BEST FRIENDS FOR LIFE ( #2 Best friends forever)

I want to swallow my pride and run back home!!

Ana

The loud shrill of my phone woke me up.  I stare at it, bleary-eyed and see that it is 6:30 in the morning and with a groan, I get up to see my roommate sleeping without a care in the world. 

It was my first official day at the apartment which I was sharing with five other girls. (I know!! Now, I'm just thinking why did I even decide to stay with five girls. Its going to be crowded with no peace!) 

My mom had helped me find a place and get settled in Hyderabad, where I'm currently working and its my second official week after leaving Bangalore.

I made my way to the kitchen to make breakfast and pack my lunch. 

As soon as I entered, I saw that Ashwini, my flatmate was already cooking something. 

I only knew one person out of the five other flatmates and we have been friends for the past one year and I was comfortable with her and to my luck, Dolly had gone home for a few days.  But, with the rest of them there was an awkwardness.

She saw me at the entrance and didn't even react and I stood there like a dumb duck. 

"Um... do you need any help?" I asked her, finally. 

"No. Everything's done." She said, curtly. 

It could not get more awkward than this. 

I turned around and walked back to my room, puzzled, thinking how I could fit in here?

By the time I got ready for work, the food was done and kept on the dining table and I just packed my lunch. 

The cab ride to office was spent in an awkward silence. (Notice how I am saying awkward a lot!)

I got out of the cab and rushed inside the office building, without waiting for them as it became to suffocating. 

I was greeted with a " You're late." by my team lead. 

She is definitely worth mentioning as she is making my life hell, literally. 

I was only late by 5 minutes, actually! (Ha now you guys get it.) 

I had gotten used to this and ignored her snide comment. 

I was happy that the entire coming week, I had an orientation and our interaction would be minimum, for that week atleast.  

I dropped my bag in my seat and went away to the conference room with a colleague. 

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Come afternoon, I was so sleepy that it became difficult to keep my eyes open and I was squinting at the speaker when he finally declared that we would break for lunch. 

I went back to my seat to collect my lunch bag and head to the cafeteria. Though my flatmates were in the same company, they hadn't invited me for lunch with them and I never asked if I could join them.

I had to go with my team which consisted of my team lead,  Uma and her side kick, Arohitha. 

They grilled me on what was going on with the orientation and I finished my lunch in record time and headed back to my floor for the second round of torture. 

We were let off early and I headed back to my desk for the rest of the day. 

" What have you written? I had to change the entire script!" Uma almost yells at me as soon as she spots me. I see that the Chemistry and Physics Team leads are also there and they are looking at me, sympathetically. 

I had sent her a script on a topic in biology and if her reaction had to be guessed, she didn't like it. 

The other two team leads tried to divert her attention from me and after they left, she went on, on a triad of things,  I had written wrong.

My heart plummeted by the end of the day. I knew that my writing is good. Someone else thinking that my writing is shoddy had shaken me up completely and by the time I got back home, I was in tears. 

I had left my home in Bangalore because of the hurtful things that my dad had said to me five months ago.....

"You don't know how to respect your elders. We have done so much for you, atleast show some gratitude to us." my dad said. 

" I know you have done a lot for us. I'm working now, aren't I? So that we can live comfortably and pay the loans, forgetting all my dreams!" I had screamed back. 

" This disrespect is what I get for all that I have done for you. You don't stay with us anymore, get out of my house!"  he thundered. 

I stood rooted to my place thinking that for the past one year I had been working at a small company for a petty salary so that the loans get paid and we have food at home, keeping all my dreams aside and being taken for granted by my family every single time and it was painful, every single time, but now my heart broke. 

My mom was crying in a corner. Without another word, with tears streaming down my face, I packed my bag with my  mother crying for me to stop and not leave, I left home after assuring my hysterical mother that I would come back, but not today. 

Fresh tears poured down my face as that memory played in my mind,  awakening old wounds. Keeping his words in my heart, I had found a job in another city, with a better pay, away from home. 

After the day that I have just had I think, should I just swallow my pride and run back home!!!

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A/N: A sad chapter, I know. But I had to write it. 

Do you think, there are better days instore for Ana?