Chapter 20

A ray of sunshine is passed through the window and falls on the sleeping figure on the bed making the person  squirm on the bed.

The person groans and pulls the covers fully up to her face and sleeps again.

But then a loud shring is vibrated in  the whole room for which the person grumpily gets up and stops the alarm.

She falls back on the bed and stares at the ceiling.

Her mind revolves around the thoughts of the person who was her first love and now stranger Sameer Khanna.

Tears brim her eyes as she thought of his apology. She thinks that he can't just walk into her life back by just saying sorry.

A whirlwind of emotions stirred in her when she saw how guilty he was and how sincere his apology was.

Her heart ached seeing him in tears. She loved him and she cannot see him like this.

But she couldn't do anything because she cannot forget what happened.

Maybe time will tell what will happen.....

She never for once thought that she will be working with that person with whom she cut all her ties more than two years back.

Her mind went to that awful day when she lost her best friend and her first love.

Things weren't easy for her after that. She cried a lot over all this and avoided him like plague.

After exams and all she had calmed down a bit but the hurt and pain were still there. Whenever she got reminded of that day she felt not only hurt and disappointed but also guilty.

Yes! She felt guilty for slapping Sameer. Whatever the situation was she shouldn't have lost control and slapped him like that in front of everyone, after all he was the person she loved with her heart and soul.

When Jai said she can't even hurt a fly, it was true.

How much ever she wants to forget that incident she couldn't and it would bring back all the unnecessary feelings back.

When her cousin said that she is going to New York for her master's and told Piyu also to join with her she couldn't say no.

Even though it hurts her to be away from her family which she had never done in her life and best friends she decided to go as this will be the only way to forget all this and move on in her life.

Surely, it helped her to move on and forget the past for time being. It helped her heart to heal and she concentrated on her studies there.

Whom she is kidding?

She may forget all these for a while but not forever. Although she made some friends in New York, she never let anyone in. She built walls around her so that no one can come and break her again.

She missed India. She missed her parents. She missed her best friends. She missed this environment, this food and this air.

She came back to India after she completed her master's and was glad to meet the people she loved the most.

She was brought out of her thoughts when she heard her alarm snooze again.

.

.

.

She got up from bed and went for shower. While showering she thought about how she met Sameer.

After she came back from New York, her father suggested that she should be the part of AJ's, their company. But Piyu declined as she told him that she will first learn the work and then she will know that she will be fit into any position or not.

She soon joined the company and got adapted to that environment. On one fine day of presentation for the project she was getting these feelings like racing of her heart beats, tingling sensations in her whole body.

While giving presentation also she had that feeling that someone was staring at her making her heart race in speed and she was getting distracted.

She was more worried because she used to get these wierd feelings when Sameer was around her.

And when the presentation was over she came to know that he was there the whole time watching her.

Listening to his voice itself brought back those feelings in her which she had buried deep inside her heart.

But she doesn't want to show him that she is affected by him, so she maintained her cool and showed no emotions on her face.

That didn't last long though as he had the nerve to call her 'Piyu' which made her angry.

But what confused her more was he was just smiling at her like an idiot even though she yelled at him.

And that smile stirred unnecessary emotions in her which she was avoiding till now perfectly.

She got frustrated whenever he behaves as nothing happened and behaved normal with her.

In all this, she admits that he is very sincere and hard working when it comes to the work. And she also came to know that he is more strict and ruthless when it comes to work and never tolerates any mistakes.

Piyu gets stunned always whenever Sameer's staff goes stiff and panicked around him. He maintained that aura around him during the work even with her also and she doesn't want to admit that she liked that in him.

They just talk about the work that to when necessary but when she saw him getting worried on the phone and didn't come to work for 2 days, she was hell worried for him.

She couldn't stop herself from asking him about everything is alright or not. She was impressed when she got to know that he took care of his mother for whole days by being her side.

She always liked this quality in him. He easily gets worried about his loved ones even though it's just a simple matter.

She shook those thoughts away and went downstairs for breakfast after getting ready.

.

.

.

