In A Heartbeat | ✓

Chapter 1 : Unexpected Introduction

Gauravi had always heard about the grandeur of the Oberois but today she was witnessing it.

Her granny, Jaya Devi Rathore was best friends with Kalyani Oberoi. When her grandmother's friend, on a casual chat with her, learned that Gauravi had been staying in Mumbai in a hostel hell broke loose.

Kalyani emotionally blackmailed Jaya Devi to convince her only granddaughter to stay at the Oberoi Mansion during the remnant of her study.

Thus, here she was, standing in the lavish living room of the super-rich Oberois. On reaching she had leaned that, the majority of the family was away to attend a wedding. Kalyani's affectionate welcome and delicious snacks had reminded Gauravi of her own home.

She had personally led her into a room on the first floor. The kind old woman had also with the aid of servants helped her to set up her room. The air conditioned room with spectacular furnishings and soft mattress was like heaven after the hostel room.

That night it was just the two of them at the dinner table, in the silent mansion. Kalyani had jokingly told her that she had come at a very chosen time. The house was never so silent.

Gauravi genuinely loved the affection she was showered with within the span of a day. Her initial prejudice of being away from her friends had faded away.

Life at a hostel sucked, even more if your warden hapoens to be nothing less than a witch.

Gauravi had slept comfortably that night, thinking about how the other Oberois would be. She had occasionally heard about the family in conversations with her grandmother. They would apparently arrive later the next morning. She hoped they were as warm and kind as the senior Oberoi was.

* * *

Gauravi and alarms had a strange relationship. There were days when she'd be up minutes before the alarm went off. And then, there were those where she had no clue why the alarm never rang. She could swear she never heard the peppy music blast pulling her out of the land of dreams and slumber.

It was an important day at college today as she woke up late.

Splendid.

And that was just the start of the unfortunate day.

The flow of water in the washrooms of the first floor had ceased. As unbelievable it was, it was true. Perhaps, even rich households couldn't escape the problem of water shortage.

Kalyani was clueless, she had said that it was after years, a problem such as this as occurred. She had asked one of the maids to help Gauravi to find her way to the guest room on the ground floor.

The maid got busy cleaning the washroom that had been used for the last few days, as per instructions she received. Once done the maid realized that the flush wasn't working. She had asked Gauravi to wait a few minutes while one of the other servants fixed it.

She had almost begged Gauravi to not complain about it to Kalyani as she might end up losing her job.

Gauravi sighed. If she waited any longer, she would be extremely late. So she paced up and down the passageway considering her options.

What if she took a bucket full of water from the garden's tap? That was an excellent quick idea. One of the servants would probably help her hget the filled bucket up the stairs.

To her disappointment, the garden taps were dry as well. She was told that water would come only after two hours.

Hell! She couldn't wait that long.