In her eyes..

Chapter 16 - Missing her

The next morning Pari called in sick - she had run out to a pay phone across the street from the house. She was in no state to go to work with all the cuts and bruises, so obviously marking her entire body. She may have previously been able to lie away one bruise but not all this. Dev had not arrived at the office and she had left a message with his secretary. She hoped he wouldn't try to contact her after hearing she was sick - that's the last thing she needed. Not like he could contact her anyway, her phone lay in pieces on the floor. Kabir hadn't returned home the night before and to be honest she didn't care where he was. The further away from her, the better.

Dev arrived at work right on time and noticed Pari's car wasn't in the staff carpark. He hadn't liked the way their conversation had ended the day before but hadn't wanted to invade her privacy too much, so he had let her be. As he went upstairs he hoped she would be there even if her car wasn't - how silly he felt knowing that his hopes were in vain. His heart fell when he found out she had called in sick. She had become the highlight of his days, just like when they were children! He decided to call her, just to see if she was okay and her illness wasn't anything too serious.

Pari lay in bed wondering what she should do next. How could she go back to work this way? She had to get her hair fixed, that was the most obvious change and even the blindest person would spot it from a mile away. She got out of bed and dressed, covering herself from head to toe with clothes - sweater, gloves, pants and socks - she even added a scarf just to ensure no one could see the bruises and scratches. She then patched up her face with make up. It wasn't the best coverage but she was glad that her face wasn't too cut up. She then went out to the nearest hair dresser. They were shocked at the state of her hair but didn't ask too many questions. She asked them to fix it and they did the best they could with what was remaining of her hair.

Dev kept hearing an engaged tone on the other side of the line - maybe her phone was off? He had tried multiple times and was becoming a little worried now. He wished she would call him directly to let him know how she was doing. He put his phone down and tried to focus on the days work. He had to keep going so that development of the new building wouldn't become delayed. But he couldn't stop his mind from wandering to thoughts of Pari. He was simultaneously worried about her and also missed her - wow he didn't like feeling so dependent on someone. It had taken him a long time to move on from her after she had left. But he felt himself slipping back into that old routine of being smitten by her.