MY GIRL NEXT DOOR

CHAPTER 22 : EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN

                           Monday morning business was in usual order; Avni was swamped with work and her desk was piled up with papers ,files and unfinished affairs.It was too messy even for her own liking and she was sure Neil would have freaked out just by the sight of it. Over the past few days her workload had almost doubled up . She had been working relentlessly but every time she started to work her mind wandered back to her drunken night. And then all her focus shifted on to stressing her brain for more repressed memories; it was pertinent for her to find out what all she had blurted out to Neil. Time and again she would get quick flashes but then they would evaporate as fast as they presented. Getting any information out of that stubborn Khanna wasn't fruitful ; it would always end up with him teasing her about her getting handsy with him . Fed up with all the leg pulling she had given up on getting any information out of him.

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For Neil it was the perfect Monday morning . An early bird morning , followed by jogging , shower , breakfast and an early morning meeting ,in that order. Now that he was done with the task of over-viewing the ongoing proceedings and discussing important case and client details , he had some time to go over the final print of his contract with Mehra groups before he left for the court for a very important hearing. Usually he had the cases delegated to his efficient employees and talented lawyers but some cases were special and he made sure he had the time to represent those himself. Today was one such day ; this case had been a lot more straining than the usual ones , two more hearings and he was confident to turn the tide of justice towards the innocent. In between all the strain and pains from work the only moment of relief was when he remembered Avni with all her vulnerabilities exposed in a druken state. He couldn't have ever imagined a tough girl like her could have any such insecurities and that too those related to him. He had meant everything he whispered into her ears that night ; every single word of it but did she ? Did she really felt that way when it came to him ? There was no reasonable explanations for any of those but reasons were never a thing of the heart , were they? Did that mean he had some place there ......in her heart ? He hushed those thoughts away before they could make any long lasting impact.

 Avni had tried to probe him in every possible way to extract what all her drunken heart had let out but there was no way he was going to let her know that; it was his to keep. The last thing he wanted was Avni trying to explain her very words as something mundane ; she would rather admit to killing someone than admit that she meant all of that. Everything aside probably in his heart of hearts he wished it all to be true......possibly ...

A knock on his door ended his dilemma .It was time for him to leave for the hearing of his case.

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With a thick stack of papers and files almost reaching up to her eye level, Avni quickly paced into Anna's office. Fearing some extreme sarcasm coming her way, she quickly arranged everything into 3 different sets on her boss's desk . " These are the corrections you wanted" she said pointing to the files on the extreme left " these here in the middle are two new stories from two first timers that I think are worth a shot , at least you should have a look in case you find some free time . The last stack on the right are the articles and poems that you wanted me to sort out for our next editorial. Melannie Song's book editing will be your desk latest by next Monday , I am already on it. Our book tour was a success, we have outdone our own sales . Lastly I was hoping I could talk to you about an idea I have ."

" Breathe Avni ! I would have asked you to sit down but Aarav wants to see in his office so I will cut this short.Leave the ...the stacks as it is , I will have my assistant arrange it and I will look into everything but on a priority based order. Take your time with the Song book, we are in no hurry . Just don't keep it pending till the last day . Congratulations on successful book tour, I already got the numbers this morning. So that's it. Go on Aarav is waiting for you."