sure if he should be interfering in the personal matters of his brother.

Nikshit and Maithili were adults. They knew better than anyone else how to handle their situationships— Vidhart assumed. Completely oblivious to how childish and immature these two really were.

The family, as usual, did not eat dinner together before retiring to their own rooms. Kaushiki wasn't feeling well today so she'd gone to bed earlier than usual. Viren and Neelam had eaten together with Vidhart while Maithili had decided to wait for Nikshit so that she could eat together with him later.

"Maithili, eat with us beta. Nikshit is going to be very late. Maybe he has had his dinner already." Neelam tried to get her to eat but Maithili had politely refused. The continuous nagging had even left her feeling uneasy as she sat on the bed to scroll through the internet while waiting for him.

Nikshit came back after the clock had hit 10 at night. Maithili had fallen asleep with her phone still held in between her hands, still sitting on the bed with a pillow behind and her head lolled to a side on the bedrest behind.

The sound of his shoes hitting the floor and tires rolling pulled her out of the slumber. Maithili hazily watched him keeping an open trolley bag on the bed and walking to and fro between the wardrobe and the bag as he packed his clothes, slipper and toiletries.

Her sleep was gone immediately when it suddenly hit her that Nikshit was going somewhere. She sat up straight, unable to move away from her place, watching him dash inside the loo with a pair of shirt and jeans and coming out after a good five minutes of changing and freshening up.