Her mom greeted her with a smile and said that her dad and brother already ate their breakfastand went to the office. She was so happy at last to see her brother after many months.

She also ate her breakfast and went to office in her car. She needs to do a lot of work and also welcome the new designer. A smile appeared on her thinking about it.

After that apology incident between her and Sameer, she didn't know how to work with him. But she was grateful to him in this matter as he didn't bring our personal issues into our professional matters.

It looked like to her that he was avoiding her as much as she is avoiding him. Its good and comfortable though but little bit awkward.

******

She sighed and went into the office. She reached their floor and when she opened the door of the meeting room, she just stood there looking at the scene in front of her.

Her dad, her brother and Sameer, the three most workaholic persons she knows are working seriously like there is no tomorrow typing in their laptops and looking into their files with frowns on their faces.

She rolled her eyes at them and their working attitude as they didn't even notice her knocking the door and entering inside the room.

She crossed her arms and cleared her throat. At that her dad and brother looked up and smiled at her but Sameer was so drowned into the file that he didn't notice her. Still.

She frowned at him and placed the files on the table with a thud. Sameer looked up startled with a jerk and relaxed seeing Piyu. He smiled at her saying good morning but in reply he got just a mumbling good morning and a blank face.

He sighed shaking his head at her looking into his files and she scowled at the files in front of her glaring at the table.

Both Anand and Aditya exchanged glances at each other with raised eyebrows while looking at both Piyu and Sam.

And soon everyone joined them and they discussed about the whole project. Piyu informed everyone that the new designer will be joining tomorrow.

Aditya and Anand left for their cabins to prepare for some meetings when they finished talking to everyone  about the project.

******

" Your ideas are good Mr. Khanna." Aditya said.

" Thank you." Sam mumbled and smiled slightly in response.

" You think exactly like your father." AJ praised him proudly.

Sameer went stiff and just sat there silently looking down. It was always a sensitive topic for him to talk about his father. Piyu observed the change in his demeanor.

Four of them were talking about the project and new ideas to implement in the AJ's cabin.

" Yeah....I too heard a lot about him." Aditya said smiling.

Three of them looked at Sameer who sat there stiffly with clenched fist and jaw.

" Sameer.....we are just....." AJ trailed off.

Piyu is not understanding anything.

" It's ok Sir.....I need to go.....talk to you later." Sam said looking at them but with a pained emotion on his face which he is trying to mask but Piyu saw that.

She wondered what changed his mood so suddenly.

Sam got up and left abruptly from their cabin.

Piyu looked at both her dad and brother who sat there sadly.

" Dad?.....Bhai? " She called them.

They looked up at her.

" What just happened here?" She asked them softly.

" His father was a great businessman." Aditya said.

" We shouldn't have brought up that." AJ sighed sadly.

Piyu frowned at this.

" Why dad?.....wait, Bhai..... what do you mean ' he was ' ?" Piyu asked cautiously.

" His Dad Mr. Karthik Khanna who is famously called as KK in the business world, died 2 years ago." AJ said sadly looking down.

Piyu was shocked and stunned.

" He was alone.....he managed and protected their company all alone from then." Aditya added.

******

He was alone.

All alone.

Only these words were ringing in her ears since she left the cabin.

His father died. He was alone.

Nobody was there with him to be with him, to console him and to support him.

Tears fell down through her cheeks.

He was going through so much and I wasn't there for him, we weren't there for him in his hard time.

Piyu felt horrible.

Sure she had cut all ties with him but she wasn't that heartless person who at least isn't concerned about her once best friend well being.

She stood in her place when she saw him standing in the balcony staring into the space.

She slowly went towards him wiping her tears and stood behind him.

He sensed her but didn't turn towards her.

" I am Sorry." Piyu whispered.

" For what?" He asked confused.

" I didn't know about your father." She said cautiously.

He again went stiff.

" It's ok.....not your fault." He said softly after a pause but not looking at her.

They stood there for some time silently side by side staring off into the space.

.

.

.

.

.

To be Continued...........

The story will be from third person point of view from now onwards.

Stay tuned........